The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents a unique stress profile for hardware. This analysis examines the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions. The measured data reveals a system where the GPU's immense power is constrained by both the game's engine and the CPU's capabilities, resulting in a performance curve that is more nuanced than raw specifications might suggest.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear progression of average frame rates as resolution increases, but the scaling pattern is not uniform across all settings presets. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 (128 FPS) to 2560x1440 (121 FPS) represents a modest 5.5% drop, while moving to 3840x2160 (112 FPS) yields another 7.4% reduction. This relatively gentle slope indicates that at Low settings, the system is not yet fully GPU-bound at 1080p, allowing the RTX 5090 D to maintain high throughput even as pixel count rises.

The Medium preset shows a steeper scaling curve. From 1080p (107 FPS) to 1440p (101 FPS), the drop is 5.6%, but the jump to 4K (93 FPS) represents an 8.1% decrease from 1440p. This suggests that the Medium preset introduces enough additional shading and texture work to make the GPU a more significant bottleneck at higher resolutions, though the CPU still plays a supporting role in frame pacing.

High settings exhibit the most pronounced resolution sensitivity. The 1080p result (94 FPS) drops 7.4% to 1440p (87 FPS), and then a further 21.8% when moving to 4K (68 FPS). This accelerated decline at 4K High indicates that the game's higher-fidelity assets and effects are beginning to saturate the GPU's capabilities, even for a card with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory. The Ultra preset follows a similar pattern but at lower absolute frame rates, with 82 FPS at 1080p dropping to 69 FPS at 1440p and finally 54 FPS at 4K, a 34.1% total reduction from 1080p to 4K.

The scaling data reveals that The Medium is not purely GPU-limited at lower resolutions. The relatively small FPS differences between 1080p and 1440p across all presets (ranging from 5.5% to 15.9%) suggest that the Ryzen 5 5500's six cores and twelve threads are providing consistent frame delivery, but the CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2319) may be limiting the maximum achievable frame rate at 1080p. The larger drops at 4K, particularly with High and Ultra settings, confirm that the GPU becomes the dominant constraint as resolution increases, which is expected given the RTX 5090 D's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 throughput.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 D is the clear performance driver in this configuration, and its specifications align with the observed scaling behavior. The GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for The Medium's asset streaming at any resolution. The card's 2017 MHz base clock and 2407 MHz boost clock, combined with 21760 shading units, deliver raw compute that keeps frame rates playable even at 4K Ultra, where the game's fixed-camera perspectives and detailed environments demand substantial pixel throughput.

The GPU's benchmark scores contextualize its position. With a Passmark G3D score of 44065 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14326, the RTX 5090 D sits at the 92nd percentile among all tested GPUs. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarking are the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (deltaPct -1.6) and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (deltaPct -2.4), which are mobile and datacenter parts respectively, underscoring the desktop card's performance class. However, in The Medium specifically, the GPU's dominance is tempered by the game's engine and the CPU pairing.

The role of VRAM is particularly interesting. At 4K Ultra, the game likely consumes a significant portion of the 32 GB buffer, but the fact that the RTX 5090 D delivers 54 FPS at this setting suggests it is compute-bound rather than memory-bandwidth-bound. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is more than double what most games require at 4K, meaning the bottleneck at Ultra settings is the GPU's shading rate and the game's optimization, not memory throughput. The measured FPS ranges at Medium settings (e.g., 79-107 FPS at 4K) show that frame times are consistent, with the minimum values indicating the GPU is maintaining stable performance without memory-related stutters.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p Medium settings, and how does it compare to 1080p Medium?

A: The average frame rate at 2560x1440 Medium is 101 FPS, which is 5.6% lower than the 1920x1080 Medium result of 107 FPS. The minimum FPS at 1440p is 86, compared to 91 at 1080p, showing that the frame delivery remains consistent across these two resolutions.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM provide any measurable benefit in The Medium?

A: The 32 GB VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor in this game. The measured FPS data shows no indication of memory-related performance cliffs, as the GPU maintains predictable scaling from Low to Ultra settings. The bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s is sufficient to feed the GPU's compute units without creating a bottleneck.

Q: How much performance does the Ultra preset cost compared to High at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 54 FPS, while High averages 68 FPS. This represents a 20.6% performance penalty for Ultra settings, which is the largest preset-to-preset drop observed at any resolution in the data.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5500 holding back the RTX 5090 D at 1080p?

A: The data suggests some CPU limitation at 1080p Low, where the average FPS is 128. This is lower than the 1440p Low result of 121 FPS by only 5.5%, indicating that the CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2319) is likely capping maximum frame rates more than the GPU at this resolution.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield 121 FPS average, while Medium yields 101 FPS. The 16.5% difference reflects the additional rendering work required for medium-quality textures and effects, but both settings remain comfortably playable on this hardware.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for The Medium?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks 184th out of 2911 tested combos for The Medium, placing it in the top 6.3% of all configurations in the database.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 184 out of 2911 tested configurations places it in the upper echelon of systems for The Medium. This position is notable because the CPU, while capable, is not a top-tier part; the Ryzen 5 5500 sits at the 73rd percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 19593. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 (deltaPct -0.1) and Intel Core i5-12500 (deltaPct -0.4), which are comparable in aggregate performance. The GPU, however, is exceptional, ranking at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs with an average score of 77712.

