Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the Intel Arc B370 produces a very constrained gaming experience in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. The measured data shows a combination that sits near the bottom of the database for this game, with the GPU acting as the primary bottleneck across all tested configurations. The following analysis breaks down the measured performance, settings behavior, and component roles based strictly on the provided data.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) at three resolutions reveals a clear pattern: the playable range is extremely narrow. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 79 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. The Medium preset at the same resolution drops to 64 FPS, still a reasonable margin above 60. High at 1080p produces 49 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS. Given that Hard West is a turn-based tactics game, frame rates below 60 are less punishing than in fast-paced genres, but the data still indicates that Low is the only preset that provides a comfortable cushion above the 60 FPS threshold.

The situation worsens at 2560x1440. Low settings average 50 FPS, Medium averages 41 FPS, High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 23 FPS. None of these reach 60 FPS, and even the Low preset dips below the standard 60 FPS target. At 3840x2160, the results are largely unplayable by modern standards: Low averages 26 FPS, Medium averages 21 FPS (with a measured minimum of 18 and maximum of 25), High averages 16 FPS, and Ultra averages 12 FPS. The minimum FPS data is only provided for the Medium preset at each resolution, but the available numbers suggest frame pacing consistency is not a strong suit at higher settings.

Based on the measured rows, the best experience is achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset, yielding 79 FPS average. This is the only combination of resolution and settings that clears 60 FPS with a significant margin. If a user insists on Medium settings, the 1080p Medium preset at 64 FPS is the only other configuration above 60 FPS. The data shows a steep drop-off when moving to High or Ultra at any resolution, and the 1440p and 4K results are below 60 FPS even at Low. For a turn-based game where visual fidelity might be desirable, the trade-off is severe: Ultra at 1080p (37 FPS) is less than half the frame rate of Low at 1080p (79 FPS). The recommendation from the data is clear: prioritize Low settings at 1080p, with Medium as a secondary option if the user accepts a 15 FPS penalty for improved visuals.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this specific CPU-GPU pairing in Hard West is 2721 out of 2949 tested combinations. This places the system in the bottom 8th percentile of all tested combos for this game, indicating that this hardware is severely underpowered relative to the broader database. The rank is not a reflection of the CPU's capability, but rather the combined result of the CPU and GPU working together in this specific title.

The GPU's benchmark percentile provides context for this low ranking. The Intel Arc B370 scores in the 5th percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 1184 from the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. Its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark include the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (score 1186, delta -0.2%), the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (score 1190, delta -0.5%), the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (score 1192, delta -0.7%), and the AMD FirePro M2000 (score 1168, delta 1.4%). These are all legacy or low-end parts, and the Arc B370 sits essentially at parity with them. This is an integrated graphics solution (IGP) with a 25W TDP, which explains its position in the GPU hierarchy.

The CPU, by contrast, is a much stronger component. The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F sits in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25005. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (score 24964, delta 0.2%), the Intel Core i7-11850H (score 24935, delta 0.3%), the Intel Core i7-13620H (score 24911, delta 0.4%), and the AMD EPYC 9474F (score 25103, delta -0.4%). The CPU is clearly not the limiting factor in this combo's low rank; the GPU is dragging the system down. The rank of 2721 out of 2949 is a direct consequence of pairing a mid-to-high-end CPU with an entry-level integrated GPU, and the measured FPS data confirms that the GPU cannot keep pace with the CPU's capabilities in this game.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics processor built on Intel's Xe3-LPG architecture, with a chip codename of Panther Lake. It uses a 3 nm process node from Intel. The GPU's clock speeds are specified with a base of 300 MHz and a boost of 2400 MHz. Memory is listed as "System Shared" for size, type, and bus width, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This means the GPU relies on the system's main memory rather than dedicated VRAM, which is a significant limitation for gaming performance.

The GPU's raw specifications include 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, 20 raster output units, and 10 ray tracing cores. Its pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is rated at 6.144 TFLOPS. These are modest numbers, especially for a GPU that must share system memory. The 25W TDP and IGP slot width confirm this is not a discrete gaming card. The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is not a concern.

In the context of Hard West, the GPU's role is decisive. The measured FPS data shows that even at the lowest settings, the GPU struggles to maintain high frame rates. The 3DMark Steel Nomad benchmark score of 1184 places the GPU in the 5th percentile, and its nearest rivals are all from the HD 5000/6000 era of AMD graphics. The fact that the GPU's boost clock is 2400 MHz is irrelevant when the memory bandwidth is system-dependent and shared with the CPU. The data indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck at every resolution and settings combination. For example, at 1080p, moving from Low (79 FPS) to Ultra (37 FPS) cuts the frame rate by more than half, a scaling pattern that points to GPU fill-rate and memory bandwidth limits rather than CPU limitations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets, though minimum and maximum values are only recorded for the Medium preset at each resolution.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 79 FPS, which is the single best result in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 64 FPS, with a minimum of 55 and a maximum of 74, indicating some frame variance but generally stable performance. High averages 49 FPS, a significant drop from Medium. Ultra averages 37 FPS, the lowest at this resolution. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 42 FPS drop, or roughly a 53% reduction in average frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 50 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. Medium averages 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 and a maximum of 47. High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 23 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 27 FPS. Compared to 1080p, the Low preset loses 29 FPS when moving to 1440p, and the Ultra preset loses 14 FPS. The percentage drop is steeper at lower settings: Low loses approximately 37% of its frame rate, while Ultra loses approximately 38%.

