The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT delivers a playable experience in The Medium, but the data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics card at higher resolutions and settings. The benchmark results show a clear hierarchy where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as visual fidelity increases, while the CPU’s strong single-thread performance ensures consistent frame pacing at lower settings. This analysis breaks down the measured performance across resolutions and presets, contextualizes the combo’s standing among 3,724 tested configurations, and examines the specific roles of the processor and graphics card in shaping these results.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data strongly indicates that the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset produces an average of 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS, which provides a smooth and stable experience for a horror title where consistent frame delivery matters more than peak output. The High preset at the same resolution drops to 52 FPS average, which is still playable but introduces a noticeable reduction in fluidity, while Ultra falls to 41 FPS, making it unsuitable for maintaining immersion during fast camera movements.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Medium preset maintains a respectable 61 FPS average with a minimum of 52 FPS, which remains within the territory of acceptable performance for most users. The High preset at this resolution drops to 43 FPS, and Ultra falls to 34 FPS, both of which are below the threshold for a consistently smooth experience. The Low preset at 1440p delivers 97 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial, making Medium the superior choice for those who want both detail and responsiveness.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset yields only 48 FPS average with a minimum of 40 FPS, which is marginal for a game that relies on atmospheric tension—frame drops below 40 FPS can disrupt the experience. The Low preset at 4K achieves 76 FPS, but the reduction in shadow quality, texture detail, and post-processing effects diminishes the horror aesthetic significantly. The data suggests that 4K is not a practical target for this combo at Medium or higher settings, so users with 4K displays should consider either the Low preset or a resolution drop to 1440p to maintain playability.

The measured rows show a consistent pattern: Medium is the only preset that keeps the average FPS above 60 at 1080p and above 55 at 1440p, while also providing the only complete min/max FPS data across all resolutions. This completeness suggests that the Medium preset was the primary testing scenario, and it offers the most predictable performance envelope. For the best experience, Medium at 1920x1080 is the clear recommendation, with Medium at 2560x1440 being a viable alternative for users who prioritize resolution over a slight drop in frame rate.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 115, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only setting combination that exceeds 100 FPS, indicating that the system is capable of high refresh rate output only when visual quality is heavily reduced.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 27 at Ultra to 76 at Low. The Medium preset produces 48 FPS average with a minimum of 40 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The data indicates that 4K is only playable at the Low preset, and even then, the visual quality is significantly compromised.

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

A: The benchmark data shows that the GPU is the primary limiting factor. As resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, the average FPS at Medium settings drops from 72 to 48, a 33% reduction, while the CPU’s workload remains constant. The GPU’s performance percentile of 71 versus the CPU’s 79 also suggests the graphics card is the weaker component in this pairing.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at the recommended Medium preset?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum FPS is 61, and at 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 52. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum drops to 40 FPS, which is the lowest measured minimum across all Medium settings and highlights the GPU’s struggle at 4K.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1707 out of 3724 tested combinations in The Medium, placing it in the upper half of all configurations. This rank reflects a mid-to-high tier position, consistent with the GPU’s 71st percentile and the CPU’s 79th percentile among their respective categories.

Q: Does the CPU’s boost clock affect performance in this game?

A: The Ryzen 5 7600X has a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, and its single-thread benchmark scores (e.g., 1060 in 3DMark single-thread) are strong. The FPS data at Low settings shows high averages (115 at 1080p, 97 at 1440p), suggesting that the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently, but the GPU’s limits become apparent at higher presets where FPS drops disproportionately.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At the Medium preset, the average FPS scales from 72 at 1080p to 61 at 1440p and finally to 48 at 4K. This represents a 15% drop from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 21% drop from 1440p to 4K. The steepening decline at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU’s pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are becoming saturated, particularly at 4K where the 432.0 GB/s bandwidth and 12 GB VRAM are taxed heavily by the game’s texture streaming.

The Low preset shows a similar pattern: 115 FPS at 1080p, 97 FPS at 1440p, and 76 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 16% and 22%, respectively, which is consistent with the Medium preset’s scaling. This uniformity suggests that the GPU’s rendering pipeline is the bottleneck across all settings, as reducing quality does not alter the fundamental resolution-based workload increase.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most severe scaling, with averages of 41 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p, and 27 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 17%, and from 1440p to 4K is 21%. The fact that even at 1080p Ultra the FPS is below 60 confirms that the RX 6750 XT cannot handle the game’s highest quality settings at any resolution, reinforcing that the GPU is the limiting component.

The scaling analysis also points to the CPU’s role: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 115 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate that the CPU’s single-thread performance (boost clock 5.30 GHz, 3DMark single-thread score 1060) is adequate. However, the inability to push beyond 115 FPS even at the lowest settings suggests that the CPU, while strong, may impose a ceiling around this frame rate in The Medium. The consistent FPS drops across all presets as resolution increases, however, are attributable to the GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of presets was measured. The Low preset delivers the highest average at 115 FPS, followed by Medium at 72 FPS (minimum 61, maximum 83), High at 52 FPS, and Ultra at 41 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 43 FPS, which is substantial and indicates that the Medium preset introduces significant graphical effects that impact performance. The gap between High and Ultra is only 11 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns in visual quality for the performance cost.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 97 FPS for Low, 61 FPS for Medium (minimum 52, maximum 70), 43 FPS for High, and 34 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a 15% reduction compared to 1080p Medium, which is a modest decline. The High preset at 1440p is nearly identical to Ultra at 1080p (43 vs. 41 FPS), indicating that the resolution increase has a similar impact to raising the preset level by one step.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 76 FPS for Low, 48 FPS for Medium (minimum 40, maximum 55), 34 FPS for High, and 27 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 40 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay in a game that relies on sudden visual changes. The Low preset at 4K, while achieving 76 FPS, represents a significant quality compromise, as the game’s horror atmosphere depends on lighting and shadow details that are reduced at Low settings.

