The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT combination delivers a playable but demanding experience in The Medium, with performance that scales predictably across resolutions. The data set shows a system that can handle the game’s fixed-camera horror at 1080p and 1440p with high frame rates, but it struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K Ultra settings. This analysis breaks down the measured results, the roles of the CPU and GPU, and what the numbers suggest about this pairing's strengths and limitations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance drop as resolution increases, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher settings. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 126 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low reduces that to 106 FPS, a 16% decrease. At 4K Low, the average falls to 83 FPS, which is 34% lower than the 1080p result. This pattern clearly shows that while the RX 7700 XT is capable at lower resolutions, the demand of 4K begins to overwhelm it.

The scaling becomes more pronounced with higher quality presets. At Medium settings, the averages are 79 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p, and 52 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 16%, and from 1440p to 4K is 21%. This suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are being taxed more heavily as pixel count increases. The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K data suggests the card is nearing its limits.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 45 FPS. This drops to 38 FPS at 1440p, a 16% reduction, and then to 30 FPS at 4K, a 21% reduction from 1440p. The 4K Ultra result of 30 FPS is barely playable for a horror game that relies on atmosphere. The data implies that the limiting component at Ultra settings is definitively the GPU, as the CPU's role diminishes at higher resolutions where pixel throughput dominates.

Interestingly, the Low preset at 4K still delivers 83 FPS, which is higher than Medium at 1440p (66 FPS). This indicates that the graphics settings have a massive impact on the GPU load. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 53 FPS (83 vs 30), showing that the RX 7700 XT has a wide performance envelope but cannot sustain high quality at 4K. The benchmark results indicate that for 4K gaming, users must sacrifice significant visual fidelity to maintain playable frame rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its benchmark scores are strong for a mid-range part, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21765 and a single-core score of 3072. PassMark single-thread performance is 3689, placing it in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs. The nearest rival comparisons show it is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-14600T (0.1% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (-0.2% delta), indicating balanced performance.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is evident in the frame rate stability at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 126 FPS, which suggests the 7400F can feed the GPU adequately. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide sufficient data throughput for the game's asset streaming. However, the game is not heavily CPU-bound, as evidenced by the fact that lowering resolution from 1080p to 4K at Low settings only reduces FPS from 126 to 83 (a 34% drop), which is primarily GPU-driven.

The measured data does not show min FPS values for Low or High presets, but the Medium preset provides min/max figures. At 1080p Medium, the min is 67 FPS and max is 91 FPS, with an average of 79. At 1440p Medium, the min drops to 56 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it falls to 44 FPS. These min FPS numbers indicate that the CPU can maintain frame pacing, but the GPU's workload causes dips. The 7400F's 6 cores and 12 threads are likely sufficient for The Medium, which is not known for heavy multi-threading.

The CPU's percentile ranking at 83rd suggests it outperforms the majority of processors, but its nearest rivals show only marginal differences. The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is 0.2% faster, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 is 0.3% faster, all within noise margins. This means the 7400F is not a performance outlier; it is a consistent, capable mid-range chip. In this game, the data implies that the CPU is rarely the bottleneck, as the FPS scaling is largely dictated by resolution and settings rather than CPU load.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip, featuring 3456 shading units and 54 ray accelerators. Its boost clock is 2544 MHz, with a game clock of 2171 MHz. The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's benchmark scores include a PassMark G3D score of 22547 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 138383, placing it in the 67th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile, is only 0.5% faster, showing this card is competitive.

In The Medium, the GPU is clearly the dominant factor. The difference between Low and Ultra at the same resolution highlights this. At 1080p, Low yields 126 FPS while Ultra yields 45 FPS, a 64% reduction. At 4K, the gap is even larger: 83 FPS vs 30 FPS, a 64% reduction as well. This consistent percentage indicates that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are the limiting resources when quality settings are increased.

The 12 GB VRAM is a critical factor. At 4K Ultra, the game likely requires more than 12 GB, which could explain the 30 FPS average. The memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s is moderate, and the data suggests that at 4K, the card is struggling to feed the shaders. The RT cores are present (54 units), but the measured data does not include ray tracing results, so their impact is unknown. The GPU's FP32 performance of 35.17 TFLOPS provides ample compute for rasterization, but the 4K Ultra result indicates that the memory subsystem is the bottleneck.

