The Medium

The benchmark data for The Medium on the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 configuration places this combo at rank 20 out of 1689 tested combinations. This pairing of an eight-core desktop CPU with NVIDIA’s flagship Blackwell GPU produces a system that is firmly in the top percentile for this horror title, though the game’s specific demands reveal an interesting balance between processor throughput and raw graphics horsepower.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is an eight-core, sixteen-thread processor based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture, built on TSMC’s 5 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 32 MB L3 pool. Memory support is DDR5 over a dual-channel bus, yielding a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU demonstrates strong multi-threaded capability. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score reaches 29302, while the single-core score hits 4136. The 3DMark results show scaling from 1049 in single-thread to 8484 in 16-thread tests, indicating solid thread utilization. The PassMark multithread score of 34470 and an average benchmark score of 40468 place it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the 7700 is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H, which posts an average score of 40431 (a delta of 0.1%). It edges out the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 by 0.5% (40262) and the Intel Core Ultra 5 235T by 1.2% (39995). The only rival it trails is the Intel Core i9-13905H, which scores 40712, a -0.6% delta. For a game like The Medium, which is not typically CPU-bound at high resolutions, this processor provides ample headroom. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the system reaches 171.2 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently even in less demanding scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the centerpiece of this configuration, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip, also fabricated on TSMC’s 5 nm process. It packs 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs, alongside 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective).

Memory configuration is substantial: 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. This large frame buffer is critical for The Medium, which uses a dual-reality rendering technique that can consume significant VRAM. The GPU’s compute capabilities are equally impressive, with FP32 performance rated at 104.8 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s.

In benchmark terms, the RTX 5090 scores 380114 in Geekbench OpenCL and 379571 in Vulkan. Its PassMark G3D score is 39650, and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test yields 14411. The average benchmark score of 84306 places it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, scores 84241 (0.1% delta), while the RTX 5050 Mobile is close at 84171 (0.2%). The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails at 83209 (1.3%), and the NVIDIA CMP 40HX leads slightly at 85637 (-1.6%). This GPU is clearly among the fastest available, and the measured FPS data confirms its dominance in The Medium.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p, the average frame rate across settings ranges from 81.2 FPS at Ultra to 171.2 FPS at Low. Moving to 1440p, those figures drop to 63.5 FPS at Ultra and 162.8 FPS at Low. At 4K (3840x2160), the Ultra setting falls to 49.8 FPS, while Low still manages 143.7 FPS.

The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is most pronounced at Ultra settings, where the frame rate falls by roughly 39% (from 81.2 to 49.8 FPS). At Low settings, the drop is much smaller, about 16% (from 171.2 to 143.7 FPS). This disparity indicates that at lower settings, the CPU and memory subsystem can keep up, and the GPU has enough headroom to render frames quickly. At Ultra, the GPU’s shading and texture units are pushed harder, making the resolution increase more costly.

The data suggests that at 1080p and 1440p, the system is often CPU-limited or at least balanced, given the high frame rates. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor, especially at higher settings. The RTX 5090’s massive bandwidth and compute power help mitigate the resolution penalty, but even it cannot fully overcome the demands of 4K Ultra in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 171.2 FPS on Low settings, 134.9 FPS on Medium, 96.7 FPS on High, and 81.2 FPS on Ultra. These figures show a smooth progression, with Ultra costing roughly 53% of the performance of Low. The gap between Medium and High is 38.2 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 15.5 FPS, indicating diminishing returns at the top end.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 162.8 FPS on Low, 116.1 FPS on Medium, 82.5 FPS on High, and 63.5 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is modest at Low (about 5%), but more significant at Ultra (about 22%). This suggests that the GPU is still capable at 1440p, with the CPU providing sufficient support.

At 3840x2160, the results are 143.7 FPS on Low, 92.5 FPS on Medium, 63.2 FPS on High, and 49.8 FPS on Ultra. The Low setting still yields a very playable frame rate, but Ultra dips below 50 FPS. Notably, the difference between Medium and High at 4K is 29.3 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is 13.4 FPS. This indicates that the visual quality jump from Medium to High is more expensive than from High to Ultra, which could inform settings choices for players targeting a specific frame rate.

FAQ

*Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 sufficient for The Medium at high frame rates?*

A: Yes. The CPU’s 16 threads and 5.30 GHz boost clock help it achieve 171.2 FPS at 1080p Low, and even at 4K Low it maintains 143.7 FPS, showing it is not a bottleneck in most scenarios.

Q: How does the RTX 5090’s 32 GB VRAM matter for this game?

A: The Medium renders two simultaneous worlds, which can require substantial memory. The 32 GB GDDR7 frame buffer with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU does not run out of memory, though the frame rate drops to 49.8 FPS due to compute limits.

Q: What is the best resolution for a 60 FPS experience?

A: At 4K High, the average is 63.2 FPS, just above the 60 FPS threshold. For a more comfortable margin, 1440p Ultra provides 63.5 FPS, while 1080p Ultra reaches 81.2 FPS.

Q: Does lowering settings from Ultra to Low double the performance?

A: At 1080p, the jump is from 81.2 FPS to 171.2 FPS, which is roughly 2.1 times faster. At 4K, the jump is from 49.8 FPS to 143.7 FPS, about 2.9 times faster, indicating that settings scaling is more impactful at higher resolutions.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic tests?

A: The 7700’s average benchmark score of 40468 is within 0.1% of the Ryzen 9 7940H, 0.5% ahead of the Ryzen AI 9 365, and 1.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235T. It trails the Intel Core i9-13905H by 0.6%.

*Q: Is this system overkill for 1080p gaming in The Medium?*

A: The data shows 1080p Low at 171.2 FPS and 1080p Ultra at 81.2 FPS. While the RTX 5090 is extremely powerful, the CPU’s performance at lower resolutions means the system is not fully GPU-bound, making it a strong but not wasteful choice for high-refresh 1080p displays.