The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X paired with an Intel Arc B570 presents a peculiar split: a 16-core flagship CPU from 2020 driving a mid-range 2025 GPU. In The Medium, a game that heavily taxes both processors, the combination struggles to find a stable footing above the 60 FPS threshold except at the lowest settings. The data shows a system where raw CPU compute is abundant, but the GPU becomes the decisive bottleneck at higher resolutions and presets.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run The Medium at 4K?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average frame rate achieved is 52 FPS on Low settings, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold. High, Medium, and Ultra presets yield 23, 32, and 18 FPS respectively, all firmly unplayable.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, only the Low preset clears 60 FPS, averaging 66 FPS. Medium drops to 41 FPS, High to 29 FPS, and Ultra to 23 FPS, making Low the sole viable option for smooth gameplay.

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

A: The Ryzen 9 5950X has an average benchmark score of 51,947, which is 0.2% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX (52,073) and 0.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 8124P (52,121). It sits 0.4% above the Intel Core i9-13900F (51,730) and 0.7% below the Intel Core i7-14700 (52,301).

Q: What GPU performance tier does the Arc B570 occupy?

A: The Arc B570's average score of 20,556 places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the Intel Arc A750, which scores 20,582 — a negligible 0.1% difference. It also trades closely with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534) and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20,662).

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

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 78 FPS, but raising the preset to Medium drops frames to 49, showing the GPU's shading and rasterization limits. The CPU's 16 cores and high multi-threaded scores do not compensate for the GPU's inability to maintain frame rates at higher settings.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low?

A: The average FPS falls from 78 at 1920x1080 Low to 52 at 3840x2160 Low, a 33% reduction in performance purely from resolution scaling. This indicates the GPU's memory bandwidth (380.0 GB/s) and 10 GB VRAM capacity struggle as pixel count quadruples.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals a clear division of labor in The Medium. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces 78 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions. However, the moment the preset rises to Medium, the average drops to 49 FPS at 1080p, indicating the GPU's 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 144 TMUs become saturated. The CPU's 3DMark multi-thread score of 11,597 and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26,017 are high, but they do not translate into higher frame rates once the GPU is stressed.

At 2560x1440, the pattern intensifies. Low settings yield 66 FPS, but Medium falls to 41 FPS — a 38% drop. This is a steeper decline than the 37% drop seen from 1080p Low to 1080p Medium, indicating that both resolution and preset scaling tax the GPU's 80 ROPs and 160-bit memory bus. The CPU's role diminishes further at 4K: Low settings produce 52 FPS, while Medium drops to 32 FPS. The GPU's pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s is insufficient for 3840x2160 with higher quality textures.

The verdict data confirms the GPU is the dominant constraint. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs (versus the GPU's 65th percentile) suggests headroom that the Arc B570 cannot exploit. In The Medium, the GPU's 10 GB GDDR6 memory and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth are the primary bottlenecks at Medium and above, while the CPU's 64 MB L3 cache and 32 threads remain underutilized. The scaling from 1080p Low (78 FPS) to 1440p Low (66 FPS) shows a 15% loss, while 1440p Low to 4K Low shows a 21% loss — consistent with GPU-bound behavior.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Ryzen 9 5950X's nearest CPU rivals offer nearly identical compute capabilities. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX scores 52,073 (0.2% higher), while the AMD EPYC 8124P scores 52,121 (0.3% higher). The Intel Core i9-13900F trails by 0.4% with a score of 51,730. For gaming, these differences are negligible; any of these CPUs would produce the same frame rates in The Medium when paired with the same GPU. The Intel Core i7-14700, at 0.7% higher score, is also functionally equivalent.

On the GPU side, the Arc B570's closest competitor is the Intel Arc A750, which scores 20,582 — just 0.1% apart. Users with an Arc A750 would see virtually identical performance in The Medium. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534) and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20,662) also fall within 0.5% of the B570's average score. However, the B570's 150 W TDP and 5 nm process node suggest efficiency advantages, though the benchmark scores do not translate into different gaming outcomes here.

For The Medium specifically, a system with a Ryzen 9 5950X and any of these GPUs would exhibit the same pattern: playable only at Low settings at 1080p and 1440p, with 4K remaining out of reach. The 0.1% to 0.7% deltaPct values confirm that swapping among these components would not change the verdict.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 2,999 out of 3,724 tested combos for The Medium, placing it in the bottom 20% of all pairings. This low ranking is surprising given the CPU's high compute scores, but it reflects the GPU's mid-tier positioning. The Arc B570's 65th percentile GPU ranking and its 18 RT cores (which The Medium's horror atmosphere may leverage) are outweighed by its 10 GB VRAM and 160-bit bus.

The rank indicates that most other tested combinations — including those with weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs — outperform this pairing in The Medium. The 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X provides no advantage over cheaper CPUs with fewer cores when the GPU is the limiting factor. The combo's position at the 80th percentile from the bottom suggests that users would need to significantly lower settings or resolution to achieve playability, which matches the measured FPS data showing only Low presets crossing 60 FPS.

The Verdict

This PC can run The Medium, but only under strict conditions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 78 FPS average, comfortably clearing the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 66 FPS, which is still playable but with less headroom. At 3840x2160, no settings achieve 60 FPS — the best case is Low at 52 FPS, which falls short of the playable threshold.

The verdict data explicitly lists playable settings as only "Low" for both 1440p and 1080p. Medium settings at 1080p produce 49 FPS (with min FPS of 41), which is below the 60 FPS target. High at 1080p yields 35 FPS, and Ultra drops to 28 FPS. At 1440p, Medium averages 41 FPS and High 29 FPS. The system cannot handle the game's higher presets without significant frame rate drops.

For players willing to accept 1080p Low or 1440p Low, the experience will be fluid. However, the game's atmospheric horror likely benefits from higher visual fidelity, which this combo cannot deliver. The 16-core CPU is overkill for this workload, while the GPU's limitations define the experience.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that maintains 60 FPS or higher is Low, with an average of 78 FPS. Medium falls to 49 FPS, so it is not viable for smooth gameplay. The Low preset also has no minimum FPS data, indicating it stays consistently above the threshold.

At 2560x1440, the only playable setting is Low, averaging 66 FPS. Medium drops to 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS, making it unsuitable for consistent 60 FPS. The 66 FPS average provides modest headroom, but users should expect occasional dips near the threshold.

At 3840x2160, there is no playable setting. Low averages 52 FPS, which is 8 FPS below the 60 FPS target. Medium averages 32 FPS, High 23 FPS, and Ultra 18 FPS. The data confirms that 4K gaming with this combo is not viable for The Medium, regardless of preset. The best settings strategy at 4K would be to accept sub-60 FPS performance or reduce the resolution to 1440p.