The Medium

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT lands at rank 1941 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. That places this setup in the 48th percentile of all configurations tested, meaning roughly half of the combos in the database deliver higher average frame rates. This is a mid-pack result, not a standout, but the context matters: the ranking includes every CPU and GPU combination tested, from budget parts to flagship hardware, so a middle placement here is reasonable for a system built around a 20-core desktop processor and a last-generation Radeon card.

What the rank does not tell you directly is the performance ceiling. The measured FPS data shows this combo is entirely playable at several settings, but it is not pushing high refresh rates at demanding presets. At 1080p Ultra the average is 39 FPS, and at 1440p Ultra it drops to 33 FPS. The rank reflects that reality: this is a 1080p-and-1440p-medium-to-high system for The Medium, not an Ultra-preset powerhouse. Compared to the nearest rival CPUs in the benchmark database, the Core Ultra 7 265 sits within 0.7% of the AMD EPYC 7343 and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, which tells you the processor itself is not the limiting factor in most gaming workloads. The GPU percentile, at 72, is notably higher than the combo's game rank, suggesting the graphics card is the stronger component here while the overall combo ranking is dragged down by the CPU's modest gaming performance relative to other tested processors.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 6700 XT is the workhorse of this pairing in The Medium. It carries 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for a horror title of this era. The GPU's clock behavior is interesting: the base clock sits at 2321 MHz, the game clock at 2424 MHz, and the boost clock at 2581 MHz. In a game like The Medium, which relies on fixed camera angles and pre-rendered environments, the sustained game clock is more relevant than the peak boost, and the measured frame rates reflect a card that is running comfortably within its design envelope.

The GPU's benchmark standing reinforces its role. Its average benchmark score of 27425 places it at the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, and it trades blows with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, coming within 0.5% of that card's average score. That is a striking data point: a mid-range Radeon from the RX 6000 series sitting essentially level with a flagship Ampere card in aggregate benchmarks. For The Medium specifically, the 12 GB VRAM is never a constraint at any of the tested settings, even at 4K Ultra where the average FPS drops to 26. The memory bandwidth and capacity are sufficient; the limitation at higher resolutions is raw compute throughput, not memory.

The GPU's DirectX 12 performance, as measured by the Passmark DirectX 12 test at a score of 77, is modest, but The Medium's engine does not appear to be heavily dependent on that API's advanced features. The card's RDNA 2 architecture with 40 ray accelerators is present, but the game's performance scaling suggests traditional rasterization is the primary workload. The FP32 throughput of 13.21 TFLOPS is the relevant number for this title, and it shows in the frame rates: playable at medium settings across resolutions, but struggling to maintain 60 FPS at high presets.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a clear pattern in how this combo scales from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the average frame rate moves from 69 FPS at 1920x1080 to 58 FPS at 2560x1440, then falls to 45 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 16% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 35% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the scaling is steeper proportionally: 110 FPS at 1080p, 92 FPS at 1440p, and 73 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result being 33% lower than 1080p Low indicates the GPU is doing most of the work, even at the least demanding preset.

The High preset tells a similar story with lower absolute numbers: 49 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p, and 32 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result is 35% lower than 1080p High, nearly identical to the Medium preset's drop. This consistency across presets points to a purely GPU-bound scaling pattern. If the CPU were the bottleneck, you would expect the 1080p results to plateau regardless of resolution, but they do not — the frame rate continues to climb as resolution drops, all the way down to 1080p. The CPU, with its 20 cores and 20 threads, is never the constraint here; it is sitting well within its capability at every resolution tested.

The Ultra preset is the outlier in terms of playability. At 1080p Ultra the average is 39 FPS, at 1440p it is 33 FPS, and at 4K it drops to 26 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is 33% lower than the 1080p Ultra, the same proportional drop seen at other presets. This tells you the Ultra preset is uniformly too demanding for this GPU, regardless of resolution. The limiting component is clearly the RX 6700 XT's raw shading capability, not memory bandwidth or CPU throughput.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 at Medium settings delivers 69 FPS average, with a minimum of 58 FPS, which is the highest frame rate at a visually reasonable preset. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 58 FPS with a 49 FPS minimum, which is still playable but closer to the edge.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K in The Medium?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where it averages 73 FPS. At Medium settings the 4K average falls to 45 FPS, and at High it drops to 32 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is not playable, averaging just 26 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting component. The resolution scaling data shows frame rates dropping consistently as pixel count increases, which is the signature of a GPU-bound workload. The CPU's benchmark scores, including a 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, indicate it has ample headroom.

