Hard West

# Hard West with AMD Ryzen 5 5600X + Intel Arc B390

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the Intel Arc B390 delivers playable frame rates at 1080p in Hard West, but the integrated graphics solution struggles as resolution climbs. Across the measured settings, this combo ranges from 14 FPS at 4K Ultra to 87 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck in nearly every scenario. The Ryzen 5 5600X, a 6-core/12-thread Zen 3 part with a 3.70 GHz base and 4.60 GHz boost clock, has ample compute headroom for this turn-based tactics title, but the Arc B390's integrated nature caps performance well below what the CPU can feed.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and consistent across all settings presets, confirming that the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting component in this configuration. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 55 at 1920x1080 to 35 at 2560x1440, then to 18 at 3840x2160. That represents a 36% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 49% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The cumulative effect is a 67% loss from 1080p to 4K at High settings.

Low settings show a similar pattern but with higher absolute numbers. The combo achieves 87 FPS at 1080p Low, drops to 55 FPS at 1440p Low, and bottoms out at 29 FPS at 4K Low. The 1080p to 1440p drop of 37% is nearly identical to the High preset, suggesting that resolution scaling is largely independent of the quality preset. The 1440p to 4K loss at Low settings is 47%, slightly less pronounced than at High but still substantial.

Medium settings provide the only complete data set with min and max FPS values, offering insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the average is 71 FPS with a range of 61 to 82 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 45 FPS with a range of 38 to 52 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 24 FPS with a range of 20 to 27 FPS. The frame ranges scale proportionally with the averages, indicating no unusual stuttering or frame pacing issues—just a steady decline in performance as pixel count increases.

Ultra settings are the most demanding, with the combo delivering only 41 FPS at 1080p, 26 FPS at 1440p, and 14 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p loss is 37%, and the 1440p to 4K loss is 46%. These percentages are remarkably consistent across all four presets, which points to a purely resolution-bound scenario. The GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth—both system-dependent given the "System Shared" memory configuration—are the constraining factors, not the CPU or game logic.

The data strongly suggests that 1080p is the only viable resolution for smooth gameplay, and even then, only at Low or Medium settings. At 1440p, only Low settings approach playability at 55 FPS, while High and Medium fall to 35 and 45 FPS respectively. At 4K, no preset achieves even 30 FPS, making it effectively unplayable for any action-heavy sequence, though turn-based gameplay might tolerate lower frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2614 out of 2949 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the bottom 11% of all configurations. The percentile ranking for the GPU alone is 9, meaning the Arc B390 performs better than only 9% of all GPUs in the benchmark database. The CPU, by contrast, sits at the 75th percentile among all CPUs, highlighting the massive imbalance in this pairing.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the overall benchmark database illustrate its performance tier. The Arc B390 scores 1482 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, which is 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% ahead of the GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% ahead of the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% ahead of the GeForce GT 710 (1443). These are all entry-level or legacy discrete GPUs, and the Arc B390 only narrowly edges them out. In a 2015 turn-based tactics game like Hard West, this places the GPU at the bottom of the performance spectrum.

The CPU's nearest rivals tell a different story. The Ryzen 5 5600X has an average benchmark score of 21771, which is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H (21749), 0.5% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U (21874), 0.5% behind the Intel Core i7-11700 (21891), and 0.6% behind the AMD EPYC 9554P (21899). These deltas are negligible, placing the 5600X in a performance cluster with mobile and desktop parts across multiple generations. The CPU is clearly not the limiting factor in this combo.

The rank of 2614 out of 2949 is driven almost entirely by the GPU's poor showing. Combos ranked below this pairing would typically feature even weaker integrated graphics or older GPU architectures. For a turn-based tactics game that is not graphically demanding by modern standards, this ranking indicates that the Arc B390 is simply not adequate for high-resolution or high-quality playback, regardless of the capable CPU paired with it.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for the best experience with this combo. At 1080p, Low settings deliver 87 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Medium settings at 1080p still achieve 71 FPS average with a minimum of 61 FPS, making this the highest quality preset that maintains a consistent 60+ FPS experience. High settings drop to 55 FPS average, which is playable but below the smoothness threshold, while Ultra falls to 41 FPS.

For players prioritizing visual quality over raw frame rate, 1080p Medium is the recommended sweet spot. The 71 FPS average with a 61 FPS minimum ensures no drops below 60 FPS, and the jump from Low to Medium typically provides noticeable improvements in texture filtering, shadow quality, and draw distance in a game like Hard West. The 16 FPS difference between Low and Medium is a reasonable trade-off for the visual upgrade.

At 1440p, the situation changes. Low settings at 55 FPS average is the only preset that approaches playability, but the sub-60 FPS average means there will be occasional dips. Medium at 45 FPS and High at 35 FPS are both below the smoothness threshold, and Ultra at 26 FPS is borderline unplayable. For 1440p, the data suggests dropping to Low is necessary, though the 55 FPS average may still feel choppy in camera pans or when multiple characters are on screen.

At 4K, no preset is recommended. Even Low settings only manage 29 FPS average, which is below the 30 FPS minimum for acceptable gameplay in most scenarios. Medium at 24 FPS and High at 18 FPS are slideshows, and Ultra at 14 FPS is unusable. Given that Hard West is turn-based, some players might tolerate 30 FPS at 4K Low, but the data shows it falls just short of that threshold.

