The Medium

# The Medium with AMD Ryzen 7 7700X + Intel Arc B370

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X paired with the Intel Arc B370 delivers a strictly marginal experience in The Medium, with the measured data showing the combination ranking 2681st out of 2911 tested combos. This places the pairing in the bottom 8% of all tested configurations, and the frame rate figures across every resolution and settings tier confirm that the integrated-class GPU is the overwhelming bottleneck. The Arc B370, built on Intel's Xe3-LPG architecture with a 3 nm process, produces a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184, which sits at just the 5th percentile among all GPUs. The CPU, by contrast, is a strong modern desktop part with 8 cores and 16 threads based on Zen 4 architecture, scoring in the 85th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 35909. The disconnect between these two components is stark, and the game's measured performance reflects that imbalance clearly.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable but severe decline as resolution increases, with the Arc B370's limited pixel throughput becoming the dominant constraint at every step. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo averages 46 FPS, which drops to 39 FPS at 1440p and further to 30 FPS at 4K. That represents a 34.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, but the raw numbers at each step reveal that even the lowest settings cannot escape the GPU's fundamental limitations. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low costs 7 FPS, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs another 9 FPS, indicating that the GPU is already near its ceiling even at the lowest quality preset.

Moving to Medium settings, the resolution scaling becomes even more pronounced. At 1080p Medium, the average is 29 FPS, which falls to 24 FPS at 1440p and then to 19 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 17.2% from 1080p to 1440p and 20.8% from 1440p to 4K, showing that the render resolution has a compounding effect as the GPU struggles to maintain even modest frame rates. The Medium preset at 4K also provides the only min/max data in the entire set, with a minimum of 16 FPS and a maximum of 22 FPS, a narrow band that suggests the frame pacing is consistent but consistently low.

High settings show a similar pattern with slightly lower absolute numbers: 21 FPS at 1080p, 17 FPS at 1440p, and 14 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 19.0%, while 1440p to 4K costs another 17.6%. At Ultra settings, the numbers bottom out at 16 FPS at 1080p, 14 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K, with the 1080p to 1440p reduction being only 12.5% and the 1440p to 4K reduction being 21.4%. The relatively small gap between High and Ultra at 1080p suggests that the GPU is pixel-bound rather than shader-bound at these settings, meaning the resolution increase taxes the render output units more than the shading units.

The scaling data indicates that the limiting component is unequivocally the GPU. The Arc B370 has just 20 ROPs and a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s, which explains why 4K resolution essentially halves performance compared to 1080p regardless of settings. The CPU's role in this scaling is negligible; the Ryzen 7 7700X has ample headroom with its 5.40 GHz boost clock and 32 MB of shared L3 cache, but it is never given the chance to flex because the GPU cannot feed frames quickly enough.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the only playable configuration in a practical sense is 1080p with Low settings, which produces an average of 46 FPS. This is the sole setting combination that clears the 30 FPS threshold by a meaningful margin, and even it falls short of smooth 60 FPS gameplay. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 29 FPS, which is technically above the 4K Medium average of 19 FPS but still below the 30 FPS line. The Low preset at 1440p delivers 39 FPS, which is playable in a broad sense, but the visual quality trade-off is substantial given the horror genre's reliance on atmosphere and lighting.

For players who prioritize frame rate above all else, 1080p Low is the only defensible choice. The 46 FPS average at this setting represents a 58.6% improvement over 1080p Medium's 29 FPS, a massive jump that comes from disabling the game's higher-fidelity features. The 1440p Low option at 39 FPS offers a middle ground, providing a higher resolution but sacrificing the smoothness that the 1080p Low preset achieves. At 4K, even Low settings only reach 30 FPS, which is marginal for a game that likely benefits from consistent frame pacing.

The Medium preset is not recommended at any resolution. At 1080p it produces 29 FPS, at 1440p it produces 24 FPS, and at 4K it produces 19 FPS. The min/max data at 4K Medium (16 to 22 FPS) shows a tight but low band, and the 1080p Medium min/max (24 to 33 FPS) indicates that even the best-case frame times are barely above 30 FPS. High and Ultra settings are effectively unplayable across the board, with High ranging from 21 FPS at 1080p down to 14 FPS at 4K, and Ultra ranging from 16 FPS at 1080p down to 11 FPS at 4K. These numbers suggest that the game's higher presets require graphics horsepower that the Arc B370 simply does not possess.

