The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding workload for the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT pairing. The measured data shows a system that is firmly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, with the CPU headroom becoming apparent only when graphical settings are lowered to reduce the rendering load.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the transition from 1080p to 1440p reduces the average frame rate from 46.6 FPS to 40.6 FPS, a drop of 6 FPS. Moving further to 2160p brings the average down to 31.5 FPS. This progressive decline indicates that the RX 6700 XT is the primary constraint; the rendering resolution directly dictates the performance ceiling.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically when examining the Low preset. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 110.9 FPS. At 2560x1440, this falls to 92 FPS, and at 3840x2160, it reaches 73.9 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is significantly smaller than the drop at High settings. This suggests that at Low settings, the workload is still substantial enough to keep the GPU busy, but the gap between resolutions narrows as the CPU begins to provide a more significant portion of the frame time.

The data indicates that at Ultra settings, the GPU is overwhelmed. The difference between 1440p and 2160p at Ultra is minimal, with scores of 33.6 FPS and 24.5 FPS, respectively. This steep drop-off at the highest preset confirms that the 12 GB VRAM and the GPU’s compute throughput are insufficient for maintaining fluid performance at 4K with maximum detail. The limiting component is unequivocally the graphics card, as the CPU’s performance ceiling is not reached until the GPU load is significantly reduced.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture, is the central determinant of performance in The Medium. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for the game’s assets at 1080p and 1440p, but the data shows that at 3840x2160 with High settings, the average frame rate of 31.5 FPS falls below the 30 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for playable action, indicating the GPU is running out of headroom.

The GPU’s clock speeds, with a base of 2321 MHz and a boost of 2581 MHz, drive its 2560 shading units. The resulting 13.21 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the raw power available for the game’s DirectX 12 Ultimate workload. The benchmark results show a clear correlation between the settings preset and the GPU’s ability to keep up. At 1080p Medium, the card produces 66.3 FPS, but this drops to 37.8 FPS at Ultra, showing that the incremental increases in visual fidelity come at a steep performance cost.

The card’s performance relative to its peers shows it is positioned in the mid-range. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6800, which scores 0.7% higher on average, and the NVIDIA RTX A5000, which is 1.3% lower. This data confirms that the RX 6700 XT is a capable 1080p and 1440p card, but it lacks the raw power for high-refresh-rate 4K gaming in this title. The 40 ray accelerators on the GPU are part of the hardware feature set, but the measured FPS data suggests that enabling such features would further tax the already limited compute resources at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 7700 and the RX 6700 XT ranks 962nd out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the lower half of the database, which is consistent with the observed FPS numbers. The ranking reflects that while the CPU is a high-performing part, the GPU holds the combo back from achieving higher placement.

This specific pairing does not leverage the full potential of the Ryzen 7 7700. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 40468 places it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, and it is only 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H. However, the combo’s rank in-game is determined by the entire system, and the GPU’s 77th percentile ranking drags the overall score down. The data shows a mismatch: a top-tier CPU paired with a mid-range GPU results in a system that is balanced for 1440p gaming but underperforms at 4K.

The combo’s position at rank 962 indicates that most of the 1689 tested configurations either have a more powerful GPU or a more balanced pairing. The performance delta between this combo and higher-ranked ones is likely substantial, as the RX 6700 XT’s 31.5 FPS at 4K High is a significant bottleneck. This ranking serves as a clear indicator that the system is designed for smooth 1080p and acceptable 1440p gameplay, not for high-end 4K experiences.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full dataset provides a detailed view of performance across all resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields 110.9 FPS, which is the highest average in the entire suite. Medium produces 66.3 FPS, High drops to 46.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37.8 FPS. These figures show a steady performance curve where each step up in quality costs a significant number of frames.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues with lower absolute numbers. Low achieves 92 FPS, Medium 60.3 FPS, High 40.6 FPS, and Ultra 33.6 FPS. The 1440p results are the most balanced for this hardware, as the Medium preset provides a solid 60 FPS experience. The High preset at 1440p is borderline, hovering just above 40 FPS, which may be acceptable for a slower-paced horror game but is not ideal for those seeking smooth motion.

The 3840x2160 results are the most telling. Low produces 73.9 FPS, which is surprisingly high and suggests that the game’s low preset significantly reduces the rendering load. Medium drops to 42.7 FPS, High to 31.5 FPS, and Ultra to 24.5 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium at 4K is a 31.2 FPS difference, highlighting the massive cost of enabling higher-quality textures and effects. None of the 4K settings except Low achieve a consistently playable frame rate, confirming that this resolution is not a viable option for this GPU in this title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is a high-end desktop processor with 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture. Its boost clock of 5.30 GHz and 32 MB of shared L3 cache provide substantial single-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4136. In The Medium, this CPU power is largely underutilized due to the GPU bottleneck.

The measured FPS data shows that the CPU only becomes a limiting factor at the lowest settings and resolutions. For example, at 1080p Low with 110.9 FPS, the CPU is working harder to feed the GPU. However, the CPU’s benchmark scores indicate it has significant headroom. Its multicore score of 29302 in Cinebench R23 and a Passmark multithread score of 34470 suggest it can handle far more demanding tasks than this game presents.

The CPU’s 65W TDP and 5 nm process node make it an efficient part, but its performance is not the reason for the frame rate numbers seen here. The data shows that the Ryzen 7 7700 is not a bottleneck at any of the tested settings. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is less stressed, the CPU is likely not maxed out. The game’s performance is dictated by the GPU’s ability to render frames, not the CPU’s ability to calculate game logic. The system’s 91st percentile CPU ranking versus the GPU’s 77th percentile ranking further confirms this imbalance.

Settings Recommendations

For a balanced experience, the 2560x1440 Medium preset is the optimal choice. It delivers an average of 60.3 FPS, which is smooth for the game’s fixed-camera horror gameplay. This setting provides a significant visual upgrade over Low while maintaining a frame rate that is well above the playable threshold. The 1080p Medium preset also offers 66.3 FPS, but the higher resolution of 1440p is a more substantial improvement in image clarity.

For users who prioritize higher visual fidelity over raw frame rate, the 1920x1080 High preset at 46.6 FPS is a viable option. The game’s slower pacing makes sub-60 FPS more tolerable than in a fast-action title. However, the 1440p High preset at 40.6 FPS is less recommended, as the frame rate drops closer to the 30 FPS mark without a massive visual gain over Medium.

The Ultra preset is not recommended on this hardware. At 1080p it produces 37.8 FPS, at 1440p it drops to 33.6 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 24.5 FPS. The performance cost of Ultra is too high for the marginal visual improvements it offers over High. The data suggests that the best experience is found at 1440p Medium, which provides the highest resolution with a playable frame rate. The 4K Low preset at 73.9 FPS is an interesting outlier, but the drastic reduction in graphical quality to achieve that number makes it a poor trade-off for most users. The optimal settings target is 1440p Medium or 1080p High, depending on the user’s preference for resolution versus detail.