Hard West

Settings Recommendations

For Hard West with the Intel Core i5-12400 and Intel Arc B390, the measured data points to Low settings at 1920x1080 as the only configuration that delivers a clearly playable experience, with an average of 87 FPS. This is the single highest frame rate recorded across all tested combinations, and it represents a 58% improvement over the High preset at the same resolution. The Low preset at 1920x1080 is the only setting row that clears the 60 FPS threshold comfortably, making it the default recommendation for smooth turn-based gameplay.

At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 55 FPS average, which is marginally below the 60 FPS target but still within a usable range for a tactics game where twitch reflexes are not required. The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers 45 FPS, while High drops to 35 FPS and Ultra falls to 26 FPS. None of these 1440p configurations offer a consistently smooth experience, so the data suggests that users prioritizing resolution over fluidity should stick with Low at 2560x1440.

The 3840x2160 results are uniformly poor. Even Low settings at 4K only muster 29 FPS, which is below the minimum threshold for comfortable gameplay in most titles. Medium at 3840x2160 yields 24 FPS, High drops to 18 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 14 FPS. These numbers indicate that 4K is not a viable option for this combo in Hard West, regardless of quality preset.

The Medium preset at 1920x1080 deserves consideration for users who want a visual upgrade without sacrificing too much performance. It delivers 71 FPS average with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 82 FPS, meaning the frame rate never dips below the 60 FPS line in the measured data. This makes Medium at 1080p the best balance between visual fidelity and smoothness, offering a 22% reduction in average FPS compared to Low but providing better texture and effect quality.

High settings at 1920x1080 produce 55 FPS, which is playable but not ideal, while Ultra falls to 41 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 16 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 14 FPS. Given these diminishing returns, the data supports Medium as the ceiling for quality settings if you want to maintain a stable 60+ FPS experience. For those willing to accept occasional dips below 60 FPS, High at 1080p remains a reasonable compromise.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 render output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 300 MHz and boosts to 2500 MHz, with a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. Floating point performance is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS for FP32 and 15.36 TFLOPS for FP16.

The most critical limitation for gaming is memory. The Arc B390 uses System Shared memory, with the bus width and bandwidth also marked as System Shared and System Dependent respectively. This means the GPU relies on the CPU's system memory rather than dedicated VRAM. In a turn-based tactics game like Hard West, which was released in 2015, the shared memory architecture may not be as severe a bottleneck as it would be in a modern AAA title, but the measured frame rates suggest it still imposes significant constraints.

The GPU's percentile ranking versus all GPUs is 9, placing it in the bottom 10% of the database. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1482, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M, 2.5% higher than the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% higher than the GT 710. These nearest rivals are all low-end or legacy parts, and the Arc B390 only edges them out by single-digit percentages. This context explains why the measured FPS in Hard West are so modest.

The relationship between GPU clocks and game results is evident in the resolution scaling. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo achieves 87 FPS, but moving to 3840x2160 Low drops that to 29 FPS — a 67% reduction. This steep scaling curve is characteristic of a GPU that is heavily limited by fill rate and memory bandwidth, as increasing pixel count places exponentially more demand on the render output units. The 24 ROPs at 60.00 GPixel/s can handle 1080p output without excessive strain, but 4K output overwhelms the pipeline.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 with Intel Arc B390 combination ranks 2614 out of 2949 tested combos in Hard West. This places the combo in the bottom 12% of all configurations, indicating that it is a low-performance pairing for this title. The rank reflects the GPU's limitations more than the CPU's capabilities, as the i5-12400 is a mid-range desktop processor while the Arc B390 is an integrated mobile-class graphics solution.

The rank position means that roughly 88% of tested combos deliver better frame rates in Hard West. This is consistent with the GPU's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs. The CPU, by contrast, ranks at the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, showing a significant mismatch between the two components' relative capabilities. In a game like Hard West, which is turn-based and not typically GPU-intensive by modern standards, the fact that this combo still lands in the bottom 12% underscores how weak the Arc B390 is in absolute terms.

