The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and Intel Arc B570 combination delivers a playable experience in The Medium only at lower resolutions and settings, with the data showing a steep performance cliff as resolution and quality demands increase. This pairing ranks 2999th out of 3724 tested combinations, placing it in the lower third of all systems benchmarked for this horror title, and the measured FPS figures confirm that this is not a hardware pairing for high-refresh or high-fidelity playthroughs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the combination struggles across all settings. The High preset produces an average of 23 FPS, which falls far below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Dropping to Medium improves the average to 32 FPS, with a minimum of 27 FPS and a maximum of 37 FPS. Low settings at 4K reach an average of 52 FPS, still short of the playable mark. The Ultra preset is the worst performer, with an average of just 18 FPS. None of these 4K results approach playability, and the gap between Low and Medium shows that even modest quality increases cost roughly 20 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance improves but remains constrained. The Low preset achieves an average of 66 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings drop to 41 FPS average, with a minimum of 35 FPS and maximum of 47 FPS. High settings produce 29 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 23 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium at 1440p is 25 FPS, indicating that the transition from minimal to standard quality demands a significant performance sacrifice. The gap between Medium and High is 12 FPS, while High to Ultra costs only 6 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns in quality versus performance at the higher end.

At 1920x1080, the pattern continues but with more headroom at the lowest setting. Low settings deliver 78 FPS average, comfortably above the 60 FPS target. Medium settings average 49 FPS, with a minimum of 41 FPS and maximum of 56 FPS, meaning even medium quality fails to sustain playable framerates consistently. High settings average 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 28 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 29 FPS, which is the largest single-setting drop across all resolutions, highlighting how demanding the Medium preset is relative to Low.

Looking at the full dataset, the pattern is consistent: Low is the only preset that reaches 60 FPS, and it does so only at 1080p and 1440p. Medium never reaches playable averages at any resolution, with the best Medium result being 49 FPS at 1080p. High and Ultra are uniformly unplayable across all three resolutions. The minimum FPS figures, where available, reinforce this: Medium at 1080p dips to 41 FPS, and Medium at 1440p dips to 35 FPS, showing that even the average numbers flatter the experience during demanding scenes.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions reveals that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck in this pairing. At 1080p Low, the system produces 78 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low reduces that to 66 FPS, a 15% drop. At 4K Low, performance falls to 52 FPS, a 33% reduction from 1080p. This consistent degradation with resolution increases points directly at the Intel Arc B570 as the limiting factor, since the CPU workload from The Medium at low settings is unlikely to change dramatically across resolutions.

The Ryzen 5 7400F provides ample headroom, with its 6 cores and 12 threads handling the game's CPU demands without evident constraint. The CPU's benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21765 and single-core score of 3072, indicate strong processing capability. The PassMark multi-thread score of 25645 and single-thread score of 3689 further support this. In contrast, the Arc B570's PassMark G3D score of 14195 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 2649 show a GPU that is modest by current standards.

The preset scaling at each resolution reinforces the GPU-bound nature. At 1080p, Low to Medium costs 29 FPS, Medium to High costs 14 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 7 FPS. This nonlinear pattern suggests that the GPU's rendering pipeline saturates quickly when quality features are enabled. The Medium preset likely introduces effects that the Arc B570 handles inefficiently, while High and Ultra add progressively smaller incremental loads. At 1440p, the same pattern holds: Low to Medium costs 25 FPS, Medium to High costs 12 FPS, High to Ultra costs 6 FPS. The 4K results show a similar but compressed range, with all presets below 52 FPS.

The CPU's role becomes more relevant at lower resolutions where the GPU can push higher framerates. At 1080p Low, 78 FPS is within the range where a weaker CPU might throttle, but the 7400F's single-thread performance appears sufficient. The fact that 1440p Low still achieves 66 FPS, only 12 FPS below the 1080p result, indicates that the CPU is not the primary constraint even at the highest framerates this combo can produce. For this game, the data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield far larger gains than swapping the CPU in most scenarios.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves the 60 FPS playable threshold. The closest is Low with 52 FPS average, but that remains 8 FPS short. The verdict data confirms this, listing no playable settings at this resolution. Users targeting 4K with this hardware will need to accept sub-60 FPS performance or reduce resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only playable option, delivering 66 FPS average. Medium falls to 41 FPS, which is below the threshold. The best playable configuration is therefore Low at 1440p, with 66 FPS average. This provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS target, but the visual quality will be minimal.

