The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title, presents a unique performance profile where visual settings dramatically alter the workload. Based on the measured data for the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti combination, the game is highly sensitive to the preset chosen, with frame rates swinging from a very playable 180 FPS at 1080p Low to a demanding 42 FPS at 4K Ultra. The sweet spot for this hardware depends entirely on your resolution target and preference for visual fidelity versus raw frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

For a 1080p display, the High preset at 81 FPS is the optimal balance. The jump from Medium to High incurs a significant performance cost, dropping from 113 FPS to 81 FPS, but this is a worthwhile trade for the visual improvements in a game that relies heavily on atmosphere and lighting. While Low yields 180 FPS, the graphical compromises are likely too severe for a horror game where environmental detail is key to immersion. Ultra at 64 FPS is playable but dips below the 70 FPS threshold that many consider the baseline for smooth, responsive gameplay.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers the best experience. The data shows 95 FPS average with a minimum of 81 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS standard while maintaining good visual quality. High at 68 FPS is playable, but the minimum frame rate is not recorded, suggesting it may be less stable. Ultra at 54 FPS is a definitive no-go for a smooth experience, as it falls below the 60 FPS target.

For 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option for high refresh rate play, hitting 119 FPS. This is a stark contrast to the 53 FPS achieved on High, which is below the 60 FPS playability threshold. The Medium preset at 74 FPS offers a decent middle ground, but the 63 FPS minimum is close to the edge. Given the massive performance headroom at Low, it is the only preset that allows for a truly fluid experience at this resolution without sacrificing playability. The Ultra preset at 42 FPS is effectively a slideshow for this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is the dominant force in this pairing. The benchmark results show that the GPU's performance is the primary bottleneck across all resolutions and settings. This is evident from the dramatic frame rate swings when changing presets, which directly alter the GPU's workload. The card's 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a substantial 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for the game's high-resolution textures and complex scenes that shift between two parallel worlds.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 2295 MHz and a boost of 2452 MHz, are only part of the story. The data indicates that the card is not limited by its core clock but by the intensity of the rendering task. The RTX 5070 Ti's 70 RT cores and 280 Tensor cores are present, but their specific impact on this title is not measured in the provided data. The key takeaway is that the GPU's raw compute power, as measured by its 43.94 TFLOPS FP32 performance, is what determines the frame rate ceiling.

The GPU's performance profile shows it is capable of handling the game's demands at lower settings, but the Ultra preset at any resolution creates a workload that the card cannot adequately process. For instance, at 4K, the average frame rate plummets from 119 FPS on Low to 42 FPS on Ultra, a 64.7% reduction. This is a clear indicator that the Ultra preset introduces rendering features that heavily tax the GPU's shading units and memory subsystem. The card's 300W TDP and suggested 700W PSU are consistent with a high-end component that is being pushed to its limits at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, provides a robust foundation for this game, but its role is secondary to the GPU. The processor's Zen 5 architecture, running at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, ensures that it does not become a limiting factor in most scenarios. Its performance in synthetic benchmarks, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20485 and a single-core score of 2211, indicates strong processing power that is more than adequate for The Medium's demands.

The data suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at higher resolutions. When comparing the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at the same settings, the decrease is substantial and directly correlated with the GPU's rendering load. For example, on High settings, the frame rate drops from 81 FPS at 1080p to 53 FPS at 4K. This is a 34.6% reduction, which can be attributed to the GPU being overwhelmed by the increased pixel count. The CPU's performance remains constant, indicating it is not the cause of the frame rate decline.

However, the CPU's capability is evident at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 180 FPS, which is a high frame rate that requires a capable processor to manage the game's logic and draw calls. The Ryzen 7 9700X's strong single-threaded performance, as evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 1280 and PassMark single-thread score of 4654, is critical for maintaining high frame rates in this scenario. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache also helps in reducing latency for game data, but the overall frame rate is ultimately dictated by the GPU's output capacity.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks at 308 out of 3724 tested combos for this game. This places it in the top 8.3% of all configurations, which is a strong result and confirms that this is a high-performance pairing. The rank reflects the system's ability to deliver playable frame rates across most settings and resolutions, with the exception of the most demanding 4K Ultra preset.

This ranking is consistent with the individual performance of its components. The CPU has a percentile rank of 86 among all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 37943 places it in close competition with the Intel Core i9-14901E and AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, both of which have a deltaPct of 0.1%. Similarly, the GPU has a percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs, with an average score of 49957. Its performance is comparable to the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, which is only 2% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, which is 3.1% slower.

The combo's rank of 308 suggests that while it is a top-tier setup, there are other combinations that deliver better performance in this specific title. The data shows that the GPU is the primary driver of the game's performance, so systems with more powerful GPUs would naturally rank higher. However, for this specific pairing, the balance between the CPU and GPU is well-matched, ensuring that the system is not held back by a weak processor or a mismatched graphics card.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the GPU-bound nature of The Medium. At Medium settings, the average frame rate drops from 113 FPS at 1080p to 95 FPS at 1440p, and then to 74 FPS at 4K. This represents a 16% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 22% drop from 1440p to 4K. The consistent decline indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the workload increases with the number of pixels rendered.

The pattern is even more pronounced at High settings. The frame rate drops from 81 FPS at 1080p to 68 FPS at 1440p (a 16% reduction) and then to 53 FPS at 4K (a 22% reduction from 1440p). This shows that the GPU's performance scales predictably with resolution, and the CPU is not introducing a bottleneck that would cause a more severe drop at lower resolutions.

At Low settings, the scaling is less linear. The frame rate goes from 180 FPS at 1080p to 152 FPS at 1440p (a 15.6% reduction) and then to 119 FPS at 4K (a 21.7% reduction from 1440p). This is interesting because the high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p approach the limits of what the CPU can process, even with its strong single-threaded performance. The 4K result is still GPU-limited, but the 1080p and 1440p results may be slightly influenced by the CPU's frame generation capability. However, the overall trend confirms that for most settings, the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

The Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling, with a 15.6% drop from 1080p (64 FPS) to 1440p (54 FPS), and then a 22.2% drop to 4K (42 FPS). This indicates that the Ultra preset features effects that are significantly more demanding at higher resolutions, further reinforcing the GPU's dominant role in this game.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice for 1440p. The data shows an average of 95 FPS with a minimum of 81 FPS, which provides a smooth experience. The High preset is 27 FPS slower, making Medium the optimal balance between visual quality and performance.

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

A: Yes, but only with adjusted settings. The Low preset at 4K yields an average of 119 FPS, which is excellent. However, the High preset drops to 53 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 42 FPS, both of which are below the 60 FPS playability standard.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the primary limiting factor. The frame rate scales predictably with resolution, dropping by roughly 16% from 1080p to 1440p and another 22% from 1440p to 4K. This is a classic sign of a GPU-bound workload, as the CPU's performance is consistent across these resolutions.

Q: How does this system's performance compare to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 308th out of 3724 tested combos, placing it in the top 8.3% of all systems. This is a strong result, indicating that this pairing is well above average for this game.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at any resolution?

A: The Ultra preset is only playable at 1080p, where it achieves an average of 64 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 54 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 42 FPS. Both of these are below the 60 FPS threshold, making them less than ideal for a smooth experience.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Medium and High presets at 1080p?

A: The High preset at 1080p runs at 81 FPS, while the Medium preset runs at 113 FPS. This is a 32 FPS difference, meaning the High preset is about 28% slower. This is a significant cost for the visual upgrade, so users should weigh their preference for fidelity against frame rate.