The Medium

Resolution Scaling

The Medium presents a demanding workload for the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus + Intel Arc B570 combination, with frame rates showing a steep and consistent decline as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 78 FPS, which drops to 66 FPS at 1440p and further to 52 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is the primary scaling bottleneck as pixel count quadruples.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. At Medium settings, the average frame rate falls from 49 FPS at 1080p to 41 FPS at 1440p, then to 32 FPS at 4K. The High preset shows a similar trajectory: 35 FPS at 1080p, 29 FPS at 1440p, and 23 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings deliver 28 FPS at 1080p, 23 FPS at 1440p, and just 18 FPS at 4K. The consistent ~10-15% drop from 1080p to 1440p and another ~20-30% drop from 1440p to 4K across presets points to a system where the Arc B570's 10 GB memory and 160-bit bus are being saturated at higher resolutions.

The most telling data point is the 4K High result of 23 FPS versus the 4K Low result of 52 FPS. The gap between Low and High at 4K is 29 FPS, while at 1080p the same preset gap is 43 FPS. This narrowing suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so constrained that even reducing graphical fidelity cannot fully compensate for the resolution overhead. The fixed-function hardware, including 80 ROPs and 144 TMUs, becomes the limiting factor as fill-rate demands multiply.

Interestingly, the frame time consistency, where reported, holds up reasonably well. At Medium settings, the 1080p result shows a minimum of 41 FPS and maximum of 56 FPS, while 1440p Medium ranges from 35 to 47 FPS, and 4K Medium from 27 to 37 FPS. The variance scales proportionally with the average, suggesting no anomalous stuttering behavior but rather a steady, predictable performance ceiling.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal experience for this hardware combination depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, Low settings deliver 78 FPS, which is the only preset in the entire measured set to exceed 60 FPS. This makes Low the clear choice for smooth gameplay at 1080p, especially for a horror title where responsiveness matters. Medium at 1080p produces 49 FPS, which is playable but noticeably below the 60 FPS threshold. High and Ultra at 1080p drop to 35 FPS and 28 FPS respectively, both of which fall into the range where the game's atmospheric tension is undermined by judder.

At 1440p, the situation becomes more constrained. Low settings yield 66 FPS, which remains above the 60 FPS line and is the only playable option at this resolution. Medium at 1440p produces 41 FPS, which is acceptable for a slower-paced horror experience but not ideal. High and Ultra at 1440p deliver 29 FPS and 23 FPS respectively, both of which are too low for comfortable gameplay. The data suggests that 1440p users should stick with Low settings unless they prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate.

At 4K, no preset achieves 60 FPS. Low settings deliver 52 FPS, which is the best available result and the only option approaching playability. Medium at 4K drops to 32 FPS, while High and Ultra fall to 23 FPS and 18 FPS respectively. For 4K users, Low settings are the only viable choice, and even then, the experience will be suboptimal. The measured data indicates that this combo is not suited for 4K gaming in The Medium, with the GPU's 10 GB memory capacity and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth proving insufficient for the game's high-resolution texture demands.

The verdict is clear: prioritize Low settings for any resolution above 1080p. At 1080p, Medium offers a reasonable compromise between visual quality and performance, but the 49 FPS average may still feel sluggish during intense sequences. The Ultra preset is effectively unusable across all resolutions, with the best case being 28 FPS at 1080p.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570, built on the Xe2-HPG architecture and fabricated on a 5 nm process, is the decisive component in this game's performance profile. Its 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus provides 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves inadequate for The Medium's demanding asset streaming at higher resolutions. The GPU's 2304 shading units and 80 ROPs deliver a theoretical pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s, yet the measured frame rates at 4K suggest real-world throughput falls far short of this figure.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20556. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, scores 20534, a delta of just 0.1%. The Intel Arc A750 trails by 0.1% with a score of 20582, while the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M sits 0.4% ahead and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X lags 0.5% behind. This clustering indicates that the Arc B570 performs in a narrow band around these competitors, but none of them are known for high-end 4K gaming prowess.

Clock speeds are locked at 2500 MHz for both base and boost, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). This fixed clock profile means there is no dynamic boost headroom to compensate for increased load, which partially explains the steep performance drop at 4K. The GPU's FP32 throughput of 11.52 TFLOPS and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s are respectable for the mid-range segment, but The Medium's heavy use of volumetric effects and dynamic lighting appears to strain these resources.

