The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X paired with the Intel Arc B570 presents a mid-range combination for playing The Medium, a horror title from 2021. Benchmark data indicates this pairing delivers playable frame rates primarily at 1080p and 1440p, but it struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K, where the GPU becomes the definitive limiting factor. The measured results show a system that is well-balanced for its target resolution, with performance scaling that highlights the Arc B570's bandwidth and compute constraints at higher pixel counts.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a pronounced drop in performance as resolution increases, which is typical for a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher settings. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Medium settings, the average frame rate falls from 49 FPS to 41 FPS, a reduction of 8 FPS or roughly 16%. However, the most dramatic scaling occurs when moving from 1440p to 4K (3840x2160). At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 41 to 32, a 22% decrease. At High settings, the drop is even steeper: from 29 FPS at 1440p down to 23 FPS at 4K, a 21% loss.

The scaling pattern suggests that the Intel Arc B570, with its 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, is saturated by the increased pixel count and texture memory demands of 4K. The 380.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is insufficient to feed the rendering pipeline at that resolution, causing a significant performance collapse. At 1080p, the scaling is more moderate, indicating that the CPU, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, is better able to keep up with the GPU's workload. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings shows a smaller relative drop (78 to 66 FPS, a 15% decrease) than the 1440p to 4K transition (66 to 52 FPS, a 21% decrease), further confirming that the GPU's memory subsystem is the critical constraint at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for The Medium, this specific pairing of the Ryzen 7 3700X and the Arc B570 ranks 2999 out of 3724 total combos. This places it in the lower tier of tested systems, indicating that while it is not the weakest configuration, it is far from the top performers. The percentile rank suggests that a significant majority of other tested CPU-GPU pairings deliver higher average frame rates in this specific title.

The ranking reflects the GPU's position in the broader market. The Arc B570 sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20556. Its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark charts include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% higher score) and the Intel Arc A750 (0.1% lower score), indicating that the B570 is a competitive mid-range part. However, in the context of The Medium, the combination's low rank suggests that the game's engine is particularly demanding on the GPU, and the B570's performance is not sufficient to push the combined score higher. The CPU, ranking in the 84th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 34260, is not the primary cause of the low combo ranking; the GPU's performance ceiling is the limiting factor.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured frame rates, the optimal settings profile depends heavily on the target resolution. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, the data suggests that 1080p with Low settings is the only configuration that consistently achieves this, with an average of 78 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 49 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action, though it remains above the 30 FPS threshold for most players.

At 1440p, the best option for a balance between visual quality and performance is Low settings, which yields an average of 66 FPS. Choosing Medium at 1440p drops the average to 41 FPS, which is acceptable for a slower-paced horror game but may feel less responsive. High settings at 1440p (29 FPS) and Ultra settings (23 FPS) are not recommended for a consistent experience, as they fall below the 30 FPS playability threshold.

At 4K, the situation is dire. Only Low settings (52 FPS) provide a playable experience. Medium settings average 32 FPS, which is barely playable but will see dips to 27 FPS. High and Ultra settings at 4K are effectively unplayable, with averages of 23 and 18 FPS respectively. The data indicates that for the best experience, users should prioritize 1080p Medium or 1440p Low, as these offer the best compromise between visual fidelity and frame rate stability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data represents the complete set of measured average frame rates for this combination.

At 1920x1080, the performance scales from 78 FPS at Low settings to 49 FPS at Medium, 35 FPS at High, and 28 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 41 FPS and a maximum of 56 FPS, indicating some frame time variance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average frame rates are 66 FPS at Low, 41 FPS at Medium, 29 FPS at High, and 23 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset at this resolution has a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low settings produce an average of 52 FPS, while Medium settings average 32 FPS with a minimum of 27 FPS and a maximum of 37 FPS. High settings average 23 FPS, and Ultra settings average 18 FPS.

The data shows a clear pattern: the gap between Low and Medium settings is substantial at all resolutions, while the difference between High and Ultra is smaller but still significant. This suggests that the Medium preset includes a significant increase in rendering complexity compared to Low, while the step from High to Ultra is more incremental.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for a playable experience?

A: For consistently high frame rates, 1080p with Low settings achieves 78 FPS. For a more visually detailed experience, 1080p Medium (49 FPS) or 1440p Low (66 FPS) are the recommended choices, as they offer a balance between quality and smoothness.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which produces an average of 52 FPS. Medium settings at 4K average 32 FPS, but this is marginal and will dip to 27 FPS. High and Ultra settings are not viable, as they average 23 FPS and 18 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the performance at 1080p compare to 1440p?

A: At Medium settings, performance drops from 49 FPS at 1080p to 41 FPS at 1440p, a 16% decrease. At High settings, the drop is from 35 FPS to 29 FPS, a 17% decrease. The scaling is consistent, indicating a balanced load between the CPU and GPU at these resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more limiting for this game?

A: The GPU is the primary limiting factor. This is evident from the steep performance drop at 4K, where the memory bandwidth of the Arc B570 (380.0 GB/s) becomes insufficient. The CPU, with 8 cores and 16 threads, is sufficient for the game's demands at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the expected frame rate variance at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured minimum is 35 FPS and the maximum is 47 FPS, with an average of 41 FPS. This indicates a variance of 12 FPS, which is noticeable but not extreme for a horror game.

Q: How does this combination rank compared to all other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 2999 out of 3724 tested combinations for The Medium, placing it in the lower 20% of all tested systems. This reflects the GPU's mid-range performance ceiling in this specific title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is a 7 nm processor from the Zen 2 (Matisse) architecture, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU achieves a multi-core score of 8899 in Geekbench and a single-core score of 1593 in Geekbench. In the Passmark suite, it scores 22458 for multithreaded performance and 2656 for single-thread performance.

For The Medium, the CPU's role is less critical than the GPU. The benchmark data shows that the frame rates are primarily limited by the graphics card, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops at higher resolutions. The 3700X's 16 threads provide ample processing power for the game's logic, AI, and physics, which are not typically as demanding as the rendering pipeline. The CPU's performance is comparable to the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (0.1% higher average score) and the Intel Core i5-13450HX (0.2% lower average score), indicating it is not a bottleneck in this configuration. At 1080p, the CPU is likely able to feed the GPU adequately, as the frame rates are higher and the resolution scaling is less dramatic.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the critical component in this pairing. It is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture (Battlemage) using a 5 nm process from TSMC. The GPU has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. Its base and boost clocks are both 2500 MHz. The GPU has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, with 18 ray tracing cores. Its FP32 performance is rated at 11.52 TFLOPS.

The Arc B570's performance in The Medium is directly tied to its memory subsystem. The 10 GB frame buffer is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the texture data demands exceed what the 160-bit bus can efficiently deliver. This is reflected in the 4K benchmark results, where the frame rate plummets to 18 FPS at Ultra settings. The GPU's average benchmark score is 20556, placing it in the 65th percentile. It is nearly identical in performance to the Intel Arc A750 (0.1% lower score) and slightly ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% higher score). This indicates that the B570 is a capable mid-range card, but its memory bandwidth proves to be a significant limitation for 4K gaming in this title.