The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and Intel Arc B370 combination presents a highly constrained gaming experience in The Medium, with the measured frame rates indicating that the Intel Arc B370's integrated-class performance is the decisive bottleneck across all tested resolutions and settings. The data shows a configuration where the CPU's substantial processing headroom cannot compensate for the GPU's output limits, resulting in a performance profile that is consistently below playable thresholds for smooth gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep and predictable performance drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, confirming that the Intel Arc B370 is the limiting component in this pairing. At the Low settings preset, the average frame rate falls from 46 FPS at 1920x1080 to 39 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 30 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a reduction of approximately 15% when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 23% drop when scaling from 1440p to 4K. The overall decline from 1080p Low to 4K Low is about 35%, which is a significant loss but not a catastrophic one, suggesting that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is working hard to maintain the 4K output.

The scaling pattern becomes more pronounced at higher quality presets. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 29 at 1080p to 24 at 1440p, and then to 19 at 4K. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 17% of performance, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs an additional 21%. For the High preset, the averages are 21 FPS at 1080p, 17 FPS at 1440p, and 14 FPS at 4K, showing a consistent 19-20% decline at each resolution step. The Ultra preset follows the same trend, with 16 FPS at 1080p, 14 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K.

This linear degradation pattern, where each resolution increase imposes a near-uniform penalty across all settings, is a classic indicator of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, is not the factor limiting performance; if it were, we would expect to see a plateau in FPS at lower resolutions where the CPU becomes the bottleneck. Instead, the frame rates continue to scale downward with pixel count, demonstrating that the Intel Arc B370's rendering capabilities are exhausted at every step. The gap between the best-case scenario (1080p Low, 46 FPS) and the worst-case scenario (4K Ultra, 11 FPS) is a dramatic 35 FPS, underscoring how heavily the GPU workload dictates the experience. The data indicates that for any playable experience, users must prioritize lower resolutions and settings to mitigate the GPU's limitations.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best average frame rate achievable with this CPU and GPU combination in The Medium?*

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 46 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. This is the only configuration in the measured data that approaches a playable level, though it still falls short of standard 60 FPS targets.

Q: How does the combo's performance rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 2681 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the bottom 8% of all tested configurations. This low ranking aligns with the GPU's overall performance percentile of 5, indicating that the Intel Arc B370 is among the weaker graphics solutions in the benchmark database.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU more responsible for the low frame rates?

A: The data strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The consistent FPS drops across all resolution increases, regardless of settings, point to the Intel Arc B370's rendering limits. The CPU's performance is not implicated, as its benchmark scores and 87th percentile ranking versus all CPUs suggest it has ample headroom.

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

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 46 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves only 16 FPS. This is a 30 FPS difference, representing a 65% reduction in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Are there any settings where the frame rate remains stable above 30 FPS?

A: Yes, the only measured scenarios above 30 FPS are the Low preset at 1920x1080 with 46 FPS and the Low preset at 2560x1440 with 39 FPS. The Low preset at 3840x2160 averages exactly 30 FPS, which is on the boundary of playability.

Q: How does the GPU's memory configuration affect its performance in this game?

A: The Intel Arc B370 uses "System Shared" memory, meaning it relies on the system's main RAM rather than dedicated VRAM. The memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which can introduce variability based on the rest of the system, but the measured results show that the GPU is consistently bottlenecked regardless of this factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2681 out of 2911 tested combinations in The Medium places it in a highly unfavorable position, suggesting that this pairing is not well-suited for this particular game. With only 230 combinations ranking below it, the performance is in the bottom 8th percentile of all tested configurations. This ranking is consistent with the individual components' standings: the CPU holds an 87th percentile ranking among all CPUs, indicating solid processing capability, while the GPU sits at a 5th percentile among all GPUs, showing it is a very low-performing graphics solution.

The disparity between the CPU's strong standing and the GPU's weak one creates a fundamentally unbalanced system for gaming. The Ryzen 7 7700, with its average benchmark score of 40081, is capable of feeding a much more powerful graphics card. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 and the Intel Core 5 221E, have average scores within a fraction of a percent of the Ryzen 7 7700, confirming it is a mid-to-high-tier processor. In contrast, the Intel Arc B370's nearest rivals are all legacy or low-end parts like the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M, with scores around 1184, placing it in a completely different performance class.

