The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT combination ranks 357th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 21% of all configurations. This is a strong result for a horror title that demands both substantial GPU throughput and consistent frame pacing, though the ranking also reveals that this pairing is not at the absolute top tier—there are faster combinations available for those seeking maximum performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 357 out of 1689 tested combos indicates a solidly above-average position, roughly in the 79th percentile of all tested systems. This placement is driven by the GPU's exceptional raw compute capability—the RX 7900 XT scores 29009 in Passmark G3D, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs—paired with a CPU that, while not top-tier, provides sufficient throughput with its 8 cores and 16 threads. The CPU's average benchmark score of 27220 places it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, which is actually higher than the GPU's percentile standing, suggesting the processor is not the primary bottleneck in this pairing.

The rank becomes more meaningful when examining the nearest rivals. The Intel Core i9-9900K scores 27043, just 0.7% behind the Ryzen 7 5700's 27220, meaning these two CPUs are effectively interchangeable in this context. The Intel Core i7-12700H and i7-1370P are similarly close at 27006 and 26991 respectively, both within 0.8% of the AMD chip. This tight clustering indicates that the CPU choice between these four options would not meaningfully alter the combo's in-game ranking. The AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 trails slightly at 26909, a 1.2% deficit, but again this is a marginal difference that would not shift the overall position.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo perform at 1080p with High settings?

A: The combination delivers 72.4 average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is above the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered smooth for this genre.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the performance ceiling?

A: The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 29009 (82nd percentile) versus the CPU's average benchmark score of 27220 (84th percentile) suggests the CPU has slightly more headroom relative to its peers, making the GPU the more likely limiting factor in demanding scenes.

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

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo achieves 85.3 FPS, which balances visual quality with smooth playback. The 3840x2160 Medium result of 65.9 FPS is also playable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes.

Q: How does the CPU compare to the Intel Core i9-9900K?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700 scores 27220 on average benchmarks, which is 0.7% higher than the i9-9900K's 27043, making them statistically equivalent in performance.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The RX 7900 XT features 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, delivering 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for the game's high-resolution textures.

Q: Does the combo support DirectX 12 Ultimate?

A: Yes, the GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which is relevant since The Medium leverages modern DirectX features for its rendering.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the dominant component in this pairing, and its memory subsystem is particularly relevant to The Medium's performance. The GPU carries 20 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 320-bit bus, providing 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a substantial amount of memory bandwidth for a horror game that frequently loads large, detailed environments with dual-reality rendering mechanics. The 20 GB capacity is more than sufficient for the game's assets, meaning memory capacity is unlikely to cause stuttering or texture pop-in at any tested resolution.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base clock of 1387 MHz, a game clock of 2025 MHz, and a boost clock of 2394 MHz. The game clock is the most representative figure for sustained gaming workloads, and the 2025 MHz figure aligns well with the measured frame rates. The boost clock of 2394 MHz provides additional headroom for lighter scenes, which helps maintain the higher FPS numbers seen at Low settings. The memory clock operates at 2500 MHz with 20 Gbps effective speed, which is the practical data rate feeding the 320-bit bus.

In terms of raw compute, the GPU delivers 51.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, with a texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 459.6 GPixel/s. These figures support the measured frame rates: at 3840x2160 with High settings, the combo produces 47.3 FPS, while dropping to Low settings more than doubles this to 105.6 FPS. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 29009 places it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile, scores 38349, which is essentially identical (0% delta). This suggests the RX 7900 XT is competitive with some of the fastest mobile GPUs available, though desktop-to-mobile comparisons can be misleading.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates show a consistent pattern across all three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 140.4 FPS on Low settings, 98.7 FPS on Medium, 72.4 FPS on High, and 60.2 FPS on Ultra. This is a smooth progression where each settings step costs roughly 25-30% performance, with the Ultra preset barely maintaining 60 FPS at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop predictably but remain playable across all presets. Low settings yield 127.4 FPS, Medium delivers 85.3 FPS, High produces 59.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 49.1 FPS. The High preset at 1440p is the first configuration in this set to dip below the 60 FPS threshold, which is a notable consideration for players who prioritize smoothness over visual fidelity.

