The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 pairing in The Medium presents a fascinating study of how a top-tier GPU interacts with a high-end, 8-core processor. This analysis breaks down the measured frame rates across resolutions and settings, interpreting what the data reveals about the underlying hardware dynamics.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is a desktop processor built on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The processor is manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC and supports DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 32 MB of L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the 7700X demonstrates strong single-threaded performance with a 3dmark_single_thread score of 1090 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4281. Multi-threaded results are equally robust, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 30325 and a Passmark multithread score of 35686.

In the context of The Medium, a horror title known for its dual-reality rendering, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage game logic. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in most settings. For instance, at 1080p Low, the average FPS reaches 177.5, which is a high frame rate that indicates the CPU can handle the workload without throttling the GPU. However, the gap between 1080p Low (177.5 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (73.3 FPS) is substantial, showing that the GPU's rendering load scales significantly with settings. The 7700X's 8-core, 16-thread configuration ensures that even at Ultra settings, where the game may use additional threads for physics and AI, the processor provides sufficient headroom. Compared to its nearest rivals, the 7700X's average benchmark score of 34313 is 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-13500 and 0.5% higher than the Intel Core i7-12800HX, but 0.8% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and AMD EPYC 4244P. These marginal deltas indicate that the CPU's raw compute power is well within the range of its peers, making it a capable partner for the RTX 4090 in this title.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the flagship of the GeForce 40-series, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip. It boasts 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. The GPU's base clock is 2235 MHz with a boost clock of 2520 MHz, and it features 16384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 render output units. With 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores, the RTX 4090 is designed for heavy graphical workloads. Its FP32 performance is rated at 82.58 TFLOPS, and the pixel rate is 443.5 GPixel/s. In synthetic tests, the GPU achieves a 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 9223 and a Passmark G3D score of 38194.

In The Medium, the RTX 4090's massive VRAM and bandwidth are critical, as the game's fixed-camera angles and high-resolution textures demand substantial memory. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor at higher resolutions. For example, at 4K High, the average FPS is 61.1, which drops to 48 at 4K Ultra. This scaling indicates that the game's graphical settings, particularly at 4K, push the GPU to its limits. The RTX 4090's performance percentile of 91 versus all GPUs places it in the top tier, and its average benchmark score of 66473 is 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P40 but 0.4% lower than the Tesla T4. These rival deltas are small, but in practice, the RTX 4090's real-world gaming performance, as shown by the measured FPS, is exceptional. The GPU's ability to maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra (48 FPS) demonstrates its raw power, though the data suggests that High settings are the sweet spot for a smooth experience at that resolution.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 177.5. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 164.1, and at 4K Low, it falls to 141.8. This represents a 20% decrease from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The same trend is visible at Medium settings: 134.6 FPS at 1080p, 111.9 FPS at 1440p, and 85.8 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium is 36%. At High settings, the FPS goes from 93.8 at 1080p to 80.1 at 1440p and 61.1 at 4K, a 35% decrease. The most dramatic scaling is at Ultra settings, where FPS falls from 73.3 at 1080p to 64.9 at 1440p and 48 at 4K, a 34% reduction.

These percentages indicate that the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions, but its dominance becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. The relatively smaller drop from 1080p to 1440p compared to 1440p to 4K suggests that the RTX 4090's compute and memory bandwidth are heavily taxed at 4K, especially at High and Ultra settings. At 1080p, the CPU's role is more visible, as the frame rates are high enough to expose any CPU limitations. However, the fact that FPS scales down consistently with resolution and settings points to the GPU as the primary bottleneck. The data does not show any resolution where the CPU causes a plateau, indicating that the 7700X is sufficient for this game at all tested configurations.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The benchmark results provide a comprehensive view of performance. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 177.5 at Low settings to 134.6 at Medium, 93.8 at High, and 73.3 at Ultra. The delta between Low and Ultra is 104.2 FPS, showing a 59% performance drop as settings escalate. At 2560x1440, the averages are 164.1 at Low, 111.9 at Medium, 80.1 at High, and 64.9 at Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 99.2 FPS, a 60% reduction. At 3840x2160, the averages are 141.8 at Low, 85.8 at Medium, 61.1 at High, and 48 at Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 93.8 FPS, a 66% decrease.

The data shows that at each resolution, the step from Low to Medium produces a significant FPS loss, but the step from High to Ultra is the most punishing. For instance, at 4K, moving from High (61.1 FPS) to Ultra (48 FPS) is a 21% drop, while moving from Medium (85.8 FPS) to High (61.1 FPS) is a 29% drop. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce effects that are disproportionately expensive. At 1080p, all settings produce playable frame rates, with even Ultra exceeding 70 FPS. At 1440p, High and Ultra remain playable, but at 4K, only Low and Medium provide averages above 60 FPS, with High just barely above that threshold and Ultra falling below it.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 26th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This placement in the top 1.5% of all combinations underscores the hardware's capability. While the CPU and GPU individually perform well in their respective benchmark suites, the ranking reflects the synergy of this specific pairing in this game. The 7700X's average benchmark score is 34313, with a percentile of 89 versus all CPUs, and the RTX 4090's average score is 66473, with a percentile of 91 versus all GPUs. Together, they achieve a rank that is higher than many other high-end combinations, indicating that the system is well-balanced for this title.

The ranking also takes into account the measured FPS data, which shows that the combo can deliver high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, and maintains playable performance at 4K with adjusted settings. The fact that it ranks 26th out of 1689 suggests that there are only a handful of combinations that outperform it, likely those with even more specialized hardware or overclocked variants. The data does not provide specific rival combos for comparison, but the percentile and rank positions confirm that this is a top-tier setup. For a game like The Medium, which relies on atmospheric rendering and detailed environments, this combo provides an excellent experience, particularly at High settings across all resolutions. The rank of 26 indicates that while it is not the absolute fastest combination ever tested, it is close to the pinnacle of what is available, making it a reference point for high-end gaming performance in this horror title.