The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2999th out of 3724 tested combos for The Medium, placing it in the lower third of all systems evaluated. This percentile position — roughly the 19th percentile — reflects a configuration where the CPU is exceptionally strong but the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck in this horror title. The measured data shows that only the Low preset at 2560x1440 and 1920x1080 reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold, while every other setting combination falls short. This is a system that can run the game, but only under specific, reduced settings, and the gap between the CPU's high benchmark percentile (92nd among all CPUs) and the GPU's middling 65th percentile among all GPUs underscores the imbalance driving these results.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2999 out of 3724 tested combinations places it in the 19th percentile overall for The Medium. This is a low standing, and the data explains why: across all three resolutions tested, the system only manages to clear the 60 FPS threshold on the Low preset at 1440p and 1080p. At 4K, no preset reaches playable frame rates, with even Low averaging just 52 FPS. The ranking reflects the GPU's limitations more than the CPU's capabilities; the Ryzen 9 9900X sits in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 57498, while the Arc B570 sits in the 65th percentile among all GPUs with an average score of 20556. This 27-point percentile gap between components is significant. The benchmark results indicate that the CPU is far more capable than what the GPU can utilize in this game, and the combo's low rank is a direct consequence of that bottleneck. For comparison, the CPU's nearest rivals — the AMD EPYC 9015 (57555 average, -0.1% delta), AMD EPYC 7313 (57399, +0.2%), Intel Core i9-14900 (58115, -1.1%), and Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58323, -1.4%) — all post nearly identical CPU scores, confirming that the CPU itself is not the weak link. The GPU's nearest rivals — the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, +0.1%), Intel Arc A750 (20582, -0.1%), NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480, +0.4%), and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20662, -0.5%) — also show that the GPU is performing as expected for its class. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU produces this 2999th place finish, a pairing that is clearly GPU-bound in The Medium.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the data shows no playable settings. The Low preset averages 52 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold, while Medium drops to 32 FPS, High to 23 FPS, and Ultra to 18 FPS. The verdict data confirms this: the playable settings list is empty at 4K, with no best settings identified. The system cannot maintain 60 FPS at this resolution under any preset, so the recommendation is to avoid 4K entirely for this game.

At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Low, which achieves an average of 66 FPS. This is the only preset at 1440p that clears the 60 FPS bar. Medium averages 41 FPS, High averages 29 FPS, and Ultra averages 23 FPS. The verdict data lists Low as the best settings with an average FPS of 66, meaning that 1440p is viable only with reduced graphical fidelity.

At 1920x1080, the best playable setting is again Low, with an average of 78 FPS. This is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo across all tests. Medium averages 49 FPS, High averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 28 FPS. The verdict data confirms Low as the best setting at 1080p with 78 FPS. Notably, the 1080p Low result is 12 FPS higher than the 1440p Low result, showing a clear scaling benefit from lower resolution.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound in The Medium at all resolutions and presets. The CPU's 92nd percentile standing and strong synthetic benchmarks — including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32172 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 22174 — suggest it can handle far more demanding workloads than this game presents. Yet the measured FPS figures show that even at 1080p Low, the system only reaches 78 FPS, which is modest for such a capable CPU. The GPU's 65th percentile and 14195 Passmark G3D score indicate a mid-range part, and the FPS data aligns with that positioning.

Scaling between resolutions provides further evidence. At Low settings, dropping from 1080p to 1440p reduces the average FPS from 78 to 66, a 15% decline. Dropping from 1440p to 4K reduces it from 66 to 52, a 21% decline. This progressive degradation as resolution increases points to the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute limits being the constraining factor. The Arc B570 has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus with 380.0 GB/s bandwidth, and its FP32 throughput is 11.52 TFLOPS. These specs are modest for 4K gaming, and the data confirms that the GPU cannot sustain playable frame rates above 1080p Low.

Preset scaling reinforces this. At 1080p, going from Low to Medium drops the average from 78 to 49 FPS (a 37% decline), from Medium to High drops it to 35 FPS (a 29% decline), and from High to Ultra drops it to 28 FPS (a 20% decline). The diminishing returns at higher presets suggest that the GPU is hitting architectural limits rather than a single bottleneck. The CPU, by contrast, has ample headroom; its single-thread Passmark score of 4672 and 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 indicate strong per-core performance that is unlikely to stall in this title. The verdict is clear: the GPU dictates performance, and the CPU's role is largely passive in this configuration.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run The Medium at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 52 on Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium averages 32 FPS, High averages 23 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. The verdict data lists no playable settings at 4K.

