The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 paired with the Intel Arc B390 is a peculiar combination in The Medium, landing at rank 2581 out of 2911 tested combos. This places the duo in the bottom 12% of all configurations, a position driven almost entirely by the graphics solution. The data shows a system that struggles to maintain playable frame rates at most settings, with the processor's 74th percentile standing among all CPUs proving irrelevant when the GPU cannot keep pace.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2581 out of 2911 is a stark indicator of the hardware mismatch. In a game like The Medium, which is a horror title with fixed camera angles and heavy atmospheric effects, the ranking suggests that this configuration falls into the lower tier of tested systems. The CPU itself is a solid mid-range part—its average benchmark score of 20468 places it in the 74th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V at a delta of 0.1% and the AMD Ryzen 5 8500G at 0.2%. This tells a clear story: the Ryzen 5 5600 is performing exactly where a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 3 processor should.

The GPU, however, is a catastrophic bottleneck. The Intel Arc B390's average benchmark score is 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX at a 1.3% delta and the GeForce 800M at 1.5%—both are entry-level parts from over a decade ago. The contrast between the CPU's 74th percentile standing and the GPU's 9th percentile is the defining characteristic of this combo. When benchmark results indicate that the processor is roughly 65 percentile points stronger than the graphics card, the outcome is predictable: the system is GPU-bound in nearly every scenario.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is built on the Xe3-LPG architecture with a Panther Lake chip, fabricated on Intel's 3 nm process. It runs at a base clock of 300 MHz and boosts to 2500 MHz, with 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units. The memory subsystem is entirely system-shared, meaning there is no dedicated VRAM; the card draws from the system's DDR4 memory pool, a fact that explains several performance characteristics in The Medium.

The GPU's 12 ray tracing cores and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate are largely theoretical here. With only 24 ROPs and a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s, the card is not designed for high-resolution gaming. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p Ultra, the combo manages only 18 FPS average. The texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s and FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS are respectable on paper for a low-power part, but the system-shared memory bandwidth creates a severe limitation. In a game like The Medium, which uses pre-rendered backgrounds and heavy post-processing, the lack of dedicated VRAM causes frequent stutters and low frame rates, particularly as resolution increases.

The GPU's 80 W TDP and IGP form factor suggest it is meant for compact systems, but this does not translate to gaming capability. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 is indicative of entry-level performance, and the 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs underscores that this is not a part intended for AAA gaming at high settings.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior reveals which component is the limiting factor. Looking at the Low preset, the FPS drops from 51 at 1080p to 43 at 1440p and 34 at 2160p. This represents a 16% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 33% drop from 1440p to 4K. These percentages are relatively moderate, suggesting that at Low settings, the system is somewhat balanced, though still heavily constrained by the GPU.

At High settings, the scaling is more dramatic: 23 FPS at 1080p drops to 19 FPS at 1440p (a 17% reduction) and then to 15 FPS at 4K (a 21% reduction from 1440p). The absolute numbers are low, but the relative scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at every resolution. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively constant across resolutions, as the processor's workload does not change with resolution. Instead, the consistent FPS drops as resolution increases point squarely at the GPU.

The Medium preset tells the same story: 32 FPS at 1080p, 27 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, shows 18 FPS at 1080p, 15 FPS at 1440p, and 12 FPS at 4K. In every case, higher resolution means lower frame rates, with no sign of a CPU ceiling. The Ryzen 5 5600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is more than capable of feeding frames to this GPU; the bottleneck is entirely on the graphics side.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides four settings levels across three resolutions, for a total of twelve measured configurations. Starting at 1080p, the Low preset delivers 51 FPS average, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that approaches a playable frame rate for a horror game. The Medium preset at 1080p drops to 32 FPS average, with a minimum of 27 FPS and a maximum of 37 FPS. This range suggests some variability, but the average is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. High at 1080p yields 23 FPS, and Ultra falls to 18 FPS—both are effectively unplayable for a game that relies on atmospheric tension and quick camera movements.

