The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Intel Arc B570 combination presents a clear performance profile in The Medium, a horror game released on 2021-01-27. The data indicates that this system is capable of running the game, but only at lower settings and resolutions, with a hard ceiling at 4K. The benchmark results, measured across three resolutions and four quality presets, show that the playable threshold of 60 FPS is only consistently achieved at the Low preset on both 1080p and 1440p displays. The following analysis breaks down the component roles, detailed frame rates, and the system's overall standing among tested configurations.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run The Medium at 60 FPS on a 4K monitor?

A: No. At 3840x2160 resolution, the highest average frame rate recorded is 52 FPS at the Low preset. The High, Medium, and Ultra presets produce average frame rates of 23, 32, and 18 FPS, respectively, all well below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best setting for a 1440p display to maintain 60 FPS?

A: The only preset that clears the 60 FPS threshold at 2560x1440 is Low, which delivers an average of 66 FPS. The Medium preset falls short with an average of 41 FPS, and High and Ultra presets are significantly lower at 29 and 23 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more critical for performance in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a high-end processor with a 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs, while the Intel Arc B570 sits at the 65th percentile for GPUs. As resolution increases, the average FPS drops dramatically across all presets, indicating a GPU-bound workload.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combination?

A: The highest average FPS is 78, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset. This is the only configuration where the system approaches a very comfortable performance margin above the 60 FPS target.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: The combination ranks 2999th out of 3724 tested combos for this game, placing it in the lower third of all systems. This ranking is consistent with the GPU's modest 65th percentile standing.

Q: Is there a significant performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: Yes, the difference is substantial. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 78 FPS while the Ultra preset averages only 28 FPS. This represents a roughly 64% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

CPU and GPU Roles

The measured FPS data across resolutions and presets strongly indicates that the Intel Arc B570 GPU is the primary bottleneck for this system in The Medium. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, with a 95th percentile rank among all CPUs and a robust multi-core score of 42018 in Cinebench R23, is unlikely to struggle with the game's processing demands. Instead, the performance scaling tells the story. Moving from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 at the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 78 to 52, a 33% decrease. This is a classic symptom of GPU limitation, as the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth requirements increase with resolution.

The GPU's impact becomes even clearer when examining the preset scaling. At 2560x1440, the average frame rate falls from 66 FPS at Low to 41 FPS at Medium, then to 29 FPS at High, and finally to 23 FPS at Ultra. This steep, nearly linear decline as visual quality increases points directly to the Arc B570's shading units, texture units, and 10 GB of GDDR6 memory being saturated. The GPU's 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 380.0 GB/s memory bandwidth dictate these limits. The CPU, with 16 cores and 32 threads, is not a constraining factor in this scenario.

At 1920x1080, the gap between presets is equally telling. The jump from Low (78 FPS) to Medium (49 FPS) is a 37% performance hit, and the further drop to High (35 FPS) and Ultra (28 FPS) reinforces the GPU-bound nature. Even at the lowest resolution, the GPU cannot maintain 60 FPS at Medium settings, which would be expected if the CPU were the bottleneck. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D's single-thread score of 2259 in Cinebench R23 and 3064 in Geekbench is more than sufficient for this title. Therefore, the data confirms that the Intel Arc B570 is the decisive component, and any performance improvements would require a more powerful graphics card rather than a faster processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to deliver playable frame rates. The Low preset is the only option approaching viability, with an average of 52 FPS. The Medium preset yields an average of 32 FPS, with a minimum of 27 and a maximum of 37. The High preset drops to an average of 23 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 18 FPS. No configuration at this resolution reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the performance landscape improves but remains constrained. The Low preset is the sole playable option, averaging 66 FPS. The Medium preset averages 41 FPS, with a range of 35 to 47 FPS. The High preset averages 29 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 23 FPS. The data shows a clear divide between the playable Low setting and the unplayable higher presets.

At 1920x1080, the system shows its best performance. The Low preset delivers an average of 78 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset averages 49 FPS, with a minimum of 41 and a maximum of 56 FPS. The High preset averages 35 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 28 FPS. Even at the lowest resolution, only the Low preset provides a consistent 60 FPS experience.

The Verdict

Based on the measured data, this system can run The Medium, but with significant limitations. At 3840x2160, there are no playable settings, as every preset falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The system is not suitable for 4K gaming in this title. At 2560x1440, the verdict is conditional: the Low preset is playable, achieving an average of 66 FPS, while all other presets fail to hit 60 FPS. This makes 1440p gaming viable only at the lowest visual quality. At 1920x1080, the system is playable at the Low preset, with an average of 78 FPS. This is the only resolution and preset combination where the system provides a comfortable margin above the playable threshold. The overall verdict is that the system is a capable 1080p and entry-level 1440p machine for The Medium, but only when visual fidelity is sacrificed for frame rate.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals to the Intel Arc B570 provide context for its performance level. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 20534, a 0.1% delta from the Arc B570's 20556 average. This indicates that the mobile RTX 3070 would behave nearly identically in this game, offering similar frame rates. The Intel Arc A750 has a score of 20582, a -0.1% delta, meaning it is also a performance peer. The AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20480, 0.4% delta) and the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480, 0.4% delta) are slightly slower but still fall within a negligible performance margin. For the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 (75738, 0.1% delta), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D (75716, 0.1% delta), AMD EPYC 8224P (75582, 0.3% delta), and Intel Core Ultra 9 285 (75488, 0.4% delta) are all within a 0.4% performance band of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D's 75779 average score. This means that swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would not meaningfully change the FPS results in The Medium, as the GPU remains the limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2999th out of 3724 tested combinations for The Medium. This places the system in the 19th percentile of all tested configurations, indicating that it performs worse than the vast majority of systems. This ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's 65th percentile standing among all GPUs. The CPU's high 95th percentile rank does little to boost the overall position, as the game's performance is dictated by the graphics card. The ranking is a direct consequence of the Arc B570's limitations at higher resolutions and presets, as evidenced by the lack of playable settings at 4K and the reliance on the Low preset for 60 FPS at lower resolutions.

Best Settings per Resolution

For a 60 FPS target, the system has a clear best setting at each resolution, but only one preset qualifies as playable. At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS, so there is no best setting to recommend. At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Low, which delivers an average of 66 FPS. This is the only preset at this resolution that clears the threshold. At 1920x1080, the best playable setting is also Low, with an average of 78 FPS. The data shows that the system cannot maintain 60 FPS at Medium or higher settings at any resolution, making Low the only viable choice for a smooth experience.