Hard West

# Hard West with AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT + Intel Arc B370

This combination of an AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2721st out of 2949 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the bottom 8% of all configurations. The measured frame rates show a system that can handle the game at 1080p with lower settings but struggles significantly at higher resolutions and quality presets. The Intel Arc B370, which sits at the 5th percentile among all GPUs, is clearly the dominant bottleneck in this pairing, while the Ryzen 5 5600GT's 74th percentile CPU ranking suggests it has ample headroom for this turn-based tactics title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2721 out of 2949 tested configurations places this system firmly in the lower tier of hardware pairings for Hard West. This ranking reflects the GPU's severe performance limitations; the Intel Arc B370's average benchmark score of 1184 puts it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% ahead) and ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% ahead). The deltaPct values show that the Arc B370 is essentially neck-and-neck with decade-old graphics hardware in raw compute performance.

The CPU side tells a different story. The Ryzen 5 5600GT achieves an average benchmark score of 20733, placing it at the 74th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-12490F (20802, 0.3% ahead), Intel Xeon 6325P (20821, 0.4% ahead), and Intel Core Ultra 5 125U (20826, 0.4% ahead). The sub-1% deltas between these CPUs indicate that the 5600GT is competitively positioned within its performance class, offering essentially identical compute capability to several modern alternatives.

The disparity between CPU and GPU percentiles — 74th versus 5th — explains why the measured frame rates scale so dramatically with resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 79 FPS, which is playable, but at 4K Ultra it drops to just 12 FPS. The data suggests that in easier settings, the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, but as rendering load increases, the Arc B370's limited resources become the defining constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the best 1080p setting for this combo in Hard West?

A: Based on measured results, Medium at 1920x1080 delivers 64 FPS average with a minimum of 55 FPS and maximum of 74 FPS. This provides a balanced experience compared to Low's 79 FPS or High's 49 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 1440p gaming in Hard West?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 2560x1440, Low settings achieve 50 FPS, Medium reaches 41 FPS (35 min, 47 max), and High drops to 31 FPS. Ultra falls to 23 FPS, which may feel sluggish for a tactics game.

Q: How does the Arc B370 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, while the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scores 1186 (0.2% higher), the ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190 (0.5% higher), and the AMD FirePro M2000 scores 1168 (1.4% lower). Performance is statistically indistinguishable from these older parts.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600GT a bottleneck in this configuration?

A: No. The CPU's 17272 Cinebench R23 multicore score and 2438 single-core score place it well above the demands of Hard West. The GPU's 5th percentile ranking indicates it is the limiting factor across all tested resolutions.

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

A: Low settings produce 79 FPS average, while Ultra produces 37 FPS — a 42 FPS drop. This represents a 53% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to highest quality preset.

Q: Does the 4K experience offer any playable settings?

A: At 3840x2160, Low averages 26 FPS and Medium averages 21 FPS (18 min, 25 max). High drops to 16 FPS and Ultra to 12 FPS. Only Low approaches a minimally playable threshold, and even that is marginal.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a steep performance curve as resolution increases. At 1080p Medium, the combo produces 64 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Medium reduces this to 41 FPS — a 36% drop. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 21 FPS, representing a 67% reduction from the 1080p figure and a 49% drop from 1440p.

This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The Intel Arc B370's pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s are simply insufficient for the pixel count demanded at higher resolutions. The 6.144 TFLOPS FP32 throughput translates to a rendering capability that was competitive in the early 2010s but is severely outpaced by modern game demands at 1440p and beyond.

The frame rate deltas between settings also widen at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the gap between Low (79 FPS) and Ultra (37 FPS) is 42 FPS. At 1440p, that gap narrows to 27 FPS (50 vs 23), and at 4K, it compresses to 14 FPS (26 vs 12). This convergence indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so thoroughly saturated that even quality preset changes have diminished impact — the hardware ceiling dominates.

The 1440p to 4K transition is particularly punishing. High settings drop from 31 FPS to 16 FPS (48% reduction), while Low settings fall from 50 to 26 FPS (48% reduction). The consistent percentage loss across settings reinforces that resolution scaling is the primary factor limiting performance, not the specific quality preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its most usable results. Low settings produce 79 FPS average, which is the highest measured frame rate across all configurations. Medium achieves 64 FPS with a minimum of 55 and maximum of 74, offering a smooth experience. High drops to 49 FPS, still acceptable for turn-based gameplay, while Ultra bottoms out at 37 FPS — playable but noticeably less fluid.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance degrades predictably. Low averages 50 FPS, preserving playability. Medium hits 41 FPS with a 35-47 FPS range, which remains functional for the genre. High falls to 31 FPS, and Ultra slips to 23 FPS. The step from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 36-38% of average frame rate depending on the preset.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles across all settings. Low averages 26 FPS, Medium achieves 21 FPS (18 min, 25 max), High manages 16 FPS, and Ultra drops to 12 FPS. None of these are ideal for a tactics game where precise cursor movement and smooth panning matter, though the genre's slower pace makes even 20-25 FPS somewhat tolerable if necessary.

