The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers a benchmark profile in The Medium that is defined by extreme GPU headroom and significant scaling across presets. The measured data shows a configuration that can comfortably dominate 1080p and 1440p, while 4K performance depends heavily on the chosen quality preset. This analysis examines the measured frames per second (FPS) data to determine optimal settings, the role of the GPU’s specifications, resolution scaling behavior, and where this combo ranks among 1,689 tested configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results indicate that the High preset at 2560x1440 offers the most balanced experience, producing an average of 78 FPS. This is a 20.7% improvement over the Ultra preset at the same resolution, which averages 64.6 FPS, while maintaining a substantial visual quality increase over the Medium preset’s 109.2 FPS. For users prioritizing smoothness over absolute fidelity, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 is the optimal choice, as it delivers 109.2 FPS, which is 69% higher than the High preset’s frame rate at the same resolution.

At 3840x2160, the data reveals a stark trade-off. The High preset at 4K yields 61.1 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while the Medium preset at 4K provides 84.8 FPS, a 38.8% increase over High. The Ultra preset at 4K, however, drops to 48.1 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and represents a 21.3% decrease from the High preset’s performance. Consequently, the data suggests that Medium at 4K is the most effective way to utilize the RTX 4090’s capabilities for high-refresh-rate 4K gaming, as it avoids the steep performance penalty of Ultra while still offering a significant visual upgrade over Low, which runs at 140.1 FPS.

For 1080p, the High preset at 94.4 FPS is the recommended starting point, as it provides a 25.7% improvement over the Ultra preset’s 75 FPS while still offering a richer visual experience than the Medium preset’s 133 FPS. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 167.6 FPS, which is likely to exceed the refresh rate of most monitors, making it a viable option only for competitive play. Overall, the data strongly indicates that the Medium preset is the sweet spot across all resolutions, as it consistently provides a frame rate that is more than double the Ultra preset’s output at 4K and 1440p, while remaining visually robust.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications explain the performance ceiling observed in the benchmark data. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. This massive bandwidth is critical for The Medium, a game that is likely to utilize high-resolution textures, and it ensures that the GPU is not constrained by memory throughput at any tested setting. The GPU’s 16,384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units, paired with a boost clock of 2520 MHz, deliver the raw compute power necessary to drive the frame rates seen in the data.

The RTX 4090’s 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores are also relevant, as The Medium is a horror title that may employ ray-traced effects for lighting and shadows. The benchmark results show that the GPU can handle these workloads, as evidenced by the 61.1 FPS average at 4K High settings. The GPU’s 24 GB frame buffer is particularly advantageous at 4K Ultra, where memory capacity can become a limiting factor on lesser cards; however, the data shows that even with this headroom, the Ultra preset’s 48.1 FPS average indicates that the computational load, rather than memory capacity, is the primary constraint at that setting.

The GPU’s performance relative to its nearest rivals in the database is noteworthy. The RTX 4090’s average benchmark score of 66,473 places it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs, with its closest competitor being the NVIDIA Tesla T4, which scores 66,733, a delta of -0.4%. This indicates that the RTX 4090 is at the very top of the performance hierarchy, and its measured FPS in The Medium reflects this dominance. The GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223 and Passmark G3D score of 38,194 further corroborate its position as a top-tier part, and the in-game data shows that it is rarely the bottleneck until the Ultra preset at 4K is engaged.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which highlights the shift in system bottleneck from the CPU to the GPU. At 1080p, the average FPS across all settings is high, with the Low preset reaching 167.6 FPS. This suggests that the AMD Ryzen 7 7700, with its 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, is capable of feeding the GPU adequately at this resolution, as the frame rate is likely limited by the CPU’s single-thread performance in certain scenes. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 1,049 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,136 indicate strong per-core performance, which is sufficient for high-FPS 1080p gaming.

Moving to 1440p, the data shows a moderate drop in FPS across all settings. The Low preset falls from 167.6 FPS at 1080p to 157.9 FPS, a 5.8% decrease, while the High preset drops from 94.4 FPS to 78 FPS, a 17.4% decrease. This indicates that the GPU is beginning to become the limiting factor, as the increased pixel count demands more from the rasterization and shading units. The trend accelerates at 4K, where the GPU is unequivocally the bottleneck. The Low preset at 4K achieves 140.1 FPS, which is still high, but the High preset falls to 61.1 FPS, a 21.7% drop from 1440p, and the Ultra preset drops to 48.1 FPS, a 25.5% decrease from its 1440p counterpart.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at the Medium preset shows a drop from 133 FPS to 84.8 FPS, a 36.2% reduction. This is a significant decline that is directly attributable to the GPU’s rendering workload, as the 4K resolution requires four times the pixel count of 1080p. The CPU’s role is minimized at 4K, as the Ryzen 7 7700’s 3DMark max-thread score of 8,479 and Passmark multithread score of 34,470 are more than sufficient to keep up with the GPU’s frame generation. The data confirms that for this combo, the RTX 4090 is the primary determinant of performance above 1080p, and its 24 GB memory buffer and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth prevent any memory-related stutters at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of tested combinations, the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 configuration holds the 40th rank out of 1,689 combos in The Medium. This places it in the top 2.4% of all tested systems, which is a remarkable achievement given the sheer number of possible CPU-GPU pairings. The high rank is a direct result of the RTX 4090’s immense power, as the CPU itself ranks in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40,468.

The combo’s rank is particularly impressive when considering the CPU’s nearest rivals, which are mostly mobile or lower-tier desktop parts. The Ryzen 7 7700’s average score of 40,468 is only 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H’s 40,431 and 0.5% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365’s 40,262. This indicates that the CPU is not the primary driver of the combo’s high rank; instead, it is the GPU’s 91st percentile performance that boosts this configuration. The RTX 4090’s average benchmark score of 66,473 is 0.4% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla T4’s 66,733 (which is actually higher), but the GPU’s real-world gaming performance, as seen in the measured FPS data, is what secures the 40th position.

The data shows that this combo is more than capable of handling The Medium at high settings across all resolutions. The 40th rank out of 1,689 combos means that only 39 other configurations, likely featuring even more exotic CPUs or multiple GPUs, outperform it. For a standard desktop setup with a mainstream 8-core CPU and a single flagship GPU, this rank is exceptional and suggests that users can expect a top-tier experience without needing to invest in a more expensive workstation-class CPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The data shows that the Medium preset at 3840x2160 delivers 84.8 FPS, which is the highest frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset averages 61.1 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 48.1 FPS, making Medium the most balanced choice for 4K.

Q: How does the RTX 4090’s memory configuration affect performance in this game?

A: The RTX 4090 features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This high bandwidth ensures that the GPU is not memory-limited, allowing it to sustain high frame rates even at 4K, as evidenced by the 140.1 FPS average on the Low preset.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the data shows the Low preset achieving 167.6 FPS, which is very high. The Ryzen 7 7700’s strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,136) suggests that the CPU can keep up with the GPU’s frame generation, though the scaling from 1080p to 1440p indicates the GPU becomes the primary limiter at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 averages 78 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 64.6 FPS. This represents a 17.2% performance penalty for the Ultra preset, which may not justify the visual gains for all users.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This configuration ranks 40th out of 1,689 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the top 2.4% of all systems, driven primarily by the RTX 4090’s high performance percentile and the Ryzen 7 7700’s solid multi-threaded capabilities.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at any resolution?

A: The data shows that the Ultra preset is only playable at 1080p, where it achieves 75 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 64.6 FPS, which is still playable, but at 4K it falls to 48.1 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.