The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination delivers a distinctive performance profile in The Medium, a horror title released on 2021-01-27. The data shows a system where the GPU’s immense capabilities are frequently tempered by the CPU’s more modest specifications, creating an interesting bottleneck dynamic. This analysis examines the measured FPS across resolutions and settings, the role of each component, and how this pairing ranks among thousands of tested configurations.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F is a 5000-series desktop processor built on the Zen 3 architecture, known by the codename Vermeer. It features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz. This is a 7 nm part from TSMC, containing 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a shared 32 MB L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, and it runs on the AMD Socket AM4 platform. Its TDP is rated at 65 watts, and the multiplier is unlocked for overclocking.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 5600F scores 19,236 in Passmark multithread, 2,872 in single-thread, and 59,339 in integer math. Its average benchmark score is 36,945, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Comparing it to its nearest rivals, the data reveals a tightly clustered group. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 scores 36,938, a delta of 0%. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37,018, which is -0.2% relative to the 5600F, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37,093, a -0.4% delta. The Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37,112, representing a -0.5% difference. This indicates the 5600F is essentially performance-equivalent to these four other processors, with a spread of less than 1%.

For The Medium, the CPU’s role is most evident when examining the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 117 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 111 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls to 102 FPS. This is a relatively gentle decline of about 13% from 1080p to 4K, which suggests the CPU is not the sole limiting factor even at lower resolutions. However, the 5600F’s 6-core, 12-thread configuration appears sufficient to feed the RTX 5090 in this title, as the frame rates remain high across all settings. The Passmark physics score of 1,043 and floating point math score of 34,548 provide context for its compute capabilities, but in-game, the data shows a processor that keeps pace without introducing major stutters or severe drops, as indicated by the minimum FPS values recorded in the Medium setting rows.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best average frame rate achieved by this CPU and GPU combo in The Medium?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 117, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The next highest is 111 FPS at 2560x1440 Low, followed by 102 FPS at 3840x2160 Low.

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 225?

A: The two processors are virtually identical in average benchmark score. The 5600F scores 36,945, while the Core Ultra 5 225 scores 36,938, resulting in a deltaPct of 0%.

Q: What is the lowest average frame rate observed in the measured data?

A: The lowest average FPS is 51, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. This is the only configuration in the data set that drops below 60 FPS on average.

Q: Does the RTX 5090’s high benchmark percentile translate to top-tier performance in this specific game?

A: The RTX 5090 sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 79,842. However, in The Medium, the combo ranks 351st out of 2,911 tested combinations, which is in the top 12% of results, showing that the GPU’s strength is somewhat mitigated by other factors in this title.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Medium and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset yields an average of 92 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces 65 FPS. This represents a 27 FPS drop, or approximately 29% lower performance when switching from Medium to Ultra.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 5090 have, and what is its memory bandwidth?

A: The GPU is equipped with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The memory clock is listed as 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear trend in resolution scaling. At Low settings, the average frame rates are 117 FPS at 1080p, 111 FPS at 1440p, and 102 FPS at 4K. This is a drop of 15 FPS from 1080p to 4K, or roughly 13%. For High settings, the progression is 86 FPS at 1080p, 82 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K. The decline from 1080p to 4K is 22 FPS, approximately 26%. The Ultra preset shows the most significant scaling: 77 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K, a total drop of 26 FPS, or about 34%.

The Medium preset, which includes minimum and maximum FPS data, offers more insight. At 1080p, the Medium preset averages 98 FPS with a min of 83 and max of 112. At 1440p, the average drops to 92 FPS with a min of 78 and max of 106. At 4K, the average falls to 85 FPS with a min of 72 and max of 98. The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is only 13 FPS on average, or about 13%. This relatively modest decline suggests that the system is not purely GPU-bound at higher resolutions; if it were, the 4K result would typically show a more pronounced drop given the 4x pixel count increase.

Instead, the data implies a balanced load where the CPU’s capabilities start to matter more as resolution increases, but the RTX 5090’s raw power still dominates. The fact that the 4K Medium result (85 FPS) is higher than the 1080p Ultra result (77 FPS) indicates that settings have a more substantial impact on performance than resolution alone. This points to the game’s rendering pipeline, where certain effects at Ultra settings tax the system heavily regardless of pixel count, while the CPU maintains a consistent baseline of performance across resolutions. The narrow gap between 1080p and 1440p results (e.g., 98 vs 92 FPS on Medium) further suggests that the Ryzen 5 5600F is well-matched to deliver a stable experience, with the RTX 5090 providing enough headroom to absorb most of the additional resolution load.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the data shows a spread of 40 FPS across the four settings. Low settings produce an average of 117 FPS. Medium settings reduce this to 98 FPS, with a minimum of 83 and a maximum of 112. High settings yield 86 FPS on average. Ultra settings are the most demanding at this resolution, producing 77 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 40 FPS, or approximately 34%.

At 2560x1440, the performance hierarchy remains consistent. Low settings average 111 FPS. Medium settings average 92 FPS, with a minimum of 78 and a maximum of 106. High settings drop to 82 FPS. Ultra settings produce 65 FPS. The total spread from Low to Ultra is 46 FPS, or about 41%. Notably, the 1440p Ultra result of 65 FPS is lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 77 FPS, showing a 12 FPS penalty for the higher resolution.

