Hard West

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a very specific performance profile in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is heavily constrained by its graphics component, particularly at higher resolutions, while the processor demonstrates ample headroom that goes largely unused. This analysis breaks down the measured data to understand where the bottleneck lies and what settings offer the most playable experience.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a dramatic and consistent drop in performance as resolution increases, which strongly indicates that the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting component in this configuration. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average frame rate at High settings falls from 55 FPS to 35 FPS, a reduction of approximately 36%. The scaling continues when moving to 3840x2160, where the average at High settings crashes to just 18 FPS, representing a further 49% drop from the 1440p figure.

This pattern is consistent across all settings presets. At Low settings, the average frame rate scales from 87 FPS at 1080p to 55 FPS at 1440p, and then to 29 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are steep at every step, suggesting that the GPU's rendering pipeline is being saturated by the increasing pixel count. The fact that the frame rate nearly halves from 1440p to 4K in both High and Low presets points to a pure fill-rate or memory bandwidth limitation, rather than a compute shader bottleneck.

The scaling behavior indicates that the game is not CPU-bound at any resolution. If the Intel Core i5-11400F were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar frame rates across different resolutions, as the CPU workload for game logic and draw calls would remain relatively constant. Instead, the frame rate is inversely proportional to the number of pixels, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The i5-11400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, has more than enough processing power for a turn-based tactics game, leaving the integrated-class Arc B390 to struggle with the graphical load.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F and Intel Arc B390 ranks at position 2614 out of 2949 total combos for Hard West. This places it in the bottom 11% of all tested systems, which is a poor showing that aligns with the measured frame rates. The GPU's individual percentile ranking is 9, meaning it performs better than only 9% of all other graphics cards in the database. This is a very low score, and it is the primary driver of the combo's poor overall rank.

The CPU, in contrast, is a much more capable component. Its percentile ranking against all CPUs is 71, indicating it outperforms 71% of processors. This stark contrast between the CPU's solid standing and the GPU's low standing confirms that the graphics card is the bottleneck. The combo rank of 2614 is heavily dragged down by the Arc B390's performance, which is comparable to very old, entry-level dedicated GPUs.

Looking at the nearest rivals for the GPU, the Arc B390's average benchmark score of 1482 is only 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, and 2.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710. These are ancient, low-end parts from over a decade ago. This contextualizes the GPU's performance in Hard West; it is operating at a level that is contemporary with hardware from a previous era. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 7H12 and Intel Core i5-12450H, are within a fraction of a percent in average score, highlighting that the i5-11400F is a modern, competitive processor that is being held back by its graphics counterpart.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the decisive factor in this system's Hard West performance. Its architecture, Xe3-LPG, is built on a 3 nm process and features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units. Despite these modern specifications, its performance in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test is a modest 1482 points, which is the sole benchmark score provided for this GPU. This low score, combined with its 9th percentile ranking, sets the expectation for its in-game capabilities.

A critical detail is the GPU's memory configuration: it uses "System Shared" memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM of its own. The memory type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent," which means the GPU relies on the system's DDR4 RAM. This is a significant disadvantage for a game like Hard West, as the GPU must compete with the CPU for memory bandwidth. The base clock of 300 MHz and boost clock of 2500 MHz are the operating frequencies, but the lack of dedicated memory is likely a major reason for the poor scaling at higher resolutions, as the shared memory bus becomes a severe bottleneck when trying to move large amounts of texture and framebuffer data.

The GPU's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are theoretical maximums that are unlikely to be achieved in practice due to the memory constraints. The FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS suggests a certain level of compute capability, but the data shows this does not translate into playable frame rates. The fact that the Arc B390 has 12 ray tracing cores is irrelevant for Hard West, which is a turn-based tactics game that does not utilize such features.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a clear picture of the system's capabilities across different settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the game is playable at Low and Medium settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 87 FPS, while Medium reaches 71 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 82 FPS. The High preset drops to 55 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 41 FPS. This shows that at 1080p, the system can handle the game well, but the gap between Low and Ultra is substantial, with Ultra being 53% slower than Low.

