The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination delivers a playable experience in The Medium, but the data indicates that the Ultra preset is generally out of reach. Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset provides the best balance of visual fidelity and performance across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium yields an average of 88 FPS, which is a substantial improvement over the 50 FPS seen at Ultra. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset maintains an average of 74 FPS, keeping the action fluid. Even at 3840x2160, the Medium preset produces an average of 58 FPS, which remains within a playable range for a horror title.

The High preset, while offering better visuals, results in average frame rates of 63 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with averages dropping to 50 FPS at 1080p, 42 FPS at 1440p, and a stutter-prone 33 FPS at 4K. The Low preset offers the highest frame rates—141 FPS at 1080p, 119 FPS at 1440p, and 93 FPS at 4K—but sacrifices the atmospheric detail that defines the game's horror aesthetic. Therefore, the Medium preset is the recommended starting point, as it provides a significant performance headroom over High and Ultra while maintaining the core visual experience. For those targeting higher refresh rates at 1080p, the High preset is a viable alternative, but the data shows that Medium is the most consistent performer across the board.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset to use with this hardware combination?

A: The Medium preset offers the best experience. It provides an average of 88 FPS at 1920x1080, 74 FPS at 2560x1440, and 58 FPS at 3840x2160, which are all playable. The High and Ultra presets see significant frame rate drops, especially at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 1075 out of 3724 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the upper third of all tested configurations, indicating a solidly above-average performance tier.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Medium?*

A: Yes, but with limitations. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset achieves an average of 58 FPS, which is playable. The High preset drops to 42 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 33 FPS, which is likely too choppy for a smooth experience.

Q: What is the impact of the CPU's core count on performance?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X has 8 cores and 16 threads. While the game may not use all 16 threads, the high multi-threaded performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 13184, ensures that the CPU is not a bottleneck, allowing the GPU to be the primary driver of frame rates.

Q: Is the 16 GB of VRAM on the GPU sufficient for this game?

A: Yes, the AMD Radeon RX 9070's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is more than adequate for The Medium at all tested settings and resolutions. The performance scaling from Low to Ultra is consistent, indicating that the frame rate drops are due to compute load rather than memory capacity limits.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X has an average benchmark score of 27578, which is identical to the Intel Core i5-12600K (deltaPct 0). It is also 0.2% faster than the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and 0.3% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, while being 0.2% slower than the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear trend: performance scales inversely with resolution, and the demand curve is steep. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 and then to 3840x2160 places increasing stress on the AMD Radeon RX 9070. At the Low preset, the average frame rate drops from 141 FPS at 1080p to 119 FPS at 1440p, a 15.6% decrease, and then to 93 FPS at 4K, a further 21.8% decrease from 1440p.

This pattern becomes more pronounced at higher settings. At the Medium preset, the average FPS falls from 88 at 1080p to 74 at 1440p (a 15.9% drop) and then to 58 at 4K (a 21.6% drop from 1440p). The High preset shows a similar trajectory, with averages of 63, 53, and 42 FPS across the three resolutions. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with frame rates of 50, 42, and 33 FPS for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, respectively.

The scaling pattern indicates that the rendering load is heavily resolution-dependent, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario. The consistent percentage drops across all presets suggest that the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X, is sufficiently powerful to maintain its part of the workload even at lower resolutions. The limiting component is clearly the GPU, as its compute and memory bandwidth are saturated by the increasing pixel count. The 644.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth on the RX 9070 is a critical factor here, as higher resolutions demand more data throughput, and the frame rate drops indicate that this resource is being taxed.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

At 1080p, the combination shows its strength. The Low preset delivers an average of 141 FPS, ensuring high-refresh-rate gameplay. The Medium preset is the most balanced, with an average of 88 FPS and a minimum of 75 FPS, indicating smooth performance. The High preset drops to an average of 63 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of 50 FPS, which may be too inconsistent for some players.

2560x1440:

At 1440p, the performance scales down as expected. The Low preset still delivers a high average of 119 FPS. The Medium preset maintains a solid average of 74 FPS, with a minimum of 63 FPS and a maximum of 85 FPS. The High preset averages 53 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to an average of 42 FPS, which is borderline for a smooth experience.

3840x2160:

At 4K, the GPU is heavily taxed. The Low preset is the only option for high frame rates, averaging 93 FPS. The Medium preset provides a playable average of 58 FPS, with a minimum of 50 FPS and a maximum of 67 FPS. The High preset averages 42 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of 33 FPS, which is likely below the threshold for comfortable play.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of over 3724 tested combinations for The Medium, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 holds the 1075th position. This rank places it in the 71st percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms roughly 71% of the other combinations. The data indicates that this is a high-performing setup, though not at the absolute top tier.

The individual components have their own performance profiles that inform this rank. The CPU has a percentile ranking of 79 among all tested CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 27578 puts it in a dead heat with the Intel Core i5-12600K, which has a deltaPct of 0. The GPU has a percentile ranking of 69 among all tested GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 23877 places it slightly above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (deltaPct 0.6) and below the AMD Radeon RX 6800S (deltaPct -0.8). The GPU's performance is a significant factor in the overall combo rank, as the game is primarily GPU-bound at higher resolutions. The rank of 1075 reflects a balanced system where the CPU is capable enough to not bottleneck the GPU, allowing the latter to deliver the measured frame rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X is a Zen 3 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz provide the processing throughput needed for game logic and scene management. The benchmark results show a strong multi-threaded capability, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 13184 and a Geekbench multicore score of 10779. The single-threaded performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1499, which is crucial for games that rely on a few main threads.

The data from The Medium suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all settings, which would not be the case if the CPU were struggling. For example, the transition from Low to Ultra at 1080p results in a drop from 141 FPS to 50 FPS, a performance change driven by the GPU's workload. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would be more similar across different presets. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth are sufficient to feed the GPU with data. The 8-core, 16-thread configuration ensures that even if The Medium is optimized for fewer threads, there is ample headroom for background tasks and driver overhead. The processor's performance is comparable to its direct rivals, matching the Intel Core i5-12600K exactly and being within 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and Intel Core Ultra 5 125H.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the dominant component in this pairing for The Medium. It features the Navi 48 chip on the RDNA 4.0 architecture, with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1330 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with a game clock of 2070 MHz. The high memory bandwidth is critical for the 4K resolution tests, where the demand for texture data and frame buffer access is immense.

The GPU's benchmark scores reflect its capability. It has a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6290 and a Passmark G3D score of 25381. The compute performance, as measured by Passmark GPU Compute, is 14737, indicating strong parallel processing power. The frame rate data shows that the GPU is the primary determinant of performance. At 4K, the Ultra preset yields only 33 FPS, while the Low preset yields 93 FPS. This 60 FPS difference is entirely due to the GPU's rendering workload.

The GPU's 16 GB of VRAM is a significant asset. Even at the highest settings, the game does not appear to be limited by memory capacity, as the performance scaling is smooth. The 128 ROPs and 224 TMUs ensure that pixel and texture processing are handled efficiently. The core clock speeds are high enough to maintain solid performance, but the data shows that the GPU is fully utilized at higher resolutions and settings. The nearest rivals to the RX 9070, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6800S and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER, are within a 1.2% performance delta, but the RX 9070's combination of high bandwidth and compute power allows it to deliver the frame rates observed in the 1080p and 1440p Medium presets, which are the most balanced for a playable experience.