The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X pairs with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 to form a system that is clearly capable of running The Medium, but the benchmark data reveals a configuration where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher settings. The CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture, provide substantial headroom for the game’s logical threads. Its base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz ensure that single-threaded performance is not a limiting factor in this horror title. The processor’s 64 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory further bolster its capability to feed the GPU with data. The 3DMark multi-threaded score of 13929 and the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 46438 indicate that the CPU can handle complex scene calculations without breaking a sweat. The data shows that in The Medium, the CPU rarely becomes the limiting component, as the frame rates are far more sensitive to changes in resolution and graphics presets than to CPU load.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a high-end desktop processor with 12 physical cores and 24 threads, built on the 4 nm process. Its architecture, Granite Ridge, is designed for high throughput, which is beneficial for a game like The Medium that relies on fixed camera angles and complex rendering techniques. The processor’s benchmark scores, such as the Geekbench multi-core score of 19827 and the Passmark multithread score of 54643, demonstrate its ability to handle multiple simultaneous tasks, which is essential for maintaining consistent frame pacing. The CPU’s single-thread performance, evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6555, is strong enough to avoid bottlenecking the GPU in most scenarios. The data indicates that the CPU’s role in this combo is to provide a stable foundation, allowing the GPU to be the primary driver of visual fidelity. The processor’s 120 W TDP and 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient to sustain high frame rates without introducing stutter. Compared to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 9 9900X shows a negligible performance delta, with a 0.4% deficit against the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and a 0.7% advantage over the Intel Core i7-14700F. This close grouping suggests that the CPU is not a differentiating factor in this game’s performance; instead, the focus shifts entirely to the graphics card.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the definitive performance driver in this configuration. It features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The GPU’s boost clock of 2475 MHz and its 5888 shading units allow it to process the game’s atmospheric effects and lighting with high efficiency. The benchmark results show a clear trend: as resolution and settings increase, the GPU’s workload becomes the limiting factor. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 26927 places it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, indicating solid mid-to-high-range performance. However, its nearest rivals in benchmark scores, such as the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 with a delta of -0.6%, show that raw compute power is not exceptional; rather, the RTX 4070’s architecture, Ada Lovelace, and its 46 RT cores are optimized for modern rendering pipelines. In The Medium, the GPU’s 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for the game’s textures at all tested presets, as there are no signs of memory-related performance cliffs in the data. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS provides the raw power needed for the game’s dual-reality mechanics, which often render two scenes simultaneously. The data shows that the RTX 4070’s performance scales predictably with settings, but it struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra, where its limitations become apparent.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured FPS data offers a clear picture of the optimal settings for this combo. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 91.3 FPS, which is a solid playable experience for a horror game that benefits from smooth motion. The High preset at 1080p yields 69.6 FPS, which is still comfortable, but the Medium preset provides a substantial margin. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 148.4 FPS, which is excessive for this genre and sacrifices visual fidelity unnecessarily. Moving to 1440p, the Medium preset produces 79.9 FPS, which is the best balance of visual quality and performance at this resolution. The High preset at 1440p drops to 54.7 FPS, which is on the edge of smooth gameplay, while the Medium preset maintains a safer distance from the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K, the Medium preset achieves 63 FPS, making it the only viable option for a near-60 FPS experience at this resolution. The High preset at 4K falls to 44.1 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 33.1 FPS, both of which are too low for a game that requires precise timing and atmospheric tension. The data suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot across all resolutions, as it consistently provides the highest frame rate while maintaining acceptable visual quality. The Ultra preset is not recommended for any resolution, as the performance cost is severe, with the 1080p Ultra preset only reaching 55.1 FPS, which is lower than the Medium preset at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 393rd out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places the system in the top 23% of all configurations tested, which is a respectable position given the GPU’s mid-range status. The rank suggests that this combo outperforms the majority of systems, but it is not in the top tier, which would be reserved for configurations with higher-end GPUs like the RTX 4080 or 4090. The data indicates that the rank is primarily driven by the GPU’s performance, as the CPU’s strong benchmark scores are not fully utilized by the game’s engine. The combo’s position in the rankings is consistent with its performance at 1440p Medium, where it achieves 79.9 FPS, a result that would be competitive with many systems featuring more expensive processors but similar GPUs. The rank also reflects the CPU’s high percentile of 94 among all CPUs, but this does not translate into a top-tier game ranking because The Medium is not CPU-bound. The measured data confirms that the combo’s strength lies in its balance, providing a reliable 60 FPS experience at 1440p Medium and 4K Medium, which is more than sufficient for the game’s horror pacing.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals the GPU-bound nature of this configuration. At the Medium preset, the average frame rate drops from 91.3 FPS at 1080p to 79.9 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 12.5%. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the frame rate drops to 63 FPS, a further reduction of 21.2%. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-limited scenario, as the frame rate decreases proportionally with the increase in pixel count. The High preset shows a similar trend, with a drop from 69.6 FPS at 1080p to 54.7 FPS at 1440p (a 21.4% decrease) and then to 44.1 FPS at 4K (a 19.4% decrease from 1440p). The Low preset exhibits the most dramatic scaling, from 148.4 FPS at 1080p to 124.6 FPS at 1440p (a 16.0% decrease) and then to 101.3 FPS at 4K (an 18.7% decrease). This consistent pattern across all presets indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU’s performance is more than adequate to handle the game’s logic at all resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a plateau in frame rates at lower resolutions, where the GPU has less work to do. Instead, the data shows a continuous decline in FPS with increasing resolution, which is the hallmark of a GPU-bound system. The fact that the Low preset at 4K (101.3 FPS) is still higher than the Ultra preset at 1080p (55.1 FPS) further confirms that the GPU’s fill rate and shading power are the primary constraints, not the CPU. This analysis suggests that users with this combo should prioritize GPU settings when optimizing for higher resolutions, as the CPU will not be a limiting factor.