The Medium

The Medium presents a severe stress test for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, even when paired with the high-end AMD Ryzen 9 9900X. The benchmark data reveals a system where the graphics card is the definitive bottleneck across all tested resolutions, with the CPU’s substantial processing power providing little relief at higher settings. This combination, while capable at lower presets, struggles to maintain playable frame rates under the game’s demanding visual load.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is stark, confirming that the RTX 2060 is the limiting component. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 86.1 FPS at 1920x1080 to 72.5 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of roughly 16%. The gap widens considerably when moving to 4K, where the average plummets to 57.4 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU’s raw throughput is being saturated as pixel count increases, with the CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads rarely being the constraining factor.

The trend becomes more pronounced at higher graphical presets. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 37 FPS at 1080p to 31.5 FPS at 1440p, and then to 27.9 FPS at 4K. The incremental penalty for each resolution step is relatively modest, which suggests the game is heavily dependent on the GPU’s shading and texture units rather than CPU-bound logic. At Ultra settings, the situation becomes critical: the average frame rate falls from 30.9 FPS at 1080p to 25.2 FPS at 1440p, and finally to a slideshow-like 17.9 FPS at 4K.

The data shows that resolution scaling is not linear, but the GPU is clearly the primary bottleneck. The Ryzen 9 9900X, with its high single-thread score of 1286 in 3DMark and Cinebench R23 single-core result of 6555, is more than capable of feeding frames to the GPU. The fact that the frame rate drops significantly at 4K on every preset proves that the RTX 2060’s 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and its 192-bit bus are being overwhelmed, not the CPU’s processing capabilities.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060’s role in this pairing is defined by its memory capacity and clock speeds. With 6 GB of VRAM and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, the card is a Turing-architecture part that is now several generations old. Its 336.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth is a critical limitation in a game like The Medium, which is known for its high-resolution textures and dual-world rendering sequences.

The benchmark results highlight a significant cliff between Medium and High settings. At 1080p, the average FPS drops from 51.9 on Medium to 37 on High, a 29% reduction. At 4K, the same settings change results in a drop from 35.5 FPS to 27.9 FPS. This suggests that the High preset likely requires more than 6 GB of VRAM, forcing the card to rely on system memory over the PCIe bus, which cripples performance. The card’s 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs are not sufficient to handle the increased texture complexity and post-processing effects at higher presets without a severe penalty.

The GPU’s compute capabilities, measured at 6.451 TFLOPS FP32, are also a factor. The Medium uses ray-traced reflections and audio occlusion, which places a heavy load on the RT cores. With only 30 RT cores, the card struggles to maintain smooth frame rates. The data confirms that the RTX 2060 is a capable 1080p card for this title, but only when settings are kept to Medium or below. At 1440p, the card’s limitations become apparent, and at 4K, it is only viable on the Low preset, where it manages an average of 57.4 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested configurations, this CPU-GPU pairing lands in a mediocre position. The combo ranks 1351 out of 1689 total combinations, placing it in the bottom 20% of all tested systems. This ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU’s age and limited VRAM, which drags down the otherwise excellent CPU.

The Ryzen 9 9900X is a top-tier processor, sitting in the 94th percentile of all CPUs on our benchmark database. Its average benchmark score of 54450 places it within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700F. However, the RTX 2060 is far less competitive, sitting in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 16074 is 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600S and 1.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500, but these are all mid-range parts.

The stark contrast in percentile rankings between the CPU (94th) and GPU (58th) explains the combo’s poor overall standing. The data shows a system that is massively imbalanced; the processor is waiting for the graphics card to catch up. In The Medium specifically, this imbalance is exposed, as the GPU’s inability to handle high settings prevents the system from achieving the frame rates that the CPU could otherwise support.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal experience for this combination is at 1920x1080 with the Medium preset. This setting yields an average of 51.9 FPS, which is the highest playable frame rate that maintains decent visual fidelity. Dropping to Low increases the average to 86.1 FPS, but the visual compromise is significant. High and Ultra are not recommended at any resolution due to the sharp performance drop.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only viable option, producing an average of 72.5 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution falls to 41.6 FPS, which is borderline playable but likely to suffer from noticeable stutters during the game’s dual-world sequences. At 4K, the Low preset is the only choice, with an average of 57.4 FPS. The Medium, High, and Ultra presets at 4K produce averages of 35.5, 27.9, and 17.9 FPS respectively, all of which are too low for a smooth experience.

The data suggests that the game’s preset scaling is poorly optimized for this GPU’s VRAM capacity. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p only costs 34.2 FPS (from 86.1 to 51.9), but the jump from Medium to High costs another 14.9 FPS. This indicates that the High preset introduces a significant memory overhead that the 6 GB card cannot handle. Users should prioritize Medium settings at 1080p to balance visual quality with performance.

FAQ

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

A: The best experience is at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, which produces an average of 51.9 FPS. This is the highest preset that maintains a playable frame rate without a severe performance penalty.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: Yes, but only on the Low preset, which averages 57.4 FPS. All other presets at 4K fall below 36 FPS, with Ultra dropping to an unplayable 17.9 FPS.

Q: Why is the performance gap between Medium and High settings so large?

A: The RTX 2060 has 6 GB of VRAM and a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The High preset likely exceeds this capacity, causing a significant drop in average FPS across all resolutions.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X holding back the RTX 2060?

A: No. The benchmark data shows the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU ranks in the 94th percentile of all processors and has a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 46438, which is far more power than this game requires.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 1351 out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 20%. This poor ranking is due to the GPU’s 58th percentile standing, which severely limits the CPU’s potential.

Q: What is the impact of the CPU’s high core count on this game’s performance?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X’s 12 cores and 24 threads have minimal impact. The frame rates are consistently limited by the GPU, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops when increasing resolution or graphical presets.