The Medium

# The Medium on Intel Core i7-12700KF + Intel Arc B570

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the Intel Arc B570 presents a compelling combination for running The Medium at high frame rates. The data shows a consistent story: this CPU has ample headroom, while the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions and quality presets. Benchmark results indicate that with the right settings, this combo can comfortably exceed the 60 FPS playability threshold, making it a strong choice for both horror enthusiasts and benchmark-driven buyers.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a clear performance hierarchy across the three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system is almost overkill: the Low preset delivers an average of 78 FPS, and Medium settings push that down to 49 FPS on average, with the frame time staying within a 41-56 FPS window. High and Ultra presets at 1080p see averages of 35 FPS and 28 FPS respectively, which remain playable but show the GPU is becoming the limiting factor.

Moving up to 2560x1440, the gap between settings widens. Low pulls a commanding average of 66 FPS, a 41% lead over the 47 FPS average seen at Medium. High and Ultra settings at this resolution fall to 29 FPS and 23 FPS averages, respectively, making those presets marginal for smooth play. The data at 3840x2160 shows why this resolution is the true stress test: only the Low preset manages to keep the system above the 60 FPS playable threshold, with an average of 52 FPS. Medium drops to 32 FPS (27-37 FPS range), while High and Ultra settle at 23 FPS and 18 FPS averages. The step from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 15-18% performance at identical settings, while the jump to 2160p is harsher: a 33% reduction from the 1080p Low average. This scaling behavior points directly at the GPU's shading and fillrate limits as the main constraint, rather than any CPU deficiency.

CPU and GPU Roles

This pairing shows a typical modern balanced system where the CPU is not the star of the show. The i7-12700KF, with its 12 cores (8 Performance-cores, 4 Efficient-cores) and 20 threads, is an extremely capable processor. Its single-thread score of 2255 in Geekbench and multi-core score of 14,367 place it far above the demands of a DirectX 12 title like The Medium, which is not heavily threaded. The processor sits idle for most of the session. The game's demands on the CPU at 1080p are minimal; the bottleneck moves to the graphics card almost immediately, even at Low preset, where the Arc B570's 18 ray tracing cores and 144 TMUs are doing the heavy lifting. At 1440p, the gap between Low and Medium is a 25 FPS average difference (66 vs 41 FPS), showing that the GPU memory bandwidth and fillrate are the limiting factors. At 4K, the GPU is thoroughly saturated; the Low preset's 52 FPS average is the only one close to the 60 FPS target, and the delta to the next preset (Medium, 32 FPS) is a massive 38% drop.

The CPU, however, is not entirely without work. The game's CPU-heavy tasks—AI, physics, and game logic—do scale with resolution. But the data indicates that at 1080p, even the Ultra preset (28 FPS) doesn't stress the i7-12700KF to its limits. The 12700KF's boost clock of 5.0 GHz and 25 MB of L3 cache handle the DirectX 12 API overhead with ease. It is only when the resolution and the preset push the GPU to its absolute limits that the system begins to show strain.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best playable preset is Low, where the average FPS is 78 FPS. This setting is 30-60% faster than Medium (49 FPS) and High (35 FPS), and it ensures the frame time never goes below 60 FPS (min FPS of 41 at High, 35 at Medium are below the threshold). Low is the only setting that comfortably exceeds the playable 60 FPS threshold, with a 14% margin. It gives a 50% performance headroom over Medium and 76% over Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset remains the only playable option, yielding an average of 66 FPS. This is a 35% advantage over Medium (41 FPS), and 54% over High (29 FPS). The minimum at Low (66) keeps the frame rate above playable, though the 41 FPS minimum at Medium makes it a risky pick. For the smoothest experience at this resolution, stick to Low.

At 3840x2160, Low is the only preset that hits the 60 FPS target, averaging 52 FPS. Medium (32 FPS), High (23 FPS), and Ultra (18 FPS) all fall short. The 34% gap between Medium and Low is the largest single-setting jump in the entire resolution ladder, indicating the GPU's memory bandwidth is the core constraint at 4K. Even at Low, the system holds its own, but it's a 52 FPS average, which is a 15% drop from the Low average at 1440p.