At 1440p, the numbers are uniformly worse. Low delivers 43 FPS, which is still technically playable but noticeably less smooth than the 1080p Low result. Medium at 1440p averages 27 FPS, with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 31 FPS. High drops to 19 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 15 FPS. The pattern at 4K is even more punishing: Low manages 34 FPS, Medium 21 FPS (with min/max of 18/24), High 15 FPS, and Ultra a mere 12 FPS. The 4K Medium configuration is the only one with full min/max data, and even that shows a best-case scenario of 24 FPS, which is below the threshold for a comfortable gaming experience.

The variance between settings is worth noting. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 33 FPS (51 vs. 18), which is a 65% reduction. At 4K, the gap is 22 FPS (34 vs. 12), a 65% reduction as well. This consistency suggests that the GPU's scaling is linear with respect to settings, but the absolute numbers are so low that even the best-case scenario (1080p Low at 51 FPS) is marginal for a game that benefits from higher frame rates to maintain immersion.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates at a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU has 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, and it uses an AMD Socket AM4 with PCIe Gen 4 connectivity (20 lanes from the CPU).

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 5600 shows strong multi-threaded performance: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 18309 and a single-core score of 2584. The Geekbench multicore score of 9158 and single-core of 1936 are also solid. The PassMark multithread score of 21541 and single-thread of 3256 indicate a balanced performer. These numbers place the CPU in the 74th percentile of all processors, with its closest rivals being the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (0.1% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 8500G (0.2% delta). This is a CPU that can handle modern games without issue.

However, in The Medium, the CPU's role is diminished. The game is not particularly CPU-intensive; it relies more on GPU rendering for its fixed-camera scenes and lighting effects. The benchmark results show that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would theoretically have the most headroom, the frame rate is capped at 51 FPS. This is not a CPU limitation—the Ryzen 5 5600 is capable of far higher frame rates in less GPU-bound scenarios. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1737 and 4-thread score of 3313 suggest that the processor has ample single-threaded performance for game logic and physics, but the GPU simply cannot output more frames.

The memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s is another factor. Since the GPU relies on system-shared memory, the CPU's DDR4 bandwidth becomes a shared resource. This means the CPU and GPU are competing for the same memory bandwidth, which can cause additional latency and reduce overall performance. The data indicates that this is not a CPU bottleneck in the traditional sense—the processor is underutilized—but rather a system-level constraint where the shared memory architecture limits both components.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured FPS data, the only configuration that approaches a playable experience is 1080p Low, which delivers 51 FPS average. This is the sole setting where the frame rate is above 50 FPS, and it is the recommended choice for any user who wants to experience The Medium with this hardware. The 1080p Medium preset at 32 FPS is the next viable option, but it introduces noticeable stutter, as evidenced by the 27 FPS minimum. For a horror game that relies on smooth camera pans and consistent lighting, 32 FPS is borderline, and the min frame rate of 27 FPS could cause distracting hitches.

At 1440p, the Low preset at 43 FPS is the only option that is remotely playable, but it requires a significant visual downgrade from what the game can offer. The Medium preset at 1440p drops to 27 FPS, which is below the threshold for a smooth experience. At 4K, every setting is unplayable, with the best option (Low at 34 FPS) still falling short of acceptable performance. The Ultra presets at any resolution are purely for screenshot purposes, with 18 FPS at 1080p and 12 FPS at 4K.

The recommendation is clear: play at 1080p with the Low preset. This gives the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, with a 51 FPS average that is smooth enough for the game's deliberate pacing. If the user insists on Medium settings, they should accept the 32 FPS average and potential drops to 27 FPS. Anything above Medium is a visual showcase rather than a playable experience. For those with a 1440p monitor, dropping to 1080p Low is preferable to 1440p Medium, as the higher frame rate will do more for the horror atmosphere than the resolution bump. The data does not support any 4K gaming with this combination; the GPU's system-shared memory and low ROP count are insurmountable barriers at that resolution.