The 4K Medium result of 32 FPS with a minimum of 27 FPS highlights the memory bandwidth limitation. At 1080p Medium, the same settings yield 49 FPS, a 53% improvement. The 160-bit bus simply cannot feed the GPU enough data at 4K resolution, and the 10 GB frame buffer becomes a constraint when high-resolution textures are loaded. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility are modern, but the hardware resources behind them are insufficient for this game's maximum settings.

FAQ

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

A: 1080p with Low settings delivers 78 FPS, the only measured configuration exceeding 60 FPS. At 1440p Low, the combo still achieves 66 FPS, but 4K tops out at 52 FPS on Low, making 1080p the only resolution where smooth gameplay is guaranteed.

Q: How does the Arc B570 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B570's average benchmark score of 20556 places it 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) and 0.4% behind the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480). It trails the Intel Arc A750 by 0.1% and leads the AMD Radeon R9 M390X by 0.5%.

Q: Can this system handle Ultra settings at any resolution?

A: No. Ultra settings produce 28 FPS at 1080p, 23 FPS at 1440p, and 18 FPS at 4K. None of these results are playable, with even the best case falling well below 30 FPS.

Q: What is the 4K performance difference between Low and High settings?

A: At 4K, Low settings deliver 52 FPS while High settings drop to 23 FPS, a 29 FPS gap. This indicates that the GPU is severely constrained at 4K, with even Low settings failing to reach 60 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: The data does not indicate CPU bottlenecking. The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus performs in the 96th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 93785, and frame rates consistently scale with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of GPU-bound workloads.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at Medium settings across resolutions?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 41 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 35 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it falls to 27 FPS. These minimums track closely with the average FPS, indicating stable frame pacing.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2321 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places the system in the bottom 20% of all configurations tested for this game, a poor showing that reflects the GPU's limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities. The rank of 2321 means that 590 other combos perform worse, but 2320 outperform this pairing, which is a stark indicator of the Arc B570's inadequacy for this title.

This ranking is particularly notable given the CPU's strength. The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus sits in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, yet the combined system still ranks low because the game's performance is dictated by the GPU. The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6520P with an average score of 93786 (delta 0%), the AMD EPYC 4564P at 95183 (delta -1.5%), the AMD EPYC 9175F at 95615 (delta -1.9%), and the AMD EPYC 4565P at 95764 (delta -2.1%). These are all server-class processors, highlighting that the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is not the limiting factor.

The combo's rank of 2321 out of 2911 suggests that most systems with mid-range or better GPUs will outperform it in The Medium. The GPU's percentile ranking of 65th overall does not translate to strong in-game performance, as The Medium appears to be particularly demanding on memory bandwidth and fill rate. For context, the Arc B570's nearest GPU rivals all score within 0.5% of its benchmark average, yet none of them would be considered high-end for this game.

The practical implication is that users with this combo should not expect competitive performance in The Medium. The system is capable of running the game at 1080p Low smoothly, but anything beyond that requires compromises that significantly degrade the experience. The rank of 2321 is a warning that this hardware pairing is mismatched for this specific title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus provides substantial computational headroom that the game does not fully utilize. With 24 cores and 24 threads, this Arrow Lake Refresh processor features a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. Its 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache offer ample capacity for game logic and physics calculations. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 93785, confirms that it is a high-end part.

The CPU's benchmark results illustrate its capabilities. In Cinebench R23, it scores 44253 in multi-core and 2439 in single-core tests. PassMark results show 68574 for multithread and 5068 for single thread. The data compression score of 804322 and floating-point math score of 229491 indicate strong general-purpose performance. However, The Medium's frame rates do not improve with these CPU resources, as evidenced by the consistent GPU-bound scaling pattern across resolutions.

The 125W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 115.2 GB/s bandwidth provide sufficient system memory throughput for the game. The CPU's PCIe Gen 5 support with 20 lanes ensures the Arc B570, which uses PCIe 4.0 x8, is not starved for data transfer. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU is present but irrelevant for gaming, as the discrete GPU handles all rendering.

The nearest CPU rivals, all scoring within 2.1% of the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, are server processors: the Intel Xeon 6520P, AMD EPYC 4564P, AMD EPYC 9175F, and AMD EPYC 4565P. The fact that a desktop processor competes with these enterprise SKUs underscores its strength. Yet in The Medium, this CPU's power is untapped, as the game's demands are primarily graphical. The measured FPS data shows no scenario where CPU performance would be the constraint, as even the lowest frame rates at 4K Ultra (18 FPS) are far below what this CPU could feed to a more powerful GPU.