The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents an interesting stress profile for the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combination. The benchmark data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by its graphics card at higher resolutions, while demonstrating substantial headroom in the CPU. The measured frames per second (FPS) across the three tested resolutions show a clear narrative of GPU-bound performance at 4K, which transitions into a more balanced scenario at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K is a textbook demonstration of GPU limitation. At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 67 at 1920x1080 to 56 at 2560x1440, and finally to 44 at 3840x2160. This represents a 34% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K, which is a significant hit that points squarely at the Radeon RX 9070 XT as the primary bottleneck. The drop from 1440p to 4K is a further 21%, showing that the graphics card's rendering capabilities are being saturated as pixel count increases.

The Low preset tells an even more dramatic story. At 1080p, the system achieves 149 FPS, which drops to 126 at 1440p and then plummets to 99 at 4K. The 50 FPS gap between 1080p and 4K at Low settings is substantial, indicating that even when the graphical load is minimized, the GPU cannot keep pace with the CPU's output at higher resolutions. This is a clear sign that the RX 9070 XT, despite its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth, is the limiting factor in this pairing for The Medium.

The Medium preset, which includes min and max FPS data, shows a similar trend. At 1080p, the average is 93 FPS with a range of 79 to 107. Moving to 1440p, the average drops to 79 with a range of 67 to 90. At 4K, the average falls to 62 with a range of 53 to 71. The consistency of the frame pacing, as indicated by the relatively tight min-max ranges, suggests that the performance is stable rather than stuttering, but the overall trend is unmistakable: higher resolutions exact a heavy toll on this combo.

The Ultra preset is the most demanding, and the results are telling. At 1080p, the average is 53 FPS, which drops to 45 at 1440p and 35 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, confirming that this combination is not suited for maximum settings at the highest resolution. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 34% reduction, mirroring the High preset's pattern, which reinforces the conclusion that the GPU's raw throughput is the determining factor across all quality levels.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of tested hardware combinations, this pairing holds a specific position. The combo rank in The Medium is 857 out of 3724 tested combinations, placing it in the top 23% of all systems evaluated. This is a respectable position, but it is not at the very top tier, which aligns with the GPU's overall performance percentile. The Radeon RX 9070 XT sits at the 55th percentile when compared to all GPUs, indicating that it is a mid-to-upper range performer rather than a flagship.

The CPU, by contrast, is a much stronger component in relative terms. The Ryzen 9 9900X sits at the 92nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 57498. This puts it in the upper echelon of processors. The nearest rivals for the CPU include the AMD EPYC 9015, which has an average score of 57555 and a deltaPct of -0.1, meaning the 9900X is essentially tied with it. The Intel Core i9-14900 scores 58115, which is 1.1% higher, while the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M scores 58323, 1.4% higher. These are all extremely close margins, showing that the 9900X is competitive with top-tier server and desktop parts.

The discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's lower one is the key insight here. The combo's rank of 857 is dragged down by the graphics card, which is the weaker link in this pairing. In a game like The Medium, where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, the CPU's strength is largely untapped. The data suggests that this combo would rank significantly higher in CPU-bound scenarios, but for this specific title, the GPU holds it back from the top tiers.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture and features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. The memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s is substantial, which should help with texture streaming and high-resolution assets. However, the raw compute power appears to be the limiting factor. The GPU has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2970 MHz. The FP32 performance is rated at 48.66 TFLOPS, which is a solid figure but not exceptional for a high-end card.

