The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a highly variable experience in The Medium, with performance swinging dramatically based on resolution and quality preset. At 1080p Low settings, the combination produces 143 FPS on average, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 34 FPS. The data shows a system where the GPU becomes the dominant limiting factor at higher resolutions, but the CPU's strong single-threaded performance ensures high frame rates at lower settings. This analysis examines the measured FPS data, component roles, and practical recommendations for this specific hardware pairing in the horror title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 143 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 121 FPS at 2560x1440 Low, followed by 95 FPS at 4K Low.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with higher quality settings?

A: At 3840x2160, the combo averages 34 FPS on Ultra, 42 FPS on High, 59 FPS on Medium, and 95 FPS on Low. The gap between Ultra and Low at 4K is 61 FPS, indicating a heavy reliance on GPU capability at this resolution.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700X a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 51 (Ultra) to 143 (Low). The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 92 FPS difference, but the fact that the CPU can push 143 FPS at Low settings suggests the CPU is not severely limited at lower resolutions, with the GPU handling the workload as settings increase.

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures recorded?

A: The only min FPS values in the data are for Medium settings: 76 FPS at 1080p, 64 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K. These are the only recorded minimums across all configurations.

Q: How does the combo rank against other tested combos in this game?

A: The combo ranks 1014 out of 3724 tested combinations, placing it in the top 27.2% of all combos for this game.

Q: Does the CPU's multi-threaded performance matter for this game?

A: The CPU has a Geekbench multicore score of 17906 and a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20485. While the game's performance shows strong GPU scaling, the CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 9824 indicates it can handle multi-threaded workloads, but the game's FPS data shows that GPU settings have a larger impact on frame rate.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with a 4nm process from TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 65W TDP. The CPU's cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel architecture, yielding a memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. The CPU also features integrated Radeon Graphics and supports PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes.

The CPU's single-threaded performance, as measured by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1280 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2211, is notable for a game like The Medium, which may rely on per-core performance for certain rendering tasks. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 2525 further underscores the strength of low-threaded workloads. In contrast, the CPU's multithreaded capabilities are shown by a 3DMark 8-thread score of 8184, a max-thread score of 9771, and a Geekbench multicore score of 17906. The PassMark multithread score is 37161, and the Cinebench R23 multicore score is 20485.

The CPU's position in the benchmark database is notable: it has an average benchmark score of 37943, which places it at the 86th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i9-14901E with an average score of 37911 (0.1% difference), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 at 37904 (0.1% difference), the Intel Core 5 211E at 37829 (0.3% difference), and the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 at 37804 (0.4% difference). This indicates that the 9700X's processing power is in a tight cluster with these chips, all within a 0.4% range of each other, meaning that in CPU-bound scenarios, the game's performance would be statistically similar among these components.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is most pronounced at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU can produce high frame rates. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 143 FPS, which is the highest measured average, suggesting that the CPU can feed the GPU enough data to reach that level. At 1440p Low, it drops to 121 FPS, and at 4K Low, it's 95 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings shows a 48 FPS drop, which is attributed to the GPU's resolution scaling rather than CPU limitations. The CPU's single-thread performance, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 1280 and a Geekbench single-core score of 3023, ensures that the game's main thread can be processed efficiently, but the game's performance is more heavily influenced by the GPU as resolution increases.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is a GeForce 30-series GPU based on the Ampere architecture, built on an 8nm Samsung process. It has a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz, with memory running at 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The GPU has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. The silicon contains 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, with 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units. It also includes 68 RT cores and 272 Tensor cores. The GPU's pixel rate is 164.2 GPixel/s, texture rate is 465.1 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 29.77 TFLOPS. The GPU has a TDP of 320 W and requires a 700 W PSU, occupying a dual-slot design with a 1x 12-pin power connector.

The RTX 3080's benchmark scores show its capability: a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4407, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 152423, and a Vulkan score of 33620. In PassMark, it scores 25086 in G3D and 14397 in GPU compute. With an average benchmark score of 23172, the GPU ranks at the 68th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in terms of average score are the NVIDIA P106-100 (23249, -0.3%), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 (23250, -0.3%), the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23273, -0.4%), and the AMD Radeon R9 M290X (23276, -0.4%). This indicates that the RTX 3080's raw computing power is slightly below these other GPUs in benchmark terms, although the actual game performance depends on the workload.

