The Medium

The Medium presents a unique challenge for the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and AMD Radeon RX 570 combination. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is consistently bound by the graphics card, with the CPU's substantial processing power unable to overcome the GPU's limitations. This analysis breaks down the performance data to illustrate where the bottleneck lies and what users can expect from this pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and dramatic collapse in performance as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 41.6 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops the average to 39.7 FPS, a relatively modest decline. However, the transition to 3840x2160 is severe, with the average falling to 26.9 FPS. This pattern indicates that at 1080p and 1440p, the system is still somewhat responsive to settings changes, but at 4K, the GPU is completely overwhelmed.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K on Low settings represents a 32% reduction in frame rate, whereas the jump from 1080p to 1440p only costs about 5%. This non-linear drop is the signature of a GPU that is running out of pixel throughput and memory bandwidth. The RX 570's 224.0 GB/s bandwidth and 4 GB of GDDR5 memory are simply insufficient for the pixel count at 3840x2160. Even at High settings, the difference is stark: 22.3 FPS at 1080p falls to 16.2 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 12.3 FPS at 4K.

The limiting component is unequivocally the GPU. The CPU, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, does not show signs of bottlenecking at any resolution. The frame rate drops align precisely with the increase in rendering resolution, a classic indicator that the graphics processor is the constraining factor. For playable performance, the data suggests that 1080p is the only viable target, and even then, only with specific settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The benchmark data places this combination at rank 1615 out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium. This puts the system in the bottom 4.4% of all recorded configurations, a position that reflects the age and tier of the RX 570 rather than the CPU's capability. The combo's ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU's performance ceiling, which severely limits the overall frame output in this title.

This low rank is significant because it contextualizes the absolute FPS numbers. A score of 41.6 FPS at 1080p Low might seem acceptable in isolation, but the ranking shows that most other tested systems achieve far higher results. The Ryzen 7 5700X is a capable processor that sits in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26214. However, its performance is wasted in this pairing for gaming, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck long before the CPU's potential is reached.

Comparing the components to their nearest rivals clarifies the situation. The CPU's average score of 26214 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i9-11900KF's 26196, a delta of just 0.1%. This means the processor is performing exactly as expected for its class. The GPU, however, has an average benchmark score of 30158, which is 0.2% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060's 30109. While the scores are close, the RX 570's age and 4 GB VRAM limit its real-world game performance, especially in a title like The Medium.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X is a Zen 3 part, codenamed Vermeer, built on a 7 nm process. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. The processor has a 32 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. These specifications are more than adequate for The Medium, a game that does not typically require extreme multi-threaded performance.

In this specific benchmark set, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with data, and it does so without issue. The data shows that the frame rate is not limited by the processor at any resolution. For example, the CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22620 and single-core score of 3193 indicate strong performance that would not be a constraint. The 3DMark scores also support this: 6858 for 16 threads and 6850 for max threads show consistent scaling, meaning the CPU can handle the game's thread workload efficiently.

The fact that the frame rates drop uniformly across resolutions, regardless of the CPU's capabilities, proves that the processor is not the limiting factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, as the processor's workload would remain constant while the GPU's load changes. Instead, the data shows a steady decline, confirming that the CPU is idle waiting for the GPU to complete its tasks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the system's performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the averages range from 41.6 FPS on Low to 17.8 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset sits at 29.5 FPS, and High is at 22.3 FPS. This shows that even at the lowest resolution, the system cannot maintain a smooth 60 FPS experience on any setting.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 39.7 FPS on Low, 22.3 FPS on Medium, 16.2 FPS on High, and 15 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Medium is significant, a 44% reduction, while the step from Medium to High is smaller, and High to Ultra is minimal. This suggests that the game's Medium preset introduces a heavy graphical load that the RX 570 cannot handle well at this resolution.

The 3840x2160 results are uniformly poor. The highest average is 26.9 FPS on Low, which is still below playable thresholds. Medium drops to 16.1 FPS, while High and Ultra are nearly identical at 12.3 FPS and 12.5 FPS respectively. The data indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that changing between High and Ultra has no meaningful effect on performance, as the rendering pipeline is completely maxed out.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is built on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, using a 14 nm process. It has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz, with a 4 GB GDDR5 memory pool on a 256-bit bus. This configuration provides a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s and a peak FP32 performance of 5.095 TFLOPS.

The data shows that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck in this system. The 4 GB VRAM is a critical limitation for The Medium, which likely requires more memory for high-resolution textures. This is evident in the severe performance drop at 3840x2160, where the frame rates fall below 27 FPS even on Low settings. The GPU's 150W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a mid-range part from its era, but it is now far outclassed by modern hardware.

The GPU's benchmark scores show an average of 30158, which places it in the 74th percentile among all GPUs. However, its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 with a score of 30109, are far more capable in modern titles due to newer architectures and features. The RX 570's GCN 4.0 architecture lacks dedicated ray tracing cores and has limited support for newer DX12 features, which could impact performance in The Medium's specific rendering requirements.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the only viable configuration for this combo is at 1920x1080 resolution. At this resolution, the Low preset provides an average of 41.6 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this system. While this is not a locked 60 FPS, it is the most playable option available. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 29.5 FPS, which is a significant drop and may introduce noticeable stutter during gameplay.

For users who prioritize visual quality over frame rate, the High preset at 1080p offers 22.3 FPS, but this is below the threshold for a smooth experience. The Ultra preset at 17.8 FPS is not recommended, as the visual fidelity gain is minimal compared to the performance loss. At 2560x1440, all settings produce averages below 40 FPS, with the Low preset at 39.7 FPS being the only borderline playable option.

The data clearly suggests that the system should be run at 1920x1080 with Low settings to achieve the best balance. This configuration avoids the VRAM limitations and pixel fill-rate issues that plague higher resolutions. Users seeking higher quality should consider the Medium preset at 1080p, but they will need to accept a substantial frame rate penalty. The 4K resolution is entirely out of reach for this GPU, with even the lowest settings failing to reach 30 FPS.