The min/max FPS data is only available for the Medium preset across all resolutions: 61-83 at 1080p, 52-70 at 1440p, and 40-55 at 4K. This data shows that the frame time variance is relatively tight, with the spread between minimum and maximum being 22 FPS at 1080p, 18 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 4K. The narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is consistently saturated, reducing the opportunity for frame rate spikes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 1707 out of 3724 tested configurations in The Medium, placing it in the 54th percentile of all combos. This position is slightly below the midpoint, which aligns with the GPU’s performance percentile of 71 and the CPU’s percentile of 79. The rank suggests that while the individual components are above average, their combination does not synergize perfectly for this specific title, likely due to the GPU’s limitations at higher settings.

The GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 M395X (deltaPct 0.5), AMD FirePro W7100 (deltaPct 0.6), AMD FirePro D700 (deltaPct 0.7), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile (deltaPct 1.1). These deltas are all under 1.2%, indicating that the RX 6750 XT performs within a very narrow band of these other GPUs in synthetic benchmarks. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile, despite being a mobile part, is only 1.1% ahead, which contextualizes the RX 6750 XT’s desktop performance as being on par with high-end laptop GPUs.

The CPU’s nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X (deltaPct 0.2), Intel Core i5-12600K (deltaPct 0.2), AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE (deltaPct -0.3), and AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (deltaPct 0.4). These deltas are all within 0.7%, showing that the Ryzen 5 7600X is functionally equivalent to these processors in overall benchmark scores. The closest rival, the Ryzen 7 5700X, is only 0.2% ahead, meaning the 7600X’s newer Zen 4 architecture provides no meaningful advantage over the older Zen 3 parts in aggregate performance.

The combo’s rank of 1707 suggests that in The Medium specifically, the system sits in the upper-middle tier. Given that the game is a horror title with fixed camera angles and pre-rendered environments in some sections, the GPU’s role is amplified, and the RX 6750 XT’s 71st percentile performance is the primary driver of this ranking. The CPU’s higher percentile does not boost the combo further because the game does not appear to be CPU-intensive based on the FPS scaling data.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, based on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael) on a 5 nm process. It has a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 32 MB shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are strong: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15236, a single-core score of 1965, and a Geekbench single-core score of 2603. These numbers indicate excellent single-thread performance, which is relevant for The Medium’s rendering thread that handles game logic and draw calls.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is evident in the Low preset results. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 115 FPS, which is a high frame rate that requires the CPU to process frames quickly. The 7600X’s boost clock of 5.30 GHz and its 3DMark single-thread score of 1060 suggest it is capable of sustaining this throughput. However, the fact that the FPS does not exceed 115 even at the lowest settings implies a CPU-imposed ceiling, which is common in games that do not fully utilize multiple cores.

The CPU’s 12 threads are not heavily leveraged, as evidenced by the 3DMark 16-thread score of 6879 being only slightly higher than the 8-thread score of 5715. This indicates that the game’s workload scales modestly with additional threads. The CPU’s passmark multithread score of 28390 and its 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirm that it is a capable processor, but its performance in this game is not the limiting factor.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR5 with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s is more than sufficient for the game’s data streaming needs. The L3 cache of 32 MB shared across 6 cores provides fast access to frequently used data, which helps maintain consistent frame times. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Ryzen 7 5700X and Core i5-12600K, are within 0.2% of its average score, meaning that swapping the CPU for one of these would not materially change the FPS results in The Medium.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is a RDNA 2.0 architecture GPU (Navi 22) on a 7 nm process, with 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. It has a base clock of 2150 MHz, a game clock of 2495 MHz, and a boost clock of 2600 MHz. The GPU is equipped with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its FP32 performance is 13.31 TFLOPS, and it has 40 ray tracing cores, though The Medium’s benchmark results do not separate ray tracing performance.

The GPU’s role as the primary bottleneck is clear from the FPS scaling. At 1080p Medium, the GPU produces 72 FPS, but at 4K Medium, it drops to 48 FPS, a 33% reduction. This is consistent with the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s, which is sufficient for 1080p but becomes strained at 4K due to the increased pixel fill rate and texture memory demands. The 12 GB VRAM is adequate for the game, but the 192-bit bus width limits the effective bandwidth at high resolutions.

The GPU’s benchmark scores show a passmark G3D score of 20700 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2548. Its percentile of 71 places it above the majority of GPUs, but its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile, which is only 1.1% ahead. This close margin indicates that the RX 6750 XT’s desktop performance is comparable to a high-end mobile GPU, which explains its struggles at 4K Ultra where it delivers only 27 FPS.

The GPU’s texture rate of 416.0 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 166.4 GPixel/s are moderate for its class. At 4K Ultra, the game’s heavy use of volumetric lighting and high-resolution textures likely saturates the texture units, leading to the 27 FPS average. The GPU’s 40 RT cores are present but are not specifically benchmarked in the measured FPS data, suggesting that ray tracing is either not enabled or not a significant factor in the tested settings. The GPU’s power draw of 250 W and its suggested PSU of 600 W are consistent with its performance class, but these are not factors in the FPS results.