The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination delivers a top-tier experience in The Medium, ranking 9th out of 2911 tested hardware combos, with measured frame rates that range from a 54 FPS average at 4K Ultra to a 195 FPS average at 1080p Low. The data shows this pairing is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher settings, while the CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads provide ample headroom even at lower resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play The Medium with this hardware?*

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 2560x1440 offers the strongest balance. At Medium settings, the combo produces a 122 FPS average with minimums of 103 FPS, which is well above the 68 FPS average seen at 4K High and only slightly below the 144 FPS average at 1080p Medium.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest rivals in GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712, placing it 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76904) and 1.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78940). It also trails the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79396) by 2.1% and the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79605) by 2.4% in the same aggregate scoring.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X3D a strong performer relative to other CPUs?

A: The CPU holds a 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54762. It is nearly identical to the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55093, delta -0.6%) and slightly ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54053, delta 1.3%), the Intel Xeon 6505P (53701, delta 2%), and the Intel Core i7-14700F (53620, delta 2.1%).

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combination?

A: The highest measured average is 195 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 184 FPS at 2560x1440 Low, followed by 153 FPS at 3840x2160 Low.

Q: Does the 32 GB VRAM of the RTX 5090 D impact performance in this game?

A: The fact pack does not include VRAM utilization metrics for The Medium. However, the GPU’s 32 GB GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provides substantial memory resources, and the measured FPS scaling from 4K Ultra (54 FPS) to 4K Low (153 FPS) indicates that rendering load, not memory capacity, is the primary constraint at higher settings.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking in the game’s database?

A: This specific pairing ranks 9th out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the top 0.3% of all recorded configurations for The Medium.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this configuration for The Medium. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, paired with a 512-bit bus and 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, provides the memory subsystem necessary for high-resolution rendering. The GPU’s boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz drive its 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operation units. The data shows that changing graphics settings has a dramatic effect on frame rates, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload. At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops from 153 at Low to 95 at Medium, then to 68 at High, and finally to 54 at Ultra. This progression represents a 65% reduction in average FPS from Low to Ultra, confirming that the game’s rendering demands scale heavily with GPU workload.

The RTX 5090 D’s benchmark scores reinforce its position. It achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14326, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 310674, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376915. Its Passmark G3D score is 44065, with a GPU compute score of 28396. The GPU’s 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77712, places it in the upper echelon. However, the nearest rival data shows a tight cluster: the RTX 5090 D is only 1.1% faster than the RX 6650M XT and 1.6% slower than the RX 6850M XT in aggregate scores. This suggests that while the card is powerful, its benchmark advantage over certain competitors is narrow, yet the measured in-game FPS indicates excellent real-world performance for The Medium.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal settings for this hardware depend on the target frame rate and resolution. For 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers a 144 FPS average with a minimum of 123 FPS and a maximum of 166 FPS. This is the best combination of smoothness and visual fidelity, as the High preset only reaches 103 FPS and Ultra drops to 82 FPS. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again provides the most balanced experience, with a 122 FPS average, 103 FPS minimum, and 140 FPS maximum. The High preset at this resolution yields 87 FPS, while Low reaches 184 FPS but sacrifices visual quality. For 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the only setting that maintains a playable frame rate with acceptable minimums, offering a 95 FPS average, 81 FPS minimum, and 110 FPS maximum. The High preset at 68 FPS and Ultra at 54 FPS are below the 60 FPS threshold for many users, making Medium the clear choice for 4K gaming.

The data indicates that Medium settings provide the most consistent experience across all resolutions. The measured minimum FPS values are only available for the Medium preset: 123 FPS at 1080p, 103 FPS at 1440p, and 81 FPS at 4K. These minimums suggest that Medium avoids the severe frame drops that might occur at higher settings. At 1080p, the jump from Medium to High costs 41 FPS on average (144 to 103), while the jump from High to Ultra costs another 21 FPS (103 to 82). Similar patterns hold at 1440p and 4K, where each step up in settings reduces the average FPS by roughly 20-30%. For users with high refresh rate monitors, the Low preset at 1080p (195 FPS) or 1440p (184 FPS) is the only option that approaches 200 FPS, but the Medium preset remains the sweet spot for quality and performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) across three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the average FPS values are 195 for Low, 144 for Medium, 103 for High, and 82 for Ultra. The Medium preset also reports a minimum of 123 FPS and a maximum of 166 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra is 113 FPS, representing a 58% reduction in average frame rate. At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 184 for Low, 122 for Medium, 87 for High, and 69 for Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 103 FPS and a maximum of 140 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 115 FPS, a 63% reduction. At 3840x2160, the average FPS values are 153 for Low, 95 for Medium, 68 for High, and 54 for Ultra. The Medium preset has a minimum of 81 FPS and a maximum of 110 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra difference is 99 FPS, a 65% reduction.

