Hard West

# Hard West: Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus + Intel Arc B370 — Benchmark Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the Intel Arc B370 integrated GPU delivers a fundamentally GPU-bound experience in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. Across all tested resolutions and settings, the data shows that frame rates are constrained by the Arc B370's modest graphics throughput rather than the 24-core CPU, which sits in the 96th percentile of all tested processors. The practical takeaway is that this combo can produce playable results at 1080p with optimized settings, but the experience degrades rapidly as resolution increases, with 4K Ultra proving effectively unplayable at 12 FPS average.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and consistent across every settings tier, confirming that the integrated Arc B370 is the sole limiting factor in this configuration. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 79 FPS at 1920x1080 to 50 FPS at 2560x1440 — a 36.7% reduction — and then to 26 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a cumulative 67.1% loss from the 1080p baseline. This pattern of roughly halving performance at each resolution step is characteristic of a GPU that is saturated even at the lowest quality preset.

The Medium preset tells a similar story, with averages of 64, 41, and 21 FPS at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively. The drop from 1080p to 1440p here is 35.9%, and the subsequent drop to 4K is 48.8%. Interestingly, the scaling between Medium and High settings is nearly identical in percentage terms — High delivers 49, 31, and 16 FPS across the same resolution ladder, with a 36.7% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 48.4% drop from 1440p to 4K.

Ultra settings amplify the problem dramatically. The 37 FPS average at 1080p drops to 23 FPS at 1440p (a 37.8% reduction) and bottoms out at 12 FPS at 4K, a 67.6% decrease from the 1080p figure. These numbers indicate that Hard West's resolution scaling is purely a function of pixel count and fill rate — the Arc B370's 20 ROPs and 48.00 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply overwhelmed at higher resolutions, regardless of the preset chosen.

What this says about the limiting component is unambiguous: the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is never the bottleneck. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is working least, the CPU's 24 threads and 36 MB of shared L3 cache are more than sufficient for a turn-based tactics game. The benchmark results show no scenario where CPU performance would constrain output — the 44253 Cinebench R23 multicore score and 2439 single-core score place this processor far above what Hard West requires.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience balances playability against visual fidelity at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest measured average at 79 FPS, which is smooth and responsive. However, Medium at 64 FPS is a better overall choice for most users — it provides a 23.4% improvement in visual quality over Low while maintaining an average that is 30.6% faster than High's 49 FPS. The Medium preset also has the only complete min/max data in the entire dataset, showing a range of 55 to 74 FPS, which indicates consistent frame pacing without major hitches.

For 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts to Low as the primary playable option. The 50 FPS average at Low is borderline acceptable for a turn-based game, while Medium drops to 41 FPS and High falls to 31 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at this resolution is 18.0% in the GPU's favor, but the jump to High costs another 24.4% in average frame rate. Users who prioritize smoothness should stick with Low; those who want better shadows and textures can accept Medium's 41 FPS, but High and Ultra (23 FPS) are difficult to justify.

At 3840x2160, the data suggests that no preset offers a truly comfortable experience. Low averages 26 FPS, Medium 21 FPS, High 16 FPS, and Ultra 12 FPS. For a turn-based tactics game, where precise mouse movement matters more than twitch reflexes, Low at 26 FPS might be tolerable for patient players, but the 4K resolution is clearly beyond the Arc B370's capabilities. The 25 W TDP and System Shared memory configuration simply cannot push the pixel volumes required at this resolution.

Across all resolutions, Ultra is never recommended. The average FPS at Ultra is 37 at 1080p, 23 at 1440p, and 12 at 4K — in every case, it is more than 40% slower than the next-lower preset (High). The visual uplift from High to Ultra in a 2015 turn-based title is unlikely to justify the performance penalty, and the measured data supports choosing High over Ultra whenever those are the only two options.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus powerful enough for Hard West?

A: Yes, decisively. The CPU sits in the 96th percentile of all tested processors with an average benchmark score of 93785. Its 24 cores and 24 threads, combined with a 5.50 GHz boost clock, far exceed the requirements of this turn-based tactics game. The FPS data shows no CPU-related bottlenecks at any resolution or settings combination.

Q: Why does performance drop so much when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated GPU with System Shared memory and a 25 W TDP, placing it in the 5th percentile of all tested GPUs. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 is comparable to legacy parts like the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, deltaPct -0.5%). The GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are insufficient for 4K pixel counts, causing average FPS to fall by roughly two-thirds from 1080p to 4K at most settings.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gameplay?

A: Medium provides the best balance, with a 64 FPS average and a measured range of 55 to 74 FPS. It is 23.4% faster than High (49 FPS) while offering better visual quality than Low (79 FPS). The complete min/max data for Medium suggests stable frame delivery without severe dips.

Q: Can this combo run Hard West at 4K?

A: Technically yes, but the experience is poor. The highest average at 3840x2160 is 26 FPS on Low, falling to 12 FPS on Ultra. Even with reduced settings, the frame rates are below what most users would consider acceptable, and the lack of min/max data for most 4K presets suggests inconsistent performance.

Q: How does the Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B370's average benchmark score of 1184 is nearly identical to the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, deltaPct -0.2%) and ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, deltaPct -0.5%). It is slightly ahead of the AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, deltaPct 1.4%). This places it in the performance class of mid-range GPUs from over a decade ago.

Q: Does the CPU's integrated graphics affect the GPU's performance?

