The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER pairing delivers a peculiar scaling pattern in The Medium, one that reveals a significant CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low (136.7 FPS) and Medium (117 FPS) is only 19.7 FPS, while the jump from High (87.7 FPS) to Ultra (70.2 FPS) costs 17.5 FPS. This compression of frame rates across settings suggests the CPU is nearing its limit; the Ryzen 7 5700’s 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 3 Cezanne architecture, are being saturated. The data indicates that at 1440p, the spread widens slightly, with Low at 131.8 FPS and Ultra at 56.4 FPS, showing that the GPU begins to take on more responsibility as pixel count rises. By 4K, the trend becomes unmistakable: Low produces 122.7 FPS, which is oddly close to the 1080p Low result, while Ultra collapses to 42.8 FPS. This 4K behavior—where Low settings still yield over 120 FPS—points squarely at the RTX 4080 SUPER’s raw strength, but the fact that 4K Low (122.7) nearly matches 1080p Low (136.7) indicates that something else is holding the system back. The likely culprit is the CPU’s single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 901 and Passmark single-thread score of 3296, which while not weak, are far from the top of the stack.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings (69.7 to 58.1 FPS) represents a 16.6% drop, which is relatively modest for a 2.25x increase in pixel count. This suggests that at High settings, the system is already partially CPU-limited even at 1440p. The most telling comparison is 4K Medium (77.7 FPS) versus 1440p Ultra (56.4 FPS): the higher resolution with lower settings outperforms the lower resolution with higher settings by 21.3 FPS. This is classic evidence that the GPU has ample headroom at 4K Medium, but the CPU’s inability to feed it enough frames at 1440p Ultra forces the frame rate down. For builders targeting high refresh rates at 1080p, this combo will leave performance on the table; the data shows that the RTX 4080 SUPER is capable of far more than the CPU can extract at that resolution.

FAQ

*Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 bottlenecking the RTX 4080 SUPER in The Medium?*

A: The data strongly suggests yes, particularly at 1080p. The 1080p Low result (136.7 FPS) and 1440p Low result (131.8 FPS) are only 4.9 FPS apart, and 4K Low (122.7 FPS) is just 14 FPS lower than 1080p Low. A purely GPU-limited system would show much larger gaps between these resolutions. The CPU’s 3DMark 16-thread score of 6628 and Passmark multithread score of 24303 are respectable, but the single-thread scores (901 and 3296, respectively) appear to cap the frame rate.

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

A: 1440p Medium (101 FPS) offers the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate. It provides a 31.3 FPS advantage over 1440p High (69.7 FPS) and remains well above the 60 FPS threshold. While 4K Medium (77.7 FPS) is playable, 1440p Medium gives a smoother experience without sacrificing much detail. The 4K Ultra setting (42.8 FPS) should be avoided for competitive or fast-paced play.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER’s VRAM affect 4K performance?

A: With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and a 736.3 GB/s bandwidth, the RTX 4080 SUPER has ample resources for The Medium at 4K. The fact that 4K Low (122.7 FPS) is so high indicates that VRAM is not a limiting factor; the bottleneck lies elsewhere. The 256-bit bus and 23 Gbps effective memory speed ensure that texture streaming is not an issue, even at Ultra settings where the frame rate drops to 42.8 FPS due to compute load.

Q: Should I enable Ultra settings for this game?

A: No, based on the measured results. Ultra settings at any resolution produce the lowest frame rates: 70.2 FPS at 1080p, 56.4 FPS at 1440p, and 42.8 FPS at 4K. The visual improvement over High is unlikely to justify the performance cost, especially since High settings at 1440p (69.7 FPS) and 1080p (87.7 FPS) are already more playable. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is being held back by the CPU in these scenarios.

Q: Is there a large difference between Low and Medium settings?

A: Yes, but it varies by resolution. At 1080p, the gap is 19.7 FPS (from 136.7 to 117). At 1440p, it widens to 30.8 FPS (from 131.8 to 101). At 4K, the gap is 45 FPS (from 122.7 to 77.7). This increasing spread at higher resolutions indicates that Medium settings add enough GPU load to shift the bottleneck from the CPU toward the GPU, allowing the RTX 4080 SUPER to demonstrate more of its capability.

Q: How does this combo rank among tested configurations?

A: It ranks 154th out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium, placing it in the top 9.1% of all configurations. This is a strong showing, but the ranking reflects the CPU’s limiting effect; a more capable processor would likely push this GPU higher. The CPU’s percentile of 84 versus all CPUs and the GPU’s percentile of 88 versus all GPUs suggest a reasonably balanced pairing, though not an optimal one.

GPU Role

The RTX 4080 SUPER’s specifications are formidable on paper: 10,240 shading units, 80 RT cores, and a 2550 MHz boost clock. The data shows that its 16 GB of GDDR6X VRAM is never a constraint in The Medium, as even at 4K Low the frame rate reaches 122.7 FPS. However, the GPU’s role changes dramatically depending on the settings preset. At Low settings, the GPU is effectively idle-waiting for the CPU to feed it data, evidenced by the narrow FPS range across resolutions (122.7 to 136.7). At Medium and High, the GPU begins to engage, and the FPS drops become more pronounced with resolution increases. The 4K Medium result of 77.7 FPS versus 4K Low of 122.7 FPS shows a 45 FPS penalty for turning on Medium effects, which is a substantial load on the GPU’s pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s.