The clear recommendation is: if you are on a 1080p or 1440p display, run the game on Low settings. This is a horror game that benefits from a smooth frame rate more than eye candy.

How This Combo Ranks

The i7-12700KF + Arc B570 combo ranks #2999 out of 3724 tested combinations in our database. This places it in the lower mid-pack, which is typical for a mid-range CPU paired with a value-oriented GPU. The 12700KF's nearest rivals in CPU performance—the Intel Core i7-13700T and i5-13600T—are within 0.2% of its average score, which shows that the CPU itself is in a very competitive performance tier. The GPU, however, is the weakest link in this chain. The Arc B570's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, is within 0.1% in average score, but the Intel Arc A750 and NVIDIA Quadro M4000M are slightly behind at -0.1% and +0.4% deltas. What this means in practice is that any of those GPUs would perform nearly identically, and the deciding factor between these boards comes down to other system characteristics (memory bandwidth, driver efficiency), not the raw chip performance.

The i7-12700KF, being a 2021 chip, is a mature architecture. It has enough L3 cache (25 MB) and a high boost clock (5.0 GHz) to feed any modern GPU. The fact that it holds a 85th percentile among all CPUs in the database, and has an average score of 35,365, confirms that it is a high-end desktop part—it will not bottleneck the B570. The GPU, by contrast, sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs. That is the ceiling: the Arc B570's raw power is the definitive factor in this combo's performance in The Medium. Therefore, the overall ranking of 2999 out of 3724 reflects the GPU's mid-range position more than the CPU's top-tier placement.

Similar Performance Alternatives

If you're looking at a similar frame rate experience, the nearest CPU rivals are those within a 0.2% average score delta: the Intel Core i7-13700T, the Intel Core i5-13600T, and the Intel Core 5 213PE. All three of these CPUs are within 0.2% of the 12700KF's average score, meaning a swap would produce no measurable frame rate difference in CPU-limited titles. On the GPU side, the nearest is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which is 0.1% apart in average score; the Intel Arc A750 is -0.1% from the B570, and the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M is +0.4% away. In practice, any of those GPUs paired with the i7-12700KF would deliver indistinguishable The Medium performance.

For a step-up in GPU, the AMD Radeon R9 M395X is 0.5% higher in average score. But that delta is small enough to be within run-to-run variance. A true step-up would be a GPU with a substantial score gap—but those are the domain of a higher power budget and a different price class.

FAQ

*Q: Does the i7-12700KF bottleneck the Arc B570 in The Medium?*

A: No. The CPU is far from being the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system delivers 78 FPS on average, and the GPU is the bottleneck from the Medium preset onward. The CPU is not stressed; its multi-core 20-thread design is overkill for this title.

Q: Is the Arc B570 enough for 4K in this game?

A: Only at Low preset, where it averages 52 FPS. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall short of 60 FPS (32, 23, 18 FPS averages respectively). If you want 4K with High settings, you need to move up to a higher-tier GPU.

Q: Should I play at 2560x1440 or 1920x1080?

A: At 1440p, the Low preset gives a 66 FPS average, so it's smooth. At 1080p, Low gives 78 FPS, and Medium gives 49 FPS; both are playable. The game's horror atmosphere benefits from a stable frame rate, so the Low preset at either resolution is the best balance.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-12700KF the best CPU for this combo?

A: In the database, the 12700KF has the highest average benchmark score (35,365) and a 84.7th percentile rank among all CPUs. For this specific game, no, any 12th-gen or newer Core i5 or i7 would work; the GPU is the determining component. But you won't find a better pairing in the same tier.

Q: What about the 10 GB of VRAM on the Arc B570?

A: 10 GB of GDDR6 with a 160-bit bus and 380 GB/s of bandwidth is sufficient for the game's 4K textures and DXR workloads. The game doesn't need to stream in massive amounts of textures; the Arc B570's memory is not a weakness here. The bottleneck is raw shading power and texture fill rate, not the frame buffer.