The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience where environmental detail and lighting effects tax the rendering pipeline heavily. The data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT shows a configuration that is capable of smooth gameplay, but only within specific settings and resolution boundaries. This analysis walks through the measured frame rates, the roles of each component, and how this specific combination ranks against other tested hardware configurations.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the most consistent environment for this combo, with average frame rates ranging from 41 FPS at Ultra to 115 FPS at Low. At 2560x1440, the average drops to 34 FPS at Ultra and 97 FPS at Low, while 3840x2160 averages 27 FPS at Ultra and 76 FPS at Low.

Q: How much of a performance gap exists between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The measured results indicate a substantial 74 FPS difference at 1920x1080. The Low preset achieves an average of 115 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to an average of 41 FPS, representing a performance reduction of roughly 64% when moving to the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the 12 GB VRAM of the RX 6750 XT become a limiting factor at 4K?

A: The benchmark data does not provide VRAM usage figures, so a direct capacity bottleneck cannot be confirmed. However, the frame rate drop from an average of 76 FPS at 4K Low to 27 FPS at 4K Ultra indicates a significant load increase on the GPU’s rendering resources at higher settings, which may relate to memory pressure.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combo rank is 1292 out of 2911 tested combinations. This places the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT in the upper-middle tier of all recorded systems, indicating it outperforms more than half of the tested hardware pairings in The Medium.

Q: Which component is more likely to be the bottleneck at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The GPU is the primary constraint in this scenario. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 27 FPS, which is significantly below the 60 FPS target. The CPU’s high single-thread score of 5960 in Cinebench R23 suggests it has ample headroom, leaving the RX 6750 XT’s rendering throughput as the limiting factor.

Q: Is the 20-core processor necessary for this game, or is it overkill?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary driver of performance in The Medium at higher resolutions. The frame rates scale heavily with GPU settings and resolution, indicating the workload is graphics-bound. The CPU’s capability is more relevant for ensuring consistent minimum frame rates, as seen in the Medium preset where the 1080p min FPS is 61.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is the central component for determining frame rates in The Medium, as the game’s visual fidelity relies heavily on the GPU’s shading, texture, and pixel processing capabilities. The card is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture and features a base clock of 2150 MHz with a boost clock of 2600 MHz. It is equipped with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. These specifications allow the card to handle high-resolution textures and complex lighting calculations, but the measured data shows its limits in this specific title.

The performance scaling across settings is steep. At 1920x1080, the card delivers an average of 115 FPS on Low settings, but this falls to 72 FPS on Medium and 52 FPS on High. The Ultra preset pushes the card to an average of 41 FPS. This pattern shows that the RX 6750 XT’s raw compute power, which is rated at 13.31 TFLOPS for FP32, is sufficient for lower presets but becomes strained as the game increases the number of active effects. The same trend is visible at 2560x1440, where the average drops from 97 FPS at Low to 34 FPS at Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The card manages an average of 76 FPS on Low, which is playable, but the Medium preset drops to 48 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS. High and Ultra settings are not viable for smooth gameplay, averaging 34 FPS and 27 FPS respectively. The 12 GB VRAM buffer is likely being filled with the higher resolution assets and effects, and the 432.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a constraint for feeding the 2560 shading units. The benchmark results indicate the RX 6750 XT is a capable 1080p and 1440p card for this game, but 4K requires significant settings compromises.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT achieves a rank of 1292 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This percentile placement, which sits just below the top half of all configurations, reflects the balance between the high-end CPU and the mid-range GPU. The CPU is a top-tier performer, ranking in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 71st percentile of all GPUs. This pairing creates a system that is strong overall but not at the absolute forefront of gaming performance for this title.

When compared to other combos, the ranking suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor for achieving top-tier frame rates. A system with a similarly powerful CPU but a stronger GPU would likely rank higher, as the game’s performance is heavily dependent on graphics processing. The combo’s position is not a reflection of poor component quality but rather a characteristic of the balanced mid-range to high-end configuration. The data shows that this combo is more than capable of handling the game’s requirements, but it does not have the headroom to dominate the charts at 4K with maximum settings.

The rank also indicates consistency across different system builds. Since the data is measured, this position represents real-world performance rather than theoretical estimates. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265, which has an average benchmark score of 64640 and is only 0.3% faster than its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, provides a solid foundation. The RX 6750 XT, with an average score of 26011, is 0.5% slower than the AMD Radeon R9 M395X, its closest rival. This combination of a high-performing CPU and a mid-range GPU yields a predictable result in the overall ranking.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for this configuration provide a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. The data is complete for the Medium preset, which includes minimum and maximum frame rates, while other presets only have average values.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: 115 FPS average.
• Medium: 72 FPS average, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS.
• High: 52 FPS average.
• Ultra: 41 FPS average.

