Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a playable experience in Hard West, but the data reveals a system that is consistently bound by the GPU at higher resolutions and settings. This combination ranks in the 20th percentile of all tested configurations, indicating that while it handles the game’s turn-based mechanics, it does not excel in raw frame throughput. The measured frames per second (FPS) across the preset ladder show a clear pattern: this is a 1080p-oriented setup, with diminishing returns as resolution and graphical fidelity increase.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data strongly suggests that the Medium preset at 1920x1080 offers the most balanced experience, delivering 110 average FPS with a recorded 93 FPS minimum and 126 FPS maximum. This is the only preset at 1080p that provides both a high average and a confirmed floor that keeps the game well above the 60 FPS threshold. The 84 FPS average at High settings is respectable, but the lack of a reported minimum FPS makes it harder to guarantee consistent performance. The jump from Medium to Low at 1080p, which yields 134 FPS, shows that the system has headroom, but the visual trade-off for that 24 FPS gain is substantial.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again stands out as the optimal choice. It produces 69 average FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS, which is just barely below the 60 FPS target. This indicates that the hardware is operating at the edge of its capability at this resolution. The High preset at 1440p drops to 53 FPS, which is a noticeable step down and may introduce visible stutter in a turn-based strategy game where smooth camera panning matters. The Low preset at 1440p, hitting 85 FPS, is technically smoother, but the visual degradation likely undermines the game’s atmospheric, comic-book-inspired art style.

For 4K (3840x2160), no preset achieves a playable 60 FPS average. The highest average is 44 FPS at Low settings, which is still below the standard for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 4K produces 36 FPS with a minimum of 31 FPS, suggesting significant frame dips during complex scenes. The data implies that 4K is not viable for this combination unless the user is willing to accept a sub-30 FPS experience, as seen with the 28 FPS and 21 FPS averages at High and Ultra, respectively. Therefore, the recommendation is to stick to 1080p Medium for the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, or 1440p Medium if the user prioritizes resolution over a guaranteed 60 FPS floor.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570’s performance in Hard West is best understood through its memory and clock specifications, which directly correlate with the measured FPS declines. The GPU features 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for the game’s textures at 1080p and 1440p, but the data suggests it becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The 44 FPS at 4K Low versus 134 FPS at 1080p Low represents a 67% performance drop, which is a larger decline than what the pure pixel count increase (4x) would predict, indicating that memory bandwidth and the GPU’s compute capacity are saturated.

The GPU’s boost clock is fixed at 2500 MHz, with 2304 shading units and 80 ROPs. The pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s is a theoretical maximum that the game does not approach, given the turn-based nature and relatively simple geometry. The FP32 throughput of 11.52 TFLOPS provides adequate raw compute for the game’s lighting and shadow effects, but the benchmark results show that this is not enough to maintain high frame rates at Ultra settings. The 21 FPS at 4K Ultra, compared to 63 FPS at 1080p Ultra, highlights a 66% reduction in performance. This pattern points to the GPU being the primary bottleneck above 1080p, as the CPU’s role diminishes in these scenarios.

The Arc B570’s position in the GPU hierarchy, at the 65th percentile of all GPUs, is reflected in its performance here. It sits close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which has an average score just 0.1% higher. In practical terms, this means the B570 is a mid-range performer. The 10 GB VRAM allocation is not a concern for Hard West, as the game is from 2015 and likely does not require more than 4-6 GB even at 4K. The data shows that the GPU’s raw shading power, not its memory capacity, is what holds it back at higher settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear story of GPU limitation. At Medium settings, the FPS drops from 110 at 1080p to 69 at 1440p, a 37% reduction, and then to 36 at 4K, a further 48% reduction from 1440p. This non-linear decline is typical of a system where the GPU is under increasing load. The transition from 1440p to 4K is particularly punishing, as the pixel count more than doubles, and the GPU’s fill rate and bandwidth are tested to their limits.

At High settings, the scaling is similar: 84 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p (37% drop), and 28 FPS at 4K (47% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets suggests that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck at all resolutions above 1080p. The CPU, which has 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, is likely able to keep up with the game’s turn-based logic and AI calculations without becoming a constraint. This is evidenced by the fact that the FPS drop is primarily tied to resolution, not to the complexity of the scene.

The 4K Low setting, at 44 FPS, is the only 4K option that approaches playability. However, the 67% drop from 1080p Low (134 FPS) indicates that even at the lowest graphical preset, the GPU cannot deliver a smooth 4K experience. This suggests that the limiting component is not the texture memory or shader complexity, but the raw pixel throughput of the B570. For users targeting 4K, this data implies that a more powerful GPU would be necessary, as the current configuration’s performance scales poorly with resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2360 out of 2949 tested combos in Hard West. This places it in the bottom 20% of all configurations, which is a surprisingly low position given the individual components’ benchmark scores. The CPU is in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 65th percentile, yet their combined performance in this game is below average. This discrepancy suggests that Hard West may not be well-optimized for this hardware combination, or that the game’s engine is particularly sensitive to certain architectural features.

