The Medium

# The Medium: Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060

The pairing of Intel's Core Ultra 5 225 with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060 produces a fascinating case study in bottleneck behavior for a fixed-camera horror title like The Medium, which released in 2021. The benchmark data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions, yet shows unexpected scaling characteristics that hint at the CPU's capabilities. With a combo rank of 2287 out of 2911 tested pairings, this configuration sits in the lower third of all tested combos, which initially suggests modest performance, but the resolution scaling data tells a more nuanced story about where the system's strengths and weaknesses lie.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across the three tested resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance, but with some notable nonlinearities. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 83 FPS, which drops to 70 FPS at 1440p (a 15.7% reduction) and further to 55 FPS at 4K (a 33.7% reduction from 1080p). This scaling curve demonstrates that the RTX 2060's 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth become increasingly stressed as pixel count rises, though the drop from 1080p to 1440p is less severe than the subsequent drop to 4K.

The Medium's fixed-camera angles and pre-rendered environments mean the GPU's workload scales predictably with resolution, and the data confirms this. With Medium settings, the progression from 52 FPS at 1080p to 44 FPS at 1440p represents a 15.4% decrease, while the 4K result of 34 FPS marks a 34.6% decline from 1080p. This consistent pattern across settings tiers indicates that resolution scaling is uniform regardless of quality preset, which points to the GPU's pixel throughput capabilities being the primary constraint rather than any CPU-side limitation.

High settings tell a similar story: 37 FPS at 1080p, 31 FPS at 1440p (16.2% lower), and 25 FPS at 4K (32.4% lower). The consistency of these percentage drops across all three settings tiers is striking. It suggests that the RTX 2060's 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs are being utilized at near-maximum efficiency, and the frame rate declines are purely a function of increased pixel count. The Ultra preset data shows the most dramatic scaling, with 30 FPS at 1080p falling to 25 FPS at 1440p (16.7% drop) and 20 FPS at 4K (33.3% drop).

The 4K results are particularly telling. At 4K Ultra, the system manages only 20 FPS, which is below playable thresholds. Even at 4K Low, the 55 FPS result suggests the GPU is still the limiting factor, as the CPU's 10 cores and 10 threads with a 4.90 GHz boost clock are unlikely to be saturated at any resolution in a game with The Medium's relatively static camera work. The data implies that 4K is only viable at Low settings, and even then, the 55 FPS average leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2287 out of 2911 tested combinations places this system in the 21st percentile of all tested pairings, which is a surprisingly low position given the individual component benchmarks. The CPU alone sits at the 85th percentile among all tested CPUs, while the GPU ranks at the 58th percentile among all GPUs. This discrepancy between component percentiles and the final combo rank suggests that The Medium is particularly demanding on the GPU, and the RTX 2060's age relative to newer hardware drags the overall combination down.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its processing capabilities. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F scores 36945 in average benchmarks, essentially identical to the Core Ultra 5 225's 36938 average score. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37018, which is 0.2% higher, while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093 (0.4% higher) and the Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112 (0.5% higher). These deltas are minimal, indicating that the Core Ultra 5 225 is well-matched against its direct competitors in synthetic benchmarks, though their gaming performance in this specific title may vary.

The GPU's nearest rivals paint a different picture. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 scores 15283, essentially tied with the RTX 2060's 15290. The AMD Radeon 680M scores 15270 (0.1% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM scores 15199 (0.6% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 scores 15171 (0.8% lower). These tiny deltas suggest that in this benchmark database's scoring, the RTX 2060 is considered roughly equivalent to much newer GPUs, which is unusual given its 2019 release date. This could indicate that The Medium's specific rendering techniques favor the RTX 2060's Turing architecture.

The low combo rank relative to component percentiles suggests that many of the 2911 tested combinations feature significantly more powerful GPUs paired with similar or weaker CPUs. The data indicates that in The Medium, the GPU is the dominant factor in determining overall performance, and the RTX 2060's 6 GB VRAM capacity may be a limiting factor for texture-heavy scenes at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 brings 10 cores and 10 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This is a modern Arrow Lake-S architecture chip built on TSMC's 3 nm process, featuring 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide solid memory hierarchy for gaming workloads, while the 102.4 GB/s dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth ensures the CPU can feed data to the GPU without becoming a bottleneck.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong single-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655, which is critical for The Medium's AI-driven scene transitions and scripting. The multi-core score of 25891 in Cinebench R23 indicates substantial parallel processing capability, though the game's fixed-camera design likely doesn't utilize all 10 cores equally. The PassMark single-thread score of 4412 and multithread score of 30459 corroborate the Cinebench results, showing balanced performance across different workload types.

The CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs means it outperforms the majority of processors in the benchmark database. However, in The Medium, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The fact that frame rates scale so consistently with resolution across all settings tiers suggests that the CPU is never the limiting factor, even at 1080p Low where 83 FPS is achieved. The CPU's 10 threads are likely sufficient to handle the game's update loop, physics calculations, and AI pathfinding without creating a bottleneck.

The PassMark physics score of 2342 and data compression score of 302811 indicate strong general-purpose performance, but these metrics don't directly translate to gaming performance in a title like The Medium. The CPU's integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 16EU is irrelevant for this discrete GPU configuration, but its presence doesn't detract from processing capability. The 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1851 platform positioning suggest this is a mainstream desktop part designed for balanced performance, which aligns with its pairing with the RTX 2060.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1080p is the most viable resolution, with all settings tiers producing playable frame rates. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 83 FPS, while 1080p Medium produces 52 FPS and 1080p High reaches 37 FPS. The 1440p results are also playable at Low (70 FPS) and Medium (44 FPS), but 4K is only playable at Low settings with 55 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 5 225 scores 36938 in average benchmarks, which is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at 36945. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is 0.2% faster, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 is 0.4% faster, and the Intel Core i9-12900T is 0.5% faster. These differences are minimal and unlikely to affect gaming performance significantly.

