Hard West

The AMD Radeon RX 580 paired with the Intel Core i5-12400F delivers a playable but heavily settings-dependent experience in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. The data reveals a configuration that is fundamentally limited by the graphics card at higher resolutions and quality presets, while the processor provides ample headroom. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, contextualizes the combo's standing among tested configurations, and isolates the roles of the GPU and CPU in shaping the final frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 85.9 FPS, which falls to 51.8 FPS at 1440p and 30.2 FPS at 4K. This represents a 39.7% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 41.7% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern is nearly linear with pixel count, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario.

The trend holds across all quality presets, though the absolute deltas shrink at higher settings due to already low frame rates. For instance, at Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 37.6 FPS at 1080p to 24.4 FPS at 1440p (a 35.1% decrease) and then to 10.6 FPS at 4K (a 56.6% decrease from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 10.6 FPS is effectively unplayable, and even 4K High at 19.8 FPS is below the threshold for smooth interaction. The data suggests that at 4K, the RX 580 is overwhelmed regardless of settings, while 1440p offers a viable middle ground only at Low and Medium presets.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is less punishing than the jump to 4K, suggesting that the 256-bit memory bus and 8 GB of GDDR5 VRAM are sufficient for 1440p but not for the 8.3 million pixels of 4K. The frame rate collapse at 4K Ultra, dropping from 25.5 FPS at Medium to 10.6 FPS, points to a combination of memory bandwidth saturation and shader compute limits. This is not a CPU-limited scenario; the i5-12400F holds its part, as evidenced by the relatively smooth scaling at 1080p where the GPU is less taxed.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 1583 out of 1699 tested combos for Hard West. This places it in the bottom 7% of all configurations, reflecting the age and performance tier of the RX 580. The combo's percentile ranking is not flattering, but it is important to contextualize this within the game's release date of 2015, where this hardware would have been more competitive.

The CPU component, the Intel Core i5-12400F, holds a 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs tested, indicating it is a strong processor. Its average benchmark score of 19221 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-8700K (19210, a 0.1% delta) and the Intel Core i5-1335U (19167, a 0.3% delta). This suggests the i5-12400F's computational power is not a limiting factor in this combo. In contrast, the GPU's 53rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13559, is much more modest. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564, 0% delta) and the GTX 950 (13549, 0.1% delta), confirming that the RX 580 sits in a lower performance tier.

The combination of a high-performing CPU and a mid-tier GPU results in a system that is heavily GPU-bound. The combo rank of 1583 is more indicative of the GPU's limitations than the CPU's capabilities. For a turn-based tactics game like Hard West, which is not typically demanding on frame rates, this rank suggests that the system can handle the game at moderate settings, but it will not excel at high resolutions or maximum quality.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580, built on the Polaris 20 chip with a GCN 4.0 architecture, is the dominant factor in this combo's performance. Its 14 nm process node and 5,700 million transistors are dated, but the card's 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. This memory configuration is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but it becomes a bottleneck at 4K, where the higher pixel throughput demands more bandwidth than the card can provide.

The GPU's clock speeds are modest by modern standards, with a base clock of 1257 MHz and a boost clock of 1340 MHz. The memory runs at 2000 MHz, effectively 8 Gbps. These clocks, combined with 2304 shading units and 32 ROPs, yield a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 6.175 TFLOPS is a useful metric for understanding the card's compute ceiling. In Hard West, a game with relatively simple geometry and lighting, these specifications produce the measured frame rates.

The RX 580's benchmark scores provide additional context. Its Passmark G3D score of 8813 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 37453 indicate solidly mid-range performance. The card's DirectX 11 score of 60 is notably higher than its DirectX 12 score of 43, which is relevant for a 2015 game that likely runs best on DX11. The GPU's 53rd percentile ranking versus all GPUs, with rivals like the GTX 950 and GTX 570, underscores that this is not a high-end part. The 8 GB VRAM is not fully utilized in Hard West, but the card's compute and fillrate limits are clearly reached at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate plummets to 10.6 FPS. The GPU is the clear constraint in this pairing, as evidenced by the resolution scaling pattern.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four quality settings. The data is presented in the table below, summarizing the average FPS for each configuration.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

|---|---|---|

| 1920x1080 | Low | 85.9 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 68.9 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 50.5 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 37.6 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 51.8 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 43.7 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 35.3 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 24.4 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 30.2 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 25.5 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 19.8 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 10.6 |

At 1080p, the combo delivers a highly playable experience across all settings. Low settings achieve 85.9 FPS, which is smooth for any genre. Medium drops to 68.9 FPS, still well above the 60 FPS threshold. High settings yield 50.5 FPS, which is acceptable for a turn-based game, while Ultra falls to 37.6 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p is a 56.2% reduction, showing the significant cost of quality presets.

Moving to 1440p, the frame rates become more marginal. Low settings maintain 51.8 FPS, which is playable, but Medium drops to 43.7 FPS. High settings at 35.3 FPS and Ultra at 24.4 FPS are below ideal smoothness, though they may be tolerable for a slower-paced tactical game. The 1440p results indicate that the RX 580 is at the edge of its capabilities at this resolution.

At 4K, the situation deteriorates sharply. Low settings produce 30.2 FPS, which is barely playable, and Medium falls to 25.5 FPS. High settings at 19.8 FPS and Ultra at 10.6 FPS are effectively unplayable for any serious gaming session. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is a 64.9% reduction, highlighting the GPU's inability to handle both high resolution and high quality simultaneously. The data clearly shows that 1080p is the target resolution for this combo, with 1440p being a compromise and 4K being out of reach for acceptable performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core provide ample data for a game like Hard West, which is not CPU-intensive. The processor's 65 W TDP and 10 nm process node are efficient, but more importantly, its benchmark scores show it is a capable performer.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518 and single-core score of 2332 indicate strong multithreaded and single-threaded performance. Its Geekbench multicore score of 9138 and single-core score of 2221 further confirm this. The Passmark multithread score of 19433 and single-thread score of 3481 place it well above the average CPU. In the context of Hard West, which is a turn-based tactics title with limited on-screen action, the CPU is rarely the bottleneck.

The i5-12400F's 77th percentile ranking versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19221, puts it in the upper echelon of processors. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, has a nearly identical average score of 19210, showing the i5-12400F's modern architecture delivers comparable performance to an older flagship. The CPU's 12 threads are more than sufficient for Hard West, and the high boost clock of 4.40 GHz ensures responsive single-threaded performance.

In this combo, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU without becoming a limiting factor. The data supports this, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings, which would not happen if the CPU were struggling. At 1080p Low, the CPU pushes the GPU to 85.9 FPS, and the fact that this drops to 37.6 FPS at Ultra is a GPU-side effect, not a CPU limitation. The i5-12400F's performance headroom means that any frame rate issues in Hard West are attributable to the RX 580, not the processor. The CPU is effectively a silent partner in this pairing, providing consistent, unhindered processing power that allows the GPU's strengths and weaknesses to be the sole determinants of the gaming experience.