The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination delivers a compelling 4K experience in The Medium, but the data shows that the "Ultra" preset is not the optimal choice for this pairing. The sweet spot is the "Medium" preset, which balances fidelity with performance, offering a playable 87 FPS average at 3840x2160. This configuration ranks in the top 11% of all tested combos, indicating a powerful pairing, yet the RTX 4090's dominance is limited by the CPU at lower resolutions, making the Medium settings the best overall experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for settings presets across all resolutions. The "Ultra" preset, while visually demanding, proves to be the most taxing on the system, resulting in an average of 50 FPS at 4K, 63 FPS at 1440p, and 75 FPS at 1080p. These figures, while playable, do not fully leverage the RTX 4090's capabilities and leave performance on the table. Conversely, the "Low" preset maximizes frame rates, hitting 123 FPS at 1080p, 116 FPS at 1440p, and 107 FPS at 4K, but this comes at the cost of visual quality that the hardware can easily afford.

The "Medium" preset emerges as the most balanced option. At 4K, it achieves an average of 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 101, providing a smooth and consistent experience that is well above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. The "High" preset sits between Medium and Ultra, delivering 63 FPS at 4K, 80 FPS at 1440p, and 90 FPS at 1080p. While "High" is playable, the jump from "High" to "Ultra" yields a significant performance cost—a 20% drop at 4K (from 63 to 50 FPS)—for what is often a marginal visual improvement.

For the best experience per the measured rows, the "Medium" preset is recommended. It provides a 24% performance uplift over "High" at 4K (87 vs. 63 FPS) and a staggering 74% uplift over "Ultra" (87 vs. 50 FPS). The minimum FPS of 74 at 4K also suggests good frame pacing, reducing the likelihood of stutter. At 1440p, "Medium" achieves 96 FPS, and at 1080p, it reaches 102 FPS, both with consistent minimums (82 and 87 FPS, respectively). This preset offers the best compromise between the visual fidelity of "High" and the raw performance of "Low", ensuring the RTX 4090 is utilized effectively without being bottlenecked by the CPU in a way that would make higher presets impractical.

How This Combo Ranks

The data places this specific combination at rank 321 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This percentile placement, roughly the top 11%, indicates that this pairing is significantly more powerful than the vast majority of systems tested. The ranking reflects the synergy between the high-end RTX 4090 and the capable Ryzen 5 5500X3D. While the CPU is not the absolute fastest on the market, its performance is sufficient to feed the GPU in most scenarios, allowing the combination to achieve a high overall rank.

The RTX 4090 itself has an average benchmark score of 60347, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, such as the Intel Arc Pro A60 (with a delta of 0%) and the AMD Radeon Pro V710 (with a delta of 2.9%), are far less powerful in real-world gaming, underscoring the 4090's dominance. The CPU, with an average score of 37018, sits in the 85th percentile. Its nearest rivals, like the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (0.2% delta) and the Intel Core i9-12900T (-0.3% delta), show that the 5500X3D is competitively positioned in the mid-to-high range of processors.

The rank of 321 is impressive, but it is not the top score. This suggests that while the combo is exceptionally strong, other pairings—likely those with even more powerful CPUs—can extract slightly more performance in The Medium. The game's engine appears to benefit from both strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance, and the 5500X3D's 6 cores and 12 threads, while solid, may be a limiting factor compared to higher-core-count processors in specific scenes. Nevertheless, a rank in the top 11% confirms that users of this combo will have a top-tier experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve a consistent 60+ FPS experience?

A: The data shows that all tested resolutions can achieve over 60 FPS on the "Medium" preset. At 4K, the average is 87 FPS, at 1440p it is 96 FPS, and at 1080p it is 102 FPS. Even the "High" preset at 4K achieves 63 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS mark.

Q: Is the "Ultra" preset viable for this hardware?

A: While "Ultra" is playable, it is the least efficient preset. At 4K, it drops to an average of 50 FPS, which may not be ideal for all users. At 1440p and 1080p, it achieves 63 and 75 FPS, respectively. The performance cost from "High" to "Ultra" is substantial, making "Medium" or "High" more sensible choices.

*Q: How does the CPU's core count affect performance in The Medium?*

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D has 6 cores and 12 threads. The benchmark results indicate it is capable, as the combo still achieves high frame rates. However, the combination's rank of 321 out of 2911 suggests that CPUs with more cores might provide a slight edge in this title, preventing the combo from ranking higher.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K on the "Medium" preset?

