The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination in The Medium presents a fascinating case study in system bottlenecking, where the GPU’s workload scales dramatically with settings, while the CPU’s substantial thread count provides a stable foundation. The data reveals a system that is unequivocally GPU-limited at higher presets, but which can achieve remarkable frame rates when the graphical load is reduced. This analysis will break down the measured performance across resolutions and settings, contextualizing the results within the broader benchmark database.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a desktop processor built on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge, and manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, a configuration that is generally more than sufficient for modern gaming workloads. Its base clock is 4.70 GHz with a boost clock of 5.20 GHz, and it carries a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache, a hallmark of the X3D series designed to reduce memory latency in games. The processor supports DDR5 memory via a dual-channel bus, offering a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, and connects to the rest of the system via PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes.

In the context of The Medium, a horror title that relies on heavy atmospheric rendering, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage game logic. The benchmark results indicate that the CPU is not the primary constraint in this pairing. Even at 1080p Low settings, where the GPU load is at its minimum, the average FPS of 141.6 is exceptionally high, suggesting the 9800X3D is capable of pushing frames well beyond the GPU’s limits at higher presets. The processor’s multi-threaded performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 34004, ensures that the game’s background tasks and streaming do not cause stutter or bottleneck the rendering pipeline. The data implies that the 8-core/16-thread configuration is more than adequate for this title, allowing the GPU to be the sole determinant of performance scaling.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo in The Medium?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 141.6 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo’s performance rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: This specific combination of CPU and GPU ranks 537th out of 1689 total tested combos in the database for The Medium.

Q: What is the performance difference between the CPU and its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 9800X3D has an average benchmark score of 37780, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Xeon 6353P’s score of 37811, making them statistically equivalent in general compute tasks.

Q: What is the performance gap between the GPU and its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Radeon RX 9070 has an average benchmark score of 34780, which is 0.2% lower than the NVIDIA A2’s score of 34866, indicating a near-tie in general GPU compute performance.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo fail to maintain a 60 FPS average?

A: The combo falls below 60 FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings (57.0 FPS), 3840x2160 with High settings (41.2 FPS), 2560x1440 with Ultra settings (39.8 FPS), 3840x2160 with Ultra settings (33.4 FPS), and 1920x1080 with Ultra settings (51.3 FPS).

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The scaling of frame rates across resolutions is a clear indicator of a GPU-bound system. At Low settings, the performance drops from 141.6 FPS at 1080p to 116.3 FPS at 1440p, a 17.9% reduction, and then further to 94.3 FPS at 4K, a 33.4% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is being progressively more taxed by the increasing pixel count, but the CPU still has ample headroom to maintain high frame rates.

The story is different at Ultra settings. The 1080p result is 51.3 FPS, which drops to 39.8 FPS at 1440p and 33.4 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is 34.9%, which is very similar to the drop at Low settings. This consistency across settings suggests that the limiting factor is purely the GPU’s rendering throughput. If the CPU were a bottleneck, we would expect to see a smaller frame rate difference between resolutions at lower settings, as the CPU would cap the maximum FPS. The fact that the FPS scales almost linearly with pixel count at both Low and Ultra settings strongly implies the Radeon RX 9070 is the sole performance limiter, and the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is never the constraining component in this title.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and AMD Radeon RX 9070 achieves a combo rank of 537 out of 1689 tested configurations in The Medium. This places it in the upper third of all tested systems, which is a respectable position given the GPU’s mid-to-high-end market segment. The data shows that while the CPU is a top-tier performer, ranking in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, the GPU ranks in the 79th percentile among all GPUs. This disparity in relative performance is reflected in the combo’s overall standing.

The rank suggests that many other combinations, likely those pairing the 9800X3D with higher-end GPUs, will outperform this setup. However, it also indicates that this combo is significantly faster than the majority of systems in the database. The 1689 total combos represent a wide spectrum of hardware, from entry-level to enthusiast. Being in the 537th position means that this system is more capable than roughly 68% of all tested configurations, a strong result that underscores the effectiveness of pairing a high-end CPU with a capable mid-range GPU.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture and features the Navi 48 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process. It comes equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1330 MHz, a game clock of 2070 MHz, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. With 3584 shading units and 128 ROPs, it is a substantial piece of silicon.

In The Medium, the GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM is likely a significant asset, as the game’s high-resolution textures and complex scenes can consume large amounts of memory. The benchmark data shows a steep performance cliff when moving from Medium to High and Ultra settings, which is typical of a GPU that is being overwhelmed by the shader complexity and memory bandwidth requirements of the highest presets. The GPU’s compute capabilities, evidenced by a Passmark G3D score of 25381, are clearly the determining factor in the frame rates observed. The 33.4 FPS at 4K Ultra represents a heavy load, while the 141.6 FPS at 1080p Low shows the GPU is fully capable of high refresh rates when the workload is light. The data suggests that the RX 9070 is the definitive performance ceiling for this combination, and its clock speeds and memory subsystem are the primary drivers of the scaling we observe.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured average FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo’s performance in The Medium. At 1920x1080, the results are: Low settings yield 141.6 FPS, Medium settings yield 89.2 FPS, High settings yield 64.9 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 51.3 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates are: Low settings at 116.3 FPS, Medium settings at 73.1 FPS, High settings at 50.7 FPS, and Ultra settings at 39.8 FPS. At 3840x2160 (4K), the results show: Low settings at 94.3 FPS, Medium settings at 57.0 FPS, High settings at 41.2 FPS, and Ultra settings at 33.4 FPS.

The pattern is consistent: each step up in settings from Low to Ultra incurs a significant performance penalty. For instance, at 1440p, moving from Low to Medium costs 43.2 FPS, from Medium to High costs 22.4 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 10.9 FPS. The diminishing returns in FPS loss as settings increase suggest that the more demanding presets (High, Ultra) are placing a heavier load on specific GPU resources, such as ray tracing or advanced shading, which have a non-linear impact on performance. The 1080p Low result of 141.6 FPS is the only configuration that approaches high-refresh-rate territory, while all other settings fall below the 120 FPS threshold.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For a 60 FPS experience, the data indicates that 1080p High (64.9 FPS) is the highest quality preset that can consistently achieve this target. At 1440p, Medium settings (73.1 FPS) provide a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, while High settings (50.7 FPS) fall short. At 4K, the only way to approach 60 FPS is to use Low settings (94.3 FPS), which achieves a smooth experience but sacrifices visual fidelity.

For players prioritizing visual quality over raw frame rate, 1440p Ultra (39.8 FPS) may be acceptable if a 40 FPS target is tolerable, but the data shows that 1080p Ultra (51.3 FPS) offers a better balance of fidelity and fluidity. The most significant performance per visual quality gain appears to be at Medium settings across all resolutions. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 52.4 FPS but likely provides a substantial improvement in texture detail and lighting. Conversely, the jump from High to Ultra offers the smallest FPS delta (e.g., 13.6 FPS at 1080p), suggesting that the visual difference may not justify the performance cost. Therefore, for most users, the High preset at 1080p or the Medium preset at 1440p represents the best compromise between image quality and performance, ensuring a stable and responsive experience in The Medium.