The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers a wide spread of performance across The Medium’s presets. At 1080p, the combination pushes frame rates from 62 FPS on Ultra to 160 FPS on Low, showing that the system has ample headroom for high-refresh-rate displays at lower settings. Moving to 1440p, performance scales predictably: the High preset drops from 78 FPS to 66 FPS, while Medium drops from 109 FPS to 92 FPS. The Low preset remains exceptionally fast at 147 FPS, indicating that even at this higher resolution, the CPU-GPU pairing is not yet the limiting factor when graphical load is reduced.

The transition to 4K reveals a sharper performance cliff. At 3840x2160, the High preset falls to 52 FPS, and Medium lands at 72 FPS. The Low preset still manages a playable 115 FPS, but Ultra drops to 41 FPS. The scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K is instructive: at Low settings, frame rates drop by roughly 28% from 1080p to 1440p, and then by another 22% from 1440p to 4K. At High settings, the drop is 15% from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a steeper 21% drop to 4K. This indicates that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck, with the 4K Ultra preset producing a frame rate that is only 66% of the 1080p High result. The data suggests that the RX 7900 XTX, while powerful, is pushed to its limits by The Medium’s demanding rendering at 4K with higher presets.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate deltas across resolutions tell a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p Low, the system produces 160 FPS, which is the highest measured result across all configurations. This suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU efficiently at lower graphical loads. When moving to 1440p Low, the score drops to 147 FPS, a modest 8% reduction that indicates the GPU is still not saturated. However, at 4K Low, the frame rate falls to 115 FPS, a 22% reduction from 1440p, which signals that the GPU’s pixel throughput is becoming a constraint.

The pattern shifts more dramatically at higher presets. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 109 FPS, but 1440p Medium drops to 92 FPS, and 4K Medium falls to 72 FPS. This represents a 34% total reduction from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings. For High settings, the progression is 78 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p, and 52 FPS at 4K, a 33% drop across the resolution range. The Ultra preset shows the steepest decline: 62 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p, and 41 FPS at 4K, a 34% reduction. This consistent 33-34% drop from 1080p to 4K across Medium, High, and Ultra presets indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at these settings, as the workload scales directly with pixel count.

The 4K Ultra result of 41 FPS is particularly telling. It is 20% slower than the 4K High result of 52 FPS, which itself is 28% slower than the 1440p High result. The data shows that The Medium’s Ultra preset introduces significant additional graphical effects that disproportionately impact the GPU at higher resolutions. For users targeting 4K, the measured results suggest that the Medium preset at 72 FPS offers the best balance, while High at 52 FPS is borderline for smooth gameplay. The Low preset at 115 FPS remains fluid but sacrifices visual fidelity. The scaling behavior confirms that this combo is more than adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but 4K requires careful preset selection.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the dominant component in determining frame rates at higher resolutions. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This large memory pool is well-suited to The Medium’s high-resolution textures, but the benchmark results indicate that raw bandwidth is not the sole factor. The GPU’s boost clock is rated at 2498 MHz, with a game clock of 2365 MHz, and it delivers 61.39 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. These specifications place it as a high-end part, yet the measured results show that The Medium can still reduce its performance to 41 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The GPU’s memory configuration is notable: 24 GB is more than sufficient for the game’s requirements, and the data does not suggest any memory capacity bottleneck. The frame rate drops from 4K High to 4K Ultra (52 to 41 FPS) are more likely attributable to the increased shading and compute demands of Ultra settings rather than memory limitations. The GPU’s pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 959.2 GTexel/s provide the theoretical throughput needed, but the game’s fixed camera angles and heavy post-processing effects can stress the ROPs and shader units.

The RX 7900 XTX’s performance percentile of 64 among all GPUs is relatively modest for a flagship, but this is based on synthetic benchmarks. In The Medium, the measured results show that the GPU can deliver 160 FPS at 1080p Low, which indicates that the card is not holding back the CPU at lower resolutions. The 4K results, particularly the 41 FPS at Ultra, reveal that the GPU is the limiting factor in the most demanding scenarios. The data suggests that the card’s 355 W TDP is justified by the performance it delivers, but users should expect to dial back settings for 4K. The 24 GB VRAM is future-proof, but the game’s engine appears to be more sensitive to compute load than memory capacity.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates provide clear guidance for optimal settings. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 109 FPS with a minimum of 93 FPS and a maximum of 125 FPS. This is the best balance for smooth gameplay, as it offers a 40% improvement over High (78 FPS) while maintaining a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Low preset at 160 FPS is only necessary for the highest refresh rate displays, and the visual compromise may not be worth the extra 51 FPS. The Ultra preset at 62 FPS is technically playable but does not provide enough headroom for demanding scenes, and the 47 FPS drop from Medium to Ultra is significant.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again emerges as the recommended choice. The average of 92 FPS, with a minimum of 78 FPS, ensures smooth gameplay on most monitors. High at 66 FPS is acceptable for slower-paced horror moments, but the 28% reduction from Medium could be noticeable during action sequences. Low at 147 FPS is excessive for most displays, and Ultra at 52 FPS dips below the ideal threshold for consistent smoothness. The data indicates that the Medium preset is the sweet spot, offering a 40% improvement over High while only requiring a 38% reduction from Low.

