The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents a unique workload that scales in a non-linear fashion with the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination. The measured data reveals a system that is heavily influenced by resolution and graphics preset, with the GPU becoming the primary constraint at higher settings, while the CPU’s large cache helps maintain high frame rates at lower presets.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data shows a clear and consistent pattern: as resolution increases, average FPS drops significantly across all tested settings. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 146 FPS at 1920x1080 to 138 FPS at 2560x1440, a modest 5.5% decrease. However, scaling to 3840x2160 yields a more substantial drop to 126 FPS, which is an 8.7% reduction from the 1440p figure and a 13.7% reduction from the 1080p result. This indicates that even at the lowest graphical preset, the GPU is beginning to feel the pressure of the 4K pixel count, though the performance remains very playable.

The scaling behavior changes dramatically at higher settings. At Medium settings, the average FPS goes from 119 at 1080p to 100 at 1440p, a 16% drop, and then to 79 at 4K, a further 21% drop. This shows that the gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K. At High settings, the trend is even more pronounced: 85 FPS at 1080p drops to 72 FPS at 1440p (a 15% decrease) and then to 56 FPS at 4K (a 22% decrease from 1440p). The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest curve, with 68 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K.

This pattern strongly suggests that the limiting component shifts depending on the resolution. At 1080p with Low settings, the 146 FPS average indicates that the CPU and its 96 MB of L3 cache are capable of feeding the GPU at a very high rate. As the resolution climbs to 4K, the GPU’s rendering load increases, and the frame rate drops, showing that the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER becomes the primary bottleneck. The difference between 1080p Low and 4K Low is only 20 FPS, which is relatively small, but the difference between 1080p Ultra and 4K Ultra is 23 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU’s workload scales more aggressively with resolution when the visual complexity is higher.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, with its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, is the dominant factor in determining The Medium's performance at higher resolutions and settings. The card’s 80 RT cores and 10,240 shading units are put to work as the game’s fixed-camera angles render complex scenes. The data shows that the GPU is capable of delivering a 126 FPS average at 4K with Low settings, which suggests that the card’s raw compute power is substantial. However, the 4K Ultra result of 45 FPS indicates that the most demanding settings, which likely include high-resolution shadows, reflections, and volumetric effects, impose a significant load that this GPU cannot fully overcome.

The GPU’s memory configuration is also relevant. With 16 GB of VRAM, the card is unlikely to be memory-constrained at any of the tested resolutions, even at 4K with Ultra settings. The 256-bit memory bus and the high bandwidth ensure that texture streaming and geometry data are delivered to the processing cores without a major bottleneck. The benchmark results support this interpretation: the frame rate drops at 4K are more consistent with compute and shading limits than with memory capacity issues. The card’s boost clock of 2550 MHz, up from a base of 2295 MHz, provides the dynamic performance headroom that allows it to maintain high frame rates in less demanding scenes, though the average scores reflect the sustained load across the benchmark run.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER achieves a rank of 221 out of 2911 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the top 7.6% of all configurations, indicating a very high level of performance. The combo’s rank confirms the synergy between the CPU and GPU, where the processor’s strong single-thread performance and the graphics card’s high-end capabilities combine to produce excellent results. However, the rank also shows that there are 220 other combinations that perform better, likely featuring even more powerful GPUs or CPUs that offer a marginal edge in this specific title.

The data indicates that this pairing is a high-end solution that will not struggle with The Medium at most settings. The 221st rank out of 2911 is a strong showing, putting it ahead of the vast majority of systems. While it is not the absolute top-tier configuration, it is clearly within the top echelon of performers. The GPU’s percentile of 86 among all GPUs and the CPU’s percentile of 89 among all CPUs further confirm that both components are high-performing, and their combination yields a system that is well-suited for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact measured average frame rates for the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER in The Medium.

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|---|---|---|---|---|

| 3840x2160 | High | 56 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 126 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 79 | 67 | 90 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 45 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | High | 72 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 138 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 100 | 85 | 115 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 57 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | High | 85 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 146 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 119 | 101 | 137 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 68 | - | - |

The data reveals that the Medium preset offers a balanced experience, with the 4K configuration achieving 79 FPS and a minimum of 67 FPS, ensuring a stable experience. The 1440p Medium result of 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 FPS is exceptionally smooth, while the 1080p Medium result of 119 FPS is well above the refresh rate of most displays. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with the 4K result of 45 FPS being the only sub-60 FPS score in the entire dataset. The Low preset produces very high frame rates across all resolutions, with even 4K breaking the 120 FPS barrier.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this CPU and GPU combo in The Medium?

A: The highest average frame rate is 146 FPS, which is achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, at 4K with Medium settings, the system achieves an average of 79 FPS, and at High settings, it achieves 56 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 45 FPS. Therefore, 60 FPS is achievable at Medium settings, but not at High or Ultra.

Q: How does the 1440p Medium performance compare to the 1080p Medium performance?

A: At 1440p Medium, the average FPS is 100, which is 19 FPS lower than the 119 FPS average at 1080p Medium. This represents a 16% decrease in performance when moving up in resolution.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER the main bottleneck at 1080p with Low settings?

A: No, the 146 FPS average at 1080p Low suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU effectively. The performance is likely limited by the game engine’s draw call overhead or the CPU’s single-thread speed, as the GPU is not fully saturated at this resolution and preset.

Q: What is the most demanding combination of settings and resolution in the measured data?

A: The most demanding combination is 3840x2160 resolution with the Ultra settings preset, which yields an average frame rate of 45 FPS.

Q: What is the performance delta between the RTX 4080 SUPER and its closest rival, the RTX 4080, based on average benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54209, while the RTX 4080 has a score of 54247, showing a delta of -0.1%. This indicates that the two cards perform nearly identically in general compute benchmarks.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the Medium settings preset offers the best balance between visual fidelity and performance. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 119 FPS, which is smooth and responsive. Moving to 1440p, the Medium preset still provides an excellent 100 FPS average, making it the ideal choice for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 4K, the Medium preset achieves a 79 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for a good experience, and its minimum of 67 FPS ensures that frame pacing remains consistent.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users who prioritize visual quality over raw frame rate. At 1440p, it yields 72 FPS, which is still playable, but at 4K, it drops to 56 FPS, which may be below the target for some users. The Ultra preset is not recommended for 4K play, as the 45 FPS average will likely be perceived as stuttery. However, for users with a 1080p display, the Ultra preset’s 68 FPS average is a reasonable choice if visual fidelity is the primary concern. The Low preset is unnecessary for this hardware, as even the Medium preset provides high frame rates, and the visual downgrade is significant.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D plays a critical role in ensuring that the GPU is fed with data, particularly at lower resolutions and settings. This processor features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 4.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz. Its defining characteristic is the 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is a significant advantage in games that are sensitive to memory latency. The PassMark single-thread score of 3494 and the multithread score of 25047 indicate that the processor has strong per-core performance and solid overall throughput.

In The Medium, the CPU’s impact is most evident at 1080p with Low settings, where the 146 FPS average suggests that the game’s logic and scene management are being handled without becoming a bottleneck. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D’s large cache likely helps maintain high frame rates by keeping frequently accessed data close to the cores. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the frame rate drops are more closely tied to the GPU’s rendering load. However, the CPU’s performance ensures that the GPU is never waiting on the processor, allowing the RTX 4080 SUPER to achieve its full potential. The processor’s 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs and its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, which is only 0.2% faster in average score, confirm that this is a top-tier gaming processor that pairs well with a high-end graphics card.