The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and Intel Arc B580 combination delivers a narrow set of playable configurations in The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title that stresses the GPU heavily at higher presets. Measured data shows that this combo only clears the 60 FPS threshold at the Low preset across 1080p and 1440p resolutions, with 4K remaining entirely below the playable mark. The following analysis breaks down the exact frame rates, component scaling, and practical recommendations based solely on the benchmark database entries.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its strongest results. The Low preset averages 88 FPS, which is the highest average recorded for this hardware pairing in the game. Medium drops to 55 FPS average, with a minimum of 47 and a maximum of 64. High averages 40 FPS, while Ultra falls to 31 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is substantial — 33 FPS — indicating a steep cost for the first tier of quality improvements. The jump from Medium to High costs another 15 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 9 FPS. None of the presets above Low achieve a 60 FPS average, though Medium does reach a 64 FPS maximum, showing occasional bursts of playability that are not sustained.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern repeats with lower absolute numbers. Low averages 74 FPS, still comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium drops to 47 FPS average, with a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 54. High averages 33 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. Compared to 1080p, the resolution increase from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 costs 14 FPS at Low (88 to 74), 8 FPS at Medium (55 to 47), 7 FPS at High (40 to 33), and 5 FPS at Ultra (31 to 26). The absolute FPS loss shrinks as the preset gets heavier, but the percentage loss remains significant — Low loses 15.9% of its performance, while Ultra loses 16.1%.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles across the board. Low averages 58 FPS, just 2 FPS below the 60 FPS target. Medium averages 37 FPS, with a minimum of 31 and a maximum of 42. High averages 26 FPS, and Ultra averages 21 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra spans 37 FPS, from 58 down to 21. Notably, the Low preset at 4K produces a lower average than the Medium preset at 1440p (58 vs. 47), but the 4K Low figure is higher than the 1440p High figure (58 vs. 33). This suggests that resolution scaling has a more pronounced effect than preset scaling in this range, which is typical for a game with heavy fixed-camera rendering loads.

The only preset with full min/max data at all three resolutions is Medium: at 1080p it ranges from 47 to 64 FPS, at 1440p from 40 to 54, and at 4K from 31 to 42. These ranges show that the minimum FPS scales almost linearly with resolution — 47, 40, and 31 — while the maximum FPS also declines steadily. The delta between min and max widens at 1080p (17 FPS) compared to 4K (11 FPS), indicating that lower resolutions introduce more frame-time variance relative to the average.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a GPU-bound scenario at nearly every measured configuration. The Intel Arc B580, with its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth, is the primary determinant of frame rates. The Ryzen 5 7400F, a 6-core/12-thread Zen 4 part, provides ample headroom that is never fully stressed in this title. Evidence comes from the scaling pattern: when resolution drops from 4K to 1440p, FPS improves by 16 at Low (58 to 74), but when preset drops from Medium to Low at 1440p, FPS improves by 27 (47 to 74). The preset change yields a larger gain than the resolution change, which is characteristic of GPU-limited workloads where shader complexity matters more than pixel count.

At 1080p, the GPU remains the bottleneck. Low preset hits 88 FPS, but the 6-core CPU would not constrain this result — the game’s fixed camera angles and limited on-screen entity counts reduce CPU draw call pressure. The Ryzen 5 7400F’s single-thread performance, evidenced by a PassMark single-thread score of 3689 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3072, is sufficient for the game’s logic. Even the weakest recorded preset (4K Ultra at 21 FPS) shows no sign of CPU limitation, as the frame rate collapses uniformly with GPU load.

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K shows a consistent pattern: each doubling of pixel count reduces FPS by roughly 15-20% at Low, but by less at Ultra. At Low, 1080p to 1440p is a 15.9% drop, and 1440p to 4K is a 21.6% drop. At Ultra, the drops are 16.1% and 19.2%. This non-linear scaling indicates that the GPU’s memory bandwidth (456.0 GB/s) becomes more critical at higher resolutions, but the preset level’s effects on fill rate and shader work remain dominant.

The CPU’s role is further clarified by the fact that no preset at any resolution produces a frame rate that would suggest a CPU bottleneck — the highest average is 88 FPS at 1080p Low, which is well within the Ryzen 5 7400F’s capabilities. The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (83.2 GB/s) provide ample bandwidth for game data streaming. The GPU’s PCIe 4.0 x8 interface could theoretically limit data transfer, but the benchmark data shows no anomalies that would indicate such a constraint.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run The Medium at 1080p with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only at the Low preset. The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 Low is 88, which exceeds the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium averages 55 FPS, below the threshold, and High (40) and Ultra (31) are not playable.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Medium?

A: The highest resolution with a playable preset is 2560x1440 at Low, which averages 74 FPS. At 3840x2160, even Low averages only 58 FPS, just 2 FPS short of the 60 FPS target, so 4K is not recommended.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K in The Medium?

