The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 delivers a performance profile that is strictly entry-level for The Medium, a horror title that clearly stresses the GPU far more than the CPU. The combo ranks 1436th out of 1689 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 15% of all systems benchmarked for this game. This low standing is primarily a consequence of the GTX 1070’s age; the CPU itself is capable, scoring in the 84th percentile of all processors, while the GPU sits in the 51st percentile. The data indicates a system where the graphics card is the definitive bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The overall rank of 1436 out of 1689 combos reflects a pairing that is heavily constrained by its graphics subsystem. The Ryzen 7 5700 is a modern 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, and its synthetic benchmark scores are strong. For example, it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20655 and a single-core score of 2916, which are respectable figures for a desktop chip. Its average benchmark score of 27220 places it within 1.2% of rivals like the Intel Core i9-9900K and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 340, indicating that the CPU is not a weak link in this system.

Conversely, the GTX 1070, while a legendary card in its time, is now an older Pascal-architecture part. Its average benchmark score of 12331 places it just 1.4% behind the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER and 1.7% ahead of the Tesla K20Xm. This places the GPU in a performance tier that is fundamentally unsuited for the demanding rendering workloads of The Medium, which uses heavy fixed-camera angles and volumetric effects. Consequently, the system's rank is dragged down by the GPU, and the measured frame rates confirm that the CPU’s potential is left largely untapped, as the GPU is saturated well before the CPU can reach its limits.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance I can expect from this combo?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 75.4 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that approaches a high-refresh experience, though it requires a significant reduction in visual fidelity.

Q: Is this system capable of 4K gaming?

A: Technically yes, but practically no. At 3840x2160, the best average FPS is 48.3 at Low settings. At Ultra settings, the frame rate plummets to 15.6 FPS, which is unplayable. The data shows that 4K is only viable with the lowest quality preset.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its immediate rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700 is highly competitive. It is 0.7% faster than the Intel Core i9-9900K and 0.8% faster than the Intel Core i7-12700H in average benchmark scores. This indicates the CPU is more than adequate for this game, and performance differences are negligible.

Q: Why is the performance so poor at higher settings?

A: The GTX 1070’s 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus are sufficient for capacity, but its raw compute power (6.463 TFLOPS FP32) is insufficient for the game's high and ultra presets. The frame rate drops are consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the graphics card cannot keep up with the rendering demands.

Q: What is the most balanced setting for this system?

A: Based on the data, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 offers a compromise. It delivers 45.2 FPS, which is a 45% improvement over the High preset at the same resolution, while still maintaining a playable experience. The Low preset is the only way to get closer to 60 FPS or beyond.

Q: Does the CPU hold the GPU back in any way?

A: The benchmark data does not suggest CPU limitation. The CPU’s high percentile ranking and strong multi-threaded scores (e.g., 20655 in Cinebench R23) indicate that it can feed the GPU adequately. The performance cliffs are observed when increasing resolution and settings, which are GPU-dependent variables.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for optimizing playability. For a target of 60 FPS, the only viable option is the Low preset at 1920x1080, which yields 75.4 FPS, providing headroom above the target. Dropping to 2560x1440 Low still produces 64.3 FPS, which is also above the 60 FPS threshold, making this the highest resolution at which a smooth experience can be achieved with the lowest settings. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 45.2 FPS, which is playable if a stable 45 FPS is acceptable, but it is a compromise that sacrifices the smoothness of 60 FPS for improved visuals. The High and Ultra presets are not recommended for any resolution, as they consistently fall below 33 FPS, which is generally considered the boundary for comfortable play in a slow-paced horror game. The optimal experience for this hardware is the Low preset at 2560x1440, as it balances resolution with playability, or the Low preset at 1080p for maximum frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows a wide range of performance depending on settings. With Low settings, the average FPS is 75.4, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Moving to Medium, the frame rate drops to 45.2, a reduction of 30.2 FPS. High settings yield 32.7 FPS, and Ultra produces 26.4 FPS. This represents a 65% decrease in performance from Low to Ultra at 1080p, illustrating the significant cost of the game's higher-quality lighting and shadow effects.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues but with lower absolute numbers. Low settings deliver 64.3 FPS, which is still smooth. Medium settings drop to 38.7 FPS, and High settings produce 25.6 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p yields exactly 25.0 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at this resolution is 25.6 FPS, showing that the GPU struggles more as pixel count increases. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 39.3 FPS, an even steeper drop than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the system is severely challenged. Low settings produce 48.3 FPS, which is the only playable configuration at 4K. Medium settings drop to 29.6 FPS, High to 20.8 FPS, and Ultra to a very low 15.6 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K represents a 68% performance loss. The data clearly shows that the GTX 1070 is overwhelmed by the pixel count at 4K, and even the most aggressive settings reduction cannot fully compensate for the lack of raw GPU horsepower.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is entirely GPU-limited. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 75.4 FPS at 1080p to 64.3 FPS at 1440p, a 14.7% decrease, and then to 48.3 FPS at 4K, a further 24.9% decrease from the 1440p figure. This scaling is not linear; the jump from 1440p to 4K more than doubles the pixel count, and the GTX 1070 cannot maintain frame rates proportionally.

At Medium settings, the drop is more severe. The system goes from 45.2 FPS at 1080p to 38.7 FPS at 1440p (a 14.4% drop) and then to 29.6 FPS at 4K (a 23.5% drop from 1440p). This indicates that as the settings increase, the GPU is pushed closer to its limits, making it more sensitive to resolution changes. At High settings, the trend is similar, with 32.7 FPS at 1080p, 25.6 FPS at 1440p, and 20.8 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, from 26.4 FPS at 1080p to 25.0 FPS at 1440p and then a catastrophic drop to 15.6 FPS at 4K.

The analysis of these scaling patterns strongly suggests that the limiting component is the GPU. The CPU is capable of maintaining high thread counts and has ample headroom, as evidenced by its strong synthetic scores. Since the frame rate decreases are directly proportional to the increase in pixel workload, and since the CPU’s performance is consistent across benchmarks, the GTX 1070 is the definitive bottleneck. Upgrading the GPU would yield significant improvements in The Medium, whereas upgrading the CPU would provide no measurable benefit for this specific title.