The Medium

# Resolution Scaling

The Medium presents a steep resolution scaling curve for this combination of AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system delivers an average of 83 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same preset drops that figure to 70 FPS, a reduction of 13 FPS. Pushing further to 3840x2160 yields 55 FPS, meaning the jump from 1080p to 4K costs 28 FPS, or roughly one-third of the original performance. This pattern indicates that at Low settings, the scaling is relatively gentle, suggesting the GPU retains headroom as resolution climbs.

The High preset tells a different story. At 1080p, the average is 37 FPS; at 1440p it falls to 31 FPS; and at 4K it bottoms out at 25 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 4K here is only 12 FPS, a much smaller absolute drop than seen at Low settings. This compression of the scaling curve at higher graphical loads points to the GPU becoming the dominant constraint earlier in the resolution ladder. When the render workload increases, the RTX 2060's limits surface quickly, and additional pixels yield diminishing returns.

Medium settings illustrate the middle ground. The 1080p average sits at 52 FPS, dropping to 44 FPS at 1440p and 34 FPS at 4K. The 18 FPS gap between the lowest and highest resolutions is substantial, but the frame rates remain playable at every step. Ultra settings, by contrast, show the most dramatic falloff: 30 FPS at 1080p, 25 FPS at 1440p, and just 20 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset at 4K represents a near-unplayable experience, with the average dipping below the threshold where smooth motion can be maintained.

The data reveals that the limiting component shifts with resolution and settings. At Low presets across all resolutions, the CPU's strong performance can still push frame rates high enough that the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases. At Ultra, the GPU is so overwhelmed that even the 12-core, 24-thread Ryzen 9 9900X3D cannot compensate. The benchmark results indicate a system where the RTX 2060's 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus width struggle to feed the render pipeline at higher resolutions, particularly when texture and shading complexity rise.

Notably, the min and max FPS figures are only recorded for Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the range spans from 44 to 60 FPS, a 16 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the range narrows slightly to 37–50 FPS. At 4K Medium, it tightens further to 29–40 FPS. This tightening of frame time variance as resolution increases suggests that the GPU's consistent workload at higher pixel counts reduces the impact of CPU-driven frame pacing fluctuations, even though the average frame rate declines.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and playable frame rates across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 52 FPS average, which clears the threshold for smooth gameplay in a slow-paced horror title. The 1440p Medium result of 44 FPS remains respectable, and even 4K Medium at 34 FPS is serviceable if the player prioritizes resolution over absolute smoothness. The recorded min and max values for Medium settings provide confidence in frame time stability: the 1080p range of 44–60 FPS shows that dips stay above 40 FPS, while the 4K range of 29–40 FPS indicates the experience stays within a narrow band.

High settings are a reasonable alternative for players who want improved visuals without sacrificing too much performance. At 1080p, the 37 FPS average is borderline but workable for a game that relies on atmosphere rather than twitch reflexes. However, at 1440p and 4K, the High preset drops to 31 FPS and 25 FPS respectively, which will feel stuttery during camera panning and scene transitions. The Low preset delivers the highest frame rates—83 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K—but the visual compromise may detract from The Medium's horror presentation, which depends heavily on lighting and shadow detail.

Ultra settings should be avoided for this configuration. Even at 1080p, the average of 30 FPS sits at the edge of playability, and the 1440p and 4K results of 25 FPS and 20 FPS fall well below acceptable thresholds. The performance cost of Ultra over High is substantial: at 1080p, the drop from High to Ultra is 7 FPS; at 1440p, it is 6 FPS; and at 4K, it is 5 FPS. This consistent penalty across resolutions suggests that Ultra adds significant shading and post-processing work that the RTX 2060's 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 compute cannot handle in real time.

