The Medium

The Medium, a horror title released on January 27, 2021, presents a demanding workload that heavily favors the GPU. When paired with the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, the benchmark data reveals a system where the graphics card is the definitive bottleneck across all tested settings. This combination ranks 1655th out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the bottom percentile of systems for this specific game.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe, confirming that the GTX 1650 is the limiting component. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 43.6 FPS at 1920x1080 to 36.9 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 6.7 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the average plummets to 26.9 FPS, which represents a 38.3% decrease from the 1080p result. This pattern of steep decline with each resolution step indicates the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading resources are being saturated.

The scaling becomes even more pronounced at higher settings. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 18.9 at 1080p to 15 at 1440p, and then to 12.4 at 4K. The Ultra preset shows a similar trajectory, starting at 13.9 FPS at 1080p, falling to 14.6 at 1440p (a slight anomaly), and then collapsing to 9.9 at 4K. The data suggests that the transition from 1080p to 1440p is less punishing than the jump to 4K, where the pixel count overwhelms the GTX 1650’s 128-bit memory bus and 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM.

GPU Role

The GTX 1650 is a Turing-architecture chip with 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. Its base clock runs at 1485 MHz, boosting to 1665 MHz, while the memory operates at 2001 MHz (8 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, providing 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications, coupled with a 75 W TDP, position the card as a low-power entry-level solution. The benchmark results show that its compute capabilities are insufficient for The Medium’s fixed-function demands.

The GPU’s average benchmark score is 8713, placing it in the 43rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile, scores 8746, a delta of -0.4%, indicating the desktop GTX 1650 performs nearly identically to that mobile part. The AMD Radeon 550X is also close at 8749, with a -0.4% delta. This clustering around the 8700-8750 score range suggests the GTX 1650 is firmly in a performance tier that struggles with modern, GPU-intensive titles like The Medium.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 7700X and GTX 1650 achieves a rank of 1655 out of 1689 combos in The Medium. This places the system in the bottom 2% of all tested configurations. The rank reflects the GPU’s limitations rather than the CPU’s capabilities, as the processor is a high-end desktop part.

The CPU’s average benchmark score is 34313, with a percentile ranking of 89 against all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-13500, scores 34175, a delta of 0.4%, while the Intel Core i7-12800HX scores 34136, a delta of 0.5%. The AMD EPYC 4244P scores 34599, a -0.8% delta. These figures show the Ryzen 7 7700X is a top-tier processor, yet when paired with a bottom-tier GPU, the overall game performance is dragged down. The data implies that for The Medium, the choice of graphics card is far more consequential than the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields an average of 43.6 FPS, which is the highest of any tested configuration. The Medium preset drops to 25.1 FPS, while High falls to 18.9 FPS. The Ultra preset delivers only 13.9 FPS. These results show a clear hierarchy, with Low being the only playable option for smooth gameplay, though even that is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 36.9 FPS, a 15.4% reduction from 1080p. Medium drops to 22.7 FPS, High to 15 FPS, and Ultra to 14.6 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows at this resolution, suggesting diminishing returns from the extra graphical features. At 3840x2160, the results are mostly untenable: Low averages 26.9 FPS, Medium 19.2 FPS, High 12.4 FPS, and Ultra 9.9 FPS. No preset at 4K reaches a playable 30 FPS average.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is a Zen 4 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads. It has a base clock of 4.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache.

Benchmark scores for the CPU are strong, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 30325 and a single-core score of 4281. The Geekbench multicore score is 15538, and the single-core score is 2985. In Passmark, the multithread score is 35686, and the single-thread score is 4190. The CPU’s 3DMark 16-thread score is 8859, while the single-thread score is 1090. These numbers indicate the processor has ample headroom for gaming, but in The Medium, the bottleneck is clearly elsewhere.

The game’s performance does not scale with CPU capability at any resolution or setting. For instance, at 1080p Low, the average FPS is 43.6, which is limited by the GPU’s ability to render frames, not the CPU’s ability to feed it. The CPU’s high single-thread score of 1090 in 3DMark suggests it can handle game logic, but the GTX 1650’s low pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s cap the output.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the only viable configuration for a playable experience is the Low preset at 1920x1080, which averages 43.6 FPS. This is the only setting that approaches a smooth frame rate. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 25.1 FPS, which is borderline, while High and Ultra are too slow for comfortable gameplay.

At 2560x1440, even the Low preset only manages 36.9 FPS, which may be acceptable for some players but is below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at 22.7 FPS is marginal, and High and Ultra are not recommended. At 3840x2160, no setting is viable, as even Low only produces 26.9 FPS. The data suggests that players should stick to 1080p and Low settings, or lower the resolution further if they want to improve frame rates.

The performance gap between Low and Medium is substantial, with a difference of 18.5 FPS at 1080p. This indicates that the Medium preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GTX 1650. The Ultra preset at 1080p is 29.7 FPS slower than Low, making it a poor choice. For a horror game that relies on atmosphere, the trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate is stark, but the data clearly favors Low for playability.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for the GTX 1650 in The Medium?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 with Low settings provides the highest average FPS at 43.6, making it the only resolution where the frame rate approaches playability.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 7700X bottlenecking the GTX 1650 in this game?

A: No. The CPU’s benchmark scores, such as a 30325 Cinebench R23 multicore score, are far higher than needed, while the GPU’s low performance at all resolutions indicates it is the limiting component.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1650 scores 8713 on average, with the RTX 3050 A Mobile at 8746 (-0.4% delta) and the AMD Radeon 550X at 8749 (-0.4% delta), showing they are essentially equivalent in performance.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low averages 36.9 FPS, while Ultra averages 14.6 FPS, a difference of 22.3 FPS.

Q: Is 4K playable with this hardware?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 26.9 on Low settings, which is below the 30 FPS threshold for playability.

Q: How does this combo rank overall?

A: The combination ranks 1655th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the bottom portion of all systems tested.