The Medium

The pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 targets the entry-level 1080p segment, but the measured results for The Medium reveal a configuration that is severely constrained by its graphics processor. The data shows a system that can achieve playable frame rates only at the lowest settings, with a steep performance cliff appearing as soon as visual fidelity is increased. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to provide clear settings guidance, examine the distinct roles of the CPU and GPU, and answer common questions about this specific hardware combination.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates across all resolutions and presets paint a clear picture: the Low preset is the only viable option for a consistently playable experience. At 1920x1080, the Low setting delivers an average of 45.9 FPS, which is the only measured result above the 30 FPS threshold. This is 17.3 FPS higher than the next best option, the Medium preset at 28.6 FPS, and represents a 60.5% improvement over the High preset's 18.2 FPS. The data indicates that players should start at Low settings and only consider increasing quality if they are comfortable with average frame rates in the mid-20s.

The gap between Low and Medium is substantial at every resolution, suggesting a significant jump in rendering complexity. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 17.3 FPS, a 37.7% drop. This pattern repeats at 1440p, where Low averages 36.9 FPS but Medium falls to 22.4 FPS, a 39.3% reduction. The Ultra preset is effectively unplayable at any resolution, with its best result being 15.4 FPS at 1080p. For players seeking a balance between visual quality and performance, the data suggests that Medium is the ceiling for this GPU, but it comes with the caveat of sub-30 FPS averages. Given the horror genre's reliance on atmosphere, the smoother motion of Low settings may actually provide a better experience than the stutter-prone Medium preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is the primary bottleneck in this system. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth, is insufficient for the demands of The Medium at higher presets. The benchmark data shows a stark performance collapse when moving from Low to Medium settings, which is indicative of the GPU hitting memory capacity or bandwidth limits. The card's 896 shading units and 32 ROPs, running at a boost clock of 1665 MHz, simply cannot sustain the fill rate required by the game's higher-quality textures and effects.

The GTX 1650's overall performance percentile of 43 places it in the lower half of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 8713 is nearly matched by the AMD Radeon 550X, which scores 8749 (a 0.4% difference). The nearest rival data confirms that this is a low-tier part. The FP32 compute throughput of 2.984 TFLOPS, while adequate for older titles, is woefully underpowered for a 2021 release like The Medium. The measured 1080p Low result of 45.9 FPS is the only data point that approaches a smooth experience, and it does so by dramatically reducing the graphical load. The 4K results are particularly telling, with the Low preset managing 30.4 FPS but High and Ultra collapsing to 11.1 and 11.5 FPS respectively, showing that the GPU's memory bandwidth is completely overwhelmed at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT stands in stark contrast to the GPU, providing ample processing headroom that goes largely unused in this configuration. With 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, this processor is far more capable than the game demands. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23794 and single-core score of 3359 demonstrate strong compute performance. The 3DMark multi-threaded scores, ranging from 1879 for 2 threads to 7683 for 16 threads, show excellent scaling and confirm that the CPU is not a limiting factor in The Medium.

The CPU's 86th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 29774, places it in a completely different performance class than the GPU. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (deltaPct -0.3) and the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H (deltaPct -0.3), are all mobile-class chips that it slightly edges out. The 5800XT's 32 MB of L3 cache and 4.80 GHz boost clock provide more than enough single-thread performance for the game's logic and physics. The data indicates that the CPU is essentially idle waiting for the GPU to render frames. This imbalance is typical of budget GPU and high-end CPU pairings, but the severity here is notable: the CPU is capable of far more than the 45.9 FPS ceiling imposed by the GTX 1650 at 1080p Low.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run The Medium at 60 FPS?*

A: No. The highest measured average frame rate is 45.9 FPS at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. All other settings and resolutions produce lower results, with the next best being 36.9 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: What is the best resolution to play at with this hardware?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with the Low preset provides the best experience at 45.9 FPS. While 1440p Low achieves 36.9 FPS, the 1080p result offers a higher frame rate for better motion clarity in this horror title.

Q: How much faster is Low compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: The Low preset averages 45.9 FPS, which is 30.5 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's 15.4 FPS at 1920x1080. This represents a 198% performance advantage for Low settings.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5800XT a good match for the GTX 1650 in this game?

A: No. The benchmark data shows the GPU is the clear bottleneck. The CPU's high multi-threaded performance, evidenced by its 23794 Cinebench R23 score, is wasted because the GTX 1650 cannot render frames fast enough to utilize it.

Q: What happens to performance when moving from 1080p to 4K on Low settings?

A: At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 45.9 FPS at 1080p to 30.4 FPS at 4K. This is a 33.8% reduction, indicating that even at the lowest quality, the GPU struggles with the increased pixel count.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1650's average benchmark score of 8713 is 0.4% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile (8746) and 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (8671). These are all closely matched, low-to-mid-range parts.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a predictable but severe scaling pattern, particularly at lower settings. At the Low preset, the average frame rate degrades from 45.9 FPS at 1080p to 36.9 FPS at 1440p (a 19.6% drop) and further to 30.4 FPS at 4K (a 17.6% drop from 1440p). This scaling is relatively gentle because the GPU is already so heavily taxed that even the Low preset's reduced pixel shader complexity cannot overcome the raw pixel count increase. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 15.5 FPS, or 33.8%.

In contrast, the higher presets show catastrophic scaling failures. At Medium settings, the frame rate falls from 28.6 FPS at 1080p to 22.4 FPS at 1440p (a 21.7% drop) and then plummets to 20.9 FPS at 4K. The High preset shows a similar pattern, dropping from 18.2 FPS at 1080p to 13.9 FPS at 1440p and 11.1 FPS at 4K. These results indicate that the limiting component is overwhelmingly the GPU. The CPU, which would typically show more scaling issues at lower resolutions due to draw call overhead, is not the constraint here. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see relatively flat performance across resolutions at a given preset. Instead, the clear and consistent FPS drops with each resolution increase confirm that the GTX 1650's rendering capabilities and memory bandwidth are exhausted. The 4K results, where even Low settings only manage 30.4 FPS, underscore that this GPU is not intended for high-resolution gaming in modern titles.