The Medium

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile occupies the 2285th position out of 3724 tested combinations in The Medium. This places the combo in the lower-middle tier of the database, roughly at the 61st percentile of all tested systems. The ranking reflects a pairing where the CPU is exceptionally strong but the GPU holds the combo back in this particular title.

The processor itself sits in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 76212. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX at 76155 (0.1% behind), the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P at 76492 (0.4% ahead), and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D at 75779 (0.6% behind). These deltas are negligible, meaning the 8945HX is effectively at parity with the fastest desktop-class processors in synthetic workloads.

The GPU, by contrast, sits in the 67th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 22729. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 at 22895 (0.7% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT at 22549 (0.8% behind), and the Intel Arc B580 at 23021 (1.3% ahead). The RTX 4060 Mobile is thus competitive with desktop GPUs from a previous generation, but that does not translate into top-tier performance in The Medium.

The disparity between CPU and GPU percentiles explains the combo's middling rank. The 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread Zen 4 part with a 5.40 GHz boost clock, while the RTX 4060 Mobile is a 115 W mobile GPU with 8 GB of VRAM. In a game like The Medium, which appears to rely heavily on GPU throughput, the combo's overall standing is constrained by the graphics card rather than the processor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile is built on the AD107 chip using TSMC's 5 nm process, with 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die. It operates at a base clock of 1545 MHz and a boost clock of 1890 MHz, with memory clocked at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The GPU has 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, along with 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores.

Memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. This is a modest memory subsystem for a game like The Medium, which is a horror title known for its dual-world rendering mechanics. The pixel rate is 90.72 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 181.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 11.61 TFLOPS. The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

In The Medium, the measured FPS data shows clear GPU-bound behavior. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 97 FPS average; at High settings, this drops to 43 FPS; at Ultra, it falls to 34 FPS. The pattern repeats at 1440p and 4K, with the GPU becoming the limiting factor as resolution increases. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's textures at most settings, but the 128-bit bus and 256 GB/s bandwidth constrain performance at higher resolutions.

The GPU's 67th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it slightly below the RTX 2080 desktop part, which is notable given the 4060 Mobile's newer architecture. The 0.7% deficit to the RTX 2080 in average benchmark score suggests that the mobile power envelope limits the Ada Lovelace architecture's potential in sustained workloads.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems in The Medium?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX with RTX 4060 Mobile ranks 2285th out of 3724 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The 8945HX scores 76212 on average, with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX at 76155 (0.1% lower), the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P at 76492 (0.4% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D at 75779 (0.6% lower).

Q: What is the GPU's benchmark percentile and how does it compare to desktop rivals?

A: The RTX 4060 Mobile sits in the 67th percentile of all GPUs with an average score of 22729. It trails the RTX 2080 by 0.7%, leads the RX 7700 XT by 0.8%, and trails the Arc B580 by 1.3%.

Q: What is the best measured FPS at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS at 1920x1080 is 97 FPS with Low settings. Medium settings yield 60 FPS, High yields 43 FPS, and Ultra yields 34 FPS.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo achieve 60 FPS or higher?

A: The combo achieves 60 FPS or higher at 1080p Medium (60 FPS) and 1080p Low (97 FPS), as well as 1440p Low (81 FPS) and 4K Low (64 FPS).

Q: How much FPS does the combo lose when moving from Low to Ultra at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings produce 64 FPS average, while Ultra produces 23 FPS average. This represents a 41 FPS drop, or approximately 64% lower performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 97 FPS average on Low settings, 60 FPS on Medium, 43 FPS on High, and 34 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 69 FPS, indicating some frame-time variance but generally stable performance. The jump from Low to Medium costs 37 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs 17 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 9 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues with 81 FPS on Low, 51 FPS on Medium, 36 FPS on High, and 29 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at this resolution shows a minimum of 43 FPS and a maximum of 59 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 30 FPS drop, Medium to High is 15 FPS, and High to Ultra is 7 FPS. Notably, the delta between High and Ultra narrows as resolution increases, suggesting diminishing returns from the GPU's shading resources.

At 3840x2160, the combo produces 64 FPS on Low, 40 FPS on Medium, 29 FPS on High, and 23 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS, which is the only 4K preset with recorded min/max values. The 4K Low result of 64 FPS is remarkable because it exceeds the 1440p High result of 36 FPS by a wide margin, demonstrating that the game's settings have a larger impact on performance than resolution alone.

