The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination presents a specific performance profile in The Medium, a horror title known for its fixed-camera angles and dual-reality rendering. The measured data reveals a system that is decisively GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s strong single-thread performance ensures headroom at lower settings. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS rows to show exactly where this combo excels and where it struggles.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, indicating the RTX 5060 is the primary limiting component as pixel count rises. At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 72 at 1920x1080 to 61 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 11 FPS (approximately 15%). Moving from 1440p to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 48 FPS, another 13 FPS decline (approximately 21%). This scaling pattern shows that the GPU’s rendering workload grows faster than its memory bandwidth or compute can compensate for at 4K.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically with resolution. At 1080p, the spread between Low (116 FPS) and Ultra (41 FPS) is 75 FPS. At 4K, the same spread is 49 FPS (76 Low vs 27 Ultra). The percentage drop from Low to Ultra is roughly 65% at 1080p and 64% at 4K, meaning the relative cost of Ultra settings remains constant, but the absolute FPS penalty shrinks because the baseline is already lower. This confirms that the RTX 5060’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface are saturated at higher resolutions, not the CPU.

The 4K High preset (34 FPS) sits closer to Ultra (27 FPS) than to Medium (48 FPS), suggesting that High and Ultra share similar pixel-shading demands. The 1440p High result (44 FPS) is only 10 FPS above the 4K Medium result (48 FPS), showing that resolution scaling has a larger impact than preset scaling in this range. For a 60 FPS target, the data indicates that 1080p is the only resolution where Medium or higher settings can consistently deliver playable frame rates, while 1440p requires Low settings to approach 100 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for the best experience per the data. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 72 FPS average with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS. This is the only preset at 1080p that stays above 60 FPS for the entire measured range, making it the optimal balance between visual fidelity and smoothness. The Low preset at 116 FPS is smoother but sacrifices visual detail unnecessarily, while High at 52 FPS and Ultra at 41 FPS both fall below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset drops to 61 FPS average with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS. The average is just above 60 FPS, but the minimum dips below, which could cause perceptible stutter in demanding scenes. The Low preset at 97 FPS is the safe choice for consistent high refresh rates, while High (44 FPS) and Ultra (35 FPS) are not recommended for smooth gameplay. For 1440p users prioritizing visuals over frame rate, Medium offers the best compromise, but the data suggests that Low is the only preset that guarantees a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS average. The Medium preset at 48 FPS (minimum 41, maximum 55) is the highest playable option, but it remains below the 60 FPS target. Low at 76 FPS is the only 4K preset that exceeds 60 FPS, but it does so with minimal graphical settings. High (34 FPS) and Ultra (27 FPS) are effectively unplayable for smooth motion, suitable only for screenshots or slow-paced exploration. The data suggests that the RTX 5060 is not a 4K-capable card for this title at high settings, and users should target 1080p Medium or 1440p Low for the best experience per the measured rows.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination ranks 1270 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 43rd percentile, meaning roughly 57% of all tested combinations perform better. Given the GPU’s mid-range positioning (72nd percentile vs all GPUs) and the CPU’s high-end positioning (94th percentile vs all CPUs), the combo’s rank reflects a system where the GPU is the bottleneck in this specific game.

The CPU’s nearest rivals show that the Ryzen 7 9700F is well-matched with top-tier processors. It scores 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, 0.7% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, and 0.9% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700K, while trailing the Intel Core i7-14700KF by 0.2%. These deltaPct values are negligible, indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo’s rank. The GPU’s nearest rivals, however, reveal a different story. The RTX 5060 scores 1.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT but 0.3% lower than both the AMD Radeon 860M and the NVIDIA GeForce MX550, and 0.8% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary. This clustering around the 26,000-26,500 average score range shows that the RTX 5060 is competitively positioned but not dominant.

The combo’s rank of 1270 out of 2911 suggests that many systems with faster GPUs or more VRAM will outperform it in The Medium, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU’s 8 GB memory capacity becomes a constraint. The data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where the CPU’s strong single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 4691) can fully feed the GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Medium?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1920x1080 is the only resolution where Medium settings maintain an average above 60 FPS (72 FPS average, 61 minimum). At 2560x1440, Medium averages 61 FPS but dips to 52 FPS minimum, while at 3840x2160, even Medium only reaches 48 FPS average.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: The data shows that 4K is only playable at Low settings (76 FPS average). Medium at 4K yields 48 FPS average with a 41 FPS minimum, which is below the 60 FPS target. High (34 FPS) and Ultra (27 FPS) are not suitable for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F scores nearly identically to top competitors. It is 0.2% faster than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, 0.7% faster than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, and 0.9% faster than the Intel Core i7-14700K, while being 0.2% slower than the Intel Core i7-14700KF.

