The Medium

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers a fascinating, if uneven, experience in The Medium. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU's substantial multi-threading capabilities become increasingly relevant as resolution drops. While the RTX 4090 is a top-tier performer, the measured frame rates suggest that the game's optimization and the specific combination's configuration create a bottleneck that prevents the hardware from reaching its full potential, particularly at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly identifies the GPU as the primary limiting component. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 67 at 1920x1080 to 57 at 2560x1440, a 15% reduction, and then plummets to 45 at 3840x2160, a further 21% drop. This steep decline at 4K indicates that the RTX 4090 is being pushed to its limits by the pixel count, as the performance penalty far exceeds what would be expected from a purely CPU-bound scenario.

The scaling pattern is even more pronounced at lower settings. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 150 at 1080p to 127 at 1440p (a 15% drop) and then to 99 at 4K (a 22% drop). This demonstrates that even when graphical fidelity is reduced, the resolution increase still imposes a massive load on the GPU. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is consistent across settings, but the 4K performance hit is disproportionately severe, suggesting that the game's rendering pipeline at 4K creates a significant GPU bottleneck.

Interestingly, the Medium settings row includes min and max FPS data, which provides insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the average is 94 FPS with a range of 80 to 108. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 79 FPS with a range of 67 to 91. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 62 FPS with a range of 53 to 71. The consistent delta between min and max FPS (around 28-30%) across all resolutions suggests that frame time variance scales proportionally with resolution, reinforcing that the GPU is the sole bottleneck.

The data indicates that this combination is not ideal for 4K gaming in The Medium, as even the Low preset only manages an average of 99 FPS. The 1080p results, however, show that the CPU can feed the GPU effectively at lower resolutions, with the 150 FPS Low result being a strong indicator of the CPU's capability. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings (67 to 45 FPS) represents a 33% performance loss, which is substantial and points to the game's demanding nature at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, with its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, provides a massive 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This is more than sufficient for The Medium, which is a horror game that likely uses high-resolution textures. The 24 GB VRAM buffer means that memory capacity is not a limiting factor at any tested resolution or setting, even at 4K Ultra. The benchmark results confirm this, as the performance scaling is consistent with compute limitations rather than memory bandwidth saturation.

The GPU's clock speeds are listed at a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz. These high clocks, combined with the 16384 shading units, contribute to the card's raw compute power. However, the measured FPS in The Medium suggests that the game may not be fully utilizing the GPU's architecture. The RTX 4090's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are present, but the game's implementation of these features, if any, appears to be inefficient based on the frame rates.

The GPU's performance percentile is 88, and its average benchmark score is 60347. This places it in the upper echelon of GPUs, yet in The Medium, it only achieves 45 FPS at 4K High. This is a surprisingly low result for a card with 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The data suggests that the game might have a performance ceiling or a specific rendering path that limits the GPU's effectiveness. The 4K Low preset at 99 FPS shows that the card can perform well when the load is reduced, but the scaling to higher presets is not linear, indicating a potential software bottleneck.

The memory clock is listed as 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective, which is standard for GDDR6X. This provides the necessary bandwidth for the 384-bit bus. The card's texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s are exceptionally high, yet the game's results do not reflect this level of capability. The conclusion is that The Medium's engine is not scaling efficiently with the RTX 4090's resources at higher resolutions, leading to the observed frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 583rd out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the top 20% of all tested configurations, which is respectable but not elite. The rank suggests that while this is a powerful pairing, many other combinations achieve better performance in this specific game. Given the GPU's high percentile (88) and the CPU's high percentile (95), one might expect a higher ranking, but the measured results indicate that the combination is underperforming relative to its potential.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its performance. The AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX has an average score of 76513, which is 1.6% higher than this CPU's 77740. The AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P is also 1.6% higher at 76492. The Intel Core i9-14900K is 1.7% lower at 79097, and the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is 2% higher at 76212. These deltas are small, indicating that the CPU is in a tight performance cluster. This suggests that the CPU is not the differentiator in the ranking; the GPU's interaction with the game is more critical.

