Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G paired with the Intel Arc B370 produces a highly constrained gaming experience in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. Benchmark data shows this combination ranks 2721st out of 2949 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of all configurations. The measured frame rates reveal a system that can handle the game at lower resolutions and settings, but struggles significantly at 4K and with higher quality presets. This analysis breaks down the raw numbers, contextualizes them against rival hardware, and provides clear guidance on how to get the most playable experience from this specific pairing.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Hard West?*

A: The best measured result is 79 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that reaches near-80 FPS territory, and it drops to 64 FPS at Medium and 49 FPS at High at the same resolution.

*Q: Can this system run Hard West at 4K resolution?*

A: Technically yes, but the experience is marginal. At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are 16 FPS on High, 21 FPS on Medium, 26 FPS on Low, and 12 FPS on Ultra. Only the Low preset approaches playability, and even that is below 30 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in raw benchmark scores?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. This is 0.2% below the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186), 0.5% below the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190), and 0.7% below the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192). It sits 1.4% above the AMD FirePro M2000 (1168).

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested systems for this game?

A: The combo ranks 2721 out of 2949 total combinations. This places it in the bottom percentile of systems, indicating that most other configurations deliver better performance in Hard West.

Q: What is the difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 50 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 23 FPS. That is a 27 FPS difference, or roughly 54% lower performance when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 4600G outperform or underperform its closest rival CPUs?

A: The 4600G has an average benchmark score of 17507. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE, scores 17482, which is 0.1% lower. The Intel Core 7 150U scores 17395 (0.6% lower), while the AMD Ryzen 3 8300GE scores 17614 (0.6% higher) and the Intel Core i3-14100T scores 17648 (0.8% higher). The 4600G sits in the middle of this pack.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the primary bottleneck in this configuration. Its GPU benchmark score of 1184 places it at the 5th percentile of all GPUs, meaning 95% of graphics cards perform better in synthetic tests. The nearest rivals are all older ATI and AMD parts: the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% faster), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% faster), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, 0.7% faster), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, 1.4% slower). This places the Arc B370 in a performance tier roughly equivalent to a decade-old entry-level discrete GPU, which explains the low frame rates in Hard West.

The GPU operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz, built on Intel's Xe3-LPG architecture (Panther Lake chip) using a 3 nm process. It has 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, 20 ROPs, and 10 ray tracing cores. The memory configuration is entirely system-shared, with no dedicated VRAM. The memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," meaning performance scales with the host system's DDR4 memory. In this case, the Ryzen 5 4600G supports dual-channel DDR4 with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, which is the effective ceiling for the GPU's memory access.

The pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s are modest figures that align with the low benchmark scores. The FP32 compute of 6.144 TFLOPS and FP16 of 12.29 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) provide enough raw throughput for older titles like Hard West, but the system-shared memory and low ROP count severely limit fill-rate-bound scenarios. This is evident in the measured FPS data: at 1080p Low, the card manages 79 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 37 FPS. The scaling between presets shows a GPU that runs out of memory bandwidth or pixel throughput as quality settings increase.

The GPU's TDP is just 25 W, and it has no power connectors, operating as an IGP (integrated graphics processor). This is not a discrete card but an integrated solution, which explains its performance class. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility are modern, but raw hardware throughput is the limiting factor. For Hard West, a turn-based tactics game with relatively simple 2D and 3D scenes, the GPU can cope at lower settings, but the data shows clear degradation as resolution and quality rise.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2721 out of 2949 tested combinations places this system in the bottom 7.7% of all configurations tested for Hard West. This is a decisive indicator that the pairing of a mid-range APU with a low-end integrated GPU yields one of the weaker experiences available for this title. The rank is not a measure of failure but of relative capability: 2721 other combinations deliver higher average frame rates across the tested settings.

To contextualize this, the Ryzen 5 4600G itself is a 71st percentile CPU among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 17507. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE (17482, 0.1% lower), AMD Ryzen 3 8300GE (17614, 0.6% higher), Intel Core 7 150U (17395, 0.6% lower), and Intel Core i3-14100T (17648, 0.8% higher). The CPU is not the weak link; it sits comfortably in the middle of its peer group. The GPU, however, is at the 5th percentile, dragging the entire combo down to the bottom tier.

