The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is a profoundly unbalanced combination for The Medium, producing a gaming experience that is almost entirely dictated by the GPU’s limitations rather than the CPU’s capabilities. Benchmark data shows this duo ranks at 2817 out of 2911 tested combos for this title, placing it in the bottom percentile of all configurations. The GTX 1650’s 4 GB VRAM and modest compute performance create a hard ceiling, resulting in average frame rates that only approach playability at 1080p with the lowest settings, where it hits 44 FPS. The processor, despite being a top-tier 12-core Zen 5 part with a 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs, is effectively idle in this scenario, as the measured results are consistently bottlenecked by the GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Medium with this CPU and GPU combo?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 is the only viable resolution. At this setting, the average frame rates range from 16 FPS on Ultra to 44 FPS on Low, with Medium providing 27 FPS. Higher resolutions like 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 yield average FPS figures that are too low for a smooth experience, with even Low settings at 1440p only reaching 37 FPS and 4K Low dropping to 29 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the Ryzen 9 9900X3D compared to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54762. Its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, scores 55093, which is 0.6% higher (a deltaPct of -0.6 for the AMD chip). The AMD processor is 1.3% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K and 2% faster than the Intel Xeon 6505P.

Q: Does the GTX 1650's 4 GB VRAM affect performance in The Medium?

A: Yes, the data strongly indicates that the 4 GB VRAM is a primary limiting factor. The game's demands at higher settings and resolutions likely exceed this capacity, leading to severe performance drops. This is evident in the framerate scaling: at 1080p, the average FPS falls from 44 on Low to 16 on Ultra, a reduction that is consistent with a GPU that is running out of memory and compute resources.

Q: What is the GPU's ranking relative to other graphics cards?

A: The GTX 1650 falls in the 40th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 7472. Its performance is closely matched by the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (0.3% faster), the Intel UHD Graphics 750 (0.4% faster), and the AMD Radeon R7 350 (0.6% faster). It is 1% slower than the Intel Arc A310.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking for this game?

A: This specific combination of CPU and GPU ranks 2817 out of 2911 total combos tested for The Medium. This places it in the bottom 3% of all systems, highlighting that the GTX 1650 is a severe bottleneck for this title.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and High settings at 1080p?

A: The difference is substantial. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 44 FPS, while the High preset only manages 20 FPS. This represents a 120% increase in average frame rate when switching from High to Low, making the Low preset the only option for a somewhat responsive experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data dictates a clear and singular path for playability: the Low preset is the only acceptable choice, and even then, only at a 1920x1080 resolution. At 1080p Low, the system achieves an average of 44 FPS, which, while not ideal, is the only configuration that breaks past the 30 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 1080p drops to an average of 27 FPS, which is a significant step down in smoothness, while High (20 FPS) and Ultra (16 FPS) are effectively unplayable.

For any resolution above 1080p, the data shows that the experience degrades rapidly. At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields an average of 37 FPS, which is still in the playable range for some, but Medium drops to 23 FPS, and High and Ultra fall to 16 and 13 FPS respectively. At 3840x2160, even the Low preset only manages an average of 29 FPS, with all other settings falling below 18 FPS. The recommendation is unambiguous: to get the best experience from this hardware, users must select the Low preset at 1920x1080. The gap between Low and Medium at this resolution (44 FPS vs. 27 FPS) is a 63% performance penalty, which is too costly for the marginal visual improvements. The data suggests that the GTX 1650 simply does not have the memory bandwidth or compute resources to handle the game's fixed-function effects at higher settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, running on the AMD Socket AM5 platform. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, backed by a substantial 128 MB of L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 47737 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6739 in single-core, placing it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs.

