The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and Intel Arc B570 combination delivers a strictly mid-table experience in The Medium, securing the 2,321st position out of 2,911 tested combos. That places this build in the 21st percentile overall, meaning roughly four out of every five system configurations tested will outperform it in this title. The ranking is largely a consequence of the GPU's position in the broader hierarchy; the Arc B570 sits at the 65th percentile among all graphics cards, while the Ryzen 5 7600X holds a much stronger 79th percentile standing among CPUs. The data suggests this is a system where the graphics adapter, not the processor, is the primary constraint on performance. The combo's placement is not an outlier—it aligns almost exactly with what the individual component percentiles would predict for a pairing of a high-mid-range CPU with a mid-range GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 2,911 tested combinations for The Medium, this pairing lands at rank 2,321. The relative weakness here is clear: while the CPU is a strong performer in its own right, the GPU's 65th percentile ranking drags the overall experience down. The Arc B570 sits statistically close to several direct rivals, including the Intel Arc A750, which posts an average score a mere 0.1% higher, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which is 0.1% slower. The performance delta between this GPU and its nearest competitors is negligible, meaning the overall combo rank would barely shift if the card were swapped for any of those alternatives. The data indicates that the bottleneck is not a fundamental architectural mismatch but rather the raw throughput of the graphics solution. At 1080p, the system manages playable framerates, but the rank shows that a significant portion of the tested field—specifically 590 other combinations—delivers a better experience in this horror title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured framerate data provides a clear hierarchy for optimizing the experience. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 78 FPS, which is the only setting in the entire matrix that approaches high-refresh-rate territory. Moving up to Medium drops the average to 49 FPS, with a minimum of 41 and a maximum of 56, which is still smooth for a game of this genre. The High preset yields 35 FPS, and Ultra falls to 28 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is significant, costing 29 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs another 14 FPS.

For a balanced experience, the Medium preset at 1080p is the recommended starting point. The 49 FPS average is well within the playable range, and the 41 FPS minimum indicates that the system will hold up during demanding scenes. The Low preset is the only option that guarantees a 60+ FPS average, but the visual compromise in a game like The Medium, which relies heavily on atmosphere and lighting, is substantial. At 1440p, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset still manages a respectable 66 FPS, but Medium drops to 41 FPS, and High falls to 29 FPS. For 1440p users, the Low preset is the only viable path to a consistently smooth experience, though Medium remains playable for those who prioritize visual fidelity over framerate stability. The High and Ultra presets at this resolution are not recommended due to sub-30 FPS averages.

Resolution Scaling

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the limiting component. At 1080p Medium, the combo produces 49 FPS. At 1440p Medium, that figure drops to 41 FPS, a 16% reduction. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 32 FPS, which is a 35% reduction from the 1440p figure and a 35% drop from 1080p. The pattern is consistent across all presets: Low goes from 78 FPS at 1080p to 66 FPS at 1440p (a 15% drop) and then to 52 FPS at 4K (a 21% drop from 1440p). The scaling suggests that the GPU is hitting its memory bandwidth and shading limits as resolution increases. The 10 GB of VRAM and 160-bit bus provide 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p but becomes a bottleneck at 4K where the pixel throughput demand doubles.

The data indicates that the Arc B570 is the primary constraint. The Ryzen 5 7600X, with its 6 cores and 12 threads boosting to 5.30 GHz, is not the limiting factor here. The framerate drops are directly proportional to the increase in pixel count, which is a classic symptom of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p, the system has enough headroom to push 78 FPS on Low, but the GPU's 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is simply not enough to maintain high framerates at 4K, where the Ultra preset limps to an 18 FPS average. The 4K Medium result of 32 FPS, with a minimum of 27 and a maximum of 37, shows that even the mid-tier preset struggles at this resolution, confirming that users should target 1080p or 1440p for a playable experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and preset combination for a smooth experience?

A: The data shows that 1080p with the Low preset achieves an average of 78 FPS, which is the only configuration to exceed 60 FPS. For better visuals, 1080p Medium averages 49 FPS with a minimum of 41 FPS, which remains playable. At 1440p, the Low preset averages 66 FPS, while Medium drops to 41 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B570 compare to its closest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The Intel Arc B570 has an average benchmark score of 20,556. The Intel Arc A750 scores 20,582, which is 0.1% higher, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20,534, which is 0.1% lower. The AMD Radeon R9 M390X scores 20,662, which is 0.5% higher.

*Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the framerate results in The Medium?*

A: The benchmark data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The Arc B570 has a 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 7600X has a 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs. The framerate drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent with a GPU-bound workload, as the CPU has ample headroom.

Q: What is the maximum average framerate achievable at 4K with this combo?

A: The highest average framerate at 3840x2160 is 52 FPS, achieved on the Low preset. The Medium preset averages 32 FPS, High averages 23 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS.

Q: Does the Arc B570's VRAM capacity affect performance at higher resolutions?

A: The GPU features 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus with 380.0 GB/s bandwidth. The significant framerate drops at 4K suggest that memory bandwidth and capacity are strained, as the Ultra preset at 4K only manages 18 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 7600X's single-thread performance factor into this game's results?

A: The CPU scores 1,965 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 2,603 in Geekbench single-core. While The Medium benefits from strong single-thread performance, the data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck, so the CPU's high single-core scores are not the limiting factor in this configuration.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture and the BMG-G21 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2500 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, with memory clocked at 2375 MHz for an effective 19 Gbps. The 10 GB of GDDR6 memory is paired with a 160-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. The card houses 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units, along with 18 ray tracing cores. The compute capability is rated at 11.52 TFLOPS for FP32 operations and 23.04 TFLOPS for FP16, with a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s.

In The Medium, the GPU's specifications directly explain the measured results. The 2500 MHz boost clock is relatively modest, and the 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the ceiling for pixel processing. The 4K Ultra result of 18 FPS is a direct consequence of this limited throughput, as the card is forced to shade four times the pixels of 1080p. The memory subsystem also plays a role; the 380.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p Medium where the average is 49 FPS, but at 4K Medium the average drops to 32 FPS, indicating that the memory bus width and VRAM capacity are being saturated. The GPU's 65th percentile ranking among all graphics cards places it in the mid-range tier, which aligns with its performance profile in this game—capable at lower resolutions but struggling to maintain playable framerates at 4K. The card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, which are relevant for a modern title like The Medium, but the raw hardware limits are the dominant factor in the observed performance.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael), manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. Its benchmark scores are robust: 15,236 in Cinebench R23 multicore, 1,965 in single-core, and 13,858 in Geekbench multicore. It holds a 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs, placing it above the average processor in the database.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough data to avoid becoming a bottleneck. The benchmark results show that this is not an issue. The CPU's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a 1,965 Cinebench R23 single-core score, ensures that the game's main thread is well-served. The multicore performance, with 12 threads available, is more than adequate for the game's background tasks. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 78 FPS, which is a solid result and suggests the CPU can push the GPU to its limits at lower resolutions. However, the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the framerate drops consistently regardless of the CPU's capability. The nearest CPU rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and Intel Core i5-12600K, both with an average score of 27,578, which is 0.2% lower than the 7600X's 27,636. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800 scores 27,535, which is 0.4% lower, and the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE scores 27,712, which is 0.3% higher. These small deltas indicate that the 7600X is well-positioned in the CPU hierarchy, but in this game, its performance headroom is left unused because the Arc B570 cannot keep pace. The CPU's 5 nm process and high boost clock are assets, but they do not translate into higher framerates once the GPU is saturated.