The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 presents a specific performance profile in The Medium, a horror title known for its fixed-camera angles and dual-reality rendering. This analysis draws exclusively from measured data to examine how this combination handles the game across resolutions and settings, placing the results within the broader context of 3,724 tested combos. The data reveals a configuration where the graphics card is the primary constraint, with the processor’s substantial headroom remaining largely untapped.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo can achieve in The Medium?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 84, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only setting level that pushes performance near the 90 FPS threshold, while all other configurations at this resolution stay at or below 52 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This specific combination of CPU and GPU ranks 2,904th out of 3,724 total combos tested for The Medium. This places it in the lower quartile of all tested systems, indicating that while playable at lower settings, it is not positioned for high-end performance in this title.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 71 on Low settings to 25 on Ultra settings. This represents a 46 FPS reduction, or a 64.8% decrease in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

Q: Does the RX 6600's 8 GB VRAM appear to be a limiting factor in the data?

A: The measured FPS data does not directly indicate VRAM capacity limitations. The consistent scaling pattern across settings suggests that raw GPU compute throughput, rather than memory capacity, is the primary factor driving performance differences, as even at 4K with High settings the card averages 25 FPS without reported outliers.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for Medium settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the measured minimum FPS is 44, with an average of 52 and a maximum of 60. This shows that the frame pacing is relatively stable, with a spread of 16 FPS between the minimum and maximum.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Ryzen 9 7900X has an average benchmark score of 53,288. Its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 7313P, scores 53,206, which is a 0.2% difference, making the performance essentially identical in synthetic CPU benchmarks.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is the decisive component in this configuration for The Medium. Its specifications, including a boost clock of 2491 MHz and a game clock of 2044 MHz, drive rendering, but the measured data shows that the card’s overall throughput is the bottleneck. The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the game’s assets at lower settings but becomes increasingly strained as resolution and quality increase.

The GPU’s architecture, RDNA 2.0, includes 28 ray tracing cores, though the measured FPS data does not isolate ray tracing performance. The data shows a clear pattern: at 1080p, the card manages an 84 FPS average on Low settings, but this drops to 37 FPS on High and 30 FPS on Ultra. This steep decline indicates that the card’s 8.928 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the limiting factor, not memory capacity, as the frame rate scales almost linearly with the graphical workload. At 4K, the card averages only 20 FPS on Ultra and 25 FPS on High, confirming that this GPU is not designed for high-resolution, high-detail rendering in this title. The GPU’s percentile rank against all GPUs is 63, aligning with its mid-range positioning.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 7900X and RX 6600 ranks 2,904th out of 3,724 tested combos in The Medium. This rank places the system in the bottom 22% of all configurations, indicating that it is not a recommended pairing for this game if aiming for high settings. The data implies that the CPU’s high performance is wasted in this context, as the GPU cannot translate the processor’s capabilities into higher frame rates. The combo’s rank is a direct consequence of the GPU’s performance ceiling; the CPU’s 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs does not boost the overall result.

For context, the CPU’s average benchmark score of 53,288 places it near the AMD EPYC 7313P (53,206) and Intel Xeon 634 (52,974). This shows the processor is a top-tier part, yet the combo’s in-game rank is low because the GPU’s average benchmark score of 19,036 is near the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (19,030) and Tesla K20m (19,089). The pairing of a high-end CPU with a mid-range GPU results in a system that is CPU-limited in synthetic tests but heavily GPU-limited in actual gameplay. The 3,724 total combos tested include many with more balanced or higher-end GPU pairings, which push this configuration down the rankings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 84 (Low), 52 (Medium), 37 (High), and 30 (Ultra). The Medium preset shows a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 60, indicating that most of the time the game runs within a playable range, though it can dip below 60. The Low preset at 1080p is the only configuration that achieves a clearly playable average above 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop to 71 (Low), 44 (Medium), 32 (High), and 25 (Ultra). The Medium preset at this resolution shows a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 51, meaning that even the best case scenario does not reach 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, the averages are 55 (Low), 35 (Medium), 25 (High), and 20 (Ultra). The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 29 FPS and a maximum of 40, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay in most cases. The data shows a consistent pattern where each quality tier reduces the average FPS by approximately 15-20% across all resolutions, with the Low preset always providing the highest frame rate by a significant margin.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU’s limitations. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 84 at 1080p to 71 at 1440p (a 15.5% decrease), and then to 55 at 4K (a 22.5% decrease from 1440p). This shows that even at the lowest quality, the GPU is struggling to maintain high frame rates as pixel count increases. The scaling is more severe at higher settings: at Ultra, the average drops from 30 at 1080p to 25 at 1440p (a 16.7% decrease), and then to 20 at 4K (a 20% decrease from 1440p).

This pattern indicates that the RX 6600 is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would remain more consistent across resolutions, as the CPU’s workload does not scale linearly with pixel count. Instead, the data shows that each resolution increase demands significantly more from the GPU, leading to proportional frame rate drops. The 1080p to 4K transition at Low settings results in a 29 FPS loss (from 84 to 55), which is a 34.5% reduction. This suggests that the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s and its compute units are saturated at higher resolutions, making the system unsuitable for 4K gaming in this title, even on Low settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a high-end processor with 12 cores and 24 threads, based on the Zen 4 architecture. Its base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz, combined with 64 MB of L3 cache, provide exceptional processing power. The CPU’s benchmark scores are impressive, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29,300 and a single-core score of 2,016.5. In the context of The Medium, however, this power is largely underutilized.

The game’s performance is clearly GPU-bound, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. The CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with data, and with a 12-core processor running at high clocks, there is no indication that the CPU is causing frame rate drops. The average FPS differences between settings are consistent, which would not be the case if the CPU were struggling to keep up. The CPU’s percentile rank of 91 against all CPUs confirms its high capability, but this does not translate to in-game performance gains because the GPU cannot render frames fast enough to benefit from the CPU’s speed. The CPU’s 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth is more than sufficient for the game’s needs, and the DDR5 support ensures low latency, but none of this overcomes the GPU’s fundamental throughput limits.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and acceptable frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Low preset is the only one that delivers a playable average of 84 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p, with an average of 52 FPS and a minimum of 44, is borderline playable but may experience noticeable stutters in demanding scenes. For a smoother experience at 1080p, players should stick to Low settings, as the jump to Medium costs 32 FPS on average.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only viable option, with an average of 71 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 44 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for most players. For those who prioritize visual quality over frame rate, the Medium preset at 1440p might be acceptable, but the data suggests that Low is the recommended choice for consistent performance. At 3840x2160, none of the presets achieve a playable average FPS, with the highest being 55 on Low. This resolution is not recommended for this combo in The Medium, as even the lowest settings result in a sub-60 FPS experience.

The data indicates that the best overall experience is achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings, yielding an 84 FPS average. If a player has a 1440p monitor, the Low preset at 71 FPS is the recommended choice. For those willing to accept lower frame rates for better visuals, the Medium preset at 1080p offers a balanced experience, but the minimum FPS of 44 suggests potential dips below the playable threshold. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it results in an average FPS below 30 across all tested resolutions, making the game feel sluggish and unresponsive.