The Medium

The Medium presents an interesting stress profile for the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti pairing. This combination, ranked 213th out of 1689 tested combos for this title, demonstrates how a modern high-end GPU interacts with a mid-range CPU in a game known for its fixed camera angles and dual-reality rendering. The measured data reveals a configuration that is capable of high refresh rates at lower resolutions but becomes increasingly GPU-bound as pixel count rises.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is stark, but the pattern is not uniform across all settings presets. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 (134.6 FPS) to 3840x2160 (117.7 FPS) represents a modest 12.6% performance loss. This relatively small delta suggests that at Low settings, even at 4K, the system is not completely overwhelmed by pixel throughput. However, the story changes dramatically when moving to higher fidelity presets. With Ultra settings, the frame rate falls from 65.5 FPS at 1080p to 41.9 FPS at 4K, a 36% reduction. This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that scale heavily with resolution, likely including volumetric lighting and high-resolution shadows.

The most telling data point for identifying the limiting component comes from the Medium preset. At 1080p, Medium yields 117.1 FPS, which is nearly identical to the Low preset's 134.6 FPS at the same resolution. But at 4K, Medium drops to 75.5 FPS, a 35.5% decline. This sharp drop-off at higher resolutions, coupled with the relatively small gap between Low and Medium at 1080p, suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU frames at lower resolutions, but the GPU's workload becomes the dominant factor as resolution increases. The data implies that at 4K with higher presets, the RTX 5070 Ti is the bottleneck, while at 1080p, the Ryzen 5 5600's six cores are likely holding back the system from achieving even higher frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 1689 tested combos for The Medium, this pairing sits at rank 213, placing it in the top 12.6% of all configurations tested. This is a strong showing, but it is not a top-tier result. The CPU's individual percentile ranking of 79th among all processors, combined with the GPU's 87th percentile ranking, suggests that the combination performs roughly in line with expectations for these components, though the CPU is a relative weak point. The gap in percentile rankings between the CPU and GPU hints that the processor is the limiting factor in achieving a higher combo rank.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 21765 places it in close competition with several server and workstation chips. It sits just 0.6% above the Intel Xeon D-1746TER and 0.6% below the AMD EPYC 9554P. This proximity to enterprise silicon is notable, but for gaming, the Ryzen 5 5600's architecture is more relevant. The GPU's average benchmark score of 52086 is effectively identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, with a 0% delta. This suggests that in synthetic benchmarks, the two cards are interchangeable, but in The Medium, the 5070 Ti's specific feature set may alter real-world performance.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070 Ti is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is substantial for a game released in 2021, suggesting that capacity is unlikely to be a limiting factor at any of the tested settings. The GPU's boost clock of 2452 MHz and its 8960 shading units provide the raw compute power needed for the game's rendering demands. With 70 RT cores, the card is well-equipped for any ray-traced effects The Medium might employ, although the measured data does not specify whether ray tracing is enabled in these presets.

The GPU's performance in The Medium shows a clear pattern of being the primary driver of frame rates at higher resolutions. The jump from Medium to High at 4K results in a 25.7% drop in FPS (75.5 to 56.1), while the jump from High to Ultra causes another 25.3% drop (56.1 to 41.9). This consistent scaling indicates that the GPU is being progressively saturated as settings increase. The fact that the card can push 117.7 FPS at 4K Low, but only 41.9 FPS at 4K Ultra, highlights the massive computational cost associated with the Ultra preset's effects. The data suggests that for a smooth 4K experience, users will need to make significant compromises in visual fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset achieves 134.6 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. Medium drops to 117.1 FPS, a 13% reduction, while High yields 81.6 FPS. Ultra at 1080p produces 65.5 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 51.3% drop from Low. This wide spread indicates that the CPU is capable of handling the game's logic and draw calls at this resolution, with the GPU being the primary variable.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales predictably. Low settings produce 131.9 FPS, which is only 2% lower than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is not yet fully stressed. Medium delivers 97.4 FPS, a solid result for 1440p gaming. High drops to 68.4 FPS, while Ultra falls to 53.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 59.5%, indicating that Ultra is significantly more demanding than Low at this resolution. The 1440p results show a system that can handle high refresh rates on lower presets but will struggle to maintain 60 FPS on Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings achieve 117.7 FPS, which is impressive for 4K, but Medium drops to 75.5 FPS. High yields 56.1 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS target, and Ultra produces 41.9 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 64.4%, the largest percentage gap across all resolutions. This indicates that at 4K, the Ultra preset's additional effects are disproportionately expensive, likely due to the increased pixel count amplifying the cost of per-pixel operations.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, running on the AM4 socket. Its base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are respectable, but its 32 MB of shared L3 cache is the key feature for gaming. In The Medium, the CPU's role appears to be sufficient for maintaining playable frame rates but not for pushing beyond what the GPU can achieve at lower resolutions. The benchmark scores show a single-thread score of 882 in 3dmark, which is modest, and a multi-thread score of 5659, indicating that the processor is more capable in multi-threaded workloads.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-11700F, which scores 21957, a 0.9% higher average. This indicates that the Ryzen 5 5600 is competitive with Intel's older 11th-generation parts. However, in a game like The Medium, which may rely on single-thread performance for game logic, the CPU's 3dmark single-thread score of 882 could be a limiting factor. The data from the measured FPS shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 134.6 FPS, but this is only 12% higher than at 4K Low (117.7 FPS). This relatively small gap suggests that even at 1080p, the CPU is not the sole bottleneck, as the GPU is still managing to render frames at a high rate.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and frame rate. For 1920x1080, the Medium preset at 117.1 FPS provides an excellent balance of visual quality and performance, offering a 43.5% improvement over High while only sacrificing moderate visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 65.5 FPS is playable but may not be worth the significant performance cost over High. For 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 97.4 FPS is the clear recommendation, as it delivers smooth gameplay without the substantial drop seen at High (68.4 FPS). At 3840x2160, the Low preset at 117.7 FPS is the only option that provides a high refresh rate experience. The Medium preset at 75.5 FPS is acceptable for most players, but High at 56.1 FPS and Ultra at 41.9 FPS will require a tolerance for sub-60 FPS gameplay. The data suggests that Medium is the "sweet spot" for this combination across all resolutions, offering the best balance of visual quality and frame rate stability.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combination achieves in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 134.6, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 213th out of 1689 tested combinations for The Medium, placing it in the top 12.6% of all configurations.

Q: Is the RTX 5070 Ti a limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, the data shows a significant performance drop at 3840x2160, with FPS falling from 117.7 at Low to 41.9 at Ultra, indicating the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution.

Q: What is the CPU's performance relative to its nearest rival?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 has an average benchmark score of 21765, which is 0.9% lower than the Intel Core i7-11700F's score of 21957.

Q: Which settings preset offers the best experience at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 97.4 FPS, offering a substantial improvement over High (68.4 FPS) while maintaining good visual quality.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM of the RTX 5070 Ti appear to be a limiting factor?

A: No, the data does not indicate VRAM capacity is a limiting factor, as the card performs consistently across presets, suggesting memory bandwidth and compute are the primary constraints.