The Medium

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile is a combination that leans heavily on its processor, yet the benchmark data for The Medium shows a system that is primarily constrained by its graphics solution at higher settings. This mobile setup, built on the Zen 5 architecture, brings a substantial 16 cores and 32 threads, with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The processor’s strength is evident in its synthetic benchmarks, where it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35314 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 20992. This raw compute capability places the CPU in the 95th percentile of all processors, and its average benchmark score of 77740 puts it just 1.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX, which scores 76513. Conversely, it trails the Intel Core i9-14900K by a margin of 1.7%, as that chip posts an average score of 79097.

With such a powerful CPU, the game’s performance is rarely going to be limited by processor throughput. The 64 MB of shared L3 cache and the memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s, shared with the GPU, are more than adequate for feeding the graphics card. In The Medium, a title that relies on fixed camera angles and a cinematic presentation, the CPU’s role is to maintain frame pacing and handle the game’s logic. The benchmark results confirm this; the frame rates show a clear pattern where the GPU becomes the bottleneck as resolution and graphical load increase. The CPU is a high-end part that is not holding this combo back.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile, featuring the AD107 chip on the Ada Lovelace architecture, is the component that dictates playable settings in this title. It comes equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1545 MHz, boosting up to 1890 MHz, and it features 3072 shading units alongside 24 RT cores. In terms of raw compute, it delivers 11.61 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The GPU’s benchmark standing shows it in the 67th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 22729. This places it virtually on par with the desktop NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, which has an average score of 22895, a mere 0.7% difference.

The GPU’s performance in The Medium is directly tied to its 8 GB VRAM and memory subsystem. The data indicates that the 8 GB frame buffer is a limiting factor at higher resolutions and presets. The game’s memory usage appears to scale quickly, and the 128-bit memory bus, while providing adequate bandwidth, cannot compensate for the capacity limitations when the graphics load is high. The RTX 4060 Mobile is a capable mid-range part, but it is the clear performance limiter in this pairing for this specific game, struggling to maintain high frame rates at 4K with higher settings. Its performance is closely matched with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, which has an average score of 22549, showing a 0.8% delta, and the Intel Arc B580, which scores 23021, a 1.3% delta.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a stark and predictable decline as resolution increases, which clearly illustrates the GPU-bound nature of this configuration in The Medium. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 97 FPS, which drops to 81 FPS at 1440p and further to 64 FPS at 4K. This is a 33 FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that even at the lowest graphical preset, the rendering load is significant. The scaling is even more pronounced at higher settings. With High settings, the average frame rate is 43 FPS at 1080p, 36 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K. This pattern confirms that the GPU is the primary bottleneck; a CPU-bound scenario would show much smaller performance deltas as resolution increases.

The data suggests that the game’s engine is heavily reliant on the GPU for resolution scaling. For instance, the jump from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings reduces the average FPS from 60 to 51, a drop of 15%. Moving from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings further reduces the average from 51 to 40 FPS, a 21.5% decrease. These percentage drops are substantial, reinforcing that the RTX 4060 Mobile is working at its limits. The 8 GB VRAM is likely a contributing factor to this steep scaling, as higher resolutions require more memory for textures and buffers, leading to potential performance degradation when capacity is exceeded. The CPU, with its high multi-core performance, does not exhibit any signs of bottlenecking in these results.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware configurations for The Medium, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile ranks 2285 out of 3724 tested combos. This places it in the lower-middle portion of all tested systems, which is a direct consequence of the GPU’s mid-range standing. Despite having a top-tier CPU, the overall gaming performance is dragged down by the graphics card’s inability to maintain high frame rates at demanding settings. The CPU’s high percentile ranking does not translate to a high combo ranking, as the game’s performance is overwhelmingly GPU-dependent.

The combo rank of 2285 indicates that while this system will run the game, it will not do so with the highest visual fidelity or frame rates. Many other combinations, presumably with more powerful GPUs, will achieve higher rankings. This pairing is an example of a processor being far more capable than the graphics solution, resulting in a system that is not balanced for this specific workload. The data shows that for a game like The Medium, the GPU choice matters significantly more than the CPU, and this combo’s ranking reflects that reality. The CPU’s potential is largely untapped in this scenario, as it waits for the GPU to process frames.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combo in The Medium is found at the Medium preset. This setting provides the best balance between visual quality and playability across all resolutions. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 60 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 69 FPS, which is perfectly smooth for a horror game. At 1440p, the Medium preset yields an average of 51 FPS, with a minimum of 43 FPS and a maximum of 59 FPS, which is still playable, though not as fluid. At 4K, the Medium preset drops to an average of 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS, which is borderline but can be acceptable for a slower-paced title.

Choosing the High preset is not recommended, as it brings the average frame rate below 60 FPS at all resolutions, starting at 43 FPS at 1080p and falling to 29 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is essentially unplayable, with average frame rates of 34 FPS at 1080p and just 23 FPS at 4K. The Low preset offers the highest frame rates, reaching 97 FPS at 1080p, but it comes with a significant visual penalty. Therefore, the Medium preset is the sweet spot. It offers a substantial improvement in visual fidelity over Low while keeping frame rates at a level that is generally considered acceptable for a game of this genre. For the best experience, playing at 1080p or 1440p with Medium settings is advised. At 4K, users may need to accept lower frame rates or consider the Low preset for a smoother experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured performance data for The Medium with this hardware is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset produces an average of 34 FPS. The High preset at the same resolution produces an average of 43 FPS. The Medium preset at 1920x1080 produces an average of 60 FPS, with a minimum of 51 and a maximum of 69. The Low preset at 1920x1080 produces an average of 97 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the Ultra preset yields an average of 29 FPS. The High preset at 1440p yields an average of 36 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution yields an average of 51 FPS, with a minimum of 43 and a maximum of 59. The Low preset at 1440p yields an average of 81 FPS.

At the highest resolution, 3840x2160, the Ultra preset produces an average of 23 FPS. The High preset at 4K produces an average of 29 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K produces an average of 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 and a maximum of 46. Finally, the Low preset at 4K produces an average of 64 FPS. This data shows a clear progression. The gap between the Low and Ultra presets is substantial, with a 63 FPS difference at 1080p, a 52 FPS difference at 1440p, and a 41 FPS difference at 4K. The step from Medium to High is also significant, with a 17 FPS drop at 1080p, a 15 FPS drop at 1440p, and an 11 FPS drop at 4K. These numbers confirm that the Medium preset offers a significantly better frame rate than High or Ultra, while providing a much better visual experience than Low. The minimum FPS values for the Medium preset also indicate that frame pacing is consistent, with the 1% lows not deviating too far from the average.