The Medium

The Medium is a fixed-camera horror title that stresses both GPU and CPU in unusual ways, and the pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER produces a clear, predictable performance curve. At 1080p, the combo delivers a playable 60.5 FPS on Ultra, but the real story is how the frame rate scales with resolution and settings. The RTX 4070 SUPER, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, is the dominant factor in this pairing. The Ryzen 7 5800X, an 8-core, 16-thread Zen 3 part, provides ample headroom, never appearing as the bottleneck in the measured results. The data shows a system that is well-balanced for high-refresh 1440p gaming, but which begins to show its limits at 4K with higher settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS across resolutions reveals a GPU-bound scenario at higher settings, with the RTX 4070 SUPER doing the heavy lifting. At 1080p Ultra, the combo hits 60.5 FPS, which climbs to 71.4 FPS on High. Dropping to 1440p Ultra yields 53.2 FPS, a 12% reduction from 1080p Ultra. This is a modest drop, indicating that the GPU is still managing the load efficiently. However, the jump to 4K Ultra is punishing: the average FPS falls to 39.8, a 34% decrease from 1440p Ultra. This is a clear sign that the 4K Ultra preset is beyond what this GPU can comfortably sustain for smooth play.

The scaling becomes more dramatic when comparing settings at the same resolution. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra is stark: 108.6 FPS versus 39.8 FPS, a 63% performance swing. This wide gap suggests that The Medium’s visual effects, likely including ray-traced reflections and volumetric lighting, are highly demanding on the GPU’s compute and memory subsystems. In contrast, at 1080p, the gap between Low (142 FPS) and Ultra (60.5 FPS) is 57%, still significant but less severe. The data indicates that the limiting component at 4K Ultra is unequivocally the GPU, as the CPU has ample headroom with its 8 cores and 16 threads. The 4K Medium result of 67.5 FPS shows that a mid-tier setting is the sweet spot for 60+ FPS at that resolution, while 1080p High at 71.4 FPS offers a smooth experience without needing to drop to Low.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for a smooth 60 FPS experience with this combo?

A: Based on the measured data, 1440p Medium (90.1 FPS) and 4K Medium (67.5 FPS) both exceed 60 FPS. For Ultra settings, 1080p is the only viable option at 60.5 FPS, as 1440p Ultra (53.2 FPS) and 4K Ultra (39.8 FPS) fall short.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data points to the GPU as the primary limiter, especially at higher resolutions and settings. The Ryzen 7 5800X, with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz and 32 MB of L3 cache, shows no signs of holding back the system, as evidenced by the large FPS gains when lowering graphics settings at the same resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER's memory configuration affect performance?

A: The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 504.2 GB/s bandwidth on a 192-bit bus. This is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra preset, which likely requires more than 12 GB of VRAM for textures and effects, shows a significant performance drop to 39.8 FPS, suggesting memory capacity or bandwidth is a limiting factor at that extreme.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the combo delivers 142 FPS on Low and 60.5 FPS on Ultra. This is a 57% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy load on the GPU, likely through advanced lighting and post-processing effects.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 5800X's multi-threading capability show any benefit in this game?

A: The CPU’s multi-threaded performance is strong, as shown by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23571. However, in The Medium, the frame rates scale primarily with GPU settings, suggesting the game is not bottlenecked by the CPU’s 16 threads, even at lower resolutions where CPU load would be relatively higher.

Q: Can this combo achieve 4K gaming at playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but not at Ultra settings. The 4K Medium result of 67.5 FPS is playable, and 4K Low is even more fluid at 108.6 FPS. For a balance of visual quality and performance, 4K Medium is the recommended target.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader benchmark database, this specific configuration of the RTX 4070 SUPER and Ryzen 7 5800X ranks 294th out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the top 17.4% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing given the game’s demanding nature. The percentile ranking for the GPU is 84, meaning it outperforms 84% of all GPUs in the database, and the CPU also sits at the 84th percentile. This alignment of high percentiles explains why the combo performs well: both components are well above average.