The rank of 2360 out of 2949 means that 589 other combinations performed worse, but 2359 performed better. This is a significant gap, indicating that many systems with weaker CPUs or GPUs on paper achieve higher frame rates in this title. The data does not provide specific rival combo names, but the implication is that the B570’s driver overhead or the CPU’s memory latency could be contributing factors. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-11850H (0.1% higher score) and the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F (0.2% lower score), show that the CPU is competitive in synthetic benchmarks, so the issue is unlikely to be CPU-bound.

The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the Intel Arc A750 (0.1% lower score) and the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (0.4% higher score), do not suggest a fundamental weakness. However, the low combo rank implies that the synergy between the 7500F and B570 is suboptimal for Hard West. This could be due to the game’s reliance on single-thread performance, where the 7500F’s 3.70 GHz base clock is not exceptional, or its dependency on specific GPU features that the B570 handles inefficiently. The data shows that this combo is not a top performer, and users should temper expectations.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F’s specifications suggest it should be more than adequate for a turn-based tactics game. With 6 cores and 12 threads, a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache, it has the multi-threading capability and single-thread speed to handle complex AI and pathfinding calculations. The CPU’s benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22799 and a single-core score of 3218, are strong for a desktop processor. However, the Hard West results show that the CPU is not the limiting factor, as the FPS scales primarily with resolution and settings, not with scene complexity.

The CPU’s 3DMark scores, particularly the single-thread score of 974, indicate that its per-core performance is solid but not exceptional. The game, being a 2015 title, likely uses an older engine that may not fully utilize modern multi-core CPUs. This means the 7500F’s 12 threads are probably underutilized, and the game’s performance is more dependent on the GPU. The data supports this, as the FPS drops are consistent across different settings at the same resolution, which is a classic GPU-bound symptom.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s and support for DDR5 memory are modern features, but they do not translate into a performance advantage in this game. The 65W TDP and 5 nm process node indicate efficiency, but that is irrelevant to frame rates. The CPU’s percentile ranking (77th) is higher than the combo’s ranking (20th percentile), which further confirms that the CPU is not the bottleneck. Instead, the data implies that the GPU’s performance ceiling is what limits the overall system in Hard West.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full preset ladder shows a clear hierarchy. The Low preset delivers the highest average at 134 FPS, followed by Medium at 110 FPS (with a 93 FPS minimum and 126 FPS maximum), High at 84 FPS, and Ultra at 63 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 71 FPS, indicating that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution. The Medium preset’s minimum FPS of 93 is reassuring, as it ensures no major dips below 90 FPS, making it the safest choice for consistent performance.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops are more pronounced. The Low preset averages 85 FPS, which is still playable, but the Medium preset falls to 69 FPS with a 59 FPS minimum. This minimum is concerning because it suggests occasional frame drops below the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 53 FPS and Ultra at 40 FPS are both below 60 FPS, making them less desirable for smooth gameplay. The 1440p data shows that the GPU is starting to struggle, with a 37% drop from Low to Ultra (85 FPS to 40 FPS).

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. The Low preset is the best at 44 FPS, but it is still below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset averages 36 FPS with a minimum of 31 FPS, which would result in noticeable stuttering. The High preset at 28 FPS and Ultra at 21 FPS are both well below playable levels. The 4K results show a 52% drop from Low to Ultra (44 FPS to 21 FPS), which is the largest relative decline across all resolutions. The data makes it clear that 4K is not a viable option for this combo, and users should stick to 1080p or 1440p for the best experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and preset for this combo in Hard West?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with the Medium preset is the optimal choice, delivering 110 average FPS with a 93 FPS minimum. This provides the best balance of visual quality and performance, with the minimum FPS ensuring a smooth experience.

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

A: No. The highest average FPS at 3840x2160 is 44 FPS on the Low preset, which is below the 60 FPS target. All other 4K presets result in averages of 36 FPS or lower, making them unplayable.

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

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. FPS drops are consistent with resolution scaling (e.g., 110 FPS at 1080p Medium vs. 36 FPS at 4K Medium), while the CPU’s specifications are more than adequate for a 2015 turn-based tactics title.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 2360 out of 2949 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 20% of all configurations. This is lower than expected given the individual component scores.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 85 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 40 FPS. This represents a 45 FPS drop, or approximately 53% lower performance, when moving from the lowest to highest settings.

Q: Is there a preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Only the Low preset at 1440p, with an 85 FPS average, stays well above 60 FPS. The Medium preset has a 69 FPS average but a 59 FPS minimum, which briefly drops below the 60 FPS threshold.