The Medium

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and AMD Radeon RX 570 pairing lands near the bottom of the tested combos for The Medium, with a rank of 2793 out of 2911. This is not a combo built for high-refresh or high-fidelity play; the data shows a system that can manage playable frame rates only at the lowest settings and resolutions, with a severe drop-off as graphical demands increase. The following analysis breaks down exactly what the benchmark results indicate for this pairing.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 brings 10 cores and 10 threads to the table, running at a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It sits on the Intel Socket 1851 platform with a 65 W TDP, built on the Arrow Lake architecture using a 3 nm process from TSMC. The processor includes 20 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and a single-core score of 3655, with a PassMark multithread score of 30459 and a single-thread score of 4412. Its average benchmark score is 36938, placing it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs. Against its nearest rivals, the data shows a near-tie: the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F scores 36945 (a delta of 0%), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37018 (a delta of -0.2%), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093 (a delta of -0.4%), and the Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112 (a delta of -0.5%). This means the Core Ultra 5 225 is effectively on par with those four processors in overall CPU throughput.

For The Medium specifically, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU in most scenes, but the 10-core/10-thread configuration provides enough headroom to feed the RX 570 without becoming the primary bottleneck. The single-core performance, as indicated by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655, is adequate for the game's logic and scripting, which typically relies on fewer threads. The multi-core score of 25891 suggests that any background tasks or game engine threads that do scale across cores will not cause stutter. However, given the low frame rates observed across all settings, the CPU is not the limiting factor here; the GPU is clearly the constraint, so the CPU's processing power is effectively wasted in this pairing at the tested resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combo presents a clear hierarchy of playability. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 44 FPS, which is the only setting that approaches a smooth experience. The Medium preset at the same resolution drops to an average of 28 FPS, with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 32 FPS, which is borderline playable for a slower-paced horror title but will feel inconsistent. High at 1080p yields 20 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 16 FPS, both of which are effectively unplayable for a game that relies on atmospheric tension rather than fast reflexes.

Moving up to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 37 FPS, which is acceptable if you prefer the higher resolution over a smoother frame rate. Medium at 1440p drops to 23 FPS (min 20, max 27), and High and Ultra fall to 17 FPS and 13 FPS respectively, rendering them unusable. At 3840x2160, the Low preset manages 29 FPS, while Medium drops to 18 FPS (min 15, max 21), High to 13 FPS, and Ultra to 10 FPS.

The data strongly suggests that the best experience for this combo is the Low preset at 1920x1080, which yields the highest average frame rate of any measured configuration. If you insist on a higher resolution, 2560x1440 on Low is the only viable alternative, sacrificing 7 FPS on average compared to 1080p Low. The Medium preset at 1080p is a compromise that remains playable in the sense that it stays above 20 FPS, but the minimum of 23 FPS indicates occasional dips that could be noticeable. For a horror game where frame pacing matters for immersion, the recommendation is to stick with Low at 1080p for the most consistent experience.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 29 FPS, Medium averages 18 FPS (min 15, max 21), High averages 13 FPS, and Ultra averages 10 FPS. None of these are smooth, but Low at 4K is technically playable if you prioritize resolution over fluidity.

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

A: The benchmark results indicate that the Low preset at 1920x1080 provides the highest average frame rate at 44 FPS. This is the only configuration that approaches a standard 60 FPS target, though it falls short of it.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has an average benchmark score of 36938. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, scores 36945 (a delta of 0%), meaning they are statistically identical. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37018 (-0.2%), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093 (-0.4%), and the Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112 (-0.5%), all within a fraction of a percent.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: Given the low frame rates across all settings, the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and single-core score of 3655 are more than sufficient for the frame rates observed, as evidenced by the fact that even at 1080p Low, the average FPS is only 44.

Q: What is the frame rate range for the Medium preset at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the measured average FPS is 28, with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 32 FPS. This shows a tight but low range, indicating consistent performance at a sub-30 FPS level.

Q: How does the GPU's synthetic performance compare to its rivals?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 570 has an average benchmark score of 28766. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, scores 28874 (a delta of -0.4%), the AMD Radeon R9 M295X scores 28580 (a delta of 0.7%), the AMD Radeon RX 470 scores 28996 (a delta of -0.8%), and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 scores 28421 (a delta of 1.2%). These deltas are all within 1.2%, putting the RX 570 in a tight performance cluster.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and the AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 2793 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the bottom 4% of all systems tested, which aligns with the measured frame rates that rarely exceed 44 FPS even at the lowest settings. The rank reflects that while the CPU is a strong performer in its own right (85th percentile among all CPUs), the GPU drags the overall gaming experience down significantly.

Comparing this to the CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic tests, the data shows that swapping the Core Ultra 5 225 for a Ryzen 5 5600F, Ryzen 5 5500X3D, Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450, or Core i9-12900T would not change the gaming outcome, as all five processors have nearly identical average scores (within 0.5% of each other). The bottleneck is the GPU, and the combo rank would not improve without a more powerful graphics card. In practical terms, this rank means the system is suited for older titles or very light games, but for The Medium, it is at the extreme low end of what can render the game at all.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is based on the Polaris 20 chip using the GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). It features 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operations pipelines, delivering a pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s, with an FP32 performance of 5.095 TFLOPS.

The 4 GB VRAM is a critical limitation for The Medium, which is known for its dual-reality rendering that requires substantial memory for textures and geometry. At higher settings and resolutions, the GPU likely hits memory capacity limits, which explains the dramatic FPS drops. The data shows that at 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS is 10, while at 1920x1080 Low it is 44, a fourfold difference that correlates with both memory pressure and shader load.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RX 570 scores 880 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 39349 in Geekbench Metal, 32084 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 42752 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its average benchmark score is 28766, placing it in the 74th percentile among all GPUs. The nearest rivals show a tight cluster: the RX 6800M scores 28874 (-0.4%), the R9 M295X scores 28580 (0.7%), the RX 470 scores 28996 (-0.8%), and the Quadro RTX 8000 scores 28421 (1.2%). This indicates that the RX 570 is performing near the expected level for its class, but that class is simply insufficient for The Medium's demands at anything above Low settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 44 FPS, the highest of any configuration. Medium drops to an average of 28 FPS with a range of 23 to 32 FPS. High averages 20 FPS, and Ultra averages 16 FPS. This shows a clear progression: each step up in settings costs roughly 20-30% of the frame rate, with Low being the only playable option.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 37 FPS, which is 7 FPS lower than the same setting at 1080p. Medium averages 23 FPS (min 20, max 27), High averages 17 FPS, and Ultra averages 13 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 14 FPS, suggesting that the Medium preset's additional effects are disproportionately expensive at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 29 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration that breaks above 20 FPS. Medium averages 18 FPS (min 15, max 21), High averages 13 FPS, and Ultra averages 10 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is essentially a slideshow, and even Low at 4K is marginal for a game that benefits from smooth motion.

Comparing across resolutions, the data shows that dropping from 1080p to 1440p costs about 16% of the frame rate on Low (from 44 to 37 FPS), and dropping from 1440p to 4K costs another 22% (from 37 to 29 FPS). The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 28 FPS at 1080p, 23 FPS at 1440p, and 18 FPS at 4K. This consistent scaling indicates that the GPU is compute-bound rather than memory-bound at these settings, since the frame rate drops roughly proportionally to the pixel count increase. The only configuration that offers a reliably playable experience is 1080p Low at 44 FPS, with 1440p Low at 37 FPS as a secondary option for users who prefer higher resolution over frame rate.