The Medium

# The Medium with AMD Ryzen 7 5700 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

This combination of an 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces a system that ranks 168th out of 3,724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 4.5% of all configurations. The CPU sits at the 78th percentile among all processors, while the GPU reaches the 92nd percentile among all graphics cards, indicating a system where the graphics hardware is the dominant component in this horror title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 168 out of 3,724 tested combinations places this system firmly in the upper tier of configurations for The Medium. This ranking reflects the substantial graphics horsepower of the RTX 5090 D, which carries an average benchmark score of 77,712 across all tested workloads. The GPU's percentile ranking of 92 means it outperforms the vast majority of installed graphics cards, and this strength translates directly into strong frame rates across the measured settings.

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 contributes with an average benchmark score of 25,517, placing it at the 78th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic testing include the Intel Xeon D-2752TER (0.1% lower average score), the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H (0.1% lower), the AMD Ryzen 5 7640U (0.1% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U (0.3% higher). These deltas are minimal, showing that the 5700 sits in a tightly contested performance band where small percentage differences separate competitors.

Within the context of The Medium specifically, the combo's rank of 168 suggests that the game responds well to the combination of this CPU and GPU. The measured FPS data shows the system delivering playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra, which is notable for a game that renders dual-world scenes simultaneously. The rank reflects not just peak performance but consistency across all tested settings and resolutions, with no configuration falling below 54 FPS average.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate achieved by this combo in The Medium?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 138 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 130 at 2560x1440 Low, followed by 120 at 3840x2160 Low.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 scores 25,517 on average. The Intel Xeon D-2752TER scores 25,530 (0.1% higher), the AMD Ryzen 5 7640U scores 25,485 (0.1% lower), the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H scores 25,550 (0.1% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U scores 25,446 (0.3% lower). All differences are within 0.3%.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile and how does it compare to nearby cards?

A: The RTX 5090 D sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs with an average score of 77,712. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% higher score), AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% lower), NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (2.1% lower), and NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (2.4% lower).

Q: Does the system maintain 60+ FPS at 4K with all settings?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset delivers 95 FPS average, High delivers 68 FPS, Low delivers 120 FPS, but Ultra drops to 54 FPS average. For 60+ FPS at 4K, users should select High or lower settings.

Q: What is the frame time consistency at Medium settings across resolutions?

A: At Medium settings, the recorded minimum and maximum FPS are: 81-110 at 4K, 92-125 at 1440p, and 98-132 at 1080p. The spread between minimum and maximum widens as resolution decreases, from 29 FPS at 4K to 34 FPS at 1080p.

Q: How large is the performance gap between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, Low averages 138 FPS while Ultra averages 82 FPS, a difference of 56 FPS or roughly 68% higher performance on Low. At 4K, the gap grows to 66 FPS (120 vs 54), representing a 122% improvement on Low settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how this combo scales across resolutions, and the pattern indicates a system that remains GPU-bound even at lower resolutions. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 115 to 109, a reduction of approximately 5%. Continuing to 3840x2160, the average falls to 95, another 13% reduction. This relatively mild scaling between 1080p and 1440p, followed by a more pronounced drop at 4K, suggests the GPU is the primary limiter throughout.

At High settings, the scaling is steeper: 102 FPS at 1080p drops to 87 FPS at 1440p (15% reduction), then to 68 FPS at 4K (22% further reduction). The total drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 34 FPS, or about 33%. At Low settings, the progression is 138 to 130 to 120 FPS, showing only a 13% total reduction across the three resolutions. This flatter scaling at Low settings indicates that the CPU can feed frames efficiently when graphics load is minimal, but the GPU still governs the final output.

The Ultra preset exhibits the largest absolute drop: 82 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure falls below the 60 FPS threshold, demonstrating that even the RTX 5090 D cannot sustain smooth frame rates at maximum settings in this resolution. The pattern across all settings shows that resolution scaling in The Medium follows an expected curve, with the GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 512-bit bus providing ample bandwidth to avoid memory-related bottlenecks even at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 138 FPS, Medium averages 115 FPS with a range of 98 to 132, High averages 102 FPS, and Ultra averages 82 FPS. The spread between minimum and maximum at Medium settings (34 FPS) indicates some scene-to-scene variability, but the minimum of 98 FPS remains comfortably above smooth-playback thresholds. This resolution gives the system headroom for high refresh rate displays at Medium or High settings.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong. Low settings average 130 FPS, Medium averages 109 FPS with a range of 92 to 125, High averages 87 FPS, and Ultra averages 69 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 92 FPS still clears 90 FPS, while Ultra's average of 69 FPS approaches but does not cross the 60 FPS line. For 1440p gaming, the data suggests Medium or High presets offer the best combination of visual quality and frame rate stability.

