The Medium

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers playable frame rates in The Medium only at Low settings, and only at 1080p and 1440p. At 4K, no preset reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold. Benchmark results indicate a GPU-bound workload where preset quality and resolution heavily impact performance, and the measured data shows a clear ceiling for this combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for each resolution and preset are as follows. Note that only the Medium preset includes minimum and maximum FPS values; other presets report average FPS only.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 23 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 52 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 32 | 27 | 37 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 18 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | High | 29 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 66 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 41 | 35 | 47 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 23 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | High | 35 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 78 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 49 | 41 | 56 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 28 | — | — |

At 4K, the highest average is 52 FPS on Low, still below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium averages 32 FPS, High 23, and Ultra 18. The 4K results are uniformly unplayable. At 1440p, Low reaches 66 FPS, which clears the threshold, but Medium drops to 41, High to 29, and Ultra to 23. At 1080p, Low averages 78 FPS, while Medium, High, and Ultra sit at 49, 35, and 28 respectively. Only the Low preset at 1080p and 1440p achieves an average above 60 FPS.

The Medium preset also provides minimum and maximum frame rates, offering a sense of variance. At 1080p, the range is 41 to 56 FPS, which means even the peak does not reach 60. At 1440p, the range is 35 to 47, and at 4K it is 27 to 37. These numbers confirm that Medium settings are consistently below the playable threshold at every resolution.

CPU and GPU Roles

The frame rate scaling across resolutions and presets strongly suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. At each preset, moving from 1080p to 4K reduces average FPS substantially. For example, on Low settings, the average drops from 78 at 1080p to 66 at 1440p and 52 at 4K. This resolution sensitivity is typical of a GPU-limited workload; a CPU-bound scenario would show much smaller differences between resolutions.

Within each resolution, increasing the preset from Low to Ultra produces a steep decline in FPS. At 1080p, Low averages 78, Medium 49, High 35, and Ultra 28. This pattern holds at 1440p and 4K as well. The consistent drop with higher graphical demands points to the Arc B570 as the limiting component.

The CPU, an Intel Core i5-12400F, is a six-core, twelve-thread Alder Lake processor with a 2.50 GHz base and 4.40 GHz boost clock. Its synthetic benchmarks are respectable: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 12380, single-core 1680, and Geekbench multicore 9472. These numbers indicate that the CPU has ample processing headroom for a title like The Medium. However, the measured frame rates do not isolate CPU vs. GPU utilization. The data simply shows that the combination cannot push past Low settings at 1080p and 1440p, which is consistent with the GPU being the dominant constraint.

The GPU’s own benchmark profile reinforces this view. The Arc B570 has an average benchmark score of 20556 and sits in the 65th percentile among all GPUs. The CPU is in the 73rd percentile. While these percentiles are not directly comparable to game performance, the fact that the GPU ranks lower than the CPU aligns with the observed GPU-bound behavior.

Best Settings per Resolution

The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at each resolution is determined by the measured averages.

• 3840x2160: No preset reaches 60 FPS. The best average is 52 FPS on Low, which is below the playable threshold. Therefore, there is no playable setting at 4K.
• 2560x1440: Low is the only preset that clears 60 FPS, with an average of 66 FPS. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall below 60, so Low is the best playable option.
• 1920x1080: Low averages 78 FPS, which is the only preset above 60 FPS. Medium (49), High (35), and Ultra (28) are all unplayable. Low is the best playable setting.

In summary, the only playable configurations are 1080p Low and 1440p Low. No higher preset at any resolution meets the 60 FPS threshold.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run The Medium at 1080p?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where it averages 78 FPS. Medium averages 49 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

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

A: Low is the only preset that stays at or above 60 FPS, with an average of 66 FPS. Medium drops to 41 FPS, High to 29, and Ultra to 23.

Q: Is 4K playable with this combo?

A: No. The highest average at 4K is 52 FPS on Low, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra average 32, 23, and 18 FPS respectively.

Q: How does this combo rank among other tested systems?

A: It ranks 2999 out of 3724 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of configurations tested for The Medium.

Q: Are there any settings with measured minimum and maximum frame rates?

A: Only Medium presets include min/max data: at 4K the range is 27 to 37 FPS, at 1440p 35 to 47, and at 1080p 41 to 56. Even the maximum at 1080p Medium (56) stays below 60 FPS.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of these components?

A: The CPU's launch MSRP is $174, and the GPU's launch MSRP is 219 USD.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this CPU+GPU combination is ranked 2999 out of 3724 tested combos for The Medium. That places it in the bottom 20% of all tested systems. The CPU itself performs well relative to other processors: it sits in the 73rd percentile and has an average benchmark score of 19039. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (avg score 19047, delta 0%), the Intel Core 3 201E (19056, -0.1%), the Intel Core i5-1335U (18982, 0.3%), and the AMD EPYC 7773X (18979, 0.3%). These deltas are tiny, meaning the i5-12400F is effectively on par with those CPUs in synthetic tests.

The GPU, Intel Arc B570, has an average benchmark score of 20556 and sits in the 65th percentile. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (avg 20534, delta 0.1%), the Intel Arc A750 (20582, -0.1%), the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480, 0.4%), and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20662, -0.5%). Again, the performance differences are minimal in synthetic benchmarks.

Despite the respectable individual component scores, the combined system ranks low for The Medium specifically. This suggests that the game is particularly demanding on the GPU, and the Arc B570, while competent in general benchmarks, does not deliver the frame rates needed for high or ultra presets in this title.

The Verdict

The Intel Core i5-12400F and Intel Arc B570 can run The Medium, but only under strict conditions. The data shows that 1080p Low (78 FPS) and 1440p Low (66 FPS) are the only configurations that clear the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 4K, no preset reaches 60 FPS; the best is Low at 52 FPS. Medium settings at 1080p (49 FPS) and 1440p (41 FPS) fall short, and High and Ultra are unplayable at every resolution.

For a builder targeting 1080p or 1440p gaming, this combo works if you are willing to run The Medium on Low settings. The game’s fixed camera angles and slower pacing may make Low acceptable to some players, but the lack of headroom means you cannot raise quality without dropping below 60 FPS. At 4K, this system is not viable for The Medium.

The launch MSRP for the CPU is $174, and for the GPU it is 219 USD. That pricing is not discussed further here, but the performance profile is clear: this is a low-preset, 1080p/1440p machine for this specific game. If you need higher settings, the data indicates you would need a more powerful GPU.