The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT combination lands at rank 634 out of 1,689 tested combos in The Medium. That places this pairing in the upper-middle tier of the database, roughly in the 62nd percentile of all tested systems. The ranking reflects a system that can deliver a solid experience at mainstream resolutions but hits a clear ceiling at 4K with maximum settings. The combo’s position is not defined by a single standout component but by the balance between an eight-core CPU from the 3000 series and a high-end RDNA 2.0 GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The rank of 634 out of 1,689 combos indicates that this pairing outperforms more than half of all tested configurations in The Medium, but it does not approach the top tier. The data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor in most scenarios, as the RX 6800 XT sits at the 87th percentile among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 7 3700X is at the 85th percentile among all CPUs. In the nearest rival comparisons, the CPU is effectively tied with the Intel Core i5-12600, with a deltaPct of -0.1, and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT at +0.1, meaning the processor is not a differentiator here. The GPU similarly trades blows with the NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, which is 2.6% ahead in average benchmark score, and the Intel Arc A550M, which is 0.5% ahead. This combo’s rank is therefore driven by the GPU’s strong compute capabilities, but the overall position is tempered by the fact that The Medium is a demanding title at higher settings, pulling the system down from the top 50% of combos.

Settings Recommendations

For the best measured experience, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 delivers 85 FPS on average, which is the sweet spot for smooth gameplay without sacrificing too much visual quality. The data shows that dropping to Low at the same resolution yields 111 FPS, a 30% improvement, but the Medium preset already exceeds the 60 FPS threshold that most users consider playable. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset drops to 75.9 FPS, still comfortably above 60, while High falls to 55.1 FPS, which is borderline. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it only achieves 51.5 FPS at 1080p and falls to 30.8 FPS at 4K, making it unplayable for most scenarios. The analysis indicates that Medium is the optimal balance, providing 85 FPS at 1080p and 75.9 FPS at 1440p, with the latter being a viable option for users with higher refresh rate monitors. Low settings are only necessary for 4K gaming, where the 90.7 FPS result at 3840x2160 is the only way to achieve high frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals a GPU-bound workload. At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 85 at 1920x1080 to 75.9 at 2560x1440, a 10.7% reduction, and then to 54.3 at 3840x2160, a 36.1% drop from the 1080p baseline. This pattern is consistent across all presets: High goes from 59.6 to 55.1 to 42, while Ultra goes from 51.5 to 42.7 to 30.8. The scaling suggests that the RX 6800 XT is the primary limiter, as the CPU’s performance does not degrade with resolution. The Ryzen 7 3700X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, provides ample headroom for the GPU to be stressed at higher resolutions. The data indicates that the GPU’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 4K textures, but the raw compute power of 20.74 TFLOPS is not enough to maintain high frame rates at that resolution. The 4K Low result of 90.7 FPS versus the 1080p Low of 111 FPS shows an 18.3% drop, which is less severe than the drop at Medium, confirming that the GPU is the bottleneck when settings are increased.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 provides the highest frame rates, with Medium settings achieving 85 FPS and Low reaching 111 FPS. At 2560x1440, Medium is still playable at 75.9 FPS, but 4K is only viable with Low settings at 90.7 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 6800 XT compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 49,982, which is 0.5% behind the Intel Arc A550M and 2.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. In practical terms, this means the RX 6800 XT is competitive with these cards, but the in-game results show it struggles with Ultra settings.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 3700X a bottleneck for the RX 6800 XT?

A: The CPU’s benchmark score of 28,631 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-12600 (28,654, -0.1%), so it is not a weak link. The resolution scaling data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, as FPS drops consistently with resolution increases.

Q: What settings should I avoid with this combo?

A: Ultra settings should be avoided at all resolutions, as the average FPS never exceeds 51.5 at 1080p and drops to 30.8 at 4K. High settings are also marginal at 1440p (55.1 FPS) and 4K (42 FPS).

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: Yes, but only with Low settings, which produce 90.7 FPS at 3840x2160. Medium settings at 4K drop to 54.3 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, and High and Ultra are not recommended.

Q: How does the combo’s rank compare to its component percentiles?

A: The combo ranks 634 out of 1,689, which is lower than the CPU’s 85th percentile and the GPU’s 87th percentile. This suggests that The Medium is a demanding title that punishes the system more than average benchmarks would indicate.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is a high-end part with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its clocks are set at a base of 1825 MHz, a game clock of 2015 MHz, and a boost of 2250 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The GPU’s 4608 shading units and 128 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s, which are reflected in its 20.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. In The Medium, the data shows that the GPU is the primary driver of frame rates, as increasing resolution from 1080p to 4K causes proportional drops in FPS. The 16 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor, as even at 4K Ultra, the game does not exceed this capacity, but the compute power is insufficient for Ultra settings, which yield only 30.8 FPS at 4K. The GPU’s 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs indicates it is a strong performer, but the game’s fixed camera angles and heavy post-processing effects demand more than the RX 6800 XT can deliver at maximum settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor from the Zen 2 architecture, built on a 7 nm process with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 32 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support provide a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, which is sufficient for feeding the GPU in most scenarios. Benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 19,087 and a single-core score of 2,694, placing it at the 85th percentile among all CPUs. In The Medium, the CPU’s role is secondary, as the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent with a GPU-bound workload. The CPU’s nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12600, has a deltaPct of -0.1, meaning they are essentially equal in performance, so there is no CPU bottleneck to consider. The Ryzen 7 3700X provides enough processing power to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions, but it does not contribute to the system’s ability to handle Ultra settings, which are limited by the GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 111 FPS on Low, 85 FPS on Medium, 59.6 FPS on High, and 51.5 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show that the Low and Medium presets are well above the 60 FPS target, while High is just below it and Ultra is not recommended. Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop to 103 FPS on Low, 75.9 FPS on Medium, 55.1 FPS on High, and 42.7 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting remains playable at 1440p, but High falls below 60 FPS, and Ultra is only suitable for screenshots. At 3840x2160, the results are 90.7 FPS on Low, 54.3 FPS on Medium, 42 FPS on High, and 30.8 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is the only one that provides a smooth experience, and it does so by sacrificing most visual effects. The overall pattern is clear: this combo is best used at 1080p or 1440p with Medium settings, and 4K is only viable with Low settings. The gap between Low and Medium is significant at every resolution, with Medium being 23.4% slower at 1080p, 26.3% slower at 1440p, and 40.1% slower at 4K, indicating that the Medium preset introduces substantial rendering costs that the GPU struggles to handle at higher resolutions.