The Medium

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the Intel Arc B580 produces a highly variable experience in The Medium, heavily dependent on the graphics preset selected. Benchmark data reveals that this combination is fundamentally limited by the GPU in this title, with performance scaling that punishes high-end settings. The combo ranks 1316th out of 1689 tested configurations, placing it in the lower third of systems, but the data shows that a simple settings adjustment can transform the game from unplayable to smooth.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Medium?*

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 88.2 FPS, making it the only configuration that clears the 60 FPS threshold comfortably. At 2560x1440 with Low settings, the average drops to 75.4 FPS, which is still playable, while 3840x2160 at Low yields 60.3 FPS, indicating that 4K is viable only on the lowest preset.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. It is statistically tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (deltaPct 0), and it is only 0.2% behind the Intel Core i7-1260P and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, while being 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i5-1240U.

Q: Is the Arc B580 a strong GPU relative to its peers?

A: The Intel Arc B580 posts an average benchmark score of 23021, which places it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs. It is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon 760M, 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA P106-100, and 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile, but it trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 by 0.7%.

Q: Does the game favor CPU or GPU performance?

A: The data indicates a GPU bottleneck. Moving from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 at Medium settings reduces the average FPS from 56.7 to 37.8, a drop of 18.9 FPS. Meanwhile, the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz provide ample headroom, as evidenced by the relatively small performance gap between Low and Medium settings at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the components?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has a launch MSRP of $157. The Intel Arc B580 has a launch MSRP of 249 USD. These are the only pricing details available in the data.

Q: Which settings preset should be avoided at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset delivers an average of only 21.6 FPS, and the High preset is not much better at 24.1 FPS. These are below playable thresholds, and the Medium preset at 37.8 FPS is also marginal, suggesting that 4K gaming is only feasible with the Low preset.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is the primary performance limiter in this pairing for The Medium. With 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, the card offers 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for a modern title. The base and boost clocks are both listed at 2670 MHz, and the memory runs at 2375 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed. This hardware configuration produces a pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s, with an FP32 throughput of 13.67 TFLOPS.

The GPU’s benchmark results show a Passmark G3D score of 15748 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 109672, indicating solid raw performance. However, in The Medium, the data reveals that the GPU struggles with higher presets. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low to Medium settings costs 31.5 FPS (from 88.2 to 56.7), and the jump from Medium to High costs another 20.1 FPS (from 56.7 to 36.6). This steep decline suggests that the B580’s 2560 shading units and 80 ROPs are not sufficient to handle the game’s visual effects at higher quality levels.

The GPU’s 66th percentile ranking, while not weak, is clearly below the threshold needed for high-fidelity gaming in this specific title. The data shows that the card’s performance is consistent with its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (which is only 0.7% faster), but the game’s demands at High and Ultra settings exceed what the B580 can deliver. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is not the issue; rather, the compute throughput and fill rate appear to be the limiting factors when rendering the game’s horror environments at full detail.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F plays a supporting role in this configuration, and its capabilities are more than adequate for The Medium. This processor features 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth provide sufficient data throughput for the game’s logic and physics.

Benchmark scores reinforce the CPU’s competence. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 14372, and the single-core score is 2029, while Geekbench shows 7579 multi-core and 1979 single-core. The Passmark multithread score of 16908 places it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, which is a solid position. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, has an identical average score of 17189, confirming that the i5-11400F is a mid-tier performer that does not bottleneck the GPU.

The evidence for a CPU bottleneck is absent. If the processor were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar FPS across different resolutions at the same settings. Instead, the data shows that at Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 56.7 at 1080p to 48.2 at 1440p and 37.8 at 4K. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU’s 12 threads are likely underutilized, as the game’s engine does not appear to be heavily threaded, and the single-core performance of 2029 in Cinebench R23 is sufficient to feed the GPU’s demands at all tested resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and Intel Arc B580 ranks 1316th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the bottom 22% of all configurations. This low ranking is surprising given the individual component scores, but it highlights how the game’s specific engine interacts with the hardware. The CPU’s 75th percentile and GPU’s 66th percentile positions do not translate into a top-tier gaming experience because the GPU’s performance falls off sharply at higher settings.

