The Medium

# The Medium with AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D + AMD Radeon RX 9060

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 produces a playable but settings-sensitive experience in The Medium, a horror title from 2021. The measured data shows a wide performance spread across resolutions and quality presets, with the 6-core, 12-thread Zen 4 processor and the RDNA 4.0 GPU interacting in ways that become clearer when examining the frame rate tables. This combination ranks 1648th out of 2911 tested combos for this game, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide four presets per resolution: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 101 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire dataset. Medium at 1080p drops to 63 FPS average, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS. High at 1080p yields 45 FPS average, while Ultra falls to 36 FPS. For a horror game where atmosphere matters, the Medium preset at 1080p offers the best balance: it maintains a 63 FPS average with a floor of 53 FPS, staying comfortably above the 30 FPS threshold typically considered minimum for playability.

Moving to 2560x1440, the situation changes. Low produces 85 FPS average, Medium produces 53 FPS average with a 45 FPS minimum and 61 FPS maximum, High produces 38 FPS, and Ultra drops to 30 FPS. At this resolution, Medium is again the recommended preset because it keeps the average above 50 FPS while the minimum never dips below 45 FPS. The High preset at 38 FPS average is borderline, and Ultra at exactly 30 FPS average offers no headroom for demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the data tells a more constrained story. Low produces 67 FPS average, Medium produces 42 FPS average with a 35 FPS minimum and 48 FPS maximum, High produces 30 FPS, and Ultra produces 24 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K is the only setting that keeps the average above 40 FPS while maintaining a minimum of 35 FPS. High at exactly 30 FPS average is playable but fragile, and Ultra at 24 FPS is below the playability threshold for most users.

Across all three resolutions, Low and Medium presets consistently deliver the highest frame rates, while High and Ultra show steep penalties. The pattern suggests that the GPU is the primary constraint at higher settings, as the frame rate drops disproportionately when moving from Medium to High and Ultra. For the best experience, Medium at 1080p or 1440p is recommended, with Medium at 4K as a viable option for those prioritizing resolution over frame rate smoothness.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in The Medium?

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 101 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. The next highest is 85 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low, followed by 67 FPS at 3840x2160 with Low.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60 FPS at 1080p with any preset other than Low?

A: No. At 1920x1080, only the Low preset exceeds 60 FPS with 101 FPS. The Medium preset produces 63 FPS average, which is above 60, but the minimum of 53 FPS means it can dip below the 60 FPS threshold during demanding scenes. High and Ultra fall well short at 45 FPS and 36 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the 4K Medium preset compare to the 1080p Medium preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium, the average frame rate is 42 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS and maximum of 48 FPS. At 1920x1080 with Medium, the average is 63 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS and maximum of 72 FPS. The 1080p result is 21 FPS higher on average, representing a 50% improvement in frame rate from the 4K figure.

Q: What is the frame rate penalty for using Ultra instead of Low at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 85 FPS average, while Ultra delivers 30 FPS average. This represents a 55 FPS difference, meaning Ultra runs at approximately 35% of the Low preset's frame rate at this resolution.

Q: Is the combo more limited by CPU or GPU based on the 1080p to 4K scaling?

A: The frame rate drops from 101 FPS at 1080p Low to 67 FPS at 4K Low, a 34% reduction. At Medium, the drop is from 63 FPS at 1080p to 42 FPS at 4K, a 33% reduction. These proportional drops across resolutions indicate the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, since the CPU workload remains constant while the GPU workload scales with pixel count.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested configurations for The Medium?

A: The combination ranks 1648th out of 2911 tested combos for this game. This places it in the 56th percentile, meaning approximately 56% of tested configurations outperform it, while 44% are slower.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, with 28 ray tracing cores. Clock speeds are listed as a 1700 MHz base, 2400 MHz game clock, and 2990 MHz boost, with memory running at 2250 MHz or 18 Gbps effective. The GPU's pixel rate is 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate is 334.9 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 21.43 TFLOPS.

In The Medium, the GPU's role becomes evident through the measured frame rates. At 1080p, the GPU must render fewer pixels, but the frame rates across presets suggest the GPU is still the dominant constraint. The drop from 101 FPS at Low to 36 FPS at Ultra at 1080p shows a 64% performance loss when moving to the highest quality settings. This is consistent with a GPU that has sufficient raw throughput for lower settings but struggles with the additional shading and texture work required by Ultra presets.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is relevant because horror games often use high-resolution textures for atmosphere and detail. At 4K with Ultra settings, the GPU produces only 24 FPS average, which may indicate memory bandwidth or capacity pressure in addition to compute limitations. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is modest by current standards, and the 128-bit bus width limits how quickly texture data can be fed to the shading units.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context. Its Passmark G3D score is 17631, with a Passmark GPU Compute score of 9919. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 3322. The GPU ranks in the 59th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti with an average score of 16129, representing a -0.7% delta, meaning the RX 9060 is slightly slower. Other rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15862 (1% faster) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 at 15852 (1% faster). These close margins indicate the RX 9060 sits in a competitive mid-range segment.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks 1648th out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This rank of 1648 places the configuration in the lower-middle range of the database, with about 1263 combos performing worse and 1647 performing better. The percentile position suggests that while this combo can play the game, many other hardware pairings deliver higher frame rates.

