The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a heavily GPU-limited experience in The Medium, with benchmark results showing that frame rates are consistently low across all tested resolutions and settings. The data indicates this combination ranks in the bottom 11% of all tested combos, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay at any of the measured quality presets.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 architecture (codenamed Raphael) using TSMC's 5 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features a 32 MB shared L3 cache, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 64 KB of L1 per core, and it supports DDR5 memory through a dual-channel bus offering 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth. It also includes integrated Radeon Graphics, though the system under analysis uses the discrete Intel Arc B390 for rendering.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 7600 demonstrates strong single-thread and multi-thread performance. It scores 999 in 3DMark single-thread and 6,503 in 3DMark max threads. Cinebench R23 results show 1,852 for single-core and 12,735 for multi-core, while Geekbench reports 2,521 single-core and 13,413 multi-core. PassMark single-thread is 3,910 and multi-thread is 27,058. The CPU's average benchmark score is 26,324, placing it in the 78th percentile of all CPUs tested.

Comparing to nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 7600 is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX, which scores 26,274 (a deltaPct of 0.2% in favor of the 7600). It also edges out the AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS (26,402, deltaPct -0.3%), the Intel Core i9-11900KF (26,212, deltaPct 0.4%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 8540U (26,187, deltaPct 0.5%). These deltas are all under 1%, indicating that the CPU's compute capability is not a differentiating factor at this performance tier.

However, in The Medium, the Ryzen 5 7600's capability is largely irrelevant because the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The measured FPS data shows that even at the lowest settings and resolution (1080p Low), the average frame rate is 51 FPS, which is far below what this CPU can potentially drive. At higher settings, the frame rates drop to 23 FPS (High), 32 FPS (Medium), and 18 FPS (Ultra) at 1080p, showing that the GPU is limiting performance well before CPU headroom is exhausted. The data suggests that the CPU's six cores and twelve threads are sufficient for this game's logic and rendering tasks, but the Arc B390 cannot translate that into playable output.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture (chip: Panther Lake), manufactured on Intel's 3 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. The GPU has 1,536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, with 12 ray tracing cores. Its pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 throughput of 7.680 TFLOPS and FP16 of 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1). The TDP is 80 W, and it uses system-shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth, meaning there is no dedicated VRAM pool.

In the single available 3DMark benchmark (Steel Nomad DX12), the Arc B390 scores 1,482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1,463, deltaPct 1.3%), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1,460, deltaPct 1.5%), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1,446, deltaPct 2.5%), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1,443, deltaPct 2.7%). This places the Arc B390 in extremely low-end territory, comparable to entry-level GPUs from over a decade ago.

The GPU's lack of dedicated VRAM and reliance on system-shared memory is a significant factor in The Medium's performance. The game's measured FPS at 1080p Low is 51 FPS, which is the best result across all configurations, but it drops sharply with increased settings. At 1080p Medium, the average falls to 32 FPS, and at High it is 23 FPS. The Ultra preset yields only 18 FPS. This performance cliff indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading capacity are overwhelmed by the game's visual demands, even at modest settings. The data shows that the Arc B390 is the primary limiting component in this combo, as the CPU is demonstrably more capable (78th percentile) than the GPU (9th percentile).

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of degradation as resolution increases, confirming that the GPU is the bottleneck. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 51 FPS at 1080p to 43 FPS at 1440p and then to 34 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is consistent with a GPU that is struggling to fill pixels at higher resolutions.

At Medium settings, the averages are 32 FPS (1080p), 27 FPS (1440p), and 21 FPS (4K), showing a 34% reduction from 1080p to 4K. High settings yield 23 FPS (1080p), 19 FPS (1440p), and 15 FPS (4K), a 35% drop. Ultra settings produce 18 FPS (1080p), 15 FPS (1440p), and 12 FPS (4K), a 33% decline. The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings strongly indicates that the GPU's rendering throughput, not CPU limitations or memory bandwidth, is the limiting factor.

