The Medium

The Medium presents a fascinating stress test for the pairing of AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 7900X processor with NVIDIA's older GeForce GTX 1070. The data reveals a system where a modern, high-core-count CPU is severely hamstrung by a GPU architecture from a previous era. The benchmark results clearly show that the GeForce GTX 1070 is the primary bottleneck, struggling to maintain playable frame rates at higher resolutions and settings, regardless of the immense processing power available from the Ryzen 9 7900X.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across the three resolutions paint a stark picture of GPU-bound performance. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 75 FPS. This is the highest performance point in the entire dataset, suggesting that only at this minimal load can the GTX 1070 begin to stretch its legs. Moving to 1440p on the same Low settings sees a drop to 63 FPS, a 16% decrease. At 4K, the Low preset yields 50 FPS, which is a 33.3% reduction from the 1440p figure.

This scaling pattern is classic behavior for a GPU that is hitting its pixel throughput and memory bandwidth limits. The GTX 1070 features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s. As the resolution increases, the demand on this memory subsystem and the GPU's ROPs (64 in this case) grows exponentially, leading to the observed performance collapse. The fact that the Ryzen 9 7900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, can't mitigate this drop is telling. The CPU is not the limiting factor here.

The situation becomes more extreme when looking at the higher quality presets. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 28 FPS (from 75 to 47). The jump from Medium to High is another 13 FPS (from 47 to 34). The drop from High to Ultra is a further 7 FPS (from 34 to 27). At 4K, the Ultra preset drags the average down to 18 FPS, which is unplayable. This indicates that the GTX 1070's compute units (1920 shading units) are being saturated by the increasing shader complexity of The Medium, making resolution scaling a secondary concern to the settings preset. The data implies that for this combo, the choice of settings has a more profound impact on playability than the choice of resolution.

FAQ

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X a bottleneck for the GTX 1070 in The Medium?

A: No. The data shows the opposite is true. The performance ceiling is set by the GPU. For instance, at 1080p Low, the combo hits 75 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it falls to 18 FPS. This massive drop is due to the GPU's rendering load, not CPU limitation, as the Ryzen 9 7900X has ample multi-threaded performance (a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29300).

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve a smooth framerate?

A: According to the measured data, 1080p is the only viable resolution for a consistently smooth experience. At 1080p Low, the average is 75 FPS, and at 1080p Medium, it is 47 FPS. The 1440p and 4K results are either too close to or below the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable play.

Q: How does the GTX 1070's performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The GTX 1070 has an average benchmark score of 9780. Its nearest rival, the AMD FirePro W5000, scores 9803, putting the GTX 1070 just 0.2% behind. It also sits 0.5% behind the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (score 9832) and 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M10 (score 9724). These are very tight margins, indicating the GPU is performing within its expected range.

Q: Does lowering the resolution from 1440p to 1080p provide a significant performance boost?

A: Yes, the data confirms a substantial improvement. On Low settings, moving from 1440p (63 FPS) to 1080p (75 FPS) provides a 12 FPS increase. On High settings, the jump is from 28 FPS to 34 FPS. The most significant gain is seen at Medium settings, where 1080p (47 FPS) is 7 FPS higher than 1440p (40 FPS).

Q: Is the GTX 1070's 8GB of VRAM sufficient for The Medium at 4K?

A: The frame rate data suggests it is insufficient for a playable experience. At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 31, and at High, it drops to 22. While the data does not include VRAM usage, the severe performance degradation at 4K suggests the GPU is struggling with the memory and bandwidth demands of the resolution, a conclusion supported by its 256.3 GB/s memory bandwidth.

Q: How does this specific system combination rank among all tested?

A: The combo of the Ryzen 9 7900X and GTX 1070 ranks 3082nd out of 3724 tested combinations for this game. This places it in the lower percentile of systems, highlighting that this pairing is not well-suited for the demands of The Medium.

How This Combo Ranks

The overall system combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 3082nd out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This is a low ranking, placing the system in the bottom 17% of all tested hardware pairings. This poor standing is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's performance. The Ryzen 9 7900X is a top-tier processor, ranking in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53288. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7313P (0.2% higher score) and the Intel Core i7-14700F (0.6% lower score), showing it is a high-performing chip.

