The Medium

The Medium is a horror title that leans heavily on atmosphere and fixed-camera angles, and the data shows that the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination delivers a playable but demanding experience. This pairing produces a 973rd place ranking out of 1689 tested combinations, placing it in the middle of the pack for this specific title. The benchmark results reveal a system that can handle the game at lower settings across all resolutions, but struggles to maintain high frame rates when visual fidelity is pushed to its maximum. The following analysis breaks down exactly how these components interact with The Medium's engine, what the measured FPS numbers mean, and where the bottleneck lies.

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 a 4nm process. It operates with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, which provides solid single-threaded performance for a game like The Medium that relies on scripted sequences and camera transitions. The processor’s 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core help maintain consistent frame pacing during the game’s frequent loading of new areas.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 8400F scores 2943 points in Cinebench R23 single-core and 20851 points in multi-core, indicating strong per-thread performance that is more than sufficient for this title. The game's engine does not appear to be heavily multi-threaded, as the CPU's 6 cores handle the workload without the need for all 12 threads. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 6091 and max-thread score of 6165 suggest that the processor’s multi-threading capabilities are largely underutilized in The Medium, which is typical for a horror game with limited on-screen AI and physics.

The 65W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth ensure that the CPU does not starve the GPU for data. The processor’s 82nd percentile ranking among all CPUs further indicates that it is not a limiting factor in this configuration. The single-thread score of 951 in 3DMark and 3684 in PassMark's single-thread test show that the CPU can keep up with the game’s logic and rendering calls, but the FPS drops at higher settings suggest that the GPU becomes the primary constraint before the CPU is ever pushed to its limits.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Ryzen 5 8400F and RTX 4060 achieves a rank of 973 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, indicating that many other pairings deliver higher average frame rates. The rank is not a reflection of poor component quality, but rather of the RTX 4060’s position in the GPU hierarchy relative to other cards tested with similar CPUs.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 23181 places it at the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX 6600M and Intel Arc B580. The RTX 4060 is 0.6% behind the RX 6600M and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Arc B580, showing that it sits in a competitive but not dominant segment. When paired with the Ryzen 5 8400F, whose average benchmark score of 25064 closely matches the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X and AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, the combined performance is adequate for 1080p gaming but falls short of what is needed for a smooth 4K experience.

The combo rank of 973 means that roughly 716 other tested combinations produce higher average FPS in The Medium. This is likely due to the GPU being a mid-range part, as the CPU’s percentile rank of 82 is significantly higher than the GPU’s 66th percentile. The data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield a more substantial improvement in this game than upgrading the CPU, as the processor has more headroom relative to its peers.

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

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting component in this pairing. At 1080p High settings, the combo averages 48.6 FPS. When moving to 1440p High, the average drops to 42.9 FPS, a reduction of 5.7 FPS. At 4K High, the average falls to 33.7 FPS, which is 14.9 FPS lower than the 1080p result.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings shows a different story. At 1080p Low, the system averages 105.8 FPS, which drops to 91.2 FPS at 1440p and 72.5 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is approximately 31%, while at High settings the drop is approximately 31% as well. This consistent drop across settings indicates that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints, as the RTX 4060 has only 8 GB of VRAM and a 128-bit memory bus with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth.

The fact that the FPS does not scale proportionally with the number of pixels suggests that the game’s rendering engine is heavily reliant on the GPU’s shading units and texture units. The RTX 4060 has 3072 shading units and 96 texture mapping units, which are taxed more heavily at higher resolutions. The CPU’s role remains constant regardless of resolution, so the FPS drops are almost entirely attributable to the GPU’s workload increasing.

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

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo delivers its best results. On Low settings, the average FPS is 105.8, which provides a smooth experience for a horror game where quick camera movements are common. Medium settings reduce the average to 66.7 FPS, still playable but with a noticeable drop. High settings bring the average down to 48.6 FPS, and Ultra settings result in 36.6 FPS, which is borderline for a game that benefits from smooth motion.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance decreases across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 91.2 FPS, which remains fluid. Medium settings drop to 55.8 FPS, a 16% reduction from the 1080p Medium result. High settings average 42.9 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 31.2 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for playable frame rates in slower-paced games.

At 3840x2160, the highest resolution, the results show significant strain. Low settings yield 72.5 FPS, which is still respectable but represents a 31% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings average 44.1 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. High settings drop to 33.7 FPS, and Ultra settings produce only 26.2 FPS, which is below 30 FPS and will result in noticeable stuttering during the game’s more intense scenes. The pattern is consistent: the RTX 4060 cannot handle the pixel count at 4K with high visual fidelity, and users should expect to compromise on settings.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5nm process and features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus. The memory runs at 2125 MHz, providing 17 Gbps effective speed and a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz, which is relatively high for a mid-range card. The 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores are present but are not heavily utilized in The Medium, as the game does not rely on ray tracing or DLSS as core features.

The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is a potential limitation at 4K with High or Ultra settings, as the game’s textures and shadow maps can exceed this capacity. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 26.2 FPS, which suggests that the card is running out of memory bandwidth and possibly hitting VRAM limits, causing the frame rate to plummet. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but is insufficient for 4K at high settings.

The RTX 4060’s benchmark scores include a PassMark G3D score of 19545 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2302. These scores place it at the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with rivals like the GTX 780 Ti and Radeon 760M showing similar average scores. The GPU’s TDP of 115 W and suggested PSU of 300 W mean it is power-efficient, but this efficiency comes at the cost of raw performance, which is evident in the 4K results.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run The Medium at 60 FPS on High settings?

A: No, the data shows that at 1920x1080 High settings, the average FPS is 48.6, and at 1440p High it drops to 42.9. The only settings that achieve over 60 FPS are Low at 1080p (105.8 FPS) and 1440p (91.2 FPS), and Low at 4K (72.5 FPS).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the performance in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The Ryzen 5 8400F has an 82nd percentile ranking among CPUs, while the RTX 4060 is at the 66th percentile. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent with GPU-bound workload scaling, not CPU limitations.

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

A: For a consistent 60+ FPS, use Low settings at 1080p (105.8 FPS) or 1440p (91.2 FPS). If you prefer Medium settings, the average FPS is 66.7 at 1080p, which is still above 60, but at 1440p Medium the average drops to 55.8 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 23181. It is 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600M and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Arc B580. This indicates that the GPU performs similarly to these mid-range parts in general, and the game-specific FPS results are consistent with that positioning.

Q: Is 8 GB of VRAM enough for The Medium at 4K?

A: The data suggests it is not sufficient for high settings. At 4K High, the average FPS is 33.7, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 26.2 FPS. The combination of high resolution and high texture detail likely exceeds the 8 GB VRAM capacity, causing frame drops.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking among all tested systems?

A: The pair ranks 973rd out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the lower-middle range, meaning over half of the tested systems perform better, likely due to more powerful GPUs.