The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera rendering workload, and the pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 yields a combination that is primarily constrained by the graphics card. The measured frame rates across the three test resolutions show a predictable decline as pixel count increases, but the rate of that decline reveals the underlying performance ceiling. At 1080p, the system delivers an average of 108 FPS on Low settings, which falls to 68 FPS on Medium and 49 FPS on High. The jump to 1440p shows a significant reduction, with the Low preset dropping to 91 FPS, Medium to 57 FPS, and High to 41 FPS. At 4K, the scaling becomes steep: Low produces 72 FPS, Medium 45 FPS, and High just 32 FPS. These numbers indicate that the RTX 4060 is the limiting component, as the CPU’s high single-thread performance is not fully utilized at higher resolutions where the GPU’s pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 demonstrates a classic GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p with the Low preset, the system achieves 108 FPS, but this drops by 15.7% to 91 FPS at 1440p, and then by another 20.9% to 72 FPS at 4K. This scaling pattern suggests that the CPU is able to feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions, with the performance penalty primarily coming from the increased pixel count. The Medium preset shows a similar trend: 68 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p (a 16.2% drop), and 45 FPS at 4K (a 21.1% drop from 1440p). The High preset follows the same trajectory, with 49 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p (a 16.3% drop), and 32 FPS at 4K (a 22% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets indicates that the rendering load scales uniformly with resolution, which is typical for a game that relies heavily on pixel shading and post-processing effects.

The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, shows the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p, it averages 39 FPS, dropping to 32 FPS at 1440p (an 17.9% reduction) and 25 FPS at 4K (a 21.9% reduction from 1440p). These numbers suggest that at 4K, the RTX 4060 is operating near its limits, with the 8 GB VRAM buffer likely becoming a factor. The difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K is substantial—72 FPS versus 25 FPS—which represents a 65.3% performance penalty for enabling the highest visual quality. This scaling behavior indicates that the limiting component is the GPU’s shading and memory bandwidth, not the CPU’s processing capability. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, has enough computational headroom to handle the game’s logic at all resolutions, but the RTX 4060’s 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth become the primary constraint as resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1525 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 52.4th percentile, meaning it outperforms slightly more than half of all tested configurations. The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU’s high multi-threaded performance and the GPU’s mid-range capabilities. The CPU alone ranks in the 91st percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 61st percentile against all GPUs, which explains why the combo’s overall rank is lower than the CPU’s individual standing. The data indicates that this pairing is not optimized for extreme high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p, where the CPU’s strength could be better utilized with a more powerful GPU.

The combo rank of 1525 suggests that there are 1386 other configurations that achieve higher frame rates in this game. This is likely due to the GPU being the limiting factor, as many other combos may pair higher-end graphics cards with similar or less powerful CPUs. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D’s nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, shows a 0.6% lower average benchmark score, while the Intel Core i7-14700F is 2.1% higher. These small deltas indicate that the CPU’s performance is not the primary differentiator in this game’s ranking; rather, the GPU’s capabilities are what determine the final position. The RTX 4060’s nearest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7790, is 0.2% lower in average score, and the AMD Radeon 780M is 0.3% higher, suggesting that the GPU sits in a tightly contested performance tier.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD107 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, along with 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz, with memory running at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a key specification for understanding The Medium’s performance. The game’s fixed-camera angles and detailed environments require significant texture memory, and the 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings.

The RTX 4060’s FP32 performance is 15.11 TFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s. These figures explain why the GPU struggles at 4K with Ultra settings, where the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are insufficient to maintain high frame rates. The 4K Ultra result of 25 FPS is particularly telling, as it suggests that the GPU is completely saturated. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU’s performance scales almost linearly with resolution, which is typical for a mid-range card that lacks the raw compute power of higher-tier models. The 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores are present, but The Medium’s rendering workload appears to be primarily rasterization-based, as evidenced by the minimal benefit from these specialized units in the measured results.

