The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 produces a performance profile in The Medium that is heavily dictated by the graphics settings and resolution selected. The measured data indicates that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all tested resolutions, providing a substantial improvement over Low settings in visual fidelity while maintaining frame rates that are significantly smoother than those of the High and Ultra presets. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 72 FPS, which is 41% higher than the High preset's 51 FPS and 76% higher than the Ultra preset's 41 FPS. While the Low preset at 1080p reaches 115 FPS, the jump to Medium costs only 37% of that frame rate while likely offering a much richer visual presentation, making it the optimal choice for most users.

Settings Recommendations

The data from the measured FPS rows clearly indicates that the Medium settings preset is the recommended choice for this hardware combination. This preset delivers the most favorable balance between performance and visual quality. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset achieves an average of 72 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The frame time consistency is also respectable, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS, indicating a stable experience without severe drops.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Medium preset maintains an average of 61 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS. This shows that the combination can handle the higher resolution at Medium settings while staying playable, although the minimum frame rate dips closer to the 50 FPS mark, which may be noticeable in fast-paced scenes. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset produces an average of 48 FPS, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 55 FPS. While this is not ideal for a high-refresh-rate display, it is still more fluid than the High preset's 34 FPS and the Ultra preset's 27 FPS at the same resolution.

The Low preset, while offering the highest frame rates, is not recommended for the best experience. It achieves 115 FPS at 1080p, 97 FPS at 1440p, and 76 FPS at 4K. These numbers suggest the game is highly playable, but the visual compromise is likely too severe for a horror title where atmosphere and detail are crucial. The High and Ultra presets, conversely, provide the best visuals but at a significant performance cost. The data shows that the High preset trails Medium by 29% at 1080p, 29% at 1440p, and 29% at 4K. The Ultra preset is even more demanding, with average frame rates of 41 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p, and 27 FPS at 4K, which falls below playable thresholds for many users.

Therefore, the Medium preset is the clear winner. It offers a frame rate that is 41% higher than High and 76% higher than Ultra at 1080p, while providing a visual experience that is a significant step up from Low. Users with high-refresh-rate monitors at 1080p might consider the Low preset for maximum frame rates, but for the intended experience of The Medium, Medium settings provide the best balance of performance and visual immersion.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best settings preset for the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and AMD Radeon RX 7700 in The Medium?*

A: The data indicates that the Medium preset is the most favorable. It provides an average of 72 FPS at 1080p and 61 FPS at 1440p, which are both playable, while offering a significant visual upgrade over the Low preset.

Q: How does the 4K performance compare to 1080p performance on the Medium preset?

A: At 3840x2160, the Medium preset averages 48 FPS, which is 33% lower than the 72 FPS average at 1920x1080. The 4K minimum frame rate of 40 FPS also suggests a less consistent experience.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at any resolution with this hardware?

A: The Ultra preset is only playable at 1080p, where it averages 41 FPS. At 1440p, the average drops to 34 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 27 FPS, both of which are below the generally accepted threshold for smooth gameplay.

*Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX 7700 have enough VRAM for The Medium at high settings?*

A: The GPU is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. The measured results show it can handle the High preset at all resolutions, but with diminished frame rates compared to Medium, suggesting the GPU's processing power, not the memory capacity, is the limiting factor.

Q: How does the combo's rank in this game compare to its overall hardware ranking?

A: The combo ranks 1307 out of 2911 tested combinations in The Medium. This places it in the 55th percentile for this game, which is slightly below the CPU's overall 95th percentile ranking and the GPU's 58th percentile ranking.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between the Low and High presets at 1440p?

A: The Low preset at 2560x1440 averages 97 FPS, while the High preset averages 43 FPS. This represents a 56% decrease in performance when moving from Low to High settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is the primary component determining the frame rates in The Medium across the tested configurations. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s, which is sufficient for the game's data demands at all tested resolutions. However, the benchmark results suggest that the GPU's compute performance, not its memory subsystem, is the bottleneck in this title.

The Radeon RX 7700's boost clock of 2459 MHz and game clock of 2041 MHz are relatively high, but the data shows a clear scaling pattern that points to GPU limitation. At 1080p, the difference between the Low preset (115 FPS) and the Ultra preset (41 FPS) is 74 FPS, a 64% drop. This scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario where increasing the graphical fidelity directly impacts the rendering load. The GPU's FP32 performance of 25.18 TFLOPS and its 2560 shading units are tasked with the increased pixel and texture work at higher presets, leading to the observed frame rate drops.

