The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination delivers playable performance in The Medium only when settings are managed carefully. The data shows a system that is firmly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, with the CPU providing ample headroom for the Radeon card to operate. At 1080p, the pairing achieves a solid 57 FPS average on Medium settings, but demanding presets like Ultra quickly push the experience below 30 FPS. This analysis breaks down the measured results across resolutions and settings to identify the optimal configuration for this hardware.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on TSMC's 4 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features a cache hierarchy of 64 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache. For a horror title like The Medium, which relies on fixed camera angles and pre-rendered transitions, the 8400F's single-thread performance is more relevant than its multi-threaded capabilities.

Benchmark results indicate that the 8400F has a PassMark single-thread score of 3685 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 951. These figures place it in the 77th percentile among all CPUs. In multi-threaded tests, the processor scores 20851 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 6165 in 3DMark max threads. Compared to its nearest rivals, the 8400F is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, showing only a 0.2% delta in average score. It also edges out the Intel Core i7-11850H by 0.3% and the Intel Core i7-13620H by 0.4%, while trailing the AMD EPYC 9474F by 0.4%.

In the context of The Medium, the 8400F's performance is unlikely to be the bottleneck. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches 91 FPS, which is well beyond the game's typical requirements. Even at 4K with Low settings, the system manages 60 FPS. The CPU's 12 threads are sufficient for the game's logic and AI, and the 4.70 GHz boost clock ensures that the single-threaded tasks are handled swiftly. The data suggests that the 8400F provides a stable foundation, allowing the GPU to be the primary factor in determining frame rates across all tested settings.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip, fabricated on a 7 nm process. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1968 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a boost clock of 2589 MHz. It includes 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units, along with 32 ray accelerators for hardware ray tracing support.

The RX 6600 XT's benchmark scores show it performing in the 70th percentile of all GPUs. Its PassMark G3D score is 16461, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1804. Compared to its nearest rivals, the 6600 XT holds a 1.1% advantage over the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER and a 0.8% lead over the GTX 780 Ti, while being 0.8% slower than the Intel Arc A350M. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for The Medium at 1080p and 1440p, but the measured data shows that 4K Ultra settings drop to 21 FPS, indicating that both the GPU's compute power and memory bandwidth are strained at that resolution.

The GPU's role in this pairing is dominant. The FPS deltas between settings at the same resolution are far larger than any CPU-related variance. For instance, at 1440p, moving from Low to Medium reduces the average FPS from 77 to 48, a 37.7% drop. This pattern confirms that the RX 6600 XT is the limiting component, especially as resolution increases. The GPU's 256.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a constraint at 4K, where even Medium settings yield only 38 FPS, while Low settings jump to 60 FPS, highlighting the importance of texture and shading quality settings.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings for this hardware depend on the target resolution and the desired frame rate. For a smooth experience, the Medium preset is the recommended balance, as it provides the best compromise between visual fidelity and playability. At 1080p, Medium delivers 57 FPS average with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 66 FPS. This is a playable frame rate for a slow-paced horror game. At 1440p, Medium drops to 48 FPS average with a minimum of 41 FPS, which is still acceptable for this genre. At 4K, Medium yields 38 FPS average with a minimum of 32 FPS, which is borderline but may be tolerable for some players.

The Low preset is the only option that guarantees 60 FPS or higher at all resolutions, with 91 FPS at 1080p, 77 FPS at 1440p, and 60 FPS at 4K. However, the visual downgrade may be significant. The High preset is not recommended, as it falls below 45 FPS at all resolutions, with 41 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p, and 27 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the worst choice, yielding 32 FPS at 1080p, 27 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K, all of which are below the threshold for a comfortable experience.

The data strongly suggests that users should select the Medium preset for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At 1080p, the 57 FPS average is close to the 60 FPS target, and the minimum of 49 FPS indicates that frame pacing will be stable. At 1440p, the 48 FPS average is playable, though users with high-refresh-rate monitors may prefer Low for the smoother 77 FPS. For 4K, the Low preset is the only sensible option, as the 60 FPS it provides is far superior to the 38 FPS from Medium. The measured rows show that the gap between Low and Medium is substantial, making Low the recommended choice for 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in The Medium?