The data strongly suggests that the best experience per the measured rows is 1080p Low, with 1440p Low as a secondary option for users who accept lower frame rates in exchange for resolution. There is no settings combination that achieves a consistent 60 FPS, and the 30 FPS baseline is only reachable at Low settings across all resolutions or at 1080p Medium.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the defining component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured results with near-perfect clarity. The GPU has just 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 render output units, with 10 ray tracing cores. Its base clock is 300 MHz and boost clock is 2400 MHz, yielding a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute is 6.144 TFLOPS, which is modest for a modern GPU but notable for an integrated graphics solution with a 25 W TDP.

The memory configuration is system shared, meaning the GPU relies on the host system's DDR5 memory rather than dedicated VRAM. The memory bus width and bandwidth are listed as "System Shared" and "System Dependent," respectively, which indicates that memory performance is entirely contingent on the CPU's memory subsystem. The Ryzen 7 7700X supports dual-channel DDR5 with a memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, but this is shared between CPU and GPU workloads, and the game's performance at higher resolutions suggests that memory bandwidth contention may be an additional limiting factor beyond raw compute.

The GPU's benchmark results are telling: a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184, which places it at the 5th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all legacy parts — the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 with a score of 1186, the ATI Radeon HD 5770 at 1190, the AMD Radeon HD 7650M at 1192, and the AMD FirePro M2000 at 1168. The deltaPct values range from -0.7% to 1.4%, meaning the Arc B370 performs within 1% of these older discrete GPUs. This contextualizes the game's frame rates: the Arc B370 is competing with hardware from over a decade ago in raw 3DMark terms, and The Medium's modern rendering requirements push it to its limits.

The GPU's 25 W TDP and integrated form factor (IGP slot width, no power connectors) mean it is designed for efficiency rather than performance. The 3 nm process from Intel allows for a high transistor density, but the die size and transistor count are listed as unknown, so the physical design cannot be fully assessed. What is clear from the data is that the Arc B370's performance ceiling is low, and The Medium's measured FPS figures reflect a GPU that is consistently overwhelmed at any resolution above 1080p Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings suite was tested. Low settings produce an average of 46 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 29 FPS with a minimum of 24 and maximum of 33 FPS, showing a 37.0% reduction from Low. High settings average 21 FPS, a further 27.6% drop from Medium. Ultra settings average 16 FPS, a 23.8% reduction from High. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p is a total loss of 30 FPS, or 65.2% of the Low preset's performance.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats with lower absolute values. Low settings average 39 FPS, which is 15.2% below the 1080p Low figure. Medium settings average 24 FPS with a minimum of 21 and maximum of 28 FPS, a 38.5% drop from Low. High settings average 17 FPS, a 29.2% reduction from Medium. Ultra settings average 14 FPS, a 17.6% drop from High. The 1440p results show that the GPU loses roughly 15-20% of its 1080p performance at each resolution step, depending on the settings tier.

At 3840x2160, the numbers reach their lowest points. Low settings average 30 FPS, which is exactly half of the 1080p Low score. Medium settings average 19 FPS with a minimum of 16 and maximum of 22 FPS, a 36.7% drop from Low. High settings average 14 FPS, a 26.3% reduction from Medium. Ultra settings average 11 FPS, a 21.4% drop from High. The 4K data confirms that the GPU is fundamentally incapable of handling this resolution in The Medium, with even Low settings barely hitting the 30 FPS mark.

Across all resolutions, the gap between Low and Medium is consistently the largest settings jump, ranging from 36.7% to 38.5%. This suggests that the Medium preset enables effects or render features that disproportionately tax the GPU, while the steps from Medium to High and High to Ultra are smaller but still significant. The min/max data at Medium settings shows a narrow range at 4K (16-22 FPS) and a slightly wider range at 1080p (24-33 FPS), indicating that frame pacing is stable but the overall performance is too low for a smooth experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo in The Medium?