The combo rank of 2614 is a global ranking across all tested CPU-GPU pairings, not just those with similar components. This means the Arc B390 is being compared against dedicated graphics cards of various generations, many of which vastly outperform it. The data shows that even older low-end discrete GPUs like the GT 710, which the Arc B390 only slightly beats in synthetic benchmarks, would likely produce similar or better results in real gaming scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results span from 41 to 87 FPS depending on settings. Low delivers 87 FPS average, Medium delivers 71 FPS with a minimum of 61 and maximum of 82, High delivers 55 FPS, and Ultra delivers 41 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent degradation: Low to Medium is a 16 FPS drop, Medium to High is another 16 FPS drop, and High to Ultra is a 14 FPS drop. The Medium setting's minimum of 61 FPS is notable because it means even the worst-case scenario stays above 60 FPS, which is unusual for this combo at any resolution.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 55 for Low, 45 for Medium (with minimum 38 and maximum 52), 35 for High, and 26 for Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium is 10 FPS, Medium to High is another 10 FPS, and High to Ultra is 9 FPS. The Medium setting's maximum of 52 FPS is lower than the High setting's average at 1920x1080, showing that the resolution jump from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 20-25% performance across most presets.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly low. Low settings produce 29 FPS, Medium produces 24 FPS (with minimum 20 and maximum 27), High produces 18 FPS, and Ultra produces 14 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 15 FPS, which is smaller than the delta at 1080p (46 FPS) or 1440p (29 FPS). This compression of performance difference at 4K suggests that the GPU is hitting a hard wall where even Low settings cannot compensate for the pixel count.

Comparing resolution scaling at Low settings: 87 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 32 FPS (37%), and from 1440p to 4K is 26 FPS (47%). At Medium settings: 71 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, 24 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 26 FPS (37%), and 1440p to 4K is 21 FPS (47%). The consistent ~37% and ~47% scaling factors across settings indicate that resolution is the dominant variable, with settings having a secondary effect.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Hard West at 60 FPS at any resolution?

A: Yes, but only at 1920x1080 with Low or Medium settings. Low delivers 87 FPS average, and Medium delivers 71 FPS average with a minimum of 61 FPS. No other resolution or preset combination in the measured data reaches 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gameplay?

A: Low settings at 2560x1440 produce 55 FPS average, which is the highest score at that resolution. Medium delivers 45 FPS, High delivers 35 FPS, and Ultra delivers 26 FPS. None of these reach 60 FPS, so Low is the recommended choice for the smoothest experience.

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

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1.3% higher than the GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M, 2.5% higher than the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% higher than the GT 710. It ranks at the 9th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware?

A: No. The highest frame rate at 3840x2160 is 29 FPS on Low settings, with Medium at 24 FPS, High at 18 FPS, and Ultra at 14 FPS. All of these are well below playable thresholds for most users.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking in Hard West?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 with Intel Arc B390 ranks 2614 out of 2949 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 12% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: Does the Medium preset at 1080p ever drop below 60 FPS?

A: No. The measured minimum FPS for Medium at 1920x1080 is 61 FPS, with a maximum of 82 FPS and an average of 71 FPS. This makes it the only preset in the entire dataset that maintains a 60+ FPS floor.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread desktop processor from the Core 12th Gen series, based on the Alder Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, and it uses the Intel Socket 1700.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12400 shows strong multi-threaded performance. It scores 15989 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2257 in single-core, 6715 in Cinebench R20 multi-core and 947 in single-core, and 1611 in Cinebench R15 multi-core and 227 in single-core. Geekbench results show 8564 multi-core and 1848 single-core. PassMark scores include 18747 for multi-thread and 3456 for single-thread. The CPU's percentile ranking versus all CPUs is 72, placing it in the upper quarter of all processors.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database are the AMD EPYC 7643 (average score 18697, 0.1% lower), Intel Core i7-1355U (18730, 0.3% lower), AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18811, 0.7% lower), and Intel Core i3-14100F (18519, 0.9% higher). All of these are within 1% of the i5-12400's average benchmark score of 18683, indicating that the CPU is performing exactly as expected for its class.

In the context of Hard West, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The game is turn-based and was released in 2015, so it does not place heavy demands on modern processors. The i5-12400's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than sufficient for this title's logic, AI, and pathfinding calculations. The 2.50 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock provide ample single-thread headroom for game logic that may not be well-parallelized.

The CPU's 72nd percentile ranking contrasts sharply with the GPU's 9th percentile, and this disparity is reflected in the measured FPS. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo achieves 87 FPS, which suggests the CPU is not bottlenecking the system at that setting. However, as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and the CPU's performance advantage becomes irrelevant. The data shows that the i5-12400 is capable of driving much faster frame rates than the Arc B390 can deliver, meaning any performance issues in Hard West can be attributed to the GPU rather than the processor.