The Medium

The Medium presents an unusual scaling pattern with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, one that reveals a title heavily influenced by its fixed-camera presentation and rendering techniques. The measured FPS data shows that the gap between 1080p and 4K is not uniform across settings, which tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows that resolution scaling behaves differently depending on the quality preset. At Low settings, the game scales almost perfectly with pixel count: 133.9 FPS at 1920x1080 drops to 127.4 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 5% reduction), then falls to 107.3 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 16% drop from 1440p). This is a GPU-bound scenario where the RTX 4070 SUPER's 504.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth and 1980 MHz base clock are doing the heavy lifting, and the frame rate remains high enough that the CPU rarely becomes the limiting factor.

The scaling becomes steeper at Medium settings. The 104.1 FPS at 1080p drops to 87.8 FPS at 1440p (a 16% reduction), then falls to 69.9 FPS at 4K (a 20% reduction from 1440p). This suggests that Medium settings introduce enough additional GPU workload that the card's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 7168 shading units start to feel the pressure at higher resolutions.

High and Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling, but in a counterintuitive way. At High, the game runs at 74.3 FPS at 1080p, drops to 65.8 FPS at 1440p (11% reduction), and then hits 47.2 FPS at 4K (28% reduction from 1440p). Ultra is even more punishing: 56.6 FPS at 1080p, 48.7 FPS at 1440p, and 42.2 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that falls below 45 FPS, indicating that the game's most demanding visual features are extremely resolution-sensitive.

What this tells a builder is that The Medium is primarily GPU-limited at higher settings, but the CPU still matters. The Ryzen 5 5600's 6 cores and 12 threads with a 3.50 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock are sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p, but the frame rate ceiling at Low settings (133.9 FPS) suggests the CPU is starting to cap performance even at that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 339th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the top 20% of all configurations tested, which is a strong result for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The ranking reflects that this combo delivers playable frame rates at most settings and resolutions, with the notable exception of Ultra at 4K.

The CPU's percentile ranking against all processors is 79, meaning it outperforms roughly four out of five CPUs in the benchmark database. The GPU's percentile is even higher at 84. When combined, these two components produce a system that is well-balanced for this game, though the data suggests the GPU is doing more of the heavy lifting at higher resolutions.

The nearest rival comparisons for the CPU show it trading blows with enterprise-class processors. It sits 0.6% ahead of the Intel Xeon D-1746TER and 0.6% behind both the AMD EPYC 9554P and AMD EPYC 9534. The Intel Core i7-11700F is 0.9% ahead. These are all within a margin that would be imperceptible in real-world gaming, confirming that the Ryzen 5 5600 is not the limiting factor in this combo.

For the GPU, the RTX 4070 SUPER sits 0.2% behind the NVIDIA RTX A6000 and 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE, while running 1.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 580X and 1.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M40. These are workstation and datacenter cards, which underscores how competitive this consumer GPU is in raw compute terms.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 5600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor built on the Zen 3 architecture with a 7 nm process node from TSMC. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s of dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth provide solid fundamentals for gaming. The 3.50 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock are modest by modern standards, but the architecture's efficiency compensates.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is most apparent at Low settings where frame rates exceed 130 FPS. The 133.9 FPS at 1080p Low is likely approaching the CPU's ceiling for this game, given that the 3dmark_single_thread score of 882 and 3dmark_2_threads score of 1737 indicate moderate single-thread performance. The game's fixed-camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds may not demand extensive multi-threading, but the 3dmark_max_threads score of 5659 shows the processor can handle 12 threads when needed.

The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 18309 and single-core score of 2584 provide context for how this CPU handles the game's logic and rendering commands. The multicore result is strong for a 6-core part, while the single-core result is adequate but not exceptional. This suggests that The Medium's performance is more dependent on the GPU than on CPU single-thread performance, which matches the resolution scaling data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers a wide range of performance depending on settings. Low settings produce 133.9 FPS, which is smooth on any display. Medium settings yield 104.1 FPS, still well above the 60 FPS threshold. High settings drop to 74.3 FPS, which is playable but shows the game's demanding nature. Ultra settings fall to 56.6 FPS, which is borderline for a horror game where frame pacing matters for atmosphere.

At 2560x1440, the picture changes. Low settings still deliver 127.4 FPS, a modest 5% drop from 1080p. Medium settings produce 87.8 FPS, a 16% drop. High settings hit 65.8 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS target. Ultra settings drop to 48.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and may cause noticeable stutter in a game that relies on tension.

At 3840x2160, only Low settings remain comfortably playable at 107.3 FPS. Medium settings produce 69.9 FPS, which is acceptable. High settings fall to 47.2 FPS, and Ultra settings bottom out at 42.2 FPS. These 4K numbers confirm that the RTX 4070 SUPER is a 1440p-class card for this specific title, and that Ultra settings at 4K are not viable with this combo.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using a 5 nm process from TSMC, with 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. Its 1980 MHz base clock and 2475 MHz boost clock are high for a 220 W card. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for a game like The Medium that uses high-resolution textures and environmental effects.

The GPU's 7168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster operation units are substantial for rasterized rendering. The 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for ray tracing and DLSS, though the measured FPS data does not specify whether these features were enabled. The 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 554.4 GTexel/s texture rate indicate a card that can handle modern game engines comfortably.

The PassMark G3D score of 29995 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4627 demonstrate the card's synthetic performance. The GPU's 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs means it outperforms most cards in the database. The 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs support modern displays, and the 1x 16-pin power connector with a 550 W suggested PSU makes it manageable for most builds.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run The Medium at 60 FPS in 4K?

A: Only at Low settings, where it achieves 107.3 FPS. At Medium settings it drops to 69.9 FPS, High settings fall to 47.2 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 42.2 FPS. For a locked 60 FPS experience at 4K, you would need to use Low or Medium settings.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: Medium settings deliver 87.8 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold with headroom for dips. High settings at 65.8 FPS are also viable, but Ultra settings at 48.7 FPS fall below the 60 FPS target.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this combo?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiter at higher settings and resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 133.9 FPS result suggests the CPU may be approaching its ceiling, but at 4K Ultra the 42.2 FPS result is clearly GPU-bound.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5600 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: It is 0.6% ahead of the Intel Xeon D-1746TER, 0.6% behind both the AMD EPYC 9554P and AMD EPYC 9534, and 0.9% behind the Intel Core i7-11700F. These differences are negligible in gaming.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: It is 0.2% behind the NVIDIA RTX A6000, 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE, 1.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 580X, and 1.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M40.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking in this game?

A: The combo ranks 339th out of 1689 tested combinations, placing it in the top 20% of all configs tested. This is a strong result for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU.