The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers a compelling, if occasionally counterintuitive, performance profile in The Medium. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher settings, yet shows surprising CPU sensitivity at lower presets, making it a fascinating case study in hardware scaling. This combination ranks 123rd out of 2911 tested configurations in this specific title, placing it in the top 4.2% of all recorded combos, a strong showing that underscores its high-end pedigree.

FAQ

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

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 146 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. This represents the absolute ceiling for this pairing in the game's measured data.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested hardware combinations in this game?

A: The system ranks 123rd out of 2911 tested combos, placing it in the 95.8th percentile. This indicates it outperforms the vast majority of configurations tested for The Medium, though a small group of 122 other setups deliver higher frame rates.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset produces an average of 128 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 51 FPS. This represents a 60% reduction in average frame rate, highlighting the massive performance cost of the Ultra settings at 4K resolution.

Q: Does the 1080p Medium preset provide a smoother experience than the 1440p Medium preset?

A: Yes, the 1080p Medium preset averages 122 FPS, which is 8 FPS higher than the 2560x1440 Medium preset's 114 FPS average. Additionally, the 1080p Medium preset also records a higher minimum FPS of 104, compared to 97 at 1440p, indicating a more consistent frame delivery.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7500X3D CPU a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 GPU in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a primary bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings. For instance, going from 1080p Ultra (77 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (65 FPS) only reduces performance by 12 FPS, a relatively small drop that suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. However, at 1080p Low, the 146 FPS result compared to the 4K Low result of 128 FPS shows the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at high frame rates, but the scaling is not linear.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded for the 1440p Medium preset?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the system recorded an average of 114 FPS, with a minimum of 97 FPS and a maximum of 131 FPS. This data point is the only one in the set that includes all three metrics.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for The Medium provides a clear picture of how different presets impact performance. The primary goal for most users is to achieve a high, stable frame rate, and the Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 122 FPS average with a minimum of 104 FPS, offering a robust experience with only a 16% performance penalty compared to the Low preset's 146 FPS. The jump to High at 1080p yields 97 FPS, a 20% drop from Medium, while Ultra further reduces the average to 77 FPS.

Moving up to 2560x1440, the Medium preset again proves its value, producing 114 FPS average with a minimum of 97 FPS. This is a very playable result for a high-resolution experience. The High preset at 1440p drops to 82 FPS, which is still playable but represents a significant 28% decrease from Medium. The Ultra preset at this resolution falls to 65 FPS, which may be less desirable for those seeking fluid motion. At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more demanding. The Medium preset averages 90 FPS, making it the only 4K preset that comfortably clears the 60 FPS threshold for a smooth experience. The High preset at 64 FPS is borderline, while Ultra dips to 51 FPS, which is below the ideal target for many players.

Based on this data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance across all three resolutions. It consistently provides the highest frame rates that remain well above 60 FPS, even at 4K. For players prioritizing maximum smoothness, the Low preset at 1080p yields the highest average of 146 FPS. However, for a compelling visual experience without sacrificing playability, Medium is the recommended choice, particularly at 1440p where it offers a 114 FPS average with a 97 FPS minimum.

Resolution Scaling

Analyzing the frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals the scaling characteristics of this hardware in The Medium. At the Low settings preset, the performance drop is relatively modest: from 146 FPS at 1920x1080, to 138 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 128 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a total decline of 12.3% from 1080p to 4K. This relatively shallow curve suggests that at Low settings, the game is not entirely GPU-bound, and the CPU and memory subsystem are able to maintain a high level of performance even as pixel count increases.

In contrast, the scaling at the Medium preset is steeper. The average frame rate falls from 122 FPS at 1080p to 114 FPS at 1440p, and then to 90 FPS at 4K. This is a 26.2% drop from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is becoming a more significant limiting factor as the resolution increases. The pattern continues with the High preset, where frame rates descend from 97 FPS at 1080p to 82 FPS at 1440p and 64 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K here is 34%, showing an even stronger dependency on GPU load.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most dramatic scaling, with average frame rates of 77 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K. The 33.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings confirms that the RTX 5090 is heavily taxed by the game's highest visual demands. The data implies that the RTX 5090 is the primary performance limiter at higher resolutions and settings. The minimal FPS drop at Low settings, combined with the significant drops at High and Ultra, points to a system where the GPU's rendering workload scales with resolution, while the CPU has ample headroom to keep up.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination achieves a rank of 123 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This placement in the top 4.2% of all configurations demonstrates that this is a very high-performing pairing for this title. The rank is a holistic measure, reflecting the system's overall capability across the tested resolutions and settings.

