The Medium

The Medium pairs an 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 5800X with the 8 GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, a combination that places 1405th out of 1689 tested combos in this horror title. The data shows a system where the graphics card is the dominant constraint, particularly at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s strong multi-threaded performance provides ample headroom. The GTX 1070’s 16 nm Pascal architecture and 1506 MHz base clock are the primary factors limiting frame rates, as the processor’s Zen 3 design with a 3.80 GHz base clock and 4.70 GHz boost clock rarely becomes the bottleneck in this game’s measured scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, indicating that the GTX 1070 is thoroughly saturated by The Medium’s rendering demands. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 74.5 FPS, which drops to 62.7 FPS at 1440p and further to 49.2 FPS at 4K. This represents a 34% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, showing that even at the lowest graphical preset, the GPU’s 256-bit memory bus and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are working near their limits.

The scaling becomes more dramatic at higher settings. At High settings, the frame rate falls from 36.5 FPS at 1080p to 30.9 FPS at 1440p, then to 24.2 FPS at 4K — a 34% drop from 1080p to 4K. The Ultra preset shows the most severe degradation: 25.5 FPS at 1080p collapses to 23.3 FPS at 1440p and finally to 17.3 FPS at 4K. This pattern confirms that the GTX 1070’s 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is insufficient for The Medium’s high-end effects, with the gap between Low and Ultra widening from 2.9x at 1080p to 2.8x at 4K.

The data indicates that resolution scaling is not linear but rather exponential in its impact. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings costs 12.7% of performance (48.1 to 42 FPS), while the jump from 1440p to 4K at the same settings costs 23.1% (42 to 32.3 FPS). This suggests that the GTX 1070’s 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 1920 shading units are increasingly overwhelmed as pixel count rises, with the 4K Ultra result of 17.3 FPS being effectively unplayable for any real-time interaction.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 1405 out of 1689 tested combinations, this system sits in the bottom 17% of all pairings measured in The Medium. This places it well below the median performance tier, which is consistent with the GTX 1070’s age and the game’s demanding visual effects. The Ryzen 7 5800X itself ranks at the 84th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27606, but the graphics card drags the overall combo down significantly.

The CPU’s nearest rivals show it performing competitively in synthetic benchmarks: it scores 0.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and 0.4% higher than both the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE and Intel Core i7-13700H, while trailing the Intel Core i5-12600KF by 0.8%. However, these CPU differences are negligible in gaming scenarios where the GPU is the limiting factor. The GPU’s own ranking tells a starker story: it sits at the 51st percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 12331, placing it just above the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 by 0.7% and below the GTX 880M by 1.3%.

The combination’s poor rank is almost entirely attributable to the GTX 1070’s position in the GPU hierarchy. The CPU provides more than enough compute headroom — its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23571 and single-core score of 3327 are strong indicators that it is not the constraint. The 1405th rank out of 1689 combos suggests that most systems outperform this pairing, with the bottleneck firmly residing in the graphics subsystem.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, built on the GP104 chip with a 16 nm process, provides 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 1506 MHz and boost clock of 1683 MHz, combined with 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, produce a pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s. These specifications are directly reflected in the measured FPS results, where the card’s 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 performance becomes the deciding factor.

The GPU’s 8 GB memory capacity is sufficient for the game’s asset loading, but the bandwidth is a clear limitation. At 4K Ultra, the card delivers just 17.3 FPS, indicating that the memory subsystem and compute units are both saturated. The 51st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12331, places it in the lower-middle tier, and its 1.4% deficit to the GTX 1650 SUPER (12504) and 1.7% deficit to the Tesla K20Xm (12547) in synthetic tests align with its in-game performance.

DirectX 12 support (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility allow the card to run the game, but the Pascal architecture lacks hardware ray tracing and tensor cores, which are absent from the specification sheet. The GPU’s 150 W TDP and dual-slot design are modest, but the card’s age — with a launch MSRP of 379 USD — means it predates many of the optimizations in modern game engines. The measured 4K Low result of 49.2 FPS versus 4K Ultra of 17.3 FPS demonstrates a 2.8x performance range, showing that the card can handle the game at lower presets but falls apart when all effects are enabled.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers 74.5 FPS on Low settings, 48.1 FPS on Medium, 36.5 FPS on High, and 25.5 FPS on Ultra. The step from Low to Medium costs 35.4% of performance, while the step from Medium to High costs 24.1%, and High to Ultra costs 30.1%. This shows that each preset tier imposes a significant computational burden, with the GTX 1070 struggling to maintain even 30 FPS at High settings.

Moving to 1440p, the numbers drop to 62.7 FPS on Low, 42.0 FPS on Medium, 30.9 FPS on High, and 23.3 FPS on Ultra. The Low-to-Medium gap narrows slightly to 33.0%, but the Medium-to-High gap widens to 26.4%, and High-to-Ultra costs 24.6%. The 1440p High result of 30.9 FPS is just above the playability threshold, while 1440p Ultra falls below it.

At 4K, the performance collapses further: 49.2 FPS on Low, 32.3 FPS on Medium, 24.2 FPS on High, and 17.3 FPS on Ultra. The Low-to-Medium gap is 34.3%, Medium-to-High is 25.1%, and High-to-Ultra is 28.5%. The only playable 4K setting is Low, which still manages 49.2 FPS, while Medium dips below 30 FPS and Ultra is nearly slideshow-like. The data consistently shows that the GTX 1070 cannot sustain smooth frame rates above 1080p Medium, and even 1080p High only barely crosses the 30 FPS line.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system?

A: The data shows 1080p Low produces 74.5 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate. For a balance of quality and playability, 1440p Medium at 42.0 FPS is the most viable option, as 4K High at 24.2 FPS falls below acceptable smoothness thresholds.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 5800X compare to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The 5800X scores 0.3% higher than the Ryzen 7 5800, 0.4% higher than both the Ryzen 5 8500GE and Core i7-13700H, and 0.8% lower than the Core i5-12600KF in average benchmark scores. These differences are minor and unlikely to affect gaming performance where the GPU is the bottleneck.

Q: Is the GTX 1070 the limiting factor in this combo?

A: Yes. The GPU ranks at the 51st percentile among all GPUs with an average score of 12331, while the CPU ranks at the 84th percentile with 27606. The measured FPS drops dramatically with resolution increases, indicating the GPU’s 6.463 TFLOPS and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are the constraints.

Q: What are the frame rate differences between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, Low produces 74.5 FPS versus Ultra at 25.5 FPS, a 2.9x difference. At 1440p, Low gives 62.7 FPS versus Ultra at 23.3 FPS, a 2.7x difference. At 4K, Low yields 49.2 FPS versus Ultra at 17.3 FPS, a 2.8x difference.

Q: How does this system rank among all tested combos in The Medium?

A: It ranks 1405th out of 1689 combos, placing it in the bottom 17% of tested systems. This low ranking is driven by the GTX 1070’s position at the 51st GPU percentile, not the CPU’s performance.

Q: Can this system achieve 60 FPS at any setting?

A: Yes, but only at 1080p Low, which produces 74.5 FPS. The next closest is 1440p Low at 62.7 FPS, which also exceeds 60 FPS. All other settings and resolution combinations fall below the 60 FPS threshold, with 4K Low at 49.2 FPS being the highest 4K result.