Hard West

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 942nd out of 1,699 tested combinations in Hard West. This places the combo in the lower-middle portion of the database, meaning that while it can run the game, a substantial number of other CPU-GPU pairings deliver higher average frame rates. The percentile data for the individual components suggests a mismatch: the CPU sits at the 72nd percentile against all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 77th percentile against all graphics cards. In a turn-based tactics title like Hard West, this mid-pack ranking reflects that neither component is a top-tier performer, yet the combination is far from the bottom of the field, offering a playable baseline for most settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 942 out of 1,699 tested combos indicates that it outperforms roughly 44% of tested systems while trailing the remaining 56%. This is a middle-of-the-road result for a game released in November 2015, where even modest hardware can achieve playable frame rates due to the turn-based genre’s lower real-time demands. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 13,516 places it within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, which scores 13,534, and 0.4% behind the Intel Core i7-1250U at 13,462. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 33,721 is 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (33,493) and 1.3% behind the NVIDIA RTX A5000 (33,294). These percentile positions show that the CPU is a stronger relative performer than the GPU when compared to their respective pools, but in Hard West, the measured FPS data reveals that the GPU is the primary driver of performance, as detailed in the resolution scaling section.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 2321 MHz, with a boost clock of 2581 MHz and a game clock of 2424 MHz. These clock speeds, combined with 2560 shading units, deliver 13.21 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. In Hard West, the GPU’s role is evident from the measured FPS data at 1080p: at Low settings, the combo reaches 190.5 FPS, while at Ultra it drops to 87.2 FPS. The GPU’s 40 ray tracing cores and 64 ROPs are not heavily utilized in a turn-based tactics game, but the raw rasterization performance from the 160 TMUs and 413.0 GTexel/s texture rate ensures that the game’s environments and character models render smoothly. The GPU’s percentile rank of 77 against all GPUs, and its proximity to the RX 6800 (0.7% higher average score), suggests that it is a capable mid-range part, but in Hard West, the bottleneck shifts to the CPU at lower resolutions, as the FPS ceiling is reached.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear scaling pattern across resolutions. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 120.3 FPS, which drops to 72.3 FPS at 1440p High, and further to 40.6 FPS at 4K High. This represents a 40% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 44% reduction from 1440p to 4K. At Low settings, the frame rates are 190.5 FPS at 1080p, 119.9 FPS at 1440p, and 64.9 FPS at 4K, showing a similar proportional decline. The fact that 1080p Low achieves nearly 200 FPS indicates that the CPU is capable of pushing very high frame rates in this game, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 31.5 FPS, which is below the 40.6 FPS at 4K High, demonstrating that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are stretched thin at higher resolutions and settings. The data suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo, as it maintains playable frame rates across all settings, with Ultra at 55.3 FPS being the lowest point.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the best experience per the data is at 1440p Medium, which yields 96.8 FPS. This setting provides a significant jump over High (72.3 FPS) while maintaining visual quality that is a step above Low. At 1080p, Medium delivers 156.3 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays, but the 1440p Medium option offers a better balance between resolution and frame rate. At 4K, the data shows that only Low (64.9 FPS) is comfortably playable; Medium drops to 50.7 FPS, High to 40.6 FPS, and Ultra to 31.5 FPS, which may be too low for smooth gameplay. For users prioritizing frame rate over resolution, 1080p Ultra at 87.2 FPS is a viable choice, as it remains above 60 FPS. However, the 1440p Medium setting appears to be the most efficient use of the hardware, as it delivers nearly 100 FPS while still providing a higher resolution than 1080p. The Ultra preset at any resolution shows diminishing returns, with the largest FPS penalty occurring from High to Ultra: at 1080p, the drop is from 120.3 to 87.2 FPS (27% reduction), at 1440p from 72.3 to 55.3 (24% reduction), and at 4K from 40.6 to 31.5 (22% reduction).

FAQ

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank in Hard West?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 942nd out of 1,699 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database.

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

A: The i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13,516, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13,534) and 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i7-1250U (13,462).

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking?

A: The RX 6700 XT is at the 77th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 33,721, which is 1% higher than the AMD Radeon HD 7950 (34,050) and 1.3% lower than the NVIDIA RTX A5000 (33,294).

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 1080p Ultra?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo achieves an average of 87.2 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this combo?

A: At 3840x2160, only Low settings (64.9 FPS) and Medium (50.7 FPS) are playable; High drops to 40.6 FPS and Ultra to 31.5 FPS, which may be too low for many users.

Q: How does the GPU’s memory configuration affect performance?

A: The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for Hard West’s textures, but the FPS drop from 1440p to 4K indicates that bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 80 KB L1 cache per core, along with 1.25 MB L2 per core, provide adequate memory hierarchy for a turn-based tactics game. In benchmark tests, the CPU scores 1,681 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 11,912 in multi-core, showing that its single-thread performance is strong relative to its multi-thread capability. The data from Hard West supports this: at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 190.5 FPS, indicating that the CPU can drive frame rates well above the GPU’s limits at lower resolutions. However, the CPU’s 4-core design may struggle with background tasks or newer games, but for Hard West, the benchmark results show that it is not the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The CPU’s percentile rank of 72 against all CPUs, and its proximity to the Intel Core i7-7700K (1.8% higher average score), suggests that it is a solid budget performer. In this game, the CPU’s role is to maintain a high FPS ceiling, which it does, as evidenced by the 190.5 FPS at 1080p Low. The GPU then takes over as the limiting factor at 1440p and 4K, where the FPS drops proportionally with resolution increases. The CPU’s 58 W TDP and 10 nm process node indicate efficient power usage, but the measured FPS data shows that its performance is sufficient for Hard West without becoming a constraint until the GPU is fully utilized.