The CPU component of this combo is strong. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D has an average benchmark score of 44573 and ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H at 44466 (0.2% slower), the Intel Core i9-13950HX at 44342 (0.5% slower), and the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 at 44309 (0.6% slower). The Intel Core i5-14600 at 44889 is 0.7% faster. These margins are minimal, indicating the 7500X3D is competitive with top processors from rival lines.

The GPU component is weaker in relative terms. The RX 9060 ranks in the 59th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rivals show it is roughly on par with the RTX 3060 Ti but slightly behind. The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a mid-percentile GPU explains the overall rank of 1648: the CPU is not the bottleneck, but the GPU limits the combo's placement in the rankings.

For The Medium specifically, the combo rank of 1648 out of 2911 means that 1263 other configurations are slower. This is a playable setup, but users seeking higher frame rates or higher quality presets would need to consider a more powerful GPU. The data indicates that the CPU has headroom, as its 89th percentile ranking is far above the combo's overall 56th percentile position.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show clear scaling patterns across the three resolutions. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 101 at 1080p to 85 at 1440p to 67 at 4K. This represents a 16% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 21% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 34%.

At Medium settings, the averages are 63 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 16%, and from 1440p to 4K is 21%, for a total of 33% from 1080p to 4K. The minimum FPS at Medium also scales: 53 at 1080p, 45 at 1440p, and 35 at 4K. The maximum FPS at Medium goes from 72 at 1080p to 61 at 1440p to 48 at 4K.

At High settings, the averages are 45 FPS at 1080p, 38 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 16%, and from 1440p to 4K is 21%, totaling 33% from 1080p to 4K. At Ultra settings, the averages are 36 FPS at 1080p, 30 FPS at 1440p, and 24 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 17%, and from 1440p to 4K is 20%, totaling 33% from 1080p to 4K.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four presets is notable. Every preset shows approximately a 33-34% reduction in average FPS when moving from 1080p to 4K. This proportional scaling strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would stay relatively flat as resolution increased, because the CPU's workload is independent of pixel count. Instead, the frame rates drop in near-perfect proportion to the increase in pixel count, which is the signature of a GPU-bound scenario.

The 4K results reinforce this conclusion. At 4K with High settings, the combo produces 30 FPS average, and at Ultra it produces 24 FPS. These are low frame rates that suggest the GPU is saturated at this resolution. The 8 GB VRAM and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are likely contributing factors, as 4K textures require more memory capacity and bandwidth than 1080p or 1440p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results are as follows. Low settings produce 101 FPS average. Medium settings produce 63 FPS average, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS. High settings produce 45 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 36 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 65 FPS, with Low being 2.8 times faster than Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the results show a similar pattern. Low settings produce 85 FPS average. Medium settings produce 53 FPS average, with a minimum of 45 FPS and a maximum of 61 FPS. High settings produce 38 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 30 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 55 FPS, with Low being 2.8 times faster than Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the results are more compressed. Low settings produce 67 FPS average. Medium settings produce 42 FPS average, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 48 FPS. High settings produce 30 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 24 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 43 FPS, with Low being 2.8 times faster than Ultra.

The ratio between Low and Ultra is remarkably consistent at 2.8x across all three resolutions. This consistency suggests that the performance scaling between presets is determined by the GPU's architectural characteristics rather than by resolution-specific effects. The Medium preset provides the only complete data with minimum and maximum FPS values, and these show that the frame time variance is relatively tight: at 1080p, the range is 53 to 72 FPS (19 FPS spread), at 1440p it is 45 to 61 FPS (16 FPS spread), and at 4K it is 35 to 48 FPS (13 FPS spread). The narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes more consistently saturated as pixel count increases.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 architecture with the Raphael codename. It has a base clock of 4.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz, with a TDP of 65 watts. The processor features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 96 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth, and includes integrated Radeon Graphics. The CPU was released in November 2025 with a launch MSRP of $269.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. Its Passmark multithread score is 25047, single-thread score is 3494, and floating-point math score is 43594. Integer math scores 70774, extended instructions score 20455, and data compression scores 271649. The processor ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 44573.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The game is a horror title with fixed camera angles and scripted sequences, which typically places less demand on CPU threads than open-world games. The 6-core, 12-thread configuration with 96 MB of L3 cache should be more than sufficient for this workload, and the benchmark data supports this: the frame rates scale proportionally with resolution, indicating the GPU is the bottleneck rather than the CPU.

The CPU's nearest rivals show it is competitive with top-tier processors. The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H scores 44466 (0.2% slower), the Intel Core i9-13950HX scores 44342 (0.5% slower), and the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 scores 44309 (0.6% slower). The Intel Core i5-14600 scores 44889 (0.7% faster). These deltas are within 1%, meaning the 7500X3D is essentially tied with these processors in average benchmark score.

Given that the CPU ranks in the 89th percentile while the GPU ranks in the 59th percentile, the performance ceiling for this combo in The Medium is set by the graphics card. The CPU has enough headroom to support higher frame rates if a more powerful GPU were installed, but with the RX 9060, the measured results show the GPU saturating at all resolutions and presets. The 65-watt TDP of the CPU is also worth noting: it indicates efficient power draw, which is a benefit for system thermal management, though the game's performance is not limited by CPU power constraints.