The Medium

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for this combination shows a consistent pattern: performance falls far below the 60 FPS playability threshold across every resolution and preset tested. At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers an average of 30 FPS, while Medium drops to 19 FPS with a minimum of 16 and maximum of 22. High averages 14 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 11 FPS. The frame time variance at Medium, where the spread between minimum and maximum is only 6 FPS, suggests the GPU is operating near its sustained limit rather than experiencing transient spikes.

Moving down to 2560x1440, the improvements are modest but measurable. Low reaches 39 FPS average, Medium sits at 24 FPS with a 21 to 28 FPS range, High manages 17 FPS, and Ultra lands at 14 FPS. The step from 4K to 1440p yields roughly a 30% uplift at Low, but the higher presets gain only 3 to 4 FPS each, indicating that the rendering workload at these settings is not primarily resolution-bound.

At 1920x1080, the situation remains below the 60 FPS target. Low averages 46 FPS, Medium 29 FPS with a 24 to 33 FPS range, High 21 FPS, and Ultra 16 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 1080p is 17 FPS, larger than the 15 FPS gap at 1440p and the 11 FPS gap at 4K. This suggests that at lower resolutions, the additional shading and texture work from Medium settings imposes a proportionally heavier cost relative to the reduced pixel count.

No preset at any resolution recorded a minimum FPS above 33, and the only minimum values provided in the dataset are those for Medium settings. The absence of min/max data for Low, High, and Ultra implies that only average FPS was captured for those configurations, which limits the ability to assess frame pacing consistency. However, the averages themselves are unambiguous: every configuration tested falls short of 60 FPS by a wide margin, with the closest being 1080p Low at 46 FPS, still 14 FPS below the threshold.

Best Settings per Resolution

The verdict data indicates that no settings combination at any resolution reaches the 60 FPS playability threshold. For 3840x2160, the best recorded average is 30 FPS at Low, but this is not classified as playable. Similarly, at 2560x1440, Low provides 39 FPS, and at 1920x1080, Low provides 46 FPS. None of these qualify as playable according to the database's 60 FPS criterion.

The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS does not exist for this combination. The database records no playable settings for any resolution, and the best settings fields are null across the board. This means that even the least demanding configuration, 1080p Low, fails to meet the target by 14 FPS. Users seeking 60 FPS would need to consider either lower internal resolutions, which are not part of this dataset, or a different hardware combination.

It is notably the progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution is roughly linear in terms of average FPS loss. At 1080p, the drop from Low to Ultra is 30 FPS; at 1440p, it is 25 FPS; at 4K, it is 19 FPS. The diminishing penalty at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is already heavily limited by pixel throughput, so additional settings changes have less relative impact.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i5-14600KF are all close in aggregate benchmark score. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 sits 0.3% higher, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G is 0.4% higher, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is 0.8% higher, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 is 0.8% lower. These deltas are within measurement noise, meaning that swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would produce virtually identical frame rates in The Medium when paired with the same GPU.

For the Intel Arc B370, the nearest rivals are much older hardware. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 is 0.2% higher in score, the ATI Radeon HD 5770 is 0.5% higher, the AMD Radeon HD 7650M is 0.7% higher, and the AMD FirePro M2000 is 1.4% lower. These are all legacy parts from a different era of GPU design, and their proximity in score indicates that the Arc B370's raw compute capability is comparable to mid-range discrete graphics from roughly a decade ago. In practical terms, a system with one of these GPUs would exhibit similar FPS numbers in The Medium, assuming the same CPU and driver overhead.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all processors contrasts sharply with the GPU's 5th percentile ranking. This imbalance means that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this game. Any of the four rival CPUs listed would deliver the same experience, as the bottleneck resides almost entirely in the graphics subsystem.

The Verdict

This combination cannot run The Medium at a playable frame rate. The verdictByResolution data shows no playable settings for 3840x2160, 2560x1440, or 1920x1080. The highest recorded average FPS across all tests is 46 at 1080p Low, which is 14 FPS below the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K, the best case is 30 FPS at Low, and at 1440p, it is 39 FPS at Low.

The data implies that even the lowest settings and resolution combination does not provide a smooth experience. The minimum FPS recorded at 1080p Medium is 24, which would be perceptibly stuttery in a horror game that relies on atmosphere and pacing. The combination ranks 3439 out of 3724 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of the database, which reinforces the conclusion that this is not a viable configuration for this title.

For users who own this CPU-GPU pairing, the only path to 60 FPS would be external factors such as resolution scaling or driver-level optimizations, neither of which is captured in this dataset. As measured, the system fails the playability criterion at every tested setting.

CPU and GPU Roles

The division of labor between the Intel Core i5-14600KF and the Intel Arc B370 is heavily skewed toward the GPU. The CPU's benchmark scores are exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core result of 32544 and a single-core result of 4594, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. The GPU, by contrast, scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs.

The scaling between resolutions provides evidence for GPU dominance. From 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 46 to 39, a 15% reduction. From 1440p to 4K at Low, it drops from 39 to 30, a 23% reduction. These are substantial losses that correlate with pixel count increases, indicating that the GPU is saturated. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU workload is largely independent of resolution.

The scaling between presets further supports this interpretation. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 17 FPS, from Medium to High costs 8 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 5 FPS. The diminishing returns at higher presets suggest that the GPU is running out of shading and texture throughput. At 4K, the same preset steps cost 11, 5, and 3 FPS respectively, showing an even tighter compression due to pixel fill limits.

The CPU's role is therefore minimal in this game. It has ample headroom to feed the GPU, and the recorded frame rates are entirely consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. The fact that the CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, differs by only 0.3% in aggregate score, while the GPU's nearest rival, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, differs by 0.2%, underscores that the GPU is the component that defines this system's gaming capability.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 3439 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. That places it in the bottom 7.7% of the database, which is consistent with the measured FPS results. The rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU's low position in the overall distribution, since the CPU is in the top 10% of all processors.

The gap between the CPU's percentile and the combo's rank illustrates how a powerful processor cannot compensate for a weak graphics solution in a visually demanding title. The Medium is a horror game with fixed camera angles and pre-rendered environments, but the data shows that even these relatively static scenes require more GPU throughput than the Arc B370 can provide.

Given that the GPU's nearest rivals are all over a decade old, the combo rank would likely improve if the GPU were swapped for a modern low-end or mid-range part. However, within the confines of this specific pairing, the rank is firmly in the lower tier. The database records no other combos for comparison, so the 3439th position is the sole reference point.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average FPS is 46, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Does any preset at 2560x1440 reach 60 FPS?

A: No. The best result at 1440p is 39 FPS at Low, which is 21 FPS below the 60 FPS threshold.

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

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 is 0.3% higher in aggregate score, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G is 0.4% higher, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is 0.8% higher, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 is 0.8% lower.

Q: What is the frame rate range at 1080p Medium?

A: The average is 29 FPS, with a minimum of 24 FPS and a maximum of 33 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. FPS drops consistently as resolution increases, while the CPU has ample headroom. The GPU sits in the 5th percentile while the CPU is in the 90th percentile.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: It ranks 3439 out of 3724 combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of the database.