The Medium

# The Medium with Intel Core i7-13700K + Intel Arc B390

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a severely GPU-limited experience in The Medium, with the data showing average frame rates ranging from 12 FPS at 4K Ultra to 51 FPS at 1080p Low. The combo ranks 2581 out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of all systems, and the benchmark results consistently show that the integrated-class Arc B390 cannot sustain playable performance at any resolution above 1080p Low settings. This analysis walks through the CPU and GPU contributions, settings behavior, resolution scaling, and the measured FPS breakdown to explain exactly where this configuration stands.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process node. It carries a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 30745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 2116 in Cinebench R23 single-core, and 19429 in Geekbench multi-core, with a PassMark multithread score of 45887. Its average benchmark score of 46881 places it at the 89th percentile among all CPUs, and it sits within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375, the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX, and the Intel Xeon w3-2535 in aggregate CPU performance.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 51 FPS on average; at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 18 FPS. This 33 FPS swing across settings at the same resolution is far too large to be attributed to CPU workload scaling—the i7-13700K's 16 cores and 24 threads provide ample headroom for a horror game released in 2021, which typically relies on a handful of threads for gameplay logic. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 10717 and the 3DMark 8-thread score of 8193 indicate strong multi-threaded throughput, while the single-thread score of 1136 ensures that even lightly threaded game logic should not bottleneck. The data suggests that the CPU's role in this combo is to feed frames to the GPU without constraint, and the fact that FPS scales almost entirely with graphics settings confirms that the processor is waiting on the GPU at every resolution. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 12 is not a CPU limitation—the i7-13700K's PassMark physics score of 2716 and data encryption score of 33249 are far beyond what a 2021 horror title requires. The CPU's job is done; the GPU cannot keep up.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is a system-shared-memory integrated graphics solution based on the Panther Lake chip with Xe3-LPG architecture, manufactured on Intel's 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, and its memory configuration is entirely system-dependent, with no dedicated VRAM, no dedicated bus width, and bandwidth tied to system memory. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, 24 raster operation units, and 12 ray tracing cores, yielding a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s, a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s, and 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. Its 80 W TDP and IGP slot width indicate that this is an integrated part intended for portable devices, not a discrete gaming card. The sole 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places the GPU at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, with nearest rivals being the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX at 1463, the NVIDIA GeForce 800M at 1460, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM at 1446, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 at 1443—all of which are over a decade old.

The GPU's performance in The Medium is the defining constraint of this combo. At 1080p Medium, the system averages 32 FPS; at 1080p High, it drops to 23 FPS; at 1080p Ultra, it falls to 18 FPS. This pattern shows that the Arc B390's compute and memory bandwidth are exhausted at even the lowest settings, and the lack of dedicated VRAM means that the system-shared memory must handle all frame data, textures, and geometry. The 4K results are particularly telling: 4K Medium averages 21 FPS, 4K High averages 15 FPS, and 4K Ultra averages 12 FPS. The GPU's 24 ROPs and 7.680 TFLOPS are simply insufficient for the pixel throughput demanded at 3840x2160, and the system-shared memory bandwidth becomes a severe bottleneck. The 3DMark score of 1482, which places the GPU just 1.3% above the GT 520MX, is consistent with the observed frame rates—this is entry-level integrated graphics performance from a decade ago, not a modern gaming solution. The RT cores and 12 Ultimate DirectX support do not help when the raw fill rate cannot sustain the game's rendering load.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that only one settings configuration produces an average frame rate above 45 FPS: 1080p Low at 51 FPS. Every other measured row falls below 45 FPS, with 1080p Medium at 32 FPS, 1440p Low at 43 FPS, and 4K Low at 34 FPS being the next closest. For a game like The Medium, which is a slow-paced horror title, the data indicates that 1080p Low is the only viable preset for acceptable smoothness, though even that average of 51 FPS may have dips below 45 FPS in demanding scenes, as the 1080p Medium measurement shows a minimum of 27 FPS.

At 1440p, the best option is Low settings, averaging 43 FPS, which is borderline playable but noticeably below the 1080p Low result. At 4K, even Low settings only reach 34 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay in a horror context where reaction time matters. The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 32 FPS with a minimum of 27 FPS and a maximum of 37 FPS, which is technically functional but will feel stuttery during camera panning and scene transitions. Given the GPU's 9th percentile ranking and its nearest rivals being GT 520MX and GT 710-class parts, the data strongly suggests that users should not attempt High or Ultra settings at any resolution—1080p High averages 23 FPS, 1440p High averages 19 FPS, and 4K High averages 15 FPS, all of which are below playable thresholds. The recommendation from the measured rows is unambiguous: use 1080p Low for the best experience, and if visual quality is a priority, accept that the frame rate will drop to the 30 FPS range at Medium settings.

FAQ

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

A: Technically yes, but not well. The measured data shows 4K Low averaging 34 FPS, 4K Medium averaging 21 FPS, 4K High averaging 15 FPS, and 4K Ultra averaging 12 FPS. None of these are comfortable for a horror game that relies on atmosphere and timing.

Q: What is the best settings preset for this hardware?

A: Based on the measured FPS rows, 1080p Low provides the highest average at 51 FPS. Every other preset and resolution combination falls below 45 FPS, with 1440p Low at 43 FPS and 4K Low at 34 FPS being the only others above 30 FPS.

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so much from 1080p to 4K?

