The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience, and the pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces a wide spread of performance across resolutions and presets. The data shows a system capable of high refresh rates at 1080p and playable, though sometimes challenging, frame rates at 4K Ultra. The benchmark results indicate that this combination is heavily influenced by the graphics card’s immense power, which shifts the bottleneck characteristics depending on the resolution and settings chosen.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop is significant. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 148 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 140 FPS, a modest 5.4% reduction, while 4K Low sees a more substantial decline to 129 FPS, which is 12.8% lower than the 1080p result. This indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is still the primary driver of performance, with the CPU able to feed it adequately at lower resolutions.

The scaling becomes more pronounced at higher presets. With High settings, the average frame rates are 103 FPS at 1080p, 87 FPS at 1440p, and 68 FPS at 4K. This represents a 15.5% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 34% drop from 1080p to 4K. The trend is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the increasing pixel count demands more from the RTX 5090 D’s rendering pipeline. The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly wide, highlighting the sheer pixel throughput required at 3840x2160.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with averages of 82 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K here is 34.1%, mirroring the High preset’s percentage loss. This suggests that the relative cost of Ultra settings, likely involving more advanced lighting and shadow effects, scales uniformly with resolution. The 4K Ultra result of 54 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold often considered ideal for smooth gameplay, indicating that the most demanding configuration pushes the system to its limits.

The presence of min and max FPS data for Medium settings provides insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the average is 123 FPS with a minimum of 105 and a maximum of 142, showing a 37 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the average is 116 FPS with a 99 to 134 range, a 35 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 95 FPS with an 81 to 110 range, a 29 FPS spread. The narrowing spread at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently saturated, reducing the likelihood of sudden frame rate spikes but also lowering the overall ceiling. This data points to a system where the RTX 5090 D is the limiting component at all resolutions, with the CPU providing consistent support.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Ryzen 7 5800XT and RTX 5090 D achieves a rank of 87 out of 2911 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the top 3% of all tested systems, which is a strong indicator of its overall capability. The percentile ranking for the CPU is 81, and for the GPU it is 92, suggesting that the graphics card is the stronger contributor to this high overall ranking.

The combo rank of 87 is impressive, but it is not the absolute top score. This implies that there are other combinations, likely featuring more recent high-end CPUs, that can achieve slightly higher frame rates in this specific title. However, the data shows that the Ryzen 7 5800XT is not a significant bottleneck, as the system still secures a top-100 position. The high rank confirms the raw power of the RTX 5090 D, which is able to compensate for any potential CPU limitations in most scenarios.

The deltaPct values from the CPU’s nearest rivals indicate that the 5800XT is very closely matched to other processors. It is essentially equal to the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H, with a delta of 0%, and is only 0.3% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS and AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS. It is also 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X. This suggests that the CPU’s performance is well within the expected range for its class, and its ranking in the overall combo is more heavily influenced by the GPU’s dominance. The data confirms that this is a high-performing combo that will deliver excellent results in most games, with The Medium’s specific engine and fixed-camera angles being handled with ease.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. This configuration provides a robust foundation for gaming, with the high thread count ensuring that background tasks and modern game engines that utilize multiple cores are handled effectively. The CPU’s benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23794 and a single-core score of 3359, demonstrate strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role appears to be supportive rather than dominant. The measured FPS scaling with resolution shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. For instance, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 148 FPS, which is a high frame rate that requires a capable CPU to feed the GPU. The Ryzen 7 5800XT’s single-thread performance, evidenced by a Passmark single-thread score of 3535, is sufficient to keep up with the RTX 5090 D at this resolution. The data does not show a scenario where the CPU is holding back performance, as the FPS drops consistently with increasing resolution.

The 8-core, 16-thread configuration is particularly relevant for a game like The Medium, which is a horror title that may have complex game logic and AI systems. The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s provide ample data throughput for these tasks. While the CPU’s release date of 2024-07-30 makes it a newer part, its Zen 3 architecture is a mature design. The benchmark results indicate that it is a solid match for the RTX 5090 D, ensuring that the GPU is not starved of data. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 7683 and max-thread score of 7680 show consistent scaling with thread count, confirming its ability to handle multi-threaded workloads.

FAQ

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

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 103 FPS.

Q: How does the performance at 4K Medium compare to 1440p Medium?

A: At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 95, while at 1440p Medium, the average is 116 FPS. This represents a drop of 21 FPS, or approximately 18.1%.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D or the Ryzen 7 5800XT the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary limiting factor. The FPS scales down consistently as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The high combo rank of 87 out of 2911 also indicates the CPU is not a significant bottleneck.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS recorded at 3840x2160 with Medium settings is 81 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 5800XT compare to the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS in average benchmark score?

A: The Ryzen 7 5800XT has an average benchmark score that is 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS.

Q: What is the maximum FPS recorded at 1080p Medium settings?

A: The maximum FPS recorded at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 142 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a flagship graphics card based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, with a 5 nm process node. It features a massive 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. With 21760 shading units and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, the card is designed for extreme performance. Its Passmark G3D score of 44065 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14326 place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, which is reflected in its dominant role in The Medium.

The GPU’s immense memory capacity and bandwidth are likely beneficial for The Medium’s high-resolution textures and complex scenes. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the game is playable, averaging 54 FPS. The card’s raw compute power, with an FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS, allows it to handle the game’s rendering demands at high resolutions. The RTX 5090 D’s performance is so high that it essentially dictates the frame rates across all settings, as evidenced by the consistent FPS drops with increasing resolution.

The benchmark results show that the GPU is the dominant component in this combo. For example, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 148 FPS, but this is still a GPU-bound result, as the CPU is not the limiting factor. The card’s ability to maintain high frame rates even at 4K Low (129 FPS) demonstrates its headroom. However, the transition to Ultra settings at 4K shows the most stress, with a 54 FPS average. The GPU’s nearest rivals in the database, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, have a deltaPct of -1.6%, indicating that the RTX 5090 D is significantly faster. This performance gap ensures that the RTX 5090 D is the primary driver of the high combo rank in this game.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the user’s performance target and resolution. For a smooth 60+ FPS experience at 4K, the Medium preset is the highest quality option that consistently meets this target, with an average of 95 FPS and a minimum of 81 FPS. This provides a significant visual upgrade over Low while maintaining excellent frame times. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to an average of 54 FPS, which may be acceptable for a slower-paced horror game but does not offer the same fluidity.

At 1440p, the High preset offers an excellent balance, delivering an average of 87 FPS. This is a substantial improvement over the Medium preset’s 116 FPS, but the High preset provides better visual fidelity. For users with high refresh rate monitors, the Medium preset at 1440p, with an average of 116 FPS and a minimum of 99 FPS, is the best choice to fully utilize a 120Hz or 144Hz display. The Low preset at 1440p achieves 140 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play or if maximum frame rates are the sole priority.

At 1080p, the system is capable of high refresh rate gaming. The Medium preset is the sweet spot, with an average of 123 FPS and a minimum of 105 FPS, ensuring a consistent experience on 120Hz or 144Hz monitors. The High preset at 103 FPS is also viable, but the Medium preset offers a higher frame rate with likely minor visual differences in a game like The Medium. The Ultra preset at 82 FPS is a valid choice for those who prioritize visual quality over frame rate, but the data shows that the Medium or High presets provide a more balanced experience. For the best overall experience that combines high visual fidelity with smooth gameplay, the Medium preset at all resolutions is the most reliable recommendation based on the measured data.