The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience, and the performance data for the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER reveals a system that is consistently bound by the graphics card. This analysis breaks down the measured frames per second across three resolutions and four quality presets to understand where the bottleneck lies and what users can expect from this configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a clear and expected inverse relationship between resolution and average frame rate, but the degree of the drop tells a specific story about component limitations. At 1080p with High settings, the system produces 40.5 FPS. Moving to 1440p at High, the average drops to 33.8 FPS, a reduction of 6.7 frames. The jump to 4K at High yields just 26.8 FPS, another 7-frame decline. This progressive scaling is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering load on the graphics card increases disproportionately with pixel count.

The pattern is consistent across all quality presets. At Low settings, the frame rate plummets from 90.2 FPS at 1080p to 78.3 FPS at 1440p, and further to 57.8 FPS at 4K. The fact that even at the lowest settings the 4K result falls below 60 FPS indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER's processing power is the limiting factor, not the CPU or memory subsystem. Similarly, the Ultra preset shows a steep decline from 29.3 FPS at 1080p to 24.9 FPS at 1440p and 22.6 FPS at 4K, demonstrating that the graphics card is heavily saturated even at lower resolutions when visual fidelity is maximized.

The data suggests that the Ryzen 7 5700X3D, with its robust multi-threaded capabilities, has ample headroom to feed the GPU at 1080p and 1440p. The steep percentage drops between 1080p and 4K—for instance, a 34% reduction at High settings—are typical of a system where the GPU’s pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints. In essence, the frame rate is scaling directly with the number of pixels rendered, confirming that the limiting component is the graphics card.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D is a desktop processor from the 5000 series based on the Zen 3 architecture. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a hallmark of the X3D line, designed to improve gaming performance by reducing memory latency. In this benchmark set, the CPU's role is to ensure that the GPU never starves for data.

The benchmark results for this processor show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22366 and a single-core score of 3157. This indicates that the CPU is more than capable of handling the game's logic and draw calls. In the context of The Medium, which is known for its dual-reality rendering technique, the CPU must manage two simultaneous scenes. The data implies that the 5700X3D handles this load without becoming a bottleneck, as frame rates drop primarily with resolution and settings, not with scene complexity.

The CPU's performance percentile stands at 82 compared to all tested processors, placing it in the upper tier. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-1360P, has an average score of 24627, a mere 0.2% difference, showing that the 5700X3D is competitive with modern mobile silicon. However, this processing power is not the limiting factor here. The fact that the system achieves 90.2 FPS at 1080p Low, but only 40.5 FPS at 1080p High, suggests that the CPU can easily exceed the GPU's output capability at lower settings. The CPU is effectively providing a high ceiling, but the GPU hits that ceiling quickly.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the clear determinant of this system's gaming performance in The Medium. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The GPU's boost clock is 1650 MHz, and it is built on the Turing architecture with 2176 shading units. Its performance percentile versus all GPUs is 63, placing it in the mid-range tier.

The measured data confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck across all tested configurations. At 1080p Medium, the system produces 57.6 FPS, which is just shy of a 60 FPS target. At 1080p High, the frame rate drops to 40.5 FPS. This indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER struggles with the game's visual effects at higher presets, even at 1080p. The GPU's average benchmark score of 19774 places it very close to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN, which has a deltaPct of only 0.3%, and the RTX 2070, which is 0.5% lower. This suggests that the 2060 SUPER is performing at the expected level for its class.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a significant factor at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate collapses to 22.6 FPS, which is likely a combination of the GPU's raw compute limits and memory pressure. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings (from 49 FPS to 35.8 FPS) shows a 27% performance drop, which is less severe than the drop from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings (from 57.6 FPS to 49 FPS, a 15% drop). This non-linear behavior at different settings suggests that the GPU is not purely fill-rate limited but also constrained by its shader and texture processing capabilities. In all cases, the data points to the RTX 2060 SUPER being the component that must be adjusted via settings to achieve playable frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of all tested hardware combinations, this pairing of the Ryzen 7 5700X3D and the RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1284 out of 1689 combos. This places it in the lower 24th percentile of all configurations tested for this game. The ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range status rather than any deficiency in the CPU. The high-performing CPU is effectively held back by the GPU, preventing this combo from climbing higher in the rankings.

The data suggests that this combination is unbalanced for The Medium, as the CPU's capabilities far exceed what the GPU can utilize at the game's higher settings. If the goal is to improve the ranking, the data indicates that the GPU would need to be upgraded to a more powerful model. The CPU's strong benchmark scores, such as its Passmark multi-thread score of 26318, show that it has years of life left, but the RTX 2060 SUPER is the constraining factor. This ranking serves as a clear indicator that the system is not optimized for this particular title at high resolutions or quality presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The system achieves an average of 40.5 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings.

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 4K smoothly?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the average frame rate is 26.8 FPS on High and just 22.6 FPS on Ultra, which is not smooth. Even on Low settings at 4K, it only reaches 57.8 FPS.

Q: Which component is the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The benchmark results indicate the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the limiting factor, as frame rates scale directly with resolution and settings, while the CPU has ample headroom.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5700X3D a strong processor for gaming?

A: Yes. It has a performance percentile of 82 versus all CPUs and scores 22366 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, indicating it is a high-tier gaming processor.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 19774, which is 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN and 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070.

Q: What is the best resolution to play at for a consistent 60 FPS?

A: The only setting that achieves over 90 FPS is 1080p on Low. For a more balanced visual experience, 1080p on Medium is the closest to 60 FPS, yielding 57.6 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

For players seeking the smoothest experience, the data shows that 1080p with Low settings is the only configuration that provides a significant frame rate cushion, averaging 90.2 FPS. This preset sacrifices visual fidelity but ensures responsive gameplay. If a higher visual quality is desired, 1080p Medium provides 57.6 FPS, which is playable but may exhibit minor stutters during intense scenes. Pushing to High at 1080p drops the average to 40.5 FPS, which is not ideal for a game that relies on atmospheric tension and smooth camera movement.

At 1440p, the situation becomes more challenging. The Low preset yields 78.3 FPS, which is excellent, but the Medium preset drops to 49 FPS, and High falls to 33.8 FPS. For a balanced experience at 1440p, the Low preset is the only viable option for maintaining high frame rates. At 4K, the game is generally not playable at acceptable frame rates, with even the Low preset only achieving 57.8 FPS, which is borderline. The performance data strongly suggests that users should target 1080p with Medium or Low settings to get the best balance of visual quality and performance from this hardware combination.