At 2560x1440, the performance becomes more challenging. The Low preset is still playable with an average of 55 FPS, but the Medium preset drops to 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS. The High preset is marginal at 35 FPS, and the Ultra preset is not playable, averaging just 26 FPS. The trend shows that even a modest resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p requires a significant settings reduction to maintain a smooth experience.

At 3840x2160, the system is not viable for serious play. The Low preset averages 29 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset averages 24 FPS with a minimum of 20 FPS and a maximum of 27 FPS. The High preset drops to 18 FPS, and the Ultra preset is essentially a slideshow at 14 FPS. The data shows a clear, linear degradation in performance as resolution increases, confirming that the GPU is overwhelmed by the pixel count at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience for this hardware is found at 1920x1080 with the Medium settings preset. This configuration yields an average of 71 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, ensuring a consistently smooth and responsive experience. The frame rate is high enough to make the turn-based gameplay feel fluid, and the minimum FPS indicates that there are no significant stutters or drops.

At 1080p High, the average drops to 55 FPS, which is still acceptable, but the lack of a reported minimum FPS makes it a riskier choice. The Medium preset provides a guaranteed minimum that is above 60 FPS, which is a safer bet for a stable experience. While the Low preset offers a higher average of 87 FPS, it does so by sacrificing visual quality, which is unnecessary given that Medium achieves a very good frame rate.

For users who prioritize visual fidelity, the High preset at 1080p may be tempting, but the data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot. At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only option that provides a consistently playable frame rate, with an average of 55 FPS. However, the lack of a minimum FPS for Low is a concern. The Medium preset at 1440p has a minimum of 38 FPS, which may be acceptable for a turn-based game, but it is not ideal. It is recommended that users stick to 1080p Medium for the best balance of performance and visual quality, as higher resolutions consistently fail to provide adequate frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 12 MB shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are robust, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14340 and a single-core score of 2024. These figures demonstrate that the CPU is more than capable of handling the computational demands of Hard West, which is a turn-based tactics game that does not typically require high thread counts.

The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this system. The frame rates scale directly with resolution, which is a classic sign of a GPU limitation. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking and its proximity to rivals like the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% difference) and Intel Core i5-12450H (-0.4% difference) in average benchmark scores indicate that it is a powerful processor. In a game like Hard West, the CPU is responsible for game logic, AI pathfinding, and unit management, all of which are light workloads for a modern 6-core processor.

The i5-11400F's 12 threads are more than sufficient for this game, and its high boost clock of 4.40 GHz ensures strong single-threaded performance, which is often more important in turn-based titles. The fact that the system only achieves 87 FPS at 1080p Low, a resolution and setting where the CPU should have no problem, further confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU is essentially idle, waiting for the Arc B390 to render each frame, and its performance headroom is entirely wasted due to the graphics card's limitations.

FAQ

*Q: Is this system playable at 4K resolution in Hard West?*

A: No. The measured data shows that the highest average frame rate at 3840x2160 is 29 FPS on the Low preset. The Medium preset averages 24 FPS, and the High and Ultra presets drop to 18 FPS and 14 FPS, respectively. These frame rates are too low for a consistently playable experience.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a smooth 60+ FPS experience?

A: The 1920x1080 resolution with the Medium settings preset is the only combination that guarantees a minimum frame rate above 60 FPS. The data shows an average of 71 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 87 FPS, but it does not report a minimum, making Medium the safer recommendation.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B390 has an average benchmark score of 1482. This is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and 2.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710. These are very old, low-end GPUs, highlighting the Arc B390's poor relative performance.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-11400F the cause of the low frame rates?

A: No. The CPU is a high-performing part with a 71st percentile ranking. The frame rates drop significantly as resolution increases, which is a clear indicator of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU has the power to handle the game, but it is held back by the graphics card.

Q: What is the performance 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 represents a 53% reduction in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the GPU have dedicated video memory?

A: No. The Intel Arc B390 uses "System Shared" memory, meaning it relies on the system's main RAM. The memory type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent," which is a significant disadvantage for performance.