The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents an unusually demanding workload for the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and AMD Radeon 760M combination. The measured data reveals a system that is fundamentally constrained by its integrated graphics, with performance collapsing as resolution and settings increase. This analysis examines the measured FPS rows to understand the nature of this bottleneck and what it means for playability.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and immediate, painting a clear picture of a GPU-limited scenario. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 31 FPS at 1920x1080 to 26 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 5 FPS, and then plummets to 21 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 32% decrease in performance from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is not linear; the jump from 1440p to 4K costs only 5 FPS, while the jump from 1080p to 1440p costs a similar 5 FPS. This suggests that even at 1080p, the GPU is already near its limit, and the additional pixel count at higher resolutions overwhelms its shading units and memory bandwidth.

At Medium settings, the trend continues but with lower absolute numbers. The average FPS at 1080p is 19, dropping to 16 at 1440p and 13 at 4K. The delta between each resolution step is consistently 3 FPS, indicating a steady, predictable degradation. This consistent step-down implies that the render pipeline is saturated; each increase in pixel count directly translates to a proportional decrease in throughput. The data shows that the fixed-function hardware, specifically the 16 ROPs and 32 TMUs, is the limiting factor, as these units must process every pixel regardless of scene complexity.

The High and Ultra presets are essentially unplayable at any resolution. At High settings, the frame rate ranges from 14 FPS at 1080p to 9 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings are worse, with the average dipping to 11 FPS at 1080p and 7 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution is substantial; at 1080p, the difference is 20 FPS (31 vs. 11). This wide gap, combined with the steep resolution scaling, strongly indicates that the Radeon 760M's 512 shading units are the primary bottleneck, as higher presets increase the per-pixel shader workload, which directly impacts the 5.323 TFLOPS FP32 throughput.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 760M is the decisive component in this pairing. Its integrated nature, with "System Shared" memory and bandwidth described as "System Dependent," means it relies on the CPU's dual-channel DDR5 memory, which has a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. This shared memory architecture is a critical weakness in a game like The Medium, which uses a split-world mechanic that likely requires significant texture streaming and memory allocation. The benchmark results confirm this, as the GPU's Passmark G3D score of 5310 places it in the 35th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are the discrete AMD Radeon RX 6400 and the older NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M.

The clock speeds of the GPU, with a base of 800 MHz and a boost of 2599 MHz, are relatively high for an integrated part, but they cannot compensate for the lack of dedicated VRAM. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's performance is not just low, but also unstable. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum FPS is 11 and the maximum is 15, a variance of 4 FPS around the 13 FPS average. This variance is likely due to memory contention with the CPU, as both components share the same memory pool. The GPU's 8 RT cores and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate are present, but The Medium's specific rendering engine does not appear to benefit from them, as the frame rates remain critically low.

The GPU's benchmark scores further contextualize its limits. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is a mere 400 points, and its Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 20255 and 30336, respectively. These numbers are indicative of a part designed for basic productivity and light gaming, not a demanding horror title. The data shows that the GPU's Passmark DirectX 11 score of 52 and DirectX 12 score of 25 are particularly low, suggesting that the driver overhead and feature set are not optimized for high-end graphics workloads. The Radeon 760M is the clear limiting factor, and the measured FPS reflects its position in the 35th percentile.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run The Medium at 1080p with playable frame rates?

A: Based on the measured data, only at Low settings. The average FPS at 1920x1080 Low is 31 FPS. At Medium, it drops to 19 FPS, which is below the generally accepted threshold for smooth playability. High and Ultra presets yield 14 FPS and 11 FPS, respectively, which are not playable.

Q: How does the performance at 1440p compare to 1080p?

A: The performance decreases by roughly 15-20% across all settings. For example, at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 31 at 1080p to 26 at 1440p. At Medium, it drops from 19 to 16 FPS. The resolution scaling indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck, as the frame rate decrease is proportional to the increase in pixel count.

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

A: The data shows that the Low preset is the only viable option for playable frame rates. At 1920x1080 Low, the average FPS is 31. The Medium preset at 1080p offers 19 FPS, which is a 12 FPS drop for a modest visual improvement, making Low the recommended choice for any semblance of smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the 4K resolution feasible for this game on this hardware?

A: No. The highest average FPS at 3840x2160 is 21 FPS on the Low preset. All other presets at 4K yield average frame rates below 13 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the worst, with an average of 7 FPS. This resolution is entirely out of reach for this integrated GPU.

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

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 6019, which is within 0.5% of the AMD Radeon RX 6400 and NVIDIA Quadro P2000. It is also 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M. This indicates that its raw compute performance is similar to those older discrete cards, but its shared memory architecture is a significant disadvantage in a real-world gaming scenario.