In contrast, the GTX 1070's percentile ranking is much lower, sitting in the 47th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 9780 places it in the middle of the pack, just behind the AMD FirePro W5000. This massive disparity between the CPU's high standing and the GPU's mid-range standing creates an imbalanced system. The data implies that the system is held back by the graphics card, a conclusion reinforced by the measured frame rates. The CPU is providing a platform capable of high performance, but it is never given a chance to shine, as the GPU is consistently the limiting factor in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look into this system's capabilities. At 1080p, the combo delivers its best results. With Low settings, it achieves an average of 75 FPS. The Medium preset sees a significant drop to 47 FPS, with a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 54. High settings yield an average of 34 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, bringing the average down to 27 FPS. This shows that even at the lowest resolution, the GTX 1070 cannot handle the highest quality presets.

Moving up to 1440p, the performance takes a clear hit across all settings. The Low preset averages 63 FPS, which is still playable. The Medium preset averages 40 FPS (min 34, max 45), which is bordering on unplayable for a smooth experience. High settings drop to an average of 28 FPS. At Ultra, the system manages only 22 FPS on average. This resolution demonstrates a clear trend: the GTX 1070 begins to struggle significantly as the pixel count increases.

At 4K (3840x2160), the system is unable to provide a playable experience for most presets. The Low setting is the only one that comes close, with an average of 50 FPS. The Medium preset averages 31 FPS (min 26, max 36). The High preset falls to 22 FPS, and the Ultra preset brings the system to its knees with an average of just 18 FPS. This data confirms that 4K is beyond the practical capabilities of this GPU for this specific game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the determining factor in this system's performance. Based on the Pascal architecture, it features 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its performance is characterized by a base clock of 1506 MHz and a boost clock of 1683 MHz. The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s. These specifications, while capable for their time, are the bottleneck in this pairing.

The benchmark data clearly illustrates this. The GPU's percentile rank is 47, and its average benchmark score is 9780. This makes it a middle-of-the-road performer in the database, just 0.2% slower than the AMD FirePro W5000 (avg score 9803). In The Medium, the impact of this mid-range performance is severe. The dramatic FPS drops from 1080p to 4K at the same settings are a direct result of the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute limitations. For example, on High settings, the FPS drops from 34 at 1080p to 28 at 1440p, and then to 22 at 4K. The data suggests that the GTX 1070 is simply overwhelmed by the game's rendering requirements at higher resolutions, making it the clear weak link in this configuration.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is an exceptionally powerful processor that is vastly underutilized in this configuration. It boasts 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its benchmark scores are impressive, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29300 and a Geekbench multicore score of 19267. The processor ranks in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a top-tier performer.

However, the measured FPS in The Medium shows that this CPU power is not being translated into higher frame rates. The data suggests that the CPU is never the limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low, where the combo achieves its highest FPS of 75, the CPU is likely waiting for the GPU to finish rendering. The massive difference in performance between the CPU and GPU, highlighted by the CPU's 91st percentile ranking versus the GPU's 47th percentile, means that the Ryzen 9 7900X is effectively idle, waiting on the GTX 1070. The 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth are more than sufficient to feed the GPU, but the GPU's own 256.3 GB/s memory bandwidth is the constraining factor. In this game, the CPU's role is to simply not get in the way, and it fulfills this role perfectly, but it cannot compensate for the GPU's shortcomings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combo is at the 1080p Low preset. This configuration delivers an average of 75 FPS, providing a smooth and responsive gameplay experience. For players who desire higher visual fidelity, the 1080p Medium preset is the next best option, averaging 47 FPS. While not as fluid as 75 FPS, it is still a playable frame rate and offers a significant improvement in visual quality over Low.

The data strongly advises against using the High or Ultra presets at any resolution. At 1080p, High yields 34 FPS and Ultra yields 27 FPS, which are likely to feel stuttery. At 1440p and above, these presets become even less viable, with Ultra at 1440p averaging only 22 FPS and at 4K dropping to a slideshow-like 18 FPS. For the best balance, a user could consider the 1440p Medium preset, which averages 40 FPS, or the 4K Low preset, which averages 50 FPS. However, given the game's horror genre and the need for smooth motion, the 1080p Medium preset appears to be the best compromise for a playable experience without sacrificing all visual quality, as it maintains a frame rate above the 40s with a minimum measured of 40 FPS.