The Medium

The Medium, a horror title released in 2021, presents a demanding workload for PC hardware. This analysis examines the combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, using measured frame rates across resolutions and settings. The data shows a combo that ranks 345th out of 1689 tested configurations, placing it in the top 20.4% of all tested combos. With a CPU in the 78th percentile and a GPU in the 82nd percentile, this pairing delivers strong, consistent performance, though the frame-rate scaling across resolutions reveals a clear GPU-bound profile.

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

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor built on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer) using a 7 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The CPU includes 32 MB of L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, the 5600X achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18578 and a single-core score of 2622, while its average benchmark score across all tests is 20680. This places it in the 78th percentile of all CPUs.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the 5600X is essentially tied. Its average score of 20680 is 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT (20740) and the Intel Core i7-10700 (20746), 0.5% lower than the Intel Core i5-12490F (20794), and 0.7% higher than the Intel Xeon 6325P (20538). These deltas are within a fraction of a percent, indicating that the 5600X offers comparable CPU-bound performance to those parts.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is best understood through the frame-rate behavior at different settings. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 72 FPS, while at 1080p Low it reaches 140.4 FPS. The large gap between Low and High suggests that the game's CPU workload is not the primary constraint; otherwise, the FPS would remain similar across settings. The 6-core/12-thread configuration with a 4.60 GHz boost clock is more than sufficient for the game's logic, as evidenced by the fact that even at 4K Low, the frame rate (103.6 FPS) is still high. The CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core 2622) and multi-thread capability (18578) are both strong, but the data indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor in this combo, not the CPU.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is a high-end graphics card based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture (Navi 31) on a 5 nm process. It features 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 1387 MHz, with a boost clock of 2394 MHz and a game clock of 2025 MHz. It contains 5376 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, 192 ROPs, and 84 ray-tracing cores. In synthetic benchmarks, the 7900 XT scores 5623 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 169834 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 160119 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its average benchmark score is 38358, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the 7900 XT is effectively on par with several NVIDIA parts. Its average score of 38358 is exactly equal to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile (38349, delta 0%), 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA CMP 70HX (38225), 0.4% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 (38494), and 0.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135). These tiny deltas mean the 7900 XT sits in a tight performance cluster.

In The Medium, the GPU's influence is dominant. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 40 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. At 4K High, it reaches 49.9 FPS, and at 4K Medium, 66.3 FPS. Only at 4K Low does it exceed 100 FPS (103.6). The 20 GB VRAM and 800 GB/s bandwidth are ample for the game's textures and memory demands, but the raw compute power (51.48 TFLOPS FP32) is what drives the frame rates. The GPU's high percentile and benchmark scores align with the observed performance: it is a capable part that can handle The Medium at high settings, but not at 4K Ultra without compromises.

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

The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a consistent pattern. For High settings, the average FPS drops from 72 at 1080p to 60.2 at 1440p and 49.9 at 4K — a 30.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K. For Low settings, the drop is from 140.4 to 132.3 to 103.6, a 26.2% reduction. Medium settings show a drop from 103.6 to 84.3 to 66.3, a 36.0% reduction. Ultra settings go from 57.7 to 50.4 to 40, a 30.7% reduction. These percentage drops are relatively uniform across settings, with Medium showing the largest relative decline.

This uniformity is a hallmark of GPU-bound performance. The CPU's workload does not change with resolution, so if the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain nearly constant across resolutions. Instead, the FPS falls as resolution increases, indicating that the GPU's pixel and shading throughput is the limiting factor. Even at Low settings, where the GPU load is reduced, the 4K frame rate (103.6) is still 26.2% lower than at 1080p (140.4), confirming that the GPU is the primary constraint. The 7900 XT's strong performance at lower resolutions and its gradual decline at higher resolutions are typical of a high-end GPU paired with a mid-range CPU; the CPU is not holding back the GPU at any resolution.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In The Medium, this combination of the Ryzen 5 5600X and the Radeon RX 7900 XT ranks 345th out of 1689 tested combos. This places it in the top 20.4% of all configurations, meaning it outperforms roughly 79.6% of the tested systems. Given that the CPU sits in the 78th percentile and the GPU in the 82nd percentile, the combo's rank is consistent with the individual components' standings. The rank indicates that while this pairing is strong, there are many combos that deliver higher frame rates, likely those with more powerful CPUs or GPUs. However, the 345th position is a solid result, especially considering the CPU's mid-range positioning. The data shows that the 5600X does not bottleneck the 7900 XT in this game, as the combo's rank is higher than the CPU's percentile alone would suggest, and the GPU's high percentile is reflected in the overall performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the CPU's core and thread count?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X has 6 cores and 12 threads.

Q: What is the GPU's memory size and bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT has 20 GB of GDDR6 memory with a bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s.

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K Ultra in The Medium?

A: The combo averages 40 FPS at 4K Ultra settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to the Intel Core i5-12490F?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600X has an average benchmark score of 20680, which is 0.5% lower than the i5-12490F's 20794.

Q: What is the combo's rank in The Medium?

A: It ranks 345th out of 1689 tested combos.

Q: What is the GPU's boost clock?

A: The GPU's boost clock is 2394 MHz.