The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and Intel Arc B570 combination delivers a strictly limited experience in The Medium, a horror title from 2021. The benchmark data reveals a system that can only maintain smooth gameplay at the lowest settings and lower resolutions. Across the board, the measured FPS shows a pattern where the game’s demands quickly outpace what this hardware can deliver, with only the Low preset at 1440p and 1080p crossing the 60 FPS threshold. This pairing is not a high-performance solution for this title, but it establishes a clear baseline for what settings are viable.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for this configuration in The Medium show a sharp drop as resolution and preset quality increase. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 78 FPS. The Medium preset drops to an average of 49 FPS, with a minimum of 41 FPS and a maximum of 56 FPS. High settings yield an average of 35 FPS, while Ultra averages 28 FPS. The data indicates that even at 1080p, the jump from Low to Medium represents a substantial performance penalty of 29 FPS on average, and the higher presets fail to reach playable levels.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results show a similar but more pronounced decline. The Low preset averages 66 FPS, which is the only setting at this resolution that clears the 60 FPS threshold. Medium averages 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS. High settings average 29 FPS, and Ultra drops to an average of 23 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings results in a 12 FPS average loss, indicating that resolution has a significant impact on performance even at the least demanding preset.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes untenable for smooth gameplay. The Low preset averages 52 FPS, which is below the playable threshold. Medium averages 32 FPS, with a minimum of 27 FPS and a maximum of 37 FPS. High settings average 23 FPS, and Ultra falls to an average of 18 FPS. These numbers show that 4K resolution is not viable for this combination in The Medium, as even the lowest settings cannot maintain a consistent 60 FPS.

The min and max FPS data available for the Medium preset at each resolution provides additional insight into frame pacing. At 1080p, the 41-56 FPS range shows a 15 FPS variance, which can lead to noticeable stuttering. At 1440p, the range narrows to 35-47 FPS, and at 4K, it is 27-37 FPS. This tightening of the range at higher resolutions suggests that the bottleneck shifts from the CPU to the GPU as pixel count increases, but the overall performance remains poor.

Best Settings per Resolution

For this system running The Medium, the only settings that achieve the 60 FPS playable threshold are the Low presets at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 78 FPS, providing the most headroom above the threshold. This is the only configuration where the system exceeds 60 FPS by a comfortable margin, with 18 FPS of buffer. At 1440p, the Low preset averages 66 FPS, which is just 6 FPS above the playable threshold, leaving little room for demanding scenes to dip below 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, no settings are playable. The closest option is the Low preset, which averages 52 FPS, but this is 8 FPS below the threshold. The verdict data confirms this, listing no playable settings for 4K resolution. For users prioritizing smooth gameplay, 1080p with Low settings is the only reliable choice, as it offers the highest average FPS and the largest margin above the 60 FPS line. The 1440p Low setting is a secondary option, but the narrow margin makes it risky for sustained performance.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data for The Medium reveals a clear shift in component roles as resolution changes. At 1920x1080, the CPU likely plays a more significant role, as the performance difference between presets is substantial. The drop from 78 FPS at Low to 35 FPS at High shows that the game’s CPU workload scales steeply with settings, and the Ryzen 7 9700X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, is being challenged by the game’s demands. However, the GPU, the Intel Arc B570, is also a limiting factor, as even the Low preset cannot push beyond 78 FPS, suggesting neither component is idle.

At 2560x1440, the GPU begins to assert more influence. The Low preset drops from 78 FPS at 1080p to 66 FPS at 1440p, a 15% reduction that aligns with the increased pixel load on the GPU. The Arc B570’s 10 GB of GDDR6 memory and 160-bit bus are tasked with handling more data, and the results show that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution. The CPU’s role diminishes, as the frame rate is now constrained by the graphics card’s ability to render the higher resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is unequivocally the dominant factor. The Low preset averages just 52 FPS, a 21% drop from the 1440p result. The Arc B570’s 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 380.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth are insufficient for 4K rendering in this title. The CPU’s 3DMark multi-threaded scores, such as 9824 in the 16-thread test, suggest it has ample headroom, but the GPU’s output caps the frame rate. The scaling between resolutions confirms that GPU performance is the limiting factor for this game at higher settings and resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: Can this PC run The Medium at 1080p with high settings?*

A: No, the data shows an average of 35 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is well below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for smooth gameplay with this hardware?

A: The only playable resolutions are 1920x1080 and 2560x1440, but only with the Low preset. At 1080p, the average is 78 FPS, while at 1440p, it is 66 FPS.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K resolution?

A: It does not achieve playable frame rates. The best result is 52 FPS at Low settings, and Ultra averages only 18 FPS, making 4K unviable.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck?

A: At 1080p, both components contribute, but as resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with the Arc B570 unable to maintain 60 FPS at higher presets.

Q: What is the average FPS at Medium settings in 1440p?

A: The average is 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS, based on measured data.

Q: Does the system have any headroom above 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at 1080p with Low settings, where the average of 78 FPS provides 18 FPS of buffer. At 1440p with Low settings, the headroom is just 6 FPS.

The Verdict

This PC can run The Medium, but only under strict conditions. The verdict by resolution shows that at 3840x2160, there are no playable settings, as all presets fail to reach the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the sole playable option, averaging 66 FPS. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 78 FPS, which is the only configuration with a comfortable margin above the threshold. For users who prioritize a stable 60 FPS, the 1080p Low setting is the recommended choice, as it provides the best performance. The 1440p Low setting is playable but leaves minimal room for frame rate dips. All other settings, including Medium, High, and Ultra at any resolution, fall short of the playable threshold and are not recommended for smooth gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 3724 tested combinations for The Medium, this pairing of AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and Intel Arc B570 ranks at position 2999. This places it in the lower tier of configurations, reflecting its inability to handle higher settings. The CPU itself is a strong performer, with an average benchmark score of 37943 and a percentile ranking of 86 among all CPUs, but the GPU holds the system back. The Intel Arc B570’s average benchmark score of 20556 and percentile of 65 among all GPUs indicate that it is a mid-range component, and the combination’s low rank suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this game. The rank of 2999 out of 3724 means that approximately 80% of tested combos perform better, underscoring the need for a more powerful graphics card for this title.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X, based on average benchmark scores, include the Intel Core i9-14901E with a score of 37911 and a delta of 0.1%, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 with a score of 37904 and a delta of 0.1%, the Intel Core 5 211E with a score of 37829 and a delta of 0.3%, and the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 with a score of 37804 and a delta of 0.4%. These CPUs would deliver nearly identical performance in The Medium, meaning that swapping the Ryzen 7 9700X for any of these would not change the FPS results in a meaningful way.

For the Intel Arc B570, the nearest GPU rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile with an average score of 20534 and a delta of 0.1%, the Intel Arc A750 with a score of 20582 and a delta of -0.1%, the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M with a score of 20480 and a delta of 0.4%, and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X with a score of 20662 and a delta of -0.5%. These GPUs have similar average benchmark scores, so pairing any of them with the Ryzen 7 9700X would yield comparable frame rates in The Medium. The Intel Arc A750, in particular, is a close match, with a negative delta indicating it is slightly faster, but the difference is negligible. Users seeking better performance would need to look beyond these alternatives, as all of them would fall short of the requirements for higher settings in this game.