The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT combination ranks 1392nd out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places the pairing in the 63rd percentile of all tested configurations, indicating that while it is not at the top of the leaderboard, it sits comfortably above the median. The CPU itself holds a 78th percentile ranking among all processors, while the GPU sits at a 67th percentile among all graphics cards. The gap between the CPU and GPU percentiles suggests that the graphics card is the more limiting factor in this pairing, a pattern that becomes clearer when examining the resolution scaling data.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1392 out of 3724 tested combinations places it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations tested for this title. This is a respectable position, though the data indicates that the RX 7700 XT is holding the system back relative to what the Ryzen 5 7600 can deliver. The CPU's average benchmark score of 26324 puts it within 0.5% of its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX, AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS, Intel Core i9-11900KF, and AMD Ryzen 5 8540U. The tight clustering of these scores, with deltas ranging from -0.3% to 0.5%, shows that the processor is performing exactly as expected for its class.

On the GPU side, the RX 7700 XT's average benchmark score of 22549 places it in a similarly tight grouping with its rivals. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile is 0.5% ahead, while the RTX 4060 Mobile is 0.8% behind. The desktop RTX 2080 sits 1.5% ahead, and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 trails by 1.7%. This clustering suggests that the RX 7700 XT delivers performance that is highly competitive with these alternatives, though none of them are direct performance kings. The game's measured FPS data reinforces this: the combo achieves playable frame rates at most settings but struggles at the highest presets and resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 91 FPS. This is the only preset at this resolution that maintains an average above 60 FPS while still offering a meaningful visual upgrade over Low settings. The Low preset achieves 126 FPS, but the jump to Medium costs 47 FPS, a 37% reduction. High settings drop the average to 56 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for smooth gameplay.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 66 FPS average with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS. This remains playable, but the minimum frame rate dips below 60 FPS. The High preset at 1440p drops to 47 FPS average, which is noticeably less smooth. At 4K, the Medium preset manages 52 FPS average with a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 60 FPS. This is technically playable but requires accepting occasional dips below the 60 FPS threshold.

The data points strongly toward the Medium preset as the optimal choice across all three resolutions. At 1080p, it provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. At 1440p, it remains mostly above 60 FPS with only brief dips. At 4K, it delivers a playable experience, though players who prioritize smoothness over detail should consider dropping to Low, which more than doubles the frame rate to 83 FPS at this resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-limited scaling as resolution increases. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 79 at 1080p to 66 at 1440p, a 16.5% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings, the average drops from 66 FPS to 52 FPS, a 21.2% reduction. The cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings is 34.2%, which indicates that the RX 7700 XT is being pushed to its limits at higher resolutions.

The Low preset shows a similar but slightly different pattern. At 1080p, Low settings produce 126 FPS. At 1440p, this drops to 106 FPS, a 15.9% reduction. At 4K, Low settings produce 83 FPS, a 21.7% drop from 1440p. The cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 34.1%, nearly identical to the Medium preset's scaling.

This consistent scaling pattern across presets indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see larger frame rate differences between Low and Medium settings at lower resolutions, where the GPU has more headroom. Instead, the frame rates scale almost linearly with pixel count, which is the hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. The Ryzen 5 7600's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 999 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1852, ensures that it is not holding back the system even at 1080p with Low settings where the GPU is less stressed.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gameplay?

A: The Medium preset at 1080p delivers an average of 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS, providing the best balance of smoothness and visual quality. High settings drop to 56 FPS average, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 4K with Medium settings, the combo achieves 52 FPS average with a minimum of 44 FPS. Dropping to Low settings raises this to 83 FPS average, while High settings drop to 37 FPS and Ultra settings fall to 30 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 7600's average benchmark score of 26324 is within 0.5% of its nearest rivals. It is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX, 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i9-11900KF, and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 8540U. It trails the AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS by 0.3%.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 7700 XT's average benchmark score of 22549 places it 0.5% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile and 1.5% behind the RTX 2080. It is 0.8% ahead of the RTX 4060 Mobile and 1.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. Frame rates scale consistently with resolution across all presets, dropping by roughly 34% from 1080p to 4K regardless of settings. This pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 66 FPS average with a minimum of 56 FPS. Low settings produce 106 FPS, High settings produce 47 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 38 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 432.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU's base clock is 1435 MHz, with a game clock of 2171 MHz and a boost clock of 2544 MHz. The memory operates at 2250 MHz, which translates to 18 Gbps effective. These specifications position the card with 3456 shading units, 216 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units, along with 54 ray tracing cores.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's memory capacity is sufficient for this game, as even at 4K with Ultra settings, the card does not appear to run out of memory based on the performance scaling pattern. However, the GPU's raw compute power becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The card's FP32 performance of 35.17 TFLOPS is substantial, yet the data shows that at 4K Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops to 30 FPS, which is at the edge of playability.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its mid-range positioning. Its Passmark G3D score of 22547 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3316 indicate a card that performs well but is not designed for maximum settings at 4K. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 138383 and Vulkan score of 46443 provide additional context for its compute capabilities, though the in-game results are more directly relevant. The card's 67th percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with its measured performance in The Medium, suggests that it is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming with Medium to High settings, with 4K reserved for less demanding presets.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael. It operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform and features a base clock of 3.80 GHz with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The processor has a 65W TDP and includes 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing 83.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with data, and the benchmark results indicate that it does so without becoming a bottleneck. The processor's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12735 and single-core score of 1852 demonstrate strong performance in both threaded and single-threaded workloads. The 3DMark scores further illustrate this: the processor achieves 999 in single-thread, 1938 in 2-thread, 3686 in 4-thread, 5508 in 8-thread, and 6503 in max-thread tests.

The CPU's 78th percentile ranking among all processors, combined with its average benchmark score of 26324, places it in a strong position relative to its peers. The fact that it is within 0.5% of its nearest rivals confirms that it is performing as expected. The game's resolution scaling pattern, where frame rates drop by roughly 34% from 1080p to 4K regardless of settings, proves that the CPU maintains adequate frame delivery even at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom. The Ryzen 5 7600's 5.10 GHz boost clock and 32 MB of L3 cache provide sufficient single-thread performance for this horror title, which does not appear to be heavily multi-threaded based on the consistent scaling behavior.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers the following average frame rates: Low settings produce 126 FPS, Medium settings produce 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 91 FPS, High settings produce 56 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 45 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 47 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs 23 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 11 FPS. This diminishing returns pattern suggests that Medium settings offer the most efficient use of GPU resources at this resolution.

At 1440p, the frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 106 FPS, Medium settings produce 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS, High settings produce 47 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 38 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings is 13 FPS, while at Low settings it is 20 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is becoming more stressed as resolution increases, with the Medium preset still maintaining a playable average.

At 4K, the frame rates drop further: Low settings produce 83 FPS, Medium settings produce 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 60 FPS, High settings produce 37 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 30 FPS. The 4K Medium settings show the widest range between minimum and maximum frame rates, with a 16 FPS spread. This variance suggests that certain scenes in the game are significantly more demanding than others, pushing the GPU to its limits. The 4K Low preset remains the only option that maintains an average above 60 FPS, while the Ultra preset at 30 FPS average is at the bare minimum for playability.