The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a playable but constrained experience in The Medium, with the data showing a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance that scales predictably with resolution and settings. The RTX 2060 SUPER, an end-of-life Turing part, sits at the 62nd percentile among all GPUs, and its benchmark results in this title reflect a card that can handle 1080p and 1440p with adjustments but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K beyond the lowest preset. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings, examines the GPU and CPU roles, and provides actionable recommendations based solely on the observed numbers.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep and consistent penalty as resolution increases, which strongly suggests the RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary limiting component in this configuration. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 92 FPS at 1920x1080 to 77 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 15 FPS, and then further down to 61 FPS at 3840x2160, another 16 FPS loss. This linear degradation pattern—roughly a 16-17% performance hit per resolution step—is characteristic of a GPU that is being pushed harder at higher pixel counts, especially given that the CPU (AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D) has ample headroom with its 6 cores and 12 threads.

The scaling becomes even more dramatic when moving from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings. The average FPS falls from 48 at 2560x1440 to 38 at 3840x2160, a 10 FPS drop that represents a 20.8% reduction. This steeper decline at Medium compared to Low indicates that the increased shading and texture work at 4K is overwhelming the GPU’s 8 GB of VRAM and its 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The RTX 2060 SUPER has a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, but this is insufficient to keep pace with the demands of 4K rendering, leading to the observed frame rate collapse.

At High settings, the resolution scaling is even more punishing. The average FPS drops from 41 at 1080p to 35 at 1440p (a 14.6% decrease) and then to 27 at 4K (a 22.9% decrease from 1440p). This shows that as the preset complexity increases, the GPU’s ability to maintain performance across resolutions diminishes, confirming that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the bottleneck. The data implies that this combo is not designed for 4K gaming in The Medium, and even 1440p requires careful settings management to stay above playable thresholds.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance between visual quality and performance for this combo depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 57 FPS with a minimum of 49 and a maximum of 66, which is the highest preset that maintains a consistently smooth experience above 60 FPS. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 92 FPS, but the jump to Medium adds significant visual fidelity while only sacrificing 35 FPS, making Medium the best experience per the data. The High preset at 1080p drops to 41 FPS, which is below the smoothness threshold, and Ultra falls further to 33 FPS, making both less desirable.

For 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only option that provides a fluid experience, with an average of 77 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p yields 48 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced sequences, while High drops to 35 FPS and Ultra to 27 FPS, both of which are too low for comfortable play. The data suggests that at 1440p, users should either accept Low settings for maximum smoothness or compromise with Medium for a more detailed image, understanding that frame rates will hover in the 40s.

At 3840x2160, the situation is dire. The Low preset is the only setting that achieves a playable average of 61 FPS, which is surprising given the 4K resolution but indicates that the game’s low preset is highly optimized for older GPUs. The Medium preset at 4K drops to 38 FPS with a minimum of 32, which is borderline, while High at 27 FPS and Ultra at 21 FPS are effectively unplayable. The recommendation is clear: at 4K, stick to Low settings, and at 1440p, use Medium as a ceiling, while 1080p can handle Medium comfortably.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the central figure in this performance analysis, and its specifications explain the observed results. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the GPU has a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K, especially at higher presets that demand more texture data. The card’s base clock of 1470 MHz and boost clock of 1650 MHz are modest by modern standards, and its 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs provide a compute capability of 7.181 TFLOPS FP32. These numbers place the GPU at the 62nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18093, which is only 0.4% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile and 1.5% behind the AMD Radeon RX 460.

The data shows that the GPU’s performance in The Medium aligns closely with its overall benchmark standing. At 1080p Medium, the 57 FPS average is respectable, but the drop to 38 FPS at 4K Medium highlights the VRAM and bandwidth constraints. The RTX 2060 SUPER’s 12 nm process node and 175 W TDP also suggest it runs hot and consumes significant power, but the measured FPS data does not include thermal or power metrics, so those are only contextual. The GPU’s 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are present, but the measured FPS in this title likely does not fully utilize ray tracing, as the performance at Ultra (33 FPS at 1080p) suggests a traditional rasterization workload.

The percentile ranking of 62 implies that this GPU is mid-range, and the measured FPS in The Medium confirms that it can handle the game at lower settings but not at maximum quality. The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the RTX 3060 Mobile with a deltaPct of -0.4%, perform nearly identically, which means users can expect similar frame rates from comparable hardware. The data indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the bottleneck in this combo, as the CPU is far more capable, and any performance gains in this title would require a GPU upgrade rather than a CPU change.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full measured FPS dataset provides a comprehensive picture of performance across all resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 92 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 57 FPS, with a minimum of 49 and a maximum of 66, providing a stable mid-range experience. The High preset averages 41 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 33 FPS, showing a clear degradation as settings increase. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 59 FPS, or a 64.1% reduction, which demonstrates the significant impact of preset quality on this GPU.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 77 FPS, which is still smooth but 15 FPS lower than at 1080p. The Medium preset averages 48 FPS, with a minimum of 41 and a maximum of 55, which is playable but noticeably less fluid than 1080p Medium. The High preset at 1440p averages 35 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 27 FPS, both of which are below the 30 FPS threshold for acceptable playability in a horror title. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Medium is 9 FPS, or a 15.8% decrease, which aligns with the resolution scaling pattern.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 61 FPS, which is surprisingly high for 4K and suggests that the low preset reduces the rendering load significantly. The Medium preset at 4K averages 38 FPS, with a minimum of 32 and a maximum of 43, which is borderline playable but may cause stuttering in intense scenes. The High preset averages 27 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 21 FPS, both of which are unplayable for a smooth experience. The data shows that the jump from 1440p to 4K at Medium results in a 10 FPS drop, or 20.8%, which is the steepest single-resolution penalty in the dataset, emphasizing the GPU’s limitations at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in The Medium?

A: The highest average FPS is 92, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only setting that breaks the 90 FPS barrier, while the next best is 77 FPS at 2560x1440 Low.

Q: Is the RTX 2060 SUPER capable of 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: The data shows that 4K is only playable at the Low preset, which averages 61 FPS. At Medium, the average drops to 38 FPS, and at High and Ultra, it falls to 27 and 21 FPS respectively, making those presets unsuitable for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 18093, which is 0.4% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (18159) and 1.5% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 460 (18373). It is 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (18189).

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at different resolutions?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum FPS is 49. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 41. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum is 32. This shows a consistent decline in minimum frame rates as resolution increases.

Q: Which preset offers the best experience at 1440p based on the data?

A: The Low preset at 1440p averages 77 FPS, which is the smoothest option. The Medium preset averages 48 FPS, which is acceptable, but the High (35 FPS) and Ultra (27 FPS) presets are too slow for a comfortable experience.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU bottleneck this combo in The Medium?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU, AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, has a Passmark multithread score of 25047 and a single-thread score of 3494, placing it in the 89th percentile. The consistent FPS drops across resolutions, despite the CPU’s high performance, confirm that the RTX 2060 SUPER limits the frame rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a high-end desktop processor with 6 cores and 12 threads, based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture on a 5 nm process. Its base clock of 4.00 GHz and boost clock of 4.50 GHz, combined with a large 96 MB shared L3 cache, make it a formidable gaming CPU. The Passmark benchmarks reflect this strength: a multithread score of 25047, a single-thread score of 3494, and a floating-point math score of 43594. These numbers place the CPU in the 89th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 44573, which is only 0.2% behind the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and 0.5% behind the Intel Core i9-13950HX.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU, as the measured FPS data shows a clear GPU bottleneck. The CPU has a TDP of 65 W and supports DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, which is more than sufficient for this title. The Passmark physics score of 2779 and the integer math score of 70774 indicate strong computational capability, but the game’s frame rates are not limited by these factors. The data implies that the CPU is never the constraint, as even at 1080p Low with 92 FPS, the frame rate is likely capped by the GPU’s rendering speed rather than the CPU’s processing power.

The CPU’s nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i5-14600 with a deltaPct of -0.7%, perform similarly in synthetic benchmarks, but this does not translate to meaningful differences in The Medium because the GPU dominates. The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are adequate for the game’s threading model, and the 96 MB L3 cache likely helps with data locality, but the 12 nm RTX 2060 SUPER’s limitations are the primary driver of the observed performance. Users should not expect CPU upgrades to improve frame rates in this title, as the data clearly shows the GPU is the limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combo ranks 2026th out of 2911 tested combinations in The Medium, placing it in the 30.4th percentile of all combos. This relatively low ranking is driven entirely by the GPU’s performance, as the CPU is in the 89th percentile. The combo’s position indicates that many other hardware pairings deliver better frame rates in this title, likely due to more powerful GPUs that can handle higher resolutions and presets.

The data shows that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can achieve 57 FPS at Medium settings, which is a solid experience. At 1440p, the combo is limited to Low settings for smooth gameplay, and at 4K, only the Low preset is playable. This ranking of 2026/2911 suggests that the combo is below average for The Medium, which is expected given the GPU’s end-of-life status and its position at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs.

For context, the GPU’s nearest rivals, such as the RTX 3060 Mobile, perform nearly identically, so users with similar GPUs can expect similar rankings. The combo’s rank is not a reflection of the CPU’s capability, but rather evidence of the GPU’s limitations in this specific title. To improve the ranking, a GPU upgrade would be necessary, as the CPU has ample headroom. The data implies that this combo is a legacy configuration that can still play The Medium at lower settings, but it will not deliver a high-end experience at higher resolutions.