The Medium

The data shows that the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti combination delivers a playable experience in The Medium, but the GPU is the dominant factor at higher resolutions. The RTX 5070 Ti provides substantial headroom at 1080p, while the CPU becomes a more noticeable limiting factor at lower settings. Overall, the combo ranks in the top 15% of all tested configurations for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, indicating that the RTX 5070 Ti is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 84.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 71.2 FPS at 2560x1440, representing a 15.7% reduction. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops to 55.5 FPS, which is a further 22.0% decrease from the 1440p result. The total scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings is a 34.3% performance loss.

The scaling pattern is even more pronounced at Low settings, where the frame rate drops from 130.3 FPS at 1080p to 122.9 FPS at 1440p, and then to 109.8 FPS at 4K. This smaller relative drop at lower settings suggests that the CPU is holding the GPU back at 1080p, preventing it from reaching even higher frame rates. The fact that the gap between 1080p and 1440p is only 5.7% at Low settings, compared to 15.7% at High settings, confirms that the CPU is the limiting factor at lower resolutions and lower graphical loads.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is the most aggressive, with the frame rate plummeting from 62.9 FPS at 1080p to 57.3 FPS at 1440p and finally to 43 FPS at 4K. This 31.6% drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings highlights the massive graphical load that the RTX 5070 Ti must handle. The data indicates that for a consistent 60 FPS experience, users should avoid Ultra settings at 4K, as the measured average of 43 FPS falls well below that threshold.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is the clear performance driver in this configuration, especially at higher resolutions. With 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card provides 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for The Medium's asset streaming. The GPU's 8960 shading units and 280 texture mapping units deliver the raw compute power needed to handle the game's fixed-camera scenes and intricate lighting effects.

The RTX 5070 Ti's clock speeds are notable, with a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2452 MHz. These clocks, combined with the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, allow the card to maintain high frame rates even at demanding settings. The GPU's benchmark scores reflect its strength, with a PassMark G3D score of 32974 and a passmark GPU compute score of 20203, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs.

The VRAM capacity of 16 GB is particularly relevant for The Medium, as the game's dual-reality mechanic renders two separate worlds simultaneously. This can quickly consume memory, and the 16 GB buffer ensures that the card does not run out of VRAM at 4K Ultra, even though the frame rate drops to 43 FPS. The GPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals is telling: it is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, showing a deltaPct of 0, while it is 0.8% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 7700S and 2.5% faster than the NVIDIA RTX A1000.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination achieve 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Only at Low settings, where the measured average is 109.8 FPS. At Medium settings, the average drops to 72.8 FPS, and at High settings, it falls to 55.5 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. Ultra settings at 4K yield only 43 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a high frame rate?

A: At 1080p, the configuration exceeds 60 FPS on all settings, including Ultra (62.9 FPS). At 1440p, High and below settings all stay above 60 FPS, with Medium at 97.4 FPS and Low at 122.9 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to the RTX 4080 in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The two GPUs are effectively tied, with the RTX 5070 Ti having an average benchmark score of 52086 compared to the RTX 4080's 52085, a deltaPct of 0.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5500 a bottleneck for the RTX 5070 Ti?

A: The data suggests a CPU limitation at 1080p Low, where the frame rate is 130.3 FPS. The small difference between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings (5.7%) indicates the CPU is capping performance before the GPU can fully stretch.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings average 122.9 FPS, while Ultra settings average 57.3 FPS. This represents a 53.4% performance reduction when moving from Low to Ultra.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM help at 4K Ultra settings?

A: While VRAM capacity is sufficient, the GPU's compute power becomes the limiting factor. The 4K Ultra result of 43 FPS indicates the card is overwhelmed by the graphical workload, not memory capacity.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal settings for this hardware combination depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset provides the best balance, delivering 84.5 FPS while maintaining visual fidelity. This is significantly higher than the 62.9 FPS at Ultra, and the jump from High to Ultra costs 25.6% performance for likely marginal visual gains.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, yielding 97.4 FPS. This provides a smooth experience well above 60 FPS while retaining more visual detail than Low settings. The High preset at 1440p averages 71.2 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. Ultra at 1440p drops to 57.3 FPS, making it a less desirable option for consistent frame pacing.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the only sensible option, with an average of 72.8 FPS. Low settings at 4K achieve 109.8 FPS but sacrifice significant visual quality. High settings at 4K fall to 55.5 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. The data clearly shows that Ultra is not viable at 4K, as the 43 FPS average will result in noticeable stuttering in a game that relies heavily on atmospheric tension.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are consistently high across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 130.3 FPS, Medium settings yield 106.7 FPS, High settings deliver 84.5 FPS, and Ultra settings manage 62.9 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p is a 51.7% performance reduction.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 122.9 FPS for Low, 97.4 FPS for Medium, 71.2 FPS for High, and 57.3 FPS for Ultra. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is most noticeable at High settings, where the frame rate drops by 15.7%, while Low settings only see a 5.7% drop.

At 3840x2160, the results are more constrained. Low settings average 109.8 FPS, Medium settings average 72.8 FPS, High settings average 55.5 FPS, and Ultra settings average 43 FPS. The gap between Medium and High at 4K is 23.8%, while the gap between High and Ultra is 22.5%. This demonstrates that each step up in settings at 4K carries a substantial performance penalty.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides a solid foundation for this gaming combination. Its Zen 3 architecture, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, is capable of feeding the RTX 5070 Ti in most scenarios. The CPU's cache configuration includes 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and a 16 MB L3 cache, which helps reduce latency in game logic and physics calculations.

The CPU's benchmark scores show it to be a mid-range performer, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16429 and a single-core score of 2319. Its PassMark multithread score of 19330 and single-thread score of 3058 place it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs. The Ryzen 5 5500's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the Intel Core i5-12500, which is 0.1% faster, and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE, also 0.1% faster.

In The Medium, the CPU's role becomes apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the frame rate of 130.3 FPS is likely near the CPU's maximum output for this title. The fact that increasing resolution to 1440p only drops the frame rate by 5.7% at Low settings suggests the CPU is the bottleneck at 1080p. However, at higher settings like Ultra, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as evidenced by the more significant resolution scaling.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 245th out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the top 14.5% of all configurations, indicating a strong overall performance level. The high ranking is primarily driven by the RTX 5070 Ti's exceptional GPU capabilities, which are in the 87th percentile of all GPUs.

The CPU's 79th percentile ranking among all processors is lower than the GPU's percentile, but it does not significantly hamper the overall combo ranking. The data suggests that the Ryzen 5 5500 provides adequate support for the RTX 5070 Ti in this game, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU is the dominant factor. The combination of a powerful GPU with a capable mid-range CPU proves to be an effective pairing for The Medium, delivering playable frame rates across most settings and resolutions, with the only notable exception being 4K Ultra.