The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the Intel Arc B370 produces a severely frame-rate-limited experience in The Medium, with the data showing this combination ranking at 2681 out of 2911 tested combos. The benchmark results reveal a system where the GPU becomes the overwhelming bottleneck across all tested configurations, yielding sub-30 FPS averages at every resolution except for the lowest settings at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data demonstrates a stark and consistent decline as resolution increases, which points directly to the Intel Arc B370 as the limiting component. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 46 FPS at 1920x1080 to 39 FPS at 2560x1440, then further to 30 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 34.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The scaling pattern is not linear, however, as the transition from 1080p to 1440p costs only 7 FPS, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs an additional 9 FPS, indicating that the GPU's fillrate and memory bandwidth constraints become progressively more severe at higher pixel counts.

At Medium settings, the resolution scaling shows a similar trajectory but with lower absolute values. The average FPS at 1920x1080 is 29, dropping to 24 at 2560x1440, and finally to 19 at 3840x2160. The frame time consistency also degrades with resolution, as the minimum FPS at 1080p Medium is 24, at 1440p Medium is 21, and at 4K Medium is 16. The maximum FPS values follow suit: 33 at 1080p, 28 at 1440p, and 22 at 4K. This widening gap between minimum and maximum at higher resolutions suggests that the shared memory architecture of the Arc B370 is struggling to maintain consistent data throughput as pixel workload increases.

High settings exhibit the most dramatic resolution sensitivity. The average FPS at 1080p High is 21, which falls to 17 at 1440p, and then to 14 at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 33.3%, which is remarkably consistent with the 34.8% drop observed at Low settings. This consistency across settings presets indicates that resolution scaling is governed by the same underlying GPU limitation regardless of the graphical complexity being rendered. The Ultra preset shows the worst absolute performance, with averages of 16 FPS at 1080p, 14 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K, representing a 31.3% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

The data strongly suggests that the CPU is not a factor in this scaling behavior. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads based on Zen 4 architecture, delivers a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29300 and a single-core score of 2016.5. These figures indicate ample headroom for a game like The Medium, which is primarily GPU-bound even on modest hardware. The consistent FPS drops across all settings when moving to higher resolutions confirm that the integrated-class Arc B370, with its System Shared memory and 25W TDP, is the sole performance determinant.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the only playable configuration in this combo is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which achieves an average FPS of 46. This is the sole combination that clears the 30 FPS threshold for acceptable playability, and it does so with a comfortable margin. The next closest option, 2560x1440 at Low settings, averages 39 FPS, which is technically above 30 FPS but still leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. At 3840x2160 Low, the average drops to exactly 30 FPS, which is borderline and likely to produce noticeable stuttering during gameplay sequences.

The Medium settings preset provides no viable options at any resolution. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 29, just below the 30 FPS playability threshold. The minimum FPS of 24 at this setting further degrades the experience, as frame drops below 30 FPS during intense moments will be perceptible. At 1440p Medium and 4K Medium, averages of 24 and 19 FPS respectively render these settings unplayable for smooth gameplay.

High and Ultra settings are not recommended for any resolution. The 1080p High average of 21 FPS and the 1080p Ultra average of 16 FPS both fall well below acceptable playability standards. The data indicates that the graphical fidelity gains from High and Ultra presets come at an enormous performance cost relative to Low settings, with 1080p High being 54.3% slower than 1080p Low, and 1080p Ultra being 65.2% slower.

For users who prioritize visual quality over frame rate, the 1080p Medium preset at 29 FPS average might be considered, but the minimum FPS of 24 suggests frequent dips below 30. The 1440p Low setting at 39 FPS average offers a balanced middle ground for those with higher-resolution displays, providing a 35.3% performance improvement over 1080p Medium while still maintaining a playable frame rate. However, the benchmark results clearly favor 1080p Low as the primary recommendation, as it is the only configuration that provides a consistently smooth experience above 40 FPS.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the dominant performance limiter in this pairing, and its specifications explain the observed results comprehensively. The GPU operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz, which are modest figures for modern graphics hardware. The 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 render output units provide a theoretical pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS places this GPU in the entry-level segment, which aligns with its 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

The most significant constraint is the memory configuration. The Arc B370 uses System Shared memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM and instead relies on the system's DDR5 memory through the CPU's dual-channel interface. The memory bandwidth is listed as System Dependent, which in this configuration with the Ryzen 9 7900X's 83.2 GB/s theoretical bandwidth, creates a severe bottleneck for texture-heavy games like The Medium. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 confirms this GPU's limited capabilities, placing it in the lowest 5% of all GPUs in the benchmark database.

The nearest rivals for the Arc B370 provide context for its performance level. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scores 1186, which is 0.2% higher, while the ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190, 0.5% higher. The AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 1192, 0.7% higher, and the AMD FirePro M2000 scores 1168, which is 1.4% lower. These comparisons place the Arc B370 in performance territory occupied by discrete GPUs from over a decade ago, which explains why The Medium's modern rendering techniques push this hardware to its breaking point.

