The Medium

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the Intel Arc B570 presents a fascinating case study in The Medium, a horror title that clearly leans heavily on the graphics subsystem. The data shows a combination where the CPU’s immense processing power is essentially held in check by the GPU’s output, resulting in a system that is only capable of hitting the 60 FPS playable threshold at the lowest graphical preset and only at 1080p and 1440p resolutions. At 4K, no settings preset is capable of reaching a playable frame rate.

Best Settings per Resolution

For each resolution, the goal is to find the most demanding preset that still maintains an average frame rate at or above the 60 FPS playable threshold. The measured data provides exact average FPS for High, Low, Medium, and Ultra presets at 3840x2160, 2560x1440, and 1920x1080.

3840x2160 (4K): The data indicates that no settings preset achieves 60 FPS at this resolution. The highest preset tested, Ultra, delivers an average of 18 FPS, while even the lowest preset, Low, only reaches 52 FPS. The best achievable average FPS is 52 on Low, but this falls short of the 60 FPS target. Therefore, no playable settings exist for 4K.

2560x1440 (1440p): At this resolution, the only preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Low. The Low preset delivers an average of exactly 66 FPS, which clears the playable threshold. The Medium preset drops to 41 FPS, and the High preset yields 29 FPS. The most demanding preset that maintains 60+ FPS is, therefore, Low, with an average of 66 FPS.

1920x1080 (1080p): Similar to 1440p, the only preset that meets the 60 FPS criterion is Low. The Low preset averages 78 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above the threshold. Medium averages 49 FPS, High averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 28 FPS. The best playable setting is Low, delivering an average of 78 FPS.

| Resolution | Best Playable Preset | Average FPS |

| :--------- | :------------------- | :---------- |

| 3840x2160 | None | N/A |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 66 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 78 |

CPU and GPU Roles

Benchmark results indicate a clear bottleneck hierarchy in this pairing. The Intel Core i9-14900K is a flagship 24-core, 32-thread processor with a PassMark multithread score of 58,674, placing it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs. The Intel Arc B570, by contrast, sits in the 65th percentile for GPUs and has a PassMark G3D score of 14,195. This disparity in relative strength suggests the GPU is the limiting factor in this configuration.

The scaling between resolutions confirms this. When moving from 1080p to 1440p on the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 78 to 66, a 15% decrease. Moving from 1440p to 4K on Low drops the average further to 52, a 21% decrease from 1440p. This progressive decline with increasing pixel count is a classic signature of GPU-bound performance. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rate would remain relatively flat across resolutions as the CPU’s workload does not scale with pixel count.

The impact of settings presets further isolates the GPU’s role. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 50 FPS (78 to 28). At 1440p, the gap is 43 FPS (66 to 23). At 4K, the gap narrows to 34 FPS (52 to 18). The fact that the frame rate drops significantly as settings are raised—even at 1080p where CPU load is typically highest—indicates that the Arc B570’s shading, texture, and rendering capabilities are the primary constraint. The i9-14900K, with its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39,399.5 and single-core score of 2,262.5, is more than capable of feeding the GPU with draw calls and game logic; the data suggests it is never the limiting factor.

In short, the GPU is the dominant component at every resolution. The CPU’s role is to provide a robust foundation that prevents any CPU-side stutter, but it cannot compensate for the GPU’s inability to maintain high frame rates at higher presets. The measured FPS is almost entirely a function of the Arc B570’s workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table presents the exact measured average, minimum, and maximum FPS values for every tested configuration. Some entries lack min/max data, as only the Medium preset included those measurements.

3840x2160 (4K):

| Settings | Average FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

| :------- | :---------- | :------ | :------ |

| Low | 52 | N/A | N/A |

| Medium | 32 | 27 | 37 |

| High | 23 | N/A | N/A |

| Ultra | 18 | N/A | N/A |

At 4K, the game is severely demanding. The Low preset’s 52 FPS is the only result close to playable, but it still fails the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 27 FPS, indicating significant frame drops below the average of 32. High and Ultra are effectively unplayable, with averages of 23 and 18 FPS respectively.

2560x1440 (1440p):

| Settings | Average FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

| :------- | :---------- | :------ | :------ |

| Low | 66 | N/A | N/A |

| Medium | 41 | 35 | 47 |

| High | 29 | N/A | N/A |

| Ultra | 23 | N/A | N/A |

1440p offers a playable experience only on Low, where the average of 66 FPS provides a slim buffer above the threshold. The Medium preset’s minimum of 35 FPS shows the system can dip well below the average, reinforcing the GPU bottleneck. The step from Low to Medium is a 25 FPS drop, highlighting how sensitive this GPU is to quality increases at this resolution.

