Hard West

Settings Recommendations

For Hard West with the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and Intel Arc B570, the data clearly identifies Medium as the optimal settings preset across all tested resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 110 FPS average, which is 26 FPS higher than High (84 FPS) and 47 FPS higher than Ultra (63 FPS). The Medium preset also provides the only complete FPS range data in the measured results, with a minimum of 93 FPS and maximum of 126 FPS at 1080p, indicating consistent frame pacing without severe dips.

The case for Medium strengthens at higher resolutions. At 1440p, Medium produces 69 FPS average with a 59-80 FPS range, while High drops to 53 FPS and Ultra falls to 40 FPS. At 4K, Medium maintains 36 FPS average with a 31-42 FPS range, whereas High manages only 28 FPS and Ultra becomes effectively unplayable at 21 FPS. The Low preset, while faster at every resolution (134 FPS at 1080p, 85 FPS at 1440p, 44 FPS at 4K), sacrifices visual fidelity for performance headroom that Hard West's turn-based gameplay does not strictly require.

The data suggests that Medium represents the sweet spot where the Intel Arc B570's 10 GB GDDR6 memory and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth are utilized sufficiently without overwhelming the GPU's 2304 shading units. The 21 FPS gap between Medium and High at 1080p, and the 16 FPS gap at 1440p, indicates that the High preset introduces rendering workloads that disproportionately impact the GPU. For players targeting 60+ FPS, Medium at 1080p (110 FPS) or 1440p (69 FPS) are the only viable options that clear that threshold comfortably. At 4K, Medium's 36 FPS is the highest playable average, though the 31 FPS minimum suggests occasional slowdowns during dense tactical scenes.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for smooth gameplay at 1080p?

A: Medium provides 110 FPS average with a 93-126 FPS range, making it the only preset at 1080p that delivers both high performance and consistent frame delivery. High and Ultra, while visually superior, drop to 84 FPS and 63 FPS respectively, and neither has minimum FPS data recorded to verify stability.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Hard West?

A: Yes, but only at Low or Medium settings. The 4K Medium preset yields 36 FPS average with a 31-42 FPS range, which is playable for turn-based tactics. 4K High drops to 28 FPS, and 4K Ultra falls to 21 FPS, both of which are below comfortable playability thresholds.

Q: How much performance does the Ultra preset cost compared to Medium?

A: At 1080p, Ultra is 47 FPS slower than Medium (63 vs 110 FPS). At 1440p, the gap narrows to 29 FPS (40 vs 69 FPS). At 4K, Ultra is 15 FPS slower (21 vs 36 FPS). The performance penalty for Ultra scales inversely with resolution, suggesting diminishing returns on GPU load at higher pixel counts.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 3600 a bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The CPU's benchmark data shows a 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs with an average score of 17035. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-1260P, scores 17007 (0.2% lower), while the Intel Core i5-11400 scores 17067 (0.2% higher). This indicates the CPU is well-balanced for this GPU pairing, particularly since Hard West is turn-based and likely not heavily multi-threaded.

Q: What is the expected frame rate at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured data shows 53 FPS average at 1440p High. This is below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider smooth, but for a turn-based tactics game, it remains playable. Players seeking higher frame rates should consider Medium at 69 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B570's performance in Hard West compare to its general benchmark standing?

A: The GPU holds a 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 20556. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, scores 20534 (0.1% lower), while the Intel Arc A750 scores 20582 (0.1% higher). This suggests the card performs consistently with its class in this game.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable yet significant performance decline as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the progression is 110 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. This represents a 37.3% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 47.8% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern indicates that the Intel Arc B570 is the primary limiting factor, as the GPU's compute resources—2304 shading units and 80 ROPs—must process increasingly larger pixel counts.

The Low preset shows a slightly different scaling curve: 134 FPS at 1080p, 85 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops here are 36.6% and 48.2% respectively, nearly identical to Medium. This consistency suggests that resolution scaling is dominated by GPU pixel throughput rather than settings-specific effects. The Arc B570's 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate becomes the governing constraint, and the data reflects this uniform scaling pattern.

High settings exhibit the steepest relative decline: 84 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p, and 28 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 36.9%, but the 1440p-to-4K drop accelerates to 47.2%. This non-linear degradation at High settings suggests that additional rendering effects at this preset place disproportionate stress on the GPU's TMUs and shading units when pixel count increases. Ultra settings follow a similar pattern, with 63 FPS at 1080p, 40 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K.

The fact that Low and Medium settings scale nearly identically, while High and Ultra show more pronounced 4K penalties, indicates that the game's higher-quality visual effects (likely shadow, lighting, and post-processing) interact with resolution scaling in a multiplicative manner. For players who prioritize resolution over settings, the data suggests that Medium at 1440p (69 FPS) provides a far better experience than High at 1080p (84 FPS), because the former maintains higher frame rates while delivering more pixels.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2360 out of 2949 tested combos in Hard West. This places the system in the bottom 20% of all configurations tested, which is notable given the game's 2015 release date and turn-based genre. The ranking suggests that Hard West presents unusual optimization challenges for this hardware pairing, despite the CPU's 71st percentile and GPU's 65th percentile standalone benchmark positions.

