The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built on Unreal Engine 4, presents a demanding workload that stresses both the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and Intel Arc B570 in distinct ways. The measured data reveals a combination that is capable of smooth 1080p play but struggles significantly at higher resolutions, with the GPU emerging as the primary bottleneck. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across all tested settings and resolutions, contextualizes the performance against rival hardware, and explains what the data implies about the underlying components.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for this combo shows a steep and consistent drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At Medium settings, the average frame rate falls from 49 FPS at 1080p to 41 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 32 FPS at 4K. This represents a 16% performance hit from 1080p to 1440p, but a far more severe 35% drop from 1440p to 4K. This accelerating decline is a classic signature of a GPU-limited scenario, where the rendering workload grows exponentially with pixel count.

The pattern across all settings reinforces this interpretation. At Low settings, the combo achieves 78 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 66 FPS at 1440p and 52 FPS at 4K. While the 4K Low result is still playable, the fact that reducing the visual load from Medium to Low at 4K yields a 63% performance increase (from 32 to 52 FPS) indicates that the Intel Arc B570's raw throughput is the limiting factor. The CPU, with its six Zen 4 cores and boost clock of 5.00 GHz, is not the constraint here; otherwise, the scaling between resolutions would be far more gradual.

The data suggests that the Arc B570 is simply overwhelmed by the pixel throughput required at 3840x2160. The GPU's 160-bit memory bus and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth, while respectable for a mid-range card, struggle to feed the shading units at 4K. The transition from High to Ultra at 4K (from 23 to 18 FPS) shows that the card has very little headroom left at that resolution, and the marginal cost of enabling Ultra settings is disproportionately high. The takeaway is clear: this combo is designed for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K being a playable but compromised experience only at Low settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a 60 FPS average?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 with Low settings is the only configuration that achieves an average above 60 FPS, reaching 78 FPS. At Medium settings, 1080p yields 49 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the combo perform at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS. This provides a playable but not consistently smooth experience for a horror title.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data strongly indicates the Intel Arc B570 is the limiting component. The FPS drops dramatically with each resolution increase, which is a GPU-bound behavior. The CPU's high boost clock and strong multi-threaded scores suggest it has ample headroom left for this game.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 78 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 28 FPS. This is a 64% reduction in average frame rate, highlighting the significant cost of the highest visual quality settings.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations in this game?

A: The combo rank for The Medium is 2321 out of 2911 tested combinations. This places it in the lower 20% of all tested systems, indicating that while it can run the game, many other configurations deliver higher frame rates.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded in the dataset is 27 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. This suggests potential for stutter in demanding scenes at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 2321 out of 2911 tested combinations in The Medium, this system sits in the 20th percentile of all tested hardware pairings. This is a low ranking that reflects the Arc B570's position as a mid-range GPU, despite the CPU being a strong performer. The data shows that the combo is more than capable of running the game, but it is far from the top of the performance ladder.

Examining the CPU's nearest rivals provides context for its contribution to this rank. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F has an average benchmark score of 24964, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-11850H (24935, deltaPct 0.1) and the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F (25005, deltaPct -0.2). It also edges out the Intel Core i7-13620H (24911, deltaPct 0.2) and the Intel Core 5 210H (24872, deltaPct 0.4). This tells us the CPU is performing exactly as expected for its class, and it is not dragging the combo's rank down.

The GPU's rivals tell a different story. The Intel Arc B570's average score of 20556 is very close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, deltaPct 0.1) and the Intel Arc A750 (20582, deltaPct -0.1). This suggests that the B570 is performing on par with these other options. However, the low combo rank implies that the game itself is particularly demanding on the GPU, and the B570's 10 GB of VRAM and 160-bit bus are not enough to push the combo into a higher tier. The rank is a direct consequence of the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to a clear recommendation for this combo: prioritize the Low preset if a smooth, consistent experience is the goal. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 78 FPS, which is the only configuration in the dataset that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS mark. This is the ideal setting for players who value fluidity and responsiveness over visual fidelity.

