The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT pairing in The Medium shows a configuration where the graphics card is the definitive performance ceiling across all tested resolutions. The data reveals a system that is consistently GPU-bound, with the CPU's substantial multi-threaded capabilities providing ample headroom that the Radeon GPU cannot fully utilize at higher settings. This results in a playable experience at 1080p and 1440p with settings tuned to Medium or below, while 4K demands significant compromises to maintain smooth frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets, confirming that the RX 6750 XT is the limiting component in this configuration. At Medium settings, the average frame rate falls from 71.1 FPS at 1920x1080 to 61.9 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 13%. The drop becomes far more severe when moving to 3840x2160, where the average plummets to 47.3 FPS, representing a 34% decrease from the 1080p result. This pattern intensifies at High settings, where the transition from 1080p (52.3 FPS) to 1440p (45.6 FPS) shows a 13% loss, but the jump to 4K (32.6 FPS) marks a 38% decline from the 1080p baseline.

The scaling behavior at Ultra settings tells a similar story but from a lower starting point. The 1080p Ultra average of 38.7 FPS drops to 32.1 FPS at 1440p, a 17% reduction, and then to 29.9 FPS at 4K, which is a 23% loss from 1080p. Interestingly, the Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling curve, with 114.4 FPS at 1080p falling to 99.1 FPS at 1440p (-13%) and then to 73.3 FPS at 4K (-36%). The consistent pattern of roughly 13-17% losses between 1080p and 1440p followed by 23-38% losses between 1440p and 4K indicates that pixel throughput demands are rapidly outpacing what the GPU can deliver as resolution increases. The CPU is not the bottleneck here; its performance headroom is evident from the fact that even at 1080p Low, the system only reaches 114.4 FPS, which is far below what the Ryzen 9 9900X could theoretically support.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is the defining performance factor in this benchmark set. With 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has sufficient memory capacity for The Medium's assets at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results suggest that memory bandwidth becomes a constraint. The GPU's boost clock of 2600 MHz and game clock of 2495 MHz provide the raw compute throughput, but the 13.31 TFLOPS FP32 performance is simply not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K with demanding settings. The card's 40 RT cores are present but do not appear to provide a meaningful advantage in this title, as the Ultra preset results of 29.9 FPS at 4K and 38.7 FPS at 1080p indicate the rasterization pipeline is the primary bottleneck.

The RX 6750 XT's 79th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the upper-midrange tier, but its nearest rivals in the benchmark database show tight competition. The data shows the card is within 1.3% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080's average score, and it sits just 0.2% above the AMD Radeon RX 5600M. This narrow margin of difference means that in The Medium, the RX 6750 XT performs as expected for its class: capable at lower resolutions, but struggling to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with High or Ultra settings. The 64 ROPs and 160 TMUs provide adequate fill rates for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results of 32.6 FPS at High and 29.9 FPS at Ultra demonstrate that the card cannot keep up with the pixel and texture demands of this horror title at that resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is vastly overqualified for the demands of The Medium at the settings and resolutions tested. With 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, the CPU delivers a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 46438 and a single-core score of 6555, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. The benchmark results show that even at the most CPU-intensive scenario in this test set — 1080p Low — the system only reaches 114.4 FPS, which is far below the CPU's potential frame generation capability. The CPU's base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz provide exceptional single-threaded performance, but this game does not appear to create a scenario where the CPU becomes the limiting factor.

The nearest rival comparisons reinforce this conclusion. The Ryzen 9 9900X sits within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D's average benchmark score and is 1.5% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, yet these differences have no measurable impact on The Medium's frame rates because the GPU is always the constraint. The CPU's 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 4 nm process node provide efficient data access, but the game's performance is dictated by the GPU's rendering capabilities. In practical terms, pairing this CPU with a more powerful GPU would yield significantly higher frame rates in The Medium, but with the RX 6750 XT, the CPU remains idle for most of the frame time.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined configuration of the Ryzen 9 9900X and RX 6750 XT ranks at position 843 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 50th percentile of all tested system pairings. This mid-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the CPU's top-tier 94th percentile standing, but it makes sense when considering the GPU's 79th percentile position. The combo rank is dragged down by the GPU's relative weakness compared to the CPU's strength, as the game is clearly GPU-bound. The ranking suggests that there are 846 other tested combinations that achieve higher average frame rates in this title, most of which likely pair a less powerful CPU with a more powerful GPU.

The delta between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's mid-pack ranking highlights an imbalance in this pairing for The Medium. The data indicates that a more balanced configuration, perhaps with a mid-range CPU and a higher-end GPU, would achieve a better combo rank. However, for users who prioritize other games or workloads that benefit from the Ryzen 9 9900X's 24-thread capability, this pairing still delivers a playable experience at 1080p and 1440p with appropriate settings. The combo rank of 843 out of 1689 is not a failure, but it clearly shows that the GPU is the performance limiter in this specific game.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Only at Low settings, where the average is 73.3 FPS. At Medium settings, the average drops to 47.3 FPS, and at High and Ultra, the averages fall to 32.6 FPS and 29.9 FPS respectively, which are below the commonly accepted 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Medium?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 provides the most consistent performance across all settings. At Medium settings, the system achieves 71.1 FPS, and at Low settings, it reaches 114.4 FPS, both of which are smooth. The 2560x1440 resolution is also viable at Medium settings with 61.9 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 6750 XT compare to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database?

A: The RX 6750 XT's average benchmark score is 35327, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5600M and 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080. It sits 0.3% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile and 0.9% below the AMD Radeon 880M.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X bottlenecking the GPU in this game?

A: No. The benchmark results show that the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions and settings. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 46438 and 94th percentile ranking indicate it has far more performance headroom than the RX 6750 XT can utilize.

Q: What settings preset provides the best balance of visual quality and performance at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers 61.9 FPS, which is the highest average among the presets that maintain a playable frame rate at this resolution. The High preset drops to 45.6 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 32.1 FPS.

Q: What is the maximum frame rate achieved by this configuration?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 114.4 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At 2560x1440 Low, the average is 99.1 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, the average is 73.3 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience with this hardware in The Medium, the Medium settings preset at 1920x1080 is the optimal choice. It delivers an average of 71.1 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while providing substantially better visual quality than the Low preset. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is also recommended, achieving 61.9 FPS, which remains playable, but users seeking a more consistent frame rate should consider dropping to 1920x1080. The High preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it produces averages of 52.3 FPS at 1080p, 45.6 FPS at 1440p, and 32.6 FPS at 4K, all of which fall below the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it achieves 38.7 FPS, but this is still below the playable threshold and not worth the visual fidelity trade-off. For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 73.3 FPS is the only playable option, but the significant visual downgrade makes 1440p Medium a more balanced choice.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this configuration is as follows. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 114.4 FPS on Low, 71.1 FPS on Medium, 52.3 FPS on High, and 38.7 FPS on Ultra. At 2560x1440, the averages are 99.1 FPS on Low, 61.9 FPS on Medium, 45.6 FPS on High, and 32.1 FPS on Ultra. At 3840x2160, the averages are 73.3 FPS on Low, 47.3 FPS on Medium, 32.6 FPS on High, and 29.9 FPS on Ultra. The data shows a clear progression where each settings tier costs approximately 20-30% of the frame rate, and each resolution step costs an additional 15-35% depending on the settings preset. The most significant performance cliff appears between 1440p and 4K at Medium and High settings, where the frame rate drops by approximately 24% and 29% respectively, indicating the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources become saturated at 4K.