The Medium

The Medium is a horror title that stresses both CPU and GPU, but with the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, the data reveals a system where the graphics card is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the processor’s immense headroom remains largely untapped. This combination ranks 3082nd out of 3724 tested combos, placing it in the lower 17% of all configurations, which aligns with the GTX 1070’s aging architecture and the Ryzen 9’s overkill status for this specific workload.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep decline as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 75 FPS, but dropping to 1440p Low reduces that to 63 FPS, and further to 4K Low brings it down to 50 FPS. This represents a 33% performance loss from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GTX 1070’s pixel throughput is the limiting factor, not the CPU.

The pattern becomes more pronounced at higher settings. At High settings, the frame rate falls from 34 FPS at 1080p to 28 FPS at 1440p, and then to 22 FPS at 4K—a total drop of 35% from the lowest to highest resolution. At Ultra settings, the numbers are 27 FPS at 1080p, 22 FPS at 1440p, and 18 FPS at 4K, showing a 33% reduction. The consistency of this scaling across all settings suggests that the GPU’s raw fill rate and memory bandwidth are saturated, while the Ryzen 9 5950X sits idle waiting for the next frame.

Notably, the gap between 1080p and 1440p is larger than the gap between 1440p and 4K at Low settings (12 FPS vs. 13 FPS respectively), but at High settings the drops are more uniform (6 FPS each step). This indicates that at Low settings, the GPU is less stressed and the scaling is more linear, whereas at High settings, the additional shading work compounds the bottleneck. The data shows that 4K is only playable at Low settings (50 FPS), while Medium at 4K yields 31 FPS with a minimum of 26 FPS, which is borderline for a horror game where smooth motion matters for atmosphere.

For a 60 FPS target, this combo fails at every resolution and setting combination in the measured data. The highest result is 75 FPS at 1080p Low, but that’s the only setting above 60 FPS. At 1440p, the best is 63 FPS at Low, which barely hits the mark, but every other configuration falls short. This suggests that players should stick to 1080p or 1440p with Low presets to maintain playable frame rates, as the GTX 1070 cannot handle the visual load at higher settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its benchmark results are exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26,017 and a single-core score of 1,614, placing it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs. However, The Medium’s measured FPS data shows no indication that this CPU power is being utilized—the frame rates are entirely constrained by the GPU.

At 1080p Low, where CPU load is typically highest, the combo still only manages 75 FPS, which is far below what the Ryzen 9 could theoretically push. The processor’s 3DMark scores, such as 11,597 for max threads and 944 for single thread, suggest it can handle any game logic without breaking a sweatcars. The 64 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (51.2 GB/s bandwidth) provide ample bandwidth for feeding the GPU, but the GTX 1070’s 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus are the real constraints.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 9 5950X scores 52,047 on average, which is 0.2% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX and 0.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 8124P, but 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i9-13900F. These tiny deltas (all within ±0.7%) show that the CPU is not a differentiating factor in this combo’s performance—the GPU is. The 16 cores and 32 threads are overkill for a game that appears to be GPU-limited even at 1080p, so the CPU’s role here is simply to avoid being a bottleneck, which it does effortlessly.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 3082 out of 3724 tested combinations, this pairing sits in the bottom 17% of all systems tested in The Medium. This low ranking is directly attributable to the GTX 1070, which has a percentile rank of 47 among all GPUs, meaning it performs worse than 53% of graphics cards. The CPU, by contrast, is in the top 9% of all processors, creating a severe imbalance.

The GTX 1070’s average benchmark score is 9,780, which is nearly identical to its nearest rivals: the AMD FirePro W5000 (9,803, -0.2% delta), NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (9,832, -0.5% delta), and NVIDIA Tesla M10 (9,724, +0.6% delta). These are all professional or older workstation cards, which highlights the GTX 1070’s age—it launched in 2016 and is now marked as end-of-life. The Ryzen 9 5950X, meanwhile, has an average score of 51,947, which is 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i9-13900F and 0.7% lower than the Intel Core i7-14700, but these differences are negligible.

