The Medium

The Medium, a horror title released in 2021, presents a demanding workload for the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination. Measured frame rates across four settings presets and three resolutions reveal a system that can handle the game at lower settings but struggles at higher presets. The combo ranks 1146th out of 1689 tested combinations, placing it in the lower portion of the database, despite the CPU and GPU each sitting above the 50th percentile in their respective benchmark pools.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and playability. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 92.5 FPS, while Medium drops to 59.8, High to 41, and Ultra to 32.5. At 1440p, Low still manages 79.1 FPS, but Medium falls to 48.9, High to 32.1, and Ultra to 29.4. At 4K, Low is the only preset that breaks 60 FPS, hitting 61.2, while Medium yields 38.7, High 29.8, and Ultra a mere 20.

For a smooth experience, the Low preset at 4K is the only combination that exceeds 60 FPS at that resolution, but it sacrifices the higher settings. If the goal is a balance between visual quality and frame rate, the Medium preset at 1080p offers 59.8 FPS, which is effectively at the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset is not playable at any resolution, with its best result being 32.5 FPS at 1080p. The data suggests that players should either accept Low settings at 4K for a high-resolution experience or choose Medium at 1080p for a more detailed image while staying near 60 FPS. High settings at 1080p (41 FPS) and 1440p (32.1 FPS) are playable but not ideal for fast-paced scenes, and the 4K High result of 29.8 FPS is borderline.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. It features 32 MB of L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 18,578 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2,622 in single-core, with a Passmark multithread score of 21,858. Its average benchmark score of 20,680 places it at the 78th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals—the Ryzen 5 5600GT, Core i7-10700, and Core i5-12490F—are all within 0.5% of its average score, indicating a tightly clustered performance tier.

In The Medium, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the FPS at low settings. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 92.5 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS target. This suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor at that setting, as the frame rate is high enough to allow the GPU to be the primary constraint. The 12 threads and 4.60 GHz boost clock provide ample headroom for the game's fixed-camera horror scenes, which typically do not require extreme multi-threading. The CPU's 78th percentile ranking further supports its capability, but the combo's overall rank in this game is much lower, implying that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock is 1650 MHz, and it offers 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The GPU's FP32 performance is 7.181 TFLOPS, and it includes 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores. In benchmark tests, it scores 16,462 in Passmark G3D and 87,670 in Geekbench OpenCL, with an average benchmark score of 19,774, placing it at the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals—the GTX TITAN, RTX 2070, and Quadro K5200—are within 1.3% of its average score, showing that it sits in a competitive mid-range segment.

The GPU's impact on The Medium is evident from the FPS scaling. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate collapses to 20 FPS, while at 4K High it is 29.8 FPS. Even at 1440p Ultra, the result is 29.4 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it is 32.5 FPS. These numbers indicate that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are heavily stressed by the game's higher presets. The 8 GB VRAM is likely sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K High and Ultra settings push the card to its limits. The fact that Low settings at 4K still achieve 61.2 FPS suggests that the GPU can handle the resolution when the visual load is reduced, but the drop from Low to Medium at 4K (61.2 to 38.7) is substantial, highlighting the sensitivity of the GPU to settings changes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 5600X and RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1146th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the lower third of the database, which is surprising given that the CPU is at the 78th percentile and the GPU at the 63rd percentile. The discrepancy suggests that The Medium is particularly demanding on the GPU, and the RTX 2060 SUPER's mid-range position is not enough to push the combo higher. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (20) and 1080p Ultra (32.5) are both low, reinforcing the idea that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's strong benchmark scores do not translate into a high game rank because the game's performance is dominated by the graphics card. This is a common pattern in modern titles, where the GPU's raw throughput and memory bandwidth dictate the playable settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p Medium?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 59.8.

Q: Which preset at 4K achieves above 60 FPS?

A: The Low preset at 3840x2160 delivers 61.2 FPS, the only 4K setting to exceed 60.

Q: How many cores and threads does the CPU have?

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

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

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory.

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

A: It ranks 1146th out of 1689 tested combinations.

Q: What is the CPU's boost clock?

A: The boost clock is 4.60 GHz.

Measured FPS Breakdown

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 29.8 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 61.2 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 38.7 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 20 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 32.1 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 79.1 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 48.9 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 29.4 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 41 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 92.5 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 59.8 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 32.5 |

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression across resolutions reveals how the system scales with pixel count. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 92.5 at 1080p to 79.1 at 1440p and then to 61.2 at 4K. This is a steady decline, but the 4K result remains above 60, indicating that the GPU can still handle the load when the settings are minimal. At Medium settings, the values are 59.8, 48.9, and 38.7 for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively—a more pronounced drop, especially from 1440p to 4K. High settings show 41, 32.1, and 29.8, with the 4K result only slightly lower than 1440p, suggesting that the GPU is already near its limit at 1440p High. Ultra settings are the most telling: 32.5 at 1080p, 29.4 at 1440p, and 20 at 4K. The sharp fall from 1440p to 4K at Ultra (29.4 to 20) points to the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources being overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum visual effects.

The pattern across all settings is that FPS decreases as resolution increases, which is typical of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU's performance remains constant, so the frame rate drop is directly attributable to the GPU's workload. The fact that Low settings at 4K still achieve 61.2 FPS while Ultra at 1080p only reaches 32.5 FPS underscores that the GPU is the primary limiting component. The RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB VRAM and 448 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for lower presets, but the game's Ultra settings at any resolution push the card beyond its comfortable range. This analysis suggests that players with this combo should prioritize resolution over settings, or vice versa, depending on their preference for visual detail versus frame rate.