The Medium

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the Intel Arc B370 produces a severely frame-rate-limited experience in The Medium, ranking in the bottom 8% of all tested system combinations. The data shows a configuration where the CPU’s substantial processing power is almost entirely neutralized by a GPU that sits at the 5th percentile of all GPUs. Benchmark results indicate that this combo is only viable at the lowest settings and even then, it struggles to maintain smooth performance at 1080p, making it a poor match for this horror title.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and highly dependent on the graphics preset, revealing a system that is almost exclusively bound by the graphics processor. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 46 FPS at 1920x1080 to 30 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 16 FPS or about 35%. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-limited scenario, where the workload on the graphics card increases with pixel count, and the Intel Arc B370’s limited processing power becomes the sole bottleneck.

The scaling becomes more dramatic at higher presets, which place an even greater load on the GPU. Moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings drops the average from 21 FPS to 14 FPS, a 7 FPS decline. At Ultra settings, the performance is already critically low at 1080p with an average of 16 FPS, and this falls further to just 11 FPS at 4K. The consistent pattern across all settings indicates that the CPU is never the limiting factor; if it were, the resolution would have a much smaller impact on the frame rate.

The data suggests that the limiting component is definitively the GPU. The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, with its high single-threaded performance, is not struggling to feed the graphics card. Instead, the Arc B370’s 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power and 20 ROPs are insufficient to handle the rendering demands of this game at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops are nearly linear with the increase in pixel count, which is a classic sign of a pure pixel-fill-rate or shader-compute bottleneck. Even at the lowest preset, the 30 FPS average at 4K indicates that the GPU is still working at its absolute limit to produce those frames.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the decisive weakness in this configuration. Its benchmark score of 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are legacy parts like the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 and the ATI Radeon HD 5770, which score 1186 and 1190, respectively. This places the Arc B370 just 0.2% to 0.5% behind those older cards, indicating that its raw performance is on par with hardware from a much earlier era.

The GPU's specifications corroborate this low standing. It features 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs, which are modest numbers for a modern game. Its boost clock is listed at 2400 MHz, but the memory configuration is "System Shared" with "System Dependent" bandwidth. This means the GPU relies on the system's DDR5 memory rather than having its own dedicated VRAM. For a game like The Medium, which has demanding texture and memory requirements, this shared memory setup is a significant disadvantage, as it competes with the CPU for bandwidth.

In practical terms, the GPU's limitations are starkly visible in the measured FPS. At 1080p Medium settings, the average frame rate is 29 FPS, with a minimum of 24 FPS and a maximum of 33 FPS. This sub-30 FPS average is at the edge of playability, and the frame time variance suggests a stuttery experience. At 4K Ultra, the average plummets to 11 FPS, which is essentially a slideshow. The GPU simply does not have the compute throughput to handle the pixel and shader workload, regardless of the relatively powerful CPU it is paired with. The data consistently shows that the Arc B370 is the primary constraint, preventing the system from achieving playable performance in The Medium at any resolution above 1080p Low.

CPU Role

In stark contrast to the GPU, the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a high-end processor that has ample headroom for this game. It ranks in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 93785. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6520P, scores 93786, a delta of 0%, meaning they are statistically tied. The AMD EPYC 4564P is 1.5% behind, and the AMD EPYC 9175F is 1.9% behind, placing the Core Ultra 7 in a strong competitive position against server-class parts.

The CPU's specifications are top-tier for a desktop part. It has 24 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. This high boost clock is critical for gaming, as most titles, including The Medium, rely heavily on single-threaded performance. The CPU's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2439 and multi-core score of 44253 demonstrate its capability to handle both the game's main thread and any background tasks. The 36 MB of shared L3 cache also helps with data locality, reducing the need to access slower system memory.

