The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a highly playable experience in The Medium, but the optimal settings depend heavily on your target resolution and tolerance for frame rate dips. The data shows a clear hierarchy: Low settings provide the highest headroom, Medium offers the best balance of visual fidelity and smoothness, while High and Ultra demand significant performance sacrifices.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target, the Medium preset is the clear choice across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 77 FPS with a minimum of 65 FPS, ensuring consistent smoothness without needing to drop to Low. At 2560x1440, Medium still holds up well with an average of 65 FPS and a minimum of 55 FPS, which is acceptable for most players even if it occasionally dips below 60. At 3840x2160, Medium falls to an average of 51 FPS with a minimum of 43 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for those who demand a locked 60.

If you are gaming at 4K and prioritize frame rate above all else, the Low preset is the only option that delivers a comfortable margin. It produces an average of 81 FPS at 3840x2160, which is a massive jump from the Medium preset’s 51 FPS. However, this comes at a significant visual cost. The High preset at 4K is largely impractical, averaging only 36 FPS, and Ultra is worse still at 29 FPS. For 1440p and 1080p, High settings are usable but not recommended for action-heavy scenes; they average 46 FPS and 55 FPS respectively, which may cause noticeable stutter in a horror game where tension relies on fluid motion.

The Ultra preset is essentially a showcase mode for this hardware combination. At every resolution, it produces the lowest frame rates: 29 FPS at 4K, 37 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 1080p. The data indicates that Ultra is only viable if you have a 30 FPS target and are willing to accept the visual compromises of a slower, more cinematic experience. For most players, the Medium preset offers the best experience per the measured rows, providing a substantial improvement in frame rate over High while retaining a reasonable level of graphical detail. The gap between Low and Medium is also notable—at 1080p, Low hits 123 FPS average while Medium is at 77 FPS—so if you have a high-refresh-rate monitor, Low is the only way to fully exploit it.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the primary driver of frame rate in this title, and its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth is sufficient for the game’s demands at the tested settings. The GPU’s 5888 shading units and 96 ROPs, paired with a boost clock of 1725 MHz, are what enable the high frame rates seen at Low settings. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS is a strong indicator of its raw compute capability, which translates directly into the pixel and texture rates of 165.6 GPixel/s and 317.4 GTexel/s respectively.

The VRAM capacity appears to be a limiting factor at higher settings and resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 29, which is a 44% reduction from the 51 FPS at Medium. This suggests that the game is likely exceeding the 8 GB VRAM buffer, causing the GPU to rely on slower memory transfers. The data does not include specific VRAM usage, but the performance cliff between Medium and High at 4K (51 to 36 FPS) is steep, indicating a memory bandwidth or capacity bottleneck. At 1440p, the drop from Medium (65 FPS) to High (46 FPS) is less severe but still substantial, reinforcing that the RTX 3070 has enough compute power but is constrained by its memory subsystem when the game increases texture detail and shadow quality.

The GPU’s architecture, based on Ampere with 46 RT cores and 184 Tensor cores, is well-suited for a horror game that may use ray tracing effects, though the measured data does not specify whether ray tracing is enabled. The benchmark results show that the GPU is capable of producing a minimum of 65 FPS at 1080p Medium, which is a solid indicator of its ability to maintain playable frame rates even in demanding scenes. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 61 versus all GPUs places it in the upper mid-range, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, which is only 0.7% ahead in average score, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, which is 1% ahead. This indicates that the RTX 3070 is a well-balanced card for this game, though not a top-tier performer.

FAQ

Q: Can I achieve 60 FPS at 4K with this CPU and GPU combo?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset averages 51 FPS with a minimum of 43 FPS. The Low preset is the only way to exceed 60 FPS at 4K, averaging 81 FPS, but it requires sacrificing visual quality. High and Ultra average 36 and 29 FPS respectively, which are not viable for a smooth experience.

Q: What is the best setting for a 1440p monitor?

A: The Medium preset is the best option for 2560x1440. It provides an average of 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS, which is close to a 60 FPS target. The High preset drops to 46 FPS average, which may be noticeable in a horror game, while Low jumps to 104 FPS average but with reduced graphical detail.

Q: How much of a performance gain does Low provide over Medium?

