The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding workload for the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination, with benchmark data showing a clear and consistent performance hierarchy across resolutions and presets. The measured results reveal that this pairing is heavily influenced by graphics settings, with the RTX 3070’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and Ampere architecture playing a pivotal role in determining playability. The data indicates a system that can handle the game’s fixed-camera horror at high frame rates in lower resolutions, but which struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K with maximum fidelity.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data for this combo shows a dramatic drop as resolution increases, which is a classic indicator of GPU-bound scaling. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 121.5 FPS, a figure that falls to 105.7 FPS at 1440p and 82.2 FPS at 4K. This progression represents a 32.3% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, suggesting that even at the lowest preset, the rendering load at 4K is substantial. The scaling is steeper when moving from 1080p to 1440p, where the frame rate drops by 13.0%, than from 1440p to 4K, where it falls by 22.2%. This non-linear pattern points to the GPU being the primary bottleneck, as the CPU has more headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions.

With Medium settings, the same trend emerges but with more pronounced absolute differences. The system averages 76.9 FPS at 1080p, 67.8 FPS at 1440p, and 51.9 FPS at 4K. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs 11.8% of performance, while the jump to 4K removes an additional 23.5%. These percentages indicate that the memory bandwidth and shading capability of the RTX 3070 are being taxed heavily at higher resolutions, with the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 20.31 TFLOPS FP32 throughput proving insufficient to maintain 60 FPS at 4K on Medium.

High settings amplify the scaling penalty further. The average frame rates are 52.7 FPS at 1080p, 44.8 FPS at 1440p, and 34.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 15.0% loss from 1080p to 1440p and a 23.4% loss from 1440p to 4K. The data shows that at High settings, the combo cannot sustain 60 FPS at any resolution, which is a significant finding for a GPU that sits in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. The Ultra preset delivers the lowest performance ceiling, with 43.2 FPS at 1080p, 34.8 FPS at 1440p, and 27.6 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 36.1% drop, indicating that the game’s most demanding settings create a workload that the RTX 3070’s 8 GB frame buffer and 256-bit memory interface cannot handle efficiently.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070’s specifications are central to interpreting these results. The GPU features a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus. This configuration yields a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is a critical figure for a game like The Medium that employs high-resolution textures and complex lighting. The 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer is another limiting factor, as the data shows that 4K Ultra performance (27.6 FPS) is less than half of the 1080p Low performance (121.5 FPS), suggesting that the card is running out of memory capacity or bandwidth at higher settings.

The GPU’s compute capabilities are substantial, with 5888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s provide the raw throughput needed for the game’s cinematic presentation. However, the benchmark scores place the RTX 3070 in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238. In comparison to its nearest rivals, the RTX 3070 is 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, but it trails the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X by 1.1%. These narrow margins suggest that the RTX 3070 is positioned in a highly competitive performance tier, but its specific strengths in ray tracing and DLSS (though not measured here) do not translate into a dominant lead in this title.

The GPU’s 220 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate that it is a power-hungry component, but the measured FPS data shows that the frame rate is more dependent on the preset than on resolution alone. For instance, 1080p High (52.7 FPS) is nearly identical to 1440p Medium (67.8 FPS), which is lower, but the gap between 4K Low (82.2 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (43.2 FPS) is massive. This indicates that the game’s settings have a larger impact on performance than resolution scaling, which is a hallmark of a GPU that is being constrained by its memory subsystem rather than its core clocks.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average is 121.5 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: No. At 4K, the highest average frame rate is 82.2 FPS on Low settings, but Medium drops to 51.9 FPS, and High falls to 34.3 FPS, so 60 FPS is only possible at the lowest preset.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rival, the RX 6600 XT?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 28238, which is 0.9% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT’s score of 27985.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 52.7 FPS at 1080p to 34.3 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 35.0%.

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

A: The data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as frame rates scale significantly with resolution and preset, while the CPU’s 6-core, 12-thread configuration with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz provides sufficient headroom for the measured FPS ranges.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 783rd out of 1689 tested combinations, placing it in the upper half of all systems tested for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 783rd out of 1689 tested combos, which places it in the 53.6th percentile of all systems. This is a middle-of-the-pack result that reflects the GPU’s 72nd percentile standing but is dragged down by the CPU’s more modest 78th percentile ranking. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 20740, which is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-10700, with a deltaPct of 0. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is 0.3% ahead, while the Intel Core i5-12490F is 0.3% behind, indicating that the processor is not a differentiator in this pairing.

The GPU’s average score of 28238 is more competitive, but its nearest rivals show that the RTX 3070 is not a clear leader. The AMD FirePro S7150 and AMD Radeon R9 M295X are 0.6% and 1.1% ahead, respectively, while the RX 6600 XT and GTX 980 Ti are 0.9% and 1% behind. This tight clustering suggests that the combo’s rank is more a function of the game’s specific demands than raw hardware potential. The measured FPS data confirms this, as the system’s performance in The Medium is inconsistent, with some presets yielding playable frame rates and others falling below 30 FPS.

The ranking also reflects the fact that the RTX 3070 is an end-of-life product, having been released in 2020, while the Ryzen 5 5600GT is a newer 2024 release. This generational gap does not translate into a performance advantage for the CPU, as its Zen 3 (Cezanne) architecture with 16 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support is adequate but not exceptional for gaming. The combo’s 783rd rank out of 1689 is a solid result for a system that is not top-tier, but the data shows that it cannot compete with higher-end configurations that have more GPU memory and faster memory buses.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, the Medium preset provides the best balance of visual quality and performance, with an average of 76.9 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and offers a significant improvement over Low settings (121.5 FPS) without the steep cost of High (52.7 FPS) or Ultra (43.2 FPS). For players who prioritize smoothness, Low at 1080p is the only preset that exceeds 120 FPS, but Medium is the recommended choice for a more detailed experience.

At 1440p, the Medium preset yields 67.8 FPS, which is still playable and represents a 34.6% improvement over High (44.8 FPS). Low settings at 1440p (105.7 FPS) are the only option that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, but Medium is the best overall pick for those who want higher fidelity without sacrificing playability. Ultra at 1440p (34.8 FPS) is not recommended, as it falls below the 40 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

At 4K, the situation is more challenging. The Low preset (82.2 FPS) is the only setting that provides a playable experience, while Medium drops to 51.9 FPS, which is marginal, and High (34.3 FPS) and Ultra (27.6 FPS) are not recommended. The data suggests that for 4K gaming, players must accept Low settings to get a fluid experience, or they should consider reducing the resolution to 1440p with Medium settings for a better overall visual experience. The RTX 3070’s 8 GB memory capacity is a clear constraint at 4K, and the benchmark results show that the card is not suited for high-fidelity rendering at that resolution in this title.