At 3840x2160, the performance picture changes more dramatically. Low settings still manage a very playable 105.6 FPS, but Medium drops to 65.9 FPS, High falls to 47.3 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 37.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is particularly large—a 39.7 FPS difference—which indicates that the Medium preset introduces significant rendering costs at this resolution. The Ultra preset at 4K is the weakest measured result, producing less than 40 FPS on average, which would likely feel sluggish in a game that relies on atmosphere and tension.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, frame rates go from 140.4 FPS at 1080p to 127.4 FPS at 1440p to 105.6 FPS at 4K. This is a relatively gentle scaling curve—the 4K result is still 75% of the 1080p result—which suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is doing a substantial portion of the work, and the GPU has enough headroom to handle the increased pixel count without dramatic losses.

At Medium settings, the scaling becomes steeper: 98.7 FPS at 1080p, 85.3 FPS at 1440p, and 65.9 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is 67% of the 1080p result, indicating that the GPU is starting to become more heavily utilized. At High settings, the pattern continues: 72.4 FPS at 1080p, 59.6 FPS at 1440p, and 47.3 FPS at 4K, with the 4K result at 65% of 1080p. The Ultra preset shows the most aggressive scaling: 60.2 FPS at 1080p, 49.1 FPS at 1440p, and 37.9 FPS at 4K, with 4K at 63% of 1080p.

This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, particularly with higher settings. The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads at base clock 3.70 GHz and boost 4.60 GHz are sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions and settings, but at 4K Ultra, the GPU's compute capacity is exhausted, capping performance at 37.9 FPS. The consistent 30-35% performance loss from 1080p to 4K across Medium, High, and Ultra settings is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 1920x1080, the Ultra preset at 60.2 FPS is viable, though it leaves almost no margin for drops. The High preset at 72.4 FPS provides better headroom while still delivering strong visual quality. Given that The Medium is a slow-paced horror game, the Ultra preset's 60.2 FPS is acceptable, but the 72.4 FPS of High is the safer recommendation for consistent smoothness.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 85.3 FPS is the standout choice. It delivers excellent smoothness while maintaining moderate visual quality. The High preset at 59.6 FPS is also playable, but it sits right at the edge of the 60 FPS threshold, and any demanding scene could push it below. The Ultra preset at 49.1 FPS is not recommended at this resolution, as the visual gains over High do not justify the 10.5 FPS loss.

For 3840x2160, the Low preset at 105.6 FPS is the only configuration that provides both high frame rates and 4K resolution. The Medium preset at 65.9 FPS is playable but may suffer in busy scenes, and the High preset at 47.3 FPS is borderline for a horror game where consistent pacing matters. The Ultra preset at 37.9 FPS should be avoided unless the player prioritizes maximum visual fidelity over playability. The data suggests that 1440p Medium is the sweet spot for this combo, offering 85.3 FPS with a balanced visual profile.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 provides 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. The CPU has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP that reflects its power efficiency. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a 16 MB L3 cache, which is shared across the chip.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 20655, while single-core scores 2916. The 3DMark 16-thread test produces a score of 6628, and the max-thread test scores 6617, indicating that the CPU scales well with additional threads. The Passmark multithread score of 24303 and single-thread score of 3296 further confirm that the CPU can handle both heavy multi-threaded workloads and lighter single-threaded tasks.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 7 5700's average benchmark score of 27220 is 0.7% higher than the Intel Core i9-9900K's 27043, 0.8% higher than both the Intel Core i7-12700H and i7-1370P, and 1.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 5 340. This places the CPU in a tight competitive cluster where no single processor has a decisive advantage. In the context of The Medium, the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient to handle the game's logic, AI, and scene management, as evidenced by the fact that the combo's performance scales primarily with GPU settings rather than CPU capability. The CPU's 84th percentile standing versus the GPU's 82nd percentile suggests that the processor is marginally more capable relative to its peers, reinforcing the conclusion that the RX 7900 XT is the component that determines the combo's in-game ranking.