Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and Intel Arc B580 pairing delivers a mid-pack result in Hard West, with the measured frames per second showing a clear GPU-bound pattern as resolution climbs. The combo ranks 1338 out of 1699 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle tier overall, yet the data reveals that this is primarily a limitation of the graphics card rather than the processor. At 1080p, the system produces smooth triple-digit averages on most presets, but 4K Ultra falls to 21.9 FPS, which is below playable thresholds for a turn-based tactics title.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 123.2 at 1920x1080 with Medium settings. This is nearly double the 4K Medium result of 41.6 FPS, showing how resolution heavily impacts performance in Hard West.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 7500F compare to its nearest CPU rival?

A: The Ryzen 5 7500F has an average benchmark score of 24993, which is only 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-11850H (24974). Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22799 and single-core score of 3218 demonstrate solid thread scaling for a 6-core, 12-thread part.

Q: What is the Intel Arc B580's GPU percentile ranking?

A: The Arc B580 sits at the 66th percentile among all GPUs based on its average benchmark score of 23021. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, scores 23181, which is 0.7% higher.

Q: What FPS does the system achieve at 1440p with Ultra settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Ultra settings, the measured average FPS is 44.5. This is roughly 65% of the 1080p Ultra result of 68.5 FPS, indicating a steep scaling penalty.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7500F a bottleneck in this game?

A: Benchmark data suggests it is not. The CPU's PassMark multithread score is 26825, and its 3DMark max threads score is 6379. With 6 cores and 12 threads boosting up to 5.00 GHz, the processor provides ample headroom for the GPU to become the limiting factor.

Q: How many tested combos does this pairing rank above?

A: The combo ranks 1338 out of 1699 total combinations, meaning it outperforms 361 other combos. This places it in the bottom 21% of all tested systems for Hard West.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the FPS patterns observed. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base and boost clocks are both 2670 MHz, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs handle the geometry and pixel work in Hard West's turn-based scenes.

The GPU's architecture is Xe2-HPG on the Battlemage generation, built on a 5 nm TSMC process with 19,600 million transistors. Its FP32 throughput of 13.67 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s provide the raw compute needed for the game's stylized visuals. The 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average score of 23021, places it slightly below the RTX 4060 (23181, a 0.7% gap) but above the AMD Radeon 760M (22999, a 0.1% gap). In Hard West, the GPU's role becomes critical at higher resolutions: the gap between Low and Ultra presets widens from 52.2 FPS at 1080p to 29.7 FPS at 4K, showing that the graphics card's shading and memory bandwidth are stretched as pixel count grows.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 7500F and Arc B580 achieves a rank of 1338 out of 1699 tested combos in Hard West. This places the pairing in the bottom 21% of all systems, a modest result that reflects the GPU's mid-tier standing. The CPU itself is stronger than its position suggests: the 7500F sits at the 82nd percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 24993. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-11850H (24974, 0.1% lower), AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (25057, 0.3% higher), AMD Ryzen 5 8400F (25064, 0.3% higher), and AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (24897, 0.4% lower).

The GPU's 66th percentile rank is the limiting factor. The Arc B580's average score of 23021 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon 760M (22999, 0.1% lower) and NVIDIA P106-100 (22950, 0.3% lower), while trailing the RTX 4060 by 0.7%. In Hard West, this translates to a system that handles 1080p comfortably but struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 4K on anything above Medium settings. The combo rank reflects this balance: the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU, but the graphics card caps overall performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions: Ultra settings exact a heavy toll, while Low settings provide the highest frame rates. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 149 FPS on Low, 123.2 FPS on Medium, 96.8 FPS on High, and 68.5 FPS on Ultra. The step from Medium to High costs 26.4 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra costs another 28.3 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset introduces significant additional rendering work.

