The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination produces a playable, though not exceptional, experience in The Medium. The data shows a system that is firmly capable at 1080p, but one that struggles to maintain smooth frame rates as resolution increases. This pairing ranks in the lower-middle tier of tested configurations, with benchmark results indicating that the GPU is the primary constraint in most scenarios.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS recorded for this pairing at 1920x1080 is 83, which is achieved with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the RTX 2060's performance compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: In the average benchmark score, the RTX 2060 scores 15290, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580's score of 15283, showing a 0% deltaPct difference.

Q: What is the average FPS at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the system delivers an average of 44 FPS, with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 50 FPS.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600F a high-performing CPU relative to all others?

A: The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 85, meaning it outperforms 85% of all processors in the database’s benchmark suite.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo at 4K?

A: The only 4K resolution with a recorded minimum FPS is 3840x2160 at Medium settings, where the minimum is 29 FPS.

Q: Does the GPU have a high amount of VRAM for this game?

A: The RTX 2060 features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is a factor in its performance, though the measured frame rates suggest it is a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the clear bottleneck in this configuration for The Medium. The GPU's memory configuration includes 6 GB of GDDR6 VRAM on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. This is a significant amount of memory bandwidth, but the capacity itself appears to be a constraint. The data shows a stark drop in performance when moving from lower to higher resolutions, which is a classic sign of the GPU hitting its memory or processing limits.

The RTX 2060 is based on the Turing architecture and has a boost clock of 1680 MHz. Its compute capabilities are substantial, with 1920 shading units and a FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS. Despite these specs, the measured FPS in The Medium indicates that the GPU's raw power is insufficient for demanding 4K gameplay. The synthetic benchmark scores support this, with the GPU's Passmark G3D score being 14111. This places it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 680M and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, with deltaPct values of 0.1% and 0.6% respectively.

The GPU's performance in the game drops from an average of 83 FPS at 1080p Low to 20 FPS at 4K Ultra. This is a 75% reduction in frame rate, highlighting how the GPU's resources are exhausted as the rendering load increases. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is likely a key factor, as the higher resolution textures and effects in The Medium can easily exceed this limit, causing performance to plummet. The data suggests that while the RTX 2060 can handle the game's visuals at lower resolutions, its memory and processing capabilities are not sufficient for a smooth high-resolution experience.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a significant performance penalty as the render target increases. The average FPS for each setting preset shows a consistent downward trend from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. For instance, at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 83 at 1080p to 70 at 1440p, and then further to 55 at 4K. This represents a 20% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a 21% decrease from 1440p to 4K, showing that the scaling is not linear.

The drop from 1080p to 4K is more severe at higher settings. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 37 at 1080p to 31 at 1440p and then to 25 at 4K. This is a cumulative 32% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The pattern is even more pronounced at Ultra settings, where the frame rate drops from 30 at 1080p to 25 at 1440p and finally to 20 at 4K. This data indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, as the performance scaling is consistent with a GPU that is being increasingly overwhelmed by pixel count.

The difference between 1080p and 1440p is less severe than the difference between 1440p and 4K in percentage terms for some presets, but the absolute frame rates are low enough to be problematic. For example, at Medium settings, the 1080p average is 52 FPS, which is playable, but the 1440p average is 44 FPS, which is borderline. The 4K average of 34 FPS is not smooth. This scaling behavior suggests that the RTX 2060 is most comfortable at 1080p, and any increase in resolution will require a significant drop in settings to maintain a reasonable frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at the system's performance across all tested settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system performs best with the Low preset, achieving an average of 83 FPS. The Medium preset delivers 52 FPS, with a minimum of 44 and a maximum of 60. High settings produce an average of 37 FPS, while Ultra is the most demanding, with an average of 30 FPS. This shows that at 1080p, the system can handle the game well at low to medium settings, but struggles to maintain high frame rates at higher quality presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably. The Low preset still delivers a playable 70 FPS average. However, the Medium preset falls to 44 FPS, with a minimum of 37 and a maximum of 50. High settings average 31 FPS, and Ultra drops to 25 FPS. This resolution represents a significant challenge for the RTX 2060, as even the Medium preset is not consistently smooth. At 3840x2160, the system is largely unable to provide a playable experience. The Low preset averages 55 FPS, which is the only playable option. Medium averages 34 FPS, with a minimum of 29 and a maximum of 40. High settings average 25 FPS, and Ultra is nearly unplayable at 20 FPS.

