The Medium

The Medium, a horror title released on 2021-01-27, presents a demanding workload for the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination. Benchmark results place this pairing at rank 1028 out of 1689 tested combos, indicating a mid-pack performance level. The measured FPS data reveals that the system can achieve playable frame rates at lower settings, but struggles at higher presets and resolutions, with the GPU emerging as the primary constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in The Medium?

A: It ranks 1028 out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the field.

Q: What are the CPU's core and thread counts?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded?

A: The highest average is 101.5 FPS at 1080p Low settings.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS?

A: The lowest average is 21.3 FPS at 4K Ultra settings.

Q: What are the launch MSRPs of the CPU and GPU?

A: The CPU has a launch MSRP of $299, and the GPU has a launch MSRP of 499 USD.

GPU Role

The RTX 2070 SUPER operates at a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 256-bit bus. Its 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are directly reflected in the measured frame rates. At 4K Ultra, the GPU delivers only 21.3 FPS, while at 1080p Low it reaches 101.5 FPS—a clear indication that the memory subsystem and shading units are saturated at high resolutions and quality presets. The GPU's average benchmark score is 22206, placing it at the 65th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A400 (delta -0.5%), the GTX TITAN Z (delta 0.9%), the RTX 4060 Mobile (delta -2.3%), and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (delta 2.5%). These deltas show that the RTX 2070 SUPER sits within a tight performance band, but the game's results suggest that its 8 GB VRAM and 256-bit bus are insufficient for the highest settings at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 1028 out of 1689 tested combinations, which is below the median. The CPU alone sits at the 83rd percentile with an average benchmark score of 26272, while the GPU sits at the 65th percentile with an average score of 22206. The gap between the component percentiles and the combo rank indicates that The Medium is more sensitive to GPU performance than CPU performance. The CPU's nearest rivals—the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U (delta 0%), Ryzen 7 7735U (delta -0.1%), Ryzen 5 PRO 5655GE (delta -0.2%), and Ryzen 7 5700X (delta 0.2%)—all score within 0.2% of the 7600X, confirming that the CPU is not a differentiator in this title. The GPU's nearest rivals show a similar clustering, with deltas ranging from -2.3% to 2.5%. The overall rank of 1028/1689 suggests that many other combinations deliver better frame rates, likely due to more powerful GPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 101.5 (Low) to 35.5 (Ultra), with Medium at 64.3 and High at 46.7. At 1440p, the range is 86.6 (Low) to 29.3 (Ultra), with Medium at 55.8 and High at 36.4. At 4K, the range is 69.0 (Low) to 21.3 (Ultra), with Medium at 44.6 and High at 28.1. These numbers show a consistent pattern: each step up in settings costs roughly 20–30% of the frame rate, and each resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reduces FPS by a similar proportion. For example, at Medium settings, FPS drops from 64.3 at 1080p to 55.8 at 1440p (a 13% reduction) and then to 44.6 at 4K (a 20% reduction from 1440p). The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with 35.5 FPS at 1080p being the only Ultra result above 30 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It features 32 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 24128 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3406 in single-core, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 12905 and single-core of 2892. Its passmark multithread score is 28390, and its single-thread score is 4135. These results place the CPU at the 83rd percentile, and its nearest rivals—the Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U, Ryzen 7 7735U, Ryzen 5 PRO 5655GE, and Ryzen 7 5700X—all score within 0.2% of the 7600X. In The Medium, the CPU's strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single 3406) is likely sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU, as evidenced by the fact that FPS scales almost entirely with resolution and settings rather than with CPU load. The game's horror genre typically relies on moderate CPU usage, and the 6-core/12-thread configuration provides ample headroom.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the optimal preset depends on the target frame rate. For a 60 FPS target at 1080p, Medium is the highest setting that achieves it, with 64.3 FPS; High drops to 46.7 FPS, and Ultra to 35.5 FPS. At 1440p, only Low reaches 60 FPS (86.6 FPS), while Medium falls to 55.8 FPS. At 4K, Low is the only preset above 60 FPS, delivering 69.0 FPS; Medium yields 44.6 FPS. For a 30 FPS target, Ultra at 1080p (35.5 FPS) and Medium at 4K (44.6 FPS) are viable, but High at 4K (28.1 FPS) and Ultra at 1440p (29.3 FPS) fall short. The data suggests that players seeking smooth gameplay should use Medium at 1080p, Low at 1440p, and Low at 4K. Those prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate can consider Ultra at 1080p, but the 35.5 FPS result indicates a compromise.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is consistent across settings but becomes more pronounced at higher presets. At Low, FPS falls from 101.5 to 69.0 (a 32% reduction); at Medium, from 64.3 to 44.6 (a 30.6% reduction); at High, from 46.7 to 28.1 (a 39.8% reduction); and at Ultra, from 35.5 to 21.3 (a 40% reduction). The larger percentage drops at High and Ultra indicate that the GPU's shading and memory resources are the limiting factor, as resolution scaling directly increases pixel count and memory pressure. The CPU's high single-thread score (3406 in Cinebench R23) and its 83rd percentile ranking suggest that it is not the bottleneck; if the CPU were limiting, the FPS drop would be less steep at higher resolutions. The data points to the RTX 2070 SUPER's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth as the primary constraints, particularly at 4K where even Low settings require 69 FPS but Ultra drops to 21.3 FPS. This scaling behavior confirms that the GPU is the dominant performance limiter in The Medium for this combination.