The Ultra preset is where the RTX 4080 SUPER’s limits are finally tested. The 4K Ultra result of 42.8 FPS is less than half of the 4K Low result, indicating that the game’s Ultra settings likely enable heavy ray tracing or volumetric effects that stress the 80 RT cores. The FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS is not enough to maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra, but it is sufficient for 1440p High (69.7 FPS) and 1080p High (87.7 FPS). The GPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores similarly in synthetic benchmarks (0.2% delta), yet this does not translate to identical in-game performance due to architectural differences. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 736.3 GB/s memory bandwidth is a clear advantage, but in The Medium, the CPU is the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions, which masks the GPU’s true potential.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 154 out of 1689 tested combinations, this pairing sits in the top 9.1% of all systems tested for The Medium. This is a strong result, but the ranking reveals an imbalance. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 27220 places it just 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i9-9900K and 0.8% ahead of the Intel Core i7-12700H. This means the Ryzen 7 5700 is a mid-pack performer, while the RTX 4080 SUPER’s score of 53610 is 2.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and 0.2% ahead of the RX 6900 XT. In a game like The Medium, which relies heavily on CPU single-thread performance for scene management (as indicated by the 901 single-thread 3DMark score), the CPU’s limitations become the defining factor of the combo’s rank.

The data shows that this combo’s rank is not limited by the GPU. The 4K Low result (122.7 FPS) proves the RTX 4080 SUPER has massive headroom. The ranking would likely improve significantly with a faster CPU, as the GPU is capable of far higher frame rates than the CPU can deliver at 1080p and 1440p. For context, the CPU’s percentile of 84 means it outperforms 84% of all CPUs, but the GPU’s percentile of 88 means it outperforms 88% of all GPUs. This 4-point gap suggests a slight CPU bottleneck that prevents the combo from climbing higher. The fact that the combo ranks 154th, rather than higher, is a direct consequence of the CPU’s 8-core/16-thread design with a 16 MB L3 cache, which is simply not enough to fully utilize the RTX 4080 SUPER in this title.

Settings Recommendations

For a smooth experience, the data points to Medium settings as the sweet spot. At 1080p, Medium yields 117 FPS, which is 19.7 FPS lower than Low but 29.3 FPS higher than High. At 1440p, Medium produces 101 FPS, which is 31.3 FPS higher than High (69.7 FPS) and only 30.8 FPS lower than Low. This is the optimal balance. At 4K, Medium (77.7 FPS) is the only preset that maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS while offering better visuals than Low (122.7 FPS). High settings are playable at 1440p (69.7 FPS) and 1080p (87.7 FPS), but the 30+ FPS penalty over Medium at 1440p is significant. Ultra settings should be skipped entirely; even at 1080p, Ultra (70.2 FPS) is only 0.5 FPS higher than 1440p High (69.7 FPS), which is a poor trade for the resolution downgrade.

The recommendation is clear: use Medium settings for any resolution. This preset leverages the RTX 4080 SUPER’s strengths while avoiding the CPU bottleneck that plagues Low settings and the GPU strain that makes Ultra unplayable. At 4K, Medium (77.7 FPS) is the only viable option for a stable experience. For users with high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors, Low (136.7 FPS) is the only way to approach 144 Hz, but the visual compromise is steep. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p (101 FPS) is the most balanced experience this combo can offer, maximizing both frame rate and visual fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are as follows: Low achieves 136.7 FPS, Medium drops to 117 FPS, High falls to 87.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 70.2 FPS. The 49.7 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is notable, but the 29.3 FPS gap between Medium and High is more impactful for gameplay. The CPU is clearly the limiting factor here, as the RTX 4080 SUPER’s performance is underutilized.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 131.8 FPS, Medium at 101 FPS, High at 69.7 FPS, and Ultra at 56.4 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 30.8 FPS, while the drop from High to Ultra is only 13.3 FPS. This suggests that Ultra introduces a significant new effect that the GPU struggles with, while Medium and High are more manageable. The 56.4 FPS at Ultra makes it borderline unplayable for smooth motion.

At 3840x2160, the performance is: Low at 122.7 FPS, Medium at 77.7 FPS, High at 58.1 FPS, and Ultra at 42.8 FPS. The 45 FPS gap between Low and Medium is the largest across all resolutions, indicating that the GPU is now fully engaged. High and Ultra both fall below 60 FPS, making them unsuitable for a fluid experience. The 4K Low result (122.7 FPS) is remarkable, proving the GPU’s capability, but the CPU’s influence is still visible in the fact that this is only 14 FPS lower than 1080p Low. The 4K Medium result (77.7 FPS) is the only 4K preset that clears the 60 FPS bar, and it does so with a comfortable margin.