The rank of 583 out of 2911 implies that there are 2328 other combinations that perform better in The Medium. This is likely due to the GPU's specific behavior in this game, as the RTX 4090's performance here is not commensurate with its theoretical capabilities. The data shows that the combination is capable of high frame rates at 1080p (150 FPS at Low), but the 4K performance drags down the overall ranking. The combo's rank is a reflection of the average performance across all settings and resolutions, and the poor 4K results significantly impact this metric.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combination depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset provides the best balance, with an average of 94 FPS and a min/max range of 80 to 108. This is a playable and smooth experience. The High preset at 67 FPS is also viable, but the Medium preset offers a significant 40% performance boost over High (94 vs 67) with only a modest visual downgrade. The Ultra preset at 53 FPS is playable but may be too inconsistent for some users.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is again the sweet spot, with an average of 79 FPS and a range of 67 to 91. This is a solid experience for a horror game, where a stable frame rate is more important than absolute visual fidelity. The High preset at 57 FPS is borderline, and the Ultra preset at 45 FPS is not recommended for a smooth experience. The Low preset at 127 FPS is excessive and suggests that the user is leaving performance on the table.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more challenging. The Low preset at 99 FPS is the only setting that provides a consistently smooth experience. The Medium preset at 62 FPS is playable, but the min FPS of 53 might cause noticeable stutters in intense scenes. The High preset at 45 FPS is not recommended for a horror game that relies on atmosphere and timing. The Ultra preset at 35 FPS is essentially unplayable for a smooth experience.

The data strongly suggests that the Medium preset is the recommended setting for 1080p and 1440p, as it offers the best combination of visual quality and performance. For 4K, users should accept the Low preset or lower their resolution to 1440p for a better experience. The High and Ultra presets are only viable at 1080p, and even then, they are inferior to Medium in terms of smoothness.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS is 150 at Low settings, 94 at Medium, 67 at High, and 53 at Ultra. The Medium setting has a min of 80 and a max of 108. The scaling from Low to Medium is a 37% drop, from Medium to High is a 29% drop, and from High to Ultra is a 21% drop. This shows diminishing returns for each preset increase, with the most significant performance hit coming from the Low to Medium transition.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 127 at Low, 79 at Medium, 57 at High, and 45 at Ultra. The Medium setting has a min of 67 and a max of 91. The drop from Low to Medium is 38%, which is consistent with the 1080p scaling. The drop from Medium to High is 28%, and from High to Ultra is 21%. The consistency of these percentages across resolutions suggests that the settings have a uniform impact on GPU load.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 99 at Low, 62 at Medium, 45 at High, and 35 at Ultra. The Medium setting has a min of 53 and a max of 71. The drop from Low to Medium is 37%, from Medium to High is 27%, and from High to Ultra is 22%. The 4K results show a similar scaling pattern to lower resolutions, but the absolute values are lower across the board.

Comparing the same settings across resolutions, the 1080p to 1440p drop is consistent: 15% at Low (150 to 127), 16% at Medium (94 to 79), 15% at High (67 to 57), and 15% at Ultra (53 to 45). The 1440p to 4K drop is larger: 22% at Low (127 to 99), 22% at Medium (79 to 62), 21% at High (57 to 45), and 22% at Ultra (45 to 35). This confirms that the 4K resolution imposes a disproportionate load on the GPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 has 16 cores and 32 threads, which is a substantial amount of processing power for a mobile chip. Its base clock is 3.00 GHz, and it boosts to 5.10 GHz. This high boost clock is crucial for gaming, as it ensures strong single-thread performance. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 64 MB of shared L3. This large L3 cache is beneficial for games that iterate over large datasets.

The CPU's benchmark scores are strong. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 35314, and its single-core score is 2044. This multi-core strength is reflected in its PassMark multi-thread score of 54934 and its Geekbench multi-core score of 20992. The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 95, meaning it outperforms 95% of all tested processors. This is a high-end chip that should not be a bottleneck in most scenarios.

In The Medium, the CPU's role becomes evident at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 150 FPS, which is a high frame rate that requires a capable CPU to feed the GPU. The fact that the frame rate scales so predictably with resolution indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor. The CPU's nearest rivals show it is competitive with top-tier desktop processors like the Intel Core i9-14900K, which is only 1.7% faster in average benchmark score.

However, the 4K results suggest that the CPU's power is underutilized. At 4K Low, the system only achieves 99 FPS, which is a 34% drop from 1080p Low. This drop is entirely attributable to the GPU's inability to keep up with the pixel count, not a CPU limitation. The CPU's 55 W TDP and 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are more than sufficient for this game. The data confirms that the CPU is a capable partner, but the RTX 4090's performance in The Medium is the primary factor limiting the overall experience.