The combination of a mid-range CPU and a flagship GPU creates a pairing that is unusual in the database. The rank of 184 suggests that many other configurations with different CPU-GPU balances achieve higher frame rates in The Medium, likely because the game is not heavily multi-threaded. The Ryzen 5 5500's 3DMark scores show strong scaling from 2 threads (1645) to 8 threads (4593), but only marginal gains from 8 to max threads (5411), indicating that the game may not utilize more than 8 threads effectively. This means the CPU's 12 threads are not a significant advantage, and systems with faster single-thread performance (even with fewer cores) might achieve higher frame rates in this title.

The rank also reflects the measured data's consistency. With average FPS ranging from 54 at 4K Ultra to 128 at 1080p Low, the combo delivers playable performance across all tested configurations. The fact that it ranks 184th rather than higher suggests that some other combos with slightly less powerful GPUs but stronger CPUs achieve better results, particularly at 1080p where CPU overhead is more visible.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Cezanne codename) with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. Its 16 MB L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (51.2 GB/s bandwidth) are typical for the platform, but its PCIe Gen 3 interface is a notable limitation when paired with a PCIe 5.0 GPU like the RTX 5090 D. While this does not appear to cause measurable issues in The Medium, it does cap the theoretical bandwidth between CPU and GPU.

The CPU's benchmark results show a balanced profile. In Cinebench R23, it scores 16429 multi-core and 2319 single-core, which places it in the mid-range for desktop processors. The Passmark single-thread score of 3058 and multi-thread score of 19330 further confirm this positioning. The CPU's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarking are the Intel Core i7-10700F (deltaPct 0.5) and Intel Core i5-11600KF (deltaPct -0.7), indicating that its overall compute capability is competitive with older mid-range and high-end parts.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is critical for frame pacing, particularly at lower resolutions. The measured FPS differences between 1080p and 1440p (e.g., 94 to 87 FPS at High, a 7.4% drop) are smaller than typical GPU-bound scaling, suggesting that the CPU is managing to keep the GPU fed. However, the 1080p Low result of 128 FPS, which is only 5.5% higher than the 1440p Low result, hints that the CPU is approaching its limit for generating frames in this game. The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 5386 and max-thread score of 5411 show that scaling flattens beyond 8 threads, and The Medium likely operates in this range, meaning the 12 threads are sufficient but not a performance multiplier.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for this combo is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 128 FPS. The Medium preset averages 107 FPS with a minimum of 91 FPS and maximum of 123 FPS. High settings average 94 FPS, while Ultra averages 82 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 35.9% reduction in average FPS, reflecting the increasing GPU load.

At 2560x1440, Low settings average 121 FPS, Medium averages 101 FPS (min 86, max 116), High averages 87 FPS, and Ultra averages 69 FPS. The total reduction from Low to Ultra is 43.0%, which is more severe than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 112 FPS, Medium averages 93 FPS (min 79, max 107), High averages 68 FPS, and Ultra averages 54 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra reduction is 51.8%, the largest of any resolution, confirming that 4K Ultra is the most demanding configuration tested.

The data shows that the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values across all resolutions, allowing for an assessment of frame consistency. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 79 FPS is 85% of the average of 93 FPS, indicating stable frame delivery. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 86 FPS is also 85% of the average, and at 1080p Medium, the minimum of 91 FPS is 85% of the average. This consistent ratio suggests that the game's frame pacing is stable and not subject to sudden hitches.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal settings preset depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For a 60 FPS baseline, the Ultra preset is viable only at 1080p, where it averages 82 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 69 FPS, which is still playable, but at 4K, Ultra averages 54 FPS, which falls below 60. For players prioritizing smooth motion at 4K, the High preset (68 FPS) is the best choice, offering a 25.9% improvement over Ultra while maintaining visual fidelity.

The Medium preset provides the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 4K, it averages 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS, ensuring that frame times remain consistent even in demanding scenes. At 1440p, Medium reaches 101 FPS, and at 1080p, 107 FPS. This preset represents the sweet spot where the RTX 5090 D's compute is well-utilized without the overhead of Ultra settings, which appear to add significant cost for marginal visual gains.

The Low preset is unnecessary for this hardware, as it pushes frame rates to 128 FPS at 1080p and 112 FPS at 4K. These numbers exceed the refresh rate of most displays, and the visual quality reduction is not justified. The data indicates that High settings at 4K (68 FPS) or Medium settings at 1440p (101 FPS) provide the best combination of visual quality and performance. For users with 120 Hz displays, the Medium preset at 1440p is the recommended configuration, as it comfortably exceeds 100 FPS average while keeping minimums above 86 FPS.