A: No, the Arc B370 is a separate component in this configuration. The CPU has its own integrated graphics (Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU), but the measured FPS data comes from the discrete Arc B370. The CPU's 115.2 GB/s dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth is shared with the GPU, which uses System Shared memory, potentially limiting performance.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 2721 out of 2949 tested combos for Hard West, placing it in the bottom 7.7% of all system pairings evaluated for this game. The ranking reflects the fundamental imbalance between a top-tier CPU and a bottom-tier GPU — the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, while the Intel Arc B370 languishes in the 5th percentile of all GPUs.

The combo rank of 2721 is driven almost entirely by the GPU's limitations. In a turn-based tactics game like Hard West, where the CPU handles game logic, pathfinding, and AI but the GPU renders the isometric scenes, the Arc B370's 6.144 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 96.00 GTexel/s texture rate are the constraining factors. The CPU's nearest rivals — the Intel Xeon 6520P (deltaPct 0%), AMD EPYC 4564P (deltaPct -1.5%), AMD EPYC 9175F (deltaPct -1.9%), and AMD EPYC 4565P (deltaPct -2.1%) — are all server-class processors that would perform identically in this game because the GPU is the bottleneck.

The ranking also reflects that most tested combos likely include dedicated graphics cards rather than integrated or low-power solutions. The Arc B370's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 is in the same range as GPUs from 2010-2012, and Hard West's 2015 release date means it was designed for hardware of that era. Modern integrated graphics, even with the Xe3-LPG architecture, struggle to match the fill rate requirements of 1080p gaming at high settings in this title.

Users considering this combo for Hard West should understand that the CPU is massively overqualified for the task. The 93785 average benchmark score and 96th percentile ranking are irrelevant to actual game performance here — the 2721st rank out of 2949 combos tells the real story. Upgrading the GPU would transform this system's ranking, while upgrading the CPU would yield zero measurable improvement in this game.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the clear performance limiter in this configuration, and its specifications explain why. The GPU features 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs, with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz. This yields a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 6.144 TFLOPS. These are modest figures for modern gaming, and they are compounded by the fact that the GPU uses System Shared memory with System Dependent bandwidth.

The memory configuration is particularly problematic for Hard West at high resolutions. With System Shared memory, the GPU must compete with the CPU for the same DDR5 memory bandwidth (115.2 GB/s on this platform). At 4K, the texture and geometry data required per frame exceeds what the shared memory interface can efficiently deliver, contributing to the severe frame rate drops observed. The 12.29 TFLOPS FP16 performance (2:1 ratio) offers no benefit for this game, as Hard West's rendering pipeline is unlikely to use FP16 compute.

The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 places it in the 5th percentile of all tested GPUs, with nearest rivals including the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, deltaPct -0.2%), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, deltaPct -0.5%), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, deltaPct -0.7%), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, deltaPct 1.4%). These are all legacy parts from the early 2010s, indicating that the Arc B370's raw performance is roughly equivalent to a mid-range discrete GPU from that era.

The 25 W TDP and IGP slot width confirm that this is a power-constrained integrated solution, not a performance-oriented part. With no power connectors and Portable Device Dependent display outputs, it is designed for laptops and compact systems rather than desktop gaming. The DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 API support are modern, but Hard West from 2015 likely uses DirectX 11 or older paths, meaning the GPU's advanced features are largely unused.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for this combo is as follows:

3840x2160 (4K):

• Ultra: 12 FPS average
• High: 16 FPS average
• Medium: 21 FPS average (min 18, max 25)
• Low: 26 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Ultra: 23 FPS average
• High: 31 FPS average
• Medium: 41 FPS average (min 35, max 47)
• Low: 50 FPS average

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Ultra: 37 FPS average
• High: 49 FPS average
• Medium: 64 FPS average (min 55, max 74)
• Low: 79 FPS average

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the 55-74 FPS range shows a 25.8% spread, indicating some frame time variance but no catastrophic dips. At 1440p, the 35-47 FPS range (a 25.5% spread) maintains consistency, while at 4K, the 18-25 FPS range (a 28.0% spread) shows the GPU struggling but still delivering fairly steady output.

The FPS deltas between settings at each resolution are telling. At 1080p, Low to Medium is a 19.0% drop, Medium to High is a 23.4% drop, and High to Ultra is a 24.5% drop. At 1440p, the corresponding drops are 18.0%, 24.4%, and 25.8%. At 4K, they are 19.2%, 23.8%, and 25.0%. This consistent ~19% penalty for Low to Medium, ~24% for Medium to High, and ~25% for High to Ultra across all resolutions suggests the GPU's performance scaling is resolution-independent — it is purely a function of the settings' pixel and shader workload increases.

The resolution deltas at each settings tier are equally consistent. Going from 1080p to 1440p costs approximately 37% of performance at every settings level (36.7% at Low, 35.9% at Medium, 36.7% at High, 37.8% at Ultra). Going from 1440p to 4K costs approximately 48% (48.0% at Low, 48.8% at Medium, 48.4% at High, 47.8% at Ultra). These uniform scaling factors confirm that the Arc B370 is operating in a purely fill-rate-limited regime, with no CPU or memory bandwidth surprises at any configuration.

For practical purposes, the only configurations that achieve 60+ FPS are 1080p Low (79 FPS) and 1080p Medium (64 FPS). The 1080p High preset at 49 FPS is playable for a turn-based game, and 1440p Low at 50 FPS is borderline acceptable. Everything else falls below 45 FPS, with 4K never exceeding 26 FPS. The data strongly suggests that users should cap their expectations at 1080p Medium for the best balance of visual quality and smoothness, or accept lower settings if they must use higher resolutions.