The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents a demanding workload that stresses both the CPU and GPU. The measured data for the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination provides a clear picture of its capabilities across resolutions and settings. This analysis walks through the benchmark results to determine the optimal configuration and understand the performance dynamics at play.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data for this specific hardware combination reveals a clear hierarchy of performance across the four available presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 75 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this system. The Medium preset follows at 47 FPS, High at 34 FPS, and Ultra drops to 27 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent penalty, but the step from Medium to High is particularly steep, representing a 13 FPS loss.

For the best experience, the Medium preset stands out as the optimal choice. It provides a playable 47 FPS average at 1080p, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 54 FPS. This frame time consistency is crucial for a horror game where sudden movements and camera transitions can be jarring. While Low offers a higher average, it sacrifices visual fidelity that contributes to the game's atmospheric tension. Ultra, at 27 FPS, is not recommended due to the significant drop below smooth motion thresholds.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again proves to be the most balanced option, delivering 40 FPS average with a minimum of 34 FPS. The Low preset achieves 63 FPS, but High and Ultra fall to 28 and 22 FPS respectively. The data indicates that Medium is the highest setting that maintains a frame rate above 30 FPS at this resolution. For 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset is the only viable option, producing 50 FPS, while Medium drops to 31 FPS and High falls to 22 FPS. Ultra at this resolution is effectively unplayable at 18 FPS.

The overarching recommendation is to use the Medium preset at 1080p or 1440p. At 4K, users must drop to Low to achieve a smooth experience. The measured data shows that Medium at 4K sits right at the edge of playability with a 31 FPS average and a 26 FPS minimum, which may cause noticeable stutter in intense scenes. For users prioritizing frame rate stability, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best compromise between visual quality and performance, with the 34 FPS minimum ensuring that the game rarely dips below acceptable levels.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, based on the Pascal architecture, is the primary rendering component in this setup. It features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1506 MHz and a boost clock of 1683 MHz, with memory running at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective). These specifications are directly relevant to how the card handles The Medium's rendering demands.

The GTX 1070's 8 GB VRAM capacity is a critical factor. The Medium uses high-resolution textures and complex scenes with dual-reality mechanics, which can consume significant memory. The measured data shows a substantial performance drop when moving from Low to Ultra settings at every resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (75 FPS) and Ultra (27 FPS) is 48 FPS, indicating that the GPU is being heavily taxed by the higher preset's increased texture detail and post-processing effects. The VRAM size may become a limiting factor at Ultra settings, potentially causing texture streaming issues that manifest as frame rate drops.

The GPU's compute capabilities, measured at 6.463 TFLOPS FP32, are also relevant. The Medium uses DirectX 12, and the GTX 1070 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), allowing it to utilize modern rendering features. However, the data shows that the card struggles with the game's higher presets, suggesting that its architectural limitations become apparent under load. The GPU's percentile ranking at 47 among all GPUs indicates that it sits near the middle of the performance spectrum, which aligns with the observed frame rates.

The relationship between GPU clock speeds and performance is evident in the scaling across resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU can maintain higher utilization, resulting in the 47 FPS Medium average. When resolution increases to 1440p, the same settings drop to 40 FPS, and at 4K, the GPU is overwhelmed, producing only 31 FPS. This pattern shows that the GTX 1070's processing power is the bottleneck at higher resolutions, and the boost clock of 1683 MHz is insufficient to compensate for the increased pixel count.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the system scales from 1080p to 4K, providing insight into the limiting component. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 47 FPS at 1920x1080 to 40 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 7 FPS (approximately 15%). Moving to 3840x2160, the frame rate falls to 31 FPS, another 9 FPS drop (approximately 22.5%). This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary constraint, as the performance penalty scales with pixel count.

At Low settings, the scaling is less severe but still significant. The system achieves 75 FPS at 1080p, 63 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 16% and 20.6% respectively, showing a slightly more linear relationship. This suggests that at Low settings, the GPU is less saturated, and the CPU has more headroom to feed frames. However, the consistent decline across all presets points to the GTX 1070 being the limiting factor, as the Ryzen 7 9700F has ample processing power.

The High and Ultra presets show even steeper declines. High goes from 34 FPS at 1080p to 28 FPS at 1440p (17.6% drop) and then to 22 FPS at 4K (21.4% drop). Ultra drops from 27 FPS to 22 FPS to 18 FPS across the same resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 18 FPS represents a 33.3% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score, highlighting how the higher preset's additional graphical features exacerbate the GPU's workload at higher resolutions.

