The Medium

FAQ

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

A: No. The database shows no measured preset at any resolution reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold. The highest recorded average is 46 FPS at 1920x1080 on Low settings.

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves?

A: 46 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At 2560x1440 Low it drops to 39 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low it falls to 30 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its closest rivals in raw GPU benchmarks?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. That is 0.2% behind the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186), 0.5% behind the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190), 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192), and 1.4% ahead of the AMD FirePro M2000 (1168).

Q: What resolution shows the most playable result, even if below 60 FPS?

A: 1920x1080. Every preset tested at this resolution produces higher averages than the same preset at 2560x1440 or 3840x2160. Low settings yield 46 FPS, Medium 29 FPS, High 21 FPS, and Ultra 16 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700X rank among all CPUs in the database?

A: The CPU sits in the 86th percentile of all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37943. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-14901E, scores 37911, a 0.1% difference.

Q: Which component is more responsible for the low frame rates in The Medium?

A: The GPU. The Arc B370 ranks in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, and its closest rivals are legacy cards from the HD 5000 and HD 7000 era. The CPU, by contrast, ranks in the 86th percentile. The measured FPS pattern, where lowering resolution from 1080p to 4K roughly halves or thirds the frame rate, points to the GPU as the limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

This CPU and GPU pairing sits at rank 3439 out of 3724 tested combinations in The Medium. That places it in the bottom 8 percent of all recorded combos, which is consistent with the GPU's low benchmark standing. The Arc B370's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 puts it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, while the Ryzen 7 9700X sits in the 86th percentile of CPUs. The disparity is stark: a top-tier CPU paired with an entry-level integrated-class GPU.

The ranking reflects the game's heavy GPU demands. The Medium is a horror title with fixed camera angles and pre-rendered environments, but the data shows that even at 1080p Low, the combo cannot clear 60 FPS. The gap between the CPU's capability and the GPU's output is the defining feature of this pairing. In the database, this combo outperforms only 285 other tested configurations, and those are almost certainly pairings with even weaker GPUs. The CPU is not the bottleneck; the recorded FPS values across all presets and resolutions show a GPU-bound system.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly below playable. Low settings produce an average of 30 FPS. Medium drops to 19 FPS average, with a minimum of 16 and a maximum of 22. High falls to 14 FPS average. Ultra is the worst at 11 FPS average. No 4K preset is remotely close to the 60 FPS threshold, and even the Low preset's 30 FPS average is only half of the playable target.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats with slightly better numbers. Low settings average 39 FPS. Medium averages 24 FPS, with a minimum of 21 and a maximum of 28. High averages 17 FPS. Ultra averages 14 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 15 FPS, and the jump from Medium to High costs another 7 FPS. The scaling is steep and consistent, indicating that each quality tier imposes a significant rendering load.

At 1920x1080, the best results appear. Low settings average 46 FPS, the highest recorded value in the entire dataset. Medium averages 29 FPS, with a minimum of 24 and a maximum of 33. High averages 21 FPS. Ultra averages 16 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 17 FPS, the largest single-preset gap across all resolutions. This suggests the Medium preset introduces effects that are disproportionately expensive on this GPU.

No preset at any resolution records a minimum FPS above 33, and the only recorded minimums are from the Medium presets: 16 at 4K, 21 at 1440p, and 24 at 1080p. The absence of min/max data for other presets in the database means those runs may have been too unstable or the telemetry did not capture them, but the averages alone tell a clear story.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Arc B370 has nearest rivals that are all legacy or low-end parts. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scores 1186, a 0.2% lead over the Arc B370. The ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190, a 0.5% lead. The AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 1192, a 0.7% lead. The AMD FirePro M2000 scores 1168, a 1.4% deficit. In practical terms, any of these GPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in The Medium. The differences are within measurement noise, so swapping the Arc B370 for any of these cards would not change the playability verdict.

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X has nearest rivals that are all within 0.4% of its average benchmark score. The Intel Core i9-14901E scores 37911, a 0.1% deficit. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 scores 37904, a 0.1% deficit. The Intel Core 5 211E scores 37829, a 0.3% deficit. The AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 scores 37804, a 0.4% deficit. For this game, the CPU choice is irrelevant; all these processors would deliver identical FPS because the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU's 86th percentile ranking means it has ample headroom, but the Arc B370's 5th percentile ranking means that headroom is wasted in this title.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data indicates a clear GPU-bound scenario at every resolution and preset. Consider the resolution scaling at Low settings: 1080p yields 46 FPS, 1440p yields 39 FPS, and 4K yields 30 FPS. The frame rate drops by 7 FPS from 1080p to 1440p and by another 9 FPS from 1440p to 4K. This is a classic GPU-limited pattern, where pixel count directly dictates performance. If the CPU were the limiter, resolution changes would have a much smaller effect.

The preset scaling reinforces this. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 17 FPS, Medium to High costs 8 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 5 FPS. At 1440p, the same transitions cost 15, 7, and 3 FPS. At 4K, they cost 11, 5, and 3 FPS. The cost of each preset tier shrinks as resolution rises, which happens when the GPU is already saturated and the incremental load of higher settings becomes proportionally smaller.

The CPU's role is minimal. The Ryzen 7 9700X has 8 cores and 16 threads, a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20485. It ranks in the 86th percentile of all CPUs. The Arc B370 has 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, 20 ROPs, and 10 RT cores, with a FP32 throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS. It ranks in the 5th percentile. The gap between these two components is enormous, and the game's measured FPS reflects the GPU's limitations, not the CPU's.

The Verdict

The verdict is unambiguous: this PC cannot run The Medium at 60 FPS at any resolution or preset. The database's playable threshold is 60 FPS, and the verdictByResolution field lists no playable settings for 3840x2160, 2560x1440, or 1920x1080. The best recorded average is 46 FPS at 1080p Low, which is 14 FPS short of the threshold. At 1440p, the best is 39 FPS. At 4K, the best is 30 FPS. Every preset at every resolution falls short.

The game is playable in the sense that it runs, but it does not meet the standard for smooth performance. The Medium is a slow-paced horror title, and some players may tolerate 30 FPS, but the database uses 60 FPS as the benchmark for playability. Under that standard, this combo fails at all settings. The Arc B370's 5th percentile GPU ranking makes this outcome predictable. Even at its absolute best, the combo produces frame rates that are more characteristic of a low-end integrated solution than a dedicated gaming PC.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS. The best option is Low settings at 30 FPS average, but that is still half the playable threshold. The database's bestSettings field returns null for this resolution, indicating that no setting qualifies as recommended.

At 2560x1440, the same situation applies. Low settings produce 39 FPS average, but this does not meet the 60 FPS target. The bestSettings field is null, and no preset is recommended.

At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 46 FPS average, the highest recorded value in the dataset. This still does not clear 60 FPS, so the bestSettings field remains null. The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS does not exist for this combination. Every preset, from Low to Ultra, falls short of the playable threshold. For players who must use this hardware, 1080p Low is the least bad option, but the database does not classify it as meeting the playability standard.