The Medium

The Medium is a horror title built around fixed-camera angles and a dual-reality mechanic, and the data for the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 shows a setup that is capable at 1080p and 1440p but begins to struggle at 4K, particularly on higher presets. The measured frame rates indicate a system that is clearly GPU-limited in this game, with the CPU having enough headroom to push well beyond what the graphics card can deliver at lower resolutions. This analysis uses only the provided measured FPS data and component specifications to explain how this combo behaves in The Medium.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D plus AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination ranks 797th out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. That places it in roughly the 73rd percentile of all tested systems, which is a solid mid-to-upper tier result, but it is not a top-tier configuration. The rank reflects the measured FPS across all tested settings and resolutions, meaning it accounts for both the CPU’s ability to feed frames and the GPU’s ability to render them. Given that this is a 2021 horror game with demanding fixed-camera scenes, the rank suggests the combo handles the game reasonably well but leaves performance on the table at higher resolutions.

The CPU itself scores in the 89th percentile among all CPUs in general benchmarks, with an average benchmark score of 44573. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests 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). On the other side, the Intel Core i5-14600 scores 44889, which is 0.7% faster. These are very tight margins, indicating the 7500X3D is competitively positioned in raw compute, but that does not translate directly into gaming performance, which is more dependent on cache and memory latency. The 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a key factor here, as it helps with game workloads, but the benchmark rank shows that in The Medium specifically, the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher settings.

The GPU’s average benchmark score is 23877, placing it in the 69th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z at 23736 (0.6% faster), the AMD Radeon RX 6800S at 24063 (0.8% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile at 23628 (1.1% faster), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER at 24170 (1.2% slower). These deltas are small, meaning the RX 9070 is roughly in the same performance class as those older or mobile parts in pure compute, but its 16 GB of VRAM and RDNA 4 architecture give it advantages in modern titles that rely on larger textures and ray tracing features. In The Medium, the combo’s rank is more influenced by the GPU’s rendering limits than by CPU compute, which is typical for a game that uses heavy post-processing and split-screen rendering for its dual-reality sequences.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the primary driver of frame rates in The Medium, and the data confirms this. The GPU has a base clock of 1330 MHz, a boost clock of 2520 MHz, and a game clock of 2070 MHz. Memory runs at 2518 MHz with 20.1 Gbps effective bandwidth, across a 256-bit bus, yielding 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. This is paired with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is more than enough for The Medium’s assets, even at 4K Ultra settings. The GPU also has 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 raster output units, along with 56 ray tracing cores. Its pixel rate is 322.6 GPixel/s and texture rate is 564.5 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance at 36.13 TFLOPS.

In The Medium, the GPU’s role becomes clear when looking at the FPS scaling across settings at each resolution. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 141 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 50 FPS. That is a 65% reduction from Low to Ultra, which is a massive hit and indicates that the Ultra preset is extremely demanding, likely due to the game’s volumetric lighting and high-resolution shadows. At 1440p, the same pattern holds: 119 FPS on Low versus 42 FPS on Ultra. At 4K, the gap widens further: 93 FPS on Low down to 33 FPS on Ultra. The GPU’s 16 GB VRAM is not the limiting factor here, as even 4K Ultra textures would fit within that capacity, but the raw compute and memory bandwidth are being taxed heavily by the higher presets.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the RTX 2080 SUPER, which is 1.2% slower in average score, and the RTX 3080 Mobile, which is 1.1% faster. However, in actual gaming, the RX 9070’s newer architecture and higher bandwidth give it an edge in memory-intensive scenes. The Medium uses a dual-world rendering technique where two perspectives are shown simultaneously, which doubles the geometry and shading workload. This explains why the GPU is the bottleneck: the CPU can prepare frames quickly, but the GPU has to render two scenes at once. The measured FPS at 4K Medium (58 FPS) versus 4K High (42 FPS) shows that even a single step down in preset yields a 38% improvement, which is a practical way to manage the GPU load.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the combo produces 141 FPS at 1080p, 119 FPS at 1440p, and 93 FPS at 4K. That is a 34% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is relatively modest and shows that at Low settings, the GPU still has headroom, but the CPU is not the constraint. At Medium settings, the numbers are 88 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K here is also 34%, consistent with the Low preset. At High settings, the FPS are 63 at 1080p, 53 at 1440p, and 42 at 4K, again a 33% reduction. At Ultra, the FPS are 50 at 1080p, 42 at 1440p, and 33 at 4K, a 34% drop. This consistent scaling across all presets indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, and the CPU’s performance does not change the scaling pattern.

The fact that the percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is nearly identical across all settings (around 33-34%) suggests that the GPU’s rendering load scales linearly with pixel count, and the CPU is not introducing any additional bottleneck at lower resolutions. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect to see a smaller FPS gap between 1080p and 1440p, but that is not the case. At 1080p Low, the CPU could theoretically push more frames, but the GPU is already maxed out at 141 FPS, which is likely near the game’s engine limit or the GPU’s rasterization ceiling. The data shows that the Ryzen 5 7500X3D has plenty of headroom, as evidenced by its single-thread score of 3494 and multithread score of 25047 in PassMark tests, but those numbers do not translate into higher FPS because the GPU is doing the heavy lifting.

At 4K Ultra, the combo drops to 33 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for many users. The 4K Medium result of 58 FPS is more acceptable, and 4K Low at 93 FPS is quite smooth. The pattern is clear: resolution scaling is purely on the GPU’s shoulders, and the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads at 4.00 GHz base and 4.50 GHz boost are sufficient to keep up with the RX 9070 at even the highest pixel counts. This is a balanced pairing in that sense, but it means that any FPS improvements must come from lowering the preset or resolution, not from upgrading the CPU.

