The Medium

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces unplayable frame rates in The Medium across nearly every tested configuration. The data shows a system severely constrained by the integrated graphics solution, with the highest average frame rate reaching only 51 FPS at 1080p on Low settings. This combination ranks in the 2581st position out of 2911 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 11% of all systems, and the benchmark results indicate that the Arc B390’s performance is the primary bottleneck, rendering the powerful 20-core CPU largely irrelevant for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound scenario typical of a processor paired with an underpowered integrated graphics unit. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 51 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 43 FPS, a 15.7% reduction, and at 4K, the average falls further to 34 FPS, which is a 33.3% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline with increasing resolution is a clear indicator that the rendering pipeline is saturated by the GPU’s limited fill rate and shading power.

The scaling pattern becomes even more pronounced at higher quality presets. With Medium settings, the average frame rate drops from 32 FPS at 1080p to 27 FPS at 1440p (a 15.6% reduction) and then to 21 FPS at 4K (a 34.4% reduction from 1080p). The High preset shows a similar trajectory: 23 FPS at 1080p, 19 FPS at 1440p (down 17.4%), and 15 FPS at 4K (down 34.8% from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings underscores that the GPU is the limiting component; the CPU is not able to compensate for the increased pixel workload.

At the Ultra preset, the situation is dire. The system manages just 18 FPS at 1080p, 15 FPS at 1440p, and 12 FPS at 4K. The relative performance hit from 1080p to 4K is 33.3%, mirroring the other presets. This uniformity in scaling confirms that the Arc B390’s compute units and memory bandwidth are exhausted at all resolutions, and reducing resolution does not unlock meaningful performance because the GPU is already operating at its maximum throughput even at 1080p. The data suggests that for this specific game, the Intel Core i7-14700KF’s substantial processing capabilities are left idle, as the integrated GPU cannot generate enough frames to demand more from the CPU.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best average frame rate this system can achieve in The Medium?*

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 51 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

*Q: How does this system rank among all tested hardware combinations for The Medium?*

A: This combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2581st out of 2911 total tested combos, placing it in the bottom 11% of all systems for this game.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B390 capable of maintaining a playable frame rate at 1440p?

A: No. The best average frame rate at 2560x1440 is 43 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 27 FPS on Medium and 19 FPS on High. None of these averages are consistently smooth for a horror title requiring precise timing.

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

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields an average of 51 FPS, while the Ultra preset yields an average of 18 FPS. This represents a 64.7% reduction in average frame rate when switching from Low to Ultra.

Q: Does the CPU’s benchmark performance correlate with high frame rates in this game?

A: No. Despite the Intel Core i7-14700KF having a 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs and scoring 44,167 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, the system still fails to exceed 51 FPS. The bottleneck is entirely the Intel Arc B390, which sits in the 9th percentile for GPUs.

Q: What is the only configuration that approaches 60 FPS?

A: The only configuration that comes close is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which averages 51 FPS. All other settings and resolution combinations produce average frame rates of 43 FPS or lower.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data makes a decisive case for the Low settings preset as the only viable option for gameplay. At 1920x1080, Low settings produce an average of 51 FPS, which is the sole configuration that approaches a playable threshold. The Medium preset at the same resolution yields 32 FPS, a 37.3% drop in performance, which introduces significant stutter and makes the game feel sluggish. Given the data, users should prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, as the system cannot handle the additional load of higher presets.

For users who must play at 1440p, the Low preset is again the only recommendation, delivering 43 FPS. However, this is still below the 1080p Low performance, and the experience will be less fluid. At 4K, no preset is recommended for active play; the highest average is 34 FPS on Low, which is too inconsistent for a game that relies on atmospheric tension. The Ultra preset should be avoided entirely, as it yields an average of 12 FPS at 4K and 18 FPS at 1080p, rendering the game effectively a slideshow.

