The Medium

# The Medium with AMD Ryzen 9 5900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

This combination of AMD's 12-core Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA's flagship RTX 4090 produces a fascinating dataset in The Medium, a horror title that stresses both fixed camera angles and dual-world rendering. The measured FPS across resolutions reveals a system where the GPU is the clear bottleneck at 4K, but the CPU's influence becomes increasingly apparent as resolution drops. With a combo rank of 62 out of 1689 tested combinations, this pairing sits comfortably in the top 3.7% of all tested systems, yet the scaling behavior suggests that the RTX 4090's immense compute resources are not always fully utilized, particularly at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 140 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The progression from 1080p to 4K shows a dramatic, non-linear drop in performance that pinpoints the GPU as the limiting component. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 147.3 at 1080p to 125.5 at 4K — a reduction of roughly 15% — while at Ultra settings the drop is steeper, from 72.8 to 50.6, a decline of about 30%. This pattern is classic GPU-bound behavior: the RTX 4090's work per frame increases with pixel count, and the game's rendering demands at 4K overwhelm even this flagship card.

The data reveals something more nuanced, however. At Medium settings, the 1080p-to-4K delta is 122.3 to 89.3 FPS, a 27% drop, while at High settings it goes from 95.1 to 64.2, a 32% reduction. The fact that the percentage drop is relatively consistent across settings — hovering around 15-32% — suggests that resolution scaling in The Medium is primarily a fill-rate exercise. The RTX 4090's 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth are being taxed heavily at 4K, but the game engine does not appear to introduce additional CPU overhead at higher resolutions, which would manifest as a widening gap between settings tiers.

Notably, the jump from 1440p to 4K costs more performance than the jump from 1080p to 1440p at every settings level. For instance, at High settings, 1080p to 1440p drops from 95.1 to 80.1 FPS (a 16% loss), while 1440p to 4K drops from 80.1 to 64.2 (a 20% loss). This accelerating degradation is a hallmark of memory bandwidth saturation, and the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X is not the constraint — rather, the 384-bit bus and its 1.01 TB/s throughput are being pushed to their limits.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 1689 tested combinations, this pairing ranks 62nd in The Medium, placing it in the 96.3rd percentile of all systems. The ranking is impressive but not dominant, which is telling for a GPU that sits at the 91st percentile among all GPUs and a CPU at the 90th percentile among all CPUs. The data implies that The Medium does not scale perfectly with the absolute highest-end hardware, or that other combinations — perhaps those with newer CPUs or different memory configurations — can match or exceed this pairing's performance.

The RTX 4090's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (0.4% higher average score) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (0.9% lower), while the Ryzen 9 5900X's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13700 (1% lower average score) and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8845HS (0.7% lower). Yet in The Medium, the combination's rank of 62 suggests that the game's engine rewards certain hardware traits more than raw synthetic scores. The 5900X's 12 cores and 24 threads are plenty, but the game may be more sensitive to single-thread performance, where the CPU's 3dmark single-thread score of 941 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4680 are strong but not class-leading.

The gap between the 62nd rank and the hardware's individual percentiles suggests that The Medium is not purely GPU-bound at all resolutions — at 1080p, the CPU's role becomes significant enough to hold back the RTX 4090, preventing this combo from climbing higher in the rankings.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090's specifications are staggering: 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, 176 ROPs, and 128 RT cores, all running on the Ada Lovelace architecture at a 5 nm process node. Its boost clock of 2520 MHz and base clock of 2235 MHz are high for a GPU of this size, and the 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus delivers 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. In The Medium, these resources translate to playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra (50.6 FPS average), but the game does not fully exploit the card's potential.

The measured FPS data tells a story of a GPU that is over-provisioned for this title at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the card pushes 147.3 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it drops to 50.6 FPS — a 66% reduction. The 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is not the limiting factor; rather, the game's visual effects at Ultra settings likely include heavy use of ray tracing or other pixel-bound effects that stress the ROPs and memory subsystem. The pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s is high, but The Medium's dual-world rendering (where two scenes are processed simultaneously) may effectively double the pixel workload, explaining why 4K Ultra remains below 60 FPS.

