Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and Intel Arc B570 combination produces a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Hard West, with the data showing a clear transition from CPU-bound performance at 1080p to GPU-bound performance at 4K. The measured FPS figures across all settings and resolutions reveal a system that excels at lower resolutions but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at the highest pixel counts, particularly when graphical fidelity is maximized.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data for Hard West demonstrates a pronounced scaling curve as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 84 FPS at 1080p to 53 FPS at 1440p, then further to 28 FPS at 4K. This represents a 37% reduction when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 47% reduction when moving from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern suggests that the system transitions from a balanced state at 1080p to a GPU-limited state at higher resolutions.

The Low settings data reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 134 FPS, which drops to 85 FPS at 1440p and 44 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 37% and 48% respectively, nearly identical to the High settings scaling. This consistency across settings indicates that resolution scaling is the dominant factor, with the Intel Arc B570's rendering pipeline becoming the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases.

Medium settings provide the most complete dataset, including minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 110 FPS with a minimum of 93 FPS and maximum of 126 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average falls to 69 FPS with a range of 59 to 80 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 36 FPS with a range of 31 to 42 FPS. The minimum FPS values at each resolution are consistently about 15% below the average, suggesting frame time consistency is maintained even as overall performance drops.

Ultra settings show the steepest scaling curve. The 1080p Ultra average is 63 FPS, dropping to 40 FPS at 1440p and 21 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 37% and 48%, again matching the pattern seen at other settings. This uniformity across all four settings presets strongly indicates that the limiting component changes from the CPU at low resolutions to the GPU at high resolutions, with the transition point occurring somewhere between 1080p and 1440p.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combination in Hard West?*

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all settings presets achieve playable frame rates. At 1080p, even Ultra settings maintain a 63 FPS average, while at 1440p Ultra drops to 40 FPS and at 4K Ultra falls to 21 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 perform at 4K in this game?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 21 FPS at Ultra settings to 44 FPS at Low settings. Medium settings produce a 36 FPS average with a minimum of 31 FPS, indicating that 4K gaming requires significant settings compromises to approach playability.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X sufficient for this game?

A: The CPU benchmark data shows a passmark multithread score of 22458 and a passmark single thread score of 2656, placing it at the 84th percentile of all CPUs. The measured FPS at 1080p Low reaching 134 FPS suggests the processor is not limiting performance at lower resolutions.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce an 85 FPS average while Ultra settings produce a 40 FPS average. This 45 FPS difference represents a 53% performance reduction for enabling maximum graphical features.

Q: Does the combo rank well compared to other tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 2360 out of 2949 tested combinations, placing it in the lower portion of the database. This ranking reflects the GPU's 65th percentile position among all graphics cards rather than the CPU's stronger 84th percentile standing.

*Q: Can this system handle 1440p gaming in Hard West?*

A: Yes, but with caveats. High settings at 1440p produce a 53 FPS average, and Medium settings produce 69 FPS with a 59 FPS minimum. Ultra settings at 1440p fall to 40 FPS, which may be acceptable for a turn-based tactics game but is below typical smoothness thresholds.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570's specifications directly explain the observed performance patterns in Hard West. The GPU features a 2500 MHz base and boost clock, which is the same figure for both, indicating a fixed operating frequency that does not vary under load. The 10 GB GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus provides 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which becomes increasingly relevant as resolution increases and texture memory demands grow.

The GPU's shading resources include 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. The pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s provide theoretical ceilings that align with the measured performance drops at 4K. The FP32 compute throughput of 11.52 TFLOPS places this GPU in the mid-range segment, consistent with its 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

The benchmark scores for the Arc B570 show a passmark G3D score of 14195 and a passmark GPU compute score of 7281. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2649 provides additional context for modern API performance. These scores position the GPU close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which has an average score of 20534 compared to the Arc B570's 20556, a delta of 0.1%. The Intel Arc A750 is similarly close with a score of 20582, representing a -0.1% delta.

The GPU's 150 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate it is a mid-power solution. The PCIe 4.0 x8 bus interface provides adequate bandwidth for the 10 GB frame buffer. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p, the GPU can deliver 134 FPS at Low settings, but at 4K Ultra, this drops to 21 FPS, demonstrating a 84% reduction in performance when both resolution and settings are maximized.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Examining the complete measured FPS dataset reveals distinct performance tiers for each resolution. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 134 FPS at Low, 110 FPS at Medium, 84 FPS at High, and 63 FPS at Ultra settings. The Medium setting provides the only complete frame time data at this resolution, with a minimum of 93 FPS and maximum of 126 FPS, indicating consistent frame pacing.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops to 85 FPS at Low, 69 FPS at Medium, 53 FPS at High, and 40 FPS at Ultra settings. The Medium setting again provides minimum and maximum values of 59 FPS and 80 FPS respectively. This 1440p data shows that High and Ultra settings fall below the 60 FPS threshold, while Low and Medium remain above it.

