The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D paired with the Intel Arc B580 produces a mid-pack result in The Medium, ranking 2191 out of 2911 tested combos. This places the configuration in the 25th percentile of all tested systems, indicating that while it is not a top-tier performer for this horror title, it sits comfortably above the bottom quarter of the field. The ranking reflects a balance where the CPU’s strong cache architecture and the GPU’s modern feature set combine to deliver playable, though not exceptional, frame rates across most settings, with the system’s overall standing driven more by the GPU’s raw throughput at higher resolutions than by the processor’s compute capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 2191 out of 2911 tested combinations places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, a position that aligns with the measured frame rates. The CPU’s PassMark average score of 37018 puts it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (0.2% faster), Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (0.2% faster), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (0.2% slower), and Intel Core i9-12900T (0.3% slower). This clustering suggests the processor is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. Conversely, the GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 15748 places it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (0.6% faster) and AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (0.2% faster), indicating the graphics card is the performance bottleneck, particularly at higher resolutions. The overall combo rank is therefore a reflection of a capable CPU being held back by a mid-range GPU, a dynamic that becomes evident when analyzing frame rates across the resolution and settings matrix.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is the primary driver of frame rate outcomes in The Medium, and its specifications explain the measured performance. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s, which is ample for the game’s texture-heavy horror environments at 1080p and 1440p. The memory clock runs at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective), while the base and boost clocks are both locked at 2670 MHz, a fixed frequency that ensures consistent shader output. With 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs, the B580 delivers a pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s, providing the fill rate needed for the game’s fixed-camera scenes and volumetric effects. The FP32 throughput of 13.67 TFLOPS is modest for 4K, which is why the card struggles at that resolution, but it is sufficient for lower settings. The GPU’s PassMark DirectX 11 score of 128 and DirectX 12 score of 76 suggest that the game’s API path matters, with the B580’s Xe2-HPG architecture being more efficient in older DX11 workloads, which The Medium relies on for its rendering. The 20 ray tracing cores are present but the game’s implementation is not demanding enough to showcase them, so the focus remains on traditional rasterization.

