Hard West

The Intel Arc B370, paired with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G, delivers playable frame rates in Hard West only at 1080p with Low or Medium settings, while higher resolutions and presets quickly become unplayable. The data shows a combination that is severely GPU-limited, with the Arc B370’s low performance percentile acting as the primary bottleneck across all tested configurations. This pairing ranks in the bottom 8% of all tested combos for this game, making it suitable only for older or less demanding titles at modest settings.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data indicates that 1920x1080 with Low settings produces an average of 79 FPS, which is the highest average frame rate recorded. For a more balanced visual experience, 1920x1080 with Medium settings yields an average of 64 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS. These are the only two configurations that maintain an average above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B370’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1184. This places it nearly identical to the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, which scores 1186, a delta of -0.2%. It is slightly behind the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (score 1190, delta -0.5%) and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (score 1192, delta -0.7%). It is marginally ahead of the AMD FirePro M2000 (score 1168, delta 1.4%). This indicates the GPU’s performance class is comparable to very old discrete graphics solutions.

*Q: What is the performance rank of this specific CPU and GPU combination in Hard West?*

A: The combo rank for the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G and Intel Arc B370 in Hard West is 2721 out of 2949 tested combinations. This places it in the bottom 7.7% of all configurations tested for this game, indicating a relatively low overall performance level.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G or the Intel Arc B370 the limiting factor in this game?

A: The benchmark results strongly indicate the Intel Arc B370 is the limiting factor. For instance, at 1920x1080, moving from Low to Ultra settings drops the average frame rate from 79 FPS to 37 FPS, a 53% reduction. This sensitivity to graphical settings is a hallmark of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU, which scores in the 79th percentile compared to all other CPUs, has sufficient headroom.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G has an average benchmark score of 27051. This is nearly identical to the Intel Core i9-9900K, which scores 27097, a delta of -0.2%. It is also close to the Intel Core i5-14400T (score 27166, delta -0.4%), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 445 (score 26936, delta 0.4%), and the Intel Core i7-1370P (score 26900, delta 0.6%). All these processors are within a 1% performance band of each other.

Q: What is the frame rate drop when moving from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate at 1920x1080 is 49 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the average drops to 31 FPS, a 37% reduction. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average drops to 16 FPS, which is a 67% reduction from the 1080p score and a 48% reduction from the 1440p score. This steep decline points directly at the GPU’s inability to handle higher pixel counts.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, fabricated on a 3 nm process. Its specifications are modest, featuring 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 render output units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 300 MHz and can boost up to 2400 MHz. It has 10 ray tracing cores and its memory is designated as "System Shared," meaning it relies on the host system's RAM rather than dedicated VRAM. Its bandwidth is therefore "System Dependent," and its memory type and bus width are likewise shared.

The data shows this GPU is a low-performance part. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark score is 1184, which places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic testing are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, ATI Radeon HD 5770, AMD Radeon HD 7650M, and AMD FirePro M2000, all of which are over a decade old. The GPU’s pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s, while its FP32 performance is 6.144 TFLOPS.

In the context of Hard West, a turn-based tactics game from 2015, the GPU's role is to handle the rendering of the game’s environments and character models. The measured frame rates show that this GPU is the primary constraint. At 1080p with Low settings, the system can achieve 79 FPS, but this requires minimal graphical work. As the settings are increased to Medium and High, the average frame rate drops to 64 FPS and 49 FPS, respectively. At Ultra, it falls to 37 FPS. The performance pattern across resolutions and settings makes it clear that the GPU’s compute and fillrate capabilities are insufficient for anything beyond the most basic graphical loads at playable speeds. The system-shared memory architecture likely adds to this limitation, as the GPU must compete with the CPU for memory bandwidth. The results consistently show that the CPU, with its 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, is not the constraining factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G and the Intel Arc B370 in Hard West is ranked 2721 out of 2949 tested combinations. This places the combo in a very low position, within the bottom 8% of all systems tested for this game. This low rank is overwhelmingly attributable to the GPU, as its individual percentile rank against all other GPUs is just 5.

In contrast, the CPU is a much stronger component. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G holds the 79th percentile when compared to all other CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 27051 is essentially tied with the Intel Core i9-9900K, a former flagship desktop processor, with a performance delta of only -0.2%. This context is crucial: the system is built around a capable processor that is being held back by its integrated graphics solution. The data suggests that if this CPU were paired with a more powerful discrete GPU, the overall ranking in Hard West would be dramatically higher.

The disparity between the CPU and GPU performance classes is stark. The CPU's multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12830.5, is far beyond what is necessary for a game like Hard West. The GPU, however, is performing at a level comparable to graphics cards from a much older era, as shown by its rival list. This combination creates a significant imbalance where the system's overall capability is capped by the weakest link, which in this case is clearly the integrated GPU. The combo rank of 2721 serves as a quantitative measure of this limitation, confirming that this pairing is not built for high-end gaming performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for Hard West with this hardware configuration reveal a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and settings. The data includes average frame rates for all 12 tested configurations and, for Medium settings, also provides minimum and maximum frame rates.