The rank suggests that most other tested combos deliver better performance in this title. The data implies that the B580’s architecture, while competitive in synthetic benchmarks, does not optimize well for The Medium’s rendering pipeline. The gap between the combo’s component rankings and its in-game rank indicates that the game is particularly demanding on the GPU’s shading and rasterization capabilities, which are areas where the B580 is only average.

For context, the GPU’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, is only 0.7% faster in average benchmark score, yet the combo rank would likely be much higher with that GPU. This suggests that the B580’s drivers or specific feature set may not be fully utilized by the game engine. The rank is a clear signal that users should not expect high-fidelity performance without significant settings adjustments.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals a classic GPU bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS at 1920x1080 is 88.2, dropping to 75.4 at 2560x1440 and 60.3 at 3840x2160. This represents a 31.6% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is substantial but still leaves the game playable at all three resolutions. The fact that 4K Low maintains above 60 FPS indicates that the GPU has enough raw power to handle the game’s base rendering load.

However, at Medium settings, the scaling is more dramatic. The FPS drops from 56.7 at 1080p to 48.2 at 1440p (a 15% loss) and then to 37.8 at 4K (a 33% loss from 1080p). The High settings show a similar pattern: 36.6 at 1080p, 32.5 at 1440p, and 24.1 at 4K. This steep decline at higher resolutions and settings indicates that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are being saturated. The 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth is not enough to sustain high-quality textures and effects at 4K.

The data strongly suggests that the limiting component is the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively constant across resolutions, as the processor’s workload does not change with resolution. The observed scaling, where every increase in pixel count leads to a proportional FPS loss, is the hallmark of a GPU-bound system. The CPU’s boost clock of 4.40 GHz is sufficient to keep up, and there is no evidence of CPU stalls in the data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the system achieves its best results. Low settings deliver an average of 88.2 FPS, which is excellent for smooth gameplay. Medium settings drop to 56.7 FPS, still playable but not ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. High settings yield 36.6 FPS, which is borderline, and Ultra settings bring the average down to 30.9 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold for cinematic experiences.

At 2560x1440, the performance degrades further. Low settings produce 75.4 FPS, which remains smooth. Medium settings drop to 48.2 FPS, a playable but not fluid experience. High settings fall to 32.5 FPS, which is marginal, and Ultra settings plummet to 24 FPS, which is not recommended for active gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is heavily taxed. Low settings achieve 60.3 FPS, which is surprisingly playable. Medium settings drop to 37.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. High settings yield 24.1 FPS, and Ultra settings bottom out at 21.6 FPS. These last two configurations are essentially unplayable for a game that requires timing and precision.

The data shows a clear trend: the gap between Low and Medium settings is significant at every resolution, while the gap between High and Ultra is smaller. This suggests that the Medium preset introduces a substantial increase in shading complexity that the B580 cannot handle efficiently.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combo is achieved with the Low preset at any resolution. At 1920x1080, Low settings deliver 88.2 FPS, which is ideal for responsive gameplay. At 2560x1440, Low settings maintain 75.4 FPS, offering a high-resolution experience without sacrificing smoothness. Even at 3840x2160, Low settings achieve 60.3 FPS, making 4K gaming viable.

The Medium preset is the next best option, but it is only recommended for 1920x1080, where it produces 56.7 FPS. At 2560x1440, the 48.2 FPS average is playable but may feel less fluid, and at 3840x2160, the 37.8 FPS is below the 60 FPS target and may cause noticeable stuttering in a horror game where atmosphere is key.

The High and Ultra presets should be avoided. At 1920x1080, High yields 36.6 FPS and Ultra yields 30.9 FPS, both of which are suboptimal. At higher resolutions, these presets produce averages below 32.5 FPS, which is not suitable for a game that relies on tension and reaction times. The data clearly shows that the Intel Arc B580 does not have the compute resources to handle the game’s higher-quality effects, and the 12 GB of VRAM does not compensate for the lack of shading power.

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, users should start with Low settings and gradually increase individual options while monitoring the FPS, as the preset-based data shows that the GPU’s headroom is limited. The CPU’s capabilities are not the limiting factor, so any performance gains must come from reducing the GPU load.