The data shows that the gap between Low and Medium settings is significant. For example, at 4K, the difference is 21 FPS (55 vs 34). This suggests that the Medium preset introduces rendering features that heavily tax the GPU. The minimum FPS values recorded for Medium settings at all resolutions (44 at 1080p, 37 at 1440p, 29 at 4K) indicate that there are moments of stutter, which could be distracting in a horror game where smoothness is important for immersion.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2287 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 21st percentile of all tested systems, which means that the majority of other configurations in the database deliver better performance in this game. This ranking is a direct reflection of the measured FPS data, which shows the system is capable but not competitive with higher-end hardware.

The CPU and GPU individually have solid benchmark scores. The Ryzen 5 5600F has an average benchmark score of 36945, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D, with deltaPct values of 0% and -0.2% respectively. The RTX 2060 has an average score of 15290, which is in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. However, the combination of a mid-range CPU and an older mid-range GPU results in a lower overall ranking for this game.

The gap between the CPU's strong relative performance and the GPU's weaker relative performance is telling. The data suggests that the GPU is holding back the system. If the CPU were paired with a more powerful GPU, the ranking would likely be much higher. However, as it stands, this combo is positioned in the lower half of the database, indicating that users should expect to make significant compromises in settings to achieve playable frame rates, especially at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture. It has a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, with 32 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are strong, with a Passmark multithread score of 19236 and a single-thread score of 2872. These numbers suggest that the CPU is more than capable of handling the game's logic and physics calculations.

In The Medium, a game that is likely to be more GPU-intensive, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with data. The data shows that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck. The consistent frame rate drops across resolutions, regardless of the CPU's capabilities, point to the GPU being the limiting factor. For example, the CPU's performance is the same at all resolutions, but the FPS drops significantly, which is a clear sign of GPU limitation.

The CPU's high percentile ranking (85th) and its benchmark scores indicate that it has enough headroom to support a more powerful GPU. The 12 threads and 6 cores are sufficient for modern gaming workloads. The data implies that the Ryzen 5 5600F is a solid foundation for a gaming system, but its potential is not fully realized when paired with the RTX 2060 in this specific title. The CPU is likely not causing any frame drops or stutters; the performance caps are almost entirely due to the GPU's rendering limits.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, the only viable option is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which achieves an average of 83 FPS. This is the best balance of performance and visual quality, as it is the only configuration that consistently stays above the 60 FPS threshold.

For users with a 1080p monitor who prefer higher visual quality, the Medium preset is a viable option, offering an average of 52 FPS. While this is below 60 FPS, it is still playable, though the minimum of 44 FPS indicates potential drops. The High and Ultra presets at 1080p are not recommended, as their average frame rates fall to 37 and 30 FPS respectively, which is not smooth for a horror game that relies on atmosphere and tension.

At 1440p, the Low preset is the only playable option, with an average of 70 FPS. The Medium preset averages 44 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold, and High and Ultra are not recommended. At 4K, the data suggests that the experience is generally poor. The Low preset averages 55 FPS, which is playable but not ideal, while all other presets deliver average frame rates below 35 FPS, which is too low for a comfortable experience. The best experience for this hardware is to prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, especially at higher resolutions. The data clearly shows that the Medium preset offers a significant performance hit compared to Low, making the Low preset the most practical choice for maintaining smooth gameplay.