Hard West

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for this combo at 1080p on High settings?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 delivers an average of 90 FPS at 1920x1080 on High settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The Core i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13494, which is essentially tied with the Intel Core 3 N355 (13492, 0% delta) and slightly ahead of the Intel Core i5-9500 (13452, 0.3% delta).

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The Radeon RX 6600 comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s.

Q: Is the data for this combo measured or estimated?

A: The data is measured, as indicated by the `dataIsMeasured` field being true.

Q: What is the boost clock of the CPU and the game clock of the GPU?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, while the Radeon RX 6600 has a game clock of 2044 MHz and a boost clock of 2491 MHz.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations for Hard West?

A: This combo ranks 2907 out of 3722 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the field.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is the primary driver of frame rate in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is ample for this game's demands, even at higher resolutions. The memory operates at 1750 MHz with a 14 Gbps effective data rate, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth across a 128-bit bus. This bandwidth is sufficient to feed the 1792 shading units and 112 texture mapping units without bottlenecking at the resolutions tested.

The GPU's clock behavior is notable: a base clock of 1626 MHz, a game clock of 2044 MHz, and a boost clock of 2491 MHz. The game clock represents the sustained frequency under typical gaming loads, and the data shows this card can maintain high frame rates in Hard West. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 143 FPS average, indicating the GPU is not heavily stressed by this older title. The card's 64 ROPs and pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s contribute to its ability to handle the game's 2D sprite-based combat scenes and isometric camera work efficiently.

The GPU's architecture is RDNA 2.0 on a 7 nm process from TSMC, with 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die. Its 8.928 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is more than adequate for a game of Hard West's vintage recognized by its DirectX 12 Ultimate support, though the game itself likely does not leverage ray tracing features. The card's PCIe 4.0 x8 interface provides sufficient bandwidth for the game's asset streaming, and the 132 W TDP means it can be powered by a 300 W suggested PSU.

The percentile ranking of 63 for the GPU versus all GPUs, combined with its average benchmark score of 19036, places it as a mid-range performer. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro K6000, scores 19030 (0% delta), showing the RX 6600 is a solid upper-midrange card. The GPU's performance in Hard West scales predictably with settings and resolution, as the measured data demonstrates. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 22, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor at that extreme setting. The card's 8 GB VRAM is never fully utilized in this game, given its 2015 release date and modest texture requirements.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for the best experience with this combo in Hard West. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The average FPS of 118 at Medium, with a minimum of 100 and maximum of 135, ensures smooth gameplay with no noticeable stutter. High at 1080p yields 90 FPS average, which is still playable but with less headroom for demanding scenes. Ultra at 1080p drops to 68 FPS average, which is acceptable but not ideal for a tactics game where camera movements can cause dips.

At 2560x1440, Medium is again the recommended setting. The 74 FPS average, with a minimum of 63 and maximum of 86, provides a consistently smooth experience. High at 1440p produces 57 FPS average, which is playable but may feel less fluid during panning. Low at 1440p achieves 91 FPS average, showing the combo's capability when visual fidelity is sacrificed. Ultra at 1440p is not recommended, as the 43 FPS average falls below the ideal threshold for smooth turn-based gameplay.

At 3840x2160, no setting provides an ideal experience. Medium offers 39 FPS average with a minimum of 33, which is borderline playable but will have noticeable slowdowns. Low at 4K yields 48 FPS average, which is acceptable if 4K resolution is a priority. High at 4K drops to 30 FPS average, and Ultra is unplayable at 22 FPS average. For 4K users, Low is the only viable preset, acknowledging that the GPU is not designed for this resolution in this title.

The best overall experience is 1080p Medium, where the 118 FPS average with a tight minimum of 100 ensures no frame drops below 60. The difference between Medium and High at 1080p is 28 FPS, a significant margin that favors Medium. At 1440p, Medium provides 17 FPS more than High, making it the clear choice. The data consistently shows Medium as the sweet spot across all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, with average FPS recorded for all, and minimum/maximum values for Medium settings only.

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance. Low settings produce an average of 143 FPS. Medium settings yield 118 FPS average, with a minimum of 100 and maximum of 135. High settings average 90 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 68 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline, with the gap between Medium and High (28 FPS) being the largest step.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the expected reduction. Low settings average 91 FPS. Medium settings produce 74 FPS average, with a minimum of 63 and maximum of 86. High settings average 57 FPS. Ultra settings average 43 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 17 FPS, and between Medium and High is 17 FPS as well, showing a consistent scaling.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 48 FPS. Medium settings produce 39 FPS average, with a minimum of 33 and maximum of 45. High settings average 30 FPS. Ultra settings average 22 FPS. The minimum of 33 FPS at Medium 4K indicates that even the best 4K preset has moments of significant slowdown.