The 10 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are technically present, but the 6.144 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is insufficient to handle the computational demands of ray-traced effects in The Medium. The GPU's 25W TDP and IGP slot width indicate that this is an integrated graphics solution, not a discrete card, which further limits its ability to sustain high frame rates. The benchmark data shows that even at 1080p Low, the GPU is operating near its maximum capability, as evidenced by the fact that the 46 FPS average at this setting is the highest achieved across all 12 measured configurations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2681 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the bottom 7.9% of all tested systems. This ranking is entirely attributable to the GPU, as the CPU is a high-end 12-core processor that ranks in the 91st percentile among all CPUs in general benchmarks. The average benchmark score for the Ryzen 9 7900X is 53288, which places it in close competition with the AMD EPYC 7313P at 53206 (0.2% higher), the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 at 53469 (0.3% lower), the Intel Xeon 634 at 52974 (0.6% higher), and the Intel Core i7-14700F at 53620 (0.6% lower).

The stark contrast between the CPU's 91st percentile ranking and the GPU's 5th percentile ranking creates a severely imbalanced system for gaming. The Ryzen 9 7900X's 12 cores and 24 threads are vastly underutilized in The Medium, as the game's performance is constrained by the GPU's inability to render frames quickly enough. The CPU's Cinebench R15 multicore score of 4820.5 and single-core score of 323 indicate substantial processing power that goes to waste when paired with such a weak GPU.

The combo rank of 2681 out of 2911 means that only 230 tested combinations performed worse than this setup in The Medium. This places the system in the bottom 8% of all combinations, which is consistent with the GPU's 5th percentile ranking. The data suggests that any discrete GPU from the past decade would likely outperform this integrated solution, as the nearest GPU rivals from 2010-2011 era hardware score nearly identically in 3DMark benchmarks.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X's role in this game's performance is minimal, as the benchmark data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking at any resolution or settings preset. The processor's 12 cores and 24 threads, based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture on a 5nm TSMC process, provide more than sufficient computational headroom for The Medium's rendering workload. The base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz ensure that even single-threaded game logic runs at high speed, as evidenced by the 3DMark single-thread score of 1093 and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2016.5.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s through its dual-channel DDR5 interface is theoretically capable of feeding the GPU's shared memory architecture, but the 25W TDP of the Arc B370 limits how much data it can actually process. The CPU's L3 cache of 64 MB shared across all cores helps reduce memory access latency, but this advantage is negated by the GPU's inability to utilize the data quickly enough.

The Ryzen 9 7900X's multi-threaded performance, demonstrated by the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29300 and the Geekbench multicore score of 19267, far exceeds what The Medium requires. The game's engine is not designed to leverage 24 threads effectively, and the data shows that the FPS does not vary based on CPU workload. The identical FPS patterns across different resolution and settings combinations prove that the CPU is never the limiting factor.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 91 versus the GPU's 5th percentile creates a 86-point gap that highlights the fundamental imbalance of this pairing. The Ryzen 9 7900X's nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks are all server or high-end desktop processors, while the GPU's nearest rivals are entry-level mobile and desktop graphics solutions from over a decade ago. This mismatch explains why the combo rank is so low despite the CPU being a top-tier processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS values across all four settings presets show a clear progression. Low settings achieve an average of 46 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire test suite. Medium settings average 29 FPS, with a minimum of 24 and maximum of 33. High settings average 21 FPS, and Ultra settings average 16 FPS. The transition from Low to Medium costs 17 FPS, from Medium to High costs 8 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 5 FPS, indicating diminishing returns for each additional graphical fidelity tier.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops across all settings. Low settings average 39 FPS, a 15.2% reduction from the 1080p result. Medium settings average 24 FPS, with a minimum of 21 and maximum of 28. High settings average 17 FPS, and Ultra settings average 14 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 1440p is 15 FPS, which is slightly tighter than the 17 FPS gap at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is becoming more constrained at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the performance reaches its lowest points. Low settings average 30 FPS, which is exactly at the playability threshold. Medium settings average 19 FPS, with a minimum of 16 and maximum of 22. High settings average 14 FPS, and Ultra settings average 11 FPS. The 4K Medium minimum of 16 FPS is the lowest recorded minimum in the entire test suite, indicating severe frame drops during demanding scenes.

The complete data set reveals that the Arc B370 cannot maintain 60 FPS at any resolution or setting in The Medium. The highest average FPS recorded is 46 at 1080p Low, which is still 23.3% below the 60 FPS target. The only configurations that exceed 30 FPS are 1080p Low at 46 FPS, 1440p Low at 39 FPS, and 4K Low at 30 FPS. All other nine configurations fall below the 30 FPS threshold, making this combo unsuitable for smooth gameplay in The Medium at any setting above Low.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo in The Medium?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 46, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration that exceeds 40 FPS across all 12 tested combinations.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160, only the Low settings preset achieves an average of 30 FPS. Medium averages 19 FPS, High averages 14 FPS, and Ultra averages 11 FPS, making 4K gaming only marginally playable at the lowest settings.

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

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scores 1186 (0.2% higher), the ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190 (0.5% higher), the AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 1192 (0.7% higher), and the AMD FirePro M2000 scores 1168 (1.4% lower).

Q: Does the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X bottleneck the system in this game?

A: No. The CPU ranks in the 91st percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 53288, while the GPU ranks in the 5th percentile. The FPS data shows no CPU-related limitations, as performance scales entirely with GPU workload.

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

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings average 46 FPS while Ultra settings average 16 FPS. This represents a 65.2% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest settings preset.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in The Medium?

A: This combo ranks 2681 out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 7.9% of all systems tested. The ranking reflects the GPU's severe performance limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities.