Hard West

# Hard West with AMD Ryzen 5 7600X + Intel Arc B390

Hard West, the turn-based tactics title from 2015, presents an unusual performance profile for this AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and Intel Arc B390 pairing. The data reveals a system where the GPU is overwhelmingly the limiting factor, with frame rates that range from playable at 1080p on lower presets to slideshow territory at 4K on maximum settings. The combination ranks 2614th out of 2949 tested combos in this game, placing it in the bottom 11 percent of all configurations, which signals a fundamental mismatch between the CPU's substantial processing power and the GPU's meager output capabilities.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X brings a 6-core, 12-thread design based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and boosts up to 5.30 GHz, which gives it exceptional single-threaded performance for a 2015 turn-based tactics game that was originally designed for much older hardware. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core provide ample bandwidth for the game's logic-heavy turn-based calculations, while the dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures the CPU never starves for data.

In synthetic benchmarks, this processor demonstrates its strength: it scores 1060 in 3DMark single-thread and 2603 in Geekbench single-core, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1965. Multi-threaded results are equally robust, with Cinebench R23 multicore hitting 15236 and Geekbench multicore reaching 13858. The passmark multithread score of 28390 and floating point math score of 51025 further underscore the CPU's capability. However, none of this processing headroom matters in Hard West because the game's frame rates are dictated entirely by the graphics subsystem.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 79 among all processors places it well above average, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and Intel Core i5-12600K, both scoring within 0.2 percent of the 7600X's average benchmark score of 27636. The AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE trails by 0.3 percent, while the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 leads by 0.4 percent. This tight clustering shows the 7600X is a mid-pack performer among modern CPUs, but in Hard West, the measured FPS results show almost no CPU influence — the bottleneck sits squarely elsewhere.

The game's turn-based nature means CPU load is typically modest, but even if it were demanding, the 7600X would handle it easily. The data shows no scenario where CPU performance correlates with frame rate changes across resolutions or settings; instead, the FPS scales almost entirely with GPU workload, confirming that the CPU is effectively idle relative to its capacity. This is a case where a far weaker processor would deliver nearly identical results, making the 7600X's presence in this combo largely irrelevant to the gaming experience.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings preset delivers the most playable experience for this combination. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 87 FPS average, which is smooth and responsive for a tactics game where camera movement and unit animations benefit from fluidity. The Medium preset drops to 71 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS and maximum of 82 FPS, still entirely playable and offering better visual fidelity. High runs at 55 FPS, which remains acceptable, but Ultra falls to 41 FPS, introducing noticeable sluggishness.

At 2560x1440, the picture changes dramatically. Low produces 55 FPS, which is playable but not ideal, while Medium delivers 45 FPS with a range of 38 to 52 FPS. High drops to 35 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 26 FPS, which is borderline for a game that requires strategic planning and precise cursor movement. The 4K results are uniformly poor: Low manages 29 FPS, Medium 24 FPS with a 20-27 FPS range, High 18 FPS, and Ultra an unplayable 14 FPS.

Given these numbers, the optimal experience is clearly at 1080p with the Medium preset. It provides a 71 FPS average with a minimum of 61 FPS, ensuring no drops below the 60 FPS threshold, while offering better visual quality than Low. The High preset at 55 FPS is acceptable for players who prioritize visuals, but the 16 FPS gap between Medium and High suggests diminishing returns. At 1440p, Low at 55 FPS is the only sensible choice, while 4K is not viable for any preset above Low, which still fails to reach 30 FPS. The data indicates this combo is best suited to 1080p gaming with medium settings, where it can maintain a consistent and enjoyable frame rate.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling pattern in Hard West reveals an extreme GPU bottleneck. Starting at 1080p Medium with 71 FPS, moving to 1440p Medium reduces performance to 45 FPS, a 36.6 percent drop, and then to 4K Medium at 24 FPS, another 46.7 percent decline from 1440p. This steep degradation curve is characteristic of a GPU that is severely underpowered for the resolution demands, with the render resolution scaling directly against the GPU's limited pixel throughput.

The Low preset tells a similar story: 87 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p (a 36.8 percent drop), and 29 FPS at 4K (a 47.3 percent drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets — roughly 37 percent from 1080p to 1440p and another 47 percent from 1440p to 4K — indicates that the GPU's pixel fill rate and shading capabilities are the binding constraints at every quality level. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect smaller percentage drops at higher resolutions because the CPU workload remains constant while GPU load increases; instead, the proportional FPS declines track almost perfectly with the pixel count increases.

The GPU's specifications explain this behavior. The Intel Arc B390, based on the Xe3-LPG architecture on a 3 nm Intel process, has only 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output pipelines. Its pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are modest figures, and the FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS is low by modern standards. The memory situation is even more restrictive: the GPU uses system shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth, meaning it competes with the CPU for DDR5 bandwidth rather than having dedicated VRAM. This shared memory arrangement further penalizes higher resolutions, where the GPU must access larger textures and buffers through the system memory controller.