The scaling from one resolution to another is consistent. At Medium settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces the average FPS from 144 to 122, a 15% drop. Moving from 1440p to 4K reduces it from 122 to 95, a 22% drop. At High settings, the corresponding reductions are from 103 to 87 (14%) and from 87 to 68 (22%). At Ultra settings, the reductions are from 82 to 69 (16%) and from 69 to 54 (22%). At Low settings, the reductions are from 195 to 184 (6%) and from 184 to 153 (17%). These numbers show that the performance cost of increasing resolution grows as settings increase, which is typical for a GPU-bound game. The 4K Ultra result of 54 FPS is the lowest measured value, while the 1080p Low result of 195 FPS is the highest.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K varies significantly by settings preset, revealing the nature of the bottleneck in The Medium. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 195 at 1080p to 184 at 1440p (a 5.6% drop) and then to 153 at 4K (a 16.8% drop from 1440p). This relatively modest scaling suggests that at Low settings, the game is still partially CPU-limited, as the GPU has enough headroom to handle the increased pixel count without proportionally large frame rate losses. At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 144 at 1080p to 122 at 1440p (a 15.3% drop) and then to 95 at 4K (a 22.1% drop from 1440p). The larger percentage drops indicate that the GPU is becoming more stressed as settings increase. At High settings, the averages are 103 at 1080p, 87 at 1440p (a 15.5% drop), and 68 at 4K (a 21.8% drop from 1440p). At Ultra settings, the averages are 82 at 1080p, 69 at 1440p (a 15.9% drop), and 54 at 4K (a 21.7% drop from 1440p).

The consistent pattern is that moving from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 15% performance at Medium and above, while moving from 1440p to 4K costs roughly 22% performance. This non-linear scaling is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload where pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become limiting factors. The RTX 5090 D’s 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are substantial, but the demands of 4K rendering (over 8.3 million pixels versus 2.1 million at 1080p) still take a toll. The fact that the Low preset shows smaller percentage drops (5.6% for 1080p to 1440p, 16.8% for 1440p to 4K) suggests that at Low settings, other bottlenecks, such as CPU rendering of draw calls or game logic, mitigate the pure GPU scaling. Overall, the data indicates that the RTX 5090 D is the limiting component at Medium, High, and Ultra settings, while the Ryzen 9 9900X3D becomes more relevant at Low settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D provides the processing foundation for this configuration, with 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge). Its base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz, combined with a large 128 MB L3 cache, deliver strong single-thread and multi-thread performance. The CPU’s benchmark results confirm its capability: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 47737 and single-core score of 6739, a Geekbench multi-core score of 22884 and single-core score of 3041, and a Passmark multi-thread score of 56154 with a single-thread score of 4646. These scores place the CPU in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54762.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role becomes evident when examining the FPS at Low settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 195 FPS, which is only 6% higher than the 184 FPS at 1440p Low. This small gap suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at high frame rates, but the game’s engine still imposes a ceiling. The CPU’s 3DMark scores are also relevant: 12490 for 16 threads, 9002 for 8 threads, 4885 for 4 threads, and 1269 for single thread. These scores indicate robust multi-threaded performance, which is beneficial for a horror game like The Medium that may use multiple threads for rendering, physics, and AI. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at Medium or higher settings. The fact that 4K Ultra yields 54 FPS while 1080p Ultra yields 82 FPS demonstrates that the GPU’s rendering load dominates performance. The CPU’s nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55093, delta -0.6%), Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54053, delta 1.3%), Intel Xeon 6505P (53701, delta 2%), and Intel Core i7-14700F (53620, delta 2.1%). These small deltas indicate that the 9900X3D is competitively positioned, but the in-game results are more dependent on the GPU.

The combination of a high-end CPU and GPU results in a rank of 9th out of 2911 combos, which suggests that this pairing is well-matched for The Medium. The CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads, with a TDP of 120 W, provide sufficient processing power for the game’s demands without introducing frame pacing issues. The measured minimum FPS values for the Medium preset (123 at 1080p, 103 at 1440p, 81 at 4K) are consistently above 60 FPS, indicating that the CPU maintains stable frame delivery even when the GPU is under heavy load. For users targeting the highest possible frame rates at 1080p or 1440p with Low settings, the CPU’s single-thread performance (1269 in 3DMark single thread, 6739 in Cinebench R23 single-core) helps push the average FPS to 195 and 184, respectively. Overall, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D plays a supporting but essential role, ensuring that the RTX 5090 D can operate at its full potential without being starved of data.