The GPU's role in The Medium is clearly dominant, as the FPS drops significantly when resolution increases at the same quality preset. For example, at High settings, the average FPS goes from 64 at 1080p, to 54 at 1440p, and then to 42 at 4K. This is a 34% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 22% further reduction from 1440p to 4K. At Ultra settings, the frame rate is 51 at 1080p, 43 at 1440p, and 34 at 4K, showing the same pattern. The Medium preset shows a similar trend: 90 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K. The GPU's VRAM capacity of 10 GB, while substantial, is not the primary constraint at these settings since the game's memory requirements are not specified, but the GPU's raw compute and memory bandwidth are the key factors in these scaling drops.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across all three resolutions shows that the ideal preset depends on the target display resolution and desired frame rate. For a 1080p display, the Low preset gives an average of 143 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset yields 90 FPS, which is still strong, while High drops to 64 FPS and Ultra to 51 FPS. For a 1440p monitor, Low provides 121 FPS, Medium 75, High 54, and Ultra 43. At 4K, the Low preset is the only one that provides a consistently playable frame rate, with an average of 95 FPS; Medium drops to 59 FPS, High to 42, and Ultra to 34.

The data indicates that the Medium preset is the best compromise for most players at 1080p and 1440p, as it provides a frame rate above 60 FPS at both resolutions (90 and 75 FPS respectively) while offering higher visual quality than Low. At 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option for maintaining a high framerate, since Medium only hits 59 FPS, which is borderline, and High and Ultra are below 60 FPS. The High and Ultra presets are only playable at 1080p if one accepts 64 or 51 FPS, respectively, which may be acceptable for a single-player horror game but is less than ideal.

The data suggests that for a 60 FPS target, the recommended settings are: Low at 4K, Medium at 1440p, and High or Ultra at 1080p (though Ultra averages 51 FPS, slightly below 60). If the user demands 100+ FPS, then Low is the only preset that achieves this, and only at 1080p (143 FPS) and 1440p (121 FPS). The Medium preset at 4K is the closest to 60 FPS, but the Low preset is more consistent.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination ranks 1014 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 27.2nd percentile of all configurations. This rank indicates that the combo is in the top quarter of tested systems, but it is not at the very top tier. The combination of a high-end CPU and a mid-range to high-end GPU produces better results than the majority of tested setups, but it does not achieve the highest frame rates possible in this game.

The CPU's percentile of 86 and the GPU's percentile of 68 show that the CPU is proportionally stronger than the GPU. This suggests that in CPU-bound scenarios, the combo may be limited by the GPU, but in the game's actual performance, the GPU has a greater influence, as evidenced by the resolution scaling. The combo's rank of 1014 out of 3724 means that 2710 other configurations are slower, which is the majority. The top 27% of test systems are faster, but this is a respectable placement for the hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for the combo spans 12 configurations, covering four settings and three resolutions. The only configurations with min and max FPS recorded are the Medium preset at all resolutions: 1080p has an average of 90 FPS with a min of 76 and max of 103; 1440p has an average of 75 FPS, min 64, and max 87; 4K has an average of 59 FPS, min 50, and max 68. All other presets have only average FPS values, with no min or max recorded.

At 1920x1080, the average FPS across presets is as follows: Low 143, Medium 90, High 64, Ultra 51. At 2560x1440, the averages are 121, 75, 54, and 43 for Low, Medium, High, and Ultra, respectively. At 3840x2160, the averages are 95, 59, 42, and 34. The absolute highest FPS is 143 at 1080p Low, and the absolute lowest is 34 at 4K Ultra.

The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution is uniform in direction, but the magnitude varies. At 1080p, the drop from Low to Ultra is 92 FPS (143 to 51). At 1440p, the drop is 78 FPS (121 to 43). At 4K, the drop is 61 FPS (95 to 34). This indicates that the GPU's performance is the primary factor in the lower resolutions, since the relative drop is larger at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 shows a significant drop at every preset, which is typical for a GPU-bound game. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 143 at 1080p to 121 at 1440p (a 15.4% reduction) and then to 95 at 4K (a 21.5% reduction from 1440p). At Medium, the drop is from 90 to 75 (16.7%) and then to 59 (21.3%). At High, from 64 to 54 (15.6%) to 42 (22.2%). At Ultra, from 51 to 43 (15.7%) to 34 (20.9%). The pattern is consistent: the percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is around 15-17%, and from 1440p to 4K is around 21-22%.

This scaling behavior indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the FPS scales proportionally with the number of pixels. The CPU's influence is minimal at 4K, since the CPU is capable of feeding the game at 143 FPS at 1080p Low, but the GPU cannot maintain that at 4K. The consistent drops across settings suggest that the GPU's rendering capability is the bottleneck, not the CPU. The only exception is at 1080p, where the CPU can push 143 FPS at Low, indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor at that resolution with those settings. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting component, as the FPS is well below the CPU's capabilities, even at Low settings.