To contextualize this rank, it is useful to consider the individual component strengths. The RTX 5090 GPU holds a strong position in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 79842 and a percentile rank of 92 against all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, which scores 79605 (a 0.3% difference), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, scoring 78940 (1.1% lower). The CPU, the Ryzen 5 7500X3D, also performs admirably, with an average score of 44573 and a percentile rank of 89 against all CPUs. Its nearest rival is the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, which scores 44466, a mere 0.2% difference, and the Intel Core i5-14600, which is 0.7% ahead.

The combination of a top-tier GPU and a strong CPU results in the high overall combo rank. The fact that 122 other combinations perform better suggests that configurations with even more powerful CPUs or specific hardware pairings can edge out this setup. However, the data clearly indicates that this is a top-tier choice for The Medium, well-suited for high-resolution, high-detail gameplay.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this combination for The Medium. Its substantial specifications, including 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, provide a massive 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU also boasts 21760 shading units and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, contributing to its high FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS. These specifications directly translate into the ability to handle the game's rendering demands, particularly at higher resolutions and settings.

The GPU's role is most evident when examining the performance scaling across presets. At 4K, the average frame rate drops from 128 FPS at Low to 51 FPS at Ultra, a 60% decrease. This significant performance hit is a direct result of the increased workload on the GPU's cores and memory system. The game's visual effects at Ultra settings require more shader operations and texture fetches, which the RTX 5090 handles but with a corresponding reduction in frame rate. The 32 GB of VRAM ensures that the game's textures and assets are stored locally, preventing any potential stuttering or loading hitches that could occur with a smaller memory pool.

The GPU's performance is further contextualized by its benchmark scores. Its Passmark G3D score is 39650, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 18355. These scores indicate a very high level of raw graphics performance. The data from The Medium aligns with this, as the RTX 5090 is clearly the main driver of frame rates at higher settings. The GPU's power is such that at 1080p Low, the CPU is likely the limiting factor, but as resolution and settings increase, the GPU's workload becomes the primary constraint, making it the central component in determining the game's performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 146 FPS, Medium produces 122 FPS, High produces 97 FPS, and Ultra produces 77 FPS. The Medium preset also records a minimum of 104 FPS and a maximum of 140 FPS. This shows a clear performance hierarchy with a 69 FPS difference between the lowest and highest presets.

At 2560x1440, the average frame rates are 138 FPS for Low, 114 FPS for Medium, 82 FPS for High, and 65 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset records a minimum of 97 FPS and a maximum of 131 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra narrows slightly to 73 FPS, showing that the GPU is beginning to become a bottleneck even at lower settings. The 1440p Medium result of 114 FPS is particularly notable, as it offers a high refresh rate experience with good visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are 128 FPS for Low, 90 FPS for Medium, 64 FPS for High, and 51 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset records a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 103 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is most pronounced at the Medium and High settings. The 4K Medium result of 90 FPS is a strong outcome, but the 4K Ultra result of 51 FPS shows the limits of even this high-end GPU. The data across all resolutions shows a consistent pattern: performance is high at Low settings, but the cost of moving to Ultra is substantial, especially at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, with its 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture, plays a supporting role in this combination. Its specifications include a base clock of 4.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz. The processor features a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache, a key characteristic of the X3D series, which is designed to improve gaming performance by reducing memory latency. Its Passmark single-thread score is 3494, and its multithread score is 25047, indicating a strong all-around performer.

In The Medium, the CPU's influence is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 146 FPS, a figure that is likely close to the maximum frame rate the CPU can feed to the GPU. This suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor at this setting. However, the performance scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings shows only a modest 18 FPS drop. This indicates that the CPU has the headroom to support high frame rates even as the GPU workload increases.

The CPU's role becomes less significant at higher settings. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 51 FPS, a result that is clearly constrained by the GPU's rendering capabilities rather than the CPU's processing power. The data implies that the Ryzen 5 7500X3D provides a solid foundation for the RTX 5090, ensuring that it is not starved of data at lower settings. Its high average benchmark score of 44573, which places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, confirms that it is a capable partner. The CPU's efficiency in this game allows the RTX 5090 to perform to its full potential at higher resolutions, where the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck.