The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title released in early 2021, is a demanding showcase for the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination. The measured data reveals a system that is capable of smooth high-refresh gameplay at 1080p and 1440p, but which hits a hard wall at 4K with higher settings. With the CPU holding an 83rd percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU at the 72nd percentile, this pairing is well-matched for the game's dual-world rendering technique, though the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor as resolution climbs.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 56.9 at 1920x1080 to 48.4 at 2560x1440, a 15% reduction, and then plummets to 37 at 3840x2160, a 35% drop from the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern is classic GPU-bound behavior; the CPU has enough headroom to feed the graphics card at lower resolutions, but the RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become stressed as pixel count increases.

The trend is even more pronounced at Ultra settings. The 1080p Ultra average is 41.6 FPS, which drops to 39.4 at 1440p (a 5.3% decrease) and then crashes to 27.4 at 4K (a 34% reduction from 1080p). The relatively small gap between 1080p and 1440p Ultra suggests that the game's most demanding effects are already saturating the GPU at 1080p, making the additional pixel load at 1440p less impactful. However, 4K Ultra is nearly unplayable, as the 27.4 FPS average is below the 30 FPS threshold for fluid motion in a slow-paced horror title.

Interestingly, the Low settings scaling is more linear. The 1080p Low average of 121.2 FPS drops to 105.7 at 1440p (a 12.8% decrease) and then to 84 at 4K (a 30.7% decrease from 1080p). This indicates that at Low settings, the game is still heavily GPU-dependent, but the lower visual complexity allows the RTX 3070 to stretch its legs. The 4K Low result of 84 FPS is notably higher than the 4K High result of 37 FPS, showing that the game's High preset nearly doubles the rendering load on the GPU.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 as the sweet spot. At Medium settings, the combo delivers 66.7 FPS, which is smooth for the game's deliberate pacing. The 1920x1080 Medium result of 80.1 FPS is higher, but the visual jump at 1440p is worth the 17% performance cost. 4K is only viable at Low settings, where 84 FPS is achieved.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: According to the benchmark database, the RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 28238, placing it 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27985) and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956). It trails the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% (28409) and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X by 1.1% (28541), though these latter two are not gaming-focused cards.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5700X a bottleneck for the RTX 3070 in this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate the CPU is not the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 121.2 FPS, and at 4K Low it hits 84 FPS. The consistent frame rate scaling across resolutions suggests the GPU is the primary constraint. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22620 shows it has ample processing power for the game's dual-world rendering logic.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 105.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 39.4 FPS. That is a 63% performance drop for the highest visual quality. The Medium preset at 66.7 FPS offers a balanced middle ground, delivering 63% of the Low preset's performance while providing significantly better visuals.

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

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. The 4K Low average of 84 FPS is smooth, and the 4K Medium average of 52.1 FPS is playable. However, the 4K High average of 37 FPS and 4K Ultra average of 27.4 FPS are below the 30 FPS minimum for comfortable play. The RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM is sufficient, but the GPU's compute power is insufficient for 4K with High or Ultra presets.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X scores 3193 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 22620 in multi-core. The single-core score is 14% of the multi-core score, which is typical for an 8-core/16-thread processor. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1821 is 26.6% of the max-thread score of 6850, indicating that the CPU scales well with thread count, which is beneficial for games that use multiple threads for rendering and physics.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor from the 5000 series, built on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer) using a 7 nm process. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, and it has 32 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark results show robust multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22620 and a Geekbench multicore score of 9720. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 6858 is nearly identical to the max-thread score of 6850, suggesting the processor reaches its full potential with 16 threads.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to manage the game's dual-world rendering, where two instances of the game world are rendered simultaneously. This requires strong multi-threaded performance, and the 5700X delivers. The PassMark multithread score of 26612 and the 3DMark max-thread score of 6850 indicate the CPU can handle heavy parallel workloads. However, the measured FPS data shows that the game is not CPU-bound at any resolution. The 1080p Low average of 121.2 FPS is the highest in the dataset, and the frame rate scales consistently with resolution, which is a hallmark of GPU-limited scenarios.