However, in The Medium, the CPU's role is almost entirely irrelevant to the final frame rate. The measured FPS figures are consistently low across all resolutions and settings, which is the classic signature of a GPU bottleneck. For instance, at 1920x1080, the average FPS only ranges from 16 to 44, a span that is far too narrow to be influenced by the CPU's processing power. The game's rendering demands at these settings are simply too high for the GTX 1650 to handle, meaning the Ryzen 9's 12 cores are left waiting for the GPU to finish its work. The CPU's high multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by a Passmark multithread score of 56154, does not translate into higher frame rates because the GPU is the limiting component. While the CPU is more than capable of feeding the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations, the GTX 1650's 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the ceiling. The data shows that this is a case where the processor is vastly overqualified for the workload, and any frame rate gains from CPU upgrades would be negligible.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranking for this specific pairing in The Medium is 2817 out of 2911 total tested combinations. This places it in the bottom 3.2% of all systems, a position that underscores the fundamental mismatch between the high-end CPU and the entry-level GPU. This ranking is not a reflection of the CPU's capability, but rather a direct consequence of the GPU's performance tier. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D is in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, while the GTX 1650 is only in the 40th percentile of all GPUs.

This extreme disparity means that the combo's ranking is almost entirely determined by the GPU. The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a more balanced mid-range GPU would result in a dramatically different ranking. However, as configured, the system is severely held back. The ranking of 2817 out of 2911 serves as a warning that the GTX 1650 is a disproportionate bottleneck. The system's measured performance is not representative of the CPU's potential; it is a measure of the GPU's limitations. In a game like The Medium, which has significant VRAM and shading requirements, the GTX 1650's 4 GB memory and 896 shading units are the primary constraints, relegating this otherwise powerful processor to a supporting role in a system that cannot fully utilize it.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is a Turing-architecture GPU with 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. It operates at a base clock of 1485 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz, with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. Its compute capability is rated at 2.984 TFLOPS FP32. With a 40th percentile ranking and an average benchmark score of 7472, it is positioned as an entry-level part, and its performance in The Medium reflects this.

The GPU is the definitive bottleneck in this system. The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable pattern: performance scales inversely with resolution and settings, but never reaches a level that is comfortable for a modern horror game. At 1080p, the GPU can average 44 FPS on Low, but this number collapses to 27 FPS on Medium and 16 FPS on Ultra. This sharp drop from Low to Medium suggests that the game's medium-quality textures and effects are already exceeding the GTX 1650's capacity, likely due to the 4 GB VRAM limit. The situation is worse at higher resolutions; at 1440p, the Low preset drops to 37 FPS, and at 4K, it is 29 FPS. The GPU's 128.1 GB/s memory bandwidth is insufficient for the higher resolutions, and its 2.984 TFLOPS compute power is too low to handle the pixel shading workload at 2560x1440 and 3840x2160. The data reveals that the GTX 1650 is only viable for 1080p Low in this title, and even then, the 44 FPS average is not a guarantee of consistent smoothness, as the minimum FPS at 1080p Medium is 23 FPS, indicating potential stutters.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo provides a complete picture of its performance envelope. At 3840x2160, the system is largely unplayable. The Ultra preset yields an average of 10 FPS, High averages 13 FPS, Medium averages 18 FPS (with a min of 15 and max of 21), and Low is the only setting that approaches a slideshow-like 29 FPS average. These figures are all far below any acceptable threshold for interactive gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results are still poor but show marginal improvement. The Ultra preset averages 13 FPS, High averages 16 FPS, and Medium averages 23 FPS (with a min of 20 and max of 26). The Low preset is the only one that reaches a semi-playable 37 FPS average. The data suggests that even at this resolution, the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate are inadequate for the game's demands.

At 1920x1080, the most common gaming resolution, the system shows its best, but still limited, performance. The Ultra preset averages 16 FPS, High averages 20 FPS, and Medium averages 27 FPS (with a min of 23 and max of 31). The Low preset is the standout, achieving an average of 44 FPS. This is the only data point in the entire set that reaches a standard playable frame rate. The progression from Low to Ultra at this resolution shows a performance drop of 64% (from 44 FPS to 16 FPS), which highlights the GPU's inability to handle increased graphical fidelity. The minimum FPS values for the Medium preset at 1080p (23 FPS) also indicate that the experience can be inconsistent, with potential for noticeable hitches during intense scenes. The data confirms that this combo is only suitable for 1080p gaming with the lowest possible settings.