The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti pairing delivers a wide performance envelope in The Medium, ranging from a highly playable 140.2 FPS average at 1080p Low to a demanding 33.9 FPS average at 4K Ultra. The data indicates that this combination is heavily influenced by both resolution and preset, with the GPU becoming the primary constraint as workload increases, while the 8-core, 16-thread processor provides a stable platform that never appears to bottleneck the frame rates at lower settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best performance result for this combo in The Medium?*

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 140.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The next best result is 123.7 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings, showing a 16.5 FPS drop when moving up a resolution class at the same preset.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate falls to 33.9 FPS. This is the most demanding configuration tested and represents a significant drop from the 47 FPS average seen at 4K High, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy additional load.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to limit performance in this game?

A: The benchmark results suggest the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. For example, at 1080p Low the combo produces 140.2 FPS, but at 4K Low it drops to 97.7 FPS, a 42.5 FPS reduction. The processor's strong multi-threaded score of 20655 in Cinebench R23 multicore suggests it has ample headroom, while the GPU's workload scales significantly with resolution.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 5700 compare to its nearest rival in CPU benchmarks?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 has an average benchmark score of 27220, which is 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i9-9900K, 0.8% ahead of the Intel Core i7-12700H and Intel Core i7-1370P, and 1.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 5 340. This places it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs tested.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset yields an average of 56.1 FPS, while the Medium preset yields 79.2 FPS. This represents a 23.1 FPS improvement when dropping from High to Medium, which is a substantial gain for a single preset step.

Q: What is the GPU's standing relative to other graphics cards in its benchmark pool?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti scores in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41224. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, scores 41441, putting the 3080 Ti just 0.5% behind it.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip and features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s. The GPU's clock speeds are set at a base of 1365 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz, with memory running at 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). These specifications directly influence the frame rates observed in The Medium, as the game's rendering load scales with resolution and quality settings.

The data shows a clear pattern where the GPU's capabilities become the deciding factor. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 140.2 FPS, which is the highest recorded average. However, as the resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the frame rate drops even at the same Low preset, falling to 123.7 FPS and 97.7 FPS respectively. This indicates that the GPU is working progressively harder to fill the additional pixels. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the tested settings, as no unusual performance cliffs are observed that would suggest memory capacity issues. The boost clock of 1665 MHz provides the sustained performance needed for the intense graphical effects in this horror title, but the 350 W TDP and suggested 750 W PSU requirement highlight the power demand of maintaining these frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent scaling pattern across the three resolutions tested. Moving from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K produces predictable frame rate drops that become more pronounced at higher quality presets. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 140.2 at 1080p, to 123.7 at 1440p (an 11.8% drop), and then to 97.7 at 4K (a 21.0% drop from 1440p). This suggests that at Low settings, the GPU is still the primary constraint, but the scaling is relatively gentle.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is much steeper. The combo delivers 50.9 FPS at 1080p, drops to 44.4 FPS at 1440p, and falls to 33.9 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 6.5 FPS, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 10.5 FPS. This pattern indicates that at Ultra settings, the rendering workload increases disproportionately with resolution, putting heavy pressure on the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth. The data suggests that the RTX 3080 Ti is the limiting component at all resolutions, as the frame rate scales inversely with pixel count even when the CPU has ample headroom. The processor's strong single-thread score of 2916 in Cinebench R23 suggests it is not holding back the GPU, as even the lowest frame rate of 33.9 FPS at 4K Ultra is well above what would indicate a CPU bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo performs as follows: Low settings deliver 140.2 FPS, Medium delivers 95.5 FPS, High delivers 68.6 FPS, and Ultra delivers 50.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 44.7 FPS, which is the largest single-preset drop at this resolution. The High to Ultra drop is 17.7 FPS, indicating that Ultra settings impose a significant additional load over High.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 123.7 FPS, Medium at 79.2 FPS, High at 56.1 FPS, and Ultra at 44.4 FPS. The Low to Medium drop is 44.5 FPS, nearly identical to the 1080p drop. However, the High to Ultra drop narrows to 11.7 FPS, suggesting that at 1440p, the Ultra preset's additional effects are less costly relative to the overall resolution load. The Medium to High drop is 23.1 FPS, which is a substantial penalty for the visual improvements.

At 3840x2160, the figures are: Low at 97.7 FPS, Medium at 63.4 FPS, High at 47 FPS, and Ultra at 33.9 FPS. Here, the Low to Medium drop is 34.3 FPS, and the Medium to High drop is 16.4 FPS. The High to Ultra drop is 13.1 FPS. Notably, the 4K Ultra result of 33.9 FPS is below the 50 FPS threshold that many would consider smooth, while 4K High at 47 FPS is also borderline. The 4K Medium result of 63.4 FPS is more playable, and 4K Low at 97.7 FPS is comfortably smooth.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for The Medium, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti holds the 452nd position out of 1689 total combos. This places it in the upper 27% of all tested configurations, indicating that it is a capable setup for this game. The ranking reflects the overall performance across all measured settings and resolutions, not just the peak frame rates.

The CPU's percentile standing of 84th among all CPUs and the GPU's 83rd percentile among all GPUs suggest a well-balanced pairing. The combo's rank of 452 is likely influenced by the fact that while the components are individually strong, the RTX 3080 Ti, despite being a high-end card, is not the absolute top performer in the GPU pool, as shown by its 0.5% deficit against the RTX 3090. The data indicates that this combo sits in a solid mid-to-upper tier for The Medium, capable of handling 1080p and 1440p at high settings, but requiring compromises at 4K to maintain smooth frame rates. The rank also implies that a significant number of tested combos achieve better results, likely those featuring newer or higher-tier GPUs, but this setup remains a strong contender for the game's demanding scenes.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 is a 5000-series processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, specifically the Cezanne codename, and manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It has 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, and connects via PCIe Gen 3 with 20 lanes. Its 16 MB of L3 cache is split per chiplet, with each core having 512 KB of L2 and 64 KB of L1.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and process game logic. The benchmark results show that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this game. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 140.2 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate that a weaker CPU would likely struggle to maintain. The processor's multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20655 and Passmark multithread score of 24303, provides substantial headroom for the game's background tasks and streaming. The single-thread performance, measured at 2916 in Cinebench R23 singlecore and 901 in 3dmark single_thread, is also robust, ensuring that the game's main thread is not a bottleneck.

The combination of 8 cores and 16 threads is well-suited for a modern game like The Medium, which can utilize multiple threads for rendering and physics. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates it is a strong processor, but the frame rate data suggests that in this specific game, the GPU's workload is the primary driver of performance differences across settings. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 7 nm process make it an efficient part of the system, but its actual performance contribution is best seen in the consistent frame rates at lower resolutions, where the GPU is less stressed and the CPU's ability to sustain high frame rates becomes more apparent.