At 1920x1080, Low settings again provide the only playable experience, with 78 FPS average. Medium averages 49 FPS, which is 11 FPS below the threshold. The best playable settings are Low at 1080p, offering 78 FPS. This is the highest framerate available across all tested configurations, giving users some buffer for demanding scenes.

The data shows that this combo is effectively a 1080p Low or 1440p Low system for The Medium. Users seeking higher quality settings will need to lower resolution or upgrade components. The Medium preset at 1080p, with its 49 FPS average and 41 FPS minimum, could be played with compromises, but it will not maintain a consistent 60 FPS experience.

FAQ

Q: Can this hardware run The Medium at 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at 1080p Low with 78 FPS average or 1440p Low with 66 FPS average. Any preset above Low fails to reach 60 FPS at any resolution, with the best Medium result being 49 FPS at 1080p.

Q: What is the highest quality preset that stays above 60 FPS?

A: Low is the only preset that stays above 60 FPS, and it does so only at 1080p and 1440p. Medium never reaches 60 FPS, with its best average of 49 FPS at 1080p.

Q: Is 4K gaming possible with this combination?

A: 4K is not playable at any preset. The best 4K result is 52 FPS at Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. High and Ultra at 4K produce 23 FPS and 18 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the Arc B570 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B570's average benchmark score of 20556 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile at 20534, within 0.1%. It is also close to the Intel Arc A750 at 20582, which is 0.1% faster, and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X at 20662, which is 0.5% faster.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7400F a strong CPU for this game?

A: The CPU's benchmark scores are solid, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21765 and single-core score of 3072. Its percentile rank of 83 among all CPUs indicates it outperforms most processors, but the GPU bottleneck in The Medium means the CPU is rarely the limiting factor.

Q: What is the performance difference between Medium and Low settings?

A: The cost of moving from Low to Medium is substantial: 29 FPS at 1080p, 25 FPS at 1440p, and 20 FPS at 4K. This is the largest preset-to-preset drop in the dataset, suggesting Medium introduces significant rendering demands.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU's nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, include the Intel Core i5-14600T at 32707, which is 0.1% slower than the 7400F's 32750 average. The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H scores 32697, a 0.2% difference. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H scores 32812, 0.2% faster, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 scores 32662, 0.3% slower. These processors would produce nearly identical CPU-bound behavior in The Medium, though the GPU remains the bottleneck in most scenarios.

For the GPU, the Intel Arc B570's average score of 20556 sits close to several alternatives. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534, a 0.1% difference, meaning users with that mobile GPU would see essentially the same framerates. The Intel Arc A750 scores 20582, 0.1% higher, offering a marginal performance edge. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480, 0.4% lower, and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X scores 20662, 0.5% higher. In practical terms, all of these GPUs would deliver within 1% of the Arc B570's performance in The Medium, so the measured FPS figures would be nearly identical.

For users considering alternatives, the closest match to this full combo would be a system pairing any of the rival CPUs with any of the rival GPUs. The performance deltas are so small that differences in The Medium would be imperceptible. The Arc A750, being the nearest GPU rival at 0.1% faster, might edge out the B570 by a single frame in some scenes, but the overall experience would be the same: playable only at Low settings in 1080p or 1440p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 2999th out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the bottom 20% of all systems benchmarked for this game. This rank reflects the GPU's limitations more than the CPU's capabilities. The Ryzen 5 7400F, with its 83rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, is a strong processor, but the Arc B570's 65th percentile among GPUs drags the overall system down in a game that is heavily GPU-bound.

The ranking aligns with the measured FPS data. A system that can only achieve playable framerates at Low settings across two resolutions, and cannot handle Medium or higher at any resolution, will naturally sit low in a ranking of 3724 combinations. The 4K results, which max out at 52 FPS on Low, are particularly weak and contribute to the low rank.

Compared to the rival hardware, this combo's rank would be nearly identical to systems using the closest alternatives. Swapping the CPU for an Intel Core i5-14600T or AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H would change the rank only marginally, since the GPU is the dominant factor. Similarly, swapping the GPU for an Arc A750 or RTX 3070 Mobile would produce a rank within a few positions, given the 0.1% benchmark differences.

For practical purposes, this combo is suited for users who prioritize CPU performance in other tasks but play The Medium at reduced settings. The data clearly shows that the Arc B570 is the limiting component, and users seeking higher visual quality in this horror title would benefit more from a GPU upgrade than any CPU change. The 1080p Low experience at 78 FPS is the best this pairing can offer, and that is a modest result for a system with a high-end CPU.