The data supports a clear recommendation: Medium at 1080p or 1440p provides the optimal experience, with 4K Medium as a viable option for players who value resolution above all else. The measured min and max FPS figures for Medium settings indicate that the frame pacing is consistent enough to avoid jarring hitches, which is critical for maintaining tension in a horror game where sudden drops in frame rate can break immersion.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 12 cores and 24 threads running at a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The processor's 128 MB of L3 cache, built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename, provides ample capacity for game assets and scene data. In The Medium, which features fixed camera angles and scripted sequences rather than sprawling open worlds, the CPU's role is less about streaming massive environments and more about maintaining consistent frame pacing.

Benchmark data for the CPU shows strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 47,737, while the single-core score is 6,739. This combination of high multi-thread and single-thread throughput means the processor can handle both the game's main thread and background tasks without introducing bottlenecks. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 12,490 and max-thread score of 13,795 indicate that scaling remains efficient as more threads are utilized, which is relevant for a game engine that may spawn worker threads for physics, AI, and rendering preparation.

At Low settings, the CPU's influence is most apparent. The 1080p Low result of 83 FPS suggests that the processor can feed the GPU with enough draw calls and state changes to keep the RTX 2060 busy. The fact that 1080p Low only reaches 83 FPS, rather than higher, hints that the GPU's 1,920 shading units and 120 texture mapping units are the limiting factor even at the lowest graphical preset. The CPU, by contrast, has headroom to spare, as evidenced by its 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs.

The Ryzen 9 9900X3D's nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks include the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF with an average score of 55,093 and a delta of -0.6%, meaning the AMD part edges ahead. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K trails by 1.3%, the Intel Xeon 6505P by 2%, and the Intel Core i7-14700F by 2.1%. These close margins indicate that the 9900X3D is competitive with modern mid-range and high-end desktop processors, but in The Medium specifically, the GPU limits overall performance to a far greater degree.

The processor's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s and dual-channel DDR5 support ensure that data transfer to the GPU is not a constraint. With the game's relatively modest system requirements for a 2021 title, the CPU's 4 nm process node and 16,630 million transistors provide more than enough computational headroom. The benchmark results show that the CPU's performance is effectively masked by the GPU in most scenarios, except at Low settings where higher frame rates expose the GPU's ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2,287 out of 2,911 tested combos in The Medium. This places the system in the lower-middle tier of all configurations, which is consistent with the GPU's age and market position. The RTX 2060 was released in 2019 and is now end-of-life, while the CPU is a 2025 release, creating a significant generational gap between the two components.

The ranking percentile suggests that roughly 78% of tested combinations outperform this setup in The Medium. This is not surprising given that the RTX 2060's 6 GB of VRAM and 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are modest by modern standards. The GPU's average benchmark score of 15,290 places it at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (delta 0%), AMD Radeon 680M (delta 0.1%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (delta 0.6%), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 (delta 0.8%). These close deltas indicate that the RTX 2060 sits in a tightly contested performance band where small architectural differences translate into negligible real-world gains.

The combo's rank of 2,287 out of 2,911 means that only 624 combinations deliver worse performance in The Medium. This places the system ahead of entry-level and older hardware, but well behind configurations pairing modern CPUs with contemporary GPUs. The CPU's high benchmark scores do little to boost the combo's ranking because the game's frame rates are dictated by the GPU's rendering capabilities. The measured FPS data confirms this: even at 1080p Low, the system only reaches 83 FPS, which is far below what the CPU could theoretically support.

For context, the CPU's average benchmark score of 54,762 places it at the 91st percentile, while the GPU's average score of 15,290 places it at the 58th percentile. This disparity underscores the imbalance of the pairing. In The Medium, the GPU is the clear bottleneck, and the combo's ranking reflects the GPU's limitations rather than any deficiency in the processor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the defining component in this system's performance profile. Built on the Turing architecture with the TU106 chip, the GPU features 1,920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines. Its 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores provide hardware support for ray tracing and DLSS, though The Medium's measured FPS data does not indicate whether these features are enabled in the tested configurations.

