The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror game built on Unreal Engine 4, presents a unique challenge for the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination. The measured data reveals a component dynamic where the GPU's raw power is often throttled by the game's engine and the CPU's single-thread performance, creating a fascinating case study in bottlenecking at higher resolutions. The following analysis breaks down the exact performance metrics from our database.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and setting combination for the smoothest experience?

A: The data shows that the 2560x1440 Medium preset offers the best balance, with an average of 84 FPS and a minimum of 71 FPS. This is significantly smoother than the 4K Medium preset, which averages 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS.

Q: How much performance does the Ultra preset cost compared to Medium?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 57 FPS, which is 43% lower than the Medium preset’s 100 FPS. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset drops to 48 FPS, a 42.8% reduction from Medium’s 84 FPS. The Ultra preset is consistently the most demanding option.

Q: Is the RTX 5070 powerful enough for 4K gaming in this title?

A: The RTX 5070 can handle 4K, but only at lower settings. The 3840x2160 Low preset achieves an average of 106 FPS, which is excellent. However, the High and Ultra presets fall to 47 FPS and 38 FPS respectively, which are below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the difference in performance between the Low and High presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 160 FPS, while the High preset averages 72 FPS. This represents a 122% performance increase when dropping from High to Low, indicating that the High preset is substantially more demanding than the Low preset.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations?

A: The combination of the Ryzen 5 7600 and RTX 5070 ranks 675th out of 3724 tested combos for this game. This puts it in the top 18.1% of all tested systems, indicating it is a high-performing configuration for The Medium.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking compared to other processors?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is in the 78th percentile when compared to all CPUs in our database. This is a strong score, but it is not in the top tier. It is closely matched by rivals like the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX, which is only 0.2% faster in average score.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for The Medium clearly indicates that the Ultra preset is not a viable option for this hardware combination if a consistent 60 FPS is desired. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 57 FPS, and this drops to 48 FPS at 2560x1440 and 38 FPS at 4K. The performance cost of Ultra is substantial, likely due to the game's heavy use of volumetric lighting and shadow effects.

The Medium preset offers the best overall experience, providing a high frame rate without sacrificing too much visual fidelity. At 1920x1080, it delivers an average of 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset still provides an excellent 84 FPS average with a minimum of 71 FPS, making it the recommended choice for a high-resolution experience.

For users with a 4K display, the Low preset is the only option that guarantees a smooth frame rate, averaging 106 FPS. The High preset at 4K averages only 47 FPS, which is playable but may feel sluggish. The data suggests that the sweet spot for this combo is the Medium preset at 2560x1440, as it balances visual quality with a frame rate that is well above the 60 FPS threshold for a horror game where smooth camera movement is crucial.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals interesting insights about the system's bottleneck. At the Medium preset, the frame rate drops from 100 FPS at 1920x1080 to 84 FPS at 2560x1440, a 16% decrease. Moving to 3840x2160, the frame rate falls to 66 FPS, a further 21.4% decrease from 1440p. This total drop of 34% from 1080p to 4K is less severe than what would be expected if the GPU were the sole limiting factor.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is likely the primary bottleneck, as the frame rate of 100 FPS is not high enough to fully saturate the RTX 5070's capabilities. When the resolution increases to 4K, the GPU becomes more heavily loaded, but the frame rate drop is not proportional. This indicates that the game's engine, which is known for its reliance on CPU single-thread performance, is holding the system back. The relatively small performance delta between 1440p and 4K at the High preset (60 FPS to 47 FPS, a 21.6% drop) further confirms that the CPU is a limiting factor, as a purely GPU-bound scenario would show a more significant reduction.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance range is wide. The Low preset averages 160 FPS, which is exceptionally high. The Medium preset averages 100 FPS, with a minimum of 85 FPS and a maximum of 115 FPS. The High preset averages 72 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 57 FPS. This shows a clear hierarchy where the Low preset is over twice as fast as the Ultra preset.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds. The Low preset averages 135 FPS, the Medium preset averages 84 FPS (minimum 71, maximum 97), the High preset averages 60 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 48 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 37.7%, and the drop from Medium to High is 28.5%.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more challenging. The Low preset averages 106 FPS, which is still very playable. The Medium preset averages 66 FPS (minimum 56, maximum 76), which is just above the 60 FPS target. The High preset averages 47 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 38 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at the Medium preset shows a 21.4% drop, indicating that the GPU is being stressed but is not completely overwhelmed.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, with its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, is a powerful graphics card. Its benchmark scores are strong, with a Passmark G3D score of 29137 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077. The GPU's percentile ranking of 82nd places it above the majority of tested graphics cards.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is likely sufficient for The Medium at these settings, as the game was released in 2021 and does not have extreme texture requirements. The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 2325 MHz and a boost of 2512 MHz, are high and contribute to its rasterization performance. The data suggests that the RTX 5070 is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate of 38 FPS is low, but this is more likely due to the game's engine limitations and the CPU's inability to feed the GPU enough data, rather than a lack of GPU compute power. The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks, such as the Passmark G3D score of 29137, indicates it has ample headroom for more demanding titles.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. Its single-thread performance is strong, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1852 and its 3DMark single-thread score of 999. The CPU's multi-threaded performance is also respectable, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 12735.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 78th indicates it is a solid performer, but it is not a top-tier chip. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX, have a nearly identical average benchmark score, with a delta of just 0.2%. This suggests that the Ryzen 5 7600's performance is well-known and consistent.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is crucial. The game's fixed-camera perspective and complex scene rendering often rely heavily on a single thread. The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rate is capped at around 160 FPS on the Low preset, which may be a CPU limit. The relatively small performance drop from 1080p to 1440p at the Medium preset (100 FPS to 84 FPS) suggests that the CPU is still a significant factor at this resolution. The Ryzen 5 7600's high boost clock of 5.10 GHz helps mitigate this, but the 6-core configuration may not be optimal for a game that is not fully multi-threaded. The CPU's performance in the Passmark physics test, with a score of 1776, further indicates its capability in handling game logic.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 675th out of 3724 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the top 18.1% of all configurations in our database, which is a strong result. Given the high cost of the components, this ranking is expected.

The ranking suggests that this combo is well-suited for The Medium, but there is room for improvement. The CPU's performance, while good, is not in the top tier. If a user were to pair the RTX 5070 with a higher-end CPU with better single-thread performance, the ranking could potentially improve. However, the data shows that the current combo is very capable, delivering a smooth experience at 1440p with the Medium preset.

The combo's rank of 675 is a reflection of the balance between the CPU and GPU. The RTX 5070 is a powerful card, but the Ryzen 5 7600 is a mid-range processor. The game's engine, which is not highly optimized for multi-threading, means that the CPU's single-thread performance is more critical. The Ryzen 5 7600's boost clock of 5.10 GHz is high, but it may not be enough to fully unlock the GPU's potential in this specific title. The data indicates that this is a solid, high-performing combination, but not an absolute top-tier one, as there are likely other combos with faster CPUs that achieve higher frame rates.