The Medium

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 paired with the AMD Radeon 890M represents a mobile platform built around a powerful 16-core processor and an integrated graphics solution. In The Medium, the benchmark data reveals a system that is firmly constrained by its graphics subsystem, with performance figures that place it near the bottom of the database for this specific title. The following analysis breaks down the measured results, focusing on resolution scaling, component roles, and practical settings guidance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent pattern: performance degrades predictably as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that degradation varies significantly depending on the quality preset. At the Low preset, the average frame rate falls from 45 FPS at 1920x1080 to 38 FPS at 2560x1440, a drop of approximately 15.6%. Moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160, the average falls further to 30 FPS, another 21.1% reduction. This scaling behavior indicates that even at the lowest settings, the rendering load at 4K is substantial enough to overwhelm the integrated GPU.

The Medium preset tells a similar story with slightly lower absolute numbers. The average FPS at 1920x1080 is 28, which drops to 24 at 2560x1440 (a 14.3% reduction) and then to 19 at 3840x2160 (a 20.8% reduction). The High preset shows a more dramatic collapse: 20 FPS at 1080p falls to 17 FPS at 1440p (15% drop) and then plummets to 13 FPS at 4K (23.5% drop). The Ultra preset is the most punishing, with averages of 16, 14, and 11 FPS for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively.

What these numbers reveal is that the limiting component is unambiguously the Radeon 890M integrated GPU. The CPU, with its 16 cores and 32 threads, is not the bottleneck here; if it were, we would expect to see frame rates that remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the processor would be the constraining factor regardless of pixel count. Instead, the data shows that each step up in resolution imposes a meaningful cost, which is the signature of a graphics-bound workload. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is relatively modest, but the jump to 4K consistently removes about one-fifth to one-quarter of the remaining performance, confirming that the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested CPU-GPU combinations for The Medium, this pairing ranks 2755 out of 2911 total combos. That places it in the bottom 5.4% of all tested configurations, which is a stark indicator of its standing. The percentile ranking for the GPU itself, across all tested games and workloads, is 45, meaning it sits just below the median for the Radeon 890M's general performance envelope. However, in this specific game, the combo's relative position is much worse, suggesting that The Medium is a particularly demanding title for this iGPU.

The CPU's overall percentile rank is much healthier at 95, indicating that the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is a top-tier processor in general terms. Yet that strength does not translate into gaming performance here because the GPU is the limiting factor. The combo rank of 2755 is driven almost entirely by the graphics side of the equation. To contextualize this, consider the GPU's nearest rivals in the broader benchmark suite: the AMD Radeon Vega 8 scores 9221 on average (a delta of -0.1% relative to the 890M's 9210 average), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 scores 9273 (delta -0.7%), and the GTX 465 scores 9294 (delta -0.9%). These are all older or lower-tier parts, and the 890M is essentially on par with them, which explains why it cannot handle The Medium at high frame rates. The CPU's nearest rivals, meanwhile, are far more powerful desktop chips like the Intel Core i9-14900K, which scores 79097 on average (delta -1.7% against the 395's 77740), and the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX at 76212 (delta 2.0%). The CPU is clearly not the weak link.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 890M is an integrated graphics processor based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 1024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation pipelines, along with 16 ray tracing cores. The base clock is 400 MHz, boosting up to 2900 MHz, which provides a theoretical FP32 performance of 5.939 TFLOPS. The memory subsystem is entirely system-shared, meaning the GPU borrows from the main LPDDR5X memory pool, with a bus width and bandwidth that are listed as "System Dependent." In this configuration, the GPU's TDP is a modest 15 W.

These specifications translate directly into the measured performance in The Medium. The 5.939 TFLOPS of compute throughput is insufficient for the game's rendering demands at high resolution and quality settings. The pixel rate of 92.80 GPixel/s and texture rate of 185.6 GTexel/s are theoretical maximums that are rarely achieved in real-world scenarios, and the data shows that the GPU is consistently delivering averages far below what would be needed for smooth gameplay. The 34,000 million transistors on a 233 mm² die are packed into a chip that is designed for efficiency rather than raw gaming power, and that trade-off is evident in the results.

