The Medium

# The Medium with Intel Core Ultra 7 265K + Intel Arc B390

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a system that is overwhelmingly constrained by the graphics processor, with the Intel Arc B390 acting as the definitive bottleneck in every scenario. Examining the data, the drop from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Medium settings shows a reduction from 32 FPS to 27 FPS, a decline of roughly 16%. Moving further to 3840x2160 at Medium, the average falls to 21 FPS, which represents a 34% drop from the 1440p result and a 34% drop from 1080p as well. This scaling pattern is remarkably shallow for a resolution increase that quadruples the pixel count from 1080p to 4K, which strongly indicates that the render pipeline is already saturated at the lowest tested resolution.

At Low settings, the scaling behavior is more pronounced, which further confirms the GPU-bound nature of this pairing. The 1080p Low result of 51 FPS drops to 43 FPS at 1440p, a 16% reduction, and then to 34 FPS at 4K, a 21% reduction from 1440p. The fact that Low settings produce a wider relative spread between resolutions suggests that when the shading workload is reduced, the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth limitations of the integrated GPU become more evident. However, even at the most favorable combination of Low settings and 1080p, the system only achieves 51 FPS, which is barely above the threshold for smooth gameplay in a slow-paced horror title.

The High and Ultra presets tell a more grim story for higher-resolution gaming. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 12, while 4K High manages only 15 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is 22 FPS, from 34 down to 12, which demonstrates that the graphics architecture has virtually no headroom for quality enhancements at that resolution. The question this raises is whether the 3 nm process node and Xe3-LPG architecture are fundamentally mismatched for this game's rendering demands, or if the system-shared memory configuration is the primary limiting factor, since the GPU has no dedicated VRAM and relies entirely on the CPU's dual-channel DDR5 memory bus.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in The Medium?

A: The best measured result is 51 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. No other configuration reaches or exceeds 50 FPS, with the next closest being 43 FPS at 2560x1440 Low.

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

A: The combo ranks 2581 out of 2911 total tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of all systems evaluated in The Medium.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is overwhelmingly the limiting component. The Intel Arc B390 has an average benchmark score of 1482 and sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, while the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K ranks at the 94th percentile among CPUs. The frame rates scale with resolution and settings in a pattern consistent with GPU saturation, not CPU exhaustion.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the measured minimum and maximum FPS show a narrow band. At 1080p, the range is 27 to 37 FPS around a 32 FPS average. At 1440p, the range is 23 to 31 FPS around a 27 FPS average. At 4K, the range is 18 to 24 FPS around a 21 FPS average. The variance is roughly 15-20% from the average in each case.

Q: Does the integrated GPU support modern graphics APIs that The Medium might use?

A: The Intel Arc B390 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. This means the API feature set is not a limitation; the raw throughput is.

Q: What is the closest GPU rival to the Arc B390 according to benchmark data?

A: The nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, which has an average score of 1463 and is 1.3% slower. The other nearby rivals include the GeForce 800M at 1460 (1.5% slower), the GeForce GT 625 OEM at 1446 (2.5% slower), and the GeForce GT 710 at 1443 (2.7% slower).

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's position at 2581 out of 2911 tested configurations places it firmly in the lower echelon of systems evaluated in The Medium. This ranking is unsurprising given the GPU's performance percentile of 9, which means the Arc B390 outperforms only 9% of all GPUs in the benchmark database. To contextualize this, the GPU's average benchmark score is 1482, and its nearest rivals are all low-end NVIDIA parts from over a decade ago, including the GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GT 625 OEM, and GT 710.

The CPU, by contrast, is a high-end part. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K has an average benchmark score of 70879 and ranks at the 94th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6511P (0.2% slower), the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (0.7% slower), the Intel Core i7-14700KF (1% faster), and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (1.3% faster). The delta between the CPU's strong standing and the GPU's weak standing creates a profound imbalance. In a game like The Medium, which is a fixed-camera horror title with heavy pre-rendered backgrounds and volumetric effects, the rendering load is substantial, and the Arc B390 simply cannot keep pace.

This ranking also implies that the vast majority of tested combos, 330 to be exact, deliver higher frame rates in this game. The bottom 11% placement suggests that any discrete GPU from the past several years would likely outperform this integrated solution. The data indicates that this pairing would only be suitable for players who prioritize resolution scaling down to 1080p and are willing to accept Low or Medium settings as a hard ceiling.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its peak capability. Low settings produce an average of 51 FPS, which is the only configuration to break the 50 FPS threshold. Medium settings drop to 32 FPS, with a minimum of 27 and maximum of 37. High settings reduce the average to 23 FPS, and Ultra further lowers it to 18 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p represents a 33 FPS range, or a 65% reduction in performance from the lowest to highest quality preset.

