The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combination delivers a playable but demanding experience in The Medium, with average frame rates ranging from 36 FPS at 4K Ultra to 151.1 FPS at 1080p Low. The data shows a clear pattern where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s substantial thread count keeps performance stable at lower settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a significant performance drop as resolution increases, which is typical for a horror title that relies heavily on visual fidelity. At 1080p High, the combo produces 68.4 FPS, which falls to 57.6 FPS at 1440p High and further to 43.5 FPS at 4K High. This represents a 36% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at High settings, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor. The scaling becomes even more pronounced at Ultra settings, where 1080p yields 50.6 FPS, 1440p drops to 45.9 FPS, and 4K falls to exactly 36 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest recorded in the entire dataset, showing that the RTX 3080 Ti’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 912.4 GB/s bandwidth are being pushed to their limits.

Conversely, the scaling from Low to Medium settings shows that the CPU has ample headroom. At 1080p, the jump from Low (151.1 FPS) to Medium (91.7 FPS) represents a 39% performance loss, while the jump from Medium to High (68.4 FPS) costs another 25%. This pattern suggests that at lower resolutions, the 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X with 24 threads is not the bottleneck, as frame rates remain well above 90 FPS even at Medium settings. The data indicates that players targeting 4K will need to accept either Medium settings for 61.6 FPS or High settings for 43.5 FPS, as Ultra at 4K falls below the 40 FPS threshold.

GPU Role

The RTX 3080 Ti’s specifications are central to understanding these results. With 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units, the card is built for high-resolution rendering. Its boost clock of 1665 MHz and base clock of 1365 MHz provide the raw compute power, while the 12 GB GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus delivers 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The FP32 performance of 34.10 TFLOPS is substantial, but The Medium’s demanding rendering at 4K Ultra exposes the card’s limitations, as shown by the 36 FPS average.

The GPU’s 80 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores are relevant for a game that uses fixed-camera angles and pre-rendered lighting effects. The data shows that the card’s 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the upper tier, but not at the very top. Its nearest rival, the RTX 3090, scores only 0.5% higher on average benchmarks, yet the measured FPS in The Medium suggests that the 3080 Ti’s 12 GB memory capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a constraint at 4K Ultra. The 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is fully utilized at 4K, where the card produces 36 FPS at Ultra — a 28% drop from the 50.6 FPS at 1080p Ultra.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 9900X plays a supporting role in The Medium, as its 12 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient for this title. The base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz, combined with the Zen 5 architecture on a 4 nm process, provide excellent single-thread performance. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6555 and multi-core score of 46438 demonstrate that the CPU has no trouble feeding the GPU at lower resolutions. The 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth ensure that data flows smoothly to the GPU.

The CPU’s 94th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 54450, shows that it is a top-tier performer. Its nearest rival, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D, scores only 0.4% higher, while the Intel Core i7-14700F scores 0.7% lower. In The Medium, the CPU’s impact is most visible at 1080p Low, where the combo achieves 151.1 FPS. This high frame rate indicates that even with the GPU working at lower resolutions, the CPU can sustain output without becoming a limiting factor. The 24 threads are particularly useful for background tasks and streaming, but the game itself does not appear to be heavily multi-threaded, as evidenced by the relatively modest performance difference between Medium and High settings at 1080p.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1440p High provides a balanced experience at 57.6 FPS, while 4K High drops to 43.5 FPS. For the highest fidelity, 4K Medium offers 61.6 FPS, which is smoother than 4K High.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Ti compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti has an average benchmark score of 41224, which is 0.5% lower than the RTX 3090’s 41441. The AMD Radeon Pro 5300 scores 41610, which is 0.9% higher.

Q: Does the Ryzen 9 9900X bottleneck the RTX 3080 Ti in this game?

A: No. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 151.1 FPS, and even at 1440p Low it achieves 125.2 FPS. The CPU’s 24 threads and 5.60 GHz boost clock provide ample headroom, with the GPU becoming the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At Ultra settings, the combo delivers 50.6 FPS at 1080p and exactly 36 FPS at 4K. This represents a 29% reduction in frame rate, highlighting the GPU’s struggle with 4K Ultra.

Q: How does the CPU’s multi-threaded performance compare to its single-threaded performance?

A: The Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 46438, while the single-core score is 6555. The multi-core result is 7.1 times higher, reflecting the benefit of 12 cores and 24 threads.

Q: Is the 12 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K gaming in this title?

A: The data shows that 4K High produces 43.5 FPS, while 4K Ultra drops to 36 FPS. The 12 GB GDDR6X memory appears adequate for High settings but becomes a limiting factor at Ultra, where the 912.4 GB/s bandwidth is fully consumed.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 405 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 24% of all configurations. The ranking reflects the strong CPU and GPU pairing, though the GPU’s 83rd percentile versus the CPU’s 94th percentile shows that the processor has more headroom than the graphics card. The combo’s rank is likely driven by the RTX 3080 Ti’s performance, as the CPU’s nearest rival, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D, scores only 0.4% higher on average benchmarks, indicating that CPU choice has minimal impact on overall ranking.

The data suggests that this combo sits in the upper-midrange tier for The Medium. With 1689 total combos, a rank of 405 means that 1,284 other configurations perform worse, while 404 perform better. The measured FPS values at 1440p High (57.6 FPS) and 4K Medium (61.6 FPS) are playable, but the combo is not optimized for 4K Ultra, where the 36 FPS result falls below the 40 FPS threshold typically considered smooth. The CPU’s 94th percentile ranking and the GPU’s 83rd percentile ranking place this combo in a position where it excels at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 151.1 FPS, Medium yields 91.7 FPS, High produces 68.4 FPS, and Ultra drops to 50.6 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 100.5 FPS, showing that settings have a dramatic impact at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease consistently. Low produces 125.2 FPS, Medium yields 78.2 FPS, High drops to 57.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 45.9 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 63% reduction, with the GPU becoming more of a factor as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the combo shows its limits. Low produces 100.1 FPS, Medium yields 61.6 FPS, High drops to 43.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to exactly 36 FPS. The 4K results are the lowest in the dataset, with Ultra producing less than half the frame rate of 1080p Ultra. The data indicates that 4K Medium is the most viable option for smooth gameplay, while 4K Ultra is only suitable for screenshots or cinematic viewing.