The Medium

The Medium is a punishing title for this hardware pairing, and the benchmark data confirms a fundamental imbalance. The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and the AMD Radeon RX 570 produces playable results only at the lowest settings and resolution, with the GPU acting as the definitive bottleneck across all measured configurations. The data indicates that this is not a viable combination for a smooth experience at higher presets, as the average frame rates fall well below standard playability thresholds.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and reveals the GPU's limitations. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 44 FPS at 1920x1080 to 37 FPS at 2560x1440, and then down to 29 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 34% performance loss from 1080p to 4K. The trend is consistent across all settings, with High presets dropping from 20 FPS at 1080p to 17 FPS at 1440p and further to 13 FPS at 4K. This scaling pattern is classic GPU-bound behavior; the CPU has ample headroom, but the RX 570's 4 GB GDDR5 memory and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are overwhelmed by the increasing pixel count.

The Medium's resolution scaling shows that the limiting component is unequivocally the graphics card. When comparing the 1080p Low result of 44 FPS to the 4K Ultra result of 10 FPS, the frame rate collapses by over 77%. This is not a subtle degradation; it is a cliff. The data suggests that even modest resolution increases demand disproportionately more from the GPU, which simply does not have the raw throughput to maintain consistent frame delivery. The 2560x1440 Medium result of 23 FPS, with a minimum of 20 FPS, indicates that the GPU is already struggling to maintain a stable frame pacing at this resolution, and the situation only worsens at 4K.

The pattern is clear: the RX 570's performance curve is steeply negative as resolution increases. The 1920x1080 Ultra setting produces 16 FPS, which is only marginally better than the 4K High result of 13 FPS. This suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shader count are exhausted by the game's fixed overhead, making resolution the primary factor for performance loss. The CPU, with its 20 cores and 20 threads, is not the constraint here; the data shows that the GPU's 2048 shading units and 32 ROPs are the definitive performance ceiling.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for playable frame rates?

A: The only configuration that approaches playability is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which yields an average of 44 FPS. All other settings at this resolution produce averages below 30 FPS, and the Medium preset drops to 28 FPS with a minimum of 23 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 570 perform relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 570's average benchmark score is 28,766, placing it 0.4% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6800M and 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 470. It is 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon R9 M295X and 1.2% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000. These are marginal differences in synthetic tests, but the in-game data shows the GPU is consistently the limiting factor.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 powerful enough for this game?

A: Yes, the CPU is not the bottleneck. The Core Ultra 7 265 has a multi-core score of 42,216 in Cinebench R23 and a single-core score of 5,960, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. The game's frame rates are dictated by the GPU, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops across resolutions while the CPU's workload remains static.

Q: What is the impact of the 4 GB VRAM on performance?

A: The 4 GB GDDR5 memory is a critical constraint. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 10, indicating that the GPU is running out of memory bandwidth and capacity. The 224.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient for the high-resolution textures and effects in The Medium.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 2,793 out of 2,911 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the bottom 4% of all configurations, confirming that it is a low-performing pairing for this specific title.

Q: What is the difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The Low preset produces an average of 44 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces 16 FPS. This represents a 64% reduction in frame rate from Low to Ultra, showing the massive performance cost of the higher-quality effects and shadows.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear directive for this hardware combination: the Low preset is the only viable option. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average frame rate is 44 FPS, which is the sole configuration that exceeds the 30 FPS threshold for basic playability. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 28 FPS, which is below acceptable levels and includes a minimum frame rate of 23 FPS, indicating noticeable stutter and frame pacing issues. The High preset at 1080p drops to 20 FPS, and the Ultra preset is unplayable at 16 FPS.

The data suggests that even the Low preset is not a comfortable experience, as 44 FPS is still below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. However, it is the only setting that allows the game to be played without severe visual and mechanical distortion. The 2560x1440 Low preset produces 37 FPS, which is a marginal improvement in visual fidelity but still falls short of the 1080p Low result. The 4K Low preset at 29 FPS is technically playable but is right at the edge of the playability threshold and will likely experience frequent drops.

Given the severe performance penalties of higher presets, the recommendation is to use the Low preset at 1920x1080. This setting provides the best balance of visual clarity and frame rate, as the game's horror atmosphere relies on smooth camera movement and responsive controls. The Medium preset at 1080p is not recommended, as the 28 FPS average and 23 FPS minimum will result in a jarring experience. The data indicates that the RX 570 lacks the raw compute power to handle the game's fixed overhead at any resolution above 1080p with higher settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and AMD Radeon RX 570 is ranked 2,793 out of 2,911 tested combinations for The Medium. This rank places it in the 4th percentile of all tested systems, meaning that 96% of other configurations outperform it in this specific game. This is a remarkably low ranking, underscoring the fact that the CPU's high performance is completely negated by the GPU's limitations. The CPU alone is in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, but the GPU is only in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, and the combination results in a net performance that is far below what either component's individual benchmark scores would suggest.