Q: How does the RX 6700 XT compare to other GPUs in the database?

A: The GPU sits at the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27425. It is within 0.5% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090's average score and within 1.1% of the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell.

Q: What is the highest playable preset at 1440p?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 provide a 58 FPS average with a 49 FPS minimum. High settings drop to 41 FPS average, which is technically playable but with more frequent frame pacing issues. Ultra at 1440p averages 33 FPS, which is not recommended for a smooth experience.

Q: Is the Core Ultra 7 265 a strong gaming CPU for this title?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 64640 places it at the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, and it is within 0.3% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F and 0.7% of the AMD EPYC 7343. For The Medium, the processor is more than sufficient, as evidenced by the consistent GPU-bound scaling.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium as the optimal preset for this combo. At 1080p Medium, the average frame rate is 69 FPS with a minimum of 58 FPS, which is the best balance of visual quality and smoothness. Dropping to Low at 1080p yields 110 FPS average, but the visual downgrade in a horror game with heavy atmosphere — The Medium relies on split-screen rendering and detailed environments — is not worth the extra headroom unless you are chasing very high refresh rates. High at 1080p averages 49 FPS, which is playable but sits below the 60 FPS target most builders prefer.

At 1440p, the recommendation is also Medium, with a 58 FPS average and 49 FPS minimum. That minimum is borderline for a game with tense, scripted sequences where frame drops are noticeable. If you want a safer margin at 1440p, Low settings deliver 92 FPS average, which gives you a large buffer. The High preset at 1440p, at 41 FPS average, is not recommended for a smooth experience. At 4K, the only sensible option is Low, which averages 73 FPS; Medium at 4K drops to 45 FPS, and High falls to 32 FPS. The Ultra preset is a non-starter at every resolution — the highest average it achieves is 39 FPS at 1080p, and that is with no minimum frame rate data to confirm stability.

The data also shows a consistent pattern in the Medium preset's minimum and maximum frame rates across resolutions: at 1080p the range is 58 to 79 FPS, at 1440p it is 49 to 66 FPS, and at 4K it is 39 to 52 FPS. The spread is roughly 20 FPS at each resolution, indicating the game's frame pacing is stable even when the GPU is under load. That consistency makes Medium the most reliable choice for this hardware.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is not the star of this show, but it is a capable supporting player. With 20 cores and 20 threads, a base clock of 2.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, this Arrow Lake-S processor has far more compute headroom than a horror game like The Medium requires. The CPU's benchmark results confirm its strength: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42216 and a single-core score of 5960 place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 64640 is within 0.3% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F and 0.7% of the AMD EPYC 7343, showing it is a well-rounded processor for general workloads.

In The Medium specifically, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU without becoming a bottleneck, and the data confirms it does. The resolution scaling shows no signs of CPU limitation — frame rates continue to improve as resolution drops, which would not happen if the processor were holding back the system at lower resolutions. The 3 nm process node and 30 MB of shared L3 cache contribute to the CPU's efficiency, but for this game, the key metric is that the 20 threads are never saturated. The game's engine is not heavily multithreaded, so the 2.40 GHz base clock at lower utilization is more than adequate.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are all server or workstation parts — AMD EPYC 4464P, EPYC 7343, and EPYC 9124 — which speaks to its positioning as a high-core-count desktop chip. For gaming, that positioning means you are getting a processor that excels at productivity tasks while still delivering single-thread performance (5.30 GHz boost) that keeps games running smoothly. The measured FPS data in The Medium does not change materially based on CPU choice at this level of performance; the RX 6700 XT is the determining factor in every tested configuration. If you are building this combo, the CPU is not the component to upgrade for better frame rates in this title — the GPU is. The CPU's job is to ensure the system never stutters due to thread exhaustion, and with 20 cores, that job is thoroughly handled.