The data clearly shows that the GTX 1070's rendering capabilities are the bottleneck. The CPU, with its high single-thread performance, is not limiting the system, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates at 1080p where the GPU is more likely to be the constraint. The resolution scaling pattern confirms that users should expect to lower settings when moving to higher resolutions to maintain playable frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system's performance is strongest. The Low preset achieves 75 FPS average, making it the only setting that exceeds 60 FPS. Medium follows at 47 FPS, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 54 FPS. High drops to 34 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 27 FPS. The Medium preset's frame time variance, with a 14 FPS spread between minimum and maximum, suggests that the game experiences some scene-dependent fluctuations, but the overall experience remains smooth.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance decreases across all settings. Low produces 63 FPS, which is still playable but noticeably lower than the 1080p result. Medium averages 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 45 FPS. The minimum frame rate at this resolution is approaching the threshold where stutter becomes noticeable. High falls to 28 FPS, and Ultra drops to 22 FPS, both of which are below the ideal smoothness threshold.

At 3840x2160, only the Low preset maintains acceptable performance. It achieves 50 FPS average. The Medium preset produces 31 FPS with a minimum of 26 FPS, which will likely result in visible frame pacing issues during gameplay. High averages 22 FPS, and Ultra drops to 18 FPS, making both settings unsuitable for actual play.

The measured data shows that the system is best suited for 1080p gaming. At this resolution, the Medium preset provides a solid balance of visual quality and performance. The 1440p resolution is viable with Medium settings, but users should be prepared for occasional frame rate dips. The 4K resolution is only playable at Low settings, and even then, the 50 FPS average is modest. The absence of min and max FPS data for most settings limits the analysis, but the available figures for Medium presets at all resolutions show a consistent pattern of frame time variability that increases with resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 3082 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places the system in the lower 17.2% of all configurations, indicating that it is significantly outclassed by more modern hardware. The rank reflects the GPU's age and mid-range positioning, as the GTX 1070's percentile ranking of 47 among all GPUs shows it is an average performer.

The CPU's high performance does not compensate for the GPU's limitations. The Ryzen 7 9700F ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69996. This places it close to rivals such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875, 0.2% slower) and the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163, 0.2% faster). However, this processing power is largely underutilized in The Medium, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher settings and resolutions.

The combo's rank of 3082 suggests that the GTX 1070 is the limiting factor. The GPU's average benchmark score of 9780 places it just below the AMD FirePro W5000 (9803, 0.2% faster) and above the NVIDIA Tesla M10 (9724, 0.6% slower). These are professional or older workstation cards, highlighting that the GTX 1070 is not competitive with modern gaming GPUs. The rank in this specific game is consistent with the GPU's overall performance profile, showing that users with this combo will need to make significant compromises in settings to achieve playable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best setting to use at 1920x1080 with this combo?

A: The Medium preset provides the best balance, delivering a 47 FPS average with a minimum of 40 FPS. This is the highest setting that maintains a frame rate above 30 FPS, while Low offers 75 FPS but with reduced visual quality.

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which achieves 50 FPS average. Medium at 4K drops to 31 FPS, and High and Ultra produce 22 and 18 FPS respectively, which are not recommended for comfortable gameplay.

Q: How does the GTX 1070's VRAM affect performance?

A: The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory is sufficient for the game, but the large drop from Low to Ultra settings (48 FPS at 1080p) suggests that higher presets' texture loads strain the GPU's memory bandwidth and processing power, leading to significant frame rate reductions.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700F bottlenecking the GTX 1070?

A: No, the data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's high single-thread performance (4691 in Passmark) and 8 cores with 16 threads provide ample processing power, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate scaling with resolution changes.

Q: What is the expected frame rate range at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The average is 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 45 FPS. This provides a playable experience, though the minimum frame rate suggests some scenes may cause noticeable dips.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 3082 out of 3724 combos, placing it in the lower 17.2% of systems. This is due to the GTX 1070's mid-range performance, as the CPU is highly capable but underutilized in this game.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a high-performance desktop processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) using a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The CPU has a 32 MB shared L3 cache, along with 1 MB L2 cache per core and 80 KB L1 cache per core. This configuration provides strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Passmark scores of 36470 for multi-thread and 4691 for single-thread.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and scene management, while the GPU renders the visuals. The measured data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this system. At 1080p, where the GPU is less stressed, the frame rates are higher, indicating that the CPU can feed frames to the GPU without issue. The Ryzen 7 9700F's boost clock of 5.50 GHz provides excellent single-thread performance, which is crucial for games that rely on a primary rendering thread.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5, with a dual-channel bus and 89.6 GB/s bandwidth, ensures that data can be transferred quickly to the GPU. The PCIe Gen 5 interface, with 24 lanes, provides ample bandwidth for the GPU, although the GTX 1070 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, which does not fully utilize the newer standard's capabilities. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die highlight its efficiency, but this does not impact the game's performance directly.

The benchmark scores show that the Ryzen 7 9700F is a top-tier CPU, ranking in the 94th percentile. Its average benchmark score of 69996 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875) and slightly below the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163). This performance headroom means that the CPU is not limiting the system's frame rates. The data confirms that the GTX 1070 is the sole bottleneck, and upgrading the GPU would yield significant performance improvements in The Medium. The CPU's capabilities are largely untapped in this configuration, as the game's demands are more heavily weighted toward GPU rendering.