The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 presents a stark picture for The Medium: a modern, high-end processor hitched to a legacy graphics card, resulting in a system that is fundamentally GPU-bound at every measurable setting. The data shows a configuration that struggles to maintain playable frame rates, and the disparity between the CPU's potential and the GPU's delivery is the defining characteristic of this combo.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate collapse from 1080p to 4K is severe and unequivocally points to the RX 570 as the bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 45.3 FPS. Stepping up to 1440p Low drops that to 34.4 FPS, a 24% reduction. Moving to 4K Low yields just 26.6 FPS. This linear decline with pixel count is the classic signature of a GPU that has run out of shading power and memory bandwidth.

The situation becomes dire at higher quality presets. At 1080p High, the average is 21.7 FPS; at 1440p High, it falls to 20 FPS; and at 4K High, it plummets to 10.8 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 11.5 FPS is nearly identical to the 4K High result, indicating that the GPU is so saturated that the additional load from Ultra settings barely changes the outcome. The scaling pattern suggests that the 4 GB frame buffer and the Polaris 20 chip are completely overwhelmed by the game's fixed render targets, regardless of the CPU's ability to feed it frames.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its benchmark data is strong, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs with an average score of 28,246. It sits within 0.5% of rivals like the Intel Core i5-13490F and AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS, indicating top-tier processing capability.

However, in The Medium, this processing power is largely idle. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (45.3 FPS) is the highest achieved, and this is a resolution and setting where a CPU could potentially become a limiting factor if the processor were weak. Here, the 9600X is not the constraint. The GPU's 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 224.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth are the hard ceilings. The data indicates that the CPU's high single-thread score (3,603 in Cinebench R23) is irrelevant when the GPU cannot render the frame in time. The bottleneck is absolute; the game is not asking for more CPU muscle, it is asking for more graphics throughput.

FAQ

*Q: Is this combo capable of running The Medium at 1080p?*

A: Only at the lowest settings. The measured average at 1080p Low is 45.3 FPS, which is playable. However, 1080p Medium drops to 29.8 FPS, and 1080p High falls to 21.7 FPS, both of which are below a smooth 30 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for this system?

A: Based on the data, 1080p is the only resolution where the combo can exceed 30 FPS, and only on the Low preset. At 1440p, the best average is 34.4 FPS on Low, but this is a marginal gain over 1080p Medium and still poor. 4K is not viable, with all averages below 27 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its direct competitors?

A: The Ryzen 5 9600X has an average benchmark score of 28,246. It is effectively tied with the Intel Core i5-13490F (28,173, +0.3%) and AMD Ryzen 5 230 (28,164, +0.3%), and it is slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS (28,369, -0.4%) and Intel Core i5-14500T (28,377, -0.5%). It is a top-tier performer for its class.

Q: Is the RX 570 a strong performer in this game?

A: No. While the GPU's average benchmark score of 30,158 places it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, its performance in The Medium is poor. The data shows that it cannot maintain playable frame rates at any resolution above 1080p Low. The 4 GB VRAM and GCN 4.0 architecture are simply not sufficient for this title.

Q: What does the combo rank tell us?

A: The combo ranks 1612 out of 1689 tested combinations. This places it in the bottom 5% of all systems tested, confirming that the pairing of a high-end CPU with this older GPU is severely unbalanced for this specific game.

Q: Why is the 4K High and 4K Ultra performance so similar?

A: The data shows 10.8 FPS at 4K High and 11.5 FPS at 4K Ultra. This suggests the GPU is fully saturated by the resolution itself. The difference in settings has a minimal impact because the GPU is already at its absolute limit, rendering the extra workload from Ultra settings almost negligible.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured results is as follows:

• 1920x1080: Low 45.3 FPS, Medium 29.8 FPS, High 21.7 FPS, Ultra 13.3 FPS.
• 2560x1440: Low 34.4 FPS, Medium 25.7 FPS, High 20 FPS, Ultra 14.2 FPS.
• 3840x2160: Low 26.6 FPS, Medium 19.4 FPS, High 10.8 FPS, Ultra 11.5 FPS.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases, but the absolute numbers are always low. The only average above 30 FPS is at 1080p Low. All other configurations fall below 30 FPS, and most fall below 20 FPS, making the game feel sluggish and unresponsive. The 1440p Ultra average of 14.2 FPS is slightly higher than the 1080p Ultra average of 13.3 FPS, a minor anomaly that indicates the GPU is struggling uniformly across these high-detail settings.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Ryzen 5 9600X and the RX 570 ranks 1612 out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 4.5% of all systems. This is a critical data point for builders: despite the CPU being in the 85th percentile of all processors, the overall system performance is dragged down by the GPU. The rank is a system-level verdict, and it clearly shows that the RX 570 is the overwhelming limiting factor. The CPU's high potential is wasted, as it is never allowed to stretch its legs in this title. The rank reinforces that this is a legacy GPU build that cannot handle modern horror titles like The Medium at acceptable performance levels.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear directive for any user running this combo. The only configuration that achieves a playable average frame rate is 1080p with Low settings, which delivers 45.3 FPS. This should be the target for any attempt to play the game.

For users who prefer higher visual fidelity, the trade-off is severe. 1080p Medium at 29.8 FPS is marginal, but the drop from Low to Medium is a 34% performance hit. 1440p Low at 34.4 FPS is technically higher than 1080p Medium, but it is still below 60 FPS and offers a sharper image at the cost of overall smoothness. The data suggests that 1440p Low is the only alternative to 1080p Low that stays above 30 FPS.

All Ultra and High presets, at any resolution, should be avoided. They all produce averages below 22 FPS, which is a poor experience for a slow-paced horror game. The recommendation is to prioritize frame rate: use 1080p Low for the most consistent experience. If you have a 1440p monitor and can tolerate a lower frame rate, 1440p Low is a viable, though less smooth, alternative. The GPU simply does not have the headroom for anything else, and the data strongly suggests that the game's requirements outstrip the RX 570's capabilities by a wide margin.