The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding workload for the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is consistently playable but requires careful settings management to hit high refresh rates. This analysis breaks down the performance data, focusing on how the GPU and CPU interact under varying loads.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K dramatically reshapes the performance profile of this combo. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system produces 69.9 FPS, but moving to 2560x1440 drops that to 61.1 FPS, a reduction of roughly 12.6%. The climb to 3840x2160 is steeper, yielding 50.2 FPS, which is 28.2% lower than the 1080p result. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 5070 is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the pixel throughput demand outpaces the GPU's ability to maintain frame rates.

The scaling becomes more pronounced when examining the Low settings preset. At 1080p Low, the system hits 163.4 FPS, a figure that suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at high rates. However, at 4K Low, the average drops to 109 FPS. This 33.3% reduction from 1080p to 4K is significant, but the absolute numbers remain high, indicating that even at 4K, the GPU is not fully saturated at the lowest settings. The data points to a balanced system at 1080p Low, where neither component is a clear bottleneck, but the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as resolution climbs.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 56.5 FPS, which falls to 48.5 FPS at 1440p and 35.5 FPS at 4K. The 37.2% drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings is the largest of any preset, confirming that the RTX 5070's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and its compute throughput are challenged by the game's highest visual fidelity. The data suggests that for 4K Ultra, this hardware configuration falls short of a smooth 60 FPS experience, and users should consider lowering settings to Medium or High for a more fluid result.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo in The Medium?

A: The best measured result is 163.4 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This suggests the CPU and GPU combination has significant headroom at lower resolutions and settings.

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but not at maximum settings. At 4K High, the average is 50.2 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it rises to 67.8 FPS. For a 60 FPS target, Medium settings at 4K are the recommended choice based on the data.

Q: How does the RTX 5070's memory configuration affect performance?

A: The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is sufficient for High settings at 1440p (61.1 FPS) and 4K (50.2 FPS), but the Ultra preset at 4K (35.5 FPS) suggests the memory bandwidth and capacity are limiting factors at the highest fidelity.

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

A: The data indicates that the CPU is not a significant bottleneck at higher resolutions. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent with GPU-bound behavior. At 1080p Low, the 163.4 FPS result shows the CPU can deliver high frame rates when the GPU load is low.

Q: What is the difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium settings produce an average of 84.3 FPS, while High settings yield 61.1 FPS. This represents a 27.5% performance drop for the visual upgrade, which is a substantial cost.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 305th out of 1689 tested combinations in The Medium. This places it in the top 20% of all configurations, indicating a strong but not top-tier performance level.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the measured results. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2325 MHz and a boost clock of 2512 MHz, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with 6144 shading units. Its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus yields 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical resource for a game like The Medium that relies on high-resolution textures.

The benchmark scores for the RTX 5070 show it sits in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, scores 41441, a delta of 0.6% in favor of the RTX 5070. This close margin indicates that the RTX 5070's performance is comparable to a previous-generation flagship, which is reflected in the 4K High result of 50.2 FPS. The GPU's 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is substantial, but the Ultra preset at 4K (35.5 FPS) suggests that the memory subsystem and raw compute are pushed to their limits.

The VRAM allocation is a key factor. At 4K Ultra, the game likely exceeds the 12 GB capacity, causing the GPU to rely on slower memory management, which explains the significant frame rate drop from High (50.2 FPS) to Ultra (35.5 FPS). The 80 ROPs and 192 TMUs are adequate for 1440p gaming, as evidenced by the 84.3 FPS at Medium settings, but the data suggests that 4K Ultra is beyond the card's comfortable operating range. The GPU's performance in this title aligns with its 83rd percentile ranking, making it a capable but not top-tier solution for The Medium.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete picture of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 163.4 FPS on Low, 99 FPS on Medium, 69.9 FPS on High, and 56.5 FPS on Ultra. This shows a clear progression where each settings tier costs a significant number of frames. The jump from Low to Medium is a 39.4% reduction, while the move from High to Ultra is a 19.2% drop.

At 2560x1440, the results are 135.4 FPS on Low, 84.3 FPS on Medium, 61.1 FPS on High, and 48.5 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is consistent, with an average reduction of about 20% across all settings. The 1440p Medium result of 84.3 FPS is strong, suggesting this is the sweet spot for high refresh rate monitors with this hardware.

At 3840x2160, the performance is 109 FPS on Low, 67.8 FPS on Medium, 50.2 FPS on High, and 35.5 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is notable, as it shows the system can handle 4K at high frame rates when visual effects are minimized. However, the 4K Ultra result of 35.5 FPS is below the 40 FPS threshold for comfortable play, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The data shows that for 4K gaming, Medium settings (67.8 FPS) provide the best balance of visual quality and performance.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global ranking of tested combinations for The Medium, this configuration holds the 305th position out of 1689 total combos. This places it in the 82nd percentile of all systems, which is a strong result, though not in the top tier. The rank reflects the balanced nature of the CPU and GPU pairing, where the Ryzen 7 9700X's 89th percentile CPU ranking complements the RTX 5070's 83rd percentile GPU ranking.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14500HX with an average score of 35940 (a 0.2% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 with 35802 (a 0.6% delta). These scores are nearly identical, indicating that the Ryzen 7 9700X's processing power is on par with mid-range mobile and desktop parts. The CPU's 3dmark max threads score of 9771 and cinebench r23 multicore score of 31588 show it has substantial multi-threaded capability, which is relevant for The Medium's loading and rendering tasks.

The GPU's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, which scores 41441, just 0.6% below the RTX 5070's 41687 average benchmark score. This proximity explains why the RTX 5070 performs similarly to a previous-generation flagship in this game. The combo's rank of 305 suggests that while this system is not the fastest, it sits comfortably above the median, offering a robust experience for most gaming scenarios. The data indicates that users with this combo should target 1440p Medium to High settings or 4K Medium for the best experience, as these configurations align with the hardware's strengths.