This combination effectively pairs a modern, high-performance processor with a GPU that performs at the level of decade-old hardware. In The Medium, a horror title that likely demands moderate to high GPU resources, this results in the system being unable to provide a smooth experience at any quality setting. The rank of 2681 is not just a number; it signifies that the vast majority of other tested combinations, whether they use newer or older parts, deliver better frame rates in this game. The data suggests that the GPU is not just the limiting factor, but the only significant factor holding back the entire system's gaming performance in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the system's performance across three resolutions and four quality settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields the highest average of 46 FPS, while High, Medium, and Ultra produce 21, 29, and 16 FPS respectively. The Medium preset at this resolution shows a min FPS of 24 and a max of 33, indicating some variance but a generally stable experience around the 29 FPS average. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial, with a 30 FPS difference, showing that the quality settings have a massive impact on the already-limited performance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 39 for Low, 24 for Medium, 17 for High, and 14 for Ultra. The Low preset remains the only option that breaks the 30 FPS barrier, though the Medium preset's min FPS of 21 and max of 28 show it can occasionally dip below playable levels. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 25 FPS, a slightly smaller gap than at 1080p but still significant. At this resolution, the performance is consistently below what is generally considered acceptable for a smooth gaming experience, with even the best-case scenario falling short of 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 30 FPS for Low, 19 FPS for Medium, 14 FPS for High, and 11 FPS for Ultra. The Low preset barely achieves a playable 30 FPS average, but the Medium preset's min FPS of 16 and max of 22 show it is firmly in slideshow territory. The Ultra preset's 11 FPS average is the lowest recorded in the entire dataset, making this configuration the least enjoyable for gameplay. The data shows a clear trend: as resolution increases, the performance gap between settings narrows in absolute terms but the overall experience becomes uniformly poor. For instance, the difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 19 FPS, compared to 30 FPS at 1080p, indicating that the GPU's output limits compress the performance range at higher pixel counts. The measured rows show that no combination of settings and resolution provides a consistently smooth 60 FPS experience, and only the Low preset at 1080p comes close to an acceptable standard.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370's specifications and benchmark results paint a clear picture of its role in this combination's performance. The GPU has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz, with 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, indicating modern API compatibility, but its raw computational power is severely limited. The FP32 performance of 6.144 TFLOPS and a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s are low figures for a contemporary graphics solution, and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark score of 1184 confirms its position in the bottom percentile of GPUs.

The GPU's memory configuration is unusual, as it uses "System Shared" memory rather than dedicated VRAM. This means the memory size, type, and bus width are all system-dependent, and the bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent." This setup can lead to performance variability based on the system's main memory speed and capacity, but the benchmark results show that even with the powerful Ryzen 7 7700's DDR5 support, the GPU is unable to leverage this to achieve higher frame rates. The GPU's TDP of 25 W and IGP slot width indicate it is designed for integrated or low-power scenarios, not for demanding gaming workloads.

In The Medium, the GPU's limitations are the primary cause of the low frame rates. The benchmark results show that the GPU is significantly weaker than its nearest rivals, with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scoring 1186 and the ATI Radeon HD 5770 scoring 1190, both within a fraction of a percent of the Arc B370's score. This places the GPU in a performance class that is inadequate for modern gaming. The data shows that the GPU's 5th percentile ranking versus all GPUs is a direct reflection of its inability to handle the game's rendering demands. Even at the lowest settings and resolution, the GPU struggles to maintain a high frame rate, and as settings and resolution increase, its performance collapses. The 10 RT cores are present, but the overall rasterization and shader throughput are simply too low to provide a playable experience in this horror title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the only viable settings for any semblance of playability are the Low presets. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 46 FPS, which is the highest measured value and is close to the threshold of acceptable smoothness, though it may still have visible stuttering. The Low preset at 2560x1440 yields 39 FPS, which is playable but not ideal, and the Low preset at 3840x2160 produces exactly 30 FPS, which is on the edge of playability and may feel choppy in fast-paced scenes.

The Medium preset offers a marginal improvement in visual quality but comes at a significant performance cost. At 1920x1080, Medium settings average 29 FPS, which is a 17 FPS drop from Low, and the min FPS of 24 indicates occasional dips into unplayable territory. At 1440p, the Medium preset averages 24 FPS, and at 4K it drops to 19 FPS. The High and Ultra presets are essentially unusable, with averages ranging from 21 FPS down to 11 FPS across all resolutions.

The data suggests that for the best experience, users should select the Low preset at 1920x1080, as it is the only configuration that approaches a standard playable frame rate. If a higher resolution is desired, 2560x1440 with Low settings is the next best option, sacrificing some smoothness for more pixels. The 4K Low preset should be avoided unless the user is willing to accept a 30 FPS experience. The Medium preset at 1080p might be considered if visual fidelity is prioritized over smoothness, but the 29 FPS average and 24 FPS minimum make it a risky choice. Ultimately, the data indicates that the GPU's limitations force a choice between low resolution with low settings for acceptable frame rates, or higher quality settings that result in a slideshow. There is no "best" preset in the traditional sense; there is only the least-bad option for a given resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is a high-performance processor that plays a secondary, supportive role in this combination. With 8 cores, 16 threads, a base clock of 3.80 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, the CPU has more than enough processing power for gaming. Its benchmark scores are robust, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 18760, a Geekbench multicore score of 15371, and a Passmark multithread score of 34470. These results place the CPU in the 87th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40081, putting it on par with rivals like the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 and the Intel Core 5 221E, which have scores within 0.2% of the Ryzen 7 7700.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with data and handle game logic, physics, and AI. The data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck in this system. The frame rates are consistently low across all settings and resolutions, which would not be the case if the CPU were the limiting factor. If the CPU were struggling, we would expect to see frame rates that are independent of resolution, but instead, they scale directly with pixel count, which is a hallmark of a GPU-bound system. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide ample data throughput for the GPU, but the GPU's low processing power means it cannot utilize this efficiently.

The CPU's performance is so far ahead of the GPU that it is essentially idle waiting for the GPU to finish rendering each frame. This is a classic mismatch, where the processor's capabilities are wasted due to the weak graphics solution. The Ryzen 7 7700 could easily support a much more powerful GPU, and in a different pairing, it would likely deliver high frame rates in this game. However, in this configuration, the CPU's role is reduced to ensuring that the game logic runs smoothly without introducing any additional frame drops. The measured FPS data confirms that the CPU is not the source of the performance issues; it is the GPU that determines the overall experience, and that experience is severely limited by the Intel Arc B370's output capacity.