The Medium

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the Intel Core i5-12600KF with Intel Arc B390 produces its lowest performance tier. The High preset averages 15 FPS, while Low reaches 34 FPS. Medium lands at 21 FPS with a minimum of 18 and maximum of 24 FPS. Ultra is the heaviest load, dropping to 12 FPS average. Every setting at 4K falls far below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results improve but remain sub-60 FPS across all presets. High settings average 19 FPS, Low averages 43 FPS, and Medium sits at 27 FPS with a recorded range of 23 to 31 FPS. Ultra again produces the weakest result at 15 FPS. The scaling from 4K to 1440p shows a modest uplift, roughly 4 to 9 FPS depending on the preset, but none of these figures approach playable territory.

At 1920x1080, the best results for this combo appear. Low settings average 51 FPS, which is the highest recorded average in the entire dataset. Medium averages 32 FPS with a minimum of 27 and maximum of 37 FPS. High averages 23 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. Although 1080p Low is close to the 60 FPS threshold, it still falls short by 9 FPS. The pattern across resolutions is consistent: the Arc B390 struggles with this title regardless of resolution or preset, and the gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution increases.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS. The database records no playable settings for this resolution. Low is the least demanding option at 34 FPS, but that is still 26 FPS below the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the same situation applies. No preset achieves 60 FPS. Low averages 43 FPS, which is the closest any setting comes at this resolution, but it remains 17 FPS short.

At 1920x1080, Low is the only preset that approaches playability. It averages 51 FPS, which is 9 FPS below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall further behind at 32, 23, and 18 FPS respectively. The verdict data confirms that no resolution and preset combination in the measured results clears 60 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run The Medium at 60 FPS on any setting?

A: No. The recorded data shows no playable settings at any resolution. The highest average FPS is 51 at 1080p Low, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best performing preset at 1920x1080?

A: Low settings produce the highest average FPS at 51. Medium follows at 32 FPS, High at 23 FPS, and Ultra at 18 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B390 perform at 4K in this game?

A: At 3840x2160, the GPU averages 34 FPS on Low, 21 FPS on Medium, 15 FPS on High, and 12 FPS on Ultra. None of these are close to playable.

Q: Is there a large difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: Yes. Low averages 43 FPS while Ultra averages 15 FPS, a difference of 28 FPS. Medium sits at 27 FPS and High at 19 FPS.

Q: Does lowering the resolution help this combo reach 60 FPS?

A: Lowering resolution improves performance, but not enough. At 4K Low the average is 34 FPS, at 1440p Low it is 43 FPS, and at 1080p Low it is 51 FPS. The best case is still below 60 FPS.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded for Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 Medium, the range is 18 to 24 FPS. At 2560x1440 Medium, the range is 23 to 31 FPS. At 1920x1080 Medium, the range is 27 to 37 FPS.

The Verdict

The recorded data is unambiguous. This combination of Intel Core i5-12600KF and Intel Arc B390 cannot run The Medium at a playable 60 FPS at any resolution or preset. The verdict by resolution lists zero playable settings for 3840x2160, 2560x1440, and 1920x1080.

The closest result is 1080p Low at 51 FPS average. That is 9 FPS below the playable threshold. At higher resolutions the gap widens dramatically: 1440p Low averages 43 FPS, and 4K Low averages 34 FPS. Higher presets at any resolution produce averages in the teens or twenties.

The GPU is the limiting factor. Its benchmark percentile against all GPUs is 9, meaning it sits in the bottom tenth of tested hardware. Its Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1482, and its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GeForce GT 625 OEM, and GeForce GT 710, all of which are low-end parts. For a horror title like The Medium, which demands consistent frame pacing and acceptable averages, this combo does not meet the minimum playability bar.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database show that the i5-12600KF is well matched to other mid-range parts. The Intel Core i9-10900K has an average score of 27872, which is 0.3% lower. The AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE scores 27712, 0.3% higher. The AMD Ryzen 7 6800U scores 27887, 0.3% lower, and the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D scores 27896, 0.3% lower. These deltas are negligible, so swapping to any of these CPUs would not meaningfully change the outcome in The Medium.

The GPU tells a different story. The Arc B390's nearest rivals are all older or lower-tier NVIDIA parts. The GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463, which is 1.3% lower. The GeForce 800M scores 1460, 1.5% lower. The GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446, 2.5% lower, and the GeForce GT 710 scores 1443, 2.7% lower. These are all extremely weak GPUs by modern standards, and the Arc B390 is only marginally ahead of them. In practical terms, any of these alternatives would deliver similarly unplayable results in The Medium.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database, this combination ranks 3314 out of 3724 tested combos for The Medium. That places it near the bottom, in roughly the 11th percentile of all tested configurations. The rank reflects the GPU's poor showing. While the i5-12600KF is a capable processor, the Arc B390 drags the overall result down. The recorded FPS numbers align with this ranking: no preset at any resolution reaches 60 FPS, and the best average is 51 FPS at 1080p Low.

The ranking also highlights the imbalance in this pairing. The CPU alone has a percentile of 79 against all CPUs, meaning it outperforms most processors in general benchmarks. The GPU has a percentile of 9 against all GPUs. This mismatch is visible in the game data: the CPU is not the bottleneck, but the GPU cannot keep up with the demands of The Medium.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data shows that the GPU is the dominant constraint in this game. Across all resolutions, the FPS scales directly with the graphics preset. At 1080p, Low averages 51 FPS, Medium 32 FPS, High 23 FPS, and Ultra 18 FPS. At 1440p, the same pattern holds: 43, 27, 19, and 15 FPS. At 4K, it continues: 34, 21, 15, and 12 FPS. This consistent drop as settings increase points to a GPU-bound workload.

Resolution scaling reinforces this conclusion. Moving from 1080p Low to 1440p Low reduces the average from 51 to 43 FPS, a decrease of 8 FPS. Moving from 1440p Low to 4K Low reduces it from 43 to 34 FPS, another 9 FPS drop. These large losses with increasing pixel count are typical of GPU-limited scenarios. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, which is not the case here.

The CPU's role is secondary. The i5-12600KF has strong synthetic scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23391 and a single-core score of 3302. Its 3DMark 16-thread score is 7956, and its 4-thread score is 3806. None of these strengths translate into higher FPS in The Medium because the GPU saturates first. The data suggests that even a much weaker CPU paired with a stronger GPU would outperform this combo, while upgrading the GPU would yield immediate gains.

At 1080p Low, the game is still GPU-limited, as the 51 FPS average is far below what the CPU could support. The closest the combo gets to a CPU-bound situation is 1080p Low, but even there the GPU's low fill rate and compute throughput cap the frame rate. For users seeking playable performance in The Medium, replacing the Arc B390 with a substantially stronger GPU would be the necessary change. The CPU can remain in place without concern.