FAQ

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D strong enough for The Medium at 4K?

A: Yes, the CPU is not the bottleneck. The measured FPS at 4K Low is 93, at 4K Medium is 58, and at 4K High is 42, which shows the GPU is limiting performance. The CPU’s 96 MB of L3 cache and 6 cores with 12 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at all tested settings.

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Medium with this combo?

A: Based on the data, 1440p Medium offers 74 FPS, which is a good balance between visual quality and smoothness. 1080p High gives 63 FPS, and 1080p Medium gives 88 FPS. For higher fidelity, 1440p High at 53 FPS is playable, but 4K Medium at 58 FPS is also viable if you prefer 4K.

Q: How does the RX 9070 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 9070 has an average benchmark score of 23877. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z, scores 23736 (0.6% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6800S scores 24063 (0.8% higher). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile scores 23628 (1.1% lower), and the RTX 2080 SUPER scores 24170 (1.2% higher). These are close margins.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM on the RX 9070 help in The Medium?

A: The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth is more than ample for The Medium, even at 4K Ultra. The game’s dual-reality rendering uses more memory, but the FPS drops at Ultra are due to compute load, not VRAM capacity. The data shows FPS falling from 58 at 4K Medium to 42 at 4K High, which is a compute limit.

Q: What FPS can I expect at 1080p with this combo?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 141 FPS. At 1080p Medium, it drops to 88 FPS. At 1080p High, it is 63 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it is 50 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p is the highest setting that stays above 60 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting component. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all presets, and the CPU’s high benchmark percentile (89th) does not prevent FPS drops at higher settings. The RX 9070’s 69th percentile rank is the primary constraint.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience for this combo in The Medium depends on the target resolution and frame rate preference. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 88 FPS, which is smooth and well above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 1080p drops to 63 FPS, which is still playable but not as fluid, and Ultra at 1080p drops to 50 FPS, which may feel choppy in a horror game that relies on atmospheric pacing. For 1080p, Medium is the sweet spot, as it offers a 40% improvement over High while maintaining visual fidelity that is likely close to High in most scenes.

At 1440p, the Medium preset gives 74 FPS, which is excellent for a horror title. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 119 FPS, but that sacrifices too much visual quality for a game that depends on lighting and shadows. The High preset at 1440p drops to 53 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness, but still playable. The Ultra preset at 1440p is 42 FPS, which is too low for a game that requires precise timing in some puzzle sections. For 1440p, Medium is the recommended choice, as it balances visual quality and performance.

At 4K, the situation is more constrained. The Medium preset at 4K produces 58 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that stays above 55 FPS. The Low preset at 4K gives 93 FPS, but that is visually inferior to Medium. The High preset at 4K is 42 FPS, and Ultra is 33 FPS, both of which are too low for a smooth experience. For 4K, Medium is the only viable option for a decent frame rate, though some players might accept High at 42 FPS if they prioritize visuals over smoothness. Given that the game is a slow-paced horror title, 42 FPS might be acceptable to some, but the data suggests Medium is the better default.

The measured rows also show that the min FPS for Medium settings are 75 FPS at 1080p, 63 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K, with corresponding max FPS of 101, 85, and 67. These min FPS numbers are important because they indicate frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the min of 75 FPS is still smooth, but at 4K Medium, the min of 50 FPS shows occasional dips that could be noticeable in cutscenes. The max FPS at 4K Medium is 67, so the average of 58 is representative of the experience. For the best overall experience, 1440p Medium is the top recommendation, as it offers a min FPS of 63 and an average of 74, which is comfortable for most players.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, based on the Zen 4 (Raphael) architecture on a 5 nm process from TSMC. It has a base clock of 4.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The CPU features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache. This large L3 cache is a distinct advantage in gaming, as it reduces memory latency and improves performance in cache-sensitive workloads. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel architecture and a memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, and it is built for the AMD Socket AM5 platform with PCIe Gen 5 support (24 lanes from the CPU).

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is to handle the game’s logic, physics, and draw calls, while the GPU renders the two simultaneous worlds. The PassMark benchmarks show a single-thread score of 3494 and a multithread score of 25047, with a physics score of 2779. These numbers indicate a strong processor, but they are not directly reflected in the game’s FPS because the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic tests include the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (0.2% slower), Intel Core i9-13950HX (0.5% slower), AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (0.6% slower), and Intel Core i5-14600 (0.7% faster). These tight deltas mean that swapping to any of these CPUs would not change The Medium’s performance meaningfully, since the RX 9070 is limiting.

The CPU’s 96 MB L3 cache is likely helping in the game’s asset streaming, especially when switching between the two realities, but the measured FPS patterns do not show any CPU-related stutters. The min FPS values for Medium settings are 75 at 1080p, 63 at 1440p, and 50 at 4K, which are all respectable and suggest the CPU maintains frame pacing. The CPU’s boost clock of 4.50 GHz is sufficient for single-threaded tasks, and the 6 cores with 12 threads handle the game’s multi-threaded background tasks without issue. The CPU’s TDP of 65 W means it runs cool, which is beneficial for sustained gaming sessions, but that is not a performance metric. Overall, the CPU is not a limiting factor in this combo for The Medium; the RX 9070 is the component that determines FPS, and the 7500X3D provides ample headroom for the GPU at all tested settings.