The Medium

The Medium, a horror title built around fixed camera angles and layered reality-shifting, presents a unique stress profile for hardware. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580, using only the benchmark data provided. The results show a configuration that is heavily constrained by its graphics card, with CPU headroom that goes largely unused across all tested settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep and consistent performance cliff as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 49 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 41 FPS, a 16.3% reduction. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 32 FPS, which is 34.7% lower than the 1080p result. This pattern of diminishing returns at higher pixel counts is classic GPU-bound behavior. The rendering pipeline in The Medium is clearly dominated by fill-rate and memory bandwidth demands, not by the CPU's ability to feed the frame.

The scaling across all settings follows this same trajectory. At Medium settings, the average FPS goes from 31 at 1080p, to 26 at 1440p, and down to 20 at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 4K at Medium is 11 FPS, or a 35.5% drop. For High settings, the numbers are 22, 18, and 14 FPS respectively, representing a 36.4% decline from 1080p to 4K. The Ultra preset is the least playable tier, starting at 17 FPS at 1080p and collapsing to 11 FPS at 4K, a 35.3% reduction. This consistency—roughly a one-third loss in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K—indicates that the limiting component is the GPU's raw throughput, not any CPU-side bottleneck.

The fact that the drop from 1440p to 4K is proportionally similar to the drop from 1080p to 1440p reinforces this interpretation. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would plateau or show less degradation at higher resolutions, because the CPU's workload (draw calls, game logic) does not increase with pixel count. Instead, the linear decline suggests the RX 580 is saturated at every resolution, with its 256-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth struggling to keep up with the game's high-resolution textures and post-processing effects. The 4K Medium result of 20 FPS with a minimum of 17 and maximum of 23 shows tight frame pacing, which is typical of a GPU that is consistently at its compute limit rather than experiencing sporadic CPU hitches.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, running at a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, it posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and a single-core score of 3655. Its PassMark multithread score is 30459, with a single-thread score of 4412. These numbers place it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, indicating strong performance for general workloads. However, in The Medium, the measured FPS data shows that this CPU power is largely irrelevant to the outcome.

Looking at the FPS deltas between settings at a fixed resolution, the CPU's influence is minimal. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 18 FPS (49 to 31), and from Medium to High costs 9 FPS (31 to 22). These reductions are almost entirely attributable to increased GPU load from higher-quality shaders and lighting. If the CPU were a bottleneck, we would expect to see the FPS remain similar across Low and Medium settings, because the CPU would be the fixed constraint. Instead, the FPS scales directly with GPU workload, confirming the CPU is not the limiting factor. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (102.4 GB/s bandwidth) are more than sufficient for this game's requirements, which typically involve streaming large textures but not complex physics simulations.

The nearestRivals data for the CPU shows it performing almost identically to the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (deltaPct 0), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (-0.2%), and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (-0.4%). This suggests that any modern mid-range CPU would produce similar results in this specific game, because the GPU is the deciding factor. The Core Ultra 5 225's high boost clock of 4.90 GHz would help in CPU-bound scenarios, but The Medium's measured frame times do not indicate such a scenario exists here. The game's fixed camera angles and relatively low object counts at any given moment reduce the CPU's draw-call burden, allowing the GPU to establish the performance ceiling.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the clear bottleneck in this configuration. This Polaris 20 chip, built on a 14 nm process, features 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. Its base clock is 1257 MHz with a boost clock of 1340 MHz, and it has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's PassMark G3D score is 8813, placing it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (deltaPct -0.1) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (deltaPct -0.4), indicating it sits in a performance tier that is now several generations old.

The VRAM capacity of 8 GB is adequate for 1080p in this title, but the 4K results suggest that memory bandwidth and compute throughput are the limiting factors. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 11 FPS, which is a slideshow. Even at 4K Low, the average is 32 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable play. The GPU's FP32 performance of 6.175 TFLOPS is simply insufficient for the pixel shader workload at 4K in a game that uses heavy volumetric effects and dual-reality rendering. The Medium's signature mechanic of showing two worlds simultaneously likely doubles the effective pixel processing requirement, punishing the RX 580's 32 ROPs at higher resolutions.

The GPU's measured performance in The Medium aligns with its synthetic scores. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1005 and PassMark DirectX 12 score of 43 indicate modest API-level performance. The game's engine, which is optimized for DirectX 12, seems to scale predictably with the GPU's raw specs. The 256.0 GB/s bandwidth is the same figure that was competitive in 2017, and at 4K, texture fetches and frame buffer writes consume that bandwidth rapidly. The result is that the GPU is always the component that dictates the final FPS number, regardless of whether the CPU is running at 3.30 GHz or boosting to 4.90 GHz.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks 2654 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the bottom 8.8% of all configurations, which is a direct reflection of the GPU's age and performance tier. The CPU's high percentile (85th) does little to lift the combo's ranking because the game is so GPU-bound. This ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data: even at the lowest settings and resolution, the combo only achieves 49 FPS, which is barely playable by modern standards.

