Hard West

# Hard West with Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + Intel Arc B570

Hard West is a turn-based tactics title from 2015, and the measured frame rates for this Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with an Intel Arc B570 reveal a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and settings. The data shows a system that delivers playable results at 1080p but struggles significantly at 4K, particularly as graphical fidelity increases. The Arc B570, based on the Xe2-HPG Battlemage architecture, appears to be the primary constraint in this pairing, with the Core Ultra 5 235's 14 cores and 14 threads providing ample headroom for a genre that typically favors single-threaded responsiveness over raw multi-core throughput.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K tells a compelling story about where the bottleneck lies in this configuration. At 1080p with High settings, the combo achieves 84 FPS, which drops to 53 FPS at 1440p and further to 28 FPS at 4K. That represents a 37% reduction when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 67% reduction from 1080p all the way to 4K. The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets, suggesting a GPU-bound scenario where the Arc B570's 10 GB of GDDR6 memory and 160-bit bus width become increasingly taxed as pixel count rises.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling is even more dramatic in absolute terms: 134 FPS at 1080p, 85 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is barely half of the 1080p result, which indicates that even at the lowest graphical settings, the Arc B570 cannot maintain acceptable frame rates at 4K. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern with 110 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with 63 FPS at 1080p, 40 FPS at 1440p, and just 21 FPS at 4K.

These numbers suggest that 4K gaming is not a realistic target for this combination in Hard West, regardless of settings. The drop from 1440p to 4K is particularly steep across all presets: High drops from 53 to 28 FPS (47% reduction), Low from 85 to 44 FPS (48% reduction), Medium from 69 to 36 FPS (48% reduction), and Ultra from 40 to 21 FPS (48% reduction). This consistent ~48% penalty when quadrupling pixel count indicates a purely GPU-limited scenario where the Core Ultra 5 235 is not the constraining factor.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the workhorse in this pairing, and its specifications explain the performance ceiling observed in the measured data. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2500 MHz with a boost clock of 2500 MHz, which is a modest clock speed for a modern graphics card. The memory configuration is 10 GB of GDDR6 running at 2375 MHz, providing 19 Gbps effective speed across a 160-bit bus, yielding 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This bandwidth figure is adequate for 1080p and even 1440p gaming, but it becomes a limiting factor at 4K where the sheer volume of pixel data overwhelms the memory subsystem.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. The pixel rate is 200.0 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 360.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 11.52 TFLOPS. These figures place the Arc B570 in a mid-range tier, and the benchmark results confirm this positioning. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 14195 and its 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs indicate it is a capable but not top-tier graphics solution. The nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% higher), the Intel Arc A750 (0.1% lower), the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (0.4% higher), and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (0.5% lower).

In Hard West specifically, the GPU's VRAM capacity of 10 GB is likely sufficient for the game's textures and geometry, but the bandwidth limitations become apparent at 4K. The turn-based tactical genre typically features static or slowly moving camera angles, which reduces the need for extremely high frame rates, but the absolute FPS figures at 4K (21-44 FPS depending on settings) still fall below what most users would consider smooth.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal experience for this combination depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 110 FPS with a minimum of 93 FPS and a maximum of 126 FPS, which provides a smooth and consistent experience. The High preset at 1080p offers 84 FPS, which is still playable, while the Ultra preset drops to 63 FPS. For users prioritizing visual quality over frame rate, High at 1080p appears to be the sweet spot, offering a substantial improvement over Medium while maintaining a frame rate above 60 FPS.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 69 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS, which is right at the edge of acceptable smoothness. The High preset at 1440p drops to 53 FPS, which may be tolerable for a turn-based game where twitch reflexes are not required. The Low preset at 1440p achieves 85 FPS, making it the only setting that provides a comfortable frame rate cushion at this resolution. The Ultra preset at 1440p produces 40 FPS, which is likely too low for most users.

At 4K, none of the settings provide a truly smooth experience. The Low preset achieves 44 FPS, which is the highest result at this resolution, followed by Medium at 36 FPS, High at 28 FPS, and Ultra at 21 FPS. For users who insist on 4K output, Low settings are the only viable option, and even then, the frame rate is marginal. The data suggests that 1440p Medium is the best balance of visual quality and performance, while 1080p High offers the most visually impressive experience that still maintains smooth frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset provides a detailed picture of performance across all nine resolution and settings combinations. At 3840x2160, the results range from 21 FPS on Ultra to 44 FPS on Low, with High at 28 FPS and Medium at 36 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution includes minimum and maximum values of 31 FPS and 42 FPS respectively, showing a relatively narrow frame time distribution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates improve substantially: Low achieves 85 FPS, Medium 69 FPS (with min/max of 59/80 FPS), High 53 FPS, and Ultra 40 FPS. This represents a 93% improvement from 4K to 1440p at Low settings, 92% at Medium, 89% at High, and 90% at Ultra. The consistency of these improvements across settings reinforces the GPU-bound nature of the workload.