The 3840x2160 results show significant degradation: 44 FPS at Low, 36 FPS at Medium, 28 FPS at High, and 21 FPS at Ultra settings. The Medium setting provides minimum and maximum values of 31 FPS and 42 FPS. All 4K settings fall below the 60 FPS threshold, with only Low settings approaching playability.

The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution follows a consistent pattern. At 1080p, the progression from Low to Ultra represents a 53% reduction in average FPS. At 1440p, the same progression represents a 53% reduction. At 4K, the reduction is 52%. This consistency suggests that the graphical settings have a multiplicative effect on performance regardless of resolution, while the resolution itself has an independent multiplicative effect.

The data also shows that the gap between Low and Medium settings is smaller than the gap between High and Ultra settings. At 1080p, Low to Medium is a 18% reduction, while High to Ultra is a 25% reduction. This pattern holds across all resolutions, indicating that Ultra settings carry a disproportionate performance cost compared to the step from High to Medium.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2360 out of 2949 tested combinations in Hard West. This places the combo in the 20th percentile of all tested systems, meaning approximately 80% of tested combinations achieve higher performance in this game. The ranking reflects the GPU's position as the limiting factor in most scenarios.

The CPU's individual performance metrics are notably stronger than the combo ranking suggests. The Ryzen 7 3700X achieves an 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 34260. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 with a score of 34222 (0.1% delta), the AMD EPYC 4244P with 34220 (0.1% delta), the Intel Core i5-13450HX with 34333 (-0.2% delta), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H with 34083 (0.5% delta). These tight deltas indicate the CPU is competitive with modern processors.

The GPU's individual ranking is weaker at 65th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20556. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile at 20534 (0.1% delta), the Intel Arc A750 at 20582 (-0.1% delta), the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M at 20480 (0.4% delta), and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X at 20662 (-0.5% delta). The close scoring among these GPUs suggests performance parity within a narrow band.

The disparity between the CPU's 84th percentile ranking and the combo's 20th percentile game ranking indicates that the Arc B570 is the performance limiter in Hard West. The game's turn-based tactical nature does not heavily tax the CPU, allowing the Ryzen 7 3700X's eight cores and sixteen threads to remain underutilized while the GPU handles the rendering workload.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X provides substantial processing capability that exceeds the requirements of Hard West. With 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 2 architecture codenamed Matisse, this processor offers a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The 32 MB L3 cache and 512 KB L2 cache per core provide ample data locality for game logic and AI computations.

The CPU's benchmark scores demonstrate its capability across various workloads. The passmark multithread score of 22458 and passmark single thread score of 2656 indicate strong parallel and single-threaded performance. The cinebench R15 multicore score of 2092 and singlecore score of 204 provide additional reference points. The geekbench multicore score of 8899 and singlecore score of 1593 confirm consistent performance across different benchmark suites.

For a turn-based tactics game like Hard West, the CPU's role is primarily handling game state calculations, pathfinding, and AI decision-making. These workloads benefit from the processor's multi-threading capabilities, but the measured FPS data suggests they do not create a bottleneck. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 134 FPS, which is likely approaching the game's engine limit rather than a CPU limitation.

The CPU's memory support for DDR4 with dual-channel configuration provides 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The 7 nm process node from TSMC with 3,800 million transistors on a 74 mm² die size contributes to the processor's efficiency. The 65 W TDP indicates this is a power-efficient processor that does not require extensive cooling solutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combination depend on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, all settings presets achieve playable frame rates, with Ultra settings providing 63 FPS average. For players prioritizing visual fidelity, 1080p Ultra is viable. For players prioritizing smoothness, 1080p High at 84 FPS or Medium at 110 FPS offer progressively higher frame rates.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings provide the best balance with a 69 FPS average and 59 FPS minimum. High settings at 53 FPS are playable but may exhibit occasional stutters in busy scenes. Low settings at 85 FPS offer the smoothest experience but sacrifice graphical features. Ultra settings at 40 FPS are not recommended for this resolution.

At 3840x2160, only Low settings achieve a playable average of 44 FPS. Medium settings at 36 FPS and High settings at 28 FPS fall below typical playability thresholds. Ultra settings at 21 FPS are not viable for gameplay. Players using 4K displays should set the game to Low settings or consider reducing the resolution.

The data suggests that Medium settings provide the most consistent frame pacing across all resolutions, as evidenced by the complete minimum and maximum FPS data available for this preset. The minimum FPS values at Medium settings are 93 FPS at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p, and 31 FPS at 4K, all of which maintain acceptable minimum frame rates for a turn-based tactics game where precise timing is less critical than in action genres.