The Medium

The Medium is a demanding horror title that leverages fixed camera angles and heavy post-processing to create its oppressive atmosphere. For the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics, the benchmark data presents a clear picture of a system that is fundamentally constrained by its GPU. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings show a configuration that is best suited for low-resolution, low-detail play, with performance falling off sharply as visual demands increase.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data shows a steep and consistent decline as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, a classic indicator of a GPU-limited scenario. At the Medium preset, the system produces an average of 32 FPS at 1920x1080, which drops to 27 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 21 FPS at 3840x2160. This scaling pattern shows a 34% performance loss from 1080p to 4K, but more importantly, the absolute values are all below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is about 16%, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs another 22%, indicating that the rendering pipeline becomes more expensive as pixel count grows.

The data for the Low preset shows a similar trend but with higher absolute numbers. At 1920x1080, the average is 51 FPS; at 2560x1440, it decreases to 43 FPS; and at 3840x2160, it falls to 34 FPS. This represents a 33% total reduction from the lowest to the highest resolution. The High and Ultra presets display even more aggressive scaling, with 4K Ultra averaging just 12 FPS, which is a 33% drop from the 18 FPS at 1080p Ultra. The consistency of this scaling across all presets confirms that the limiting factor is the GPU's pixel and texture throughput, not the CPU.

The resolution scaling data strongly indicates that as resolution increases, the rendering load on the Intel Arc B390 grows at a rate the hardware cannot sustain. The modest frame rate improvements at lower resolutions show that the system can handle the computational load better when fewer pixels are rendered, but even at 1080p, the performance is not sufficient for a smooth experience except at the Low preset. The data suggests that the gameplay experience is entirely dictated by the resolution and settings, with no headroom for higher resolutions without a significant drop in frame rate.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 render output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The graphics card has a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s, with an FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS. This is a low-power design with a TDP of 80 W, and its memory is System Shared, meaning it relies on the same DDR5 memory as the CPU, with bandwidth listed as dependent on the system.

The benchmark data for the GPU shows a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, which places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This is a very low score, and the nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, which scores 1463, and the NVIDIA GeForce 800M, which scores 1463, with delta percentages of 1.3% and 1.5% respectively. This indicates that the Arc B390 is only slightly faster than these legacy mobile GPUs, which underscores its limited performance capabilities.

In The Medium, the GPU's role is the primary bottleneck. The measured FPS at 1080p Medium is 32 FPS, which is a low number for a modern title, and it is only available at the Medium preset. The integrated graphics lack the memory bandwidth and raw compute power needed to handle the game's visual complexity. The ray tracing cores are present but do not appear to be utilized at the settings tested, as the frame rates are too low to suggest any advanced rendering is active. The GPU's low percentile ranking and the close rival scores indicate that this is not a gaming-focused part, and the measured results reflect that.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 CPU and the Intel Arc B390 GPU ranks 3314 out of 3724 possible combinations tested in this game. This rank places it in the bottom 11% of all tested combos, which is a poor showing. The low rank is consistent with the GPU's low percentile ranking, indicating that the graphics component is the primary drag on performance. The CPU, which has a higher percentile of 85 among all CPUs, is not the limiting factor, but the overall combo score is dragged down by the GPU.

The rank of 3314 out of 3724 indicates that the majority of other hardware combinations tested are capable of better performance in The Medium. This is expected given the integrated graphics, which are not designed for high-end gaming. The data shows that this combo is not suitable for playing the game at any resolution or setting with a stable and playable frame rate. The low rank is also supported by the measured data, which shows that even at the lowest settings, the system does not achieve a comfortable frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the system's performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 18 FPS, which is unplayable. The High preset averages 23 FPS, which is still not smooth. The Medium preset averages 32 FPS, which is the first setting that approaches a playable frame rate, but it is still inconsistent. The Low preset averages 51 FPS, which is the only setting that provides a smooth experience, and it is the only one that can be considered acceptable for this title.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly. The Ultra preset averages 15 FPS, the High preset averages 19 FPS, and the Medium preset averages 27 FPS. The Low preset averages 43 FPS, which is the only setting that remains close to playable, but it is still not a stable 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, the situation is even worse. The Ultra preset averages 12 FPS, the High preset averages 15 FPS, and the Medium preset averages 21 FPS. The Low preset averages 34 FPS, which is the only setting that is not completely unplayable.

The minimum and maximum FPS are only available for the Medium settings. At 1080p, the minimum is 27 FPS and the maximum is 37 FPS, showing a 10 FPS variance. At 1440p, the minimum is 23 FPS and the maximum is 31 FPS, and at 4K, the minimum is 18 FPS and the maximum is 24 FPS. This data shows that even the Medium preset has some instability, with the frame rate often dropping below the average. The Low preset, while not having min/max data, appears to be the most stable based on its higher averages.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 CPU is a 10-core, 10-thread processor with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It has 20 MB of L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus. The CPU has a TDP of 65 W and is based on the Arrow Lake architecture, fabricated on a 3 nm process. The CPU's benchmark scores show a single-core score of 4412 in PassMark, and a multi-thread score of 30459. The CPU also scores 3655 in Cinebench 23 multi-core and 3655 in single-core. This places the CPU in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, which is a solid result.

The nearest rivals for the CPU are the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which scores 36945, and the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D, which scores 37018, with the CPU having a delta of 0% and -0.2% respectively. This indicates that the CPU is in a performance tier with these mainstream processors. In The Medium, the CPU is not the bottleneck, as the GPU is the clear limiting factor. The CPU's high benchmark scores and the fact that the frame rates do not scale with resolution indicate that the CPU is not saturated. The game is likely using only a few cores, and the CPU has more than enough headroom to handle the game's logic and rendering calls.

The CPU's role in this combo is to provide a stable platform for the GPU, but it is not the reason for the low performance. The data indicates that the CPU is a capable part that would perform well with a better GPU, but in this configuration, it is held back by the integrated graphics. The CPU's high single-thread and multi-thread scores suggest that it could handle higher frame rates if the GPU were not the bottleneck, but the current results are all about the GPU's limitations.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the only settings that provide a playable experience are at the Low preset. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 51 FPS, which is a smooth frame rate. At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 43 FPS, which is still playable, but it is a noticeable drop from 1080p. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 34 FPS, which is the only playable option, but it is not ideal. No other preset at any resolution achieves an average FPS above 32.

The Medium preset at 1080p averages 32 FPS, which is a borderline playable frame rate, but it does have a minimum of 27 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold. The High and Ultra presets are not playable at any resolution, with the High preset never exceeding 23 FPS and the Ultra preset never exceeding 18 FPS. The best experience for this combo is to play at 1920x1080 with the Low preset, which gives the highest average FPS and a smooth experience. The 2560x1440 Low preset is also viable, but the 1080p Low is the best option.

The data shows that the Low preset is the only one that can deliver a frame rate that is consistently above 30 FPS, and even then, it only reaches a level that is playable. The Medium preset at 1080p is the next best option, but it is a more demanding setting that reduces the frame rate to an average of 32 FPS with a lower minimum. The Ultra preset is not recommended, as it yields unplayable frame rates across all resolutions. The best experience per the measured data is therefore the Low preset at 1920x1080, which provides the highest frame rate and the most consistent performance.