The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination delivers a highly playable experience in The Medium, but the data reveals a clear performance ceiling dictated by the graphics card as resolution climbs. At 1080p and 1440p, the combo provides strong frame rates, yet the transition to 4K exposes the RTX 4070's limitations, with average FPS dropping below the 60 FPS threshold at higher settings. The benchmark results show a system that is well-balanced at lower resolutions but becomes GPU-bound at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K in The Medium shows a classic pattern of increasing GPU load, with the CPU's role diminishing as pixel count rises. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 123 FPS at 1920x1080 to 116 FPS at 2560x1440, a modest 5.7% reduction, and further down to 99 FPS at 3840x2160, which is a 19.5% decrease from 1080p. This relatively gentle slope at Low settings indicates that the CPU and GPU are both capable of handling the workload, with the bottleneck shifting gradually.

However, the scaling becomes much more aggressive at Medium settings. The average FPS at 1080p is 93, which falls to 79 FPS at 1440p (a 15.1% drop) and then plummets to 62 FPS at 4K (a 33.3% drop from 1080p). This steeper decline suggests that the GPU is starting to struggle as the pixel count increases, with the RTX 4070's 12 GB of VRAM and 192-bit memory bus becoming more significant factors.

The most dramatic scaling occurs at High and Ultra settings. At High, the average FPS drops from 67 at 1080p to 56 at 1440p (a 16.4% decline) and then to 44 at 4K (a 34.3% decline from 1080p). At Ultra, the figures are 53 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p (a 15.1% drop), and 35 FPS at 4K (a 34.0% drop). The consistent 33-34% penalty from 1080p to 4K at these higher settings indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component, with the rendering resolution directly dictating the frame rate.

The data shows that the 5500X3D's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the RTX 4070 at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the GPU's raw throughput becomes the bottleneck. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 4K is 64 FPS (99 vs 35), which is a massive 183% difference, highlighting how much headroom the CPU has at lower settings. This pattern suggests that users targeting 4K will need to significantly reduce settings to achieve playable frame rates, while 1080p and 1440p players can enjoy high to ultra settings without issue.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, is the dominant factor in The Medium's performance at higher resolutions. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra. The card's 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units deliver a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s, which is sufficient for the game's horror environments at lower settings.

The RTX 4070's boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1920 MHz contribute to its FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS. This raw compute power is evident in the benchmark results, where the GPU achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854 and a Passmark G3D score of 26927. These scores position the GPU in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, indicating it is a capable mid-range to high-end part.

In The Medium, the GPU's role becomes increasingly critical as resolution rises. At 1080p Low, the average FPS of 123 suggests the GPU is not fully utilized, as the CPU can keep up with the workload. However, at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 35, showing that the GPU is nearly saturated. The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is likely a contributing factor at 4K Ultra, as the game's textures and effects demand more memory than at lower settings.

The RTX 4070's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (0.1% higher score) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.4% higher score), but these are not direct gaming competitors. The RTX 4080 Mobile, with a score 1.3% higher, shows that the desktop 4070 is close to some mobile high-end parts in synthetic benchmarks. In actual game performance, the RTX 4070's 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores provide hardware support for ray tracing and DLSS, though the measured FPS data does not specify whether these features were enabled.

The data indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, with the average FPS at High (44) and Ultra (35) falling below the 60 FPS target. The transition from Medium to High at 4K costs 18 FPS (62 to 44), while the transition from High to Ultra costs another 9 FPS (44 to 35), showing diminishing returns at the highest settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D, a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, plays a supporting role in The Medium's performance, ensuring that the GPU is not starved of data at lower resolutions. The CPU's 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a standout feature, providing ample storage for game data and reducing latency. The processor's base clock of 3.00 GHz and boost clock of 4.00 GHz are modest by modern standards, but the cache size compensates for the lower clock speeds.

The 5500X3D's benchmark scores show a well-rounded performer. It achieves a Passmark multithread score of 20363 and a single-thread score of 2941, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (0.2% higher average score) and the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (0.2% higher), indicating that the 5500X3D is competitive with other mid-range processors.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the average FPS of 123 suggests that the CPU is capable of driving the GPU to high frame rates. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for the game's horror genre, which typically does not require massive multi-threading. However, the data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution, as the FPS scaling pattern is consistent with GPU-bound behavior.

The CPU's 7 nm process and 74 mm² die size contribute to its 105 W TDP, which is manageable for most cooling solutions. The processor supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel configuration and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth, which is adequate for gaming workloads. The 5500X3D's performance in synthetic tests, such as the Passmark data compression score of 230392 and floating point math score of 34511, indicates a capable processor that can handle game logic and physics calculations without bottlenecking.