If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see less variation across resolutions because the CPU workload remains roughly constant while pixel count increases. Instead, the frame rates scale nearly linearly with the number of pixels, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The Ryzen 5 7600's strong single-thread score (999 in 3DMark single-thread) and high Cinebench R23 single-core result (1,852) suggest it can handle the game's CPU-side logic, but the Arc B390 cannot keep up with the rendering demands at any resolution above 1080p Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The complete measured FPS dataset for The Medium with the Ryzen 5 7600 and Intel Arc B390 is as follows:

At 1920x1080:

• Low: 51 FPS average
• Medium: 32 FPS average (min 27, max 37)
• High: 23 FPS average
• Ultra: 18 FPS average

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 43 FPS average
• Medium: 27 FPS average (min 23, max 31)
• High: 19 FPS average
• Ultra: 15 FPS average

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 34 FPS average
• Medium: 21 FPS average (min 18, max 24)
• High: 15 FPS average
• Ultra: 12 FPS average

The data shows that the only configuration that approaches playable frame rates is 1080p Low at 51 FPS. Every other setting and resolution combination falls below 45 FPS, with the worst being 4K Ultra at 12 FPS. The min/max values for Medium settings at each resolution (27/37 at 1080p, 23/31 at 1440p, 18/24 at 4K) indicate that frame times are relatively stable but consistently low. There are no instances where the average FPS exceeds 51, and at no point does the combo reach 60 FPS.

The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 65% reduction (51 to 18 FPS), while at 4K the reduction is 65% as well (34 to 12 FPS). This proportional scaling across resolutions suggests that the GPU's fixed shading units and TMUs are being saturated proportionally to the workload, with no evidence of CPU-induced stuttering or frame pacing issues.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2581 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the bottom 11.3% of all combinations, indicating that almost 89% of tested systems deliver better performance. The rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU's low benchmark scores; the CPU is in the 78th percentile, but the GPU is in the 9th percentile.

Comparing to the GPU's nearest rivals, the Arc B390 is only 1.3% faster than the GT 520MX, 1.5% faster than the GeForce 800M, 2.5% faster than the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% faster than the GT 710. These are all extremely low-end parts, and the Arc B390's performance in this game aligns with that classification. The combo's rank of 2581 suggests that even with a top-tier CPU, the GPU drags the overall experience down to entry-level territory.

The data indicates that the CPU's high percentile ranking (78th) does not compensate for the GPU's poor showing. In a game like The Medium, which likely relies on rendering effects such as shadows, reflections, and post-processing, the Arc B390's limited shader count (1,536) and ROP count (24) are simply insufficient. The combo's rank is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows that the best case (1080p Low at 51 FPS) is only marginally playable, and all other configurations are below 45 FPS.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based solely on the measured FPS data, the only viable preset for this combo is 1080p Low, which delivers an average of 51 FPS. This is the only configuration that approaches a standard playable threshold, though it still falls short of 60 FPS. All other settings and resolutions produce averages below 45 FPS, with most falling into the 12-34 FPS range.

At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 32 FPS, which is a 37% reduction from Low. The min FPS of 27 and max of 37 indicate that this setting is not consistently smooth, and the experience would be noticeably choppy. At 1080p High, the average falls to 23 FPS, and at Ultra it is 18 FPS. Neither of these is playable, and the data shows that the GPU cannot handle the increased visual complexity of these presets.

For 1440p and 4K, the situation is worse. At 1440p Low, the average is 43 FPS, which is below the 1080p Low result and still not ideal. At 4K Low, the average is 34 FPS, and all other 4K presets are below 21 FPS. The data suggests that this combo should be used at 1080p only, and even then, only with the Low preset.

The recommendation is unambiguous: use 1080p Low. This provides the highest average FPS (51) and the best chance of a stable experience. While 1440p Low (43 FPS) and 4K Low (34 FPS) are options, the lower frame rates and potential for dips make them unsuitable for a horror game that relies on atmosphere and timing. The Ultra preset at any resolution is not recommended, as the 12-18 FPS range is effectively unplayable. The data shows that the Arc B390's performance ceiling in this game is 51 FPS, and only by sacrificing all visual quality can that ceiling be reached.