The data indicates a clear trade-off: the Arc B390 has insufficient shading units (1536) and texture mapping units (48) to handle the game’s fixed-function work at higher quality levels. The Medium preset’s minimum frame rates (27 FPS at 1080p, 23 FPS at 1440p, 18 FPS at 4K) confirm that even the mid-range preset causes frame time spikes that break immersion. Therefore, the measured rows suggest that players should accept the visual compromises of the Low preset to achieve the best playable experience, sacrificing graphical detail for functional gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system’s performance is tightly clustered and low. The Low preset delivers an average of 51 FPS, which is the peak performance for this entire hardware combination. The Medium preset averages 32 FPS, with a minimum of 27 FPS and a maximum of 37 FPS, showing a narrow band of performance that is still too low for smooth play. The High preset drops to an average of 23 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 18 FPS. The step from Low to Medium represents a 37.3% performance loss, while the step from Medium to High is a 28.1% loss, indicating that each quality tier imposes a significant cost on the integrated GPU.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats with lower absolute numbers. The Low preset averages 43 FPS, which is 15.7% slower than the same preset at 1080p. The Medium preset averages 27 FPS, with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 31 FPS. The High preset averages 19 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 15 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p is a 65.1% reduction in average frame rate, similar to the 64.7% reduction seen at 1080p, reinforcing that the GPU is the limiting factor across all resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the system is overwhelmed. The Low preset averages 34 FPS, which is the only playable-looking number at this resolution, though it is still below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset averages 21 FPS, with a minimum of 18 FPS and a maximum of 24 FPS. The High preset averages 15 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 12 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 64.7%, consistent with the other resolutions. Notably, the minimum frame rates at Medium settings (18 FPS at 4K) are lower than the average frame rates at High settings (15 FPS at 4K), indicating that frame pacing is erratic and the experience is consistently poor.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the definitive bottleneck in this configuration. Its benchmark score of 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% faster), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1.5% faster), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (2.5% faster). These are legacy entry-level parts, and the data confirms that the Arc B390’s performance class is far below what The Medium requires. With a 3 nm process node and Xe3-LPG architecture, the GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, which are insufficient for modern game rendering workloads.

The GPU’s clock behavior does not compensate for its limited core count. The base clock is 300 MHz, and the boost clock is 2500 MHz, but the measured frame rates show that even at maximum boost, the compute capacity is insufficient. The memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning the GPU relies on the system’s DDR4 or DDR5 memory, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This shared memory architecture is a severe disadvantage for a game like The Medium, which requires high memory throughput for texture streaming and scene complexity. The 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance sounds adequate on paper, but the 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate and 120.0 GTexel/s texture rate are the limiting factors, as evidenced by the steep frame rate drops at higher resolutions.

The data shows that the GPU’s performance is uniformly poor regardless of the CPU’s capabilities. The 3DMark score of 1482 is the only GPU benchmark available, and it aligns with the in-game results: the system cannot exceed 51 FPS even at the lowest settings. The 12 RT cores are irrelevant here, as the game’s performance is constrained by basic rasterization and shading, not ray tracing. The Arc B390’s 80 W TDP and IGP form factor suggest it is designed for basic display output, not gaming, and the measured FPS data confirms this assessment.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is an exceptionally powerful processor that is entirely underutilized in this pairing. With 20 cores and 28 threads, it boasts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44,167 and a single-core score of 6,235. Its Geekbench multi-core score of 21,462 and single-core score of 2,578 further demonstrate its high-end positioning, ranking in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. However, the in-game performance is dictated entirely by the GPU, as the CPU’s processing power cannot overcome the Arc B390’s limitations.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (0.2% faster), AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.4% faster), and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.9% faster), all of which are similarly high-performance parts. This context shows that the i7-14700KF is not the source of any performance shortfall. The base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz are more than sufficient for gaming, and the 33 MB of shared L3 cache ensures fast data access. The CPU’s 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory are standard for a desktop flagship, but none of these attributes translate into higher frame rates in The Medium because the GPU is the limiting factor.

The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking. For instance, the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K is consistent across presets, which would not be the case if the CPU were struggling to feed the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would remain flat across resolutions. Instead, they drop significantly, confirming that the GPU is saturated. The CPU’s 80 KB per-core L1 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide plenty of bandwidth for game logic, but the Arc B390 simply cannot render frames fast enough to benefit from the CPU’s speed. In this system, the CPU is a high-performance component that has no positive impact on the gaming experience due to the GPU’s severe limitations.