The benchmark results show that the CPU's impact on FPS is minimal compared to the GPU. At 4K, the FPS differences between settings are primarily driven by GPU load, not CPU performance. The CPU's 96 MB L3 cache likely helps maintain consistent frame times, but the measured data does not include frame time variance, only average FPS. The 5500X3D's performance in the Passmark physics test (2282) and integer math test (60033) suggests it can handle the game's physics and AI calculations, but these are not the primary bottlenecks in The Medium.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 750th out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 25.8% of all configurations. This ranking indicates that the combo performs well relative to other systems, but it is not at the very top of the performance spectrum. The data suggests that many other combinations, likely featuring higher-end GPUs or CPUs, achieve better frame rates in this game.

The rank of 750 out of 2911 is a significant data point because it shows that while the RTX 4070 is a capable GPU, it is not the fastest available. The combo's performance is likely limited by the GPU at 4K, as evidenced by the FPS scaling patterns. At 1080p and 1440p, the combo's ranking would be higher, as the CPU and GPU are better balanced, but the overall rank is dragged down by the 4K results.

Comparing the combo to the individual components' benchmarks, the GPU's 81st percentile ranking is lower than the CPU's 85th percentile, suggesting that the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing. The RTX 4070's nearest rivals, such as the RTX 4080 Mobile, show that there are faster GPUs available. The combo's rank of 750 indicates that other systems with similar or lower CPU performance but faster GPUs could achieve better results in The Medium.

The measured FPS data supports this assessment. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 53 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. At 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 45 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 35 FPS. These results are not exceptional for a system with a 29.15 TFLOPS GPU, suggesting that the game is particularly demanding or that the RTX 4070 is not fully optimized for this title.

The combo's ranking also reflects the balance between CPU and GPU. The 5500X3D's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for most games, but the RTX 4070's 12 GB VRAM and 192-bit bus may limit performance at 4K. The data shows that the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can achieve high frame rates at medium to high settings, but it struggles at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for The Medium provides a detailed view of the combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 123 at Low to 53 at Ultra. The Medium setting yields 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 108, while High yields 67 FPS. The 1080p results show that the combo is capable of smooth gameplay at all settings except Ultra, where the frame rate dips below 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS ranges from 116 at Low to 45 at Ultra. The Medium setting produces 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 and maximum of 91, while High yields 56 FPS. The 1440p results indicate that the combo can handle Medium settings comfortably, but High and Ultra settings fall below the 60 FPS target. The jump from Low to Medium costs 37 FPS (116 to 79), while the jump from Medium to High costs 23 FPS (79 to 56), and from High to Ultra costs 11 FPS (56 to 45).

At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 99 at Low to 35 at Ultra. The Medium setting yields 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 and maximum of 71, while High yields 44 FPS. The 4K results show that the combo is only playable at Low settings, with Medium barely hitting 60 FPS on average. The drop from Low to Medium is 37 FPS (99 to 62), which is a significant penalty, and the drop from Medium to High is 18 FPS (62 to 44).

The data shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions: the FPS penalty for each settings increase is larger at higher resolutions. For example, the difference between Low and Ultra is 70 FPS at 1080p (123 to 53), 71 FPS at 1440p (116 to 45), and 64 FPS at 4K (99 to 35). This indicates that the GPU's workload scales heavily with both resolution and settings, and the RTX 4070 has limited headroom at 4K.

The Minimum and Maximum FPS data for Medium settings provide insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p, the minimum is 79 and maximum is 108, giving a range of 29 FPS. At 1440p, the range is 24 FPS (67 to 91), and at 4K, the range is 18 FPS (53 to 71). This suggests that frame pacing is more consistent at higher resolutions, likely because the GPU is more consistently loaded, reducing CPU-induced stutters.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Medium settings in The Medium?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination achieves an average of 93 FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, with a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 108 FPS.

Q: Is the combo capable of 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: At 3840x2160, the combo achieves 99 FPS at Low settings, but drops to 62 FPS at Medium, 44 FPS at High, and 35 FPS at Ultra. Only Low settings provide a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, while Medium is borderline.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D has an average benchmark score of 37018, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 5 225. It is 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 and 0.3% lower than the Intel Core i9-12900T.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile and how does it rank?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37648. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P4, scores 37628, which is 0.1% lower.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in The Medium?

A: The combination ranks 750th out of 2911 tested combos, placing it in the top 25.8% of all systems tested in this game.

Q: How much FPS is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 67 at 1920x1080 to 56 at 2560x1440 and then to 44 at 3840x2160. This represents a 34.3% decrease from 1080p to 4K.