Q: Are the minimum FPS values significantly lower than the average?

A: For the Medium preset, the minimum FPS is consistently 2 FPS lower than the average at all resolutions. For example, at 1080p Medium, the average is 19 FPS with a minimum of 17 FPS. This suggests some frame time inconsistency, but the primary issue is the low average, not severe stuttering.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the resolution with the highest performance, the Low preset delivers an average of 31 FPS. This is the only preset that approaches playability. The Medium preset provides 19 FPS, with a minimum of 17 and a maximum of 22 FPS. High settings drop to 14 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 11 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 12 FPS loss, illustrating the significant cost of even modest graphical enhancements on this GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease across the board. Low settings yield 26 FPS, a 5 FPS drop from 1080p. Medium settings average 16 FPS, with a minimum of 14 and a maximum of 19 FPS. High and Ultra presets are 12 FPS and 9 FPS, respectively. At this resolution, even the Low preset falls below the 30 FPS target, making the game feel sluggish and unresponsive.

At 3840x2160, the performance is critically low. The Low preset is the only one to break the 20 FPS barrier, with an average of 21 FPS. Medium settings average 13 FPS, with a minimum of 11 and a maximum of 15 FPS. High settings are 9 FPS, and Ultra settings are 7 FPS. These numbers confirm that the Radeon 760M is not capable of handling the pixel throughput required for 4K rendering in this title. The data shows a consistent pattern: each increment in resolution or settings results in a substantial loss of performance, with no preset offering a stable, playable experience beyond 1080p Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and the AMD Radeon 760M ranks 2900 out of 2911 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the bottom 0.4% of all configurations, indicating that it is one of the least capable systems for this specific game. This ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU's integrated nature and its low performance ceiling. The combo is ranked far below systems with even entry-level discrete graphics cards, as the measured FPS data shows it cannot maintain playable frame rates at any resolution above 1080p Low.

This near-bottom ranking is not surprising given the GPU's specifications. The Radeon 760M's Passmark G3D score of 5310 is in the 35th percentile, and its nearest rivals are all older or lower-tier discrete parts. The combo's rank of 2900 suggests that the vast majority of other tested systems, which likely include discrete GPUs, are capable of significantly better performance. The data implies that this laptop configuration is designed for general productivity and light workloads, not for demanding games like The Medium. The 2911 total combos represent a wide range of hardware, and this combo's position at the very bottom highlights its severe limitations for this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 scores of 15028 multi-core and 1743 single-core place it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, indicating that its processing power is more than sufficient for gaming. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-14600T and AMD Ryzen 5 7400F, have comparable average benchmark scores, suggesting that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this system.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is likely to handle game logic, AI, and physics, while the GPU renders the frame. Given the extremely low FPS, the CPU is almost certainly underutilized, as the GPU cannot keep up with the render workload. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support ensure that data can be fed to the GPU, but the GPU's own limitations prevent any meaningful performance. The data shows that the CPU's Passmark single-thread score of 3468 and multithread score of 24873 are strong, but these are irrelevant when the GPU is producing single-digit frame rates at 4K.

The CPU's integrated graphics, the Arc Xe-LPG 128EU, is different from the AMD Radeon 760M, but this system uses the AMD part. The CPU's performance is a non-factor in this analysis, as the bottleneck is entirely on the GPU side. If the game were CPU-bound, we would expect to see similar frame rates at 1080p and 4K, but the data shows a significant drop, confirming that the GPU is the sole limiting component. The CPU's high benchmark scores and percentile ranking indicate that it would be capable of much higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the only viable settings preset for any semblance of playable performance is Low at 1920x1080, which yields an average of 31 FPS. This is the sole configuration that approaches the 30 FPS threshold. While not ideal, it is the only option that provides a consistent enough frame rate to be playable. The Medium preset at 1080p, with 19 FPS, is a significant downgrade in smoothness and is likely to feel stuttery and unresponsive.

The data suggests that there is no "best" experience in terms of visual quality, as any increase in settings results in a disproportionate loss of performance. For example, moving from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 12 FPS, a 39% decrease, for a modest visual improvement. Therefore, the recommendation is to use the Low preset at 1080p. At 1440p, the Low preset offers 26 FPS, which is below the playability threshold, and at 4K, even Low settings are at 21 FPS. The user should accept the lowest visual settings to achieve the highest possible frame rate.

The measured rows indicate that the game's Ultra and High presets are not meant for this hardware. The performance at these settings is so low that they are effectively a slideshow. The data implies that the user should prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity. The only way to get a more balanced experience would be to reduce the resolution below 1080p, but that is not a tested configuration. Therefore, 1080p Low is the definitive recommendation from the data, as it is the only preset that offers a playable, albeit not smooth, experience.