However, the benchmark results from The Medium show that the CPU's power is entirely wasted in this pairing. The highest frame rate achieved is 46 FPS at 1080p Low, which is still a GPU-bound result. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see the frame rate remain relatively constant across different resolutions at the same settings. Instead, the frame rate drops significantly from 1080p to 1440p to 4K, confirming that the CPU is not the bottleneck. The CPU is likely delivering frames as fast as it can, but the GPU is only able to process a fraction of them. This is a classic case of a system being imbalanced, where the processor's capability far exceeds that of the graphics card, resulting in a performance ceiling set entirely by the GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the Intel Arc B370 ranks 2681 out of 2911 total tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the bottom 8% of all systems, clearly indicating a poor-performing configuration for this title. The high rank of the CPU is completely overshadowed by the extremely low rank of the GPU, resulting in a system that performs far worse than the sum of its parts might suggest.

The data shows that this combo is not competitive with even mid-range alternatives. The GPU's 5th percentile ranking is the primary driver of this poor performance. The massive disparity between the CPU's 96th percentile and the GPU's 5th percentile creates a severe bottleneck that holds the entire system back. For context, a combo ranked near the top of the list would likely feature a balanced pairing, where both the CPU and GPU are in similar percentile ranges. Here, the 91-percentage-point gap between the two components is a clear indicator of the imbalance that plagues this system.

The bottom-tier ranking means that users of this combo will have a subpar experience in The Medium. The benchmark results confirm that this is not a configuration suited for this game, as the frame rates are consistently low across all settings and resolutions. The ranking serves as a warning that despite the powerful CPU, the overall gaming performance is severely hampered by the integrated graphics solution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the system's performance across a grid of resolutions and settings. The results are uniformly poor, with the system only achieving an "average" frame rate (above 30 FPS) in a single configuration.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Ultra: The average FPS is 16, which is unplayable. There is no min/max data available.
• High: The average FPS is 21, still far below the 30 FPS target for smooth gameplay.
• Medium: The average FPS is 29, with a minimum of 24 FPS and a maximum of 33 FPS. This is the closest to a playable experience at this resolution, but the minimum FPS indicates noticeable stutters.
• Low: The average FPS is 46, making this the only playable setting. However, this comes with significant visual compromises.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Ultra: The average FPS drops to 14, making it unplayable.
• High: The average FPS is 17, which is also unplayable.
• Medium: The average FPS is 24, with a minimum of 21 FPS and a maximum of 28 FPS. This is a poor experience, with frame rates dipping into the low 20s.
• Low: The average FPS is 39, which is playable but still not smooth, and the visual quality is significantly reduced.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Ultra: The average FPS is 11, making it a slideshow.
• High: The average FPS is 14, which is unplayable.
• Medium: The average FPS is 19, with a minimum of 16 FPS and a maximum of 22 FPS. This is a very poor experience.
• Low: The average FPS is 30, which is exactly at the threshold of playability but is not a smooth 30 FPS experience due to potential frame time spikes.

The data reveals a clear trend: the system is only suitable for 1080p Low settings if a user prioritizes frame rate over visual fidelity. Any attempt to increase the resolution or the graphical preset results in a significant drop in performance, falling well below acceptable playability standards.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best setting to play The Medium with this hardware?*

A: The only configuration that achieves an average frame rate above 30 FPS is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which produces an average of 46 FPS. All other settings at this resolution, and all settings at higher resolutions, fall below 30 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus compare to its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6520P?

A: In terms of average benchmark score, the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus scores 93785, which is essentially identical to the Intel Xeon 6520P's score of 93786, showing a 0% delta.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B370's performance closer to a modern or a legacy graphics card?

A: The benchmark data shows it is closest to legacy hardware. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 is only 0.2% behind the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186) and 0.5% behind the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190).

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

A: The data indicates the GPU is the clear bottleneck. The frame rates drop significantly as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation, while the CPU's high performance (96th percentile) is not being fully utilized.

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p on Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average frame rate is 24 FPS, with a minimum of 21 FPS and a maximum of 28 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

*Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested combos in The Medium?*

A: This specific combo ranks 2681 out of 2911 total tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of all systems tested for this game.