The Medium

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this system to run The Medium?

A: Based on the recorded data, no resolution tested reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 51, which is the highest recorded average across all tested resolutions and presets. This is still below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals in overall benchmark scores?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X has an average benchmark score of 51,947. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX, scores 52,073, which is only 0.2% higher. The Intel Core i9-13900F scores 51,730, which is 0.4% lower. The AMD EPYC 8124P scores 52,121 (0.3% higher), and the Intel Core i7-14700 scores 52,301 (0.7% higher). The differences are all within a single percentage point.

Q: How does the GPU rank against all other GPUs in the database?

A: The Intel Arc B390 sits in the 9th percentile of all GPUs in the database. Its only recorded benchmark, 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, yields a score of 1,482. This places it among the lower-performing GPUs tested.

Q: What are the nearest GPU rivals to the Intel Arc B390?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX scores 1,463, which is 1.3% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce 800M scores 1,460 (1.5% lower). The NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1,446 (2.5% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 scores 1,443 (2.7% lower). All of these are extremely close in performance.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance more in The Medium?

A: The GPU appears to be the dominant limiting factor. The Intel Arc B390 ranks in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, while the Ryzen 9 5950X ranks in the 91st percentile of all CPUs. The massive gap in relative performance strongly indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck in this game.

Q: At which resolution and preset does the system come closest to 60 FPS?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS reaches 51. At 2560x1440 with Low settings, the average drops to 43. At 3840x2160 with Low settings, the average is 34. None of these reach the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Best Settings per Resolution

The recorded data shows that The Medium cannot maintain 60 FPS at any resolution or preset with this hardware combination. The playable threshold is defined as 60 FPS, and every tested configuration falls short of that mark.

At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is achieved at Low settings with 34 FPS. Medium settings produce 21 FPS (with a minimum of 18 and maximum of 24). High settings yield 19 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 12 FPS. Since no preset reaches 60 FPS, there is no recommended preset that meets the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the best result is again on Low settings with 43 FPS. Medium settings average 27 FPS (minimum 23, maximum 31). High settings produce 19 FPS, and Ultra settings average 15 FPS. The 43 FPS at Low is the closest this resolution gets to the threshold, but it still falls 17 FPS short.

At 1920x1080, Low settings deliver the highest average at 51 FPS. Medium settings average 32 FPS (minimum 27, maximum 37). High settings produce 23 FPS, and Ultra settings average 18 FPS. The 51 FPS result is the best overall across all resolutions and presets, but it remains below the 60 FPS threshold needed for a playable experience according to the database standards.

The verdict data confirms this: for all three resolutions, the playable settings list is empty, meaning no tested preset at any resolution clears the 60 FPS bar.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and Intel Arc B390 ranks 3,314 out of 3,724 tested combos in The Medium. This places the system in the bottom portion of the database, roughly in the 11th percentile of tested combinations. In other words, only about 11% of tested combos perform worse than this setup in this particular game.

The ranking reflects the severe mismatch between the CPU and GPU. The Ryzen 9 5950X is a high-end processor, sitting in the 91st percentile of all CPUs. Its multithreaded benchmark scores are strong: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 26,017, and PassMark multithread scores 45,424. The 16-core, 32-thread configuration with a 4.90 GHz boost clock provides ample compute capability for gaming workloads.

However, the Intel Arc B390 is a low-tier integrated graphics solution. Its 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of just 1,482, indicates very limited graphics throughput. The GPU's 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for a demanding title like The Medium.

The result is that the combo rank is dragged down almost entirely by the GPU. Even with an exceptionally strong processor, the system cannot overcome the graphics bottleneck. The data shows that this combo ranks worse than 89% of all tested combinations in this game.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the nearest rivals in benchmark performance are all within one percentage point of the Ryzen 9 5950X. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX scores 0.2% higher, the AMD EPYC 8124P scores 0.3% higher, and the Intel Core i7-14700 scores 0.7% higher. The Intel Core i9-13900F scores 0.4% lower. Any of these processors would deliver nearly identical CPU-side performance in The Medium, meaning the game's frame rates would remain unchanged if the GPU stayed the same.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are all older NVIDIA discrete graphics solutions. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX is 1.3% slower, the GeForce 800M is 1.5% slower, the GeForce GT 625 OEM is 2.5% slower, and the GeForce GT 710 is 2.7% slower. These differences are small enough that swapping the Arc B390 for any of these GPUs would produce essentially the same frame rates in The Medium. The game would still fail to reach 60 FPS at any tested resolution.