A: The data shows that 1080p with Medium settings provides the best balance, achieving 57 FPS average with a minimum of 49 FPS. At 1440p, Medium drops to 48 FPS, which is still playable, while 4K only reaches 38 FPS on Medium.

Q: Why does the FPS drop so much from 1080p to 4K?

A: The measured FPS shows a clear GPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system hits 91 FPS, but at 4K Low, it drops to 60 FPS. At Medium settings, the drop is from 57 FPS at 1080p to 38 FPS at 4K, a 33% reduction, indicating that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are insufficient for high-resolution rendering.

Q: Can this system handle Ultra settings?

A: No. The Ultra preset produces 32 FPS at 1080p, 27 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K. These figures are well below the 30 FPS minimum for a playable experience, making Ultra unsuitable for this hardware.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 8400F holding back the RX 6600 XT?

A: No. The CPU's benchmark scores, including a PassMark single-thread score of 3685 and a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20851, place it in the 77th percentile. The FPS data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the frame rate scales with resolution and settings rather than CPU load.

Q: What is the minimum FPS on Medium settings at 1440p?

A: The measured data shows a minimum FPS of 41 at 1440p with Medium settings, with an average of 48 FPS and a maximum of 55 FPS. This indicates that the frame rate stays above 40 FPS even in demanding scenes.

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

A: This combination ranks 2669 out of 3724 tested combos for The Medium, placing it in the lower-middle tier. The GPU's 70th percentile performance and CPU's 77th percentile performance suggest that the pairing is balanced, but the game's heavy GPU demands limit overall performance.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which strongly indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component. At Low settings, the system achieves 91 FPS at 1080p, 77 FPS at 1440p, and 60 FPS at 4K. This represents a 34% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 57 at 1080p to 48 at 1440p, and then to 38 at 4K, a total reduction of 33%. The High settings show a similar trend, with 41 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p, and 27 FPS at 4K.

The scaling behavior is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, since the CPU workload does not change significantly with resolution. Instead, the FPS drops proportionally with the number of pixels rendered, confirming that the RX 6600 XT's processing power and memory bandwidth are exhausted at higher resolutions. The 8 GB VRAM and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 1080p, but at 4K, the larger texture and frame buffer requirements overwhelm the GPU.

The fact that Low settings at 4K (60 FPS) outperform High settings at 1080p (41 FPS) further emphasizes the GPU's sensitivity to rendering complexity rather than resolution alone. This suggests that users should prioritize lowering shadow quality, anti-aliasing, and post-processing effects to maintain higher frame rates, as these settings have a more significant impact on the GPU than the CPU. The data indicates that the Ryzen 5 8400F has enough headroom to support even the most demanding settings, but the RX 6600 XT cannot keep up.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The following table presents the exact measured FPS values for each resolution and settings combination, as provided in the data.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: Average FPS 91
• Medium: Average FPS 57, Minimum FPS 49, Maximum FPS 66
• High: Average FPS 41
• Ultra: Average FPS 32

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: Average FPS 77
• Medium: Average FPS 48, Minimum FPS 41, Maximum FPS 55
• High: Average FPS 34
• Ultra: Average FPS 27

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: Average FPS 60
• Medium: Average FPS 38, Minimum FPS 32, Maximum FPS 43
• High: Average FPS 27
• Ultra: Average FPS 21

The data shows that the only configuration achieving a consistent 60 FPS or above is Low settings at all resolutions. Medium settings provide a playable experience at 1080p and 1440p, with averages of 57 and 48 FPS respectively, but fall to 38 FPS at 4K. High and Ultra settings are not recommended at any resolution, as they all fall below 45 FPS, with Ultra dipping to 21 FPS at 4K. The minimum FPS values for Medium settings demonstrate that the frame rate remains stable, with the lowest reading at 32 FPS for 4K, which is still above the 30 FPS threshold for playability. This breakdown confirms that Medium is the sweet spot for this hardware, offering a balanced visual experience without sacrificing frame rate stability.