The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents a unique challenge for the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 combination. The data reveals a system where a top-tier 12-core processor is paired with an entry-level graphics card, resulting in a severe bottleneck that dictates every performance outcome. The benchmark results show a component pairing that is fundamentally mismatched for this game, with the GPU consistently struggling to maintain playable framerates at most settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data clearly indicates that the "Low" settings preset is the only viable configuration for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 43.1 FPS, which is the only result across all tested resolutions and settings that approaches a smooth experience. The next closest option, Medium at 1080p, drops to 30.2 FPS, a 30% decrease that will be noticeable in a horror game where consistent frame pacing is crucial for atmosphere.

The scaling from Low to Medium at 1080p demonstrates a steep performance cost for modest visual gains. The 43.1 FPS at Low drops by 12.9 frames to 30.2 FPS at Medium, while High settings fall further to 20.6 FPS. Ultra settings at 1080p yield a disappointing 17 FPS, which is nearly unplayable for this genre. The data suggests that even the Low preset is not a comfortable margin; it sits barely above the 60 FPS threshold that many players prefer, but it is the only option that keeps the game responsive.

At higher resolutions, the situation deteriorates rapidly. At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 39.7 FPS, which is a 7.9% drop from 1080p and already below the 40 FPS mark. The 3840x2160 Low setting falls to 31.8 FPS, which is only marginally better than the 1080p Medium result. For the best experience, users should select Low at 1080p and consider lowering the resolution further if they desire higher framerates, as the data shows no other preset offers a playable experience.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its benchmark scores are exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 43695 and a single-core score of 6168. This CPU sits in the 93rd percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 50556, placing it just 0.1% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT.

Despite this immense processing power, the game's results are not limited by the CPU. The benchmark data shows that the GPU is the sole bottleneck. The 7900X's 3DMark scores, including 1093 single-thread and 12536 max-threads, indicate that it can handle any game logic or draw call processing The Medium requires. The game's fixed-camera design likely reduces CPU load compared to open-world titles, meaning the processor is largely idle while waiting for the GPU.

The CPU's large L3 cache of 64 MB shared and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for this title. The processor's performance headroom is so vast that its role in this pairing is essentially neutral; it neither helps nor hinders the final framerate. The data implies that swapping this CPU for a much weaker model would have negligible impact on the measured FPS, as the GPU's 4 GB VRAM and limited compute resources are the definitive limiting factors.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is the primary constraint in this system. This Turing-architecture GPU features 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with a base clock of 1485 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz. Its memory configuration is a critical weakness: 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus providing 128.1 GB/s bandwidth. This is insufficient for modern horror games that stream high-resolution textures.

The GPU's benchmark results illustrate its modest capabilities. It scores 7880 in Passmark G3D and 35 in Passmark DirectX 12, placing it in the 43rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile (0.4% faster) and the AMD Radeon 550X (0.4% faster), showing it sits at the bottom of the performance ladder. The 4 GB VRAM is the likely culprit for the severe framerate drops at higher settings, as Ultra presets likely exceed this memory capacity, causing texture thrashing.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 2.984 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s are simply too low for The Medium's rendering demands. The data shows that at 1080p Ultra, the card produces only 17 FPS, while at 4K Ultra it falls to 7.4 FPS. The GTX 1650's lack of dedicated ray tracing cores (null in the specifications) and tensor cores means it cannot offload any of the advanced rendering features, making it a poor match for a game that uses volumetric lighting and dual-reality rendering.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing ranks 1642 out of 1689 combos, placing it in the bottom 3% of all systems tested with The Medium. This rank reflects the profound imbalance of pairing a 93rd-percentile CPU with a 43rd-percentile GPU. The combo's position is not surprising given the measured FPS data, which shows that most other hardware pairings would outperform it.

The rank implies that the overwhelming majority of tested systems, including those with much weaker CPUs, achieve better results in this game. This is because The Medium is heavily GPU-bound, and the GTX 1650's performance ceiling is far below what the 7900X can feed it. The data suggests that the CPU is effectively wasted in this configuration, contributing almost nothing to the gaming experience while the GPU struggles.