At 2560x1440, the results scale down proportionally: Low produces 94.1 FPS, Medium 80.2 FPS, High 58.6 FPS, and Ultra 44.5 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to 14.1 FPS, suggesting that at this resolution, the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading units become more evenly taxed. The 1080p to 1440p drop for High settings is 38.2 FPS (from 96.8 to 58.6), a 39.5% reduction.

At 3840x2160, performance falls further: Low hits 51.6 FPS, Medium 41.6 FPS, High 32.9 FPS, and Ultra 21.9 FPS. Only the Low preset remains above 50 FPS at 4K, and Ultra drops below 25 FPS, which is a poor experience even for a turn-based game. The 1440p to 4K transition for Medium settings costs 38.6 FPS (from 80.2 to 41.6), a 48.1% reduction, highlighting the GPU's struggle with the higher pixel count.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and smoothness, the Medium preset at 1080p or 1440p is the sweet spot. At 1080p, Medium delivers 123.2 FPS, which is more than sufficient for Hard West's turn-based gameplay, and it remains well above the 60 FPS threshold with headroom for scene complexity. At 1440p, Medium produces 80.2 FPS, still comfortably playable while offering improved resolution over 1080p.

High settings are viable only at 1080p, where 96.8 FPS remains smooth. At 1440p, High drops to 58.6 FPS, which is borderline for players who prefer consistent 60+ FPS, though it may be acceptable given the genre's slower pace. Ultra settings are not recommended: even at 1080p, the 68.5 FPS result is playable but the visual gains over High are marginal relative to the 28.3 FPS cost. At 4K, only Low (51.6 FPS) approaches playability, and players targeting 4K should accept Low or Medium (41.6 FPS) with the understanding that frame rates will be modest.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F provides the computational foundation for this pairing, and its specifications indicate it is not the limiting factor in Hard West. The CPU features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It is built on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael codename) using a 5 nm process from TSMC, with 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. The 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (83.2 GB/s bandwidth) provide adequate memory bandwidth for feeding the Arc B580.

Benchmark results confirm the CPU's capability. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22799 and single-core score of 3218 show strong performance for a 6-core desktop part. The Geekbench multicore score of 12686 and single-core score of 2759 further validate its position. The PassMark multithread score of 26825 and 3DMark max threads score of 6379 indicate that the CPU can handle the thread scheduling demands of Hard West. The 82nd percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average score of 24993, places it above the majority of processors. In this game, the CPU's role is to maintain consistent frame pacing, and the data suggests it does so effectively, as the FPS differences between resolutions track the GPU's workload rather than CPU limitations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal a clear GPU-bound system. At 1080p Low, the system produces 149 FPS; at 1440p Low, it drops to 94.1 FPS (a 36.8% reduction); and at 4K Low, it falls to 51.6 FPS (a 45.2% reduction from 1440p). For Medium settings, the progression is 123.2 FPS at 1080p, 80.2 FPS at 1440p (a 34.9% drop), and 41.6 FPS at 4K (a 48.1% drop from 1440p). High settings show 96.8 FPS at 1080p, 58.6 FPS at 1440p (a 39.5% drop), and 32.9 FPS at 4K (a 43.9% drop from 1440p). Ultra follows the same trend: 68.5 FPS at 1080p, 44.5 FPS at 1440p (a 35.0% drop), and 21.9 FPS at 4K (a 50.8% drop from 1440p).

The percentage drops are relatively consistent across settings, hovering around 35% from 1080p to 1440p and 44-51% from 1440p to 4K. This consistency indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, as the scaling penalty is proportional to the increase in resolution. The 4K to 1080p ratio for each preset ranges from roughly 2.9x (Low: 149/51.6) to 3.1x (Ultra: 68.5/21.9), which is close to the theoretical pixel count increase, confirming that the Arc B580's 456.0 GB/s bandwidth and 213.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are the constraining resources. The CPU, with its 5.00 GHz boost clock and 32 MB L3 cache, does not exhibit any resolution-dependent bottleneck, as frame rates scale smoothly with GPU load rather than showing CPU stalls.