The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G paired with the Intel Arc B370 delivers a distinctly constrained performance profile in The Medium, with the measured frame rates indicating that the integrated graphics solution is the primary bottleneck across all tested configurations. The data shows a combo that struggles to maintain playable frame rates even at lower resolutions, placing it in the bottom percentile of tested hardware combinations for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a predictable but steep decline that underscores the GPU's limitations. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 46 FPS at 1080p to 39 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of approximately 15%, and then further down to 30 FPS at 4K, representing a 35% total decrease from the 1080p baseline. This pattern indicates that while the resolution increase does impact performance, the integrated GPU is already operating near its ceiling even at the lowest settings.

Moving to Medium settings, the scaling becomes more pronounced. The average frame rate falls from 29 FPS at 1080p to 24 FPS at 1440p, a 17% drop, and then to 19 FPS at 4K, a 34% reduction from the starting point. The minimum frame rates at Medium settings follow a similar trajectory: 24 FPS at 1080p, 21 FPS at 1440p, and 16 FPS at 4K. This consistent degradation across resolutions suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth, listed as "System Dependent," becomes increasingly strained as pixel count grows.

At High settings, the resolution scaling is steeper in relative terms. The average frame rate drops from 21 FPS at 1080p to 17 FPS at 1440p, a 19% decrease, and then to 14 FPS at 4K, a 33% total reduction. Ultra settings show the most severe impact, with averages falling from 16 FPS at 1080p to 14 FPS at 1440p and finally to 11 FPS at 4K. The fact that the 4K Ultra result is only 11 FPS, while 1080p Low achieves 46 FPS, illustrates that the combo's performance headroom is almost entirely consumed by resolution demands rather than graphical fidelity.

The data indicates that the limiting component is unequivocally the GPU. The Intel Arc B370 carries a TDP of 25 W and operates with system-shared memory, meaning it must contend with the CPU for bandwidth. The Ryzen 5 4600G, by contrast, is a 65 W desktop processor with 6 cores and 12 threads, and its benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core result of 13593, suggest ample processing capability for this title. The frame rate drops are too consistent and severe across all settings to implicate the CPU, which would typically show less scaling with resolution changes. Instead, the GPU's raw compute throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS FP32 is the clear ceiling, and the results reflect that constraint at every resolution step.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370's specifications paint a picture of a modest integrated solution that is out of its depth in The Medium. With a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz, the chip is designed for efficiency rather than high-end gaming. Its 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output pipelines are modest figures, and the pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s alongside a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s provides the theoretical foundation for the measured results.

The memory configuration is critical to understanding the performance. The GPU uses "System Shared" memory, which means it draws from the same DDR4 pool as the CPU. The Ryzen 5 4600G supports dual-channel DDR4 with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, but the GPU's effective bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent." This dependency introduces a significant bottleneck, as the GPU must compete with CPU workloads for the same memory channels. The measured frame rates, particularly the sub-20 FPS results at 4K, are consistent with a GPU that is starved for memory bandwidth under heavy load.

The architecture, Xe3-LPG on a 3 nm process, suggests theoretical efficiency, but the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 is telling. This score places the GPU in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are legacy parts like the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (score 1186, delta -0.2%) and the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (score 1190, delta -0.5%). These comparisons are stark; the Arc B370 is performing on par with graphics solutions from over a decade ago in synthetic benchmarks. The AMD FirePro M2000 trails by 1.4%, and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M leads by 0.7%, indicating a very tight cluster of low-end performance.

In The Medium, this translates to a GPU that can only deliver playable frame rates at the lowest settings and resolution. The VRAM situation is effectively moot since memory is shared, but the lack of dedicated video memory means textures and geometry must be shuffled through the system bus, adding latency and reducing throughput. The 10 ray tracing cores are present in the specification, but the overall compute power is too low to leverage them meaningfully; the measured frame rates suggest that enabling any ray-traced effects would push performance below playable thresholds entirely.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the only configuration that approaches a playable experience is 1080p with Low settings, which yields an average of 46 FPS. This is the sole result above 30 FPS in the entire dataset, and it represents the best possible experience for this combo. The minimum frame rate is not listed for this specific row, but the average suggests that while there may be dips, the overall experience is the most fluid available.

At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 29 FPS, with a minimum of 24 FPS and a maximum of 33 FPS. This configuration offers a marginal improvement in visual quality over Low, but the 17 FPS reduction from Low to Medium is substantial, indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed by even mid-tier settings. The 24 FPS minimum is likely to result in noticeable stutter during intense scenes, making this a less desirable choice for consistent motion.

