The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and Intel Arc B580 combination delivers a playable experience in The Medium only at the Low preset across all tested resolutions, according to benchmark data. The measured frame rates show a steep performance cliff as settings increase, with the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck at higher graphical loads.

FAQ

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1920x1080 for this combo?

A: The only preset that maintains an average frame rate at or above the 60 FPS threshold is Low, which delivers 91.2 FPS. Medium, High, and Ultra presets all fall below the threshold, with average scores of 54.1, 40.1, and 29.9 FPS respectively.

Q: Can this system run the game at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only on the Low preset, which achieves an average of 61.1 FPS. Medium settings at 3840x2160 drop to 35.7 FPS, High falls to 24.5 FPS, and Ultra yields just 19.9 FPS, making all three unplayable under the 60 FPS standard.

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

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X has an average benchmark score of 27,578, which is identical to the Intel Core i5-12600K (0% deltaPct). It sits 0.2% above the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and 0.3% above the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, while being 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X.

Q: What GPU performance tier does the Intel Arc B580 occupy?

A: The Arc B580 ranks in the 68th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23,021. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP, scores 23,061 (a 0.2% difference), while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 scores 22,895 (0.6% lower).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 2560x1440?

A: The gap is substantial. Low settings produce an average of 75.6 FPS, while Ultra drops to 24.2 FPS—a threefold reduction. Medium and High presets land at 48.1 and 31.1 FPS respectively, showing diminishing returns as settings climb.

Q: Does the game favor CPU or GPU performance at lower resolutions?

A: At 1920x1080, the transition from Low to Medium costs 37.1 FPS (from 91.2 to 54.1), while the jump from High to Ultra costs only 10.2 FPS (from 40.1 to 29.9). This pattern indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor early, with the CPU capable of feeding higher frame rates than the Arc B580 can render at higher presets.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Low, with an average of 91.2 FPS. This is the only playable option; Medium (54.1), High (40.1), and Ultra (29.9) all miss the threshold by significant margins. The data shows no headroom for raising quality without sacrificing fluidity.

For 2560x1440, the playable preset is again Low, averaging 75.6 FPS. This provides a comfortable buffer above the 60 FPS line, but the next step up—Medium—collapses to 48.1 FPS, a 27.5 FPS loss. High and Ultra are far out of reach at 31.1 and 24.2 FPS.

At 3840x2160, Low remains the sole playable setting, with an average of 61.1 FPS. This is a marginal pass, leaving almost no margin for fluctuating scenes. Medium drops to 35.7 FPS, High to 24.5 FPS, and Ultra to 19.9 FPS, making higher presets unviable at 4K.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results indicate a clear GPU-bound scenario at higher presets, with the CPU’s role diminishing as resolution and graphical load increase. At 1920x1080 Low, the system produces 91.2 FPS, suggesting the Ryzen 7 5700X has ample headroom. However, when settings rise to Medium, the frame rate falls to 54.1 FPS—a 40.7% reduction—while the resolution remains the same. This steep drop points to the Arc B580 hitting its rendering limits rather than a CPU constraint.

Comparing resolutions at the same preset further clarifies the balance. At Low settings, scaling from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 reduces the average from 91.2 to 75.6 FPS (a 17.1% decline), and from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 it falls to 61.1 FPS (a 19.2% decline). These are relatively modest drops, indicating that even at 4K Low, the GPU is still managing a playable rate. In contrast, at Medium settings, the same resolution scaling produces a sharper collapse: 54.1 FPS at 1080p, 48.1 FPS at 1440p, and 35.7 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium result is only 66% of the 1080p Medium score, showing that pixel throughput requirements outpace the GPU’s capability.

The CPU’s synthetic scores support the notion that it is not the bottleneck. The Ryzen 7 5700X delivers 13,184 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1,499 in single-core, with a PassMark multi-thread score of 26,612. These figures place it in the 79th percentile among all CPUs. Given that the GPU’s percentile rank is lower (68th), the data suggests the Arc B580 is the limiting component for The Medium, particularly at Ultra presets where the average frame rate never exceeds 29.9 FPS across any resolution.

The Verdict

This PC can run The Medium, but only under strict conditions. The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: at 3840x2160, the only playable setting is Low, achieving an average of 61.1 FPS—just above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, Low settings deliver 75.6 FPS, offering a more comfortable margin. At 1920x1080, Low produces 91.2 FPS, which is the best performance in this dataset.

The data indicates that no preset above Low meets the playability threshold at any resolution. Medium settings fail at every tier: 54.1 FPS at 1080p, 48.1 FPS at 1440p, and 35.7 FPS at 4K. High and Ultra are consistently worse, with Ultra never exceeding 29.9 FPS even at 1080p. For players willing to accept Low visual quality, the game is fully playable across all tested resolutions. Those seeking Medium or higher fidelity would need different hardware, as this combination cannot sustain 60 FPS under those conditions.

Similar Performance Alternatives

From the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Intel Core i5-12600K behaves nearly identically, with an average benchmark score of 27,578—a 0% deltaPct from the Ryzen 7 5700X. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800 is also a close match at 27,535 (0.2% higher), while the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X scores 27,636 (0.2% lower). The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H rounds out the group at 27,507 (0.3% higher). In practical terms, any of these CPUs would produce frame rates within a fraction of a percent of the Ryzen 7 5700X in The Medium, given the same GPU.

On the GPU side, the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP is the closest counterpart, with an average score of 23,061 versus the Arc B580’s 23,021 (a 0.2% deficit for the Intel card). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 scores 22,895 (0.6% lower), meaning it would deliver slightly lower frame rates. Interestingly, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is listed as a rival with a score of 23,172 (0.7% higher), which is within 1% of the Arc B580—despite the generational gap, the benchmark data suggests near-parity in this specific workload. The NVIDIA P106-100 scores 23,249 (1% higher), also a close match.

For this game, swapping the CPU to any of the listed rivals would not measurably change performance, as the GPU remains the dominant factor. Similarly, replacing the Arc B580 with an RTX 2080 or RX 580 2048SP would yield frame rates within 1% of the measured results, preserving the same playability boundaries (Low preset only).

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X + Intel Arc B580 combination ranks 2,847th out of 3,724 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the lower third of all configurations in the database, reflecting the GPU’s limited ability to handle higher presets in this title. The percentile data corroborates this: the CPU sits in the 79th percentile overall, while the GPU is in the 68th percentile, and the combined result lands well below what either component’s individual percentile might suggest.

The ranking indicates that while the CPU is above average, the GPU drags the overall performance down. In The Medium, which appears to be heavily GPU-limited at medium-to-ultra settings, the Arc B580’s 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 456.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are insufficient to maintain 60 FPS beyond Low. The combo’s rank of 2,847 means that roughly 76% of tested configurations outperform it, making this a lower-mid-tier pairing for this specific game.

The data also shows a clear pattern: the combo’s best result (91.2 FPS at 1080p Low) is competitive, but the drop-off at higher settings is severe. This rank reflects the narrow playable envelope rather than overall capability. For users with this hardware, the practical takeaway is that The Medium is playable only with significant visual compromises, and the system’s ranking in the database confirms it is not suited for high-fidelity horror experiences at this title’s more demanding presets.