A: The measured data shows 1080p Low delivers the highest average FPS at 46, making it the only preset that approaches playable frame rates. 1440p Low averages 39 FPS and is the only other configuration above 30 FPS, while all Medium, High, and Ultra presets fall below 30 FPS at every resolution.

Q: Can this combo run The Medium at 4K?

A: At 4K, the game is playable only at Low settings, which averages 30 FPS. Medium averages 19 FPS, High averages 14 FPS, and Ultra averages 11 FPS. The 4K Medium min/max range of 16-22 FPS confirms that the GPU cannot maintain consistent frame times at this resolution.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 0.2% below the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570's 1186, 0.5% below the ATI Radeon HD 5770's 1190, and 0.7% below the AMD Radeon HD 7650M's 1192. It is 1.4% above the AMD FirePro M2000's 1168.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X a bottleneck in this pairing?

A: The data indicates the CPU is not the limiting factor. The Ryzen 7 7700X scores in the 85th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 35909, and its nearest rivals are within 0.7% in deltaPct. The GPU's 5th percentile ranking and low frame rates across all settings point to the GPU as the sole bottleneck.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low averages 46 FPS while Ultra averages 16 FPS, a difference of 30 FPS or 65.2%. The step from Low to Medium costs 17 FPS, Medium to High costs 8 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 5 FPS.

Q: Does the combo's ranking in this game reflect its overall performance?

A: The combo ranks 2681st out of 2911 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of all configurations. This is consistent with the GPU's 5th percentile ranking and the measured frame rates, which are below 30 FPS for all settings except Low.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is a high-end desktop processor with 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael. It operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform with a base clock of 4.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, and its 105 W TDP reflects a desktop-class power envelope. The CPU has a 5 nm process node from TSMC with 6,570 million transistors on a 71 mm² die, and its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is minimal due to the GPU bottleneck. The measured frame rates never exceed 46 FPS, which is well within the Ryzen 7 7700X's capability to feed. The CPU's benchmark scores support this assessment: it achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 19088 and a single-core score of 1987, a Geekbench multicore score of 12451 and single-core score of 2289, and a 3DMark 16-thread score of 8859. These figures place it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35909.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 with an average score of 35802 (0.3% delta), the Intel Core 7 250H at 35728 (0.5% delta), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 at 35719 (0.5% delta), and the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H at 35670 (0.7% delta). All of these are within 1% of the 7700X's average score, indicating that the CPU's performance is consistent with its peers. However, none of this CPU headroom translates into higher frame rates in The Medium because the Arc B370 cannot process frames fast enough to utilize the available CPU resources.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 83.2 GB/s bandwidth is theoretically sufficient for the game's needs, but the GPU's system-shared memory means that both components compete for the same bandwidth. The CPU's L3 cache of 32 MB helps mitigate some memory latency, but the game's performance is ultimately constrained by the GPU's 6.144 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 48.00 GPixel/s pixel rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X + Intel Arc B370 combination ranks 2681st out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 7.9th percentile of all configurations. This ranking is heavily skewed by the GPU's performance, as the Arc B370's 5th percentile GPU ranking drags the combo down despite the CPU's 85th percentile ranking. The combo's rank of 2681 means that 2680 other CPU-GPU pairings deliver better measured performance in this game, which is consistent with the frame rate data showing sub-30 FPS performance for all settings except Low.

The ranking reflects the fundamental mismatch between the components: a top-tier desktop CPU paired with an integrated-class GPU. The combo's position in the bottom 8% of all tested combos is not surprising given that the GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 is comparable to legacy discrete GPUs from over a decade ago. The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores are all within 0.7% deltaPct, but this has no bearing on the game's performance because the GPU is the limiting factor.

In practical terms, this combo ranking means that users would need to significantly lower their expectations for The Medium. The game is a horror title that relies on atmosphere and visual fidelity, but the measured data shows that even the lowest settings at 1080p only achieve 46 FPS average. The 2681st rank out of 2911 combos places this pairing in the bottom tier of tested hardware, and the frame rate data confirms that it is only suitable for the most undemanding settings configurations.