The Medium

The Medium is a horror game that demands a lot from both the CPU and GPU, and this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a playable, though not always smooth, experience depending on your resolution and settings. The data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate, with the system capable of high refresh rates at lower settings but struggling to maintain 60 FPS at 4K with higher presets. This analysis breaks down the measured performance to help you find the right balance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Medium at with this combo for a smooth 60 FPS experience?

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 with Medium settings is the sweet spot, yielding an average of 75 FPS. At 1920x1080, you can achieve 90 FPS on Medium, but for a locked 60+ experience with visual quality, 1440p Medium is the recommended target.

Q: How does the RTX 3080's 10 GB VRAM affect performance in The Medium?

A: The GPU has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory. The benchmark results indicate that at 3840x2160, the High preset provides 42 FPS and Ultra drops to 34 FPS, suggesting that the higher presets at 4K are pushing the memory and processing limits, making them less viable for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7400F a bottleneck for the RTX 3080 in this game?

A: The CPU is a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 4 processor with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The performance data shows that at lower resolutions like 1920x1080, the system reaches 143 FPS on Low settings, indicating the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU well enough to hit high frame rates, though the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher settings.

Q: What is the difference in performance between the Low and Ultra presets at 1920x1080?

A: The difference is substantial. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 143 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers only 51 FPS. This is a performance drop of 92 FPS, showing that the Ultra preset is extremely demanding on the GPU.

Q: How does this combo rank against all other tested combinations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 753rd out of 2911 tested combos. This places it in the top 25% of all systems tested, indicating a strong, high-end pairing that outperforms the majority of other setups.

Q: Does the game support the full feature set of the RTX 3080?

A: The RTX 3080 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and has 68 RT cores and 272 Tensor cores. While the game is from 2021, the benchmark data does not include specific ray tracing or DLSS results, so its impact on these features cannot be assessed from this data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the primary driver of frame rates in The Medium, especially at higher resolutions and settings. Its performance is characterized by its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and a 320-bit memory bus, which provides a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. This is a high-bandwidth configuration, and the data shows its limits are reached quickly when pushing resolution and quality.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload is immense. With the High preset, the average frame rate is 42 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth play. Lowering to Medium brings the average up to 59 FPS, which is borderline playable, but the Ultra preset drops to 34 FPS, indicating a significant performance hit. The jump from Low to Medium at 4K is a 36 FPS increase (from 95 to 59), showing that the Low preset is significantly less demanding. The GPU's boost clock is 1710 MHz, and the data suggests it's being fully utilized at this resolution, as the frame rates scale directly with the graphical load.

At 2560x1440, the RTX 3080 shows more headroom. The High preset runs at 54 FPS, still below the 60 FPS mark, but Medium reaches a comfortable 75 FPS. The Low preset achieves 121 FPS, demonstrating the GPU's capability for high refresh rate gaming at this resolution when settings are reduced. The 1440p results show a 32 FPS difference between Medium and Low, and a similar 32 FPS drop from Medium to High, indicating a steep performance curve as settings increase.

The 1920x1080 results are where the GPU's power is most evident. The Low preset achieves 143 FPS, making it ideal for high refresh rate monitors. Medium runs at 90 FPS, which is very smooth, and High at 64 FPS is still playable. The Ultra preset, however, only manages 51 FPS, highlighting that even at 1080p, the most demanding settings can tax the GPU. The data shows that the RTX 3080 is a capable 1440p card for this title, but 4K requires significant compromises in settings to maintain a playable frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 achieves a rank of 753 out of 2911 tested combos for The Medium. This puts it in the upper quartile of all systems tested, signifying a high-performance pairing. The rank suggests that this combo is better suited for this game than approximately 74% of all other tested combinations, which is a strong result.

The ranking reflects a balanced system. The CPU is a modern 6-core Zen 4 part, and the GPU is a high-end Ampere architecture card. The data shows that the system is capable of high frame rates at lower settings, which is often a sign of a well-matched CPU and GPU. However, the rank is not at the very top, indicating that there are more powerful combinations that can handle the Ultra preset at 4K with higher average frame rates. The 83rd percentile of the CPU and the 68th percentile of the GPU suggest that the CPU is relatively stronger than the GPU, which may lead to the GPU being the limiting factor in most scenarios, as seen in the 4K results.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience balances visual quality with a consistent frame rate. For a 60 FPS target, the Medium preset is the clear choice. At 2560x1440, Medium provides an average of 75 FPS, which is ideal for a smooth, responsive experience. At 1920x1080, Medium offers 90 FPS, providing extra headroom for more demanding scenes. The High preset at 1440p (54 FPS) and 1080p (64 FPS) falls short of the 60 FPS target, making Medium the superior option for consistent performance.

For users with a 4K display, the Medium preset at 3840x2160 is the only viable option for near-60 FPS gameplay, with an average of 59 FPS. This is a borderline result, and users may prefer to lower the resolution to 1440p for a more stable experience. The Low preset is not recommended for general play, as the visual downgrade is substantial, though it does enable very high frame rates. If you have a high refresh rate monitor (144Hz or more), the Low preset at 1920x1080 (143 FPS) or 2560x1440 (121 FPS) is the only way to take full advantage of it. The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combo, as it fails to reach 60 FPS at any resolution, with a best-case average of 51 FPS at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured performance data provides a clear picture of the system's capabilities across different resolutions and settings.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: The system achieves a very high average of 143 FPS. This is ideal for competitive or high-refresh-rate play.
• Medium: The average is 90 FPS, with a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 103 FPS. This is a smooth, highly playable experience.
• High: The average drops to 64 FPS, which is playable but with less headroom for demanding scenes.
• Ultra: The average is 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, making this setting less desirable.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: The average is 121 FPS, still excellent for high refresh rate monitors.
• Medium: The average is 75 FPS, with a minimum of 64 FPS and a maximum of 87 FPS. This is the best balance of quality and performance.
• High: The average is 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target.
• Ultra: The average is 43 FPS, indicating a significant performance hit.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: The average is 95 FPS, which is surprisingly playable even at 4K with the lowest settings.
• Medium: The average is 59 FPS, with a minimum of 50 FPS and a maximum of 68 FPS. This is on the edge of 60 FPS gameplay.
• High: The average is 42 FPS, which is not smooth enough for a consistent experience.
• Ultra: The average is 34 FPS, making this setting unplayable for most users.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. In The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with game data and handle the game's logic. The data shows that the CPU is generally not the primary bottleneck in this system.

At 1920x1080 with the Low preset, the system achieves 143 FPS. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU is capable of processing frames quickly enough to support high GPU output. The CPU's strong single-thread performance, as suggested by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3072, is critical for this. Its multi-core performance, with a Cinebench R23 score of 21765, ensures it can handle background tasks and game logic without issue.

The 65W TDP and 5 nm process node make it an efficient processor, and its performance relative to its rivals is very close. The data shows it is 0.1% faster than the Intel Core i5-14600T and 0.2% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H. It is 0.2% slower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H. These negligible differences mean that the choice of CPU among these rivals would not have a meaningful impact on gameplay. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory are modern features that contribute to its solid performance, ensuring that the RTX 3080 is not starved of data.