The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F (launch MSRP $170) and Intel Arc B570 (launch MSRP 219 USD) combination delivers measured frame rates in The Medium that are playable only at the lowest settings on 1080p and 1440p, while 4K remains below the 60 FPS threshold across all presets. With a combo rank of 2999 out of 3724 tested systems, this pairing sits in the bottom fifth of configurations for this horror title. The CPU and GPU individually score above the 65th percentile of all parts, yet the game’s heavy demands overwhelm the pairing at higher resolutions and quality levels.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2999th out of 3724 tested combinations for The Medium, meaning roughly 80% of tested systems deliver higher average frame rates. This places the Ryzen 5 8400F + Arc B570 in the bottom quintile of all measured configurations. The CPU alone sits at the 77th percentile across all CPUs, and the GPU at the 65th percentile across all GPUs, so both components are mid-to-upper tier in general benchmark terms. However, the game’s specific workload—likely a mix of heavy GPU shading and memory bandwidth demands—does not translate those individual strengths into a competitive overall rank. The low rank is consistent with the measured FPS data: even at 1080p Low, the system only reaches 78 FPS average, while many competing combos exceed 100 FPS on similar settings. The gap between the component percentiles and the combo rank suggests that the pairing is not well balanced for this title, with the GPU likely acting as the primary constraint.

Best Settings per Resolution

At each resolution, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is the Low setting. There is no playable preset at 3840x2160; the highest average FPS at 4K is 52 (Low), which falls short of the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, Low delivers an average of 66 FPS, making it the only setting that clears the playability bar. At 1920x1080, Low averages 78 FPS, again the sole preset above 60. Medium at 1080p drops to 49 FPS, High to 35, and Ultra to 28, so even a modest quality increase pushes the system below playable levels. The data indicates that users must accept the lowest quality preset to achieve smooth gameplay at 1080p or 1440p; any higher preset sacrifices fluidity.

CPU and GPU Roles

The frame rate scaling across resolutions and presets points to the GPU as the dominant bottleneck. At Low settings, average FPS falls from 78 at 1080p to 66 at 1440p and 52 at 4K—a drop of 12 FPS (15%) and then 14 FPS (21%). At High settings, the same progression goes from 35 to 29 to 23, with similar percentage drops (17% and 21%). This consistent degradation as resolution increases is characteristic of GPU-bound workloads, where pixel throughput and memory bandwidth become limiting. The CPU’s strong multi-threaded performance—Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20851 and PassMark multithread score of 24389—suggests it is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions; if the CPU were the constraint, frame rates would remain flatter across resolution changes. The fact that even at 1080p Low the system only reaches 78 FPS, while the CPU can handle far heavier compute tasks, reinforces that the Arc B570’s shading and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints. At 4K, the GPU’s 10 GB GDDR6 memory and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient to maintain 60 FPS even at Low, further confirming the GPU-bound nature.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Based on average benchmark scores, the Ryzen 5 8400F is within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (delta 0.2%), Intel Core i7-11850H (0.3%), Intel Core i7-13620H (0.4%), and AMD EPYC 9474F (-0.4%). Swapping the CPU to any of these would produce nearly identical frame rates in The Medium, given the small score deltas. Similarly, the Intel Arc B570’s nearest GPU rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (delta 0.1%), Intel Arc A750 (-0.1%), NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (0.4%), and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (-0.5%). A system with the Ryzen 5 7500F and an RTX 3070 Mobile, for example, would be expected to perform within a few percent of the tested combo, assuming the game’s scaling holds. The Arc A750, being only 0.1% slower on average, would also be a near-identical substitute. These alternatives give users a sense of what hardware would behave equivalently, though the measured FPS figures in this analysis are specific to the Ryzen 5 8400F + Arc B570 combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table lists all measured average, minimum, and maximum frame rates for the combo across resolutions and settings. Minimum and maximum values were only recorded for the Medium preset at each resolution; other presets have no min/max data.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 23 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 52 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 32 | 27 | 37 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 18 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | High | 29 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 66 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 41 | 35 | 47 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 23 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | High | 35 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 78 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 49 | 41 | 56 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 28 | — | — |

At 4K, the gap between Low (52 FPS) and Medium (32 FPS) is 20 FPS, and Ultra drops to 18 FPS—a 34 FPS difference from Low to Ultra. At 1440p, the spread is 66 (Low) to 23 (Ultra), a 43 FPS range. At 1080p, the range is 78 (Low) to 28 (Ultra), a 50 FPS spread. The min/max values for Medium show a 10 FPS variance at 4K, 12 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 1080p, indicating that frame pacing becomes less stable as resolution increases.

FAQ

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

A: Yes, but only at the Low preset on 1920x1080 (78 FPS average) and 2560x1440 (66 FPS average). At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS; the best is Low at 52 FPS.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1440p?

A: The only preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at 2560x1440 is Low, with an average of 66 FPS. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall below the threshold (41, 29, and 23 FPS respectively).

Q: Why is 4K not playable?

A: At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 52 (Low), which is below the 60 FPS playability threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra produce 32, 23, and 18 FPS respectively, so the GPU cannot handle the pixel load.

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

A: The Ryzen 5 8400F’s average benchmark score is within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, Intel Core i7-11850H, Intel Core i7-13620H, and AMD EPYC 9474F. Thus, swapping to any of these would yield nearly identical frame rates in The Medium.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor?

A: The FPS scaling across resolutions and presets indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. Frame rates drop consistently as resolution increases, while the CPU’s strong multi-threaded scores (e.g., Cinebench R23 multi-core 20851) suggest it is not the constraint.

Q: What GPU would perform similarly to the Arc B570?

A: Based on average scores, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile is within 0.1% of the Arc B570, and the Intel Arc A750 is within 0.1% as well. The Quadro M4000M and Radeon R9 M390X are within 0.4% and 0.5% respectively.

The Verdict

This PC can run The Medium, but with significant limitations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers a playable 78 FPS average, while at 2560x1440 Low achieves 66 FPS. No preset at 3840x2160 reaches the 60 FPS threshold; the best is Low at 52 FPS. The system is therefore suitable for 1080p or 1440p gaming only on the lowest quality settings. For players who require higher visual fidelity, the Arc B570’s performance is insufficient—Medium settings at 1080p drop to 49 FPS, and High to 35 FPS. The combo ranks in the bottom fifth of tested systems for this title, reinforcing that it is not a high-performance configuration for The Medium. Users should expect to compromise heavily on graphics quality to achieve smooth frame rates, and 4K is effectively unplayable.