Q: Is the RTX 2060 the bottleneck in this system?

A: Yes, the data strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The consistent frame rate scaling across resolutions and settings, combined with the CPU's high percentile ranking (85th) versus the GPU's lower ranking (58th), suggests the RTX 2060 cannot keep up with the CPU's processing capability in this title.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 53 FPS. Low settings produce 83 FPS, while Ultra settings produce only 30 FPS. This represents a 63.9% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 2287 out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 21.4% of all tested pairings. This is notably lower than the individual component percentiles, indicating that The Medium is particularly demanding on the GPU component of this pairing.

Q: What are the minimum frame rates recorded for this system?

A: The only resolution and settings combination with recorded minimum frame rates is Medium quality. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 44 FPS with a maximum of 60 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 37 FPS with a maximum of 50 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 29 FPS with a maximum of 40 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the decisive component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the observed performance patterns. The TU106 chip, built on TSMC's 12 nm process, contains 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die. With 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, the GPU has substantial raw compute capability, but the 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is the limiting factor for higher resolutions.

The GPU's clock speeds of 1365 MHz base and 1680 MHz boost provide reasonable performance, but the memory configuration is what determines The Medium's behavior. At 4K, the 6 GB VRAM capacity likely causes texture streaming issues or reduced texture quality, which explains the dramatic frame rate drops at higher resolutions. The 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present but likely underutilized in a game that doesn't heavily rely on ray tracing or DLSS.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) means it can handle modern rendering techniques, and its Vulkan 1.4 support ensures compatibility with The Medium's engine. The 160 W TDP and dual-slot design are modest for a GPU of this era, but the 1x 8-pin power connector and 450 W suggested PSU indicate it doesn't require excessive power delivery. The GPU's end-of-life production status and 2019 release date explain why it lags behind newer hardware in the benchmark database.

The PassMark G3D score of 14111 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1242 provide context for the GPU's synthetic performance. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 65014 and Vulkan score of 65846 show consistent performance across different compute APIs. The GPU's 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the middle of the pack, which aligns with its age and specifications.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the GTX 580, Radeon 680M, RTX 3050 OEM, and RX 7600, all scoring within 0.8% of the RTX 2060. This clustering suggests that in this database's scoring methodology, the RTX 2060's real-world gaming performance is comparable to much newer hardware, likely due to its mature driver support and optimized architecture for existing game titles.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience balance between visual quality and frame rate is achieved at 1080p Medium settings. This configuration produces 52 FPS average with a minimum of 44 FPS and maximum of 60 FPS, which provides smooth gameplay for The Medium's horror atmosphere without sacrificing too much visual fidelity. The 60 FPS maximum indicates the system can handle less demanding scenes at this setting, while the 44 FPS minimum ensures playable performance during more intensive moments.

For players prioritizing higher visual quality, 1440p Medium offers 44 FPS average with 37 FPS minimum and 50 FPS maximum. This is a viable alternative if the player has a 1440p display and can tolerate slightly lower frame rates. The 37 FPS minimum is still above the 30 FPS threshold typically considered minimally playable, though it may feel less smooth during fast-moving scenes.

At 4K, the only reasonable option is Low settings, which produces 55 FPS average. However, this sacrifices significant visual quality, and the 34 FPS result at 4K Medium suggests that even Medium settings are borderline unplayable at this resolution. The 20 FPS result at 4K Ultra is clearly not viable for gameplay. Players should avoid Ultra settings entirely, as even at 1080p, Ultra produces only 30 FPS.

The Low settings preset at 1080p delivers 83 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play or players who prioritize frame rate above all else. However, The Medium is a horror game that benefits from visual atmosphere, so the Medium preset at 1080p represents the best balance. For players with 1440p displays, the choice between 1440p Low (70 FPS) and 1440p Medium (44 FPS) depends on whether frame rate or visual quality is more important.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings reveals the full performance envelope of this system. At 1920x1080, the four settings tiers produce the following results: Low averages 83 FPS, Medium averages 52 FPS with a range of 44-60, High averages 37 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS. The 31 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p demonstrates the significant performance cost of higher quality presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results show: Low averages 70 FPS, Medium averages 44 FPS with a range of 37-50, High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 25 FPS. The 45 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is larger than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU's performance headroom shrinks as resolution increases. The Medium setting at 1440p produces identical average FPS to 1080p High (44 vs 44), suggesting these two configurations have similar GPU workloads.

At 3840x2160, the data shows: Low averages 55 FPS, Medium averages 34 FPS with a range of 29-40, High averages 25 FPS, and Ultra averages 20 FPS. The 35 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is the largest across all resolutions, confirming that the RTX 2060's memory bandwidth and capacity are severely strained at this resolution. The 4K Low result of 55 FPS is surprisingly high, indicating that The Medium's visual effects at Low settings are not particularly demanding on GPU resources.

The minimum FPS data, available only for Medium settings, shows that the system maintains playable minimums at 1080p (44 FPS) and 1440p (37 FPS), but at 4K the minimum drops to 29 FPS. This 29 FPS minimum at 4K Medium represents the only measured instance where the system dips below 30 FPS, suggesting that even the Medium preset at 4K is marginal for consistent gameplay. The maximum FPS values of 60 at 1080p and 50 at 1440p indicate that the system can achieve higher frame rates in less demanding scenes, but the 40 FPS maximum at 4K shows the GPU's limitations at this resolution.