The PassMark DirectX 12 score of 79 is notably lower than the DirectX 11 score of 232, which could imply driver overhead or architecture preferences. However, this does not directly translate to The Medium's performance. The GPU's percentile rank of 67th means it is above average but not top-tier. The data shows that for 1080p and 1440p gaming, the RX 7700 XT is more than adequate, but at 4K with high presets, it falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance. At 1080p Medium, the average is 79 FPS with a min of 67 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay. At 1440p Medium, the average is 66 FPS with a min of 56 FPS, which is still playable for a horror game. The Medium preset provides a 75% improvement over Ultra at 1080p (79 vs 45 FPS) while maintaining decent visuals.

For 4K, the Medium preset is the only viable option, but at 52 FPS average with a min of 44 FPS, it is borderline. The Low preset at 4K delivers 83 FPS, which is smooth, but the visual quality is likely poor. The data suggests that if a user has a 4K display, they should either use Low settings or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p with Medium settings for a better experience.

The High preset is not recommended, as it only offers a small improvement over Medium (56 vs 79 FPS at 1080p) but is still below the Ultra preset's quality. The Ultra preset is only suitable for 1080p, where it achieves 45 FPS, but this is below the 60 FPS target. For the best experience, the Medium preset at 1080p or 1440p provides the highest FPS with acceptable quality. The min FPS at Medium (67 at 1080p, 56 at 1440p) ensures that frame drops are not too severe.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT combination ranks 1045 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 36th percentile of all combinations, meaning it outperforms roughly one-third of the tested systems but is beaten by two-thirds. This ranking is lower than the individual component percentiles (CPU at 83rd, GPU at 67th), suggesting that the combo is not optimally balanced for this specific game.

The ranking implies that there are many other combinations that achieve higher FPS, likely due to more powerful GPUs. The CPU's strong performance is not enough to compensate for the GPU's mid-range standing. The data shows that the combo is better suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can deliver high frame rates, but it falls behind at 4K Ultra. The rank of 1045 out of 2911 indicates that this is a mid-tier setup, not a high-end one.

Compared to its rivals, the RX 7700 XT is nearly identical to the RTX 4060 Mobile (-0.8% delta) and RTX 2080 (-1.5% delta). This means the GPU is competitive with last-generation high-end cards and current mid-range mobile parts. The CPU's rivals are also closely matched, so the combo's ranking is likely determined by the GPU's limits in The Medium. The data implies that for users seeking higher rankings, a more powerful GPU would be needed, but for 1080p gaming, this combo is adequate.

FAQ

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

A: The average FPS is 79, with a minimum of 67 and a maximum of 91.

*Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in The Medium?*

A: At 4K Medium, the average is 52 FPS with a min of 44 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 30 FPS, which is not smooth.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 7400F is 0.1% faster than the Intel Core i5-14600T and 0.2% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, but 0.2% slower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RX 7700 XT is in the 67th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 22549.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Low achieves 106 FPS while Ultra achieves 38 FPS, a difference of 68 FPS.

Q: How many tested combos does this setup outperform?

A: This combo ranks 1045 out of 2911, meaning it outperforms 1866 combos and is beaten by 1044.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table provides the exact measured FPS values for each resolution and settings combination.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

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

| 3840x2160 | High | 37 | N/A | N/A |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 83 | N/A | N/A |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 52 | 44 | 60 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 30 | N/A | N/A |

| 2560x1440 | High | 47 | N/A | N/A |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 106 | N/A | N/A |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 66 | 56 | 76 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 38 | N/A | N/A |

| 1920x1080 | High | 56 | N/A | N/A |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 126 | N/A | N/A |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 79 | 67 | 91 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 45 | N/A | N/A |

The data shows a consistent pattern: the Medium preset is the most balanced, with playable frame rates at all resolutions, while Ultra is only viable at 1080p. The Low preset provides the highest FPS but sacrifices visual fidelity. This breakdown confirms that the RX 7700 XT is the limiting factor at 4K, and users should adjust settings accordingly.