The practical recommendation is to run Hard West at 1080p with Medium settings for the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. If frame rate is the absolute priority, 1080p Low at 87 FPS provides a large margin above 60 FPS. Players with 1440p monitors should accept Low settings and potential frame dips, while 4K should be avoided entirely with this combo.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Hard West at 4K?

A: Technically yes, but not at playable frame rates. The highest average at 4K is 29 FPS on Low settings, with Medium at 24 FPS, High at 18 FPS, and Ultra at 14 FPS. None of these meet the 30 FPS minimum for acceptable gameplay, so 4K is not recommended.

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

A: Medium settings at 1920x1080 provide 71 FPS average with a minimum of 61 FPS, which is the highest quality preset that maintains a consistent 60+ FPS experience. Low settings reach 87 FPS average but with lower visual quality, while High drops to 55 FPS and Ultra to 41 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1.3% higher than the GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% higher than the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% higher than the GeForce GT 710 (1443). It outperforms all of them, but by very small margins.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600X a bottleneck in this combination?

A: No. The CPU ranks at the 75th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 21771, placing it within 0.6% of the EPYC 9554P and Core i7-11700. The GPU's 9th percentile ranking clearly identifies it as the limiting component.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1440p?

A: Low settings average 55 FPS, which is the only preset near playability. Medium averages 45 FPS, High averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. All presets at 1440p will experience frame drops below 60 FPS.

Q: Does this combo have enough performance for turn-based tactics gameplay?

A: At 1080p Medium, yes—the 71 FPS average with a 61 FPS minimum provides smooth camera movement and unit animations. At higher resolutions or quality settings, the frame rates drop to levels that may cause noticeable judder, though turn-based gameplay is more forgiving than real-time genres.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture with a 3 nm process node from Intel. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 render output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The base clock is 300 MHz with a boost clock of 2500 MHz, producing a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 15.36 TFLOPS using a 2:1 ratio.

The most critical aspect of this GPU is its memory configuration. The Arc B390 uses "System Shared" memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM and instead relies on the system's main memory via the IGP bus interface. The memory type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent," which means performance scales with the host system's DDR4 memory speed and configuration. The Ryzen 5 5600X supports dual-channel DDR4 with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, but this is shared between CPU and GPU workloads.

The GPU's benchmark results are minimal—only a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 is available. This places the Arc B390 at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1482. The nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts from over a decade ago, with deltas of 1.3% to 2.7%. This indicates that the Arc B390 performs at the level of a very old entry-level discrete GPU, despite being built on modern 3 nm process technology with a 2500 MHz boost clock.

In Hard West specifically, the GPU's limitations are clear from the measured FPS data. The game is a turn-based tactics title from 2015, which is not graphically demanding by modern standards, yet the Arc B390 still struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 1080p High (55 FPS average) and cannot reach 30 FPS at 4K on any preset. The 80 W TDP and IGP form factor mean it shares power and thermal budget with the CPU, further constraining performance in sustained workloads.

The GPU's architecture supports modern APIs including DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so it is feature-complete for current games. However, the raw throughput and shared memory bandwidth limit actual performance. The 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate is adequate for 1080p but insufficient for 4K, which requires processing four times the pixel count. Similarly, the 120.0 GTexel/s texture rate becomes a bottleneck at higher resolutions where texture fetch demands increase.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread desktop processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates at a base clock of 3.70 GHz with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, and features a 65 W TDP. The CPU is built on TSMC's 7 nm process with 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die. It supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a theoretical bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s and includes 32 MB of L3 cache, plus 64 KB L1 and 512 KB L2 per core.

The CPU's benchmark performance is strong across all tests. In Cinebench R23, it scores 11838 multicore and 1541 singlecore. Geekbench results are 9173 multicore and 1989 singlecore. The 3DMark threaded tests show scaling from 1793 with 2 threads to 5588 with max threads, indicating good multi-thread utilization. PassMark results are consistently solid, with a multithread score of 21858 and a single-thread score of 3364. The average benchmark score across all tests is 21771, placing the CPU at the 75th percentile.

The nearest rivals show how competitive the 5600X is. It outperforms the Ryzen 7 4800H by 0.1%, while trailing the Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U, Core i7-11700, and EPYC 9554P by 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.6% respectively. These deltas are within measurement noise, meaning the 5600X delivers performance equivalent to a range of mobile and desktop parts from different generations and price points.

In Hard West, the CPU's role is primarily to manage game logic, AI decision-making, and unit pathfinding in this turn-based tactics title. The game's genre does not demand high frame rates for smooth gameplay, but it does benefit from responsive UI and quick turn transitions. The 5600X's strong single-thread performance (1541 in Cinebench R23 singlecore, 1989 in Geekbench singlecore) ensures that the game's main thread runs efficiently, while the 12 threads handle background tasks and AI calculations.

The benchmark data confirms that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this combo. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 87 FPS, which is well above what a turn-based tactics game requires. The frame rate drops at higher resolutions and settings are consistent with GPU-bound behavior, not CPU limitations. Even at the most demanding 4K Ultra preset (14 FPS), the CPU is likely idling while the GPU struggles to fill pixels.

The 5600X's memory support for dual-channel DDR4 with ECC capability, combined with the PCIe Gen 4 interface (20 lanes CPU only), provides a solid platform foundation. However, the Arc B390's "System Shared" memory means the GPU competes with the CPU for memory bandwidth, which could impact performance in memory-intensive scenarios. The CPU's 32 MB L3 cache helps mitigate some of this contention by reducing the frequency of main memory access.