For players who want a better visual experience, Medium settings at 1920x1080 is the next best option, delivering an average of 49 FPS. This is a playable frame rate for a slow-paced horror game, and the minimum of 41 FPS suggests that performance remains stable without major drops. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset drops to 41 FPS, which is still playable but requires a compromise on resolution.

The High and Ultra presets are not recommended for this combo. At 1080p, High yields 35 FPS and Ultra yields 28 FPS, both of which are below the threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1440p, High drops to 29 FPS and Ultra to 23 FPS. The data shows that the incremental visual improvements from Medium to High and Ultra come at an extremely high performance cost. The best experience per the measured rows is undoubtedly 1080p Low, with 1080p Medium as a viable alternative for those willing to accept a lower frame rate for better graphics.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset reveals a consistent hierarchy across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset leads with an average of 78 FPS, followed by Medium at 49 FPS, High at 35 FPS, and Ultra at 28 FPS. The Medium preset also recorded a minimum of 41 FPS and a maximum of 56 FPS, showing a reasonably tight range. The gap between Low and Medium is 29 FPS, which is substantial, while the gap between High and Ultra is just 7 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns at the top end.

At 2560x1440, the pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low averages 66 FPS, Medium averages 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 and maximum of 47, High averages 29 FPS, and Ultra averages 23 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at Low settings (a 12 FPS loss), while the higher settings see similar absolute losses of around 8 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor even at 1440p, particularly for the more demanding presets.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles significantly. Low is the only playable option, averaging 52 FPS. Medium falls to 32 FPS with a minimum of 27 and maximum of 37, which is a marginal experience. High drops to 23 FPS, and Ultra becomes nearly unplayable at 18 FPS. The data shows a cliff-like drop between Low and Medium at 4K, suggesting that the memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate of the Arc B570 are exhausted when more complex effects are enabled. The 10 GB VRAM buffer is also a likely constraint at this resolution, as higher texture quality can exceed the available memory.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is a six-core, twelve-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on a 5 nm process. Its base clock is 3.70 GHz, which boosts up to 5.00 GHz. This single-thread performance is critical for a game like The Medium, which relies heavily on a single main thread for its fixed-camera rendering. The CPU's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3218 and Geekbench single-core score of 2374 indicate strong per-core performance that should not bottleneck the GPU at lower resolutions.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are also robust. A Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22799 and a 3DMark max-thread score of 6379 suggest that the twelve threads can handle background tasks and any multi-threaded game logic. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache is ample for game data, and the 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth on DDR5 is more than sufficient. The CPU's percentile rank of 77 against all CPUs confirms that it is a high-performing part, and its nearest rivals all have nearly identical average scores, indicating it is not an outlier.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and process game logic. Given that the FPS drops so steeply with resolution, it is evident that the CPU is not the limiting factor. The data suggests that the Ryzen 5 7500F has significant headroom, and even at 1080p Low where the FPS reaches 78, the CPU is likely not maxed out. The bottleneck is purely on the GPU side, as the Arc B570 cannot keep up with the rendering demands at higher resolutions and settings.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the clear bottleneck in this combo. It is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture (Battlemage) using a 5 nm process, with a base and boost clock of 2500 MHz. It features 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, which are the core components that determine rasterization performance. The GPU's FP32 throughput is 11.52 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 200.0 GPixel/s, which are mid-range figures that explain its 1080p and 1440p strengths.

The memory configuration is a key weakness. The 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus provides 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 3840x2160, the bandwidth becomes a severe constraint. The measured FPS at 4K, particularly the drop from Low to Medium, indicates that the memory subsystem is saturated. The 10 GB capacity is also a concern for Ultra settings at 4K, where texture data can easily exceed this limit, causing the GPU to fall back on slower memory paging.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 20556. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A750 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, both with nearly identical scores. This confirms that the B570 is a competent mid-range card. However, The Medium is a demanding title, and the GPU's performance at 4K is simply not adequate for a smooth experience. The data shows that the Arc B570 is best paired with a 1080p or 1440p monitor, where it can deliver playable frame rates at Medium and Low settings. The 150 W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for this class, but the 160-bit bus remains its Achilles' heel in this specific game.