The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 presents a specific profile in The Medium, a horror title from 2021. The data shows a configuration where the CPU’s substantial cache and core count are largely untaxed by the game’s demands, leaving the GPU as the decisive factor in frame rate delivery across all tested resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, component roles, and the combo’s standing within the benchmark database.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz, and it is built on a 7 nm process by TSMC. The processor’s defining feature for gaming is its large 96 MB shared L3 cache, which is designed to keep frequently accessed data close to the cores.

In the context of The Medium, this CPU’s capabilities appear to be more than sufficient. The game’s dual-reality rendering mechanics can be demanding, but the measured frame rates do not indicate a CPU bottleneck at any resolution. The 5800X3D’s synthetic benchmark scores are robust — a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24063 and a single-core score of 3397 — but these do not translate into proportionally higher FPS in this title. Instead, the data suggests that the 5800X3D provides a stable foundation, ensuring that the GPU is the primary limiter. The processor’s performance percentile versus all CPUs is 83, placing it in the upper tier of general processing power. However, the game’s frame rate scaling between settings and resolutions points almost entirely toward GPU-bound performance, as the CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads are not the constraining factor.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

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

A: The measured average frame rate at 1920x1080 with High settings is 35.8 FPS.

*Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations in The Medium?*

A: This combination of AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and AMD Radeon RX 6600 ranks 1375 out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the database.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 72.5 on Low settings to 27.3 on Ultra settings, a significant decrease of 45.2 FPS.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory capacity and bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s.

Q: Does the CPU’s boost clock reach its maximum in this game?

A: The data does not specify clock speeds during gameplay. The CPU’s stated boost clock is 4.50 GHz, but the measured FPS indicates a GPU bottleneck rather than a CPU limitation.

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the measured average frame rate is 36.4 FPS.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern. At 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate is 81.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 72.5 FPS, a decline of approximately 11%. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 54.3 FPS, representing a 33% drop from the 1080p figure. This pattern is consistent across all settings.

For Ultra settings, the scaling is even more severe. The 1080p Ultra average is 27.9 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 27.3 FPS, a minimal change. However, at 4K Ultra, the average plummets to 18.6 FPS. This sharp decline at higher resolutions, particularly the drop from 1440p to 4K, indicates that the GPU’s rendering throughput is the limiting factor. The CPU’s performance is consistent, but the Radeon RX 6600’s compute resources are increasingly overwhelmed as pixel count rises. The data shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens with resolution, confirming that the GPU is the primary bottleneck in this configuration.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and AMD Radeon RX 6600 ranks 1375 out of 1689 tested configurations in The Medium. This places it in the bottom 20% of all tested combos, a position that reflects the GPU’s limited performance relative to other pairings in the database. While the CPU is a high-end part, its influence on this game’s ranking is minimal. The Radeon RX 6600’s average benchmark score is 25235, with a percentile versus all GPUs of 69.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD EPYC 8024P (0.1% higher score) and the Intel Core i9-11900K (0.1% higher). These rival CPUs show negligible performance differences, yet the game’s FPS is not correlated with these CPU scores. The GPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon 890M (0% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (0.5% higher score), are more indicative of the gaming experience. The RTX 3060 Ti’s slightly higher average score suggests it would perform better in this title, but the data for this specific combo shows that the RX 6600 is the limiting component, dragging the overall rank down despite the strong CPU.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip. It features 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1626 MHz, a game clock of 2044 MHz, and a boost clock of 2491 MHz. It has 28 ray tracing cores. Memory is 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. The GPU’s FP32 performance is 8.928 TFLOPS.

In The Medium, these specs translate to a performance ceiling that is quickly reached. The 8 GB VRAM is adequate for most settings, but the GPU’s compute throughput is the bottleneck. The measured FPS at 1080p High (35.8 FPS) and 1440p High (33.4 FPS) shows only a minor difference, suggesting that the GPU is already near its limit at 1080p. The drop to 4K High (23.3 FPS) confirms that the RX 6600’s rendering capabilities are insufficient for high-resolution, high-detail gaming in this title. The GPU’s benchmark scores — a PassMark G3D score of 15096 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1492 — are modest, and the game’s performance aligns with this mid-range positioning. The GPU’s percentile versus all GPUs is 69, but in this demanding game, it falls short of providing a smooth experience at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the average FPS values are: Low 81.6, Medium 52.1, High 35.8, and Ultra 27.9. The spread from Low to Ultra is 53.7 FPS, showing a significant performance cost for higher graphical fidelity. The jump from Low to Medium is a 29.5 FPS drop, while Medium to High is a 16.3 FPS drop, and High to Ultra is a 7.9 FPS drop. This indicates diminishing returns as settings increase.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are: Low 72.5, Medium 46.7, High 33.4, and Ultra 27.3. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, with an average reduction of around 10-15% depending on the preset. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to 6.1 FPS, suggesting that Ultra is not significantly more demanding than High at this resolution for this GPU.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS values are: Low 54.3, Medium 36.4, High 23.3, and Ultra 18.6. The 4K results show a dramatic falloff, particularly at High and Ultra settings, where the GPU is unable to maintain playable frame rates. The difference between 1440p and 4K is most pronounced at High settings (a 10.1 FPS drop) and Ultra settings (an 8.7 FPS drop). The data indicates that this combo is only viable at 4K with Low settings, and even then, the 54.3 FPS average is not ideal for a smooth experience. The overall pattern confirms that the RX 6600 is the limiting factor, with the 5800X3D providing ample headroom that is never fully utilized.