The Medium presets across all resolutions show the most complete data, with minimum and maximum values recorded. At 1080p Medium, the spread from 100 to 135 FPS indicates some scene-dependent variation. At 1440p Medium, the spread from 63 to 86 FPS shows similar relative variation. At 4K Medium, the spread from 33 to 45 FPS is proportionally larger, suggesting the GPU is under heavier load.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the scaling behavior of this combo. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 143 at 1080p to 91 at 1440p to 48 at 4K. This represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 66% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the progression is 118 to 74 to 39, drops of 37% and 67% respectively. At High settings, 90 to 57 to 30, drops of 37% and 67%. At Ultra settings, 68 to 43 to 22, drops of 37% and 68%.

This consistent scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component. The pixel count increases by 78% from 1080p to 1440p, and by 300% from 1080p to 4K. The FPS drops of approximately 37% and 67% do not perfectly match the pixel count increases, suggesting some other bottleneck exists, likely the CPU's single-thread performance at lower resolutions or the game's engine limitations.

The fact that the FPS drop is nearly identical across all settings presets (37-37-37-37% for 1080p to 1440p, and 67-67-66-68% for 1080p to 4K) indicates a uniform scaling factor. This is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where the render resolution is the dominant variable. The game's turn-based nature means it does not have complex real-time physics or AI that would stress the CPU differently at various resolutions.

At 1080p, the high frame rates (143 FPS Low) suggest the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU efficiently at this resolution. The drop to 4K shows the GPU's raw fill rate limits, as the 8 GB VRAM and 224 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game's assets but the 159.4 GPixel/s pixel rate becomes the constraint. The data indicates that for this combo, resolution scaling is smooth and predictable, with the GPU being the limiting factor at all resolutions above 1080p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz provide sufficient single-thread performance for Hard West, a game that primarily relies on a few threads for game logic and rendering commands. The CPU's L3 cache of 12 MB shared, with 1.25 MB L2 per core and 80 KB L1 per core, is adequate for this title's modest data requirements.

The CPU's benchmark scores indicate strong single-thread performance relative to its multi-thread capabilities. In Cinebench R23, the single-core score of 1674 compares favorably to its multi-core score of 11860, suggesting a 7x scaling across 8 threads. In 3DMark, the 2-thread score of 1659 and 4-thread score of 2859 show good scaling, but the 8-thread score of 4026 and max-thread score of 4023 indicate diminishing returns beyond 4 threads. This aligns with Hard West's likely usage of 2-4 threads for its turn-based logic.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 68 versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13494, places it as a solid mid-range processor. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core 3 N355, scores 13492 (0% delta), showing the i3-12100F is a competitive entry-level desktop chip. The Intel Core i5-9500 trails by 0.3%, while the Intel Core 5 120UL leads by 0.7%, indicating the i3-12100F sits comfortably in this performance band.

In Hard West, the CPU's role is likely secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions. The measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 143 FPS, which is high enough that the CPU may become a limiting factor in certain scenes with many entities or complex pathfinding. However, the game's turn-based nature means that most computation occurs during enemy turns or when resolving actions, which can cause brief frame hitches. The CPU's 58 W TDP and dual-channel memory support (DDR4 and DDR5) provide adequate bandwidth for the game's needs.

The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 893 and PassMark single-thread score of 3444 indicate strong per-core performance, which is critical for a game that may not fully utilize all 8 threads. The Geekbench single-core score of 1932 reinforces this finding. This suggests that the i3-12100F is well-suited for Hard West's CPU demands, likely not being the bottleneck at 1080p but becoming less relevant as resolution increases and GPU load dominates.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 ranks 2907 out of 3722 tested combos in Hard West. This places it in the 22nd percentile of all tested combinations, meaning roughly 78% of combos perform better in this game. This ranking is lower than what the individual component percentiles might suggest, as the CPU sits at the 68th percentile and the GPU at the 63rd percentile.

The low combo rank likely reflects that Hard West is an older, less demanding title, where even mid-range components from the combo's era can achieve high frame rates. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 143 FPS, which would be sufficient for any display. The ranking of 2907 out of 3722 indicates that many combinations with faster CPUs or GPUs can achieve even higher frame rates, particularly at 1080p where the game is not demanding.

However, the combo's rank does not tell the full story. At 1440p Medium, the combo delivers 74 FPS average, which is a playable experience for a turn-based tactics game. The ranking is skewed by combos with high-end GPUs that can push 4K Ultra at 60+ FPS, which this combo cannot do (22 FPS at 4K Ultra). The combo's strengths are in 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it provides smooth performance at Medium settings.

The gap between this combo's rank and its potential is notable. The CPU's average benchmark score of 13494 and the GPU's average score of 19036 suggest they are well-matched for modern games, but Hard West's 2015 release date means even low-end modern components can exceed its requirements. The combo's rank of 2907 out of 3722 means it outperforms only 815 other combos, indicating that most tested combinations in the database are better suited for this specific title.

This ranking is not a reflection of the combo's overall capability but rather its position in a specific game's benchmark. For a turn-based tactics game with modest graphical demands, the combo's 8 GB GPU memory and 4-core CPU are sufficient, but not exceptional. The measured FPS data shows that the combo can achieve 143 FPS at 1080p Low, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, but the 2907 rank suggests that many other combos can push even higher frame rates or handle 4K better.