The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT combination delivers a playable but demanding experience in The Medium, with performance that scales predictably with settings and resolution. The data shows that this pairing sits in the 584th position out of 1689 tested combos, placing it comfortably in the top third of all configurations while highlighting a system that is heavily balanced toward the GPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 brings 8 cores and 16 threads to this horror title, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This Zen 3 architecture processor, built on the 7 nm process, demonstrates strong synthetic throughput with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20655 and a single-core score of 2916. The 16 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide ample headroom for the game's logical threads.

Benchmark results indicate that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor in The Medium. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination reaches 139 FPS, which suggests the processor can feed the GPU effectively even at high frame rates. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 6628 and max-thread score of 6617 show consistent scaling across all cores, meaning the Ryzen 7 5700 handles the game's background tasks without introducing stutter. The processor's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs reinforces that this is a capable mid-range performer, sitting just 0.7% behind the Intel Core i9-9900K in average benchmark score.

The 65 W TDP and unlocked multiplier indicate thermal and overclocking flexibility, though the data does not include any overclocked results. For The Medium, the CPU's role appears to be supporting the GPU rather than driving performance, as evidenced by the fact that frame rates change more dramatically with resolution and settings than they would if the CPU were the bottleneck.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is the dominant component in this pairing, featuring 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RDNA 2.0 architecture with 4608 shading units and 72 ray accelerators provides substantial compute power, reflected in a PassMark G3D score of 24980 and an FP32 throughput of 20.74 TFLOPS. The boost clock of 2250 MHz and game clock of 2015 MHz indicate strong sustained performance under load.

The GPU's 87th percentile ranking among all graphics cards places it ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER by 2.6% in average benchmark score, though it trails the NVIDIA RTX A1000 by 1.7%. This positioning suggests the RX 6800 XT is a high-end solution that can handle most titles at 1440p and entry-level 4K. In The Medium, the GPU's 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for the game's textures, as the measured results show no signs of memory-related frame drops even at 4K Ultra.

The ray tracing capabilities of the RDNA 2.0 architecture are present but not explicitly tested in the measured FPS data. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support ensures compatibility with modern rendering features, while the 288.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 648.0 GTexel/s texture rate provide the raw throughput needed for the game's cinematic presentation. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at any resolution demonstrates that the GPU is the primary performance driver in this configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern of performance scaling across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p High, the combination achieves 61.9 FPS, which drops to 51.6 FPS at 1440p High and further to 41 FPS at 4K High. This represents a 16.6% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a 20.5% decrease from 1440p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is being progressively taxed as pixel count increases.

The Low settings preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with 139 FPS at 1080p, 114.8 FPS at 1440p, and 89.3 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops here are 17.4% and 22.2% respectively, suggesting that even at minimal graphical load, the GPU's fill rate becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions. Conversely, the Ultra preset shows less relative scaling: 46.9 FPS at 1080p, 39.3 FPS at 1440p, and 31.7 FPS at 4K, with drops of 16.2% and 19.3%.

This behavior indicates a GPU-bound scenario at all resolutions. The CPU's consistent performance across benchmarks supports this conclusion, as the frame rate differences between resolutions are larger than what would be expected if the processor were the bottleneck. The data suggests that users targeting 4K should expect sub-60 FPS performance at High settings, while 1440p offers a more balanced experience across all presets.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows point to Medium settings as the optimal balance between visual quality and performance for this combination. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 84.9 FPS, which is 37% higher than High settings at 61.9 FPS and 81% higher than Ultra at 46.9 FPS. This provides a smooth experience for the game's horror atmosphere, which benefits from consistent frame pacing.

At 1440p, Medium settings deliver 74.4 FPS, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable play. This represents a 44% improvement over High settings at 51.6 FPS and an 89% improvement over Ultra at 39.3 FPS. The 1440p Medium configuration appears to be the sweet spot for this hardware, offering high resolution with playable frame rates.

For 4K, Medium settings produce 58.7 FPS, which is borderline playable but may exhibit occasional dips in intense scenes. High settings at 4K drop to 41 FPS, which is below the ideal range for a horror game that relies on smooth camera movement. The data suggests that 4K users should either accept Medium settings or drop to 1440p for a more consistent experience. Low settings provide 89.3 FPS at 4K, but the visual compromise may not be worth the performance gain for most players.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 584th out of 1689 tested configurations in The Medium, placing it in the 65th percentile of all tested pairs. This ranking reflects the GPU's strength relative to the CPU, as the RX 6800 XT's 87th percentile GPU ranking is significantly higher than the Ryzen 7 5700's 84th percentile CPU ranking. The system is well-balanced but not optimized for this specific title, which appears to favor higher-end GPUs more heavily.

The ranking position suggests that this combo outperforms the majority of tested systems while not competing with the top-tier configurations that pair flagship CPUs with flagship GPUs. The deltaPct values from the nearest rivals indicate that the CPU is competitive with the Intel Core i9-9900K (0.7% difference) and Intel Core i7-12700H (0.8% difference), while the GPU sits close to the Intel Arc A550M (0.5% difference) and NVIDIA RTX A1000 (1.7% difference). This data implies that the combo's ranking is driven by the GPU's performance tier rather than any CPU limitation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 139 FPS, Medium settings produce 84.9 FPS, High settings produce 61.9 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 46.9 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 66.3% performance drop, highlighting the significant cost of the game's higher visual presets.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low settings achieve 114.8 FPS, Medium settings achieve 74.4 FPS, High settings achieve 51.6 FPS, and Ultra settings achieve 39.3 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 65.8%, showing a similar penalty to 1080p but with lower absolute values across all presets.

At 3840x2160, the data shows: Low settings reach 89.3 FPS, Medium settings reach 58.7 FPS, High settings reach 41 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 31.7 FPS. The Low to Ultra decrease here is 64.5%, indicating that the relative cost of Ultra settings remains consistent regardless of resolution. The absolute frame rates at 4K Ultra (31.7 FPS) are below the playable threshold for most users, while 4K Low (89.3 FPS) provides a playable experience with reduced visual fidelity.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combination run The Medium at 60 FPS?*

A: Yes, at 1080p Medium (84.9 FPS) and 1440p Medium (74.4 FPS), the system exceeds 60 FPS. At 4K, only Low settings (89.3 FPS) and Medium settings (58.7 FPS) approach or exceed the 60 FPS target.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiting component. Frame rates drop by 16-22% when moving from 1080p to 1440p and again to 4K, while the CPU's synthetic benchmarks show consistent performance across all thread counts.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 1440p with Medium settings offers the best balance, achieving 74.4 FPS. This resolution provides higher visual detail than 1080p while maintaining frame rates above the 60 FPS threshold, unlike 4K where only Low settings are comfortably playable.

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

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 49982 places it 0.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A550M and 2.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, while being 1.7% behind the NVIDIA RTX A1000.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5700 holding back the RX 6800 XT?

A: The data does not show significant CPU limitation. The processor's 3DMark 16-thread score of 6628 and single-thread score of 901 suggest it can keep up with the GPU's demands, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low (139 FPS).

Q: What performance can I expect at 4K Ultra?

A: The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 31.7 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most users. The combination is not recommended for 4K Ultra in this title, as even 4K High (41 FPS) falls short of 60 FPS.