The practical implication is that if a user were to pair the Ryzen 9 5950X with any of these rival GPUs, the performance in The Medium would be nearly identical to the measured results. The bottleneck is so severe that even a 2.7% improvement in GPU performance would not meaningfully change the outcome. Conversely, swapping the CPU for any of its nearest rivals would also have no measurable impact, since the GPU is already the limiting factor.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals a stark imbalance between the CPU and GPU in this configuration. The Ryzen 9 5950X is a top-tier desktop processor with a 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs. Its 16 cores and 32 threads, based on the Zen 3 architecture, deliver exceptional multithreaded performance. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 26,017 and PassMark multithread score of 45,424 place it far above the average processor.

The Intel Arc B390, by contrast, is an integrated graphics solution in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its only recorded benchmark, 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, produces a score of 1,482. The GPU has 1,536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation units, with 12 ray tracing cores. Its clock speeds range from a 300 MHz base to a 2,500 MHz boost, but the system-shared memory architecture means bandwidth is system dependent.

In The Medium, the GPU is clearly the dominant constraint. At 1920x1080, moving from Low to Medium settings drops the average FPS from 51 to 32, a 37% reduction. Moving from Medium to High drops it further to 23, and High to Ultra drops it to 18. These steep declines with each preset increase indicate that the GPU is struggling to keep up with the rendering demands.

The resolution scaling tells the same story. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 51 at 1920x1080 to 43 at 2560x1440, then to 34 at 3840x2160. That is a 33% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is consistent with a GPU-limited scenario where pixel throughput is the constraint. If the CPU were the bottleneck, resolution scaling would show much smaller differences, as the CPU workload does not scale linearly with pixel count.

At each preset, the same pattern holds. Medium settings produce 32 FPS at 1080p, 27 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K. High settings produce 23, 19, and 19 FPS respectively. Ultra settings produce 18, 15, and 12 FPS. The consistent decline with resolution across all presets confirms that the GPU is the limiting component.

The CPU's role in this game is minimal because the Ryzen 9 5950X provides far more processing power than the game requires at these frame rates. Even at the lowest measured frame rate of 12 FPS at 4K Ultra, the CPU is likely idle waiting on the GPU. The data shows no scenario where the CPU becomes a limiting factor, given that the GPU cannot reach even half the 60 FPS threshold in most configurations.

The Verdict

This system cannot run The Medium at a playable level according to the database's 60 FPS threshold. The verdict data is unambiguous: at 3840x2160, 2560x1440, and 1920x1080, the playable settings list is empty. There is no preset at any resolution that achieves an average of 60 FPS or higher.

The closest the system comes is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the average FPS is 51. That is 9 FPS short of the threshold. At 2560x1440 with Low settings, the average drops to 43 FPS. At 3840x2160 with Low settings, the average is 34 FPS. Every other preset and resolution combination produces lower results, with the worst being 12 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The root cause is the GPU. The Intel Arc B390, with its 9th percentile ranking and 1,482 Steel Nomad score, simply lacks the raw rendering power needed for a game like The Medium. The Ryzen 9 5950X, despite being a top-tier CPU in the 91st percentile, cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations. In GPU-bound scenarios, the processor's strength is irrelevant.

Users with this configuration should expect a sub-60 FPS experience in The Medium at all settings. Even at the lowest resolution and quality settings, the system falls short of the playable threshold. For those who can tolerate lower frame rates, the game is technically playable at 1080p Low with an average of 51 FPS, but it does not meet the database's standard for a smooth experience.

The practical takeaway is that this CPU-GPU pairing is severely mismatched for this title. The processor is capable of far more demanding workloads, but the integrated graphics solution holds the entire system back. Upgrading the GPU would be the only path toward reaching 60 FPS, but that is beyond the scope of this analysis. Based on the measured data, the answer to whether this PC can run The Medium is no, not at the 60 FPS threshold.