The ranking data suggests that this combo is only suitable for 1080p gaming with reduced settings, and even then, it struggles to maintain high frame rates. The 3082nd position out of 3724 indicates that there are 642 combos that perform worse, but the vast majority of modern systems will outperform this pairing. For a horror game like The Medium, which relies on atmosphere and tension, the low frame rates at higher settings could detract from the experience, making this combo a poor choice for anything beyond Low presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces 75 FPS on Low settings, 47 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 40 and maximum of 54), 34 FPS on High, and 27 FPS on Ultra. The jump from Low to Medium is a 37% performance hit, while High to Ultra costs another 21%. This shows that the GTX 1070’s 1,920 shading units and 64 ROPs are quickly overwhelmed by higher quality textures and effects.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop to 63 FPS on Low, 40 FPS on Medium (min 34, max 45), 28 FPS on High, and 22 FPS on Ultra. The resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 16% at Low, 15% at Medium, 18% at High, and 19% at Ultra. These consistent percentage losses confirm that the GPU’s pixel rate (107.7 GPixel/s) is the limiting factor, as the extra pixels require more fill rate.

At 3840x2160, the results are 50 FPS on Low, 31 FPS on Medium (min 26, max 36), 22 FPS on High, and 18 FPS on Ultra. The 4K resolution at Low is the only playable option, and even then, it’s barely above 60 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Low is 21%, while at High it’s 21% and at Ultra it’s 18%. The Medium setting at 4K shows a minimum of 26 FPS, which indicates frame time spikes that could cause stuttering in a horror game where smooth camera movement is critical.

The data shows that the GTX 1070’s 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for capacity, but the 256.3 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient for high-resolution textures. At 4K Ultra, the 18 FPS average suggests the GPU is completely saturated, and the 16 nm Pascal architecture lacks the modern features to handle the game’s demands. The measured FPS values are all below 60 FPS except for 1080p Low and 1440p Low, meaning this combo is only viable for budget gaming at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is a Pascal architecture GPU with a base clock of 1506 MHz and boost clock of 1683 MHz, built on a 16 nm process with 7,200 million transistors. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p but falls short at higher resolutions. The GPU’s FP32 performance is 6.463 TFLOPS, and its texture rate is 202.0 GTexel/s, but these figures are modest by modern standards.

In the context of The Medium, the GTX 1070’s benchmark results are telling. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1,082, and its Passmark G3D score is 13,498, with a Passmark DirectX 12 score of just 48. These low scores, especially in DirectX 12, indicate that the GPU struggles with modern API workloads. The GTX 1070’s percentile rank of 47 means it’s below average, and its nearest rivals are all older or lower-tier cards, confirming its obsolescence.

The GPU’s 1,920 shading units and 120 TMUs are insufficient for The Medium’s complex shaders at high settings, as evidenced by the 22 FPS at 4K High. The 64 ROPs limit pixel fill rate, which is why 4K Low (50 FPS) is the best 4K result. The memory clock of 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective) is slow compared to modern GDDR6, but the bus width helps mitigate this. However, the 16 nm process and lack of ray tracing cores (RT cores are null) mean the GPU has no hardware acceleration for modern effects, forcing software fallbacks that tank performance.

The GTX 1070’s TDP of 150 W and 1x 8-pin connector suggest it’s a power-efficient card for its era, but the data shows it’s simply outclassed by The Medium’s requirements. The GPU’s end-of-life production status and 2016 release date (June 9, 2016) mean it lacks the feature set of newer cards, such as hardware-accelerated ray tracing or DLSS, which could have improved frame rates. For this game, the GTX 1070 is the clear bottleneck, and its performance caps the entire combo.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest FPS this combo can achieve in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 75 at 1080p with Low settings. The next best is 63 FPS at 1440p Low, and 50 FPS at 4K Low.

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: No. At 1080p High, the measured average FPS is 34, which is far below 60. Only Low settings at 1080p and 1440p exceed 60 FPS.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its nearest rivals in benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1070 has an average benchmark score of 9,780. The AMD FirePro W5000 scores 9,803 (-0.2% delta), the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M scores 9,832 (-0.5%), and the NVIDIA Tesla M10 scores 9,724 (+0.6%).

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 3082nd out of 3724 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 17% of all systems.

Q: At what resolution and settings is the combo playable?

A: The data shows playable frame rates (above 60 FPS) only at 1080p Low (75 FPS) and 1440p Low (63 FPS). All other settings fall below 60 FPS, with Medium settings yielding 47 FPS at 1080p and 40 FPS at 1440p.

Q: Does the Ryzen 9 5950X bottleneck the GTX 1070?

A: No. The Ryzen 9 5950X is in the 91st percentile of CPUs, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26,017)Skip. The GPU is the bottleneck, as shown by the FPS drops across resolutions at the same settings.