The GPU's performance relative to its peers, as indicated by its 58th percentile ranking, suggests it is a mid-range part. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, has an average benchmark score of 16129, which is 1.7% higher than the RX 7700's score of 15852. In The Medium, this performance gap is likely to manifest as a slightly lower frame rate at equivalent settings. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is a notable advantage, as it ensures the game's assets can be loaded without exceeding memory limits, but the data shows that settings have a more profound impact on FPS than resolution, reinforcing that the GPU's processing power is the key constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

In the specific context of The Medium, this configuration of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1307 out of 2911 tested combinations. This places it in the 55th percentile, indicating that it performs better than a slight majority of other hardware pairings tested in this game. This rank is particularly interesting when compared to the individual component rankings. The CPU is in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 58th percentile of all GPUs.

The combo's rank in the game is lower than the CPU's individual percentile, which is expected, as the GPU is the limiting factor in most gaming scenarios. However, the rank is also slightly lower than the GPU's individual percentile, which suggests that The Medium may be a demanding title that pushes the GPU harder than average. The data shows that at 1080p on the Medium preset, the average FPS is 72, which is a solid result. This suggests the 1307 rank is a reflection of the GPU's mid-range standing rather than any specific incompatibility or bottleneck issue with the CPU.

The rank also indicates that there are 1604 other tested combos that perform better in this game, while 1306 perform worse. This places the combo in the middle of the pack for The Medium. For a user with a high-refresh-rate 1080p monitor, this combo is capable of delivering a good experience, but for those targeting 4K at high settings, the performance will be below what is considered smooth. The rank is a useful data point for comparison, showing that while the CPU is top-tier, the GPU's performance tier is the deciding factor for this game's playability.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. This scaling is a direct indicator of the GPU being the primary limiting component. When resolution increases, the number of pixels that need to be processed grows exponentially, placing a greater load on the GPU's shading units and ROPs.

On the Medium preset, the frame rate drops from 72 FPS at 1080p to 61 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 15%. Moving to 4K, the frame rate further drops to 48 FPS, a 21% reduction from 1440p and a 33% reduction from 1080p. This linear progression with increasing pixel count is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would show less variation across resolutions, as the CPU's workload is primarily determined by the game's logic and draw calls, not the output pixel count.

The scaling pattern is similar for other presets. The Low preset shows a drop from 115 FPS at 1080p to 97 FPS at 1440p (a 16% drop) and then to 76 FPS at 4K (a 22% drop from 1440p). The High preset follows the same trend, with 51 FPS at 1080p, 43 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K. This consistent behavior across all settings confirms that the Radeon RX 7700's compute and pixel throughput are the factors that dictate performance. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D, with its 16 cores and 32 threads, is clearly not the limiting factor, as its performance headroom is not being taxed by the resolution changes. The data strongly suggests that to improve frame rates at higher resolutions, a more powerful GPU would be necessary, as the current GPU is fully saturated by the rendering workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS data for this combination is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 115 FPS. The Medium preset produces an average of 72 FPS, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS. The High preset averages 51 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 41 FPS. This shows a clear performance hierarchy at the lowest resolution, with the Medium preset offering the best balance.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers an average of 97 FPS. The Medium preset averages 61 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS. The High preset drops to an average of 43 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 34 FPS. The relative difference between presets remains consistent, with Medium being about 29% faster than High.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only one to maintain a high frame rate, averaging 76 FPS. The Medium preset averages 48 FPS, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 55 FPS. The High preset averages 34 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 27 FPS. This data confirms that 4K is only playable on the Low and Medium presets, and even then, the Medium preset's minimum of 40 FPS may cause noticeable stuttering in some scenes.

The min/max FPS data is only available for the Medium preset, which provides insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p, the 61-83 FPS range indicates a variance of 27%, which is acceptable. At 1440p, the range is 51-70 FPS, a variance of 27% as well. At 4K, the range is 40-55 FPS, a variance of 27%. This consistent variance across resolutions suggests that the frame pacing is stable and that the performance drops are due to sustained load, not sporadic spikes.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a high-end processor with 16 cores and 32 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture. Its boost clock of 5.70 GHz and a substantial 128 MB of L3 cache make it exceptionally well-suited for gaming. In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role is to handle the game's logic, physics, and draw calls, while the GPU handles the rendering. The data indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck in this configuration.

The measured FPS scaling across resolutions is the primary evidence for this. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would be similar across all resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not increase proportionally with resolution. However, the data shows a significant drop in FPS from 1080p to 4K across all presets. For example, on the Medium preset, the FPS drops from 72 to 48, a 33% reduction. This is a clear indication that the GPU is being saturated, while the CPU has ample headroom to feed it frames.

The CPU's benchmark scores further support this. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42018 and single-core score of 2259 are exceptionally high, placing it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285, is only 0.4% behind in average benchmark score. This level of performance means that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is more than capable of handling the demands of The Medium at any resolution. The combination of high core count and fast single-core performance ensures that the game's main thread and background tasks are processed without delay. The data clearly shows that the GPU is the performance limiter, and the CPU's role is to provide a stable and powerful platform that allows the GPU to perform at its maximum potential.