Hard West

# Hard West: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + Intel Arc B370

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the Intel Arc B370 produces a decidedly mixed result in Hard West, landing at rank 2721 out of 2949 tested combos. This places the configuration in the bottom 8% of all tested pairings, a position driven almost entirely by the GPU's low benchmark standing rather than the CPU's capability. The Arc B370's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 puts it at the 5th percentile among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 9 9900X3D sits comfortably at the 91st percentile among CPUs. The measured frame rates confirm this imbalance: the combo struggles to maintain playable performance at higher resolutions, though it shows surprising competence at 1080p with lower settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall rank of this CPU-GPU combo for Hard West?

A: The combination of AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2721 out of 2949 tested combos for this game, placing it in the bottom tier of configurations.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its closest rival is the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 at 1186, which is 0.2% faster. The ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190 (0.5% faster), and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 1192 (0.7% faster). Only the AMD FirePro M2000 scores lower at 1168, which is 1.4% behind.

Q: What is the best 1080p performance this combo can achieve?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers an average of 79 FPS. Medium settings yield 64 FPS average, High settings produce 49 FPS average, and Ultra settings drop to 37 FPS average.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this configuration?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the combo achieves only 26 FPS average on Low settings, 21 FPS average on Medium, 16 FPS average on High, and 12 FPS average on Ultra. These figures fall well below smooth gameplay thresholds.

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

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54762. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF scores 55093, which is 0.6% faster. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K scores 54053 (1.3% slower), the Intel Xeon 6505P scores 53701 (2% slower), and the Intel Core i7-14700F scores 53620 (2.1% slower).

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The Intel Arc B370 uses System Shared memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM. The memory type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as System Shared or System Dependent, with the GPU's 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 render output units operating at a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz.

How This Combo Ranks

The data places this pairing at rank 2721 of 2949 tested combos, which translates to roughly the 7.7% percentile — a bottom-decile result. This ranking makes sense when examining the constituent parts. The GPU's percentile rank of 5 places it among the weakest graphics processors in the benchmark database, while the CPU's percentile rank of 91 puts it in the top 9% of processors. The enormous gap between these two components creates a bottleneck scenario where the GPU limits performance in nearly every scenario.

The measured FPS data reinforces this interpretation. Across all resolutions and settings, the frame rates track closely with what the GPU's raw benchmark score would suggest. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 is comparable to integrated graphics solutions from over a decade ago, and the nearest rival list — ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, ATI Radeon HD 5770, AMD Radeon HD 7650M, AMD FirePro M2000 — confirms this is legacy-tier hardware. The CPU's substantial benchmark lead over its rivals (the nearest competitor, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, is only 0.6% faster) does nothing to boost the combo's standing in a game that clearly depends on GPU throughput.

The ranking context becomes clearer when considering that Hard West is a turn-based tactics title from 2015. Such games typically have modest system requirements, yet even so, this combo struggles. The turn-based genre often places more emphasis on CPU performance for AI calculations and game logic, but the GPU still must render the scene. With the Arc B370's FP32 throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s, the theoretical ceiling is low, and the measured results confirm this limitation.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear pattern: this combo delivers acceptable performance only at lower settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, Low settings achieve 79 FPS average, which is the only configuration that approaches high-refresh territory. Medium settings at 1080p still manage 64 FPS average, with a minimum of 55 FPS and maximum of 74 FPS, making it the best balance of visual quality and playability. High settings at 1080p drop to 49 FPS average, which is playable but noticeably less smooth. Ultra settings at 1080p fall to 37 FPS average, which is marginal for a turn-based game but less than ideal.

At 2560x1440, the situation degrades further. Low settings deliver 50 FPS average, which is acceptable. Medium settings produce 41 FPS average with a minimum of 35 FPS and maximum of 47 FPS — playable but with visible frame pacing concerns. High settings at 1440p drop to 31 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 23 FPS average. Neither of these latter options provides a consistently smooth experience.

