Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and Intel Arc B390 combination delivers a playable experience in Hard West primarily at 1080p, with the data indicating a significant performance ceiling imposed by the integrated GPU. The measured frames per second across resolutions and presets show a clear pattern: this pairing is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can achieve smooth frame rates at medium to high settings, while higher resolutions and ultra presets quickly become untenable.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data for this combination shows a clear hierarchy of performance across the four measured presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rate at 87 FPS, which is the only configuration in the dataset to cross the 60 FPS threshold comfortably. This makes it the most responsive option for gameplay, though it comes at the cost of visual fidelity.

For a balance between visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 is the recommended starting point. It achieves an average of 71 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 82 FPS. This indicates that the frame rate remains consistently above the 60 FPS mark, providing a stable experience without the need to drop to the lowest visual settings. The High preset at 1080p drops to 55 FPS, which is still playable but shows a noticeable 16 FPS decline from Medium, suggesting that the additional visual effects at this tier impose a significant cost on the integrated GPU.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combination at any resolution. At 1080p, it yields only 41 FPS, which is a substantial drop from High. The trend worsens at higher resolutions, with 26 FPS at 2560x1440 and a mere 14 FPS at 3840x2160. The data strongly suggests that Ultra settings are beyond the capabilities of the Intel Arc B390 in this title.

For players targeting higher resolutions, the options are limited. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset manages to stay near playable territory with 55 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution falls to 45 FPS, and High drops to 35 FPS. At 3840x2160, all presets fail to reach 30 FPS, with Low at 29 FPS, Medium at 24 FPS, High at 18 FPS, and Ultra at 14 FPS. The best experience per the measured rows is unequivocally the Medium preset at 1920x1080, which offers the highest frame rate that still maintains a minimum above 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the primary bottleneck in this configuration. Its benchmark data shows a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This is a very low standing, and the nearest rivals in the dataset are all older, entry-level NVIDIA parts: the GeForce GT 520MX (score 1463, 1.3% slower), GeForce 800M (score 1460, 1.5% slower), GeForce GT 625 OEM (score 1446, 2.5% slower), and GeForce GT 710 (score 1443, 2.7% slower). The Arc B390 is only marginally faster than these parts, which contextualizes its performance as being in the area of basic integrated graphics.

The GPU's architecture is Xe3-LPG on a 3 nm process, with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. It features 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs. The memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning it relies on the host system's RAM rather than dedicated VRAM. Its pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance at 7.680 TFLOPS. The TDP is a modest 80 W, and it functions as an IGP with no dedicated power connectors.

In Hard West, the GPU's limitations are evident in the scaling of frame rates with settings. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 16 FPS (from 87 to 71), and the jump from Medium to High costs another 16 FPS (from 71 to 55). This steep decline with each preset tier indicates that the GPU's fixed resources are quickly exhausted as the rendering load increases. The GPU's low percentile ranking aligns perfectly with the observed performance, confirming that it, rather than the CPU, is the limiting factor in this pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data shows a dramatic and consistent drop as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario. At the Low preset, the average frame rate falls from 87 FPS at 1920x1080 to 55 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 32 FPS (or approximately 37%). Moving to 3840x2160, the frame rate drops further to 29 FPS, which is a 58 FPS reduction from 1080p, representing a 67% decline.

The Medium preset exhibits a similar trend. It starts at 71 FPS at 1080p, drops to 45 FPS at 1440p, and falls to 24 FPS at 4K. The High preset shows 55 FPS at 1080p, 35 FPS at 1440p, and 18 FPS at 4K. This pattern is consistent across all settings, demonstrating that the GPU's rendering throughput scales poorly with the increased pixel count.

This scaling behavior indicates that the limiting component is the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU's workload would not change significantly with pixel count. The data shows the opposite: each increase in resolution results in a substantial frame rate penalty. The 4K resolution is simply not viable for this combination, with even the lowest preset failing to hit 30 FPS. The 1440p resolution is only marginally playable on the Low preset, and the 1080p resolution is the only one where the GPU can consistently provide a smooth experience across multiple settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2614 out of 2949 tested combinations in Hard West. This places it in the bottom 11% of all systems tested, confirming that this is a low-performing configuration for this specific game. The ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's poor performance, as the CPU is a high-end part.

The CPU's own benchmark data puts it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 51947. Its nearest rivals are all high-performance desktop and mobile processors, such as the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX (score 52073, 0.2% faster), AMD EPYC 8124P (score 52121, 0.3% faster), Intel Core i9-13900F (score 51730, 0.4% slower), and Intel Core i7-14700 (score 52301, 0.7% faster). These delta percentages are all within 1%, meaning the Ryzen 9 5950X is comparable to these top-tier chips in raw compute power.

The stark contrast between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's low rank in-game highlights the severe imbalance of this pairing. The data shows a system with a processor capable of handling demanding modern workloads being held back by a GPU that performs at the 9th percentile. The combo rank is a direct reflection of this bottleneck, as the game's performance is dictated almost entirely by the graphics solution. Any other modern dedicated GPU would likely push this combo's rank significantly higher, but with the Arc B390, the system is firmly placed in the lower echelon of the database.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer), manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. The CPU features a substantial 64 MB of L3 cache, along with 512 KB of L2 and 64 KB of L1 per core. It supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The processor's TDP is 105 W, and it uses the AMD Socket AM4 interface.

In this game, the CPU's role is almost entirely passive. The benchmark results show that the Ryzen 9 5950X is vastly overqualified for the task. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 26017, and its single-core score is 1614. Geekbench scores are 15233 for multi-core and 2083 for single-core. The 3DMark multi-threaded tests show scores of 11597 for max threads and 10810 for 16 threads, indicating strong parallel processing capabilities.

However, Hard West is a turn-based tactics game, which is not typically a heavily multi-threaded workload. The game's frame rates are determined by the GPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling analysis. The CPU's high single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 3470) ensures it is not a limiting factor, but the game never requires the full power of its 16 cores.

The data shows that the CPU's performance is entirely sufficient for this game. The bottleneck is so severe on the GPU side that the CPU's vast computational resources are underutilized. The 5950X could easily handle much more demanding graphics workloads, but with the Arc B390, its potential is wasted in this specific combination. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking is irrelevant to the game's performance, as the measured frame rates are consistently low across all presets and resolutions.

FAQ

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

A: The best experience is at 1920x1080 with the Medium preset, which yields an average of 71 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS. The Low preset at the same resolution is faster at 87 FPS, but Medium provides a better balance of visual quality and performance.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Hard West?*

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average frame rate is 29 FPS on the Low preset. The Medium preset drops to 24 FPS, High to 18 FPS, and Ultra to 14 FPS. None of these reach a playable threshold of 30 FPS consistently.

Q: Why is the performance so low despite having a powerful CPU?

A: The Intel Arc B390 is the limiting component. It scores in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are legacy parts like the GeForce GT 710. The CPU is in the 91st percentile, but the game's frame rates are dictated by the GPU's rendering capabilities.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest competitors?

A: The Arc B390 has a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482. This is 1.3% faster than the GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% faster than the GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% faster than the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% faster than the GeForce GT 710 (1443). The differences are minimal.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 87 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 41 FPS. This is a 46 FPS difference, showing that Ultra settings impose a massive load on the integrated GPU.

Q: Is the 2560x1440 resolution playable for this combination?

A: Only on the Low preset, which achieves 55 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 45 FPS, and the High preset falls to 35 FPS. For a stable experience, 1440p is only viable with the lowest visual settings.