Q: Is the GPU the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: Yes. The RTX 5060’s average benchmark score of 26,331 places it at the 72nd percentile, while the CPU sits at the 94th percentile. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent GPU-bound pattern, with the CPU’s strong single-thread performance (4691 PassMark score) leaving headroom.

Q: What settings should I use for a 60 FPS target at 1440p?

A: According to the measured data, Low settings at 2560x1440 achieve 97 FPS average, which is well above 60 FPS. Medium settings drop to 61 FPS average with a 52 FPS minimum, so Low is the safest choice to consistently stay above 60 FPS.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have and does it matter?

A: The RTX 5060 has 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The 4K results (34 FPS High, 27 FPS Ultra) suggest that VRAM capacity or bandwidth limits high-detail performance at higher resolutions, as the GPU’s compute (19.18 TFLOPS FP32) is not the sole constraint.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB206 chip manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC, containing 21,900 million transistors on a 181 mm² die. Its base clock is 2280 MHz with a boost clock of 2497 MHz, and it features 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The GPU’s memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This configuration produces a pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute of 19.18 TFLOPS.

In The Medium, the GPU’s role is dominant. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (27 FPS) versus 4K Low (76 FPS) shows a 64% performance penalty for max settings, indicating that the GPU’s shading units and memory bandwidth are heavily taxed by the game’s dual-reality rendering technique. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is likely a limiting factor at 4K with High or Ultra presets, as the game must stream high-resolution textures for both the real world and the spirit world simultaneously. The GPU’s 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs (average benchmark score 26,331) places it in the mid-range tier, and the measured results confirm that it is not a high-end 4K performer. The RTX 5060’s nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT, scores 1.2% lower on average, suggesting that this GPU is slightly above that competitor in general compute but still constrained by its memory configuration in this specific title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a Zen 5 architecture processor (Granite Ridge codename) built on a 4 nm process at TSMC, with 8 cores and 16 threads. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 32 MB shared L3. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 89.6 GB/s bandwidth. The CPU’s PassMark single-thread score is 4691, and its multithread score is 36470, placing it at the 94th percentile among all CPUs.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 116 FPS, which is well above the GPU’s 4K Low result of 76 FPS. This indicates that the CPU can maintain high frame rates when the GPU is not the bottleneck. The CPU’s nearest rival comparisons show it is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.2% faster), Intel Core i7-14700KF (0.2% slower), and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.7% faster), meaning any performance difference in-game is negligible. The CPU’s strong single-thread performance (4691 PassMark) is particularly relevant for The Medium, which may rely on single-threaded game logic. The 8-core, 16-thread configuration provides ample multi-threading headroom, as evidenced by the PassMark multithread score of 36470, but the game’s performance at higher resolutions is clearly GPU-limited, not CPU-limited.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 72 FPS average with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS. The Low preset achieves 116 FPS average, while High reaches 52 FPS and Ultra drops to 41 FPS. This resolution shows the widest spread between presets, with Low being 2.8 times faster than Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 61 FPS with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS. Low settings reach 97 FPS average, High drops to 44 FPS, and Ultra falls to 35 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 36 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 17 FPS, showing diminishing returns as settings increase.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset averages 48 FPS with a minimum of 41 FPS and a maximum of 55 FPS. Low settings achieve 76 FPS average, High drops to 34 FPS, and Ultra falls to 27 FPS. This resolution shows the smallest absolute differences between presets, with Low being only 2.8 times faster than Ultra, similar to the 1080p ratio but with lower absolute values.

The minimum FPS values are only provided for Medium settings across all resolutions: 61 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p, and 41 FPS at 4K. These minimums indicate that the Medium preset is the only one with recorded frame time consistency, suggesting that Low, High, and Ultra may have more variable frame pacing. The max FPS values follow the same pattern, with Medium at 1080p reaching 83 FPS, 1440p reaching 70 FPS, and 4K reaching 55 FPS. The data shows a consistent ~15% FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p and another ~21% drop from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings, confirming the GPU’s scaling behavior.