Settings Recommendations

Benchmark results indicate that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all tested resolutions, providing a stable frame rate without the steep performance penalty of High or Ultra. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 55 FPS average with a minimum of 47 FPS and maximum of 64 FPS, which is smooth enough for a slow-paced horror game where consistent motion is more important than peak frame rates. At 2560x1440, Medium drops to 47 FPS average (min 40, max 54), still playable but with noticeable dips in busy scenes. At 3840x2160, Medium falls to 37 FPS average (min 31, max 42), which is below the 40 FPS threshold for comfortable play, making it a borderline choice. Low settings are the only reliable path to 4K, yielding 58 FPS average, but this sacrifices the game’s atmospheric lighting and shadow quality. High settings are not recommended, as they produce only 40 FPS at 1080p and 26 FPS at 4K, while Ultra is effectively unplayable across all resolutions, ranging from 31 FPS at 1080p to 21 FPS at 4K. For the best experience, Medium is the sweet spot at 1080p and 1440p, with Low being the only viable option for 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The frame rate data reveals a consistent pattern across the resolution and settings matrix. At 1920x1080, the B580 produces 88 FPS on Low, which is the highest result in the entire dataset, demonstrating that the GPU has ample headroom when graphical load is minimized. Medium drops to 55 FPS, High to 40 FPS, and Ultra to 31 FPS, showing a steady decline as settings increase. At 2560x1440, Low yields 74 FPS, Medium 47 FPS (min 40, max 54), High 33 FPS, and Ultra 26 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 27 FPS, while the drop from Medium to High is 14 FPS, indicating that the High preset imposes a significant cost on the GPU’s shading units. At 3840x2160, Low produces 58 FPS, Medium 37 FPS (min 31, max 42), High 26 FPS, and Ultra 21 FPS. The 4K results are the most telling: even on Low, the frame rate is barely above 60 FPS, and on Ultra it falls to 21 FPS, which is a slideshow for a game that relies on cinematic pacing. The minimum frame rates for Medium settings (47 at 1080p, 40 at 1440p, 31 at 4K) show that the 1% lows are within a reasonable range of the averages, suggesting consistent frame pacing without severe stutters, which is crucial for a horror game where sudden frame drops can break immersion.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K illustrates where the bottleneck lies. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 55 to 47, a 15% reduction. This is a relatively mild decline, indicating that the CPU and GPU can still keep up with the increased pixel count. However, moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 on Medium, the average FPS drops from 47 to 37, a 21% reduction, which is steeper and suggests the GPU is starting to hit its memory bandwidth and shading limits. On Low settings, the scaling is more linear: 88 to 74 to 58 FPS as resolution increases, with each step costing roughly 16-22% performance. This linearity indicates that at Low settings, the system is not constrained by any single component, but rather by the total pixel throughput. On Ultra settings, the drop from 1080p to 4K is 31 to 21 FPS, a 32% reduction, which is the largest percentage loss in the dataset, confirming that the GPU’s 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is insufficient for the game’s highest fidelity at high pixel counts. The data shows that the B580’s 456 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for 1440p, but at 4K, the combination of higher fill rate demands and texture fetch operations overwhelms the memory subsystem, leading to the sharp FPS decline.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D provides a solid foundation for the Arc B580, but its impact on The Medium’s frame rates is secondary to the GPU. The CPU features 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz. The standout feature is the 96 MB shared L3 cache, which is significantly larger than typical desktop CPUs and helps with the game’s asset streaming and scene loading, reducing potential stutter. The PassMark multi-thread score of 20363 and single-thread score of 2941 indicate strong per-core performance, which is beneficial for the game’s main thread that handles AI and scripted events. The CPU’s PassMark physics score of 2282 and integer math score of 60033 show it can handle the game’s physics calculations without bottlenecking the GPU. In terms of rivals, the CPU’s average benchmark score of 37018 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (36945, 0.2% higher), meaning there is no meaningful performance difference in CPU-bound scenarios. The fact that the combo ranks 2191 out of 2911, despite the CPU being in the 85th percentile, confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system hits 88 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame rate capability for this game, but at higher settings, the GPU’s workload dominates, and the CPU’s role diminishes. The CPU’s 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and DDR4 support are sufficient for the game, and the 7 nm process node keeps thermals manageable, but these factors do not change the overall performance picture.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this system in The Medium?*

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Medium settings delivers 55 FPS average with a minimum of 47 FPS, which is the best balance of visual quality and smoothness. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average drops to 47 FPS, which is still playable, but 4K Medium at 37 FPS is below the threshold for comfortable play.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B580 compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The B580 has an average benchmark score of 23021, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (23061), 0.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895), and 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (23172). This places it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. On Ultra settings, the average FPS is 21, which is a 32% drop from 1080p Ultra (31 FPS), while the CPU’s performance is not the constraint. The GPU’s FP32 throughput of 13.67 TFLOPS is insufficient for the game’s highest settings at this resolution.

Q: What are the measured minimum and maximum frame rates for Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum is 47 FPS and the maximum is 64 FPS. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 40 FPS and the maximum is 54 FPS. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum is 31 FPS and the maximum is 42 FPS. The minimum frame rates are within a reasonable range of the averages, indicating stable frame pacing.

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D rank among all CPUs?

A: The CPU has a percentile rank of 85% against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37018. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, scores 36945 (0.2% higher), while the Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112 (0.3% higher), showing the 5500X3D is competitive with these processors.

Q: Does the game perform better on Low settings at 4K compared to Medium at 1080p?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 Low, the average FPS is 58, which is higher than the 55 FPS at 1920x1080 Medium. However, this comes at the cost of visual fidelity, as Low settings reduce the game’s atmospheric lighting and shadow quality, which are core to the horror experience. The trade-off favors 1080p Medium for a better visual experience.