The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and AMD Radeon RX 7700 pairing delivers a playable but demanding experience in The Medium. The data shows a system that leans heavily on settings discipline and resolution choice to hit smooth framerates, with the GPU acting as the clear performance bottleneck at higher visual loads. This analysis breaks down the measured results to help you configure the game for the best balance of visual fidelity and performance.

Settings Recommendations

For this hardware combination, the Medium preset is the clear sweet spot across all tested resolutions. At 1080p, it delivers an average of 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, providing a consistently smooth experience that stays above the 60 FPS threshold. The jump to High settings at the same resolution drops the average to 51 FPS, which is a 29% performance penalty for what is likely a marginal visual improvement in a game like this. The Ultra preset is not recommended for serious play, as it yields only 41 FPS on average at 1080p.

The case for Medium becomes even stronger at higher resolutions. At 1440p, Medium produces an average of 61 FPS with a minimum of 51 FPS, which is still very much playable and only a minor step down from the 1080p result. High settings at 1440p fall to an average of 43 FPS, which introduces noticeable stutter in a horror title where smooth camera movement is crucial. At 4K, the Medium preset manages a 48 FPS average with a 40 FPS minimum; while not ideal, it is the only preset that offers a semblance of playability at that resolution, as High drops to 34 FPS and Ultra becomes a slideshow at 27 FPS.

The Low preset, while offering the highest framerates (115 FPS at 1080p, 97 FPS at 1440p, and 76 FPS at 4K), is a poor trade-off for this hardware. The 5600X is capable of driving much higher framerates, but the visual hit from Low settings in a game so focused on atmosphere and environmental storytelling is not worth the performance gain. The data clearly indicates that Medium is the intended balance point for this combo, providing a 50% performance uplift over High at 1080p while retaining enough graphical detail to preserve the game's intended mood.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, running on the AMD Socket AM4 platform. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz, combined with a 32 MB L3 cache, provide strong single-threaded performance that is essential for maintaining consistent frame pacing. The CPU's benchmark results confirm its capability, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1541 and a multi-core score of 11838. This places it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a solid, upper-mid-range performer that will not be the limiting factor in most gaming scenarios.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle the game's logic. The data shows that the 5600X is more than adequate for this task, even at lower settings. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 115 FPS, which demonstrates the CPU's ability to push high framerates when the GPU is not the bottleneck. The 3DMark benchmarks support this, showing a single-thread score of 917 and an 8-thread score of 4811, indicating strong scaling across the cores. The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H (0.1% ahead) and the Intel Core i7-11700 (0.5% behind), showing that the 5600X is competitive with these older and higher-tier parts.

However, the CPU's performance headroom is not fully utilized in this game at higher settings. The framerate drop from Low to Medium at 1080p (115 to 72 FPS) is a 37% reduction, which is far larger than the CPU's own performance variance between single and multi-threaded tasks. This suggests that the game's rendering pipeline is heavily GPU-bound at Medium settings and above. The CPU is not the constraint; it is providing a stable platform that allows the GPU's performance to be the deciding factor. The 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die also indicate a modern, efficient design that should maintain consistent performance without thermal throttling, further ensuring the CPU keeps up with the GPU's demands.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications dictate the game's performance ceiling. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a substantial 624.1 GB/s of memory bandwidth. This is a significant asset for The Medium, a game that likely uses large textures and streaming environments. The GPU's 2560 shading units and 40 ray tracing cores are based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process. Its boost clock of 2459 MHz and game clock of 2041 MHz are high, but the raw compute power of 25.18 TFLOPS (FP32) is what drives the pixel throughput.

The benchmark results show that the RX 7700 is positioned in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with a Passmark G3D score of 20974. Its nearest rivals in average score include the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (1% ahead) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (1.7% ahead). This indicates the RX 7700 is a competent mid-range card, but it is not a high-end powerhouse. This is clearly reflected in the The Medium results. The most telling data point is the performance scaling from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 72 at 1080p to 48 at 4K, a 33% decrease. This is a substantial drop that indicates the GPU is being saturated by the increasing pixel count.

The GPU's memory configuration is a key factor in its performance. With 16 GB of VRAM, the card is unlikely to be bottlenecked by memory capacity even at 4K with Ultra textures. However, the drop from Medium to High settings at 4K (48 to 34 FPS, a 29% decrease) suggests that the GPU's compute units, rather than its memory, are the limiting factor. The card's 96 ROPs and 160 TMUs are tasked with filling and texturing the screen, and the data suggests they are overwhelmed at 4K with higher presets. The performance is playable at 1440p Medium, but the GPU's limitations become apparent at 4K, where even the Medium preset struggles to maintain a solid 60 FPS. This is a clear sign that the RX 7700 is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K being a stretch goal for less demanding titles or with significant settings compromises.