The GPU's 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473, confirms its elite status. However, in The Medium, the card behaves more like a very strong mainstream GPU than the absolute fastest — the scaling from Low to Ultra at any given resolution shows a consistent 30-50% performance drop, which is typical but not indicative of headroom. The 16384 shading units are clearly active, but the game's engine appears to cap utilization at certain settings, leaving performance on the table.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS ranges from 147.3 at Low to 72.8 at Ultra, with Medium at 122.3 and High at 95.1. The step from Low to Medium costs 25 FPS (a 17% drop), Medium to High costs 27.2 FPS (a 22% drop), and High to Ultra costs 22.3 FPS (a 23% drop). This progression shows that each settings tier imposes a near-uniform penalty, suggesting that the game's quality presets scale consistently across different rendering features.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 138.7 at Low, 114.2 at Medium, 80.1 at High, and 61.6 at Ultra. The Low-to-Medium gap narrows to 24.5 FPS (an 18% drop), but the Medium-to-High gap widens to 34.1 FPS (a 30% drop), indicating that High settings introduce a more significant visual feature that taxes the GPU. At 1440p Ultra, the 61.6 FPS average is just above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the highest resolution/settings combo that maintains smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 125.5 at Low, 89.3 at Medium, 64.2 at High, and 50.6 at Ultra. The Low-to-Medium drop is 36.2 FPS (a 29% loss), Medium-to-High is 25.1 FPS (a 28% loss), and High-to-Ultra is 13.6 FPS (a 21% loss). Notably, the absolute FPS loss between settings tiers shrinks as resolution increases, which is counterintuitive — one might expect larger gaps at 4K. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that the marginal cost of each settings tier diminishes, or that the CPU becomes a co-bottleneck at lower settings, masking the GPU's true scaling.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.80 GHz, combined with 64 MB of L3 cache, make it a formidable gaming CPU. However, in The Medium, the CPU's role appears to be secondary at higher resolutions but increasingly relevant at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 120 FPS.

The CPU's 3dmark scores show a strong multithreaded performance: 9075 in 16-thread, 10075 in max-thread, and 6601 in 8-thread tests. The single-thread score of 941 is comparatively modest, and this may be the bottleneck at 1080p Low, where the GPU could theoretically push higher than 147.3 FPS if the CPU could feed it faster. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 33150 and single-core score of 4680 confirm that the CPU is capable, but The Medium's engine may have a hard frame-rate ceiling or a single-thread dependency that limits performance.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 39453, places it just behind the Intel Core i7-13700 (which scores 1% lower in average) but ahead of the AMD EPYC 4245P (0.2% higher). In The Medium, the 12-core configuration is likely overkill for a game that may not scale beyond 4-8 threads, but the high boost clock of 4.80 GHz helps maintain consistent frame pacing. The 105 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth) are adequate, though the GPU's 1.01 TB/s bandwidth dwarfs the CPU's memory throughput, which is typical for gaming systems.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Medium?*

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 at High settings (80.1 FPS average) offers the best balance of visual quality and smoothness, while 1920x1080 at Ultra (72.8 FPS) is also viable. 3840x2160 at Ultra drops to 50.6 FPS, which may feel sluggish for a horror game requiring precise timing.

Q: Why does 4K Ultra performance (50.6 FPS) fall below 60 FPS despite the RTX 4090's power?

A: The GPU's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are not the constraint; rather, the game's dual-world rendering at Ultra settings likely doubles the pixel workload, taxing the 176 ROPs and 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate to their limits.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 5900X holding back the RTX 4090?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo hits 147.3 FPS, but the CPU's single-thread score (941 in 3dmark) may cap performance. The 12-core CPU is sufficient, but the game appears to have a single-thread bottleneck that prevents higher frame rates at lower resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 62nd out of 1689 combinations, placing it in the top 3.7% of all tested systems. This is consistent with the GPU's 91st percentile and CPU's 90th percentile rankings, though the game's engine may not fully reward the hardware's synthetic strengths.

Q: What settings preset gives the highest FPS at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings (125.5 FPS) offer the highest frame rate, followed by Medium (89.3 FPS) and High (64.2 FPS). Ultra drops to 50.6 FPS, so High is the highest preset that stays above 60 FPS.

*Q: Does the GPU's memory bandwidth affect The Medium's performance?*

A: The RTX 4090's 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is likely a key factor in the 4K results, as the FPS drops from 125.5 at Low to 50.6 at Ultra suggest a fill-rate and bandwidth-limited scenario. At lower resolutions, the CPU becomes more relevant.

Settings Recommendations

For a smooth horror experience, the data points to 2560x1440 at High settings as the sweet spot: 80.1 FPS average provides ample headroom for the game's tense pacing, and the visual quality is high enough to appreciate the atmosphere. At 4K, High settings (64.2 FPS) are the highest preset that maintains a playable frame rate, though Medium (89.3 FPS) is the safer choice if you prefer fluctuations in dual-world scenes to stay above 60 FPS. At 1080p, Ultra (72.8 FPS) is viable, but the gains over 1440p High are marginal in terms of visual fidelity, making 1440p the recommended target. Avoid 4K Ultra, as the 50.6 FPS average risks stutter during critical moments, and consider Low settings at 4K (125.5 FPS) only if you prioritize frame rate over visuals. The measured data suggests that this combo is best utilized at 1440p, where neither the CPU nor GPU is fully bottlenecked, and the frame rates remain consistently high across all settings tiers.