The discrepancy between component-level benchmarks and in-game ranking indicates that Hard West may not be well-optimized for the Arc B570's Xe2-HPG architecture. The GPU's DirectX 9 benchmark score of 164, DirectX 11 score of 118, and DirectX 12 score of 72 in Passmark suggest that legacy API performance—which older games like Hard West frequently rely upon—is comparatively weak. The game's 2015 release predates modern graphics APIs, and the measured FPS data reflects this compatibility challenge.

The combo rank implies that 2948 other CPU-GPU pairings achieve better performance in Hard West. This is not necessarily a condemnation of either component individually, but rather a statement about their interaction with this specific game engine. The Ryzen 5 3600's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15045 and single-core score of 2124 indicate robust processing capability, but Hard West's turn-based gameplay may not leverage multi-threading effectively, evidenced by the CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 4605 versus the 2-thread score of 1361.

For context, the GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (avg score 20534, 0.1% lower) and the Intel Arc A750 (avg score 20582, 0.1% higher). These near-identical benchmark scores suggest that the Arc B570 should perform comparably to these cards, yet the combo ranking in Hard West indicates that real-world game performance diverges from synthetic benchmarks. Players considering this combination for Hard West should anticipate lower-than-expected frame rates relative to the components' general capabilities.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 contributes 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 2 (Matisse) architecture, running at a 3.60 GHz base clock with a 4.20 GHz boost clock. These specifications provide substantial multi-threaded capability, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15045 and the Passmark multithread score of 17700. However, Hard West's turn-based tactics gameplay typically imposes modest CPU demands, and the measured FPS data suggests the processor is not the primary constraint in this configuration.

The CPU's single-threaded performance—Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2124, Geekbench single-core score of 1536, and 3DMark single-thread score of 696—indicates that the Zen 2 architecture handles individual game logic threads adequately. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1361 versus the 4-thread score of 2579 shows reasonable scaling, but the 8-thread score of 3844 and 16-thread score of 4605 reveal diminishing returns beyond 4 threads. This pattern suggests that Hard West, like many turn-based games, likely utilizes only a few threads for game logic and AI.

The CPU's 32 MB shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide ample data throughput for game state management. The 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17035, places the 3600 slightly above the Intel Core i7-1260P (17007, 0.2% lower) and marginally below the Intel Core i5-11400 (17067, 0.2% higher). This positioning indicates that the CPU is not a weak link in most gaming scenarios.

Given that the FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are substantial (e.g., Medium: 110 to 36 FPS), the data indicates GPU-bound performance scaling. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect more consistent FPS across resolutions. The fact that 4K performance is roughly one-third of 1080p performance at Medium settings confirms that the Arc B570's rendering throughput is the bottleneck, while the Ryzen 5 3600 maintains sufficient processing headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 134 FPS average
• Medium: 110 FPS average, 93 FPS minimum, 126 FPS maximum
• High: 84 FPS average
• Ultra: 63 FPS average

The 1080p results show a clear hierarchy across settings, with Low providing 24 FPS more than Medium, and Medium providing 26 FPS more than High. The Ultra preset at 63 FPS is still playable but represents a 47 FPS deficit from Medium. The Medium preset's complete FPS range (93-126) demonstrates excellent frame consistency, with only a 33 FPS spread between minimum and maximum.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 85 FPS average
• Medium: 69 FPS average, 59 FPS minimum, 80 FPS maximum
• High: 53 FPS average
• Ultra: 40 FPS average

At 1440p, all presets lose roughly 35-37% of their 1080p performance. Medium remains the standout option, with its 59 FPS minimum still clearing the 60 FPS threshold on average. High at 53 FPS and Ultra at 40 FPS both fall below ideal smoothness, while Low at 85 FPS provides the only clearly comfortable experience for high-refresh-rate displays.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 44 FPS average
• Medium: 36 FPS average, 31 FPS minimum, 42 FPS maximum
• High: 28 FPS average
• Ultra: 21 FPS average

The 4K results illustrate the Arc B570's limitations at high pixel counts. Even Low settings only manage 44 FPS, and Medium's 31 FPS minimum indicates potential stutter during complex scenes. High and Ultra are effectively unplayable for most users, with 28 FPS and 21 FPS averages respectively. The Medium preset's 42 FPS maximum shows that the GPU can occasionally reach playable territory, but sustained performance remains below ideal.

Across all resolutions, the data reveals that Low settings provide 22-26% more performance than Medium, while Medium provides 31-36% more performance than High. The gap between High and Ultra is smaller, ranging from 25-33%, suggesting diminishing visual returns at the highest preset. For a turn-based tactics game where frame timing is less critical than in action genres, Medium at 1080p or 1440p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance.