The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 produces a severely GPU-bound experience in The Medium, with frame rates that consistently fall below playable thresholds across all tested resolutions and settings. The data shows a configuration where a top-tier 16-core processor is utterly starved by a 4 GB graphics card, resulting in a combo rank of 3594 out of 3724 tested combinations.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals an extreme dependence on the graphics card. At Low settings, the average FPS declines from 44 at 1920x1080 to 37 at 2560x1440, then to 29 at 3840x2160. This represents a 34% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is a relatively shallow curve for a game that is known to be demanding. In contrast, at High settings the drop is from 20 FPS at 1080p to 16 FPS at 1440p and 13 FPS at 4K, a 35% decrease. The scaling pattern suggests that the GTX 1650's 4 GB VRAM buffer and its 128.1 GB/s memory bandwidth are the primary constraints, not the processor's ability to feed frames.

At Ultra settings, the resolution scaling becomes catastrophic. The average FPS at 1080p is 16, falling to 13 at 1440p, and finally to 10 at 4K. These numbers are so low that the differences between resolutions are nearly imperceptible in practice. The data indicates that the GPU is saturated even at the lowest resolution, meaning the 9950X3D's massive compute resources—evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42018—are irrelevant to the outcome. The limiting component is unequivocally the GTX 1650, which sits at the 40th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at the 95th percentile.

The Medium resolution (2560x1440) shows a predictable midpoint: 23 FPS at Medium settings, which is only slightly better than the 18 FPS at 4K Medium. This confirms that the GPU's memory subsystem, not the pixel count alone, is the bottleneck. The GTX 1650's 128-bit bus width and 4 GB GDDR5 memory are insufficient for the game's asset streaming at higher resolutions, causing the frame rate to collapse well before the CPU can demonstrate any advantage.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is the clear performance ceiling in this pairing. Its benchmark profile is modest: a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305 and a PassMark G3D score of 7880 place it at the 40th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (0.3% slower), Intel UHD Graphics 750 (0.4% slower), and AMD Radeon R7 350 (0.6% slower), while the Intel Arc A310 is 1% faster. This competitive positioning indicates that the GTX 1650 is a basic entry-level part, with a pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s that are simply inadequate for a 2021 horror title.

The GPU's 4 GB GDDR5 memory is the most critical weakness. In the measured FPS data, the difference between Medium and High settings at any resolution is substantial—for example, 27 FPS at 1080p Medium versus 20 FPS at 1080p High. This 35% penalty is consistent with the card running out of VRAM, forcing the game to swap textures and assets from system memory. The 128.1 GB/s bandwidth cannot keep up with the data demands of The Medium's dual-reality rendering, which requires simultaneous scene loads.

Clock speeds are nominal for this class: a base of 1485 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz. These figures are not particularly high, but they are not the limiting factor either; the card's 896 shading units and 32 ROPs are simply too few for modern rendering workloads. The FP32 performance of 2.984 TFLOPS is a fraction of what the game engine expects, and the 12 nm Turing architecture lacks any ray tracing or tensor cores to offload work. The data shows that the GPU is the sole determinant of performance, with every measured FPS figure falling below 45, which is the maximum observed at 1080p Low.

FAQ

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so dramatically from Low to Ultra settings?

A: The GTX 1650 has only 4 GB of GDDR5 memory. At Ultra settings, the game requires more VRAM for high-resolution textures, causing a 63% performance drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p (44 FPS to 16 FPS). The card's 128.1 GB/s bandwidth cannot sustain the data flow.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9950X3D bottlenecking the GTX 1650?

A: No. The CPU is at the 95th percentile of all processors with a PassMark multi-thread score of 70255, while the GPU is at the 40th percentile. The measured FPS values are consistently low, indicating the GPU is the bottleneck in every scenario.

Q: What is the best achievable frame rate with this combination?

A: The highest average FPS measured is 44 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that approaches playability, though it remains below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested systems?

A: It ranks 3594 out of 3724 tested combinations. This places it in the bottom 3.5% of all systems, which is expected given the GTX 1650's 40th percentile standing.

Q: Does the 4 GB VRAM cause stuttering?

A: The data shows a minimum FPS of 23 at 1080p Medium and 15 at 4K Medium, indicating significant frame time variance. The 4 GB capacity is likely causing texture swapping, but the measured frame times are not recorded for all settings.

Q: Can the CPU's 128 MB L3 cache compensate for the GPU's weakness?

A: No. The CPU's cache and 16 cores are irrelevant to the rendering pipeline. The GPU's 4 GB memory and 128-bit bus are the hard limits, and the benchmark scores confirm that no CPU-side feature can offset this.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a clear hierarchy across settings. Low settings average 44 FPS, Medium averages 27 FPS with a range of 23 to 31, High averages 20 FPS, and Ultra averages 16 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is a 39% reduction, while the jump from Medium to High is another 26% reduction. These numbers indicate that the game's preset changes have a multiplicative effect on the GPU load, with the 4 GB VRAM being the primary constraint.