A: No preset at 3840x2160 reaches 60 FPS average. Low averages 58 FPS, Medium 37 FPS, High 26 FPS, and Ultra 21 FPS. The Medium preset has min/max data of 31/42 FPS, indicating frame rates that would feel stuttery.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in The Medium?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The Intel Arc B580’s frame rates scale with preset and resolution in a way that matches GPU load. The Ryzen 5 7400F’s single-thread and multi-thread scores are not taxed, as evidenced by the fact that even the highest FPS (88 at 1080p Low) does not hint at CPU limitation.

Q: What frame rate variance can be expected at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the range is 47 to 64 FPS, with an average of 55. At 1440p Medium, the range is 40 to 54, averaging 47. At 4K Medium, the range is 31 to 42, averaging 37. The variance shrinks as resolution increases, but the average drops proportionally.

Q: Does the combo rank well among tested systems for this game?

A: The combo ranks 2819 out of 3724 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 24.3% of all tested systems for The Medium. This is consistent with the measured results, which show only Low presets achieving playable frame rates.

The Verdict

Based on the verdictByResolution data, this PC can run The Medium at 2560x1440 and 1920x1080, but only on the Low preset. At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 74 FPS, clearing the 60 FPS threshold with 14 FPS to spare. At 1920x1080, Low averages 88 FPS, providing a comfortable margin. No other preset at these resolutions reaches 60 FPS — the next best is 1080p Medium at 55 FPS, which falls short.

At 3840x2160, the system is not playable at any preset. The best result is Low at 58 FPS, which is 2 FPS below the threshold. Medium (37), High (26), and Ultra (21) are all far below playable. The verdictByResolution field confirms this: 4K has no playable settings, while 1440p and 1080p each have only Low listed as playable. The system is therefore a 1080p/1440p Low-preset machine for this game, with no headroom for higher quality settings without dropping below 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 2819 out of 3724 tested combinations places it in the third quartile of all systems tested for The Medium. This rank reflects the GPU’s mid-tier position — the Arc B580 has a percentile of 68 among all GPUs — combined with the game’s heavy GPU demands. The CPU’s percentile of 83 among all CPUs does not compensate, because the game is GPU-bound.

Relative to the 905 combos ranked below it, this system offers playable frame rates at low settings. Relative to the 2818 combos ranked above it, it lacks the GPU headroom to run higher presets. The rank is consistent with the measured data: the combo sits at the edge of playability, achieving 60 FPS only at the lowest quality settings. The gap between the combo’s rank and the top systems is primarily driven by GPU performance, not CPU performance, as the Ryzen 5 7400F’s benchmark scores (e.g., Cinebench R23 multi-core of 21765) are above average.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Low, with an average of 88 FPS. Medium averages 55 FPS, so it is not playable. The margin at Low is substantial — 28 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold — but there is no way to increase quality while maintaining playability.

At 2560x1440, the best playable preset is also Low, averaging 74 FPS. The 14 FPS margin above 60 is thinner than at 1080p, but still sufficient for a stable experience. Medium averages 47 FPS, which is 13 FPS below the threshold.

At 3840x2160, no preset qualifies as playable. The best option is Low at 58 FPS, which is 2 FPS short. Users seeking 4K would need to accept frame rates below 60, which the data shows as not meeting the playable threshold.

The optimal configuration for visual quality while maintaining 60 FPS is therefore 1080p Low (88 FPS) or 1440p Low (74 FPS). There is no preset above Low that achieves playable frame rates at any resolution, making the choice straightforward: Low is the only viable setting.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU’s nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, include the Intel Core i5-14600T (avg score 32707, 0.1% higher), Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (32697, 0.2% higher), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (32812, 0.2% lower), and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (32662, 0.3% higher). These CPUs would perform nearly identically to the Ryzen 5 7400F in The Medium, as the game is GPU-bound. The Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H is the closest in raw score, differing by only 0.2%, which would translate to negligible FPS differences in this title.

The GPU’s nearest rivals are more relevant to actual frame rates. The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (avg score 23061, 0.2% lower than the Arc B580) would produce nearly identical results, meaning it too would only handle Low presets. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (avg score 22895, 0.6% lower) and RTX 3080 (avg score 23172, 0.7% higher) are also close in aggregate score, though the RTX 3080’s slightly higher score might yield 1-2 FPS more in practice. The NVIDIA P106-100 (avg score 23249, 1% higher) is the closest rival in score, but its similar performance would not change the playable preset outcome — it would still be limited to Low at 1080p and 1440p.

For users with any of these GPU alternatives, the recommendation remains the same: use Low preset at 1080p or 1440p. The 0.7% performance delta between the Arc B580 and the RTX 3080 translates to less than 1 FPS at 1080p Low (88 vs. approximately 88.6), which does not unlock any higher preset. The only way to reach Medium settings would require a GPU with significantly higher performance than any of these rivals, as the gap from Low to Medium at 1080p is 33 FPS, or approximately 37.5% more GPU performance.