The CPU's 16 threads are likely sufficient for the game's engine, as the 1080p Medium result of 80.1 FPS and 1440p Medium result of 66.7 FPS both show headroom for the GPU to be the primary driver. The single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3193, is also strong enough to handle the game's main game logic and AI without bottlenecking the GPU. In summary, the 5700X provides ample processing power for The Medium, and its performance is not the limiting factor in any of the measured configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals a clear hierarchy of presets, with the most balanced experience coming from the Medium preset. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 80.1 FPS, which is 66% of the Low preset's 121.2 FPS but offers significantly better visual quality than Low. The High preset at 1080p only achieves 56.9 FPS, which is a 29% drop from Medium, making it a poor trade-off for the visual uplift. At 2560x1440, Medium returns 66.7 FPS, which is smooth for a horror game, while High drops to 48.4 FPS and Ultra falls to 39.4 FPS.

For 4K, the recommendation shifts. The Low preset at 84 FPS is the only smooth option, while Medium at 52.1 FPS is playable if the user prioritizes visuals over frame rate. The High preset at 37 FPS and Ultra at 27.4 FPS should be avoided as they fall below the 30 FPS threshold for acceptable gameplay. The data indicates that the Medium preset is the best overall choice for this combo, as it provides a playable frame rate at all resolutions while maintaining a reasonable level of visual fidelity. At 1080p, Medium's 80.1 FPS is ideal for high-refresh monitors, and at 1440p, the 66.7 FPS result is smooth for the game's deliberate pacing.

For users with a 1080p 60 Hz display, the Medium preset is the recommended option. It provides a 33% performance buffer over the 60 FPS target, ensuring no frame drops during intense scenes. For 1440p 60 Hz displays, Medium is also the best choice, as the 66.7 FPS average leaves a small buffer. The High preset at 1440p (48.4 FPS) is not recommended, as it falls below 60 FPS and may cause stuttering in a game that relies on atmosphere and timing. For 4K 60 Hz displays, the Low preset is the only viable option, with the 84 FPS result providing a comfortable margin.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 737 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 43.6% of all systems tested. This ranking is respectable, but it is not a top-tier configuration for this game. The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests that the RTX 3070 is a mid-to-high-end card, and the 8 GB VRAM is adequate for the game's requirements. The CPU's 83rd percentile ranking shows that the 5700X is a strong processor, but the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing.

The combo's ranking of 737 indicates that there are many faster systems for The Medium, but also a majority of slower ones. The performance gap between this combo and the top systems is likely due to the GPU's inability to maintain high frame rates at 4K with High or Ultra settings. The measured data shows that this combo excels at 1080p and 1440p, where it can achieve high frame rates at Medium settings, but it falls behind systems with more powerful GPUs at 4K. The 737th rank out of 1689 combos means the system is in the upper half of all tested configurations, which is a solid result for a mid-range pairing.

The nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provide context for this ranking. The Ryzen 7 5700X's average benchmark score of 26214 is within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (26272) and 0.1% of the Intel Core i9-11900KF (26196), indicating that the CPU is not a significant differentiator in performance. The RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 28238 is within 1% of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27985), suggesting that the GPU is also not dramatically faster than its closest competitor. This combination of a mid-range CPU and GPU places the system in the upper-middle tier of the benchmark database, which is reflected in its 737th rank.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for The Medium with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 121.2 FPS, which is the highest result in the dataset. The Medium preset averages 80.1 FPS, a 34% reduction from Low. The High preset averages 56.9 FPS, which is 29% lower than Medium. The Ultra preset averages 41.6 FPS, a 27% reduction from High. This scaling shows that the game's Ultra preset is extremely demanding, with a 66% performance drop from Low to Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 105.7 FPS, which is 87% of the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 66.7 FPS, which is 83% of the 1080p Medium result. The High preset averages 48.4 FPS, which is 85% of the 1080p High result. The Ultra preset averages 39.4 FPS, which is 95% of the 1080p Ultra result. The smaller relative drops at Ultra settings (95% of 1080p) compared to Low settings (87% of 1080p) indicate that the GPU is more consistently saturated at Ultra settings, making the resolution increase less impactful.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 84 FPS, which is 69% of the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 52.1 FPS, which is 65% of the 1080p Medium result. The High preset averages 37 FPS, which is 65% of the 1080p High result. The Ultra preset averages 27.4 FPS, which is 66% of the 1080p Ultra result. The consistent 65-69% scaling from 1080p to 4K across all presets confirms that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the frame rate scales almost linearly with pixel count. The 4K Ultra result of 27.4 FPS is the lowest in the dataset, and it is below the 30 FPS threshold for playable performance, making it unsuitable for actual gameplay.