The combo’s rank is a reflection of the GPU’s raw power. The RTX 4070 SUPER, with a Passmark G3D score of 29995, is a high-tier card. Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (42653 avg score, -0.2% delta), AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (42723, -0.3%), AMD Radeon Pro 580X (41991, 1.4%), and NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41897, 1.6%). The RTX 4070 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 42576 is statistically tied with the RTX A6000 and RX 7650 GRE, showing it is a top-tier performer. The CPU is similarly well-positioned; the Ryzen 7 5800X’s average benchmark score of 27606 is within 0.8% of its closest rival, the Intel Core i5-12600KF (27827). This means the combo is built from components that are near the top of their respective performance tiers, justifying its strong rank in the game-specific test.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 142 FPS on Low, 104.7 FPS on Medium, 71.4 FPS on High, and 60.5 FPS on Ultra. The progression shows a consistent cost for each visual upgrade. At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 135.5 FPS (Low), 90.1 FPS (Medium), 62.6 FPS (High), and 53.2 FPS (Ultra). The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at the High setting, where the FPS falls by 12.3%, indicating that the GPU is starting to feel the pressure from increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the results are 108.6 FPS (Low), 67.5 FPS (Medium), 48.9 FPS (High), and 39.8 FPS (Ultra). The 4K Low result is particularly notable, as it provides a very smooth experience that exceeds 100 FPS. However, the 4K Ultra result is below 40 FPS, which is not suitable for fast-paced gameplay. The data shows that the combo is most comfortable at 1440p, where it can maintain over 60 FPS on High settings (62.6 FPS) and well over 100 FPS on Low. For 4K, users must be selective with settings; Medium is the only preset that breaks 60 FPS, while High and Ultra require a tolerance for sub-50 FPS gameplay.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 SUPER is the cornerstone of this combo’s performance in The Medium. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is a key asset, providing sufficient capacity for high-resolution textures at 1080p and 1440p. The 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth is also ample for these resolutions, but the 4K Ultra result of 39.8 FPS suggests that the 192-bit memory bus may be a limiting factor when the game demands the highest fidelity assets. The GPU’s boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1980 MHz contribute to its raw compute power, which is reflected in its 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 performance. This compute capability is essential for the game’s fixed-camera scenes, which often feature complex lighting and shadow effects.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reinforce its position. A Passmark G3D score of 29995 places it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rival, the RTX A6000, has a similar average score (42653 vs 42576), but that is a workstation card. This consumer card’s performance is more relevant for gaming. The 4K Medium result of 67.5 FPS shows that the GPU can handle a significant load, but the 4K Ultra result indicates that the card is overextended when all effects are enabled. The data suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER is best utilized at 1440p, where it can deliver a high-refresh experience, or at 4K with medium presets for a console-like 60 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X provides a solid foundation for the RTX 4070 SUPER. With 8 cores and 16 threads, it offers more than enough processing power for The Medium, which is not a heavily threaded title. The CPU’s base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz ensure that single-threaded performance is strong, which is important for the game’s logic and AI. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23571 and single-core score of 3327 are both impressive, but the game’s frame rates do not appear to be limited by the CPU. The fact that FPS scales so dramatically with GPU settings (e.g., 142 FPS at 1080p Low versus 60.5 FPS at 1080p Ultra) indicates that the CPU can easily feed the GPU even at high frame rates.

The CPU’s 32 MB of L3 cache is a benefit, as it reduces memory latency and helps with data-heavy tasks. The Ryzen 7 5800X’s average benchmark score of 27606 places it in the 84th percentile, and its nearest rivals are all within 0.8% of its score. This indicates that the CPU is a top-tier performer in its class, and it is more than capable of supporting the RTX 4070 SUPER. In this game, the CPU’s role is to maintain a stable frame pipeline, and the data shows it does so without issue. The combo’s rank of 294 out of 1689 is a direct result of the GPU’s high performance, but it relies on the CPU’s strong single-thread and multi-thread capabilities to avoid any bottlenecks.