The 1080p resolution offers the best experience, with the Medium preset providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The High preset dips below the 60 FPS threshold, but remains playable. The Ultra preset is the only setting at this resolution that falls below the playability standard, averaging 41 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440:

• Low: 97 FPS average.
• Medium: 61 FPS average, with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS.
• High: 43 FPS average.
• Ultra: 34 FPS average.

At 1440p, the Low preset is the only one that maintains a high frame rate. The Medium preset is right on the edge of the 60 FPS target, averaging exactly 61 FPS, but with a minimum of 52 FPS that indicates potential stutters. High and Ultra settings are not ideal, as they average below 45 FPS.

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 76 FPS average.
• Medium: 48 FPS average, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 55 FPS.
• High: 34 FPS average.
• Ultra: 27 FPS average.

4K resolution is the most demanding, and the data shows that only the Low preset achieves a playable frame rate. The Medium preset’s average of 48 FPS and minimum of 40 FPS will result in noticeable frame pacing issues. High and Ultra settings are effectively unplayable for a smooth experience.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 serves as a strong foundation for this system, though its role in The Medium is less impactful than the GPU. This processor features 20 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It is built on a 3 nm process and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The CPU’s architecture, Arrow Lake-S, is designed for high throughput, which is evident in its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42216.

In gaming, the CPU’s single-thread performance is often more critical. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5960 and the PassMark single-thread score of 4689 indicate that the Core Ultra 7 265 can handle the game’s logic and draw calls efficiently. The high boost clock of 5.30 GHz ensures that individual cores can process game instructions quickly. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in this title.

The evidence for GPU-bound performance is the scaling of frame rates with resolution. When moving from 1080p to 4K, the average FPS on Medium settings drops from 72 to 48. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would remain relatively constant regardless of resolution, as the CPU’s workload would be the same. The fact that frame rates drop significantly at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is being pushed to its limits, while the CPU is waiting for the next frame to render. The CPU’s 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain a steady data stream to the GPU, but the raw rendering power of the RX 6750 XT is the deciding factor for overall performance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings depend on the user’s resolution and performance priorities. The goal is to maintain a frame rate that is consistently above 60 FPS for a smooth experience, or at least above 30 FPS for playability.

For 1920x1080, the Medium preset is the recommended starting point. It achieves an average of 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, ensuring that the frame rate rarely drops below the 60 FPS target. This preset offers a good balance between visual quality and performance. The Low preset provides a much higher average of 115 FPS, which is beneficial for high-refresh-rate monitors, but it reduces the visual fidelity of the horror atmosphere. The High preset is playable at 52 FPS, but the dip below 60 FPS may be noticeable to sensitive users. The Ultra preset should be avoided at 1080p, as the 41 FPS average is too low for a responsive experience.

For 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only one that guarantees a high frame rate, averaging 97 FPS. The Medium preset is the most balanced choice, averaging exactly 61 FPS, but its minimum of 52 FPS suggests that demanding scenes will cause hitches. Users who prefer a stable frame rate over visual detail should stick with Low. High and Ultra presets are not recommended, as they average 43 and 34 FPS, respectively, which is not smooth.

For 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only viable option for playable performance, averaging 76 FPS. The Medium preset is borderline playable at 48 FPS, but the minimum of 40 FPS can lead to frustrating stutters. High and Ultra presets are not recommended for this hardware at 4K, as they fall below 35 FPS. For a better 4K experience, users would need to lower the resolution or upgrade the GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, which confirms that the GPU is the dominant performance constraint. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS on Medium settings drops from 72 to 61, a reduction of approximately 15%. The drop from 1440p to 4K is more severe, with the average falling from 61 to 48 FPS, a reduction of about 21%. This accelerating decline is typical for a GPU-bound scenario, where the number of pixels being rendered increases geometrically.

The Low preset shows a similar trend. The average FPS goes from 115 at 1080p to 97 at 1440p, and then to 76 at 4K. This indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU’s pixel throughput is a limiting factor. The scaling is not linear; the percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is larger than from 1080p to 1440p. For the Low preset, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is about 16%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is about 22%.

This scaling behavior points to the RX 6750 XT’s memory bandwidth and shading capacity as the key limitations. The card’s 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p, but the increased demand at 4K causes a bottleneck. The CPU’s performance remains stable across resolutions, as evidenced by its high benchmark scores, but it cannot compensate for the GPU’s inability to process the larger frame buffer at higher resolutions. For users who want to play at 4K, the data suggests that the CPU has headroom, but the GPU is the component that needs upgrading to achieve higher frame rates.