The overall trend shows that the combo is playable at 1080p Medium (60 FPS), but drops below 60 FPS at 1080p High (43 FPS). At 1440p, only Low settings maintain 60+ FPS. At 4K, Low settings yield 64 FPS, but every other preset falls below 40 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 23 FPS is effectively unplayable, while 4K High at 29 FPS and 4K Medium at 40 FPS are marginal.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Dragon Range. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a TDP of 55 W. The CPU features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 64 MB of L3 cache. Memory support includes DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s.

Synthetic benchmarks show the CPU's strengths: Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42713, R20 multicore of 17939, and R15 multicore of 4305. Single-core results are 6030 (R23), 2532 (R20), and 607 (R15). PassMark multithread score is 51405, with single-thread at 3907. The processor sits in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 76212.

In The Medium, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS data shows that the combo's performance scales primarily with resolution and settings, which are GPU-bound variables. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 97 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's frame delivery limit for this title, but the game is not heavily CPU-threaded. The 16 cores and 32 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks and any CPU-side physics or AI, but the horror genre typically does not stress multi-core CPUs as much as simulation or strategy titles.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores are all within 0.6% of its average, indicating that the 8945HX is among the fastest mobile processors available. However, this CPU strength does not boost the combo's rank in The Medium because the game's performance ceiling is set by the RTX 4060 Mobile. The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a stronger GPU would yield significantly better results, but the current configuration is limited by the graphics subsystem.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the display resolution and target frame rate.

At 1920x1080, Medium settings provide exactly 60 FPS average, which is the standard target for smooth gameplay. The minimum of 51 FPS indicates occasional dips below 60, but the experience remains playable. Low settings at 97 FPS are smoother but sacrifice visual quality. High settings at 43 FPS and Ultra at 34 FPS are not recommended for action sequences, as the frame rates fall below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, Low settings at 81 FPS are the only option that maintains 60+ FPS. Medium at 51 FPS is borderline, with a minimum of 43 FPS that could cause noticeable stutter during intense scenes. High at 36 FPS and Ultra at 29 FPS are not suitable for a horror game where smooth camera movement is essential for atmosphere.

At 3840x2160, Low settings at 64 FPS are surprisingly viable, though visual fidelity suffers. Medium at 40 FPS, High at 29 FPS, and Ultra at 23 FPS all fall below playable thresholds. The 4K Low result is the only 4K preset that clears 60 FPS, making it the sole recommendation for 4K displays.

The data indicates that Medium settings at 1080p offer the best balance of visual quality and performance, with 60 FPS average and a 51-69 FPS range. For 1440p users, Low settings are necessary for smooth gameplay, while 4K users should either accept Low settings at 64 FPS or drop to 1440p for better visual fidelity. The 4K Ultra preset at 23 FPS is effectively a slideshow and should be avoided.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals how the combo scales with resolution. At Low settings, 1080p yields 97 FPS, 1440p yields 81 FPS, and 4K yields 64 FPS. This represents a 33 FPS drop from 1080p to 4K, or approximately 34% lower performance. At Medium settings, 1080p produces 60 FPS, 1440p produces 51 FPS, and 4K produces 40 FPS — a 20 FPS drop (33%). At High settings, 1080p gives 43 FPS, 1440p gives 36 FPS, and 4K gives 29 FPS — a 14 FPS drop (33%). At Ultra settings, 1080p yields 34 FPS, 1440p yields 29 FPS, and 4K yields 23 FPS — an 11 FPS drop (32%).

The consistent ~33% performance reduction from 1080p to 4K across all settings suggests that the GPU is the limiting component throughout. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the scaling would be less linear, with smaller FPS drops at higher resolutions where the GPU is more stressed. The near-constant percentage drop indicates that the RTX 4060 Mobile's compute and memory bandwidth are being fully utilized at every resolution.

The resolution scaling also shows that the GPU's 128-bit memory bus and 256 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for high-resolution textures. The 8 GB VRAM is adequate, but the bandwidth limitation becomes more pronounced at 4K, where the 64 FPS Low result still requires significant memory traffic. The 4K Ultra result of 23 FPS suggests that the GPU's shading units (3072) are overwhelmed by the game's dual-world rendering at maximum settings.

The data confirms that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p viable only at Low settings. The 4K results are marginal at best, with only Low settings crossing the 60 FPS threshold. The consistent ~33% scaling penalty from 1080p to 4K indicates that the GPU is the primary constraint, and users should prioritize resolution over settings when using this configuration.