Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT paired with the Intel Arc B370 presents a stark picture in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. The measured data reveals a configuration that is heavily constrained by its graphics solution, producing playable results only at lower resolutions and settings. The combo ranks 2721 out of 2949 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 8% of all hardware pairings for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and exposes the Intel Arc B370 as the definitive bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 79 FPS average. Moving to 1440p at the same settings reduces that to 50 FPS, a 37% decline. Pushing to 4K at Low settings yields just 26 FPS, which is a 67% reduction from the 1080p result. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is running out of fillrate and memory bandwidth as pixel count increases.

The situation worsens with higher quality presets. At Ultra settings, the frame rate collapses from 37 FPS at 1080p to 23 FPS at 1440p and finally to a nearly unplayable 12 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 14 FPS (26 vs 12), while at 1080p that same gap is 42 FPS (79 vs 37). This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that even reducing graphical complexity cannot compensate for the sheer pixel throughput required.

The data suggests that 1080p is the only resolution where this combo can maintain a consistently smooth experience. At 1440p, only the Low preset stays above the 50 FPS threshold, while Medium dips to 41 FPS and High to 31 FPS. The 4K resolution is effectively out of reach for anything beyond static screenshots, with even Low settings failing to reach 30 FPS. The scaling behavior points directly at the Arc B370's system-shared memory and 25 W TDP as the limiting factors, rather than the CPU, which remains largely idle in this turn-based title.

Settings Recommendations

For the best measured experience, the Low preset at 1920x1080 is the only configuration that delivers a fully fluid frame rate. The data shows 79 FPS average at these settings, which is more than double the 37 FPS achieved at Ultra. Given that Hard West is a turn-based tactics game where precise camera movement and unit selection matter more than rapid reflexes, the Medium preset at 1080p also remains viable at 64 FPS, offering a meaningful visual upgrade over Low while staying well above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts to Low settings exclusively, as this is the only preset that maintains a playable 50 FPS. Medium at 1440p drops to 41 FPS, which may be acceptable for some players but falls short of the smoothness standard set by the 1080p results. The Ultra preset should be avoided at all resolutions; even at 1080p it only manages 37 FPS, and the 4K Ultra result of 12 FPS is effectively a slideshow.

The measured frames for Medium at 1080p (55 min, 74 max) and 1440p (35 min, 47 max) show that the variance increases with resolution, suggesting that the Arc B370's shared memory subsystem struggles with consistency as load increases. For players who prioritize stability, the Low preset at 1080p offers the tightest experience, though no min/max data was recorded for that configuration. The practical takeaway is that this hardware combination should target 1080p with Medium settings as the maximum acceptable compromise, trading visual fidelity for a stable 64 FPS average.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Hard West at 4K resolution?*

A: No. The measured data shows that at 3840x2160, even the Low preset only achieves 26 FPS average, while Medium drops to 21 FPS and Ultra falls to 12 FPS. None of the 4K configurations reach a playable 30 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a smooth experience?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers the highest measured average at 79 FPS. For a balance of visuals and performance, the Medium preset at 1080p achieves 64 FPS with a recorded range of 55 to 74 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The Arc B370's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 places it within 0.7% of the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186) and ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190). It sits 1.4% above the AMD FirePro M2000 (1168), indicating performance parity with a decade-old GPU generation.

*Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT limiting performance in Hard West?*

A: No. The CPU's benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multicore result of 23794 and a Passmark multithread score of 28053, far exceed what this game requires. The frame rates are consistently GPU-bound, as shown by the dramatic FPS drops when resolution increases.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the system averages 49 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 31 FPS, a 37% reduction. This large decline confirms that the GPU is the primary constraint rather than the CPU.

Q: Does the Ultra preset ever provide a playable experience?

A: Only at 1080p, where it averages 37 FPS. At 1440p Ultra drops to 23 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it collapses to 12 FPS. The Ultra preset is only marginally usable at the lowest resolution tested.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings shows a clear hierarchy. Low settings produce 79 FPS average, which is the highest score recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings deliver 64 FPS with a minimum of 55 and maximum of 74, providing a stable window of performance. High settings drop to 49 FPS, and Ultra falls further to 37 FPS. The 42 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p demonstrates that the Arc B370 has significant headroom when pixel count is low.

The 2560x1440 results show a compressed range. Low settings maintain 50 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 37% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings average 41 FPS with a range of 35 to 47, which introduces noticeable dips below the 40 FPS mark. High settings manage 31 FPS, and Ultra falls to 23 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra shrinks to 27 FPS at this resolution, indicating that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor across all presets.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapses entirely. Low settings yield 26 FPS, Medium averages 21 FPS with a range of 18 to 25, and High drops to 16 FPS. Ultra settings produce a meager 12 FPS average. The difference between Low and Ultra narrows to just 14 FPS, showing that the GPU is saturated regardless of graphical complexity. The 4K Medium data point (18 min, 25 max) is the only recorded min/max at this resolution, and it highlights the severe frame time variance that would make even turn-based gameplay feel sluggish.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is a mobile-class integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process. Its specifications reveal why it struggles with Hard West at higher resolutions: a base clock of 300 MHz boosting to 2400 MHz, 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and only 20 ROPs. The pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s are modest by discrete GPU standards, and the 6.144 TFLOPS FP32 compute is sufficient for light loads but inadequate for 4K rendering.

The memory configuration is particularly problematic. The Arc B370 uses "System Shared" memory with a "System Dependent" bandwidth, meaning it relies on the host system's DDR4 RAM rather than dedicated VRAM. This creates a bottleneck in bandwidth-constrained scenarios, which explains why the frame rate drops so steeply as resolution increases. The GPU's 25 W TDP and IGP slot width confirm its positioning as an integrated solution, not a discrete card meant for high-resolution gaming.

The GPU's benchmark performance is telling. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 places it at the 5th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, -0.2%), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, -0.5%), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, +1.4%). These are all products from the early 2010s, indicating that the Arc B370 delivers roughly a decade-old performance level. In Hard West, this translates to playable frame rates only at 1080p, with the GPU becoming the sole limiting factor above that resolution. The system-shared memory means that even reducing settings cannot fully mitigate the bandwidth penalty at 4K, where the 26 FPS Low result is still below playability thresholds.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT is a Zen 3 desktop processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boosting to 4.80 GHz. Its 32 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support provide ample computational headroom for a turn-based tactics game like Hard West. The CPU's benchmark results confirm its high-end positioning: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23794 and a Passmark multithread score of 28053 place it at the 81st percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of this game, the CPU is never the bottleneck. The 5800XT's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H (0% delta), AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS (-0.3%), and AMD Ryzen 5 9600X (+0.6%), all of which are modern mobile or desktop parts with similar performance envelopes. The single-thread performance, as measured by a 3DMark single-thread score of 959 and Passmark single-thread score of 3535, is more than sufficient for Hard West's turn-based logic and AI calculations.

The data supports the conclusion that the CPU is massively overqualified for this workload. The frame rate differences between resolutions are entirely attributable to the GPU, as the CPU's performance metrics show no signs of saturation. The 5800XT's 105 W TDP and 7 nm TSMC process node make it an efficient choice, but in this pairing, its capabilities are largely wasted. The Cinebench R20 multicore score of 9993 and 3DMark 16-thread score of 7683 demonstrate that the CPU could handle far more demanding titles without breaking a sweat. For Hard West, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage game state, tasks that a single Zen 3 core could handle alone. The remaining 15 threads sit idle while the Arc B370 struggles to push pixels, making this a textbook case of GPU-limited performance in a CPU-light genre.