The Medium

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT produces a specific performance profile in The Medium, a horror title known for its fixed-camera angles and dual-reality rendering. The benchmark data shows a combination that sits in the lower-middle tier of tested hardware, delivering playable frame rates primarily at 1080p and 1440p with adjusted settings, while struggling at 4K. This analysis breaks down the measured results, the role of each component, and the practical settings for the best experience.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 2,911 tested hardware combinations for The Medium, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT ranks 1,886th. This places it in the 35th percentile of all tested combos, indicating that a majority of systems will outperform it in this specific title. The ranking reflects a balance where the GPU is the primary constraint, but the CPU provides enough headroom to avoid being a significant bottleneck at most settings.

The combo’s position is not surprising given the GPU’s overall standing. The RX 6650 XT sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, which is a mid-range placement. However, its performance in The Medium is dragged down by the game’s demanding rendering techniques. The CPU, meanwhile, ranks in the 89th percentile among all processors, showing that it is a high-performing component relative to the broader market. This disparity—a top-tier CPU paired with a mid-tier GPU—explains why the combo’s overall rank is moderate: the system’s gaming capabilities are gated by the graphics card, not the processor.

When looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is virtually tied with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, Intel Core i9-13900HX, AMD EPYC 4364P, and AMD EPYC 7303. The average benchmark score of the Ultra 5 235 is 46,062, which is just 0.1% higher than the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and 0.2% higher than the EPYC 4364P, while being 0.1% lower than the Core i9-13900HX. In a gaming context, these differences are negligible, meaning the CPU choice is unlikely to be the deciding factor in frame rates. The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA Tesla K40m and AMD FirePro D300, are professional or older workstation cards, which underscores that the RX 6650 XT is positioned for consumer gaming but not at the top of the performance stack.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s. These specifications are adequate for 1080p gaming, but they become strained at higher resolutions. The GPU’s base clock is 2055 MHz, with a game clock of 2410 MHz and a boost clock of 2635 MHz. The memory operates at an effective speed of 17.5 Gbps.

In The Medium, the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is a critical factor. The game’s dual-reality mechanic, which renders two worlds simultaneously, is memory-intensive. At 4K resolution, the 8 GB frame buffer is insufficient to maintain smooth performance at higher settings, as evidenced by the average frame rates dropping to 28 FPS at High and 22 FPS at Ultra. At 1080p, however, the VRAM capacity is sufficient, allowing the GPU to deliver playable frame rates. The 128-bit memory bus, while not the widest, is paired with a high effective clock speed to provide 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which helps mitigate some of the pressure in less demanding scenes.

The GPU’s raw compute capabilities include 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. It also has 32 ray tracing cores, though The Medium does not heavily utilize ray tracing, so this feature has minimal impact on the measured results. The pixel rate is 168.6 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 337.3 GTexel/s, with a FP32 performance of 10.79 TFLOPS. These numbers indicate a card that is capable of solid 1080p performance but will require settings reductions to maintain playable frame rates at 1440p and especially 4K. The benchmark results confirm this, showing a clear drop-off as resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For a smooth experience at 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 95 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 59 FPS, with minimums of 51 FPS and maximums of 68 FPS, providing a good balance between visual quality and performance. The High preset at 1080p drops to 43 FPS average, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 34 FPS, which is likely too low for a comfortable experience.

At 1440p, the Low preset averages 80 FPS, which is excellent for this resolution. The Medium preset averages 50 FPS, with minimums of 43 FPS and maximums of 58 FPS, making it a viable option for those who want better visuals without sacrificing too much performance. The High preset at 1440p averages 36 FPS, which dips below the 60 FPS target and may feel stuttery. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 28 FPS, which is not recommended for a playable experience.

At 4K, the situation is more challenging. The Low preset averages 63 FPS, which is surprisingly playable, but the visual quality is significantly reduced. The Medium preset at 4K averages 39 FPS, with minimums of 33 FPS and maximums of 45 FPS, which is borderline. The High preset averages 28 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 22 FPS, both of which are too low for a smooth experience. Therefore, the recommendation is to use Low settings for 4K, Medium for 1440p for a balanced experience, and Medium or High for 1080p depending on preference for visual fidelity versus frame rate stability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at how this combo performs across all settings and resolutions. Starting at 1080p, the Low preset achieves an average of 95 FPS, which is the highest recorded for this combo. The Medium preset averages 59 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 68 FPS, showing a stable range. The High preset averages 43 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 34 FPS, indicating a steep drop-off as settings increase.

