The Medium

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

The Medium shows a steep and predictable performance curve as resolution climbs, with the RTX 4070 clearly becoming the dominant constraint at 4K. At Low settings, the drop from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 is 27 frames per second (from 150.5 to 123.5), but the jump to 3840x2160 costs another 26 frames (down to 97.5). That is a 35% reduction from 1440p to 4K, indicating the GPU is still managing a playable experience but is being pushed hard.

The story is more dramatic at Ultra settings. The RTX 4070 delivers 50.4 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 44.2 at 1440p, and then collapses to 37.8 at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 4K at Ultra is just 12.6 FPS, a 25% drop. This relatively small absolute difference—compared to the 53 FPS drop seen at Low settings—suggests that at Ultra, the game is hitting a performance ceiling that is less about raw pixel count and more about the fixed cost of the game's heavy visual effects, likely including its signature dual-reality rendering.

At Medium settings, the scaling pattern is consistent: 96.1 FPS at 1080p, 78.1 at 1440p, and 63.8 at 4K. The High preset follows a similar trajectory (68.1 → 58.3 → 42.6). In every case, the largest proportional drop occurs between 1440p and 4K, which is the expected behavior for a GPU-bound title at those resolutions.

The data points to the RTX 4070 as the limiting component at 4K, particularly at High and Ultra where frame rates dip below 45 FPS. At 1080p, however, the CPU's role becomes more relevant: the Ryzen 7 5800XT, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, must keep up with the GPU's higher frame output. The fact that 1080p Low yields 150.5 FPS while 1080p Ultra yields 50.4 FPS—a 3x spread—shows that the settings menu, not the resolution, is the primary lever for performance at lower pixel counts.

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

The RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for The Medium's needs at all tested settings, even at 4K. The game's horror aesthetic relies on high-resolution textures and volumetric effects, but the measured frame rates do not indicate any memory capacity shortfalls—the 4K Ultra result of 37.8 FPS is a compute limitation, not a VRAM spill.

Clocks matter here. The GPU's base clock is 1920 MHz with a boost of 2475 MHz, and the memory runs at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The boost behavior is typical for Ada Lovelace: sustained loads will hold near the boost ceiling, and the 200 W TDP is the envelope that keeps those clocks stable. The measured results show that at 4K Ultra, the card is running out of shading throughput rather than memory bandwidth, given the 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs are the likely bottlenecks for the game's heavy pixel shader work.

The RTX 4070's benchmark profile supports this interpretation. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3854, and it sits at the 81st percentile among all GPUs. Compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 4070 is 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 in average benchmark score, 1.9% behind the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A, and 2.2% behind the RTX 4080 Mobile, while leading the RX 5300M by 2.5%. These are small deltas, indicating that the RTX 4070 occupies a narrow performance band where small architectural advantages decide outcomes.

For The Medium specifically, the GPU's role is clear: at 1080p Low, the card posts 150.5 FPS, which is a strong result for a horror title that prioritizes atmosphere over raw speed. At 4K Ultra, the 37.8 FPS result is below the 60 FPS target, meaning the GPU is the limiting factor. The 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are present but not heavily utilized in this game, which does not rely on ray tracing as a core mechanic.

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

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT is a Zen 3 Vermeer part with 8 cores and 16 threads, base clock of 3.80 GHz, and boost clock of 4.80 GHz. Its 32 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (51.2 GB/s bandwidth) are sufficient for The Medium's threading model, which typically scales well with multi-core processors but does not require extreme core counts.

The CPU's synthetic benchmarks show a strong multi-threaded profile: Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23794 and PassMark multithread score of 27988. Single-thread performance is also respectable, with Cinebench R23 single-core at 3359 and PassMark single-thread at 3538. These numbers place the 5800XT at the 86th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29774.

Comparing to nearest rivals, the 5800XT is only 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE and 0.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360, while trailing the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS and AMD Ryzen 7 7840H by 0.3% each. These near-identical scores mean that in CPU-bound scenarios, the 5800XT will perform essentially the same as those parts, and the differences in game frame rates will come down to GPU and memory rather than CPU.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the 150.5 FPS result suggests the GPU is still the bottleneck, but the CPU is keeping pace. The 16 threads allow the game's background streaming and AI tasks to run without causing frame hitches. At higher settings, the CPU is rarely the constraint: the 4K Ultra result of 37.8 FPS is clearly GPU-limited. The 5800XT's 105 W TDP and 7 nm process mean it can sustain boost clocks during long gaming sessions, which is important for a game like The Medium that loads scenes continuously.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For a 60 FPS target, the data shows that Medium settings are the sweet spot at 1440p and 4K. At 2560x1440, Medium delivers 78.1 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 and leaves headroom for drops. At 3840x2160, Medium yields 63.8 FPS, just barely crossing the 60 FPS threshold. This makes Medium the highest preset that maintains a playable frame rate at 4K.