At 3840x2160, the impact of resolution is most apparent. Low settings average 102 FPS. Medium settings average 85 FPS, with a minimum of 72 and a maximum of 98. High settings yield 64 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 51 FPS, the lowest recorded value in the entire data set. The spread from Low to Ultra is 51 FPS, or exactly 50%. This means that at 4K, the Ultra preset delivers only half the frame rate of the Low preset.

Looking at the Medium preset across all resolutions, which is the only one with min/max data, the consistency is notable. At 1080p, the average is 98 FPS (min 83, max 112). At 1440p, the average is 92 FPS (min 78, max 106). At 4K, the average is 85 FPS (min 72, max 98). The minimum FPS values remain comfortably above 70 FPS even at 4K, indicating that the system maintains smooth frame delivery without severe hitches. The variance between min and max is relatively tight, ranging from 26 to 29 FPS across resolutions, which suggests stable performance rather than erratic spikes.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a flagship card from the GeForce 50-series, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip. It is manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC, containing 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. It features 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines. The RT cores number 170, and the tensor cores total 680. The card’s compute capabilities are substantial, with an FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

Memory is a defining feature of the RTX 5090. It comes with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The memory clock is rated at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed. This massive memory allocation and bandwidth are intended for high-resolution textures and heavy workloads. In The Medium, a horror game that often uses detailed environments and lighting effects, the 32 GB VRAM ensures there is no texture thrashing or memory-related stutter, even at 4K Ultra.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5090 scores 39,650 in Passmark G3D and 26,756 in GPU compute. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 18,355, and Geekbench scores are 334,370 for OpenCL and 376,728 for Vulkan. The GPU’s average benchmark score is 79,842, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605 score, +0.3% relative to the 5090), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396, +0.6%), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940, +1.1%), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80,959, -1.4%). These rivals are not gaming cards, which highlights the RTX 5090’s position as a compute powerhouse, but in gaming, the actual FPS is bounded by game-specific optimizations.

The GPU’s role in The Medium is evident when comparing the Ultra and Low presets at the same resolution. At 4K, the difference between Low (102 FPS) and Ultra (51 FPS) is 51 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset activates GPU-intensive effects that halve the frame rate. The RTX 5090’s high pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s provide the raw horsepower, but the game’s engine at Ultra settings demands more than the card can deliver at 4K to maintain 60+ FPS. At 1440p Ultra, the card manages 65 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold, showing that the GPU can handle the Ultra preset when the pixel count is lower.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium provides 98 FPS on average, which is 21 FPS higher than High and only 19 FPS lower than Low. At 1440p, Medium yields 92 FPS, a solid result that is 10 FPS above High and 19 FPS below Low. At 4K, Medium produces 85 FPS, which is 21 FPS higher than High and 17 FPS lower than Low. The Medium preset consistently delivers frame rates that are closer to the Low preset’s performance than to High or Ultra, while presumably offering better visual fidelity than Low.

The High preset is a less attractive option. At 1080p, it is 12 FPS slower than Medium (86 vs 98 FPS). At 1440p, it is 10 FPS slower (82 vs 92 FPS). At 4K, the gap widens to 21 FPS (64 vs 85 FPS). This suggests that the High preset introduces settings that are disproportionately taxing on the system without a commensurate performance benefit, as the frame rates drop significantly, especially at 4K where it falls to 64 FPS.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for most users. At 1080p, it achieves 77 FPS, which is playable but 21 FPS below Medium. At 1440p, it drops to 65 FPS, which is borderline. At 4K, it falls to 51 FPS, which is below the standard 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The only scenario where Ultra might be considered is 1080p, where 77 FPS is still decent, but the visual gains over Medium are likely minimal given the significant performance cost.

For a consistent 60+ FPS experience at any resolution, the Medium preset is the clear choice. The minimum FPS data supports this, as the Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 72 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target. Even at 4K Ultra, the minimum FPS is not recorded, but the average of 51 FPS suggests it would dip below 60. Therefore, the data recommends the Medium preset as the optimal balance between visual quality and frame rate, with the Low preset serving as a fallback for users prioritizing maximum FPS over visuals.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 351st out of 2,911 tested combinations in The Medium. This places the combo in the top 12% of all tested systems, indicating that it is a high-performing configuration overall. However, given the RTX 5090’s status as one of the most powerful consumer GPUs available, one might expect a higher rank. The fact that it is not in the top 100 suggests that the CPU is holding back the system in this specific title.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 36,945 and its 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicate that it is a solid mid-to-high-range processor, but it is not a flagship. In a game like The Medium, which may rely on single-threaded performance or specific CPU instructions, the 5600F’s 6-core, 12-thread configuration might be a limiting factor compared to CPUs with higher scores or more cores. The nearest rival data shows that the 5600F is essentially equivalent to other mid-range chips like the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D, so the ranking is likely representative of what these CPUs can achieve.

The GPU, in contrast, is in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842. This suggests that the RTX 5090 is capable of much higher performance than what is being achieved in The Medium. The gap between the GPU’s potential and the actual in-game rank highlights the CPU’s role as the bottleneck. The measured FPS data supports this, as the frame rates do not scale dramatically with resolution, indicating that the CPU is providing a performance ceiling.

Compared to other combos that might feature a higher-end CPU like the Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 9 series, the 5600F-based system will likely score lower in rankings, even with the same GPU. The rank of 351 out of 2,911 means there are 350 other combinations that achieve higher frame rates or better performance in this game. These likely include systems with more powerful CPUs that can better feed the RTX 5090. For users with this specific combo, the data suggests that while the experience is generally smooth and playable, there is untapped potential in the GPU that would require a CPU upgrade to fully realize.