The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and Intel Arc B570 combination delivers a narrow but clear performance profile in The Medium, with playability strictly limited to the Low preset at both 1080p and 1440p. The data indicates that this system cannot sustain 60 FPS at any settings level at 4K, and even at lower resolutions, only the most modest graphical settings meet the playability threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured average frame rates start at 52 FPS on Low settings, which is the highest result at this resolution. Dropping through the presets shows a steep decline: Medium averages 32 FPS with a minimum of 27 FPS and maximum of 37 FPS, High drops to 23 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 18 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is substantial — a 20 FPS difference — indicating that the transition from Low to Medium imposes a heavy load on the GPU. The 4K results are uniformly below the 60 FPS target, with even the best case (Low) falling 8 FPS short.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats but with higher absolute numbers. Low settings produce an average of 66 FPS, the only preset at this resolution to clear the 60 FPS bar. Medium averages 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS and maximum of 47 FPS, High drops to 29 FPS, and Ultra lands at 23 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium here is a 25 FPS drop, slightly steeper than at 4K, while the Medium-to-High gap is 12 FPS and the High-to-Ultra gap is 6 FPS.

At 1920x1080, Low settings achieve an average of 78 FPS, the highest measured result across all resolutions and presets. Medium averages 49 FPS with a minimum of 41 FPS and maximum of 56 FPS, High averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 28 FPS. The Low-to-Medium drop is 29 FPS, the largest single-step decline in the dataset, while Medium-to-High falls 14 FPS and High-to-Ultra falls 7 FPS. Notably, the minimum FPS at 1080p Medium (41 FPS) is still above the average FPS at 4K High (23 FPS), illustrating how resolution scaling dominates the frame rate outcome.

The 4K Low result of 52 FPS is nearly identical to the 1440p Medium result of 41 FPS, suggesting that the combination of resolution and settings has a roughly linear effect on performance in this range. Similarly, 1080p Low at 78 FPS is about 18% higher than 1440p Low at 66 FPS, and 1440p Low is about 27% higher than 4K Low at 52 FPS.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS. The best available option is Low, which averages 52 FPS, but this still falls short of the playable threshold. The verdict data confirms this: the playable settings list is empty for 4K.

At 2560x1440, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Low, with an average of 66 FPS. Medium is the next step up but averages only 41 FPS, so Low is the only viable choice. The 66 FPS figure provides a 6 FPS headroom above the threshold, which is thin but sufficient.

At 1920x1080, Low again is the only preset meeting the 60 FPS requirement, averaging 78 FPS. This gives a more comfortable 18 FPS margin over the threshold. Medium at 49 FPS is 11 FPS below the target, meaning the step from Low to Medium costs more than the available headroom.

The pattern is consistent: the Arc B570 cannot handle Medium or higher settings at any resolution in this title, and the playable envelope is restricted to Low settings at 1080p and 1440p. The 4K resolution is entirely out of reach.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results indicate that the GPU is the dominant constraint at higher resolutions, while the CPU becomes relatively more relevant at 1080p. At 4K, the frame rates are low across all presets (18-52 FPS), which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU, an 8-core 16-thread Zen 4 part with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19088 and single-core score of 1987, is unlikely to be the bottleneck here. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 14195 and its 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs suggest a mid-pack graphics processor that struggles with the demands of 4K rendering in this game.

At 1440p, the performance is moderate, with Low hitting 66 FPS and Medium at 41 FPS. The 25 FPS difference between Low and Medium at this resolution indicates that the GPU's shading and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, as the settings change primarily affects pixel processing and texture detail. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s over a 160-bit bus is modest for a card with a 10 GB GDDR6 frame buffer, which likely explains the steep drop when moving from Low to Medium.

At 1080p, the frame rates are higher overall (28-78 FPS), and the scaling between presets is more pronounced, with a 29 FPS drop from Low to Medium. This larger relative drop at 1080p compared to 1440p (where the same step is 25 FPS) suggests that the CPU begins to play a more visible role at lower resolution, where the GPU has fewer pixels to process but the CPU must feed draw calls more rapidly. However, the CPU's strong single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 4190) and high multi-thread output (PassMark multithread of 35686) mean it is not a limiting factor at any tested setting; the data shows the GPU is the primary bottleneck throughout.