The disparity between CPU and GPU performance classes explains the rank. A 71st percentile CPU paired with a 5th percentile GPU produces a system that is severely GPU-bound in most scenarios. The CPU can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them, but the GPU's low throughput caps the final output. This is why the combo rank (2721/2949) is far worse than the CPU's percentile (71) but roughly aligned with the GPU's percentile (5). In Hard West, the GPU is the limiting factor across all resolutions and settings, which is consistent with the measured FPS data showing a maximum of 79 FPS at 1080p Low and a minimum of 12 FPS at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a complete picture of this combo's performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system achieves its best results. Low settings produce 79 FPS average, which is fully playable for a turn-based tactics game. Medium settings drop to 64 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS and maximum of 74 FPS, still smooth and consistent. High settings yield 49 FPS, which is acceptable but shows a noticeable step down. Ultra settings fall to 37 FPS, which is playable but begins to feel sluggish for a genre that benefits from smooth camera panning.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly. Low settings average 50 FPS, which is still playable but a 37% reduction from 1080p Low. Medium settings average 41 FPS (min 35, max 47), which is borderline acceptable. High settings drop to 31 FPS, and Ultra falls to 23 FPS. At this resolution, only Low and Medium presets deliver consistently playable frame rates, and even Medium dips to 35 FPS at its lowest point.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playability on any preset. Low settings average 26 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold commonly considered the minimum for acceptable play. Medium settings average 21 FPS (min 18, max 25), High averages 16 FPS, and Ultra averages 12 FPS. None of these are suitable for a smooth experience, and even the best case (26 FPS on Low) will feel choppy. The gap between 1080p and 4K is stark: 79 FPS at 1080p Low versus 26 FPS at 4K Low represents a 67% performance loss when scaling resolution by 4x.

The data also shows consistent scaling between presets. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 15 FPS (79 to 64), Medium to High costs 15 FPS (64 to 49), and High to Ultra costs 12 FPS (49 to 37). At 1440p, the same steps cost 9 FPS (50 to 41), 10 FPS (41 to 31), and 8 FPS (31 to 23). At 4K, the steps cost 5 FPS (26 to 21), 5 FPS (21 to 16), and 4 FPS (16 to 12). The diminishing absolute differences at higher resolutions indicate that the GPU is hitting a hard performance wall, likely due to memory bandwidth limitations from the system-shared memory.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combo is at 1920x1080 with Medium settings. This configuration delivers 64 FPS average with a minimum of 55 FPS, providing a smooth and stable frame rate that suits the turn-based gameplay of Hard West. The 55 FPS minimum ensures that even in scenes with multiple characters or effects, the game does not dip into stutter territory. Medium settings also preserve visual quality better than Low, making it the best balance of performance and fidelity.

For players who prioritize visual quality, 1080p High at 49 FPS is a viable alternative. The 15 FPS drop from Medium is noticeable but still playable, and the increased detail may be worth it for a game that is not action-oriented. However, 1080p Ultra at 37 FPS is harder to recommend. While it is technically playable, the frame rate is approaching the lower bound of smoothness, and the visual gains over High are typically marginal in a game from 2015.

At 1440p, the data suggests sticking to Low settings for 50 FPS or Medium for 41 FPS. Low is the safer choice for maintaining a consistent experience, while Medium offers better visuals at the cost of a 9 FPS average reduction and a 35 FPS minimum. 1440p High at 31 FPS and Ultra at 23 FPS are not recommended for regular play, as the frame rates are too low for comfortable navigation.

At 4K, no preset is recommended. Even Low at 26 FPS falls below the playability threshold, and the visual fidelity of Hard West does not justify the severe performance penalty. Players with this combo should stick to 1080p or, at most, 1440p Low. The turn-based nature of the game means that occasional frame drops are less catastrophic than in fast-paced genres, but the 4K numbers are simply too low for any consistent experience.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G provides the computational backbone for this system, and its performance characteristics are well-documented in the benchmark data. This is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture (Renoir codename), manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 8 MB shared L3. The CPU supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, which is shared with the integrated GPU.

In CPU benchmarks, the 4600G scores 13593 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 1919 in single-core, 5709 in R20 multicore and 805 single-core, and 1370 in R15 multicore and 193 single-core. Geekbench results show 6637 multicore and 1460 single-core. PassMark scores include 15992 multithread and 2653 single-thread. The 3DMark tests show 4863 for 16 threads, 4138 for 8 threads, 2732 for 4 threads, 1430 for 2 threads, and 726 for single-thread. These numbers place the CPU at the 71st percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 17507.

For Hard West, a turn-based tactics game that is not heavily multithreaded, the CPU's single-thread performance is the most relevant metric. The single-core score of 1919 in Cinebench R23 and 726 in 3DMark single-thread indicate adequate processing power for game logic, AI, and unit pathfinding. The 6 cores and 12 threads provide enough parallelism for background tasks and any lightly threaded game systems. The CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals is tight: it is 0.1% faster than the Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE, 0.6% slower than the Ryzen 3 8300GE, 0.6% faster than the Intel Core 7 150U, and 0.8% slower than the Intel Core i3-14100T. This means the CPU is not a source of significant frame rate variance in this combo.

The CPU's role in Hard West is secondary to the GPU, but it does not hold the system back. At 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the CPU can push up to 79 FPS. At 1080p Ultra, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, dropping to 37 FPS regardless of CPU headroom. The 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth is shared between the CPU and GPU, and this is likely a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The system-shared memory of the Arc B370 means that the GPU accesses the same DDR4 pool as the CPU, and at 4K, the memory bandwidth is insufficient to maintain frame rates above 26 FPS. The CPU's job is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game state, and the data shows it does so effectively; the GPU simply cannot render fast enough to take advantage of the CPU's capabilities.