In The Medium, the GPU's role is clearly dominant. The frame rate scaling with resolution, as detailed above, shows that the card's fill rate and shading capacity are being taxed heavily. The pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s are the specifications that determine how well the card can handle the game's fixed-camera scenes, which often feature complex lighting and shadow effects. The data indicates that at 4K, the card simply runs out of steam, particularly at Ultra settings where it averages only 35 FPS.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide additional context. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 7260, and in Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 65879. The PassMark G3D score is 26795, with a PassMark GPU Compute score of 15864. These numbers suggest a capable mid-range to upper-mid-range card. The nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database are somewhat unexpected, including the AMD Radeon HD 7770M and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, with deltaPct values of 0.1 and 0.2 respectively. This indicates that the RX 9070 XT's average benchmark score of 13543 is very close to these older cards, which is odd given the generational gap. This could be due to the specific benchmark weighting, but it does suggest that the card's raw compute performance is not as far ahead of older architectures as one might expect.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all tested settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 149 FPS, which is the highest result in the entire dataset. This is followed by Medium at 93 FPS, High at 67 FPS, and Ultra at 53 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 64% reduction in performance, which is a typical spread for a demanding title.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset drops to 126 FPS, Medium to 79 FPS, High to 56 FPS, and Ultra to 45 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at this resolution is also significant, at 64%, which matches the 1080p spread. This consistency suggests that the GPU's relative performance across settings is uniform, regardless of resolution. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a min of 67 and a max of 90, which gives a 23 FPS range, indicating some frame time variance but nothing problematic.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 99 FPS, Medium 62 FPS, High 44 FPS, and Ultra 35 FPS. The Low setting at 4K is interesting because it maintains a playable frame rate, while Ultra is not. The Medium preset at 4K has a min of 53 and a max of 71, which is a tighter range than at lower resolutions, suggesting that the GPU is more consistently loaded at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 64%, again matching the other resolutions, reinforcing the point that the GPU's scaling is linear with settings.

The data shows that the Medium preset is the only one with complete min and max data across all resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 28 FPS (79 to 107), at 1440p it is 23 FPS (67 to 90), and at 4K it is 18 FPS (53 to 71). This tightening of the range as resolution increases indicates that the GPU is becoming the sole bottleneck, reducing the impact of CPU-driven frame time spikes.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 64 MB L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive, particularly in multi-threaded workloads. In Cinebench R23, it scores 32172 in multi-core and 2253 in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 22174 in multi-core and 3010 in single-core. The 3DMark 16-thread score is 12552, and the max-thread score is 13929.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is less pronounced than the GPU's. The game is not heavily multi-threaded, and the 12 cores and 24 threads are likely underutilized. However, the high single-thread performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2253, is beneficial for the game's logic and scene management. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 149 FPS, which is likely close to the CPU's maximum frame output for this game. The fact that this score does not increase further at lower resolutions (there is no 720p data) suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough frames at this level.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its performance. The AMD EPYC 9015, Intel Core i9-14900, and Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M all have average scores within 1.4% of the 9900X. This cluster of scores around 57500 to 58300 indicates that the 9900X is at the top of the consumer desktop heap, but not uniquely so. The CPU's TDP of 120 W and its 4 nm process node from TSMC contribute to its efficiency, but in gaming, the headroom is not fully exploited.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this system for The Medium. At 1080p Low, the 149 FPS result is likely CPU-limited, but at all other settings and resolutions, the GPU is the constraining factor. The 12 cores and 24 threads provide ample processing power for background tasks and any CPU-intensive game mechanics, but the game's fixed-camera design and moderate CPU demands mean that the 9900X's capabilities are largely held in reserve.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combination depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset at 67 FPS is a solid choice for a smooth experience, but the Medium preset at 93 FPS offers a better balance of visual quality and performance. The Medium preset has a min FPS of 79, which ensures that there are no significant drops below 60 FPS. For players who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, the Low preset at 149 FPS is excessive, and the Medium preset is the sweet spot.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 79 FPS is the clear recommendation. It provides a high frame rate that is well above the 60 FPS threshold, with a min of 67 FPS that keeps the experience smooth. The High preset at 56 FPS is playable but not ideal, as it dips below 60 FPS on average. The Low preset at 126 FPS is unnecessary unless the player has a high-refresh-rate monitor, but the Medium preset offers a much better visual experience without sacrificing performance.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more challenging. The Medium preset at 62 FPS is the only setting that achieves a playable average frame rate above 60, with a min of 53 FPS. This is the recommended setting for 4K, as it balances visual quality with performance. The Low preset at 99 FPS is technically smoother, but the visual downgrade may not be worth it for a game like The Medium, which relies heavily on atmosphere and lighting. The High preset at 44 FPS and Ultra at 35 FPS are not recommended, as they fall below the 60 FPS threshold and will result in a less responsive experience.

In summary, the Medium preset is the best all-around choice for this system, providing 93 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p, and 62 FPS at 4K. This preset offers a good balance of visual fidelity and performance across all resolutions, making it the default recommendation. Players with high-refresh-rate monitors at 1080p or 1440p may prefer the High preset for better visuals, but for most users, Medium provides the most consistent and playable experience without requiring any compromises on resolution.