Moving to 1440p, the Low preset averages 80 FPS, which is a 15 FPS decrease from 1080p Low. The Medium preset averages 50 FPS, with a minimum of 43 FPS and a maximum of 58 FPS, representing a 9 FPS drop from 1080p Medium. The High preset averages 36 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 28 FPS. At 1440p, the frame rates are still playable at Low and Medium, but High and Ultra are marginal.

At 4K, the Low preset averages 63 FPS, which is a significant drop from 1440p Low but still above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset averages 39 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 45 FPS, showing a wider variance and indicating that the system is struggling. The High preset averages 28 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 22 FPS, both of which are too low for a smooth experience. The data shows a consistent pattern: each step up in resolution or settings reduces the average FPS by roughly 10-20%, with the most pronounced drops occurring at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear picture of the system’s limitations. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 95 at 1080p to 80 at 1440p, a decrease of 15.8%, and then to 63 at 4K, a further decrease of 21.3%. This indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is being heavily taxed by the higher pixel counts. At Medium settings, the FPS drops from 59 at 1080p to 50 at 1440p (15.3% decrease) and then to 39 at 4K (22% decrease). At High settings, the FPS drops from 43 at 1080p to 36 at 1440p (16.3% decrease) and then to 28 at 4K (22.2% decrease). At Ultra settings, the FPS drops from 34 at 1080p to 28 at 1440p (17.6% decrease) and then to 22 at 4K (21.4% decrease).

These percentages show that the frame rate penalty for moving from 1440p to 4K is consistently higher than the penalty for moving from 1080p to 1440p. This suggests that the GPU is the limiting component, as the increased pixel count at 4K overwhelms the 8 GB VRAM and the 128-bit memory bus. The CPU, which has 14 cores and 14 threads with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, is not the bottleneck here, as evidenced by the relatively consistent performance drop across all settings. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would be more similar across resolutions, but the data shows a clear GPU-bound scenario.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 24 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. Its integrated graphics are Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 24 execution units, but these are not used for gaming in this configuration.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with data and handle the game’s simulation logic. The game is not heavily CPU-bound, as the fixed-camera angles limit the number of objects on screen at once. The benchmark results show that the CPU is more than capable of keeping up with the GPU at all settings. For instance, at 1080p Low, the CPU allows the GPU to reach 95 FPS, which is near the limit of what the GPU can produce. Even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is struggling to maintain 22 FPS, the CPU is not the cause of the low frame rate; it is simply waiting for the GPU to finish rendering each frame.

The CPU’s high percentile ranking (89th) compared to the GPU’s (65th) reinforces this analysis. The Core Ultra 5 235 is a strong performer, with an average benchmark score of 46,062, placing it in the top tier of processors. However, this raw processing power does not translate to higher frame rates in The Medium because the game’s performance is dictated by the GPU’s ability to render the complex scenes. The CPU’s 14 cores are more than sufficient for this title, which likely does not utilize all of them, but the high single-thread performance (2085 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensures that the game’s main thread does not become a bottleneck.

FAQ

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

A: At 1080p, the Medium preset offers the best balance with an average of 59 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 68 FPS. For 1440p, the Low preset is recommended, averaging 80 FPS, while the Medium preset is playable at 50 FPS average. At 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option, averaging 63 FPS.

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so significantly at 4K?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, which is insufficient for the higher pixel count at 4K. The data shows a consistent 20%+ drop in FPS from 1440p to 4K across all settings, indicating that the GPU is the limiting component.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 a bottleneck for the RX 6650 XT?

A: No, the CPU is not a bottleneck. The Core Ultra 5 235 ranks in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46,062, while the GPU ranks in the 65th percentile. The frame rate drops are consistent across settings, indicating a GPU-bound scenario.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 1,886th out of 2,911 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle tier. The CPU is comparable to rivals like the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and Intel Core i9-13900HX, with deltaPct values of 0.1% and -0.1%, respectively, but the GPU’s mid-range performance holds the system back.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values for the Medium preset?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum FPS is 51. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 43. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 33. These values indicate that the system can maintain a relatively stable frame rate at 1080p and 1440p, but 4K Medium has more variance.

*Q: Does the CPU’s high core count help in The Medium?*

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 has 14 cores and 14 threads, but The Medium does not appear to be a heavily multithreaded title. The CPU’s high single-thread performance (2085 in Cinebench R23 single-core) is more relevant, ensuring that the game’s main thread does not become a bottleneck, as evidenced by the GPU-bound frame rates across all settings.