The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers a highly capable but resolution-sensitive experience in The Medium. Benchmark data reveals that this combo ranks 425th out of 1689 tested combinations, placing it comfortably in the upper quartile of systems. The RTX 3080 Ti, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, is clearly the dominant component, but the CPU’s 6-core, 12-thread design still plays a critical role in maintaining frame pacing. This analysis breaks down how the parts interact across resolutions and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is stark and consistent across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 141.7 at 1920x1080 to 102.1 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 39.6 FPS. The Medium preset shows a similar trend, dropping from 95.8 to 62.2 FPS. High settings decline from 68.3 to 41.8 FPS, while Ultra takes the heaviest hit, falling from 53.7 to 34.9 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates the game becomes progressively more GPU-bound as resolution increases.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU adequately at lower presets, but the gap between 1080p and 1440p is telling. At Low, the drop is 17.5 FPS (from 141.7 to 124.2), while at Ultra, the drop is only 5.8 FPS (from 53.7 to 47.9). The 4K Ultra result of 34.9 FPS represents a 66% reduction from the 1080p Low figure, showing that the GPU’s shading units and memory bandwidth are the primary limiting factors at high resolutions.

GPU Role

The RTX 3080 Ti’s specifications explain much of its behavior in The Medium. It runs a boost clock of 1665 MHz with a base of 1365 MHz, and its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 19 Gbps effective, delivering 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth across a 384-bit bus. This memory configuration is crucial for the game’s asset streaming, but the data shows the GPU is not fully utilized at lower settings.

At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 141.7 FPS, which is more than double the 4K Ultra result. The GPU’s 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present, but The Medium’s reliance on fixed-function rendering means the raw FP32 throughput of 34.10 TFLOPS is the key metric. The pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s become bottlenecks at 4K, where the fill rate demands exceed what the chip can deliver at playable frame rates. The 34.9 FPS at 4K Ultra indicates the GPU is saturated, while the 141.7 FPS at 1080p Low shows ample headroom.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 3 part with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost of 4.60 GHz. Its 32 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4-3200 memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s are adequate for feeding the RTX 3080 Ti, but the data reveals where the CPU becomes a limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the CPU must deliver frames fast enough to reach 141.7 FPS, which it manages, but the single-thread score of 917 in 3DMark and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2622 indicate that peak single-thread performance is moderate.

The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5582 and 4-thread score of 3363 show that the CPU scales reasonably with threads, but The Medium is not heavily multithreaded. The passmark physics score of 1316 is relatively low, suggesting that the game’s physics simulation is not a major bottleneck. In practice, the CPU keeps up at 1080p, but the jump from 141.7 FPS at 1080p Low to 124.2 FPS at 1440p Low shows that the GPU is taking on more work, with the CPU remaining stable. The CPU’s 65W TDP and 7nm process node keep thermals in check, allowing sustained boost clocks during long sessions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing ranks 425th out of 1689 combinations in The Medium, placing it in the 74th percentile of tested systems. The GPU alone holds an 83rd percentile rank among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41224. Its nearest rival, the RTX 3090, scores 41441, a delta of -0.5%, meaning the 3080 Ti is virtually tied with the 3090 in this title. The CPU’s percentile rank is 78th, with an average score of 20680, sitting just 0.3% behind the Ryzen 5 5600GT and Intel Core i7-10700.

The combo rank of 425 suggests that while the individual components are strong, there are 424 other pairings that achieve higher average FPS in The Medium. This is likely due to CPUs with higher core counts or faster memory subsystems that can push the GPU harder at 1080p. However, the delta between this combo and the top 10% of systems is likely small, given the GPU’s near-3090 performance. At 1440p and 4K, the CPU matters less, and the combo’s ranking is more dependent on the GPU’s raw throughput.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 57.2 FPS, which is playable, while Medium hits 77.1 FPS. Ultra drops to 47.9 FPS, so High is the sweet spot for visual quality and frame rate.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K at 60 FPS?

A: No. The highest 4K result is 102.1 FPS at Low settings, but Medium drops to 62.2 FPS, and High falls to 41.8 FPS. Ultra is 34.9 FPS, so 60 FPS is only achievable at Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Ti compare to the RTX 3090 in this game?

A: The 3080 Ti’s average benchmark score is 41224, versus 41441 for the RTX 3090, a delta of -0.5%. This indicates essentially identical performance in synthetic tests, which translates to similar FPS in The Medium.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600X a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo hits 141.7 FPS, suggesting the CPU is not heavily limiting. However, the 1080p Ultra result of 53.7 FPS is close to the 1440p Ultra result of 47.9 FPS, indicating the GPU is already the primary limit.

Q: What is the impact of the GPU’s memory bandwidth?

A: The 912.4 GB/s bandwidth on a 384-bit bus is critical for high-resolution textures. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is not exhausted at 4K Ultra, but the bandwidth is taxed, as shown by the 34.9 FPS result.

Q: How does the combo’s rank compare to its component percentiles?

A: The GPU is in the 83rd percentile and the CPU in the 78th, yet the combo ranks 425th out of 1689 (74th percentile). This gap suggests that other pairings with higher-end CPUs extract more performance from similar GPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured average FPS data covers four settings presets at three resolutions, with no min or max values recorded.

1920x1080:

• Low: 141.7 FPS
• Medium: 95.8 FPS
• High: 68.3 FPS
• Ultra: 53.7 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 124.2 FPS
• Medium: 77.1 FPS
• High: 57.2 FPS
• Ultra: 47.9 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 102.1 FPS
• Medium: 62.2 FPS
• High: 41.8 FPS
• Ultra: 34.9 FPS

These figures show a clear hierarchy: Low settings are always playable, Medium offers smooth performance at 1080p and 1440p, High dips below 60 FPS at 4K, and Ultra is only viable at 1080p. The 3080 Ti’s strength is evident in the 102.1 FPS 4K Low result, which outperforms the 1080p Ultra result of 53.7 FPS, highlighting how settings have a greater impact than resolution on this GPU. For a horror title where atmosphere matters, the High preset at 1440p provides the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, while 4K users should stick to Medium or Low.