1920x1080 (1080p):

| Settings | Average FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

| :------- | :---------- | :------ | :------ |

| Low | 78 | N/A | N/A |

| Medium | 49 | 41 | 56 |

| High | 35 | N/A | N/A |

| Ultra | 28 | N/A | N/A |

1080p is the most forgiving resolution for this combo. The Low preset achieves 78 FPS, which is the highest average recorded across any configuration. However, the Medium preset’s average of 49 FPS, with a minimum of 41 FPS, shows that even at 1080p, the Arc B570 cannot sustain 60 FPS once settings are raised. The 29 FPS gap between Low and Medium demonstrates that the GPU’s fill rate and shader performance are the decisive factors.

FAQ

*Q: Can this configuration run The Medium at 60 FPS on 4K?*

A: No. Benchmark results show that no settings preset at 3840x2160 reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold. The highest average FPS is 52 on the Low preset, while Ultra averages only 18 FPS. The verdict by resolution confirms that there are no playable settings at 4K.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p to maintain 60 FPS?

A: The only preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at 2560x1440 is Low, which delivers an average of 66 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 41 FPS, making it unplayable by the 60 FPS standard.

Q: How does the performance at 1080p compare to 1440p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 78 FPS, which is 12 FPS higher than the same preset at 2560x1440 (66 FPS). The performance gap between resolutions widens at higher settings; for example, High averages 35 FPS at 1080p versus 29 FPS at 1440p.

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K or the Intel Arc B570 the limiting factor?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The frame rate scales significantly with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. The i9-14900K’s benchmark scores (e.g., 58,674 in PassMark multithread) far exceed the GPU’s relative standing (65th percentile), suggesting the CPU is not constrained.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS is 18, recorded at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset. This is the most demanding configuration tested and is far below the playable threshold.

Q: Does the Medium preset ever reach 60 FPS?

A: No. Across all three resolutions, the Medium preset averages 49 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p, and 32 FPS at 4K. None of these results meet the 60 FPS playable threshold.

The Verdict

Can this PC run The Medium? The answer is nuanced and depends entirely on the target resolution and settings. The verdict by resolution provides a clear picture: at 3840x2160, there are no playable settings, meaning this combo cannot run the game at 4K with acceptable performance. At 2560x1440, the only playable preset is Low, which averages 66 FPS. At 1920x1080, the only playable preset is also Low, averaging 78 FPS.

The practical takeaway is that this system is a 1080p/1440p low-settings machine for The Medium. To achieve a stable 60 FPS, users must accept the Low preset. The Medium preset, which is the next step up, fails to hit 60 FPS at any resolution, with averages of 49, 41, and 32 FPS at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively. The High and Ultra presets are entirely out of reach, producing frame rates in the 18-35 FPS range.

Therefore, the i9-14900K + Arc B570 can run The Medium only under a strict performance ceiling. The data shows that the GPU is the decisive factor, and its mid-range capabilities—evidenced by a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,649—are insufficient for higher quality settings in this title. The CPU does its part, but it cannot overcome the GPU’s limitations. For a smooth experience, users must play at Low settings, and even then, 4K is not viable. This is a functional, but heavily constrained, configuration for this specific game.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all tested combinations in the benchmark database for The Medium, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i9-14900K and the Intel Arc B570 ranks 2,999 out of 3,724 total combos. This places it in the bottom 20% of all systems tested for this game. The rank reflects the GPU’s relative weakness in this title; despite the top-tier CPU, the overall frame rate performance is dragged down by the Arc B570’s output.

The Arc B570’s benchmark percentile (65th) and its nearest rivals help contextualize this ranking. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 20,556 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534, a 0.1% delta) and the Intel Arc A750 (20,582, a -0.1% delta). This means the Arc B570 is performing in line with those cards in general workloads. However, the measured FPS in The Medium shows that this level of performance is not enough to push beyond Low settings at 1080p/1440p.

The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i9-14900KF (0.3% higher average score) or the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (1.7% lower), are all within a narrow band of performance, which indicates the i9-14900K is not the source of the low rank. The 2,999th rank is a direct consequence of the GPU’s inability to deliver higher frame rates in this specific game. For comparison, the combo’s rank is far below the median, suggesting that many other CPU+GPU pairings achieve better results in The Medium. The data confirms that this system is best suited for low-settings gaming at 1080p, with 1440p being a borderline case at exactly 66 FPS on Low.