The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents an interesting case study for the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination. The measured data reveals a configuration that is heavily capable at lower resolutions but begins to show its limitations when pushed to 4K with maximum settings. This analysis walks through the benchmark results to interpret how the CPU and GPU interact across the tested spectrum, providing a clear picture of where this combo excels and where it struggles.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and telling. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 145 FPS at 1920x1080 to 127 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 18 FPS. This modest 12.4% decline indicates that at Low settings, the system is not entirely GPU-bound even at 4K, with the CPU still contributing significantly to the final frame rate. The scaling becomes more pronounced as settings increase. At Medium settings, the average drops from 120 FPS at 1080p to 79 FPS at 4K, a 34.2% reduction. This is a clear sign that the GPU is starting to become the primary limiting factor, as the workload per pixel increases.

The High preset shows a similar trend, with the average falling from 86 FPS at 1920x1080 to 57 FPS at 3840x2160, a 33.7% drop. The most dramatic scaling occurs at Ultra settings, where the average plummets from 68 FPS at 1080p to just 45 FPS at 4K, a 33.8% reduction. This consistent 33-34% penalty from 1080p to 4K across Medium, High, and Ultra presets suggests that the RTX 4080’s compute and memory bandwidth are being saturated as resolution increases, making the GPU the definitive bottleneck at higher resolutions. The relatively small drop at Low settings (12.4%) confirms that when the GPU load is light, the Ryzen 9 5950X’s 16 cores and 32 threads can still push a high number of frames, but the headroom evaporates once visual fidelity demands more from the graphics card.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global database of tested combinations, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 holds a rank of 324 out of 3724 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the top 8.7% of all systems evaluated, a strong showing that underscores the raw power of both components. The percentile rankings of the individual parts support this: the CPU sits in the 91st percentile against all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 86th percentile against all GPUs. When combined, they form a system that outperforms the vast majority of configurations tested for this specific game.

The combo’s rank is particularly impressive given the game’s age. The Medium was released on 2021-01-27, and the hardware in this test is from a later generation. The data shows that this modern CPU and GPU pairing is more than capable of handling the game’s demands, even if the 4K Ultra results are below the 60 FPS target. The rank of 324 suggests that while many other combos exist, a significant portion of them are either less balanced or simply less powerful. This position is not a top-tier rank, but it is a high-tier one, indicating that users with this setup are unlikely to be disappointed with the overall experience relative to what other hardware configurations can achieve.

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 scores reflect a focus on multi-threaded workloads, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 26017 and a Geekbench multicore score of 15233. In contrast, its single-thread performance is respectable but not class-leading, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1614 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2083. For The Medium, a game that does not appear to be heavily multi-threaded, the CPU’s raw single-thread speed is more relevant than its core count.

The data supports this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 145 FPS, which is likely close to a CPU-imposed limit for this game engine. The fact that the frame rate at 4K Low is 127 FPS, only 18 FPS lower, suggests that the CPU is still able to feed the GPU enough data even at higher resolutions when the graphical load is minimal. However, the 3DMark 2-thread score of 1856 and 4-thread score of 3595 are modest, indicating that the game may not be fully utilizing the processor’s massive thread count. The CPU’s 64 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are more than sufficient for the game’s logic, but the bottleneck at higher settings is clearly not on the CPU side, as the frame rates scale down consistently with increased GPU load regardless of the strong processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the combo’s performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers high frame rates across the board. The Low preset averages 145 FPS, the Medium preset averages 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 FPS and a maximum of 138 FPS, the High preset averages 86 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 68 FPS. These numbers indicate that for 1080p gaming, the RTX 4080 is never the limiting factor, and the CPU is able to drive the frame rate to very high levels.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but begins to show the GPU’s influence. The Low preset averages 137 FPS, a slight drop from 1080p. The Medium preset averages 101 FPS, with minimum and maximum values of 86 and 116 FPS respectively. The High preset drops to 72 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 57 FPS. The 1440p results show a clear hierarchy, with the gap between Low and Ultra widening to 80 FPS, indicating that the GPU is now the primary driver of performance differences between presets.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck. The Low preset still manages a playable 127 FPS, but the Medium preset drops to 79 FPS, with a minimum of 67 and a maximum of 91 FPS. The High preset averages 57 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls below the 60 FPS threshold to an average of 45 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is significant at every preset, with the High preset losing 15 FPS and the Ultra preset losing 12 FPS. The data clearly shows that for a smooth 60 FPS experience, users will need to compromise on either resolution or settings, as 4K Ultra is not achievable with this combo.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a 60 FPS average?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 72 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 57 FPS. To comfortably exceed 60 FPS, the High preset at 1440p is the safest choice, as the 4K High preset only averages 57 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with the Medium preset, the system averages 79 FPS, with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 91 FPS. This is a playable experience that remains above the 60 FPS target.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average is 145 FPS, which is a high value. Given that the CPU’s single-thread performance is moderate, it is likely that the CPU is the primary limiter at this resolution, as the GPU has very little work to do.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 137 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 57 FPS. This represents a difference of 80 FPS in favor of the Low preset.

Q: Does the combo rank high compared to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 324th out of 3724 tested combinations for The Medium, placing it in the top 8.7% of all tested systems.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the 4K Medium preset?

A: The minimum FPS for the 3840x2160 Medium preset is 67 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating a stable experience.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings depend on the user’s target resolution and frame rate preference. For 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the best choice, as it averages 68 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target and provides the highest visual quality. The High preset at 1080p averages 86 FPS, but the jump to Ultra only costs 18 FPS, making it a worthwhile upgrade for visual fidelity.

For 2560x1440, the High preset offers the best balance, averaging 72 FPS. While the Ultra preset is more visually demanding, its 57 FPS average falls just short of the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 101 FPS, but the visual quality reduction from High to Medium is significant, and the High preset still provides a smooth experience. Therefore, High is recommended for 1440p.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation, averaging 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS. The High preset at 4K averages 57 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, and the Ultra preset drops to 45 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The data shows that the Medium preset at 4K provides a high frame rate with a stable minimum, making it the best option for a 4K experience. The Low preset is not recommended, as the visual quality loss is substantial, and the Medium preset only costs 48 FPS less while offering much better graphics.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a high-end graphics card based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, featuring 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus with a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. Its boost clock is 2505 MHz, and it has 9728 shading units. The GPU’s benchmark scores are mixed, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 and a Passmark G3D score of 34457. Its percentile ranking of 86 against all GPUs confirms it is a top-tier card, but the data from The Medium shows that it is still challenged by the game’s rendering demands at high resolutions.

The GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for The Medium, as the game is not known for high memory usage, and the card’s 716.8 GB/s bandwidth provides ample data throughput. The performance scaling in the measured FPS data directly reflects the GPU’s workload. At 1080p, the card is underutilized, allowing the CPU to push frame rates to 145 FPS. At 1440p, the GPU begins to work harder, and the frame rate differences between presets widen. At 4K, the GPU is fully saturated, and the average frame rates drop to between 45 and 127 FPS depending on the preset.

The RTX 4080’s performance in this game shows that it is a powerful card, but not infallible. The 4K Ultra result of 45 FPS is a clear indication that even a high-end GPU from the 40-series will struggle with the most demanding settings in this title. The card’s Passmark DirectX 12 score of 132 and DirectX 11 score of 314 suggest that its API performance is not uniform, which may contribute to the inconsistent scaling across presets. Overall, the GPU is the defining component in this combo’s performance, with the CPU providing ample support until the graphical load becomes too heavy.