The scaling data shows that Hard West at 4K demands roughly four times the pixel work of 1080p, and the FPS drops by about 67 percent from 87 to 29 at Low settings, or 71 percent from 71 to 24 at Medium. This non-linear decline indicates that beyond raw pixel count, the GPU also suffers from increased memory pressure and bandwidth contention at higher resolutions. The conclusion is unambiguous: this combo is GPU-bound at every resolution tested, and the CPU's 5.30 GHz boost clock and 6 cores are never the limiting factor, even at 1080p Low where the GPU still cannot exceed 87 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This combination ranks 2614th out of 2949 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the 11.4th percentile of all configurations. This is a poor showing that reflects the GPU's severe limitations rather than any deficiency in the CPU. The rank means that 88.6 percent of tested combos deliver better performance in this game, and only 335 configurations are slower. Given that the CPU alone ranks in the 79th percentile among all processors, the GPU must be dragging the combo down considerably.

The GPU's own percentile ranking confirms this: the Intel Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of just 1482 from the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. Its nearest rivals are ancient or entry-level parts: the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463 (1.3 percent higher), the GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5 percent higher), the GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5 percent higher), and the GeForce GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7 percent higher). These comparisons place the Arc B390 in the company of decade-old budget GPUs, which explains why it struggles so severely in Hard West.

The disparity between the CPU's 79th percentile and the GPU's 9th percentile creates an extreme bottleneck scenario. In a game like Hard West, which is not CPU-intensive due to its turn-based nature, the combo rank is determined almost entirely by the GPU. The 2614th rank out of 2949 is consistent with what one would expect from a GPU that benchmarks at the bottom of the pile. For context, if the same CPU were paired with a mid-range GPU, the combo would likely rank much higher, but as configured, the data shows a system where the processor's potential is completely untapped.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Arc B390 is the dominant factor in this combo's Hard West performance, and its specifications paint a clear picture of why. The GPU runs at a base clock of 300 MHz with a boost clock of 2500 MHz, and it has 12 ray tracing cores alongside its 1536 shading units. The memory configuration is the most unusual aspect: rather than dedicated VRAM, it uses system shared memory with a system-dependent bandwidth, which means performance is tied to the host system's DDR5 memory and the memory controller's efficiency.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS and FP16 performance of 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) are modest figures that translate directly to the measured frame rates. The pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are the key metrics for a game like Hard West, which relies on 2D sprite rendering and relatively simple 3D environments. The 24 ROPs are a particular bottleneck at higher resolutions, as they determine the pixel fill rate that directly limits how many pixels can be written to the framebuffer per second.

At 1080p with 87 FPS on Low settings, the GPU is producing roughly 163 million pixels per second (assuming 1920x1080 equals about 2.07 million pixels, multiplied by 87 frames), which is well within its 60 GPixel/s theoretical maximum. However, the actual performance suggests inefficiencies in the shared memory architecture. At 4K, the pixel count quadruples to 8.29 million pixels per frame, and at 29 FPS on Low, the GPU produces about 240 million pixels per second — still below the theoretical pixel rate but hampered by memory bandwidth constraints.

The GPU's release date of 2026-01-26 and its 80 W TDP indicate it is designed for integrated or low-power applications, not discrete gaming. The slot width of "IGP" and lack of power connectors confirm this is an integrated graphics solution, likely embedded in a portable device. This explains why its benchmark score of 1482 places it at the 9th percentile, just above the GeForce GT 710. For Hard West, the GPU's limitations manifest as the severe FPS drops across resolutions and presets documented in the measured data.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance. Low settings produce an average of 87 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for any configuration. Medium settings achieve 71 FPS average with a minimum of 61 FPS and maximum of 82 FPS, providing a tight frame time distribution that indicates consistent performance. High settings drop to 55 FPS average, while Ultra settings fall to 41 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra spans 46 FPS, showing that the GPU's limited shading and texturing capabilities are heavily taxed as quality settings increase.

At 2560x1440, performance degrades significantly. Low settings average 55 FPS, which is exactly the same as 1080p High, illustrating the resolution penalty. Medium settings average 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS and maximum of 52 FPS, which remains playable but with occasional dips below 40 FPS. High settings average 35 FPS, and Ultra settings average 26 FPS. The 29 FPS spread from Low to Ultra at 1440p is narrower than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming increasingly resolution-bound rather than settings-bound.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low settings average 29 FPS, Medium settings average 24 FPS with a minimum of 20 FPS and maximum of 27 FPS, High settings average 18 FPS, and Ultra settings average 14 FPS. None of these configurations reach the 30 FPS threshold that is generally considered the minimum for playable frame rates, and the Ultra preset at 14 FPS is effectively unresponsive. The 15 FPS spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is the narrowest of all resolutions, confirming that the GPU is completely overwhelmed by the pixel count regardless of quality settings.

Across all resolutions and settings, the measured data shows a clear pattern: the Intel Arc B390 is only capable of delivering smooth performance at 1080p with Low or Medium settings, and even then, it cannot exceed 87 FPS. The CPU's role in these results is negligible, as evidenced by the consistent FPS scaling with resolution and settings that tracks the GPU's theoretical capabilities. This combo is a textbook example of GPU-bound performance, where the Ryzen 5 7600X's 6 cores and 5.30 GHz boost clock are wasted on a game that the graphics subsystem cannot push beyond modest frame rates.