At 3840x2160, the results are marginal. Low averages 26 FPS, Medium averages 21 FPS (minimum 18, maximum 25), High averages 16 FPS, and Ultra averages 12 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 14 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 18 FPS and maximum of 25 FPS show that even the most consistent preset at 4K has a 7 FPS spread, which is substantial relative to the average.

The data shows that no resolution above 1080p is playable at a consistent 60 FPS, and even 1080p only achieves this at Low and Medium settings. The measured values for High and Ultra at 1080p (49 FPS and 37 FPS) suggest that visual quality settings have a disproportionate impact on this GPU, likely due to the shared memory architecture and limited processing power.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and consistent across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 79 at 1080p to 50 at 1440p to 26 at 4K. This represents a 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 67% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the averages are 64, 41, and 21 FPS, respectively, showing a 36% drop to 1440p and a 67% drop to 4K. At High settings, the averages are 49, 31, and 16 FPS, with a 37% drop to 1440p and a 67% drop to 4K. At Ultra settings, the averages are 37, 23, and 12 FPS, with a 38% drop to 1440p and a 68% drop to 4K.

The scaling pattern is remarkably uniform across settings, with roughly a 37% reduction when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 50% reduction when moving from 1440p to 4K. This is a classic sign of a GPU-limited scenario. The resolution scaling is nearly linear with pixel count: 1440p has 1.78 times the pixels of 1080p, and the FPS drops by about 1.6 times. 4K has 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p, and the FPS drops by about 2 times. The slight deviation from perfectly linear scaling suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate are being saturated, and the system-dependent memory bandwidth becomes a critical constraint at higher resolutions.

The data indicates that the limiting component is the GPU, not the CPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the CPU's workload would stay constant while the GPU's workload grows. Instead, the FPS drops steeply with resolution, confirming that the Intel Arc B370 is the primary constraint. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is more than capable of feeding this GPU in a turn-based tactics game, but the GPU's integrated nature and shared memory prevent it from delivering playable frame rates at higher resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best average FPS recorded for this combo in Hard West?*

A: The highest average FPS is 79, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only configuration in the measured data that exceeds 60 FPS by a significant margin.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B370 a discrete graphics card?

A: No, the data lists it as an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with a 25W TDP and a bus interface of "IGP." Its memory is "System Shared" with system-dependent bandwidth, which means it uses the system's main memory rather than dedicated VRAM.

*Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested combinations in Hard West?*

A: The combo ranks 2721 out of 2949 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of all tested systems for this game. This low rank is primarily due to the GPU's position in the 5th percentile of all GPUs.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 50 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 23 FPS. This is a 27 FPS difference, with Ultra delivering less than half the frame rate of Low.

Q: Does the CPU show any signs of bottlenecking in this game?

A: No, the data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU sits in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, and the FPS scales steeply with resolution, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck rather than a CPU bottleneck.

Q: What is the lowest measured average FPS for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS is 12, recorded at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum FPS of 18, which is the lowest minimum value in the dataset.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture with the codename Phoenix. It uses a 4 nm process from TSMC, with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The CPU has a 65W TDP and supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration, providing a memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU was released in March 2024 with a launch MSRP of $170.

In terms of CPU benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 8400F scores 20851 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2943 in single-core. Its PassMark multithread score is 24389, with a single-thread score of 3685. The 3DMark tests show a single-thread score of 951 and a max-threads score of 6165. These numbers place the CPU in the 77th percentile overall, with an average benchmark score of 25005. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.4% of its score, including the Ryzen 5 7500F (delta 0.2%), Core i7-11850H (delta 0.3%), Core i7-13620H (delta 0.4%), and EPYC 9474F (delta -0.4%). The CPU is clearly a capable mid-range part.

In the context of Hard West, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The game is a turn-based tactics title from 2015, which is not typically CPU-intensive by modern standards. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads, combined with its high boost clock of 4.70 GHz, are more than sufficient for this workload. The measured FPS data supports this interpretation: the frame rates are consistently low across all resolutions, and the scaling with resolution is steep, which points to GPU saturation rather than CPU limitations. The CPU's performance percentile (77th) is vastly higher than the GPU's (5th), and the combo rank of 2721 out of 2949 is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's inability to render the game at acceptable frame rates. The CPU is not the bottleneck in this pairing; it is the stronger component by a wide margin, and any upgrade to a discrete GPU would likely yield substantial FPS improvements.