At 3840x2160, the system shows its limits. Low settings average 120 FPS, Medium averages 95 FPS with a range of 81 to 110, High averages 68 FPS, and Ultra drops to 54 FPS average. The Ultra figure falls below 60 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay at 4K. The Medium preset's minimum of 81 FPS remains acceptable, while High's 68 FPS average provides a playable experience with higher visual fidelity. The 4K data shows a clear hierarchy: Low and Medium maintain high frame rates, High is borderline playable, and Ultra requires compromise.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this configuration, and the measured FPS data reflects its capabilities. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, the card provides substantial memory resources that benefit The Medium's dual-world rendering technique. The GPU's 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 render output units provide the raw compute necessary for the game's fixed-camera scenes and layered visual effects.

The card's clock speeds range from a base of 2017 MHz to a boost of 2407 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with the Blackwell 2.0 architecture on a 5 nm process, deliver 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The GPU's benchmark results include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 310,674, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376,915. Passmark results show 44,065 in G3D and 28,396 in GPU compute.

In The Medium, the GPU's performance is evident in the resolution scaling data. The 4K Ultra result of 54 FPS indicates that even this high-end card reaches its limit when all settings are maximized at 2160p. However, the GPU's 92nd percentile ranking and its average benchmark score of 77,712 place it well above most alternatives, and the measured frame rates confirm that it drives playable performance across most settings and resolutions. The nearest rival GPUs in synthetic testing—the Radeon RX 6650M XT at 1.1% higher, the Radeon RX 6850M XT at 1.6% lower, and the Tesla P100 variants at 2.1-2.4% lower—show that the 5090 D sits in a competitive performance band despite its high absolute scores.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 provides 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process with 10,700 million transistors on a 180 mm² die. The CPU operates with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support includes DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth.

Synthetic benchmarks show the CPU's capabilities: Cinebench R23 scores of 20,655 multi-core and 2,916 single-core, Cinebench R20 scores of 8,675 multi-core and 1,224 single-core, and Geekbench scores of 9,959 multi-core and 1,907 single-core. The 3DMark results range from 901 single-thread to 6,628 at 16 threads, while Passmark shows 24,303 multi-thread and 3,296 single-thread scores. The CPU's average benchmark score of 25,517 places it at the 78th percentile, with nearest rivals within a 0.3% delta.

In The Medium, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining frame rates at Low settings across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 138 FPS; at 1440p Low, 130 FPS; and at 4K Low, 120 FPS. The relatively small drop between 1080p and 4K at Low settings (18 FPS, or 13%) suggests that the CPU can maintain high frame delivery even when GPU load is reduced. The 8-core, 16-thread configuration provides sufficient parallel processing for the game's scene management, and the 16 MB L3 cache helps maintain consistent performance during gameplay. However, the CPU's 78th percentile ranking indicates it is not the primary strength of this combo, and the data shows the GPU as the main driver of the system's high combo rank.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K displays, the Medium preset is the recommended choice. It delivers an average of 95 FPS with a minimum of 81 FPS, providing smooth gameplay while maintaining visual quality. High settings at 4K drop to 68 FPS average, which remains playable but with less headroom for demanding scenes. Ultra at 4K falls below 60 FPS at 54 FPS average, making it unsuitable for consistent smoothness. Low at 4K reaches 120 FPS but sacrifices visual fidelity unnecessarily given the GPU's capabilities.

At 1440p, the High preset offers the best balance, averaging 87 FPS with no recorded minimum below playable thresholds. Medium averages 109 FPS for users prioritizing frame rate, while Ultra averages 69 FPS, which is close to but above the 60 FPS floor. For competitive or high-refresh-rate play, Low at 130 FPS provides the maximum performance. The 1440p data shows that High and Medium both deliver excellent experiences, with the choice depending on whether visual fidelity or frame rate takes priority.

For 1080p, all settings produce playable results, but the Medium preset stands out with a 115 FPS average and a minimum of 98 FPS, ensuring smooth performance even in heavy scenes. High averages 102 FPS, while Ultra averages 82 FPS. Low reaches 138 FPS for maximum refresh rate potential. Given that even Ultra maintains an 82 FPS average at 1080p, users with capable displays can select Ultra for the best visuals, while those seeking very high frame rates should choose Medium or Low. Across all resolutions, the Medium preset provides the most consistent frame time experience, as indicated by the recorded minimum and maximum values.