The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience, and the data for the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 + AMD Radeon RX 9070 combo reveals a configuration that is heavily constrained by graphics settings rather than resolution. The measured frames per second (FPS) across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K show a consistent pattern where the gap between Low and Ultra settings is the primary driver of performance, suggesting the GPU’s workload scales more with visual fidelity than pixel count. This analysis interprets the measured rows to understand what the limiting component is and how to best configure the game for this hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is present but surprisingly modest compared to the impact of settings. At Low settings, the combo delivers 140.8 FPS at 1920x1080, 119 FPS at 2560x1440, and 95.1 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 32% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, which is a significant drop, but the absolute numbers remain highly playable. The pattern suggests that at Low settings, the game is likely bottlenecked by the CPU or engine logic at lower resolutions, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly.

Improving to High settings, the scaling becomes steeper. The combo achieves 63.3 FPS at 1080p, 52.9 FPS at 1440p, and 39.7 FPS at 4K. This is a 37% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as the visual workload increases. The situation intensifies at Ultra settings, where 1080p yields 48.9 FPS, 1440p drops to 39.6 FPS, and 4K falls to 35.1 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 4K at Ultra is only 28%, which is less than at High settings, implying that at Ultra, the GPU is so saturated that even lowering resolution provides diminishing returns because the per-pixel cost is extremely high.

The data implies that the limiting component shifts depending on the preset. At Low, the CPU and memory subsystem of the Ryzen 7 7700, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, may be the ceiling, as the GPU can easily push past 140 FPS. At Medium and above, the RX 9070’s rendering pipeline becomes the constraint, particularly at 4K where the gap between Medium (57.4 FPS) and High (39.7 FPS) is a substantial 31% performance hit for only one step up in quality. This indicates that resolution scaling is not the primary concern; instead, the chosen quality preset dictates whether the experience is silky smooth or borderline unplayable.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 530 out of 1689 tested combinations for The Medium, placing it in the 69th percentile of all tested systems. This rank suggests that while the Ryzen 7 7700 and RX 9070 are not top-tier hardware for this specific title, they are far from the bottom. The CPU’s percentile vs all CPUs is 91, meaning it outperforms 91% of processors in general benchmarks, while the GPU’s percentile vs all GPUs is 79. This disparity suggests the GPU is the weaker link, but the overall combo rank of 530 indicates that many other configurations with more powerful graphics cards or better optimization for this game outrank it.

The ranking is likely influenced by the fact that The Medium is a horror title that may favor NVIDIA features or specific driver optimizations, but the raw data shows this AMD combo is competent. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H, show a deltaPct of 0.1, meaning they are nearly identical in average benchmark score, which reinforces that the processor is not the bottleneck in general compute tasks. However, in this game, the GPU’s performance relative to its own rivals—like the NVIDIA A2 with a -0.2% delta—suggests that the RX 9070 is on par with other mid-range GPUs, but the game’s demands at Ultra settings can push it to its limits.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data strongly suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this combo. At 1080p, Medium delivers 90 FPS, which is a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS target, while High drops to 63.3 FPS and Ultra falls to 48.9 FPS. The jump from Medium to High costs 30% performance (from 90 to 63.3 FPS), which is a steep price for marginal visual gains. At 1440p, Medium provides 74.5 FPS, which is still excellent, while High drops to 52.9 FPS, making Medium the clear choice for smooth gameplay.

