The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT pairing delivers a playable but demanding experience in The Medium, with performance that scales predictably with resolution and settings. The data shows this combo ranks 805th out of 1689 tested configurations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of systems. The most striking finding is the massive performance gap between Low and Ultra settings, which indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher presets, while the CPU's strong single-threaded performance allows it to keep up at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 117.9 FPS at 1920x1080 to 76.6 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of roughly 35%. This scaling is steep but manageable, suggesting that even at 4K, the RX 6750 XT has enough headroom to maintain high frame rates when visual fidelity is minimized.

However, the picture changes dramatically at Ultra settings. Here, the average drops from 40.3 FPS at 1080p to 27.8 FPS at 4K, a decline of about 31%. More importantly, the absolute values are low enough to make 4K Ultra essentially unplayable, as the frame rate falls below the 30 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for a smooth experience. The pattern clearly indicates that the RX 6750 XT's 12 GB of VRAM and 432.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient for the game's assets, but its raw compute power—13.31 TFLOPS FP32—is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The intermediate resolution of 2560x1440 shows a balanced compromise. High settings deliver 45.5 FPS, while Medium achieves 62.9 FPS, both of which are respectable for a horror title that prioritizes atmosphere over fast-paced action. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings (62.9 to 44.5 FPS) is a 29% drop, consistent with the GPU being the primary constraint. Benchmark results indicate that the CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases, with the Ryzen 7 9700X's performance becoming less relevant to the final frame rate.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 2560x1440 offers the best balance, with Medium settings achieving 62.9 FPS and High settings hitting 45.5 FPS. 1080p is the only resolution where Ultra exceeds 40 FPS, while 4K requires Low settings to stay above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 6750 XT compare to its nearest rival?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 35327 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 5600M (35264), which is just 0.2% slower. It also trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 by only 1.3%, indicating that it sits in a competitive performance tier.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700X a bottleneck for this game?

A: No. The CPU's single-thread score of 4459 in Cinebench R23 and 1280 in 3DMark single-thread tests are strong, and its 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs means it provides ample headroom for the GPU at all tested settings.

Q: What settings provide a consistent 60 FPS experience?

A: At 1080p, Low settings deliver 117.9 FPS, while Medium achieves 70.6 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (97.6 FPS) exceeds 60 FPS. 4K requires Low settings for 76.6 FPS, but no higher preset reaches 60 FPS.

Q: How much VRAM does the game use?

A: The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth. The data shows no evidence of VRAM limitations, as performance scales consistently with resolution rather than hitting a memory capacity wall.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking?

A: The pairing ranks 805th out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the 48th percentile. This is a mid-range position, reflective of the GPU's 79th percentile ranking versus the CPU's 89th percentile.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 805 out of 1689 combos, this system sits just below the median of all tested configurations. The CPU is clearly the stronger component, with a percentile rank of 89 against all CPUs, while the GPU's percentile rank of 79 drags the overall pairing down. This imbalance is evident in the benchmark results, where the Ryzen 7 9700X outperforms its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14500HX, by 0.2% in average score, while the RX 6750 XT is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 5600M.

The combo's position in the rankings is consistent with its measured performance in The Medium. It outperforms lower-tier pairings that might struggle to reach 30 FPS at 1440p, but it falls short of high-end systems that can maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra. The data suggests that this is a well-balanced mid-range setup, where neither component is grossly mismatched, but the GPU's limitations become apparent at the highest settings. For a horror game that relies on mood and tension rather than competitive frame rates, this ranking is perfectly adequate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the resolution spectrum shows a wide range of performance. Low settings produce an average of 117.9 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any display. Medium settings drop to 70.6 FPS, still comfortably above the 60 FPS target. High settings yield 51.7 FPS, while Ultra falls to 40.3 FPS. This pattern shows that each step up in quality costs roughly 20-25 FPS, with the gap between Low and Ultra being 77.6 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages compress significantly. Low settings hit 97.6 FPS, while Medium achieves 62.9 FPS. High settings drop to 45.5 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 35.5 FPS. The scaling here is less linear, with Medium offering the most balanced experience relative to visual quality. At 3840x2160, Low settings still manage 76.6 FPS, but Medium falls to 44.5 FPS, High to 36 FPS, and Ultra to a marginal 27.8 FPS. The 4K results highlight the GPU's computational limits, as the difference between Low and Ultra is 48.8 FPS, but the absolute values make only Low playable for smooth motion.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is the defining component in this pairing's gaming performance. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for the high-resolution textures in The Medium. The boost clock of 2600 MHz and game clock of 2495 MHz are respectable for the RDNA 2.0 architecture, but the 13.31 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is the key metric that limits performance at higher settings.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 35327 places it in the 79th percentile, and its nearest rivals are remarkably close. The AMD Radeon RX 5600M is just 0.2% slower, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile is 0.3% faster and the AMD Radeon 880M is 0.9% faster. This tight clustering indicates that the RX 6750 XT is positioned in a highly competitive segment. In The Medium, the GPU's role is evident in the scaling from Low to Ultra: the 117.9 FPS at 1080p Low versus 40.3 FPS at Ultra shows a 66% reduction, entirely attributable to the GPU's shading units and texture units handling increased work. The 40 ray accelerators (RT cores) are present but not explicitly tested in this data, suggesting that ray tracing is either not used or not a major factor in the measured results.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target, the data points to specific configurations. At 1920x1080, Medium settings are the highest preset that maintains 60 FPS, with an average of 70.6 FPS. This is the recommended choice for most users, as it provides a significant visual improvement over Low while keeping performance well above the threshold. At 2560x1440, only Low settings achieve 60 FPS (97.6 FPS), so users with 1440p monitors should either accept Low quality or target 45 FPS at High settings.

For 4K displays, the situation is more constrained. Low settings are the only preset that exceeds 60 FPS, with 76.6 FPS. Medium drops to 44.5 FPS, which is playable but not smooth, while High and Ultra fall below 36 FPS. Given that The Medium is a slow-paced horror game, the 36 FPS at High settings might be acceptable, but the data suggests that Medium at 1440p offers the best combination of visual fidelity and performance. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it hits 40.3 FPS, and should be avoided at higher resolutions due to the significant frame rate penalty.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is a formidable processor that does not bottleneck the GPU in this scenario. With 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, it offers a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 31588 and single-core score of 4459 are strong indicators of its capability, and its 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its high-end status.

The CPU's nearest rivals are all within 0.8% of its average benchmark score of 36029, with the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H being 0.4% faster and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 being 0.6% slower. This performance level ensures that the CPU can feed frames to the GPU efficiently at all resolutions. The data shows that in The Medium, the CPU's role is to maintain consistent frame delivery, which it does successfully—the FPS scaling aligns almost perfectly with GPU workload, with no anomalous dips that would indicate a CPU limitation. The 32 MB of L3 cache and DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth provide ample data throughput for the game's streaming assets, making the CPU a non-factor in this pairing's performance ceiling.