The data shows a consistent hierarchy: Low > Medium > High > Ultra at every resolution. The Medium preset's min/max values (55-74 at 1080p, 35-47 at 1440p, 18-25 at 4K) indicate reasonable frame time consistency, with the spread widening slightly at higher resolutions due to increased GPU workload variance.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture on Intel's 3nm process. Its base clock of 300 MHz and boost clock of 2400 MHz are modest, and the memory configuration is entirely system shared, meaning bandwidth is system dependent rather than dedicated. This architecture choice has profound implications for gaming performance.

The GPU's shading units number 1280, with 40 texture mapping units and 20 raster output pipelines. The 10 ray tracing cores are present but largely irrelevant for a 2015 turn-based tactics title like Hard West. The FP32 throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS and FP16 of 12.29 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) are the theoretical ceilings, but the system-shared memory bandwidth constrains real-world utilization.

The 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs is stark. The nearest rivals — ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, ATI Radeon HD 5770, and AMD Radeon HD 7650M — are all products from the early 2010s. This places the Arc B370's raw compute capability at roughly the level of GPUs from a decade prior, despite its modern architecture and 3nm manufacturing.

The 25W TDP and IGP slot width confirm this is designed for low-power integrated scenarios, not discrete gaming. The "System Shared" memory size, type, and bus width, combined with "System Dependent" bandwidth, mean the GPU must contend with CPU memory traffic. In Hard West, this shared memory arrangement likely contributes to the severe frame rate drops at 4K, where texture and geometry data demands exceed what the shared memory interface can efficiently supply.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT provides 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture (Cezanne codename) on a 7nm TSMC process. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz, combined with 16 MB of L3 cache, deliver strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. The Cinebench R23 results of 17272 multicore and 2438 single-core demonstrate capability far exceeding what Hard West requires.

The CPU's 74th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 20733, places it in the upper-middle tier. The nearest rivals show remarkably tight competition: the Intel Core i5-12490F is just 0.3% ahead, while the Intel Xeon 6325P and Intel Core Ultra 5 125U are 0.4% ahead. This suggests the 5600GT is a well-balanced processor that trades performance nearly evenly with several modern alternatives.

In the context of Hard West, the CPU's role is secondary. The game is turn-based with relatively simple AI and pathfinding calculations compared to real-time strategy titles. The 5600GT's single-thread score of 2438 in Cinebench R23 ensures that game logic and UI responsiveness are not bottlenecks. The 3DMark scores — 913 single-thread, 1794 for 2 threads, 3446 for 4 threads, and 5554 for max threads — indicate healthy scaling across cores, though the game likely uses only 1-2 threads for most operations.

The memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR4 interface is adequate for the CPU's needs, but it also serves as the GPU's memory pool since the Arc B370 uses system shared memory. This shared bandwidth could become a contention point in more demanding scenes, though the measured frame rates suggest the GPU's compute limits are hit before memory bandwidth becomes the primary constraint.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal experience for this combo in Hard West is at 1920x1080 with Medium settings. The measured 64 FPS average with a 55 FPS minimum provides smooth, consistent gameplay without the visual quality sacrifices of Low. The jump from Medium to High costs 15 FPS (64 to 49), which is a 23% reduction for what is typically a modest visual improvement in a 2015 tactics title.

For users who prioritize frame rate above all else, 1080p Low at 79 FPS is the fastest configuration measured. However, the difference between Low and Medium (15 FPS) is smaller than the difference between Medium and High (15 FPS), suggesting Medium offers the best quality-to-performance balance in the settings ladder. The Ultra preset at 37 FPS is playable but offers diminishing returns over High for a significant frame rate penalty.

At 1440p, Medium at 41 FPS is the recommended choice, though users should accept that this is a substantial step down from the 1080p experience. The 35 FPS minimum is still acceptable for turn-based gameplay, and the 47 FPS maximum indicates the system can handle lighter scenes adequately. Low at 50 FPS is the safer choice for those who notice frame pacing issues, while High at 31 FPS and Ultra at 23 FPS are best avoided.

The 4K resolution is not recommended for this combo. Even Low settings at 26 FPS will feel sluggish, and Medium's 21 FPS with an 18 FPS minimum risks noticeable stutter during camera panning. Users with 4K displays should run the game at a lower internal resolution or accept that Hard West will not be a smooth experience at native 4K. The data clearly indicates that 1080p Medium is the sweet spot for this hardware pairing.