The Medium

The Medium is a fixed-camera horror title that leans heavily on atmosphere, and the data for the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H paired with the AMD Radeon 890M shows a system that is fundamentally constrained by its integrated graphics. Across all tested resolutions, the frame rates are low, with the best case scenario being a 45 FPS average at 1080p on Low settings. This combo ranks 2755th out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom tier for this specific game, and the measured results consistently indicate that the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The benchmark data places this hardware pairing at rank 2755 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. That puts it in the bottom 5% of all configurations tested, which is a decisive indicator of its performance ceiling. The combo’s rank is not a reflection of the CPU’s capability; rather, it is a direct consequence of the integrated GPU’s output. The measured FPS at every setting and resolution confirms this low standing, as even the most favorable configuration—1080p Low—only achieves a 45 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider smooth.

When looking at the individual components, the CPU’s average benchmark score is 35670, which places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. This is a strong result, showing that the processor is capable of handling demanding workloads. In contrast, the GPU’s average benchmark score is 9210, putting it in the 45th percentile of all GPUs. The gap between these two percentiles—85 for the CPU versus 45 for the GPU—is the clearest explanation for the combo’s poor rank. The CPU is pulling its weight, but the GPU is dragging the entire system down to the bottom of the rankings for this game.

The nearest rivals for the CPU, based on average benchmark score, include the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 with a score of 35719 and a delta of -0.1%, the Intel Core 7 250H with a score of 35728 and a delta of -0.2%, and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 with a score of 35802 and a delta of -0.4%. These deltas are minuscule, indicating that the Core Ultra 9 185H is essentially on par with these alternatives in synthetic CPU tests. However, none of that matters in The Medium because the GPU is the limiting factor. The GPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon Vega 8 with a score of 9221 and a delta of -0.1%, show that the 890M is similarly positioned to other entry-level integrated graphics solutions, none of which are designed for high-refresh gaming.

The combo’s rank is also reflected in the measured FPS data. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 16, which is unplayable for most users. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 14 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 11 FPS. These numbers are consistently at the bottom of what would be considered acceptable performance. The data does not show any scenario where this combo exceeds 45 FPS, and that single point of success is at the lowest settings and resolution. This is a hardware pairing that is fundamentally mismatched for a game like The Medium, which has demanding rendering requirements even at lower presets.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 890M is an integrated graphics processor based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process node. It has a base clock of 400 MHz and a boost clock of 2900 MHz. The memory configuration is System Shared, meaning it does not have dedicated VRAM but instead uses a portion of the system’s main memory. The memory bus width and bandwidth are also System Shared and System Dependent, respectively, which means its performance is heavily influenced by the system’s RAM speed and configuration. The GPU has 1024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units, along with 16 ray tracing cores.

In The Medium, the GPU’s role is the dominant factor in determining frame rates. The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern: the GPU struggles at every resolution. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 16 on Ultra to 45 on Low. At 1440p, the range is 14 to 38 FPS. At 4K, the range is 11 to 30 FPS. These numbers indicate that the GPU is not capable of handling the game’s graphical load at playable levels, except for the lowest settings at 1080p. The 45th percentile ranking for the GPU, compared to all other GPUs, confirms that it is a mid-to-low-tier part, and its performance in this game reflects that.

The GPU’s boost clock of 2900 MHz is relatively high for an integrated part, but the bottleneck lies in its shared memory architecture. Since the memory is System Shared, the bandwidth is dependent on the system’s RAM, which is a significant limitation for a game like The Medium that requires substantial memory throughput. The GPU’s FP32 performance is 5.939 TFLOPS, which is a measure of its raw compute capability, but this does not translate into playable frame rates in this title. The pixel rate is 92.80 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 185.6 GTexel/s, but again, these figures do not overcome the inherent limitations of an IGP when faced with a demanding horror game.

The data shows that the GPU is the clear limiting component. When comparing the 1080p Low result of 45 FPS to the 1080p High result of 20 FPS, the frame rate drops by more than half, indicating that the GPU is struggling with increased graphical complexity. The same pattern holds at 1440p and 4K, where even Low settings yield average FPS in the 30s or lower. This is not a case of a balanced system; it is a case of a powerful CPU paired with an underpowered GPU, and the GPU is the reason this combo ranks so poorly.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of which settings are viable for this combo. The only configuration that achieves an average FPS above 30 is 1080p with Low settings, which yields a 45 FPS average. This is the best experience available for this hardware, as it is the only setting that approaches smoothness. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS drops to 28, with a minimum of 24 and a maximum of 32, which is borderline playable but may feel stuttery in action-heavy scenes. At 1080p High, the average is 20 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 16 FPS, both of which are too low for a playable experience.

At higher resolutions, the situation worsens. At 1440p Low, the average FPS is 38, which is playable but not ideal. At 1440p Medium, the average is 24 FPS, with a range of 20 to 27 FPS, which is quite low. At 1440p High, the average is 17 FPS, and at 1440p Ultra, it is 14 FPS. At 4K, the results are even more dismal: 30 FPS on Low, 19 FPS on Medium (with a range of 16 to 21), 13 FPS on High, and 11 FPS on Ultra. None of the 4K settings provide a playable experience.

Based on these numbers, the recommended settings for this combo are 1080p with Low settings. This is the only configuration that delivers a 45 FPS average, which is the highest measured result across all tests. If a player is willing to accept lower frame rates, 1440p Low at 38 FPS is the next best option, but it is still below the 45 FPS achieved at 1080p. The data does not support using Medium or higher settings at any resolution, as the frame rates drop below 30 FPS in all cases. For a horror game that relies on atmosphere and timing, a stable frame rate is crucial, and the only way to achieve that with this hardware is to use the lowest settings at the lowest resolution.