A: The GPU's system-shared memory and 24 ROPs cannot handle the increased pixel workload at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system averages 51 FPS; at 4K Low, it averages 34 FPS, a 33% reduction. At Medium settings, the drop is from 32 FPS at 1080p to 21 FPS at 4K, a 34% reduction.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K bottlenecking the Arc B390?

A: No. The data shows that FPS scales almost entirely with graphics settings and resolution, indicating the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU's 16 cores and 24 threads, along with its 89th percentile ranking, provide far more processing power than the game requires.

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

A: The combo ranks 2581 out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of all systems. The GPU's 3DMark score of 1482 puts it at the 9th percentile, just 1.3% above the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX.

Q: Can the game run at 60 FPS on this hardware?

A: No. The highest measured average frame rate is 51 FPS at 1080p Low. All other settings and resolutions produce averages below 51 FPS, with the next closest being 43 FPS at 1440p Low. No measured row reaches 60 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance. From 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 51 to 43, a 15.7% reduction. From 1440p to 4K at Low settings, the average drops from 43 to 34, a 20.9% reduction. The full 1080p to 4K Low scaling shows a 33.3% reduction from 51 FPS to 34 FPS. At Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 32 FPS at 1080p, 27 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K, representing a 34.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the numbers are 23 FPS at 1080p, 19 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 4K, a 34.8% reduction. At Ultra settings, 18 FPS at 1080p, 15 FPS at 1440p, and 12 FPS at 4K, a 33.3% reduction.

The consistency of the scaling—roughly a one-third reduction in FPS from 1080p to 4K across all settings—indicates that the limiting component is the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth, not the CPU or game logic. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU workload would be similar regardless of pixel count. Instead, the proportional drop in performance with resolution is the classic signature of a GPU that is saturated at even 1080p. The system-shared memory config means that as resolution increases, the memory traffic grows, and the Arc B390's bandwidth—which is system-dependent and likely shared with the CPU—becomes the constraint. The pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are fixed; at 4K, the GPU must process over four times as many pixels as at 1080p, and the measured FPS drops accordingly. The data shows that this combo is GPU-limited in every configuration, and the resolution scaling confirms that the Arc B390's capabilities are exhausted at 1080p, with any higher resolution simply reducing the already-low frame rates further.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system achieves its best results. Low settings average 51 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 32 FPS with a minimum of 27 FPS and a maximum of 37 FPS, indicating that even the medium preset causes noticeable frame time variance. High settings average 23 FPS, and Ultra settings average 18 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 33 FPS, from 51 to 18, which demonstrates that the GPU's performance scales inversely with settings but never reaches a comfortable level above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the results are uniformly lower. Low settings average 43 FPS, a drop of 8 FPS from 1080p Low. Medium settings average 27 FPS with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 31 FPS, down 5 FPS from 1080p Medium. High settings average 19 FPS, and Ultra settings average 15 FPS. The 1440p Low result of 43 FPS is the second-highest average in the dataset, but it still falls short of the 1080p Low figure by 8 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p has a minimum of 23 FPS, which is below the 27 FPS minimum at 1080p Medium, showing that the GPU's frame delivery becomes less stable at higher resolution.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops to the lowest levels. Low settings average 34 FPS, which is the only 4K result above 30 FPS. Medium settings average 21 FPS with a minimum of 18 FPS and a maximum of 24 FPS, representing a severe degradation from 1080p Medium. High settings average 15 FPS, and Ultra settings average 12 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 12 FPS is the lowest measured figure in the entire dataset, and even 4K Low at 34 FPS is below the 1080p Medium average of 32 FPS, meaning that users must choose between resolution and settings quality. Across all 12 measured rows, only three configurations exceed 40 FPS: 1080p Low at 51, 1440p Low at 43, and 4K Low at 34. The data shows a consistent pattern where the Arc B390's performance is insufficient for smooth gameplay in The Medium at any resolution above 1080p with anything above Low settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core i7-13700K with the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2581 out of 2911 tested combinations in The Medium, placing it in the bottom 11.3% of all systems tested. This ranking reflects the extreme mismatch between the CPU and GPU: the i7-13700K is a high-end desktop processor at the 89th percentile of all CPUs, while the Arc B390 is an integrated GPU at the 9th percentile of all GPUs. The CPU's nearest rivals in aggregate performance include the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (0.2% higher), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (0.3% higher), the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (0.5% lower), and the Intel Xeon w3-2535 (0.5% lower), all of which are high-performance processors. In contrast, the GPU's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1.5% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (2.5% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (2.7% lower), all of which are entry-level parts from well over a decade ago.

The rank of 2581 out of 2911 is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows that the system cannot achieve 60 FPS at any settings or resolution. The ranking reflects the fact that the GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 is in the bottom 9% of all GPUs, and the game's measured performance mirrors this: the best case of 51 FPS at 1080p Low is still below the standard for smooth gameplay. The combination ranks below the vast majority of systems because the Arc B390's integrated-class performance is simply not suited for a 3D horror title like The Medium, regardless of the CPU's strength. The data indicates that this combo sits at the bottom of the performance distribution, with only 330 tested combinations ranking lower. The i7-13700K's capabilities are entirely wasted in this pairing, as the GPU becomes the hard ceiling on performance, and the measured FPS values across all 12 configurations—ranging from 12 FPS to 51 FPS—confirm that the system is firmly in the low-performance tier for this game.