At 1920x1080, the lowest tested resolution, the system shows its best performance. With Low settings, the average frame rate is 79 FPS, making it the only configuration that approaches high-refresh-rate territory. With Medium settings, the average is 64 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS, which provides a smooth and playable experience. The High preset yields an average of 49 FPS, a significant step down, while the Ultra preset averages 37 FPS. These results show that 1080p is the only resolution where playable frame rates are achievable, and only at the two lowest graphical presets.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops substantially. The Low setting averages 50 FPS, which is a 37% reduction from the same setting at 1080p. Medium averages 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS. The High preset averages 31 FPS, and the Ultra preset dips to an average of 23 FPS. None of these averages are ideal for smooth gameplay, and the minimum frame rate at Medium suggests there will be noticeable stutters.

At 3840x2160, the highest tested resolution, performance becomes largely unplayable. The Low setting only manages an average of 26 FPS. The Medium preset averages 21 FPS, with a minimum of 18 FPS and a maximum of 25 FPS. High falls to an average of 16 FPS, and Ultra plummets to just 12 FPS. The frame rates at 4K are consistently below the threshold for a smooth experience, confirming that this resolution is not viable for this hardware in this game.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: each increase in resolution or settings level results in a substantial, predictable decrease in performance. The spread between the best and worst configurations is massive, with the 1080p Low setting achieving 79 FPS and the 4K Ultra setting achieving only 12 FPS, a difference of 67 FPS. This wide spread underscores the GPU’s limited processing power.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K provides a clear picture of where the performance bottleneck lies. When looking at the High settings preset, the average frame rate at 1920x1080 is 49 FPS. At 2560x1440, this drops to 31 FPS, a 37% decrease. At 3840x2160, it falls to 16 FPS, a 67% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This pattern is repeated across all settings presets.

For the Low preset, the average frame rate goes from 79 FPS at 1080p, to 50 FPS at 1440p (a 37% drop), and then to 26 FPS at 4K (a 67% drop from 1080p). For the Medium preset, the averages are 64 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p (a 36% drop), and 21 FPS at 4K (a 67% drop from 1080p). The Ultra preset follows suit, with averages of 37 FPS at 1080p, 23 FPS at 1440p (a 38% drop), and 12 FPS at 4K (a 68% drop from 1080p).

This consistent scaling pattern is a textbook indicator of a GPU-bound scenario. When a system is CPU-bound, the frame rate often remains relatively stable as resolution increases, because the CPU is the limiting factor. Here, however, the frame rate drops by roughly 37% when pixel count increases by 78% (moving from 1080p to 1440p), and then by another 48% when moving from 1440p to 4K, which is a 125% increase in pixels. The performance degradation is directly proportional to the increase in rendering workload.

This behavior points squarely at the Intel Arc B370 as the limiting component. The GPU is being overwhelmed by the increasing number of pixels it must process. The fact that the drop is so consistent across all settings presets suggests that the bottleneck is not related to a specific graphical feature like shadows or textures, but rather to the fundamental fill rate and memory bandwidth of the integrated GPU. The CPU, which is powerful enough to handle the game’s logic, is effectively idle, waiting for the GPU to finish its rendering tasks. The system-shared memory for the GPU also means that memory bandwidth is a critical constraint, and higher resolutions increase the demand on this shared resource.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this hardware in Hard West depend on the user's priorities for frame rate versus visual fidelity. The data offers clear guidance for each resolution.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset is the only one that delivers a truly high average frame rate, at 79 FPS. This is the best choice for players who prioritize smoothness above all else. However, the Medium preset is a strong recommendation for a balanced experience. It provides an average of 64 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS, which remains comfortably within playable territory. The visual upgrade from Low to Medium is typically significant in games of this era, and the 15 FPS average cost is a worthwhile trade-off for the improved image quality. The High preset, at 49 FPS average, is a compromise that may be acceptable to some, but the drop below 60 FPS on average makes it less ideal. The Ultra preset, with a 37 FPS average, is not recommended for a smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, the situation changes. The Low preset is the only one that maintains an average above 50 FPS, which is acceptable but not ideal. The Medium preset, with an average of 41 FPS and a minimum of 35 FPS, is likely to feel stuttery in more demanding scenes. The High and Ultra presets, with averages of 31 FPS and 23 FPS respectively, are not recommended for general play. For 1440p, the recommendation is to use Low settings, and only if the user is willing to tolerate lower frame rates for better visuals, Medium could be considered as it is the playable limit.

At 3840x2160, all settings presets produce average frame rates below 30 FPS. The Low preset's average of 26 FPS is not smooth, and the Medium preset's 21 FPS average is worse. The High (16 FPS) and Ultra (12 FPS) presets are effectively unplayable. Therefore, 4K resolution is not a viable option for this hardware configuration in Hard West. The performance cost of the increased resolution is simply too high for the Intel Arc B370 to handle.

In summary, for the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 is the most sensible choice. For those who demand the highest possible frame rate, Low at 1920x1080 is the clear winner. Any configuration using 1440p or 4K resolution will require significant compromises in visual settings and will still result in a sub-optimal experience. The data consistently points to 1080p as the only resolution where this combo can provide a satisfactory gaming experience, with the Medium preset emerging as the sweet spot.