The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination delivers playable performance in The Medium only when settings are managed carefully. The data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher presets, with the fixed-function hardware of the RTX 2060 SUPER struggling against the game's demanding visual effects. This pairing sits at rank 1211 out of 1689 tested combos in this title, placing it in the lower third of the database, but the measured frames show that a smooth experience is achievable with the right compromises.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary limiting factor. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 91.1 FPS at 1920x1080 to 74.6 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 16.5 FPS, then further down to 60.4 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a total decline of 30.7 FPS from 1080p to 4K, representing a 33.7% loss in performance when moving to the highest resolution.

The scaling pattern becomes more severe as settings increase. At High settings, the transition from 1080p to 1440p costs 4.7 FPS (from 40.2 to 35.5), but moving from 1440p to 4K costs another 7.7 FPS, landing at just 27.8 FPS. At Ultra, the situation is dire: 34 FPS at 1080p drops to 25.2 FPS at 1440p and collapses to 19.2 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that resolution scaling is not linear; the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are exhausted more quickly at higher resolutions, with each additional pixel putting disproportionate strain on the 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically with resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 57.1 FPS (91.1 vs 34), while at 4K that gap shrinks to 41.2 FPS (60.4 vs 19.2). This suggests that the CPU, the Ryzen 5 7500F, can feed frames fast enough at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck before the CPU's headroom matters. For 4K gaming, only the Low preset approaches a playable frame rate, and even then, 60.4 FPS leaves little margin for demanding scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 1211 out of 1689 tested configurations, this pairing sits in the 28th percentile of all tested combos in The Medium. The ranking reflects the RTX 2060 SUPER's age and position in the GPU hierarchy; its average benchmark score of 19774 places it at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, which is respectable but not competitive with modern hardware. The Ryzen 5 7500F, by contrast, performs strongly in synthetic tests, with an average benchmark score of 24993 and an 82nd percentile ranking among all CPUs.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the database are instructive. The RTX 2060 SUPER scores 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN, 0.5% higher than the RTX 2070, and 1.3% higher than the Tesla K40m. These are all older or less capable cards, and the small deltas suggest that the RTX 2060 SUPER is at the edge of its performance envelope. The CPU's nearest rivals, meanwhile, include the Intel Core i7-11850H (0.1% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (0.3% slower), indicating that the 7500F is well-matched to mid-range gaming workloads.

The ranking disparity between the CPU and GPU components is telling. The 7500F's 82nd percentile CPU score versus the 2060 SUPER's 63rd percentile GPU score means the processor is leaving performance on the table. In The Medium, the measured data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck in nearly every configuration, which is why the combo ranks lower than the CPU's potential would suggest.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the TU106 chip using a 12 nm process, with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card's base clock is 1470 MHz with a boost clock of 1650 MHz, and it offers 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 224.4 GTexel/s.

The memory configuration is a critical factor in The Medium. The game's fixed camera angles and detailed environments place a premium on texture bandwidth, and the 448.0 GB/s figure is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at lower settings. However, at 4K with High or Ultra settings, the frame buffer and bandwidth become strained, as evidenced by the sharp FPS drops. The 8 GB capacity is adequate for this game at the tested resolutions, but the data shows that the card's compute throughput, measured at 7.181 TFLOPS FP32, is the limiting factor at higher presets.

The RTX 2060 SUPER includes 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, but The Medium's measured results do not isolate ray tracing performance. The card's overall benchmark scores, including a PassMark G3D score of 16462 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2011, indicate a mid-range GPU that is best suited for 1080p gaming. The 175 W TDP and dual-slot design are modest by modern standards, but the card's end-of-life production status suggests that driver optimizations for newer titles may be limited.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 2060 SUPER delivers playable performance at Medium settings with 59 FPS average, which is just below the 60 FPS target but acceptable for a horror title. The Low preset achieves 91.1 FPS, providing a smooth experience with significant headroom. High settings drop to 40.2 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced sequences, while Ultra falls to 34 FPS, which is borderline for this genre.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decline predictably. Low settings produce 74.6 FPS, which remains smooth, while Medium drops to 48.5 FPS, still playable but with noticeable dips in demanding scenes. High settings yield 35.5 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and may cause discomfort for some players. Ultra at 1440p is effectively unplayable at 25.2 FPS.

At 3840x2160, only the Low preset approaches playability at 60.4 FPS. Medium drops to 40.4 FPS, High falls to 27.8 FPS, and Ultra is a slideshow at 19.2 FPS. The data clearly shows that 4K gaming with this GPU is only viable at the lowest settings, and even then, the frame rate is barely acceptable. The scaling from Low to Medium at 4K incurs a 20 FPS penalty, highlighting the GPU's inability to handle increased shading complexity at high pixel counts.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 is the optimal choice. The measured 59 FPS average is close to the 60 FPS target, and the visual upgrade over Low is substantial given the frame rate difference is only 32.1 FPS. Players who prioritize smoothness should select Low at 1080p, which delivers 91.1 FPS and ensures no stutter even in the game's most demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440, Medium is the recommended setting, yielding 48.5 FPS. This is below 60 FPS but remains playable for a horror game where precise timing is less critical. Low at 1440p offers 74.6 FPS and is the safer choice for those who dislike frame rate drops. High and Ultra at this resolution are not recommended, as the 35.5 FPS and 25.2 FPS averages respectively introduce noticeable judder.

For 4K, the only viable option is Low, which produces 60.4 FPS. Medium at 4K drops to 40.4 FPS, which is too low for a consistent experience. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo is not a realistic target unless the player is willing to accept significant visual compromises. The 19.2 FPS at Ultra 4K should be avoided entirely.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache, totaling 32 MB of L3. Memory support includes DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 7500F demonstrates strong single-threaded performance with a 3DMark single-thread score of 974 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3218. Its multi-threaded capabilities are also solid, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22799 and a Geekbench multicore score of 12686. These results place the CPU at the 82nd percentile among all tested processors, indicating that it is more than capable of feeding the RTX 2060 SUPER in The Medium.

The measured FPS data confirms that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this game. At 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work, the 91.1 FPS average is well within the 7500F's capabilities. The CPU's 12 threads are sufficient for The Medium's workload, which is not heavily multithreaded. The processor's high boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensures that single-threaded tasks, such as game logic and physics, are handled without delay. The 32 MB L3 cache provides ample storage for frequently accessed data, reducing memory latency and improving frame pacing.

The CPU's PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes (CPU only) is forward-looking, but the RTX 2060 SUPER uses PCIe 3.0 x16, which does not bottleneck the GPU's performance. The 7500F's memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s is more than sufficient for this game, as the GPU's own 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. Overall, the Ryzen 5 7500F provides a solid foundation for this GPU, and the measured results show that upgrading the graphics card would yield the most significant performance gains in The Medium.