The Medium

The Intel Core i9-14900K and Intel Arc B580 combination delivers a narrowly playable experience in The Medium, but only at the lowest graphical preset and only below 4K resolution. Benchmark results show the pairing is heavily GPU-bound, with the Arc B580's performance ceiling determining playability across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 86.4 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold by a comfortable margin. At 2560x1440, the Low preset drops to 73.4 FPS, still above the playable threshold but with less headroom. At 3840x2160, even the Low preset falls to 59.5 FPS, just shy of the 60 FPS mark, making 4K unplayable at any setting in this dataset. The data reveals a consistent pattern: every step up in resolution or settings produces a sharp decline in average frame rate, with the Ultra preset being the most demanding at all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo shows a clear hierarchy of performance across the three resolutions and four settings tiers. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 86.4 FPS, which is the highest score recorded for this pairing. The Medium preset at the same resolution drops to 52.7 FPS, a 39% reduction from Low. High settings at 1080p yield 40.6 FPS, while Ultra falls to 29.8 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p represents a 65% performance loss, indicating that the Arc B580 struggles significantly with the game's higher-fidelity effects.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 73.4 FPS, still playable but 15% slower than the 1080p Low result. Medium at 1440p drops to 46.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. High settings at 1440p produce 35 FPS, and Ultra falls to 25.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 65%, matching the 1080p pattern. Notably, the 1440p Medium score of 46.8 FPS is higher than the 1080p High score of 40.6 FPS, suggesting that resolution scaling is not linear and that settings tier has a larger impact than resolution alone.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 59.5 FPS, which is just under the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium at 4K drops to 37.7 FPS, High to 27.2 FPS, and Ultra to 22.9 FPS. The 4K Low result is particularly telling: it is only 4.5 FPS below the 1440p Low score, indicating that the Arc B580's memory bandwidth and 12 GB VRAM are sufficient to handle the resolution jump without catastrophic losses, but the rendering workload still pushes it below the playable line. Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset consistently delivers the lowest scores, with the 4K Ultra average of 22.9 FPS being the worst recorded result for this combo.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run The Medium at 1920x1080 with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only on the Low preset, which averages 86.4 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 52.7 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the highest resolution at which this combo achieves 60 FPS or more?

A: The 2560x1440 resolution with Low settings averages 73.4 FPS, which clears the threshold. The 3840x2160 resolution with Low settings averages 59.5 FPS, just missing the 60 FPS mark.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 86.4 at 1920x1080 to 73.4 at 2560x1440, a decrease of 13 FPS or approximately 15%.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at any resolution with this hardware?

A: No. The Ultra preset yields 29.8 FPS at 1080p, 25.4 FPS at 1440p, and 22.9 FPS at 4K. All of these are far below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: How does the 4K Low preset compare to the 1440p Low preset?

A: The 4K Low preset averages 59.5 FPS, while the 1440p Low preset averages 73.4 FPS. The difference is 13.9 FPS, showing that the resolution increase from 1440p to 4K costs roughly the same performance as the jump from 1080p to 1440p.

Q: What is the best playable setting at each resolution according to the data?

A: At 1920x1080, the best playable setting is Low with 86.4 FPS. At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Low with 73.4 FPS. At 3840x2160, there are no playable settings, as even Low falls to 59.5 FPS.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Core i9-14900K sits at the 95th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79097. Its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database include the Intel Core i9-14900KF, which scores 79371 and is 0.3% faster, and the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, which scores 79574 and is 0.6% faster. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80041, 1.2% ahead, while the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77740, 1.7% behind. These differences are marginal, meaning any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in The Medium when paired with the same GPU. The i9-14900K's 24 cores and 32 threads provide ample headroom for this game's CPU demands, but the benchmark data suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor.

For the Intel Arc B580, the GPU benchmark data shows an average score of 23021, placing it at the 68th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (23061, 0.2% faster), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895, 0.6% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (23172, 0.7% faster), and the NVIDIA P106-100 (23249, 1.0% faster). The RTX 3080's inclusion in this list is notable: despite being a higher-tier card in general, its average benchmark score is only 0.7% above the Arc B580, suggesting that in the specific workloads captured by these benchmarks, the B580 is competitive. However, in The Medium's measured FPS, the B580's performance at Ultra settings is consistently below 30 FPS at all resolutions, indicating that the game's rendering path is particularly demanding on this architecture.

The Verdict

The data shows that this PC can run The Medium, but with significant limitations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset clears the 60 FPS threshold with an average of 86.4 FPS, providing a playable experience. At 2560x1440, the Low preset also remains playable with an average of 73.4 FPS. However, at 3840x2160, no settings preset achieves 60 FPS: the Low preset averages 59.5 FPS, which is below the playable threshold of 60 FPS. The verdict by resolution confirms this: 1080p has one playable setting (Low), 1440p has one playable setting (Low), and 4K has zero playable settings. For users targeting 60 FPS, the practical choice is to run the game at 1080p or 1440p with Low settings. The Medium preset at any resolution falls short of 60 FPS, with the best Medium result being 52.7 FPS at 1080p. High and Ultra presets are not viable for 60 FPS gameplay at any resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and Intel Arc B580 ranks 2813 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the bottom quarter of all tested hardware combinations, which is consistent with the measured FPS data showing that only the Low preset achieves playable frame rates. The rank reflects the Arc B580's relatively modest GPU performance in this game, despite the i9-14900K's strong CPU benchmark showing at the 95th percentile. The combo's position suggests that most other tested pairings deliver better average frame rates, likely due to GPUs with higher raw throughput. The 2813th rank out of 3724 means approximately 75% of tested combos outperform this setup in The Medium, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's limitations at higher settings and resolutions.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Low, with an average of 86.4 FPS. No other preset at this resolution reaches the 60 FPS threshold: Medium averages 52.7 FPS, High averages 40.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 29.8 FPS. At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is also Low, with an average of 73.4 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 46.8 FPS, which is below the threshold. At 3840x2160, there is no playable setting; the Low preset averages 59.5 FPS, missing the 60 FPS mark by a small margin. The data indicates that users must accept Low settings for playable frame rates at both 1080p and 1440p, while 4K is entirely off the table for 60 FPS gameplay.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals that the Intel Arc B580 is the primary performance bottleneck in The Medium, while the Intel Core i9-14900K plays a supporting role. This is evident from the FPS scaling across resolutions: at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 86.4 FPS, but at 4K Low, it drops to 59.5 FPS, a 31% reduction. The CPU's benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core at 39399.5, single-core at 2262.5) are far above what this game requires, and the 95th percentile CPU ranking indicates no CPU-side limitation. Conversely, the GPU's average benchmark score of 23021 at the 68th percentile shows that it is a mid-range performer, which matches the observed FPS drops when settings are increased.

The settings scaling further confirms the GPU's dominant role. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium reduces FPS from 86.4 to 52.7, a 39% drop, while moving from Low to Ultra reduces it to 29.8, a 65% drop. These reductions are consistent across all resolutions, with the 4K Ultra score of 22.9 FPS representing the worst case. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, but the data shows a clear resolution-dependent decline. The 1440p Medium score of 46.8 FPS being higher than the 1080p High score of 40.6 FPS further illustrates that settings tier has a larger impact than resolution, pointing to GPU shader and texture processing as the bottleneck. For users of this combo, the practical takeaway is that the i9-14900K provides ample CPU headroom, but the Arc B580 requires Low settings to maintain 60 FPS at 1080p or 1440p.