The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination produces a playable experience in The Medium primarily at 1080p, with 1440p requiring compromises and 4K being largely impractical. The data shows a clear hierarchy: the Low preset is the only setting that consistently delivers high frame rates, while Medium offers a balanced experience at 1080p and 1440p with acceptable minimums. High and Ultra settings are only viable at 1080p for those prioritizing visual fidelity over smoothness, and even then, the Ultra preset dips below 30 FPS on average.

Settings Recommendations

At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS, making it the most balanced option for this resolution. This combination provides a comfortable margin above the 30 FPS threshold while retaining a meaningful degree of visual quality. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 83 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the jump to Medium costs roughly 37% performance for moderate visual gains. High at 1080p averages 37 FPS, which is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes, while Ultra at 30 FPS sits right at the minimum playable threshold and should be avoided for consistent gameplay.

For 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only setting that maintains a fluid experience, averaging 70 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 44 FPS with a minimum of 37 FPS, which is acceptable for slower-paced horror gameplay, but the drop from 1080p Medium to 1440p Medium is 15% performance. High at 1440p falls to 31 FPS, which is borderline, and Ultra at 25 FPS is not recommended for sustained play.

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches a comfortable playable level. The Low preset averages 55 FPS, which is playable but visually stripped, while Medium averages 34 FPS with a minimum of 29 FPS, meaning stutter is likely during intense moments. High at 25 FPS and Ultra at 20 FPS are both below the 30 FPS threshold and should be avoided. Given the data, the best experience is 1080p Medium for a balance of performance and fidelity, or 1440p Low for higher resolution with smooth frame rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, running at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. It features 32 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 21,765 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,072 in single-core, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs tested.

For The Medium, the CPU's single-thread performance is likely sufficient given the game's focus on atmospheric rendering rather than massive simulation. The 4.70 GHz boost clock provides adequate responsiveness for the game's fixed-camera perspectives and scripted events. The processor's multi-core throughput, evidenced by a PassMark multithread score of 25,645, suggests it can handle background tasks without impacting frame pacing. The closest CPU rival, the Intel Core i5-14600T, scores 32,707 on average benchmark score against the 7400F's 32,750, a delta of only 0.1%, meaning these two processors are effectively interchangeable in CPU-bound scenarios.

Benchmark results indicate the CPU is not the primary limiter in this pairing. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is more consistent with GPU constraints, as the CPU's performance headroom at lower resolutions allows the GPU to become the bottleneck. The processor's 65W TDP and active production status suggest it is a modern, efficient choice that pairs well with the older GeForce 20-series GPU in this title.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo in The Medium?*

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the most practical resolution. At Medium settings it averages 52 FPS, and at Low it reaches 83 FPS. 2560x1440 is playable only on Low (70 FPS) or Medium (44 FPS), while 3840x2160 rarely exceeds 34 FPS on Medium.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15,290. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, scores 15,283, a delta of 0%. The AMD Radeon 680M scores 15,270 (0.1% slower), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM scores 15,199 (0.6% slower). The AMD Radeon RX 7600 scores 15,171, which is 0.8% slower than the RTX 2060.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 7400F bottleneck the RTX 2060 in this game?

A: No, benchmark results indicate the opposite. The CPU's single-core score of 3,072 in Cinebench R23 and its 83rd percentile ranking among all CPUs suggest it has ample headroom. The frame rate drops from 1080p Low (83 FPS) to 4K Low (55 FPS) are indicative of GPU limitation, not CPU constraint.

Q: What is the minimum FPS on Medium settings at different resolutions?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum FPS is 44. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum FPS is 37. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum FPS is 29. These values show the game becomes less stable as resolution increases, with 4K dipping below the 30 FPS playability threshold.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever viable with this hardware?

A: The Ultra preset only reaches 30 FPS at 1080p, which is marginal. At 1440p it drops to 25 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 20 FPS. Given that the Medium preset at 1080p delivers 52 FPS, the Ultra preset offers diminishing returns for a significant performance penalty.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-core performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Ryzen 5 7400F scores 32,750 on average benchmark score, while the Intel Core i5-14600T scores 32,707, a delta of 0.1% in favor of the AMD chip. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H scores 32,812, which is 0.2% faster, making the 7400F statistically equivalent to these alternatives.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2,948 out of 3,724 tested combinations in The Medium. This places it in the bottom 21% of all hardware pairings tested for this game, reflecting the age of the GPU relative to more modern configurations. The rank indicates that while the combo is functional, it is not competitive with newer mid-range or high-end systems.