At 1920x1080, the results are the strongest: Low delivers 134 FPS, Medium 110 FPS (with min/max of 93/126 FPS), High 84 FPS, and Ultra 63 FPS. The jump from 1440p to 1080p yields improvements of 58% at Low, 59% at Medium, 58% at High, and 58% at Ultra. This remarkably consistent scaling percentage suggests that the GPU is operating at a predictable efficiency curve across resolutions.

The minimum FPS values are only provided for the Medium preset at each resolution: 93 FPS at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p, and 31 FPS at 4K. These minimums indicate that frame pacing is generally stable, with the minimum staying within a reasonable range of the average in each case.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2360 out of 2949 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the lower third of all configurations. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component performance. The CPU itself ranks in the 89th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 46062, placing it near the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (0.1% higher score), Intel Core i9-13900HX (0.1% lower score), AMD EPYC 4364P (0.2% higher score), and AMD EPYC 7303 (0.2% higher score).

The GPU, meanwhile, ranks in the 65th percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 20556. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% higher), Intel Arc A750 (0.1% lower), NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (0.4% higher), and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (0.5% lower).

The combination's rank of 2360 out of 2949 suggests that while both components are individually capable, their pairing in Hard West does not produce exceptional results. This could be due to the game's age and its optimization patterns, which may not fully utilize the Arc B570's modern architecture, or it could reflect the GPU's mid-range positioning being the limiting factor. The fact that 589 other combos rank worse indicates that there is still meaningful performance headroom in the broader ecosystem, but this specific pairing falls short of the top tier.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hard West?

A: The measured data shows 1080p delivers the highest frame rates across all settings, with Low at 134 FPS, Medium at 110 FPS, High at 84 FPS, and Ultra at 63 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (85 FPS) and Medium (69 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, while 4K results range from 21 to 44 FPS depending on settings.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Hard West?

A: The data indicates 4K is not viable for smooth gameplay. The highest 4K result is 44 FPS on Low settings, with Medium at 36 FPS, High at 28 FPS, and Ultra at 21 FPS. No 4K setting reaches the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 20556 places it within 0.5% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534), Intel Arc A750 (20582), NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480), and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20662).

Q: What is the CPU's performance ranking relative to other processors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46062. Its closest competitors are the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030), Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098), AMD EPYC 4364P (45970), and AMD EPYC 7303 (45960).

Q: Which settings preset provides the most consistent frame pacing?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values at all resolutions. At 1080p it ranges from 93 to 126 FPS, at 1440p from 59 to 80 FPS, and at 4K from 31 to 42 FPS, indicating stable frame delivery.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance in this game?

A: The consistent ~58% frame rate improvement from 1440p to 1080p across all settings, coupled with the steep ~48% drop from 1440p to 4K, indicates the Arc B570 GPU is the primary bottleneck. The Core Ultra 5 235's high percentile ranking suggests it has ample headroom for this turn-based title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 plays a supporting role in this configuration, and the data suggests it is not the limiting factor in Hard West. This processor features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The architecture is Arrow Lake-S, built on a 3 nm process node from TSMC, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache, providing 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth via dual-channel DDR5 support.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate strong performance across various workloads. In Cinebench R23, it scores 14769 in multi-core and 2085 in single-core tests. The PassMark suite shows a multithread score of 37816, a single-thread score of 4516, and a physics score of 2570. These figures place the processor in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46062. The nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 with a 0.1% higher score and the Intel Core i9-13900HX with a 0.1% lower score, indicating this is a competitive mid-range desktop processor.

In the context of Hard West, a turn-based tactics game from 2015, the CPU's single-thread performance is likely more relevant than its multi-core capabilities. The game's turn-based nature means that most processing occurs in discrete bursts, such as when calculating line-of-sight, pathfinding, or resolving combat actions, rather than in continuous real-time simulations. The Core Ultra 5 235's 5.00 GHz boost clock and strong single-core Cinebench score of 2085 suggest it can handle these calculations without becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU's 14 threads may not be fully utilized by a game from this era, but its high single-thread performance ensures that the game logic runs efficiently. The measured FPS data supports this assessment: the consistent frame rate scaling across resolutions points to GPU limitation rather than CPU limitation. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect to see frame rates plateau at lower resolutions as the GPU becomes less stressed, but instead the frame rates continue to climb from 4K to 1440p to 1080p, confirming the GPU is the primary determinant of performance.

The memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s and dual-channel DDR5 support provide adequate data throughput for the game's assets, though the 10 GB VRAM on the Arc B570 means that most texture and geometry data resides on the GPU side. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency for frequently accessed game data, which is beneficial for turn-based games that may load and unload assets between turns.

Overall, the Core Ultra 5 235 provides a solid foundation for this configuration, with enough processing power to avoid constraining the Arc B570 in Hard West. The combination's rank of 2360 out of 2949 combos reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning rather than any CPU deficiency, and users seeking higher frame rates would need to consider a more powerful graphics card rather than a faster processor.