The High and Ultra presets at 1080p produce averages of 21 FPS and 16 FPS, respectively. These are firmly in unplayable territory, and the data suggests that no amount of resolution reduction can salvage them. At 1440p, even Low settings only achieve 39 FPS, which is below the 40 FPS threshold often considered minimum for acceptable gameplay. At 4K, all settings produce averages below 30 FPS, with Ultra scraping by at 11 FPS.

The recommendation is clear: 1080p Low is the only viable option, and it should be paired with any in-game settings that can further reduce load without compromising the frame rate. Users seeking higher visual fidelity would need to consider a different GPU entirely, as the measured results indicate that this combo cannot handle the game's demands beyond its most basic configuration. The 46 FPS average at 1080p Low is the ceiling, and it is a low one.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a full range of settings performance. Low settings lead with an average of 46 FPS, representing the best result in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 29 FPS average, with minimum and maximum values of 24 and 33 FPS, respectively. High settings produce an average of 21 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 16 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra is a 65% reduction in average frame rate, highlighting the GPU's sensitivity to graphical complexity.

At 2560x1440, the performance degrades across the board. Low settings achieve 39 FPS average, a 15% drop from the 1080p result. Medium settings average 24 FPS, with minimum and maximum values of 21 and 28 FPS. High settings produce 17 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 14 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at this resolution is a 64% reduction, mirroring the 1080p pattern.

At 3840x2160, the results are marginal. Low settings average 30 FPS, which is a 35% drop from 1080p Low. Medium settings average 19 FPS, with minimum and maximum values of 16 and 22 FPS. High settings produce 14 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 11 FPS. The 4K Low result is the only one at this resolution that approaches playability, but it still represents a significant compromise.

The data reveals a consistent trend: each doubling of resolution (from 1080p to 4K) roughly halves the average frame rate at each settings level. This is a hallmark of a GPU-limited scenario, where the rendering pipeline is saturated by pixel count rather than shader complexity. The Medium settings rows include min/max values, showing a narrow band of fluctuation (e.g., 24-33 FPS at 1080p), which suggests that the frame pacing is relatively stable but at an unacceptably low level.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G and Intel Arc B370 combination ranks 3439 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the bottom 7.6% of all configurations. This ranking is a direct reflection of the GPU's limitations, as the CPU's performance metrics, such as a PassMark multi-thread score of 15992 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 6637, are far more respectable than the frame rates suggest.

The combo's percentile ranking among CPUs is 71, indicating that the Ryzen 5 4600G is a solid mid-range processor relative to its peers. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE (avg score 17482, delta 0.1%) and the Intel Core 7 150U (avg score 17395, delta 0.6%), which are all within 1% of its average benchmark score of 17507. This shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck; it is performing exactly as expected for its class.

However, the GPU's percentile ranking is 5, meaning it outperforms only 5% of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all legacy or low-end parts, with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 and ATI Radeon HD 5770 within 0.5% of its score. This massive disparity between CPU and GPU performance explains the combo's low rank in the game. The data indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far more data than it can process, but the GPU's architectural limits cap the final output.

In the context of The Medium, this combo is positioned at the extreme low end of playability. The 3439 rank out of 3724 combos means that 92.4% of tested configurations deliver better performance. This is not a situation where tweaking settings can bridge the gap; the fundamental hardware capability is insufficient for the game's demands at anything beyond minimal settings. The ranking is a clear verdict: this combo is best suited for older or less demanding titles, not a 2021 horror game with significant graphical requirements.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo can achieve in The Medium?*

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 46 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. No other configuration in the dataset exceeds this value.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The Intel Arc B370 has a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184, placing it in the 5th percentile of GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 4600G has a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 13593 and ranks in the 71st percentile for CPUs. The consistent frame rate drops across resolutions indicate a GPU bottleneck.

Q: Can this combo run the game at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the best average frame rate is 30 FPS on Low settings. Medium settings produce 19 FPS, High produces 14 FPS, and Ultra produces 11 FPS. None of these results are considered comfortably playable.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rivals are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% ahead), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% ahead), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, 1.4% behind). All four are within 2% of each other.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum frame rate is 24 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 21 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it is 16 FPS. The data shows that minimum frame rates degrade proportionally with resolution.

Q: Does the combo rank highly among all tested configurations?

A: No. The combo ranks 3439 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the bottom 7.6% of all configurations. This low rank is primarily due to the GPU's limited performance.