Q: What is the best setting for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: Low is the only playable preset at 2560x1440, achieving an average of 66 FPS. Medium drops to 41 FPS, High to 29 FPS, and Ultra to 23 FPS, all below the 60 FPS threshold.

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

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X has an average benchmark score of 57498. The AMD EPYC 9015 scores 57555 (-0.1% delta), the AMD EPYC 7313 scores 57399 (+0.2%), the Intel Core i9-14900 scores 58115 (-1.1%), and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M scores 58323 (-1.4%). All are within 1.4% of each other.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU ranks in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 65th percentile. FPS scaling between resolutions and presets shows consistent degradation with increased GPU load, while the CPU has significant headroom based on its synthetic scores.

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

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 78, achieved at 1920x1080 on Low settings. The next highest is 66 FPS at 2560x1440 on Low settings.

Q: How does the GPU compare to the Intel Arc A750?

A: The Arc B570 has an average benchmark score of 20556, while the Arc A750 scores 20582, a delta of -0.1%. They are statistically identical in performance, with the A750 being marginally faster by less than one percent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured data shows a steep drop-off across presets. Low averages 52 FPS, Medium averages 32 FPS with a minimum of 27 and a maximum of 37, High averages 23 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. The min and max values for Medium indicate a narrow range, suggesting consistent performance rather than spikes, but all figures are far below the 60 FPS threshold. The absence of min/max data for Low, High, and Ultra means only averages are available, but the pattern is clear: 4K is not viable.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 66 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS bar. Medium averages 41 FPS with a min of 35 and a max of 47, High averages 29 FPS, and Ultra averages 23 FPS. The Medium range of 35-47 FPS shows that even the best-case scenario stays below playable. The 66 FPS Low result is 14 FPS above the 4K Low result, demonstrating the resolution scaling effect.

At 1920x1080, Low averages 78 FPS, the best result in the dataset. Medium averages 49 FPS with a min of 41 and a max of 56, High averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 28 FPS. The Medium max of 56 FPS is notable: even the peak frame rate at Medium stays below 60 FPS, meaning that preset is unplayable by the defined threshold. Low is the only setting at 1080p that achieves playable performance, and it does so with a 12 FPS margin over the 60 FPS threshold.

The Verdict

This PC can run The Medium, but only under strict conditions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 78 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 2560x1440, Low averages 66 FPS, also playable but with a slimmer margin. At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS; the best case is Low at 52 FPS, which falls short. The verdict by resolution confirms this: 1080p and 1440p both list Low as the best playable setting, with 1080p at 78 FPS and 1440p at 66 FPS, while 4K has no playable settings. For a horror game like The Medium, which relies on atmosphere and tension, the visual compromise of Low settings at 1080p may be acceptable to some, but the data indicates that this combo is not a high-fidelity solution. The CPU is more than adequate — its 92nd percentile ranking and 32172 Cinebench R23 multi-core score show it can handle far more — but the GPU's 65th percentile and 10 GB memory capacity limit the experience. Players seeking higher presets or 4K would need a more powerful GPU, as the current configuration only clears 60 FPS at the lowest settings and lower resolutions.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the nearest rivals by average benchmark score are the AMD EPYC 9015 (57555, -0.1% delta), AMD EPYC 7313 (57399, +0.2%), Intel Core i9-14900 (58115, -1.1%), and Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58323, -1.4%). All of these processors perform within 1.4% of the Ryzen 9 9900X's 57498 average score, meaning that swapping the CPU to any of these would produce virtually identical results in The Medium. The Core i9-14900 is particularly relevant as a desktop consumer part, while the EPYC and Xeon models are server-class but benchmark similarly in synthetic tests. In practical gaming terms, the CPU choice makes negligible difference here because the GPU is the bottleneck.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, +0.1% delta), Intel Arc A750 (20582, -0.1%), NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480, +0.4%), and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20662, -0.5%). The Arc A750 is the most direct comparison, as it is also an Intel discrete GPU with a nearly identical average score (20582 vs 20556, a -0.1% delta). The RTX 3070 Mobile is a laptop part but scores similarly in this benchmark suite. The Quadro M4000M and R9 M390X are older workstation and mobile parts respectively, but their scores are within 0.5% of the Arc B570. In The Medium, any of these GPUs would deliver the same FPS figures as the Arc B570, since their benchmark averages are statistically indistinguishable. The practical takeaway is that this performance tier — around 20500 average benchmark score — represents the ceiling for this combo, and users with any of these alternative GPUs would see the same 1080p Low at 78 FPS as their best case.