The data reveals that the pairing is severely mismatched for this title. The Core Ultra 7 265 has a passmark multithread score of 49,682, and the RX 570 has an average benchmark score of 28,766. Yet, in game, the system is bottlenecked at the GPU, resulting in a rank that is lower than what a mid-range CPU with a similar GPU would achieve. The nearest rival GPUs, such as the RX 6800M and RX 470, have similar average scores, but the fact that this combo ranks so low suggests that The Medium is particularly sensitive to the GPU's specific architecture and memory subsystem.

The rank of 2,793 out of 2,911 is a stark verdict. It indicates that this is not a configuration built for The Medium, and any user expecting to play this game at high settings will be severely disappointed. The data shows that the CPU's 20 cores and 20 threads are irrelevant when the GPU cannot render frames fast enough. This ranking serves as a warning that high-end CPU performance does not compensate for a low-end GPU in a GPU-bound title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has 20 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its architecture is Arrow Lake, built on a 3 nm process. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42,216 and single-core score of 5,960 place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, indicating that it is a high-performing processor for general and multi-threaded workloads. However, the in-game data for The Medium shows that the CPU's role in this specific title is minimal, as the frame rates are dictated by the GPU.

The game's performance characteristics show that it is heavily GPU-bound. The 1080p Low setting produces 44 FPS, but the 4K Low setting produces 29 FPS, a drop that cannot be attributed to CPU workload. The CPU has a passmark physics score of 2,923 and a passmark single-thread score of 4,689, which are more than sufficient to handle the game's logic and AI. The bottleneck is clearly the GPU's 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 159.2 GTexel/s texture rate, which are insufficient for the game's rendering demands at higher resolutions.

The CPU's L3 cache is 30 MB shared, and its memory bandwidth is 102.4 GB/s, which are ample for gaming. The data suggests that the CPU is idling in this scenario, waiting for the GPU to deliver frames. The 20 cores and 20 threads are never fully utilized, as The Medium is not a highly multi-threaded title. The CPU's high boost clock of 5.30 GHz helps with single-threaded tasks, but it cannot overcome the GPU's fundamental performance ceiling. In this context, the CPU is a non-factor, and the measured FPS is almost entirely a function of the GPU's capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive picture of the performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the Low setting is the only one that achieves a playable average of 44 FPS. The Medium setting produces 28 FPS, with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 32 FPS. The High setting drops to 20 FPS, and the Ultra setting bottoms out at 16 FPS. The frame pacing at Medium is noticeably inconsistent, as the 9 FPS range between min and max indicates.

At 2560x1440, the Low setting produces 37 FPS, which is a 16% drop from the 1080p Low result. The Medium setting produces 23 FPS, with a minimum of 20 FPS and a maximum of 27 FPS. The High setting drops to 17 FPS, and the Ultra setting falls to 13 FPS. The performance degradation from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across all settings, confirming that the GPU is the primary constraint. The 1440p Medium result is particularly poor, as the 20 FPS minimum will cause noticeable stuttering during gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the results are largely unplayable. The Low setting produces 29 FPS, which is the only setting above 20 FPS. The Medium setting drops to 18 FPS, with a minimum of 15 FPS and a maximum of 21 FPS. The High setting produces 13 FPS, and the Ultra setting produces 10 FPS. The 4K Medium result shows a 6 FPS range, indicating severe frame time spikes. Across all resolutions, the data shows a clear pattern: the RX 570 is only capable of providing a smooth experience at 1080p with Low settings, and even then, it is not ideal.

The full breakdown is as follows: at 1080p, the Low setting's 44 FPS is the highest measured average. The Medium setting's 28 FPS is the second highest, followed by High at 20 FPS and Ultra at 16 FPS. At 1440p, the Low setting's 37 FPS is the highest, with Medium at 23, High at 17, and Ultra at 13. At 4K, the Low setting's 29 FPS is the highest, with Medium at 18, High at 13, and Ultra at 10. The minimum FPS data is only available for the Medium settings, which shows 23 FPS at 1080p, 20 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 4K, indicating that the Medium preset is the most unstable configuration across all resolutions.