The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X with the AMD Radeon RX 570 produces a very specific performance profile. The measured data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by its graphics processor, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results to explain exactly where this pairing stands and what users can realistically expect from it.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data clearly indicates that the "Low" preset is the only playable option for this configuration, and even then, only at 1080p. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 45.4 FPS. While not a locked 60 FPS, this is the only measured scenario that approaches smooth gameplay. The jump from Low to Medium at this resolution is substantial, dropping to 29.1 FPS, which is a 35.8% reduction in frame rate. This suggests that the GPU's limited memory bandwidth and raw compute power are quickly saturated by the game's rendering requirements.

At 1440p, the Low preset yields 34.5 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. The data indicates that moving to the Medium preset at 1440p results in 24 FPS, which begins to feel sluggish for a game that relies on atmospheric tension. For users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, the High preset at 1080p provides 22.6 FPS, but this is a significant compromise. The Ultra preset is effectively non-functional in all scenarios, with the highest average being 16.4 FPS at 1080p and dropping to 12.8 FPS at 4K. Given the data, the best experience is achieved by selecting the Low preset at 1920x1080, as it is the only configuration that consistently stays above 30 FPS. Any other setting combination results in a sub-30 FPS experience that would detract from the game's intended pacing.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is the primary bottleneck in this pairing. Its specifications, including 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth, are simply insufficient for the demands of The Medium at higher settings. The GPU's 2048 shading units and a boost clock of 1244 MHz provide a theoretical FP32 performance of 5.095 TFLOPS, but the data suggests this is not enough to maintain fluid frame rates. The card's 32 ROPs and 128 TMUs are also likely overwhelmed by the game's visual effects and texture work.

This is evident when examining the performance scaling. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium drops the average FPS from 45.4 to 29.1, a clear sign that the GPU is running out of resources. The 4 GB VRAM is a critical limitation; The Medium likely exceeds this allocation at Medium settings, causing the system to rely on slower memory spillover. The GPU's percentile ranking of 74 places it below many modern counterparts, and its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, both of which are significantly newer architectures with more memory. The data shows that the RX 570's age and memory capacity are the defining factors in this benchmark, not the CPU's capabilities.

Resolution Scaling

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K underlines the GPU-bound nature of this setup. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 45.4 at 1080p to 34.5 at 1440p, a reduction of 24%. Moving further to 4K at Low settings yields only 27 FPS, which is 40.5% lower than the 1080p result. This scaling pattern is typical of a system where the graphics card is the limiting component; the CPU, an AMD Ryzen 7 7700X with 8 cores and 16 threads, has ample headroom to feed the GPU, but the RX 570 cannot process the increased pixel count efficiently.

The trend is even more pronounced at higher settings. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 22.6 FPS at 1080p to 16.2 FPS at 1440p (a 28.3% reduction) and then to 14.8 FPS at 4K (a 34.5% reduction from 1080p). The Ultra preset shows a similar collapse, going from 16.4 FPS at 1080p to 13 FPS at 1440p and finally to 12.8 FPS at 4K. These numbers indicate that the resolution scaling is not linear; the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate are exhausted quickly. The data suggests that any attempt to play above 1080p will result in a severely compromised experience, regardless of the quality preset selected.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of all tested hardware combinations for The Medium, this specific pairing ranks near the bottom. The combo rank is 1613 out of 1689 tested configurations, placing it in the 4.5th percentile of all combos. This is an exceptionally low ranking, indicating that the RX 570 drags the entire system down despite the strong CPU. The Ryzen 7 7700X itself is a capable processor, ranking in the 89th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 34313. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-13500 and Intel Core i7-12800HX, have average scores within 0.5% of the 7700X, showing that the CPU is competitive.

However, the GPU's ranking tells a different story. The RX 570's average benchmark score of 30158 places it in the 74th percentile, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (0.2% faster) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (0.2% faster). While these scores are close, they do not reflect the massive gap in modern gaming performance, especially in a title like The Medium. The data shows that the combo's ranking is almost entirely dictated by the GPU's inability to deliver playable frame rates, as the CPU's high single-thread and multi-thread scores (e.g., Cinebench R23 multi-core of 30325 and single-core of 4281) are irrelevant when the graphics card is the bottleneck. This pairing is a classic case of a high-end CPU being wasted on a legacy GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware?

A: The only configuration that achieves an average FPS above 40 is 1920x1080 with the Low preset, which hits 45.4 FPS. All other settings at this resolution fall below 30 FPS, and higher resolutions are even more restrictive.

Q: Can this combo handle 1440p gaming in The Medium?

A: The data suggests it is not viable. The best 1440p result is 34.5 FPS on Low settings, but this drops to 24 FPS on Medium and 16.2 FPS on High, making the experience inconsistent and likely unpleasant.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its direct competitors?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X has an average benchmark score of 34313, which is 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-13500 and 0.5% higher than the Intel Core i7-12800HX. It is 0.8% slower than the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H.

Q: Is the GPU the main bottleneck in this system?

A: Yes. The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a significant drop in FPS across all settings, indicating that the AMD Radeon RX 570's processing power and 4 GB memory are insufficient for the game's demands.

Q: What is the GPU's performance ranking relative to other cards?

A: The RX 570 has an average benchmark score of 30158, placing it in the 74th percentile. Its closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, which is 0.2% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, also 0.2% faster.

Q: How does the game perform on the Ultra preset?

A: Poorly across the board. The highest average FPS on Ultra is 16.4 at 1080p, dropping to 13 at 1440p and 12.8 at 4K. This preset is not playable with this hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table presents the exact average FPS measurements for each resolution and settings combination. All data points are from the measured benchmark results.

• 1920x1080 (Full HD):
• Low: 45.4 FPS
• Medium: 29.1 FPS
• High: 22.6 FPS
• Ultra: 16.4 FPS

• 2560x1440 (Quad HD):
• Low: 34.5 FPS
• Medium: 24 FPS
• High: 16.2 FPS
• Ultra: 13 FPS

• 3840x2160 (4K):
• Low: 27 FPS
• Medium: 16.8 FPS
• High: 14.8 FPS
• Ultra: 12.8 FPS

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the Low preset is the only option that provides a playable frame rate, and only at 1080p. The gap between Low and Medium is significant, often representing a 30-40% performance loss, which indicates that the game's higher settings introduce effects that the RX 570 cannot handle. The 4K results are uniformly below 30 FPS, confirming that this resolution is not viable for this combination. The measured FPS breakdown aligns with the overall combo ranking, positioning this system as one of the least capable tested for The Medium.