At 3840x2160, the combo becomes effectively unplayable across all settings. Low settings yield 26 FPS average, Medium produces 21 FPS average with a minimum of 18 FPS and maximum of 25 FPS, High drops to 16 FPS average, and Ultra bottoms out at 12 FPS average. The recommendation from the data is clear: for acceptable performance, users should select 1080p with Medium settings, which offers 64 FPS average and stays above 55 FPS minimum. Those prioritizing smoothness over visual fidelity can opt for 1080p Low at 79 FPS average. Users at 1440p should stick to Low settings for the best experience, while 4K is not a viable option under any settings configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates reveal a performance curve that scales predictably with resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings achieve 79 FPS average, Medium settings reach 64 FPS average with a minimum of 55 FPS and maximum of 74 FPS, High settings produce 49 FPS average, and Ultra settings yield 37 FPS average. The step from Low to Medium costs 15 FPS (a 19% drop), while the step from Medium to High costs another 15 FPS, and the step from High to Ultra costs 12 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance drops significantly across the board. Low settings deliver 50 FPS average, a 37% reduction from the 1080p Low figure. Medium settings achieve 41 FPS average with a minimum of 35 FPS and maximum of 47 FPS, representing a 36% reduction from 1080p Medium. High settings fall to 31 FPS average, and Ultra settings drop to 23 FPS average. The resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 35-40% of performance at every settings level.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapse is severe. Low settings produce only 26 FPS average, a 48% drop from 1440p Low. Medium settings achieve 21 FPS average with a minimum of 18 FPS and maximum of 25 FPS. High settings reach 16 FPS average, and Ultra settings bottom out at 12 FPS average. The transition from 1440p to 4K costs another 45-50% of performance, making the 4K experience uniformly unplayable. The minimum frame rates at Medium settings across resolutions — 55 FPS at 1080p, 35 FPS at 1440p, and 18 FPS at 4K — show that the GPU's limited memory bandwidth and compute resources degrade sharply as pixel count increases.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the decisive factor in this combo's performance, and its specifications explain why. The GPU is built on Intel's 3nm process using the Xe3-LPG architecture, part of the Arc Graphics-M (Panther Lake) generation. Its 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs operate at a base clock of 300 MHz and boost to 2400 MHz, yielding an FP32 compute throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS and FP16 of 12.29 TFLOPS (2:1). The pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s. The GPU includes 10 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The most distinctive characteristic of this GPU is its memory configuration. The Arc B370 uses System Shared memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM. Memory type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as System Shared or System Dependent. This architecture means the GPU relies on the system's main memory bandwidth, which is 89.6 GB/s for the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's dual-channel DDR5 configuration. In Hard West, a game that loads large texture sets and maintains persistent world geometry, the shared memory approach creates significant bandwidth constraints. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184, with a 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs, confirms that this is a low-end part by any modern standard.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark performance are all legacy parts from the early 2010s. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scores 1186 (0.2% faster), the ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190 (0.5% faster), and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 1192 (0.7% faster). The AMD FirePro M2000 scores 1168, which is 1.4% slower. This places the Arc B370 in a performance tier that predates the game's 2015 release by several years. The measured frame rates in Hard West reflect this: even at 1080p Low, the combo only achieves 79 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it manages just 12 FPS. The GPU's 25W TDP and IGP form factor, with portable device dependent display outputs, further indicate this is designed for low-power integrated use cases, not demanding gaming workloads.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D provides substantial compute capability that the GPU cannot fully utilize in this game. The CPU features 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), manufactured on TSMC's 4nm process. It operates with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 120W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a 128 MB L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth, and ECC memory support is included.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate its high-end positioning. In Cinebench R23, it scores 47737 multi-core and 6739 single-core. Geekbench results show 22884 multi-core and 3041 single-core. The 3DMark tests reveal scaling from 2512 with 2 threads to 13795 with max threads. PassMark tests show strong performance in integer math (179727), floating-point math (119622), and data compression (685074). The average benchmark score of 54762 places it at the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55093, 0.6% faster), Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54053, 1.3% slower), Intel Xeon 6505P (53701, 2% slower), and Intel Core i7-14700F (53620, 2.1% slower).

In Hard West, the CPU's role is less impactful than the GPU's, but the data shows it is not a limiting factor. Turn-based tactics games typically rely on CPU for AI pathfinding, turn order calculations, and game state management, and the 12-core/24-thread configuration with high single-thread performance (1269 in 3DMark single-thread, 2830 in Cinebench R20 single-core) is more than sufficient for these tasks. The large 128 MB L3 cache likely helps with game logic data locality, and the high boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensures responsive turn processing. However, the measured FPS figures are consistently low across all settings, indicating that the GPU is the bottleneck in every scenario. The CPU's launch MSRP is $599, and it targets the desktop market with an AMD Socket AM5 interface and PCIe Gen 5 support with 24 lanes.