A: At 1080p, the "Medium" preset yields an average of 102 FPS. At 4K, it yields an average of 87 FPS. This represents a drop of approximately 15 FPS, or about 15%, when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Does the RTX 4090's performance in synthetic benchmarks align with its in-game performance here?

A: The RTX 4090 has a Passmark G3D score of 38194 and an average benchmark score of 60347, placing it in the 88th percentile. In-game, it delivers high frame rates, as seen in the measured FPS, confirming its top-tier status. The GPU is clearly not the bottleneck in this system.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5500X3D a good match for the RTX 4090?

A: The data suggests a good match. The combo ranks in the top 11% (321/2911) of tested systems. The CPU's average benchmark score of 37018 is competitive with its rivals, and it allows the RTX 4090 to perform well, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU is more heavily utilized.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the "Low" preset leads with an average of 123 FPS, followed by "Medium" at 102 FPS, "High" at 90 FPS, and "Ultra" at 75 FPS. The "Medium" preset shows a minimum of 87 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS, indicating a stable frame rate. This resolution shows the smallest performance gap between presets, with "Ultra" still achieving a very playable 75 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected. The "Low" preset averages 116 FPS, while "Medium" averages 96 FPS (with a min of 82 and max of 111). "High" drops to 80 FPS, and "Ultra" falls to 63 FPS. The gap between "Low" and "Ultra" is now 53 FPS, showing a larger spread as the resolution increases, which points to the GPU becoming more of a limiting factor.

At the demanding 3840x2160 resolution, the "Low" preset still manages an average of 107 FPS, evidence of the RTX 4090's power. The "Medium" preset is the best high-fidelity option, averaging 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 101. "High" drops to 63 FPS, and "Ultra" falls to 50 FPS. The data shows a clear trend: at 4K, the "Medium" preset is the only one that offers a significant cushion above the 60 FPS baseline, while "Ultra" is borderline playable.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about the system's bottleneck. Looking at the "Medium" preset, the average FPS goes from 102 at 1080p to 96 at 1440p, and finally to 87 at 4K. This represents a 14.7% drop from 1080p to 4K (from 102 to 87 FPS). The scaling is not linear; the drop from 1080p to 1440p is only about 5.9%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is about 9.4%. This pattern suggests that the system is less CPU-bound at higher resolutions.

At 1080p, the CPU has more headroom to feed frames to the GPU, but it may still be a limiting factor. The relatively small drop in FPS from 1080p to 1440p (102 to 96 FPS) indicates that the CPU is keeping up well, and the GPU is starting to take on more work. The more significant drop from 1440p to 4K (96 to 87 FPS) shows the GPU is now being pushed harder, as the pixel count increases substantially. This is characteristic of a system where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at 4K.

This scaling behavior is typical for a mid-range CPU paired with a top-tier GPU. The Ryzen 5 5500X3D, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides enough performance to prevent severe bottlenecks at lower resolutions. However, the data suggests that at 1080p, the system is not fully GPU-bound, as the FPS is not as high as the RTX 4090's raw power might suggest in less CPU-intensive titles. At 4K, the GPU's workload becomes more dominant, and the FPS scaling reflects this shift. The takeaway is that the limiting component transitions from the CPU at 1080p to the GPU at 4K, which is a healthy balance for a gaming system.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer). It has a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz. Its large 96 MB shared L3 cache is a key feature, often benefiting gaming performance. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 20363 in Passmark's multithread test and 2941 in the single-thread test, with an average benchmark score of 37018, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls. The benchmark results show that the CPU is a capable partner for the RTX 4090. The combo's rank of 321 out of 2911 demonstrates that the 5500X3D does not severely hold back the GPU. The nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks, such as the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and Intel Core Ultra 5 225, have very similar average scores (with deltas of 0.2% and 0.2%, respectively), indicating that this CPU is competitively positioned in its class.

The data suggests that the CPU's core count is adequate for this title. The 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to maintain high frame rates, as evidenced by the 123 FPS average at 1080p on "Low" settings. However, the ranking indicates that there is room for improvement. The fact that the combo is not in the top 10 or top 50 suggests that CPUs with more cores or higher single-thread performance might yield even higher frame rates in The Medium. The CPU's performance ceiling appears to be a slight limiting factor at 1080p, where the GPU is not fully saturated, but it becomes less of an issue at 4K, where the GPU's workload dominates.