This ranking also highlights a practical issue: users with this combo are experiencing the worst of both worlds. They paid for a high-end processor's cost (though not mentioned here, the launch MSRP is $549) but receive framerates typical of a low-end system. The combo rank of 1642 out of 1689 is a clear indicator that this is one of the least effective pairings for this title, and any upgrade path would require replacing the GPU entirely.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals the GPU's limitations with stark clarity. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops by 11.4% at Low settings (from 43.1 to 39.7), and from 1440p to 2160p, it drops another 19.9% (from 39.7 to 31.8). This scaling pattern shows that the GPU is already near its memory and compute limits even at 1080p, and each resolution increase disproportionately impacts performance.

At Medium settings, the scaling is even more dramatic. The 1080p result of 30.2 FPS falls to 20.5 FPS at 1440p (a 32.1% drop) and then to 18 FPS at 4K (a further 12.2% drop). This non-linear scaling suggests that the 4 GB VRAM is overflowing at 1440p Medium, causing the card to swap textures and drastically reducing throughput. The High settings show a similar pattern: 20.6 FPS at 1080p drops to 13.6 FPS at 1440p and 11.4 FPS at 4K.

The most telling data point is at Ultra settings. The 1080p result of 17 FPS falls to 12.3 FPS at 1440p and then to 7.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is 56.5% lower than 1080p Ultra, indicating that the GPU is completely overwhelmed. This scaling analysis confirms that the GTX 1650 is the limiting component, as a CPU-bound scenario would show much smaller FPS differences across resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings produces a clear hierarchy. Low achieves 43.1 FPS, Medium drops to 30.2 FPS, High falls to 20.6 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 17 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 12.9 frames, while the gap between High and Ultra is only 3.6 frames, suggesting diminishing returns at the higher end.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low produces 39.7 FPS, Medium 20.5 FPS, High 13.6 FPS, and Ultra 12.3 FPS. The Medium-to-High drop here is 6.9 frames, which is proportionally larger than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is struggling to maintain even medium-quality rendering at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results are mostly unplayable. Low yields 31.8 FPS, Medium 18 FPS, High 11.4 FPS, and Ultra 7.4 FPS. The 4K Low result is interesting because it is higher than 1440p Medium, showing that the game's Low preset reduces texture quality enough to stay within the VRAM limit, while Medium at lower resolutions does not. The data shows that no resolution offers a consistent 60 FPS experience, and only 1080p Low comes close with 43.1 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this CPU and GPU combo?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 is the only configuration that provides a playable experience, achieving an average of 43.1 FPS. All other presets at this resolution fall below 31 FPS, and higher resolutions degrade performance further.

Q: Why does the Ryzen 9 7900X not improve the framerate?

A: The data shows that the GTX 1650 is the bottleneck. The CPU's 3DMark max-threads score of 12536 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 43695 are far beyond the demands of this game, so the GPU's 4 GB VRAM and 2.984 TFLOPS performance limit the results.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 1642 out of 1689 combos, placing it in the bottom 3% of all systems. This is due to the severe GPU bottleneck, as the 7900X is in the 93rd percentile of CPUs while the GTX 1650 is in the 43rd percentile of GPUs.

Q: Is 4K gaming possible with this setup?

A: The measured data shows that 4K Low achieves 31.8 FPS, while 4K Medium is 18 FPS and 4K Ultra is 7.4 FPS. Only the Low preset is marginally playable, but it is far from a smooth experience.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: The 1080p Low preset achieves 43.1 FPS, while Ultra drops to 17 FPS. This represents a 60.6% reduction in performance, showing that the GPU cannot handle the higher preset's rendering demands.

Q: Does the GPU's 4 GB VRAM cause issues?

A: Yes, the data suggests so. The dramatic FPS drops from Medium to High settings at 1440p (20.5 to 13.6 FPS) and the non-linear scaling across resolutions indicate that the 4 GB GDDR5 memory is insufficient for the game's texture streaming.