FAQ

*Q: Is this system capable of running The Medium at 60 FPS?*

A: Yes, but only at 1080p with the Medium preset, where it averages 72 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it averages 61 FPS, which is right at the threshold. At 4K, no preset achieves a 60 FPS average, with the best being Medium at 48 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a smooth experience at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice at 1440p. It provides an average of 61 FPS with a minimum of 51 FPS, which is a playable experience. The High preset averages only 43 FPS, which is too low for a consistent, smooth frame rate.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: The Ultra preset is significantly more demanding. At 1080p, it averages 41 FPS compared to High's 51 FPS, a 20% performance drop. At 4K, the difference is even more pronounced, with Ultra averaging 27 FPS versus High's 34 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game's performance?

A: The GPU is the primary limiting factor. This is evident from the large framerate drops when increasing resolution. For example, at Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 72 at 1080p to 48 at 4K, a 33% decrease that is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck.

Q: Does the 16 GB of VRAM on the RX 7700 help with 4K performance?

A: The data suggests that VRAM capacity is not the main issue at 4K. The performance drop from Medium to High at 4K (48 to 34 FPS) is more likely due to the GPU's compute and fillrate limits, as the VRAM capacity is sufficient for high-resolution textures.

*Q: How does this system rank among all tested configurations for The Medium?*

A: The combination ranks at 1307 out of 2911 tested combos, placing it in the 45th percentile. This indicates it performs better than a majority of systems, but it is not a top-tier setup for this specific game.

Resolution Scaling

The performance data reveals a clear and predictable pattern of scaling as resolution increases, which strongly indicates a GPU-bound scenario. Starting at 1080p with the Medium preset, the system averages 72 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the average drops to 61 FPS, a 15% decrease. This is a moderate dip, suggesting that while the pixel count has increased, the GPU still has some headroom. However, the jump to 4K is far more punishing. At 4K Medium, the average FPS falls to 48, a 33% decrease from 1440p and a 33% decrease from 1080p as well.

This non-linear scaling is the signature of a GPU that is becoming saturated. At 1080p, the RX 7700 is not working at its absolute limit, allowing the CPU to help push higher framerates. As the resolution climbs to 1440p, the GPU's workload increases, but it still manages to keep up reasonably well. At 4K, the GPU is forced to render four times the pixels of 1080p, and its compute units and memory bandwidth are overwhelmed. The result is a steep drop in performance that cannot be mitigated by the CPU's capabilities.

The impact of resolution is also visible in the Low preset data, which shows a similar trend. At 1080p Low, the system hits 115 FPS, but this falls to 97 FPS at 1440p and 76 FPS at 4K. While these are all high framerates, the percentage drop from 1080p to 4K (34%) is nearly identical to the Medium preset's drop (33%). This consistency across presets reinforces the conclusion that the GPU's rendering throughput is the limiting factor, not the game's specific settings or the CPU's processing power. The data points to a system that is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming but will require significant settings reductions to be viable at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is the complete set of measured average framerates for the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and AMD Radeon RX 7700 combination in The Medium.

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Low: Average 115 FPS. This is the highest framerate recorded and shows the system's potential when the GPU is not heavily taxed.
• Medium: Average 72 FPS, with a minimum of 61 and a maximum of 83 FPS. This is the recommended preset for a smooth 1080p experience.
• High: Average 51 FPS. A significant drop from Medium, indicating a heavy GPU load increase.
• Ultra: Average 41 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS target and is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Low: Average 97 FPS. Still very smooth, but a 16% drop from the 1080p Low result.
• Medium: Average 61 FPS, with a minimum of 51 and a maximum of 70 FPS. This is just at the edge of the 60 FPS target, providing a playable experience.
• High: Average 43 FPS. A noticeable drop that will cause visible stuttering in fast-moving scenes.
• Ultra: Average 34 FPS. This is a challenging experience and is not suitable for most players.

3840x2160 (4K)

• Low: Average 76 FPS. Surprisingly playable at 4K with the lowest settings, showing the GPU's raw power.
• Medium: Average 48 FPS, with a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 55 FPS. This is the only 4K preset that is somewhat playable, but it is not a locked 60 FPS.
• High: Average 34 FPS. A significant drop from Medium, making the game feel sluggish.
• Ultra: Average 27 FPS. This is effectively unplayable due to the low framerate.