For 4K, the recommendation shifts. The Medium preset at 72 FPS is the only setting that provides a consistently smooth experience, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS. High at 52 FPS is borderline, and the 20 FPS drop from Medium may be noticeable. Ultra at 41 FPS is not recommended for a reliable experience, as it falls below the 60 FPS target. Low at 115 FPS is extremely fast but sacrifices too much visual quality for a horror game that relies on atmosphere. The data strongly suggests that 4K users should stick with Medium to maintain fluidity, while 1080p and 1440p users can safely choose Medium for the best combination of quality and performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset to use at 4K resolution?

A: The Medium preset provides the best experience at 4K, with an average of 72 FPS and a minimum of 61 FPS. High preset drops to 52 FPS, and Ultra falls to 41 FPS, making Medium the only preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1440p to 4K?

A: At Medium settings, the average frame rate drops from 92 FPS at 1440p to 72 FPS at 4K, a 22% reduction. At High settings, the drop is from 66 FPS to 52 FPS, a 21% reduction. The Low preset sees a 22% drop from 147 FPS to 115 FPS.

Q: Does the RX 7900 XTX’s 24 GB VRAM make a difference in this game?

A: The measured data does not indicate a memory capacity issue. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent with GPU compute limitations rather than VRAM exhaustion. The 24 GB capacity is more than sufficient for The Medium’s requirements.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum frame rate recorded is 61 FPS at 4K Medium settings. The 1440p Medium preset has a minimum of 78 FPS, and the 1080p Medium preset has a minimum of 93 FPS. No minimum values are listed for other presets.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 476 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 13% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU at any resolution?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 160 FPS, which indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower graphical loads. The performance drops at higher resolutions are consistent with GPU limitations, as the frame rate decreases proportionally with pixel count.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX combination ranks 476 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium, which places it in the top 12.8% of all configurations. This is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The rank indicates that the combo outperforms the vast majority of tested systems, though it is not in the top tier. The CPU itself has a percentile of 77 among all CPUs, while the GPU has a percentile of 64 among all GPUs, suggesting that the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-11850H and AMD Ryzen 5 8400F, with delta percentages of 0.1% and -0.2% respectively. This indicates that the 7500F is essentially on par with these processors in synthetic benchmarks. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB and NVIDIA TITAN Xp, with delta percentages of 0.4% and 1.2% respectively. However, these comparisons are based on synthetic benchmarks, not gaming performance. The measured FPS in The Medium shows that this combo is capable of high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the 4K Ultra result of 41 FPS illustrates that it is not among the absolute top performers for this specific game.

The rank of 476 out of 3724 is notable because it places the combo in the top 13% despite the GPU’s relatively modest percentile score. This suggests that The Medium’s workload benefits from the combination of the CPU’s strong single-thread performance and the GPU’s raw compute power. The combo’s performance is not consistent with a system that would struggle at 1080p, as evidenced by the 160 FPS Low result. However, the 4K Ultra result indicates that users seeking maximum fidelity will need to consider more powerful GPU options, as this combo is better suited to 1440p and 4K Medium settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It features 32 MB of L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. The CPU’s synthetic benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22799 and a single-core score of 3218. The Geekbench multicore score is 12362, and the single-core score is 2374. These numbers indicate a capable processor for gaming, as single-thread performance is often critical for frame pacing.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role appears to be secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but it is not negligible at 1080p. The 1080p Low preset achieves 160 FPS, which suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU effectively even at high frame rates. The 1080p Medium preset at 109 FPS, with a minimum of 93 FPS, shows that the CPU maintains consistent frame pacing. The 1440p results are similar, with the CPU providing enough headroom for the GPU to operate at its full potential. The fact that the frame rate drops are consistent with resolution scaling indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck in most scenarios.

The 7500F’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for The Medium’s requirements, as the game is not known for heavy multi-threading. The CPU’s percentile of 77 among all CPUs places it in the upper quartile, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-11850H, which has a delta of 0.1%. This means the 7500F is essentially tied with that processor in synthetic tests. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.00 GHz provides the high single-thread performance needed for games that rely on a few heavily loaded threads. The measured results in The Medium confirm that the CPU is well-matched to the RX 7900 XTX, and the combination delivers strong frame rates at 1080p and 1440p without any apparent CPU-induced stuttering.