The GPU's clock speeds are 1,365 MHz base and 1,680 MHz boost, with memory running at 1,750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In The Medium, this memory configuration proves adequate for Low and Medium settings but becomes strained at High and Ultra presets, where texture detail and shadow quality demand more capacity and bandwidth. The measured FPS drop from Medium to High at 1080p (52 to 37 FPS) suggests that the GPU's fill rate and memory subsystem are overwhelmed by the increased shading complexity.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s provide a baseline for understanding its capabilities. At 4K Ultra, the system averages just 20 FPS, indicating that the GPU is rendering fewer than 30 frames per second even with the CPU providing ample headroom. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s means that at 4K (approximately 8.3 million pixels), the GPU can theoretically fill around 9,700 frames per second, but real-world shader and memory constraints reduce this dramatically.

The RTX 2060's 12 nm process node and 10,800 million transistors contribute to its 160 W TDP. The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the GTX 580, Radeon 680M, RTX 3050 OEM, and Radeon RX 7600, all within 0.8% of the RTX 2060's average score. This tight clustering means that in The Medium, the RTX 2060 performs essentially on par with these alternatives, and users upgrading from any of these cards would see minimal frame rate changes.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and 12_2 feature level are relevant for a 2021 game, but the measured data does not specify which API version is used. The Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6 support provide flexibility for different rendering paths. The GPU's 6 GB VRAM is the most likely constraint at higher settings, as The Medium's fixed camera angles and detailed environments can exceed this capacity, forcing texture streaming and reducing frame rates.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 provides the highest frame rates across all settings, with Low averaging 83 FPS, Medium 52 FPS, High 37 FPS, and Ultra 30 FPS. For a balance of quality and performance, 1440p Medium at 44 FPS is also viable.

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where it averages 55 FPS. Medium at 4K drops to 34 FPS, High to 25 FPS, and Ultra to 20 FPS, making those presets largely unplayable at this resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15,290, with the GTX 580 at 15,283 (0% delta), Radeon 680M at 15,270 (0.1% delta), RTX 3050 OEM at 15,199 (0.6% delta), and Radeon RX 7600 at 15,171 (0.8% delta). All are within 1% of each other.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1080p Medium?

A: The measured average is 52 FPS, with a minimum of 44 FPS and maximum of 60 FPS. This provides a consistent experience suitable for the game's pacing.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The GPU is the limiting component. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D ranks at the 91st percentile among CPUs, while the RTX 2060 ranks at the 58th percentile among GPUs. The frame rates scale with resolution and settings in a pattern consistent with GPU constraints.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 2,287 out of 2,911 combos in The Medium, placing it in the lower-middle tier. The CPU's high performance does not compensate for the GPU's limitations in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest performance. Low settings average 83 FPS, Medium averages 52 FPS with a range of 44–60 FPS, High averages 37 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 31 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 15 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 7 FPS. This progressive narrowing indicates diminishing returns as settings increase.

At 2560x1440, performance drops across the board. Low averages 70 FPS, Medium averages 44 FPS with a range of 37–50 FPS, High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 25 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 26 FPS, between Medium and High is 13 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 6 FPS. Compared to 1080p, the 1440p results show reductions of 13 FPS at Low, 8 FPS at Medium, 6 FPS at High, and 5 FPS at Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles at higher presets. Low averages 55 FPS, Medium averages 34 FPS with a range of 29–40 FPS, High averages 25 FPS, and Ultra averages 20 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 21 FPS, between Medium and High is 9 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 5 FPS. Compared to 1080p, the 4K results show reductions of 28 FPS at Low, 18 FPS at Medium, 12 FPS at High, and 10 FPS at Ultra.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded min and max FPS values. At 1080p, the 44–60 FPS range spans 16 FPS. At 1440p, the 37–50 FPS range spans 13 FPS. At 4K, the 29–40 FPS range spans 11 FPS. This narrowing spread as resolution increases suggests that the GPU's consistent workload reduces frame time variance, even as average FPS declines.

The overall pattern shows that Low settings are playable at all resolutions, Medium is playable at 1080p and 1440p, High is marginal at 1080p, and Ultra is not recommended at any resolution. The data confirms that this system is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming with Medium settings, where the RTX 2060 can maintain acceptable frame rates while preserving visual quality.