At 4K, the situation is more challenging. Medium yields 57.4 FPS, which is playable, but High drops to 39.7 FPS and Ultra to 35.1 FPS. The data indicates that for a consistent 60 FPS experience, users should stick to Medium at 1440p or lower. Low settings are viable for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, delivering 140.8 FPS at 1080p and 119 FPS at 1440p, but the visual compromise is substantial. For a horror game that relies on atmosphere, Medium offers the best balance of fidelity and frame rate, ensuring that the game remains responsive without sacrificing the intended mood.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full dataset provides a clear matrix of performance across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the range is from 140.8 FPS on Low to 48.9 FPS on Ultra, with Medium at 90 FPS and High at 63.3 FPS. This shows a 192% difference between the lowest and highest quality presets, emphasizing how settings dominate the performance envelope. At 2560x1440, the values are 119 FPS (Low), 74.5 FPS (Medium), 52.9 FPS (High), and 39.6 FPS (Ultra). The drop from Low to Ultra is 67%, which is less severe than at 1080p but still significant.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapses further: 95.1 FPS on Low, 57.4 FPS on Medium, 39.7 FPS on High, and 35.1 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Medium and High at 4K is 31%, and between High and Ultra is 11%, indicating that Ultra is a marginal improvement over High but costs significant performance. Across all resolutions, the data shows that Low is always playable, Medium is the highest preset that maintains 60 FPS at 1440p, and High is only suitable for 1080p.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the primary driver of the performance differences observed in the measured FPS. With 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the GPU has a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s, which is ample for The Medium’s textures. The boost clock of 2520 MHz and game clock of 2070 MHz provide the raw compute power, but the data shows that the card struggles at Ultra settings, particularly at 4K where it only manages 35.1 FPS. The GPU’s 36.13 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is substantial, yet the game’s rendering load at Ultra seems to exceed what the card can handle efficiently.

The fact that the GPU’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA A2, with a deltaPct of -0.2%, suggests that the RX 9070 is positioned in a specific performance tier. However, the measured results indicate that The Medium is not an AMD-favored title, as the card’s percentile of 79 vs all GPUs does not translate into top-tier performance here. The 16 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor, as even at 4K Ultra, the game likely fits within this allocation, but the compute and texture rate (564.5 GTexel/s) may be the bottleneck. The data implies that the GPU is the limiting component at High and Ultra settings, while at Low, the CPU takes over as the primary constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60 FPS?

A: At Medium settings, 2560x1440 delivers 74.5 FPS, which is above 60. At High settings, 1920x1080 is required, as 1440p drops to 52.9 FPS. For 4K, Medium is the only playable option at 57.4 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from 1080p to 4K at Low settings?

A: The FPS drops from 140.8 to 95.1, a reduction of 32%. This indicates that even at the lowest settings, resolution scaling has a measurable impact on the GPU.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the frame rate at Ultra settings?

A: The data shows that at Ultra, 1080p yields 48.9 FPS and 4K yields 35.1 FPS, a 28% drop. This suggests the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU would maintain similar frame rates across resolutions if it were the bottleneck.

Q: What is the difference between Medium and High at 1440p?

A: Medium achieves 74.5 FPS, while High drops to 52.9 FPS. This is a 29% performance penalty for one quality step, making Medium the recommended preset for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 7700 compare to its nearest CPU rival?

A: The Ryzen 7 7700 has an average benchmark score of 40468, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H. This indicates negligible performance difference in general compute tasks.

Q: Does the RX 9070 have enough VRAM for 4K?

A: The 16 GB GDDR6 memory is likely sufficient, as the game does not appear to be VRAM-limited based on the performance scaling. The bottleneck at 4K is more related to compute power than memory capacity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 provides the computational foundation for this combo, with 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture. The processor’s boost clock of 5.30 GHz and base clock of 3.80 GHz are high, but the game’s performance at Low settings reveals its influence. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 140.8 FPS, which is a high number, but the scaling to 4K Low (95.1 FPS) suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU adequately. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 1049 and multi-thread score of 8484 indicate strong per-core performance, which is crucial for game logic.

However, the CPU’s role becomes less prominent as settings increase. At Ultra, the frame rates across resolutions are much closer (48.9, 39.6, 35.1), which implies that the GPU is saturated and the CPU has headroom. The Ryzen 7 7700’s 32 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game’s data streaming needs. The CPU’s percentile of 91 vs all CPUs shows it is a high-tier processor, but in this specific game, it is not the limiting factor at higher quality presets. The data suggests that while the CPU is powerful, the RX 9070 dictates the experience at Medium and above, making the processor a supporting player rather than the star of the show.