Hard West

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 delivers a playable but constrained experience in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title. The combo ranks 1581st out of 1699 tested configurations, placing it in the lower quartile of all possible pairings. This rank reflects a system that can manage 1080p gaming at medium-to-high settings but struggles significantly at higher resolutions and maximum graphical presets. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy, with the GPU acting as the primary bottleneck as resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 580 sits at position 1581 out of 1699 tested combos, a percentile placement that places it in the bottom 7% of all tested systems. This low rank is not surprising given the age of both components, but the data reveals that the system is not uniformly weak.

The CPU itself performs admirably in synthetic benchmarks, achieving a 73rd percentile ranking against all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 14168 puts it within 0.4% of the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115) and 1.1% behind the Intel Core i5-8500 (14332). This indicates strong multi-threaded capability for a six-core, twelve-thread processor. The GPU, conversely, sits at the 53rd percentile against all GPUs, with an average score of 13559 that places it nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564) and just 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 455 (13416).

The disconnect between the CPU’s solid synthetic standing and the combo’s low overall rank points directly to the GPU as the limiting factor in gaming workloads. In Hard West, the measured frames per second drop sharply as resolution climbs, a pattern consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU’s 3DMark scores—4748 for 16 threads and 4735 for max threads—show it is more than capable of feeding the GPU, but the RX 580 simply cannot keep pace at higher pixel counts.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo better suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming?

A: The measured data strongly favors 1080p. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 54 FPS on High and 71.1 FPS on Medium, while at 2560x1440, the same settings drop to 31.2 FPS and 45.9 FPS respectively. The 1440p numbers are borderline for smooth gameplay, whereas 1080p offers a comfortable margin.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at the same resolution?

A: The Ultra preset exacts a heavy toll. At 1080p, High delivers 54 FPS while Ultra falls to 40.9 FPS, a 24% penalty. At 1440p, the gap widens: High produces 31.2 FPS versus Ultra’s 27.8 FPS. At 4K, High manages 18.5 FPS but Ultra collapses to 11.1 FPS, making Ultra effectively unplayable above 1080p.

Q: What is the best resolution for this hardware?

A: The data indicates 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo consistently exceeds 60 FPS, and only at Low (82.3 FPS) or Medium (71.1 FPS) settings. At 1440p, even Low settings only reach 53.2 FPS, and at 4K, no preset exceeds 28 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting component. The CPU’s 73rd percentile ranking and strong synthetic multi-thread scores (10297 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) contrast sharply with the GPU’s 53rd percentile. The FPS drop from 82.3 FPS at 1080p Low to 28 FPS at 4K Low—a 66% reduction—is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 580’s average benchmark score of 13559 is statistically tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564, 0% delta) and the GTX 950 (13549, 0.1% delta). It sits 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 455 (13416) and 1.1% behind the NVIDIA P106-090 (13716). These are all closely matched, older-generation cards.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in turn-based tactics?

A: Not at acceptable frame rates. The best 4K result is 28 FPS at Low settings, which is below the 30 FPS threshold typically considered minimum for playability. High settings produce 18.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 11.1 FPS, making 4K impractical for this hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a textbook GPU-limited curve. At Low settings, the system delivers 82.3 FPS at 1920x1080, dropping to 53.2 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 35% reduction) and further to 28 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 66% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline tracks nearly linearly with the increase in pixel count, indicating the RX 580’s 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are saturated by the higher resolutions.

The scaling pattern holds across all presets. At Medium settings, the frame rate falls from 71.1 FPS at 1080p to 45.9 FPS at 1440p (35% drop) and then to 21 FPS at 4K (70% drop). High settings show 54 FPS at 1080p, 31.2 FPS at 1440p (42% drop), and 18.5 FPS at 4K (66% drop). The consistent ~35% penalty from 1080p to 1440p, followed by another ~50% penalty from 1440p to 4K, confirms that the GPU is the sole constraint.

The CPU’s performance headroom is evident from its synthetic scores. The i5-10400F achieves 1453 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 10297 in multi-core, scores that would not bottleneck a GPU of this class at any resolution. Had the CPU been the limiting factor, we would expect to see frame rates flatten or even improve relative to resolution changes. Instead, the linear FPS decline with pixel count is the signature of a GPU that has hit its fill-rate and bandwidth ceiling.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, the data supports using Medium settings at 1920x1080. This preset delivers 71.1 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while maintaining a 32% visual improvement over Low settings. The High preset at 1080p achieves 54 FPS, which is acceptable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes, and Ultra drops to 40.9 FPS—a noticeable step down in smoothness for marginal visual gains.

At 2560x1440, users should drop to Low settings to stay near 53.2 FPS, as Medium falls to 45.9 FPS and High to 31.2 FPS. The 1440p Low setting provides a playable experience, but the frame rate is below the 60 FPS target. For 4K, the data shows no preset is viable: even Low settings produce only 28 FPS. Users with 4K displays should consider lowering the resolution to 1440p or 1080p rather than attempting to run natively at 4K.

The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution. At 1080p it costs 24% of the frame rate compared to High (40.9 vs 54 FPS), and at 1440p it drops to 27.8 FPS. The performance penalty is too steep for the incremental visual improvements, especially in a turn-based game where smooth camera panning and unit animations benefit from higher frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows a clear hierarchy across presets. Low settings achieve 82.3 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. Medium settings deliver 71.1 FPS, still well within playable territory. High settings produce 54 FPS, which is adequate but below the ideal 60 FPS target. Ultra settings fall to 40.9 FPS, a significant drop that makes the preset less desirable.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates compress into a narrower range. Low settings reach 53.2 FPS, barely above the 30 FPS minimum. Medium settings yield 45.9 FPS, and High settings drop to 31.2 FPS—right at the edge of playability. Ultra settings produce 27.8 FPS, which falls below the 30 FPS threshold and would result in noticeable stutter during camera movements.

At 3840x2160, the RX 580 is clearly overwhelmed. Low settings manage 28 FPS, just under the 30 FPS playability floor. Medium settings produce 21 FPS, High settings drop to 18.5 FPS, and Ultra settings collapse to 11.1 FPS. These numbers make 4K gaming impractical for this combination, as even the lowest settings cannot maintain a consistent frame rate.

The progression from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent penalty of roughly 66-70% across all presets when moving from 1080p to 4K. The CPU’s strong synthetic performance—including a Passmark multi-thread score of 12115 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 5783—ensures it is not the cause of these low numbers. The RX 580’s 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus provide sufficient capacity, but the 193.0 GTexel/s texture rate and 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for higher resolutions. The data conclusively shows that this combo is optimized for 1080p gaming, with a narrow window of playable settings at 1440p and no viable options at 4K.