At 2560x1440, the results show a consistent downward shift. Low settings average 43 FPS, which is 8 FPS lower than the same settings at 1080p. Medium settings average 27 FPS, with a range of 23 to 31 FPS. High settings average 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 28 FPS, which is a slightly smaller absolute range than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU's output ceiling is being approached.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 34 FPS, which is still below the 1080p Medium result. Medium settings average 21 FPS, with a range of 18 to 24 FPS. High settings drop to 15 FPS, and Ultra falls to 12 FPS. The total spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 22 FPS, which is the narrowest range of any resolution, confirming that the GPU is hitting its absolute throughput limits regardless of settings.

The pattern across all resolutions is a nearly linear degradation from Low to Ultra, with the step between Low and Medium being the largest single drop in most cases. At 1080p, the Low to Medium drop is 19 FPS; at 1440p, it is 16 FPS; at 4K, it is 13 FPS. This suggests that the Medium preset introduces a significant additional workload, likely related to shadow quality or volumetric effects, that the Arc B390 cannot absorb without substantial frame rate losses.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the only viable preset for a reasonably smooth experience is Low at 1080p, which yields 51 FPS. This is the sole configuration that approaches the 60 FPS target commonly associated with fluid gameplay, and even then, it falls 9 FPS short. For players who prioritize frame rate stability, the 1080p Low preset is the clear recommendation, as it provides a 59% improvement over the next best option at 1080p Medium.

The 1440p Low preset at 43 FPS is a secondary option for those who prefer a higher resolution over maximum smoothness. This configuration represents a 16% reduction in frame rate compared to 1080p Low, but it delivers a significantly sharper image. However, the 43 FPS average may be borderline for a game with slow camera movements, where frame pacing issues can be more noticeable.

The Medium preset is not recommended at any resolution. At 1080p, it produces 32 FPS with a minimum of 27, which can result in perceptible stutter during scene transitions. At 1440p, the average drops to 27 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 21 FPS. The visual quality improvement from Low to Medium does not justify the 37% performance penalty at 1080p, especially in a horror game where consistent frame delivery is crucial for maintaining tension and immersion.

High and Ultra presets should be avoided entirely. The 1080p High result of 23 FPS and Ultra result of 18 FPS are well below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. The 4K Ultra result of 12 FPS is effectively a slideshow and serves no practical purpose. The data suggests that this game, with its pre-rendered backgrounds and heavy post-processing, is simply too demanding for the Arc B390 at anything above Low settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process node by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are substantial: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 35850, single-core reaches 2020, and Geekbench multi-core reaches 23085 with a single-core score of 2713.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role is largely secondary. The game's fixed-camera angles and limited on-screen dynamic elements mean that the CPU is not heavily stressed by complex physics or AI simulations. The 20 cores and 20 threads are far more than the game can utilize, and the high single-thread performance, evidenced by the 708 score in Cinebench R15 single-core, ensures that the game's main thread will not be a bottleneck. The 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with rivals like the Intel Core i7-14700KF (1% faster) and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (1.3% faster), demonstrates that this processor is capable of feeding any GPU in the database.

The memory subsystem, which is critical for an integrated GPU, is a dual-channel DDR5 configuration with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. This is the pathway through which the Arc B390 accesses all its memory, since the GPU's memory is listed as "System Shared." The CPU's support for ECC memory is notable, but it does not directly impact gaming performance. The 17,800 million transistors and 243 mm² die size indicate a large, complex chip, but the data shows that the CPU's potential is entirely untapped in this pairing. The bottleneck is so severe on the GPU side that even a significantly weaker CPU would likely produce identical frame rates.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by Intel. It has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The base clock is 300 MHz with a boost clock of 2500 MHz, and the FP32 performance is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS. The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s.

In The Medium, the GPU's performance is decisively poor. The average benchmark score of 1482 places it at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are all low-end discrete parts from the early 2010s. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, which is 1.3% slower, and the GeForce GT 710, which is 2.7% slower, are the closest comparisons. This context makes the measured frame rates unsurprising; the Arc B390 is operating at a performance level that was considered entry-level over a decade ago.

The GPU's 80 W TDP and IGP slot width indicate that it is designed for power efficiency rather than raw performance. The lack of dedicated VRAM, with memory listed as "System Shared," means that the GPU must contend with the CPU for memory bandwidth on the dual-channel DDR5 bus. This shared memory configuration is likely a significant contributor to the poor frame rates, as the game's textures and buffers must be constantly swapped between the CPU and GPU's memory pools. The 12 ray tracing cores are present in the hardware, but the measured data does not indicate whether they are utilized in The Medium, which was released in 2021 and may not have supported ray tracing on Intel hardware at the time.

The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 is the only dedicated GPU benchmark available, and it aligns with the in-game results. The fact that the GPU's percentile is 9 means that 91% of all GPUs in the database are faster, which is a damning statistic for a processor released in 2026. In The Medium, the GPU's limitations are exposed at every resolution and setting, with the highest achievable frame rate of 51 FPS occurring only at the lowest quality preset and resolution. The data implies that this GPU is suited for very light workloads or legacy titles, not a demanding horror game with fixed-camera rendering.