At 1080p, the choice is different. High settings produce 68.1 FPS, which is above 60, but Ultra drops to 50.4 FPS. For a smooth experience at 1080p, High is the recommended preset—it keeps the frame rate above 60 while providing better visual fidelity than Medium (96.1 FPS). Low settings at any resolution are unnecessary unless the user prioritizes maximum frame rates: 150.5 FPS at 1080p and 123.5 at 1440p are available for those who want them, but the visual cost is likely too high for a horror game where atmosphere matters.

The data reveals a clear pattern: the gap between Medium and High is larger than the gap between High and Ultra. At 1440p, Medium (78.1) to High (58.3) is a 19.8 FPS drop, while High to Ultra (44.2) is a 14.1 FPS drop. This suggests that Medium is the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it captures most of the visual benefits without the steep cost of High and Ultra presets.

For users with a 144 Hz monitor at 1080p, Low or Medium is the only path to triple-digit frame rates (150.5 and 96.1 respectively). For 60 Hz displays at 1440p, Medium is the clear winner. At 4K, Medium is the only preset that stays above 60 FPS, making it the default recommendation for that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 401st out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places the combo in the top 24% of all systems tested, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with an upper-mid-range GPU.

The rank reflects the GPU's 81st percentile standing and the CPU's 86th percentile, but the game's results are more heavily influenced by the GPU, as the resolution scaling analysis shows. The combo's position suggests that it outperforms many systems with higher-tier CPUs but weaker GPUs, and it is held back by the RTX 4070's limits at 4K Ultra settings.

Given the near-identical benchmark scores of the CPU's nearest rivals (all within 0.3% of the 5800XT), swapping the CPU for a Ryzen 7 6800HS or Ryzen 7 7840H would likely produce similar in-game results. The 401st rank is therefore a function of the GPU's performance tier more than the CPU's, and users looking to improve this combo's standing should focus on GPU upgrades rather than CPU changes.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest playable setting at 4K with this combo?

A: Medium settings deliver 63.8 FPS at 3840x2160, which is the only preset above 60 FPS at that resolution. High and Ultra produce 42.6 and 37.8 FPS respectively.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 5800XT bottleneck the RTX 4070 in The Medium?

A: No. The data shows GPU-limited scaling at higher resolutions, and the CPU's 16 threads keep up even at 1080p Low where the GPU outputs 150.5 FPS.

Q: How much faster is Low compared to Ultra at the same resolution?

A: At 1920x1080, Low (150.5 FPS) is 3.0x faster than Ultra (50.4 FPS). At 3840x2160, Low (97.5 FPS) is 2.6x faster than Ultra (37.8 FPS).

Q: Is the 12 GB VRAM on the RTX 4070 enough for this game?

A: The 12 GB GDDR6X with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient at all tested settings, as the performance drops at 4K are consistent with compute limits, not memory capacity issues.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 58.3 FPS, which is below 60 but playable. Medium at 1440p gives 78.1 FPS for a safer margin.

Q: How does this combo compare to other systems in the database?

A: It ranks 401st out of 1689 combos, placing it in the top 24% of all tested systems for this game.

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

1920x1080:

• Low: 150.5 FPS
• Medium: 96.1 FPS
• High: 68.1 FPS
• Ultra: 50.4 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 123.5 FPS
• Medium: 78.1 FPS
• High: 58.3 FPS
• Ultra: 44.2 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 97.5 FPS
• Medium: 63.8 FPS
• High: 42.6 FPS
• Ultra: 37.8 FPS

The full data set shows a consistent pattern: each settings tier costs roughly 20-30 FPS at 1080p, narrowing to 10-15 FPS at 4K as the GPU becomes saturated. The 4K Ultra result of 37.8 FPS is the lowest measured value, while 1080p Low at 150.5 FPS is the highest. The Medium preset is the only one that stays above 60 FPS at every resolution except 4K, where it just crosses the line at 63.8 FPS.