The Medium

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a playable, though not exceptional, experience in The Medium. Benchmark data places this specific combination at rank 2026 out of 2911 tested combos, putting it in the lower-middle tier of the performance distribution for this title. The combination is not a top performer, but it is far from the bottom of the pack; its position indicates a system that can handle the game at moderate settings, though it will struggle at the highest visual presets, especially at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The measured data for this pairing shows a combo rank of 2026 out of 2911 tested configurations. This places the system in approximately the 30th percentile of all tested combos, meaning a majority of other systems deliver higher average frame rates in The Medium. This rank is a direct reflection of the balance between the CPU and GPU; the RTX 2060 SUPER, while a capable card for its generation, is the primary constraint here, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. The data indicates that this is not a combination intended for maximum fidelity or high-refresh-rate gaming. Rather, it is a system that can provide a stable experience when settings are adjusted to match the hardware’s capabilities. The gap to more powerful configurations is significant, but the performance is sufficient for a standard 60 FPS target at lower settings. The ranking suggests that users with this combo should expect to prioritize frame rate over visual flair in this specific title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how this combo handles different quality presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 92 FPS, which is excellent for a smooth experience. The Medium preset drops to 57 FPS, still a playable level, but the Low setting provides a substantial margin for maintaining a high frame rate. The High preset yields 41 FPS, which is playable but may feel less fluid, while the Ultra preset falls to 33 FPS, which is borderline for a game that benefits from smooth motion. Based on this data, the Low preset at 1080p is the clear recommendation for the best experience, offering the highest frame rate and ensuring a consistently responsive feel. The Medium preset is a viable alternative for those who prefer better visual quality, as the 57 FPS average is still above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, the Low preset is again the best choice, with an average of 77 FPS, while the Medium preset dips to 48 FPS and High to 35 FPS. The 3840x2160 resolution is only playable at the Low preset, which achieves 61 FPS; all other settings at this resolution fall below 40 FPS, with Ultra at a low 21 FPS. The data strongly suggests that for a consistently smooth experience, the Low preset is the only reliable option across all resolutions, with Medium being a compromise only at 1080p.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run The Medium at 4K resolution?*

A: Yes, but only at the Low preset, which achieves an average of 61 FPS. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 drops to 38 FPS, and the High and Ultra presets fall to 27 FPS and 21 FPS, respectively, making them unsuitable for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 60 FPS target at 1440p?

A: The data shows that the Low preset is the only option at 2560x1440 that maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS, with an average of 77 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution averages 48 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER’s 8 GB of VRAM affect performance in this game?

A: While the exact VRAM usage is not measured, the GPU's 8 GB of VRAM, paired with a 256-bit memory bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, is a specification that influences performance. The significant frame rate drops at higher settings and resolutions suggest the card is being heavily tasked, likely due to both memory capacity and memory bandwidth limits as texture and geometry demands increase.

Q: Is the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus a bottleneck for the RTX 2060 SUPER in this game?

A: The benchmark data for this combo does not explicitly isolate CPU versus GPU load. However, given that the GPU's benchmark percentile is 62, while the CPU's is 96, it is more likely that the GPU is the limiting factor. The measured FPS scaling across settings and resolutions is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where lowering the resolution or settings yields a large increase in frame rate.

Q: What is the expected frame rate range for the Medium preset at 1080p?

A: The measured data shows an average of 57 FPS for this preset, with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 66 FPS. This indicates that the frame rate is not perfectly stable but remains within a playable range for most of the time.

Q: How does this combo's performance compare to systems using a different GPU?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 18093 is very close to that of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, which has an average score of 18159 (a -0.4% delta). It is also within 1.6% of the Intel Arc A770M. This suggests that systems with these rival GPUs would likely produce very similar frame rates in The Medium, assuming a similarly capable CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance envelope for this combo is wide. The Low preset delivers an average of 92 FPS, providing a high level of fluidity. The Medium preset produces an average of 57 FPS, with a measured range of 49 to 66 FPS, indicating some variance. The High preset drops to an average of 41 FPS, and the Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of 33 FPS. This resolution shows a predictable decline in performance as the visual settings are increased.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease across the board. The Low preset averages 77 FPS, which is still a solid result. The Medium preset averages 48 FPS, with a range of 41 to 55 FPS. The High preset averages 35 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 27 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is a stark 50 FPS, highlighting the significant cost of higher fidelity.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly overburdened by higher settings. The Low preset is the only one that provides a playable experience, with an average of 61 FPS. The Medium preset averages 38 FPS, with a range of 32 to 43 FPS. The High preset drops to 27 FPS, and the Ultra preset is nearly unplayable at 21 FPS. The data shows that this combo is not suited for 4K gaming unless the user is willing to use the lowest possible quality settings. The difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K is a 40 FPS gap, demonstrating the extreme performance penalty at this resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the workhorse of this combo for gaming, and its specifications directly correlate with the measured results. Based on its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card has a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The GPU has 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. Its architecture is Turing, and it is manufactured on a 12 nm process. The boost clock is 1650 MHz, with a base clock of 1470 MHz. These specifications result in a PassMark G3D score of 16462, which places it at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU's performance in this game is the primary driver of the FPS numbers. The large frame rate drops when moving from Low to Ultra settings, and from 1080p to 4K, indicate that the card’s compute and memory resources are being saturated at higher loads. The card’s average benchmark score is 18093, placing it slightly below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (which has a -0.4% delta) and slightly above the AMD Radeon RX 460 (which has a -1.5% delta). This suggests that its performance is in the mid-range tier. The 8 GB of VRAM is a significant factor; while it is sufficient for the Low and Medium presets, the higher presets at 1440p and 4K may be pushing against the memory limits, contributing to the reduced performance. The data suggests that the RTX 2060 SUPER is best utilized at 1080p, where it can provide high frame rates at lower settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus provides the processing foundation for this system. This CPU is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. Its 36 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 115.2 GB/s bandwidth are key performance features. The CPU's benchmark scores are robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44253 and a single-core score of 2439. It also achieves a PassMark multithread score of 68574 and a single-thread score of 5068. Its average benchmark score is 93785, which puts it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs.

In The Medium, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS scaling is much more consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. For example, at 1080p, the FPS drops by 35 FPS when going from Low to Medium, which is a large relative decrease. If the CPU were the bottleneck, this drop would likely be less pronounced. The CPU's high single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2439, is more than sufficient to feed the GPU with data. The data indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this game, and its performance headroom means that system upgrades in the GPU department would likely yield significant FPS gains without needing a CPU change. The CPU's processing power is not the constraining resource in this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and expected trend: as resolution increases, average FPS decreases. When comparing the Low preset, the FPS drops from 92 at 1080p to 77 at 1440p, a 16% decrease. When moving from 1440p to 4K, it drops to 61 FPS, a further 21% decrease. This pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound workload, where the rendering resolution directly impacts the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth requirements.

This scaling behavior provides insight into the limiting component. The consistent and significant FPS drops with each resolution increase strongly indicate that the GPU is the bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would likely remain more constant across resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not scale as dramatically with resolution. The fact that the FPS drops proportionally with the number of pixels being rendered points to the RTX 2060 SUPER being the primary constraint. For instance, the 4K Low preset at 61 FPS is a 34% reduction from the 1080p Low preset at 92 FPS. This is a steep penalty. The data suggests that to maintain a high frame rate at higher resolutions, a more powerful GPU would be required, as the current card is unable to keep up with the increased rendering demands. The scaling pattern is a classic sign of a system where the graphics card is the performance ceiling.