Hard West

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the Intel Arc B580 delivers a performance profile in Hard West that is heavily dependent on the graphics settings selected, with resolution playing a secondary but still significant role. The data indicates a system that can handle the game comfortably at mainstream resolutions but begins to struggle when pushed to the highest visual fidelity at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

Analyzing the measured frame rates across the three tested resolutions reveals a clear pattern of performance scaling. At the High settings preset, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 results in a drop from 94.8 FPS to 60.8 FPS, a substantial decrease of 34 frames. The further step to 3840x2160 brings the average down to 28.5 FPS, which is less than a third of the 1080p performance.

The scaling is even more pronounced when examining the Low settings preset. The system achieves 152.5 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 92.4 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 51.4 FPS at 4K. This pattern indicates that while the CPU has ample headroom at lower resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor as the pixel count increases. The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is a 101.1 FPS reduction, showing that the Arc B580 is being pushed to its limits by the sheer number of pixels at 4K.

At Medium settings, the same trend holds. The 122.4 FPS at 1080p falls to 77.7 FPS at 1440p, and then to 43.1 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, shows the most significant degradation: 70.2 FPS at 1080p, 47.6 FPS at 1440p, and a nearly unplayable 24.5 FPS at 4K. This data suggests that the game’s engine scales linearly with resolution, and the B580’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are fully saturated at 4K, especially with higher fidelity settings.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture and features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s. The GPU operates at a boost clock of 2670 MHz, which is also its base clock, indicating a fixed clock speed under load. With 2560 shading units and 80 ROPs, the card can output at a theoretical pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s.

In the context of Hard West, a turn-based tactics game from 2015, these specifications are more than adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming. The 12 GB VRAM is unlikely to be a limiting factor at these resolutions. However, the data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K. The difference between Low (51.4 FPS) and High (28.5 FPS) settings at 4K is 22.9 FPS, which is a significant performance cost for the visual improvements.

The GPU’s performance percentile of 66 against all GPUs places it in the upper third of the market. Its average benchmark score of 23021 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, which scores 23181, a delta of -0.7%. This suggests that in raw compute terms, the B580 is a direct competitor to that card. The data indicates that while the card can handle Hard West at high frame rates, the gap between Medium and High settings at 1440p (77.7 FPS vs 60.8 FPS) highlights the need to balance visual quality against the GPU’s rendering workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory and has 18 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518 and a single-core score of 2332.

In a game like Hard West, which is turn-based and likely not heavily multi-threaded, the single-thread performance is often more critical. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 909 and Passmark single-thread score of 3481 indicate solid single-core capability. The performance data from the game suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution. At 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches 152.5 FPS, which is likely near the game’s engine limit. The CPU’s percentile of 77 against all CPUs places it well above average.

The nearest rivals for this CPU include the Intel Core i7-8700K with a delta of 0.1% and the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS with a delta of -0.7%. This indicates that the i5-12400F performs equivalently to these older or mobile parts, providing a strong foundation for the Arc B580. The fact that frame rates scale down as resolution increases, while remaining high at 1080p, confirms that the CPU is feeding the GPU sufficiently and is not the cause of the frame rate drops seen at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and the Intel Arc B580 achieves a rank of 1333 out of 1699 tested combos for Hard West. This places the pairing in the bottom half of the database, which is surprising given the individual component benchmarks. The rank suggests that while each part is competent, the combination is not optimized for this specific title, or that other combos in the database are significantly more powerful.

This ranking should be interpreted with the understanding that the database includes a wide range of hardware, from entry-level to enthusiast. A rank of 1333 out of 1699 means that approximately 78% of the tested combinations deliver higher average frame rates. However, the measured data shows that this combo still provides playable performance at 1080p and 1440p on most settings, indicating that the ranking is relative to more powerful systems rather than a reflection of an unplayable experience.

The GPU’s nearest rival, the RTX 4060, has a delta of -0.7%, meaning the B580 is slightly slower on average. Yet, the B580’s 12 GB of VRAM could be an advantage in other scenarios. The combo’s rank suggests that users with this pairing should focus on settings optimization to improve the experience, as the hardware is capable of respectable performance in the right conditions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for a smooth experience depend on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 94.8 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 70.2 FPS is also playable and offers the best visual quality. For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the High preset at 1080p is recommended, as it provides a significant frame rate cushion.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves 60.8 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset offers a more comfortable margin at 77.7 FPS, making it the recommended choice for a consistent experience. The Ultra preset at 47.6 FPS may be acceptable for some, but the drop below 60 FPS suggests that the High preset is the safer option.

For 3840x2160, the data shows that High (28.5 FPS) and Ultra (24.5 FPS) are not playable. The Low preset at 51.4 FPS is the only option that approaches a playable frame rate, though it is still below 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 43.1 FPS is a compromise. Therefore, for 4K, the Low preset is the recommended setting to maintain a reasonable frame rate, acknowledging that the experience will not be as smooth as at lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data presents the exact average FPS values for each tested configuration.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 70.2 FPS. Reducing the settings to High increases the average to 94.8 FPS. The Medium preset yields 122.4 FPS, and the Low preset delivers the highest average at 152.5 FPS. The difference between the lowest and highest settings is 82.3 FPS, showing a wide performance range.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 47.6 FPS. The High preset improves this to 60.8 FPS. The Medium preset delivers 77.7 FPS, and the Low preset reaches 92.4 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across all settings, averaging a decrease of roughly 35-40 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 24.5 FPS, which is the lowest measured value. The High preset increases this to 28.5 FPS. The Medium preset reaches 43.1 FPS, and the Low preset is the only setting to exceed 50 FPS, with an average of 51.4 FPS. The performance cliff between 1440p and 4K is steep, with the High preset dropping from 60.8 FPS to 28.5 FPS, a reduction of 32.3 FPS, highlighting the GPU’s limitation at this resolution.