The Medium

The Medium is a demanding horror title that stresses both the GPU and CPU, and the pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER produces a mixed bag of results depending on your target resolution. With 16 cores and 32 threads from the Zen 3 architecture, the processor is a heavyweight, but the 8 GB RTX 2070 SUPER often becomes the limiting factor in this game's fixed-camera scenes. The data reveals a system that is capable of smooth 1080p play at lower settings but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with higher presets.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep performance cliff as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 103.4 FPS, which drops to 85.4 FPS at 1440p and further to 68 FPS at 4K. This represents a 34% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The scaling pattern indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is handling a significant workload, as the resolution jump from 1440p to 4K still costs over 20% performance.

Moving to Medium settings, the scaling becomes more aggressive: 61.2 FPS at 1080p falls to 54.5 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 41.2 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-4K drop here is 33%, similar to Low, but the absolute numbers are much lower, suggesting the RTX 2070 SUPER is hitting its memory bandwidth limits. At High settings, the pattern continues with 44.2 FPS at 1080p, 37.6 FPS at 1440p, and 32.7 FPS at 4K—a 26% total drop. Ultra settings are the most punishing, with 38.9 FPS at 1080p collapsing to 29.4 FPS at 1440p and just 23 FPS at 4K, a 41% loss.

The scaling behavior suggests that The Medium is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions. The 32.7 FPS at 4K High is below the 30 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for playable, while the 23 FPS at 4K Ultra is clearly unplayable. The CPU's massive 16-core configuration provides headroom, but it cannot compensate for the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading limitations at 4K. The data indicates that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo, with 1080p being the only resolution where all settings are at least marginally playable.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 1689 tested combinations, this pairing of the Ryzen 9 5950X and RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1025th in The Medium. That places it in the bottom 40% of all tested combos, which is a poor result given the CPU's strength. The processor alone sits in the 93rd percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49062, but the GPU's 65th percentile ranking with an average score of 22206 drags the combo down.

The CPU's nearest rivals show how strong the processor is on its own. The Intel Core i5-14600K scores 49166, just 0.2% higher, while the i5-14600KF is 0.6% ahead. The AMD EPYC 4345P is 1.1% ahead, and the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H is 0.7% behind. This places the 5950X in elite company for processing power, but that strength is wasted in this game where the GPU is the bottleneck.

The GPU's nearest rivals tell a different story. The RTX 2070 SUPER's average score of 22206 is 0.5% behind the NVIDIA RTX A400 and 0.9% ahead of the GTX TITAN Z. The RTX 4060 Mobile is 2.3% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 is 2.5% slower. These margins are small, indicating that the GPU is a mid-pack performer, not a standout. In a horror game like The Medium, which uses fixed camera angles and heavy post-processing, this mid-tier GPU performance translates directly into the low ranking.

GPU Role

The RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary constraint in this configuration. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p but becomes strained at higher resolutions. The GPU's 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s, but these specs are not enough to maintain high frame rates in The Medium's demanding scenes.

The GPU's clock speeds are 1605 MHz base and 1770 MHz boost, which are moderate for the Turing architecture. The 12 nm process node and 13,600 million transistors give it a 545 mm² die size, and the 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance places it firmly in the mid-range of the GeForce 20-series. The 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present but do not significantly help in this non-ray-traced title.

The benchmark data shows the GPU's passmark G3D score of 18169 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1651, both reflecting its mid-tier status. The 65th percentile ranking versus all GPUs confirms that this is not a top-tier card. In The Medium, the 8 GB VRAM capacity is likely the critical limitation at 4K, where the High preset requires more memory than the card can efficiently manage, leading to the 32.7 FPS result.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and playable frame rates, the data points to Medium settings at 1080p as the sweet spot. The 61.2 FPS average at 1080p Medium is smooth and provides a significant visual upgrade over Low, which hits 103.4 FPS but sacrifices too much detail. At 1440p, Medium is still playable at 54.5 FPS, but High drops to 37.6 FPS, which is borderline for a horror game that relies on atmosphere.

At 4K, the situation is dire. Low settings produce 68 FPS, which is playable but visually sparse. Medium at 4K yields 41.2 FPS, which is acceptable for a slower-paced horror title, but High and Ultra at 23-32.7 FPS are not viable. The recommendation is to stick with Medium settings for any resolution above 1080p, as the jump to High costs roughly 28% performance at 1440p and 20% at 1080p without a proportional visual gain.

Ultra settings are never worth the cost. At 1080p, Ultra produces 38.9 FPS versus Medium's 61.2 FPS, a 36% penalty. At 1440p, Ultra hits 29.4 FPS, below the 30 FPS minimum, and at 4K it craters to 23 FPS. The data suggests that Medium is the highest preset that maintains a stable experience, with Low reserved for those who prioritize frame rate above all else.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the full range of settings shows a clear hierarchy. Low settings deliver 103.4 FPS average, which is the only setting above 100 FPS. Medium drops to 61.2 FPS, High falls to 44.2 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 38.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 42.2 FPS, indicating that the Medium preset adds significant visual effects that tax the GPU.

At 1440p, the numbers compress. Low produces 85.4 FPS, Medium 54.5 FPS, High 37.6 FPS, and Ultra 29.4 FPS. The Low-to-Medium gap narrows to 30.9 FPS, and the High-to-Ultra gap is just 8.2 FPS, showing diminishing returns at higher settings. The 1440p High result of 37.6 FPS is the lowest playable option, while Ultra falls below the playable threshold.

At 4K, the performance collapses. Low still manages 68 FPS, but Medium drops to 41.2 FPS, High to 32.7 FPS, and Ultra to 23 FPS. The Low-to-Medium gap is 26.8 FPS, and the High-to-Ultra gap is 9.7 FPS. The 4K results are uniformly poor for anything above Low, confirming that this GPU is not suited for 4K gaming in The Medium.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a powerhouse that is largely underutilized in this game. Its 16 cores and 32 threads from the Zen 3 architecture, running at 3.40 GHz base and 4.90 GHz boost, provide massive processing headroom. The 64 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are more than sufficient for The Medium's requirements. The CPU's benchmark scores are exceptional: Cinebench R23 multicore hits 38607, single-core 5450, and Geekbench multicore 12084.

The CPU's nearest rivals show it is a top-tier processor. The Intel Core i5-14600K is 0.2% slower in average score, and the i5-14600KF is 0.6% slower. The AMD EPYC 4345P is 1.1% faster, and the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H is 0.7% slower. This places the 5950X in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49062.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with frames, and the data shows it does this without bottlenecking. The FPS differences between settings are entirely attributable to GPU load, as the CPU's single-thread score of 5450 in Cinebench R23 ensures it can handle the game's AI and physics. The 5950X's 3dmark 16-thread score of 10810 and max-thread score of 11597 indicate that even the most demanding scenes are well within its capabilities. However, this CPU strength does not translate to higher FPS because the RTX 2070 SUPER is the limiting factor. The combo's 1025th place ranking out of 1689 is a direct consequence of this GPU bottleneck, not a CPU deficiency.