The GPU’s 115 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate that it is a power-efficient card, but this does not translate into high performance in this specific game. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (108 FPS) shows that the GPU can handle less demanding scenarios, but the Ultra preset at the same resolution drops to 39 FPS, a 63.9% reduction. This suggests that the GPU’s shading units are the bottleneck when all visual effects are enabled. The VRAM usage is not explicitly measured, but the performance drop from High to Ultra at 4K (32 FPS to 25 FPS) implies that the 8 GB buffer is being fully utilized, potentially causing texture swapping or reduced LOD settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a comprehensive view of the system’s performance across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 108 FPS, which is the highest result in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 68 FPS, with a minimum of 58 FPS and a maximum of 78 FPS, indicating a stable frame time distribution. The High preset averages 49 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 39 FPS. These results show that at 1080p, the system is capable of smooth gameplay on Medium settings, with the Low preset providing a significant margin above 100 FPS for competitive play.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 91 FPS, still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset averages 57 FPS, with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 66 FPS, which is borderline for a 60 Hz display. The High preset drops to 41 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 32 FPS. The 1440p results indicate that the RTX 4060 begins to struggle with the higher pixel count, and users seeking a consistent 60 FPS experience would need to stick with the Low or Medium presets. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 72 FPS, which is surprisingly playable, but the Medium preset drops to 45 FPS, with a minimum of 38 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS. The High preset averages 32 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 25 FPS, making 4K gaming difficult except on the lowest settings. The data shows that the system is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p being a secondary option for those willing to compromise on visual quality.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combination of CPU and GPU depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset provides a solid 68 FPS average, which is smooth for most players, and the minimum of 58 FPS ensures that there are no major stutters. The High preset at 49 FPS is playable but may feel less fluid during fast-paced scenes. For players who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, the Low preset at 108 FPS is the clear choice, offering a massive performance margin. The Ultra preset at 39 FPS is not recommended, as the visual improvement over High is likely minimal in this game’s fixed-camera perspective.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only setting that consistently maintains above 60 FPS, with an average of 91 FPS. The Medium preset at 57 FPS is close to the 60 FPS target, and the minimum of 49 FPS may be acceptable for less demanding players. The High preset at 41 FPS and Ultra at 32 FPS are not recommended for a smooth experience. At 3840x2160, the Low preset at 72 FPS is the only viable option for playable frame rates, while the Medium preset at 45 FPS is borderline and the High and Ultra settings are too slow. The data indicates that the system’s best experience is achieved at 1080p with the Medium or Low presets, where the CPU’s power can be fully utilized without the GPU becoming a bottleneck.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge, and fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 120 W TDP. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and a substantial 128 MB of L3 cache, which is a key differentiator for gaming performance. The 128 MB L3 cache is particularly beneficial for games that rely on large data sets, as it reduces memory latency and improves frame pacing. In The Medium, the CPU’s single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 1269 and Geekbench single-core score of 3041, ensures that the game’s main thread is well-fed, allowing the GPU to reach its full potential.

The CPU’s multi-threaded performance is also strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 47737 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 22884. However, The Medium does not appear to be heavily multi-threaded, as the frame rates are primarily GPU-bound. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 12490 and 3DMark max-thread score of 13795 suggest that the CPU can handle many concurrent tasks, but the game’s rendering workload does not scale beyond a few threads. The CPU’s nearest rivals, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF and Intel Core i7-14700F, show average benchmark scores within 2.1% of the Ryzen 9 9900X3D, indicating that the CPU’s performance is not a limiting factor in this game’s results. The CPU’s 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs further confirms that it is more than capable of supporting the RTX 4060, and the bottleneck lies entirely with the graphics card. The CPU’s DDR5 memory support and dual-channel memory bus with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth provide ample data throughput for the game’s assets, and the PCIe Gen 5 interface ensures no bandwidth limitations for the GPU.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data shows that 1920x1080 offers the most consistent frame rates, with the Low preset averaging 108 FPS and the Medium preset averaging 68 FPS. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset maintains above 60 FPS (91 FPS), while 3840x2160 is only playable on Low (72 FPS).

Q: How does the RTX 4060 perform at 4K with Ultra settings in The Medium?

A: The 4K Ultra preset averages 25 FPS, which is not playable. The 4K Medium preset averages 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS, while the 4K High preset averages 32 FPS. Only the 4K Low preset provides a smooth experience at 72 FPS.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X3D a bottleneck for the RTX 4060 in this game?

A: No. The CPU’s single-thread score of 1269 in 3DMark and multi-core score of 47737 in Cinebench R23 indicate it has ample performance. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent GPU-bound pattern, meaning the RTX 4060 is the limiting component.

Q: What is the difference in performance between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The Low preset averages 108 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 39 FPS. This represents a 63.9% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the Ultra preset places a significantly higher load on the GPU’s shading units and memory.

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

A: It ranks 1525 out of 2911 tested combos, placing it in the 52.4th percentile. The CPU ranks in the 91st percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 61st percentile, which explains the combo’s mid-range overall position.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values for the Medium preset across resolutions?

A: At 1080p, the Medium preset has a minimum of 58 FPS. At 1440p, the minimum is 49 FPS. At 4K, the minimum drops to 38 FPS. These values indicate a stable frame time distribution at lower resolutions, but more variance at higher resolutions.