A: The gain is substantial at all resolutions. At 1080p, Low averages 123 FPS compared to Medium’s 77 FPS, a 60% improvement. At 1440p, Low averages 104 FPS versus Medium’s 65 FPS, a 60% improvement. At 4K, Low averages 81 FPS versus Medium’s 51 FPS, a 59% improvement. The frame rate scaling is consistent across resolutions.

Q: Is the RTX 3070’s 8 GB VRAM enough for this game?

A: The benchmark data suggests it is sufficient for Medium settings, but it may be a limiting factor at High and Ultra. The significant frame rate drops when moving from Medium to High at 4K (51 to 36 FPS) and 1440p (65 to 46 FPS) indicate that the GPU is struggling with increased memory pressure. The game does not appear to be optimized for 8 GB VRAM at the highest presets.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate at 1080p Medium?

A: The measured minimum FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 65 FPS, with a maximum of 88 FPS. This indicates a stable performance profile that should avoid noticeable stutters during gameplay.

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

A: This combo ranks 1570 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 42nd percentile. This is a mid-pack result, indicating that while it is capable, there are many faster combinations available.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 1570 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the field. This ranking indicates that while the system is capable of delivering playable frame rates, it is not a top-tier performer for this specific game. The data shows that the combo is better suited to 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can hit high frame rates, rather than 4K where it struggles to maintain a smooth experience.

The ranking is influenced by the GPU’s performance ceiling. The RTX 3070’s percentile rank of 61 versus all GPUs suggests it is a solid mid-range card, but it is outclassed by higher-end models that can handle Ultra settings at 4K. The CPU’s percentile rank of 77 versus all CPUs indicates that the Ryzen 5 8400F is a strong processor, but its capabilities are not fully utilized in this game, which appears to be more GPU-bound. The combo’s rank of 1570 out of 3724 means that approximately 42% of tested configurations perform worse, while 58% perform better Mendel. For a mainstream build, this is a respectable result, but it is not competitive with high-end systems featuring more powerful GPUs.

The measured FPS data reinforces this ranking. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 123 FPS average, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 65 FPS, which is still playable but less impressive. The 4K results are the weak point, with only the Low preset exceeding 60 FPS. This suggests that the combo is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p with Medium or Low settings, rather than attempting to push higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F plays a supporting role in this game, providing a solid foundation for the RTX 3070. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, it offers a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 951 and max-thread score of 6165 indicate strong per-core performance, which is important for a game like The Medium that may not be heavily multi-threaded. The Cinebench R23 scores of 2943 single-core and 20851 multi-core further confirm that the CPU has ample processing power for gaming workloads.

The CPU’s performance in synthetic benchmarks places it in the 77th percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25005. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, is only 0.2% ahead, indicating that the 8400F is a competitive mid-range processor. In this game, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with enough data to prevent bottlenecks. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at most settings, as the frame rates scale consistently with GPU load. At 1080p Low, the CPU must work harder to push 123 FPS average, but it manages to do so without issue. The 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 25,000 million transistors on a 4 nm process contribute to its efficiency.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 interface is adequate for this game. While the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher settings, the CPU ensures that frame pacing remains stable. The measured minimum FPS of 65 at 1080p Medium and 55 at 1440p Medium suggests that the CPU can maintain consistent performance even during complex scenes. Overall, the Ryzen 5 8400F is a capable partner for the RTX 3070 in this title, providing enough horsepower to avoid being a weak link.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rate scales predictably with settings. Low delivers the highest performance with an average of 123 FPS. Medium drops significantly to 77 FPS, with a range of 65 to 88 FPS. High averages 55 FPS, and Ultra falls to 44 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is the largest, representing a 37% reduction in frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low averages 104 FPS, providing a smooth experience. Medium averages 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 and maximum of 74. High drops to 46 FPS, and Ultra averages 37 FPS. The progression from Medium to High is a 29% reduction, while High to Ultra is a 20% reduction.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly strained. Low averages 81 FPS, which is still playable. Medium averages 51 FPS, with a minimum of 43 and maximum of 58. High falls to 36 FPS, and Ultra averages only 29 FPS. The difference between Medium and High is 29%, and between High and Ultra is 19%. These results show that 4K gaming is only viable at Low or Medium settings for a smooth experience canvass. The data also shows that the minimum FPS figures are only provided for Medium settings, indicating that this preset has the most consistent performance. The lack of minimum FPS data for other presets suggests they may be more variable, making Medium the safest choice for stability.