This ranking is consistent with the GPU's performance tier. The RTX 2060 has a percentile rank of 58 among all GPUs, meaning it outperforms 58% of tested graphics cards. However, the CPU's percentile rank of 83 is significantly higher, suggesting the processor has more performance headroom than the graphics card can utilize in this title.

The data from the measured FPS shows that the combo achieves playable frame rates at 1080p Medium, but the overall rank is dragged down by poor performance at higher resolutions. For context, the GPU's average benchmark score of 15,290 is nearly identical to the GTX 580's 15,283, indicating that the RTX 2060 is performing at a level comparable to a much older flagship in this game's workload. The CPU's strong single-thread score of 3,072 does not compensate for the GPU's limitations in resolution-heavy scenes.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 83 at 1080p to 70 at 1440p (a 16% decrease) and then to 55 at 4K (a 21% decrease from 1440p). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a graphics card reaching its memory bandwidth limits, as the RTX 2060's 336.0 GB/s bandwidth and 6 GB of GDDR6 memory become stressed at higher pixel counts.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar but more pronounced: 52 FPS at 1080p drops to 44 FPS at 1440p (15% decrease) and then to 34 FPS at 4K (23% decrease from 1440p). The minimum FPS at Medium shows an even steeper decline, from 44 at 1080p to 37 at 1440p and 29 at 4K, indicating that frame pacing becomes less consistent as resolution increases.

The High preset shows a proportional decline: 37 FPS at 1080p, 31 FPS at 1440p (16% decrease), and 25 FPS at 4K (19% decrease from 1440p). Ultra follows the same trend with 30, 25, and 20 FPS respectively. These consistent percentage drops across all settings confirm that the limiting component is the GPU, as the CPU's performance does not degrade with resolution. The CPU's 4.70 GHz boost clock and 32 MB of L3 cache provide stable instruction throughput regardless of pixel count.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured data provides a complete picture across all four settings. Low delivers the highest average at 83 FPS, followed by Medium at 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 and maximum of 60. High averages 37 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS. The 31 FPS gap between Low and Medium is substantial, while the 7 FPS gap between High and Ultra is smaller, suggesting diminishing returns at the highest preset.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 70 FPS, which is the only preset above 60 FPS at this resolution. Medium averages 44 FPS with a minimum of 37 and maximum of 50, providing a stable but not fluid experience. High drops to 31 FPS, and Ultra falls to 25 FPS. The 26 FPS difference between Low and Medium at 1440p is proportionally similar to the 1080p gap, indicating the GPU scales consistently across these resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low averages 55 FPS, which is the only playable option. Medium averages 34 FPS with a minimum of 29 and maximum of 40, meaning the experience will have noticeable dips below 30 FPS. High averages 25 FPS, and Ultra averages 20 FPS. The 21 FPS difference between Low and Medium at 4K is the largest absolute gap between consecutive settings across all resolutions, highlighting the GPU's struggle with the 8.3 million pixel workload.

The complete data set shows that the combo delivers its best experience at 1080p Medium, where the 44 FPS minimum ensures no prolonged stutter. The 1440p Medium result of 37 FPS minimum is acceptable for the horror genre's slower pacing, but 4K should be avoided unless using the Low preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip manufactured on a 12 nm process. It features 1,920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, along with 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's measured performance in The Medium is characterized by its memory capacity and bandwidth. The 6 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at most settings, but the 4K results suggest the card is hitting memory pressure, as evidenced by the 34 FPS average on Medium at 4K. The 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is a limiting factor at higher resolutions, where the game's texture streaming and shadow rendering require more data throughput.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 2060 scores 14,111 in PassMark G3D and 6,451 TFLOPS in FP32, placing it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 15,290 is nearly identical to the GTX 580's 15,283, indicating that for this game's workload, the RTX 2060 performs at a level comparable to a much older card. The GPU's DirectX 12 score of 53 in PassMark is particularly low, suggesting that The Medium's use of DX12 features may not be fully optimized for this architecture.

The GPU's nearest rival, the RTX 3050 OEM, has an average score of 15,199, which is 0.6% slower, meaning the RTX 2060 sits at the edge of its performance class. The 160W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for this tier, but the end-of-life production status indicates this is legacy hardware. For The Medium, the GPU's role is the primary bottleneck, as the CPU has significant headroom left unused at all tested resolutions.