The Medium

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the Intel Arc B570 is a mid-range combination that struggles significantly with The Medium, a horror title known for its demanding fixed-camera angles and dual-reality rendering. Based on the measured data, this combo ranks 2321 out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it firmly in the lower percentile of systems. The benchmark results indicate that while the setup can handle the game at lower settings and resolutions, it is not viable for a smooth experience at higher presets or 4K, making it a pairing best suited for 1080p gaming with careful settings adjustments.

FAQ

*Q: Can this CPU and GPU combo run The Medium at 4K?*

A: Technically, yes, but not at playable framerates. At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 18 on Ultra to 52 on Low. The Medium settings preset yields only 32 FPS, and High dips to 23 FPS, making 4K a poor experience except possibly on the Low preset.

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where this system achieves consistently playable results. At 1080p, the average FPS spans from 28 on Ultra to 78 on Low, with Medium at 49 and High at 35, making it the sweet spot for this hardware.

Q: How demanding is the Ultra preset on this system?

A: The Ultra preset is extremely demanding for this combination. The average FPS drops to 28 at 1080p, 23 at 1440p, and 18 at 4K, all of which are below the threshold for a smooth gaming experience.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck for the Intel Arc B570 in this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has a benchmark percentile of 47, indicating it is a mid-pack processor. While the data doesn't isolate individual bottlenecks, the CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads, without hyper-threading, may limit performance in a game like The Medium that can utilize multiple threads, especially when paired with a GPU that has a higher benchmark percentile of 65.

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

A: The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p is significant. The average FPS drops from 78 on Low to 49 on Medium, a substantial decrease of 29 FPS, suggesting that the Medium preset adds a considerable graphical load.

Q: How does this combo's rank compare to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 2321 out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 20% of all systems tested for The Medium. This indicates that most other hardware pairings will provide a better experience.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. This 6th-generation Core i5 lacks hyper-threading, meaning it processes six threads simultaneously, which can be a limitation in modern, heavily threaded titles like The Medium. The CPU's L3 cache is 9 MB shared, and it supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-9400 scores 6629 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 935 in single-core. This places the processor at the 47th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is an average performer relative to the broader market. Its average benchmark score is 2254, which is very close to its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (avg score 2259, delta -0.2%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (avg score 2246, delta 0.4%). The performance delta between these rivals is minuscule, suggesting that the i5-9400's processing power is on par with these chips.

For The Medium, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and the complex rendering of two simultaneous worlds. The measured FPS data shows a clear scaling with resolution, which implies that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. However, at lower resolutions like 1080p, the CPU's performance becomes more relevant. With a 6-core/6-thread configuration, the i5-9400 may struggle to feed the Arc B570 efficiently, potentially capping framerates in less GPU-bound scenarios. The data does not provide direct CPU utilization figures, but the overall combo rank of 2321 out of 2911 suggests that this processor is not providing a high-performance foundation for the game.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the graphics card in this pairing, built on the Xe2-HPG architecture (Battlemage). It features 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. The GPU operates at a constant clock speed of 2500 MHz for both base and boost. It has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, with 18 ray tracing cores. The GPU's raw compute power is rated at 11.52 TFLOPS for FP32 operations.

In terms of benchmark performance, the Arc B570 sits at the 65th percentile of all GPUs, indicating it is a solid mid-range performer. Its average benchmark score is 20556, which is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (avg score 20534, delta 0.1%). It is also closely matched with the Intel Arc A750 (avg score 20582, delta -0.1%). This suggests that the Arc B570's raw performance is comparable to these other cards.

In The Medium, the GPU is the dominant factor in determining framerates. The measured FPS data shows a dramatic decrease as resolution increases, which is typical of a GPU-bound scenario. For instance, on the Medium preset, the average FPS drops from 49 at 1080p to 41 at 1440p, and further to 32 at 4K. This scaling indicates that the 10 GB of VRAM and the GPU's processing power are being taxed heavily at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra preset result of 18 FPS highlights the card's limitations at the highest settings. The GPU's 160-bit memory bus may also be a constraint in this game, which likely requires significant memory bandwidth for its high-resolution textures and effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark data provides a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its best results. On the Low preset, the average FPS is 78, which is very smooth. The Medium preset yields a playable 49 FPS, with a minimum of 41 and maximum of 56 FPS. The High preset drops to 35 FPS, which is on the edge of playability. The Ultra preset is the worst at 1080p, with an average of 28 FPS, which is not smooth enough for a game like The Medium.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance takes a significant hit. The Low preset is still playable with an average of 66 FPS. The Medium preset falls to 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 and maximum of 47 FPS, which is borderline acceptable for some players. The High preset drops to 29 FPS, and the Ultra preset is nearly unplayable at 23 FPS.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the system is mostly overwhelmed. The Low preset is the only one that approaches playability with 52 FPS. The Medium preset averages 32 FPS, with a minimum of 27 and maximum of 37 FPS. The High preset is at 23 FPS, and the Ultra preset is a slideshow at 18 FPS.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the Medium preset is roughly 30-40% slower than Low across all resolutions, while High is another 20-30% slower than Medium, and Ultra is the most demanding. The 4K resolution is clearly not viable for this combo except on the Low preset.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware, this combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2321 out of 2911 tested combos for The Medium. This places the system in the bottom 20 percentile of all results, which is a poor showing. The data indicates that a significant majority of other CPU-GPU pairings will deliver a better gaming experience in this title.

The ranking suggests that while the individual components are not terrible—the CPU is at the 47th percentile and the GPU at the 65th percentile—the combination is not well-balanced for this specific game's demands. The low rank could be attributed to the CPU's limited thread count or the GPU's memory bus width, but the data does not specify the cause. What is clear is that the system's performance is far below average, and users should expect to make significant compromises in settings to achieve playable framerates. For context, the GPU's nearest rivals, like the RTX 3070 Mobile and Arc A750, might perform better in this game due to architectural differences, but the data only provides the combo rank, not individual component scores for this specific title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combo in The Medium is at 1920x1080 resolution. The data shows that the Low preset provides the smoothest experience with an average of 78 FPS, which is well above the threshold for a fluid game. However, for a better visual experience, the Medium preset is the best balance, offering an average of 49 FPS with a minimum of 41 FPS. This is playable for most users, and the visual upgrade from Low to Medium is typically significant.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only recommended option, with an average of 66 FPS. The Medium preset at 41 FPS is borderline, and the High and Ultra presets are not recommended due to sub-30 FPS averages.

For 3840x2160, the system cannot handle the game well. The Low preset is the only one that reaches above 50 FPS, but the visual quality will be severely degraded. It is recommended to avoid 4K altogether unless the user is willing to play on the Low preset and tolerate the graphical compromises.

In summary, the best experience per the measured rows is to play at 1080p on the Medium preset. This provides a playable framerate of 49 FPS while maintaining a reasonable level of graphical fidelity. If a higher framerate is desired, dropping to Low yields 78 FPS, but with a noticeable reduction in visual quality. The Ultra preset is not viable at any resolution, and 4K is only playable on Low. The data strongly suggests that this hardware is suited for 1080p gaming with modest settings for a smooth experience in The Medium.