At 2560x1440, the averages drop to 37 FPS at Low, 23 FPS at Medium (with a range of 20 to 26), 16 FPS at High, and 13 FPS at Ultra. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 16% at Low settings but only 20% at Medium settings. This suggests that the GPU is already near its limit at 1080p, and the extra pixels at 1440p cannot be compensated by the CPU's headroom.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low settings average 29 FPS, Medium averages 18 FPS (with a range of 15 to 21), High averages 13 FPS, and Ultra averages 10 FPS. The 4K Low setting is the only one that approaches 30 FPS, but even this is below the standard for a playable experience. The gap between 1080p Low (44 FPS) and 4K Low (29 FPS) is a 34% reduction, which is modest for a 4x pixel increase, confirming that the GPU is compute-bound rather than memory-bound at lower settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is overwhelmingly powerful relative to the GPU. With 16 cores and 32 threads, base clocks of 4.30 GHz and boost clocks of 5.70 GHz, this CPU is designed for heavy multi-threaded workloads. Its benchmark results are exceptional: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42018, a Geekbench multi-core score of 26736, and a PassMark multi-thread score of 70255. The CPU sits at the 95th percentile of all processors, with its nearest rivals being the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 (0.1% slower), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D (0.1% slower), and the AMD EPYC 8224P (0.3% slower).

In The Medium, the CPU's role is theoretically important for handling the game's dual-world simulation, which requires simultaneous rendering of two scenes. The 9950X3D's 128 MB L3 cache and Zen 5 architecture are ideally suited for this task. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU never becomes a limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU has the least GPU work to wait for, the average FPS is only 44, which is far below what the CPU could support. The CPU's single-thread performance, as indicated by a Geekbench single-core score of 3064, is more than sufficient, but the GPU's 2.984 TFLOPS FP32 throughput cannot translate this into visible frame rate gains.

The processor's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s is also not a constraint, as the GPU's 128.1 GB/s is higher. The data suggests that a far weaker CPU would produce identical results in this game, as the GTX 1650's 4 GB memory and 75 W TDP are the absolute ceiling. The only scenario where the CPU might matter is if the game's minimum FPS were recorded, but the data shows no min FPS values for most settings, making it impossible to assess CPU-induced stutters.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the only viable configuration for this combination is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which yields an average of 44 FPS. This is the highest frame rate in the entire dataset and is the only setting that approaches a playable level, though it remains below the 60 FPS standard. All other settings at 1080p—Medium (27 FPS), High (20 FPS), and Ultra (16 FPS)—are significantly worse and do not offer a meaningful visual improvement relative to the frame rate penalty.

At 2560x1440, the Low setting drops to 37 FPS, which is still below the playable threshold but represents the best balance for users who must use a higher resolution. The Medium setting at 1440p (23 FPS) is not recommended, as the 39% drop from Low is too severe for the modest visual upgrade. At 3840x2160, no setting is playable; even Low averages only 29 FPS, which is marginal at best.

The data suggests that users should prioritize resolution over settings. Running at 1080p Low is the only way to get close to 45 FPS, while any other combination sacrifices too much performance. The Ultra preset should be avoided entirely, as it produces single-digit to low-teen frame rates across all resolutions. The Medium preset, despite its modest demands, still exceeds the GTX 1650's capabilities, as evidenced by the 15 FPS minimum at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 3594 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the bottom 3.5% of all systems, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's 40th percentile standing. The CPU's 95th percentile ranking is effectively nullified by the graphics card's limitations.

The data shows that this combo performs no better than a system with a mid-range CPU and this same GPU, because the game's frame rates are entirely GPU-bound. The nearest rival GPUs—the AMD Radeon HD 8850M, Intel UHD Graphics 750, and AMD Radeon R7 350—are all within 0.6% of the GTX 1650's average score, indicating that this is the absolute entry point for gaming performance. The Intel Arc A310 is 1% faster, which would yield marginally higher frame rates, but the overall ranking would remain poor.

The combo's rank of 3594 out of 3724 is a clear signal that this pairing is mismatched. The 9950X3D is a flagship processor designed for productivity and high-end gaming, while the GTX 1650 is an end-of-life entry-level card. The measured FPS data confirms this: no setting combination achieves even 45 FPS, and the vast majority of configurations fall below 30 FPS. For users seeking to play The Medium, this combo is not viable, and the benchmark results indicate that the GPU must be upgraded before any meaningful performance can be extracted from the system.