The rank of 2654 out of 2911 indicates that the vast majority of other tested combos deliver higher frame rates. This is expected, given that the RX 580 is an end-of-life product released in 2017, while the Core Ultra 5 225 is a 2025 release. The pairing creates a significant imbalance, where the CPU could support a much more powerful GPU without becoming a bottleneck. The data shows that the combo's performance is almost entirely determined by the GPU's 53rd percentile standing. If the CPU were paired with a GPU in the 80th percentile, the combo's rank would likely be in the top half, given the CPU's headroom.

The nearestRivals for the GPU include the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile and GTX 1660 SUPER, both of which have similar average benchmark scores. In practice, these GPUs would produce nearly identical results in The Medium, meaning the combo's rank would not change significantly with a swap to those cards. The ranking is a stark illustration of how a single weak component can define the entire experience. The CPU's 25891 Cinebench R23 multi-core score is irrelevant when the GPU's 6.175 TFLOPS cannot sustain a playable frame rate at 1440p or 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Based strictly on the measured FPS rows, the only playable configuration is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, which produces an average of 49 FPS. This is the only row that exceeds the 30 FPS threshold that is generally considered the minimum for a playable experience in a slow-paced horror game. The 1080p Medium setting yields 31 FPS, which is borderline playable but may suffer from noticeable stutter during scene transitions, as indicated by the minimum of 26 FPS and maximum of 35 FPS. For players who prioritize frame rate stability over visual fidelity, 1080p Low is the recommended preset.

At 1440p, the best result is 41 FPS on Low settings, which is playable but not smooth. The 1440p Medium row shows 26 FPS average with a minimum of 22 FPS, which is below the playable threshold and likely to feel sluggish. At 4K, no settings tier achieves playable frame rates. The 4K Low result of 32 FPS is technically above 30 FPS, but the lack of a minimum FPS value in the data makes it risky to recommend, as the average could mask significant dips. The 4K Medium row shows a minimum of 17 FPS, confirming that 4K is not viable for this combo.

The Ultra preset is entirely unusable across all resolutions, with 1080p Ultra at 17 FPS and 4K Ultra at 11 FPS. The High preset is also problematic, with 1080p High at 22 FPS and 1440p High at 18 FPS. The data clearly indicates that the RX 580 cannot handle The Medium's higher-quality presets at any resolution. The recommendation is to use Low settings at 1080p for the most consistent experience, or Medium at 1080p if the player can tolerate frame rates dipping into the upper 20s. There is no scenario where this combo should be used at 1440p or 4K, as the measured data shows all configurations below 41 FPS, with most below 30 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the four settings tiers produce distinct results. Low settings average 49 FPS, which is the highest measured for this combo. Medium settings average 31 FPS, with a recorded range of 26 to 35 FPS. High settings average 22 FPS, and Ultra settings average 17 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent degradation of 18, 9, and 5 FPS for each step up in quality, respectively. This indicates that the largest performance cost comes from transitioning from Low to Medium, likely due to the enabling of dynamic shadows and higher-resolution textures.

At 2560x1440, the results are as follows: Low averages 41 FPS, Medium averages 26 FPS (with a range of 22 to 30 FPS), High averages 18 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 15 FPS, which is slightly less than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is already becoming saturated. The drop from High to Ultra is only 3 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional effects (likely ambient occlusion and volumetric lighting) are barely rendering due to GPU limits.

At 3840x2160, the numbers fall off a cliff. Low averages 32 FPS, Medium averages 20 FPS (with a range of 17 to 23 FPS), High averages 14 FPS, and Ultra averages 11 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 12 FPS, and between Medium and High is 6 FPS. The Ultra preset at 11 FPS is effectively a static image for gameplay purposes. The 4K Medium range of 17 to 23 FPS shows that even the minimum FPS is below the playable threshold, confirming that 4K is not viable. The overall pattern across all resolutions is that the RX 580's performance scales linearly with pixel count, with no setting tier providing a playable experience at 4K and only Low at 1080p providing a comfortable margin above 30 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this hardware in The Medium?

A: The only configuration that exceeds 45 FPS is 1920x1080 with Low settings, averaging 49 FPS. The 1080p Medium preset averages 31 FPS, which is playable but with a minimum of 26 FPS that may cause occasional stutter.

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

A: No. The highest 4K result is 32 FPS on Low settings, but the 4K Medium row shows a minimum of 17 FPS and an average of 20 FPS. All 4K presets are below the 30 FPS playability threshold, with Ultra averaging 11 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The CPU ranks in the 85th percentile, while the GPU is in the 53rd percentile. The FPS drops linearly with resolution, indicating GPU-bound performance, and the CPU's high boost clock of 4.90 GHz does not help at higher resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 2654 out of 2911 tested configurations, placing it in the bottom 8.8%. This low ranking is almost entirely due to the GPU, as the CPU's nearest rivals show near-identical synthetic scores, and the game is not CPU-limited.

Q: What is the difference in FPS between 1080p and 4K at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, 1080p averages 31 FPS, while 4K averages 20 FPS. This represents a 35.5% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K, consistent with the GPU's bandwidth limitations.

Q: Is the Ultra preset usable at any resolution?

A: No. The highest Ultra result is 17 FPS at 1080p. At 1440p, Ultra averages 15 FPS, and at 4K, it averages 11 FPS. The Ultra preset is not playable at any resolution with this GPU.