The benchmark scores for the GPU reinforce this picture. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test yields a score of 590, while PassMark's G3D score is 8076. These are low numbers compared to discrete GPUs, and they align with the 45th percentile ranking. In The Medium, the GPU's limited memory bandwidth, which is shared with the CPU, becomes a critical bottleneck at 4K resolutions where the frame buffer demands are highest. The system-shared memory architecture means that the GPU and CPU are competing for the same pool, and under heavy load, this can exacerbate performance drops.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of how this combo performs across all four quality presets and three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 45 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo in any configuration. The Medium preset averages 28 FPS, with a minimum of 24 and a maximum of 32. High drops to 20 FPS on average, and Ultra falls to 16 FPS. These numbers show that even at 1080p, only the Low preset approaches playable territory, and even then, the average is below the 60 FPS target that most gamers would consider smooth.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 38 FPS, a 15.6% reduction from 1080p. Medium averages 24 FPS (min 20, max 27), High averages 17 FPS, and Ultra averages 14 FPS. The pattern is consistent: each quality tier costs approximately 4-6 FPS on average when compared to the next lower tier at the same resolution. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 30 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration that breaks the 30 FPS barrier, and it does so barely. Medium averages 19 FPS (min 16, max 21), High averages 13 FPS, and Ultra averages 11 FPS.

The minimum and maximum FPS values are only recorded for the Medium preset across all resolutions, providing a glimpse into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 24 to 32 FPS, a spread of 8 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it is 20 to 27, also a spread of 7 FPS. At 4K Medium, it is 16 to 21, a spread of 5 FPS. This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is becoming more uniformly saturated, with less headroom for variance. Interestingly, the Ultra preset at 1080p (16 FPS) performs worse than the Medium preset at 4K (19 FPS), which indicates that the quality settings have a larger impact on performance than resolution does in certain comparisons.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Strix Halo, and manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a TDP of 55 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 64 MB of L3 cache. Memory support is LPDDR5X over a quad-channel bus, providing a theoretical bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s, which is notably high for a mobile platform.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU is a powerhouse. It scores 35314 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2044 in single-core, with Geekbench scores of 20992 multi-core and 2464 single-core. PassMark's multithread score is 54934, and the average benchmark score across all tests is 77740. This places it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX (avg score 76513, delta 1.6%) and the Intel Core i9-14900K (avg score 79097, delta -1.7%). The CPU is clearly not the bottleneck in The Medium.

Given this processing power, one might expect higher frame rates, but the game's performance is entirely dictated by the GPU. The CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and with 16 cores and 32 threads, it has ample headroom to do so. The fact that frame rates drop so significantly with resolution and quality settings, while the CPU remains largely underutilized, is direct evidence that the Radeon 890M is the limiting component. The CPU's 64 MB of L3 cache helps with memory latency, but the system-shared memory bandwidth is still a constraint for the GPU, which cannot access dedicated VRAM.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo can achieve in The Medium?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 45, which occurs at 1920x1080 with the Low quality preset.

Q: Is this combo capable of running The Medium at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at the Low preset, where it averages 30 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K averages 19 FPS, and High and Ultra average 13 and 11 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 has an average benchmark score of 77740, which is 1.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX and 1.7% lower than the Intel Core i9-14900K.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon 890M ranks in the 45th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 9210, placing it near the AMD Radeon Vega 8 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide any benefit over High at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 16 FPS, which is 4 FPS lower than the High preset's 20 FPS average. The visual improvement is not worth the 20% performance loss.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested CPU-GPU combinations for this game?

A: This combo ranks 2755 out of 2911 total combinations, placing it in the bottom 5.4% of all tested configurations for The Medium.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of playable configurations for this combo in The Medium. At 1920x1080, the Low preset is the only option that delivers an average above 40 FPS, hitting 45 FPS. This is the recommended starting point for any attempt at playable frame rates. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 28 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for playable, but it does offer a smoother visual experience with a minimum of 24 FPS. For users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, the Medium preset at 1080p is the highest quality setting that remains within reach of playability.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 38 FPS, which is still above the 30 FPS floor, making it the only viable option at this resolution. The Medium preset at 1440p drops to 24 FPS, which is borderline, and High and Ultra fall to 17 and 14 FPS respectively, which are not recommended for any serious gameplay. For 4K, the Low preset averages 30 FPS, which is exactly at the threshold, but the experience will be marginal due to the lack of headroom for frame time spikes. The Medium preset at 4K averages 19 FPS, which is too low for a playable experience.

The best experience per the measured rows is achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset, which provides the highest average FPS of 45. If the user is willing to accept lower frame rates in exchange for better visuals, the Medium preset at 1080p offers a balance with a 28 FPS average and a minimum of 24 FPS. It is important to note that the Ultra preset is never recommended at any resolution, as it consistently delivers the lowest frame rates (16, 14, and 11 FPS for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively) without providing a proportional increase in visual quality that would justify the performance hit. Overall, this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming at Low to Medium settings, with any attempt at higher resolutions requiring significant compromises in quality.