The Medium preset at 1080p provides a 28 FPS average, which is the middle ground, but it is far from smooth. The difference between Low and Medium at 1080p is 17 FPS, which is a significant drop that indicates the GPU is heavily taxed by the medium preset’s additional effects. The data suggests that players should prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, as the GPU does not have the headroom to handle higher presets. There is no scenario where Ultra settings are recommended, as the frame rates are in the low teens, making the game virtually unplayable.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system?

A: The best measured result is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, which achieves a 45 FPS average. This is the only configuration that exceeds 40 FPS in the entire dataset.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 11 on Ultra to 30 on Low. The Medium setting yields a 19 FPS average, with a minimum of 16 and a maximum of 21 FPS. None of the 4K settings are playable.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The CPU has an average benchmark score of 35670, placing it in the 85th percentile, while the GPU’s average score is 9210, placing it in the 45th percentile. The measured FPS data confirms this, as the frame rates are consistently low regardless of the CPU’s capability.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p Low and 1080p High?

A: The average FPS at 1080p Low is 45, while at 1080p High it is 20. This represents a 25 FPS drop, or a 55.6% reduction, when increasing the settings from Low to High.

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 38 on Low, 24 on Medium, 17 on High, and 14 on Ultra. Only the Low setting provides a frame rate above 30 FPS, and even that is below the 45 FPS achieved at 1080p Low.

Q: How does the GPU’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Radeon 890M has an average benchmark score of 9210, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD Radeon Vega 8’s score of 9221. It is also 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960’s score of 9273 and 0.9% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465’s score of 9294. These deltas are small, indicating that the 890M is closely matched to other low-tier GPUs.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of frame rate degradation as resolution increases, which is a direct reflection of the GPU’s limitations. Starting at 1080p Low, the average FPS is 45. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 38 FPS, a reduction of 7 FPS or 15.6%. Moving further to 4K Low, the average drops to 30 FPS, another reduction of 8 FPS or 21.1%. This steady decline indicates that the GPU is struggling to fill the additional pixels, and the shared memory bandwidth becomes a greater bottleneck at higher resolutions.

For Medium settings, the pattern is similar but with lower absolute numbers. At 1080p Medium, the average is 28 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 24 FPS, a decrease of 4 FPS. At 4K Medium, it drops to 19 FPS, another decrease of 5 FPS. The minimum FPS at 1080p Medium is 24, at 1440p Medium it is 20, and at 4K Medium it is 16. The maximum FPS follows the same trend, going from 32 at 1080p to 27 at 1440p and 21 at 4K. This consistent drop across all metrics confirms that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU is not changing with resolution.

The High settings show even steeper declines. At 1080p High, the average is 20 FPS. At 1440p High, it is 17 FPS, a drop of 3 FPS. At 4K High, it is 13 FPS, a drop of 4 FPS. The Ultra settings are the worst, with 16 FPS at 1080p, 14 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that the frame rate scales almost linearly with the number of pixels, which is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU’s workload does not increase significantly with resolution, so the frame rate drops are entirely attributable to the GPU’s inability to keep up with the rendering demands.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings shows a 33.3% reduction in frame rate (from 45 to 30 FPS), while at Ultra settings, the reduction is 31.3% (from 16 to 11 FPS). This relatively consistent percentage drop across settings suggests that the GPU is operating at its limits in all cases, and adding more pixels simply overwhelms it further. The data does not show any scenario where the CPU becomes the bottleneck, as the frame rates are too low for the CPU to be saturated. This resolution scaling analysis reinforces the conclusion that the AMD Radeon 890M is the sole reason for this combo’s poor performance in The Medium.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is a high-end mobile processor from the Core Ultra Series 1, based on the Meteor Lake architecture. It has 16 cores and 22 threads, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The CPU has a 45 W TDP and is built on a 7 nm process node. Its cache configuration includes 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 35670, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, which is a strong showing for a mobile part.

In The Medium, however, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS data shows that the frame rates are consistently low, regardless of the CPU’s capability. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 with a delta of -0.1%, the Intel Core 7 250H with a delta of -0.2%, and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 with a delta of -0.4%, all have nearly identical average benchmark scores. This means that swapping the CPU for one of these alternatives would not change the game’s performance, as the GPU would still be the limiting factor.

The CPU’s high benchmark scores—such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17984.5 and a single-core score of 1810.5—indicate that it is more than capable of handling the game’s CPU-side workloads, which include physics calculations, AI routines, and scene management. The Geekbench multi-core score of 11657 and single-core score of 1794 further confirm this. In contrast, the GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 590, and its Passmark G3D score is 8076, both of which are low figures that highlight its weakness. The CPU is effectively waiting for the GPU to render frames, and the GPU is simply too slow to deliver playable results.

The data does not show any scenario where the CPU’s performance is a limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low, where the frame rate is highest at 45 FPS, the CPU is not being taxed to its limits. The CPU’s 85th percentile ranking versus the GPU’s 45th percentile ranking is the definitive proof that the processor is not the problem. The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is a capable component that would perform well in CPU-bound scenarios, but in The Medium, the AMD Radeon 890M holds the entire system back. Players with this combo would need to lower resolution and settings to their minimums to get a playable experience, and even then, the 45 FPS average at 1080p Low is the ceiling.