The resolution scaling itself reinforces this: going from 1080p Low (78 FPS) to 1440p Low (66 FPS) is a 15% reduction, and to 4K Low (52 FPS) is a 33% reduction from 1080p. These ratios are consistent with a GPU-bound workload where pixel count scales directly with resolution. The CPU's role is secondary; its performance headroom is not challenged even at 1080p Ultra (28 FPS), which is far below the CPU's capability.

The Verdict

This PC can run The Medium, but only under narrow conditions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset is playable with an average of 78 FPS, clearing the 60 FPS threshold by 18 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low is also playable at 66 FPS, though the margin shrinks to 6 FPS. At 3840x2160, no preset is playable; the best result is Low at 52 FPS, which is 8 FPS short of the target. The verdict data aligns exactly with these figures: playable settings are listed as Low for both 1080p and 1440p, with no playable settings for 4K. For a 1080p or 1440p display, the system is functional at the lowest graphical settings, but users wanting medium quality or higher will need to lower resolution or accept sub-60 FPS performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average is 78 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 66 FPS at 2560x1440 Low, and 52 FPS at 3840x2160 Low.

Q: Can the system run the game at 4K with any settings?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the best average is 52 FPS on Low, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra average 32 FPS, 23 FPS, and 18 FPS respectively, all far below the target.

Q: What is the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Low is the only preset at 2560x1440 that meets the threshold, averaging 66 FPS. Medium averages 41 FPS, which is 19 FPS below the target.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from Low to Medium at 1080p?

A: The drop is 29 FPS, from 78 FPS on Low to 49 FPS on Medium. This is the largest single-step reduction in the dataset, larger than the 25 FPS drop at 1440p and the 20 FPS drop at 4K.

Q: Which component is the bottleneck for this game at 1080p?

A: The GPU is the primary constraint. The CPU, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19088 and single-core score of 1987, provides ample headroom, but the GPU's scores (PassMark G3D 14195) and the steep preset scaling indicate the graphics card limits performance.

Q: Is there any preset at 1080p that exceeds 70 FPS?

A: Yes, Low settings at 1920x1080 average 78 FPS. No other preset at any resolution exceeds 70 FPS; the next highest is 1440p Low at 66 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2999 out of 3724 tested combos for The Medium. This places the system in the 20th percentile, meaning roughly 80% of tested configurations perform better in this specific game. The ranking reflects the GPU's limited capacity for this title; despite the CPU being in the 85th percentile of all CPUs (average benchmark score 35909), the GPU's 65th percentile standing (average benchmark score 20556) drags the overall combo down. The rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU's inability to maintain high frame rates at medium or higher settings, as evidenced by the measured FPS data. This is a mid-to-low-tier result for a game that appears to be demanding on graphics hardware.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 has an average score of 35802, which is 0.3% different from the 7700X's 35909. The Intel Core 7 250H scores 35728 (0.5% difference), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 scores 35719 (0.5% difference), and the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H scores 35670 (0.7% difference). These processors would produce virtually identical frame rates in The Medium, as the game is not CPU-bound in this configuration. Swapping the 7700X for any of these would change the measured FPS by less than 1%, meaning the playable settings (Low at 1080p and 1440p) would remain unchanged.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (average score 20534, 0.1% different), the Intel Arc A750 (20582, -0.1% different), the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480, 0.4% different), and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20662, -0.5% different). The Intel Arc A750 is the most direct comparison, being the closest in score (20582 versus 20556 for the B570). A system with the 7700X and an Arc A750 would perform nearly identically to the tested combo. The RTX 3070 Mobile, despite being a mobile part, matches the B570's average score almost exactly (0.1% difference), suggesting that any of these GPUs would deliver the same playable settings: Low at 1080p and 1440p, with no playable option at 4K. The negative deltaPct for the Arc A750 and R9 M390X indicates they are slightly faster (by 0.1% and 0.5% respectively), but this margin is negligible in practical terms.