Hard West

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Hard West with the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 shows a clear progression of frame rates across the four preset levels. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 160.4 FPS, while Medium reaches 148.7 FPS, High hits 122 FPS, and Ultra drops to 92.6 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is roughly 26.7 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra costs another 29.4 FPS. For players prioritizing smoothness on a standard 1080p display, the Medium preset offers the best balance: it remains above 144 FPS while providing a meaningful visual uplift over Low.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low averages 121.5 FPS, Medium 100 FPS, High 77.8 FPS, and Ultra 61.9 FPS. The Medium preset still clears 100 FPS, which suits high-refresh 1440p monitors. High remains playable at nearly 78 FPS, but Ultra dips below the 60 FPS threshold only narrowly. For 1440p, Medium is the recommended preset because it maintains triple-digit performance while reserving headroom for scenes with heavier loads.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. Low averages 66.2 FPS, Medium 52.2 FPS, High 39.4 FPS, and Ultra just 30.3 FPS. Only Low provides a consistently smooth experience at 4K. Medium dips below 60 FPS, and High/Ultra fall well short of that mark. Players targeting 4K should use Low; those who insist on higher visual fidelity may accept Medium but should expect occasional slowdowns. Across all resolutions, the data indicates that this combo performs best when settings are kept at Medium or below for higher resolutions, with Low being the only fully fluid option at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 carries 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 2280 MHz with a boost clock of 2497 MHz, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The GPU is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. These specifications position the card in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs according to the database.

In Hard West, the GPU's role is evident from the scaling across resolutions. At 1920x1080, even Ultra stays above 90 FPS, indicating that the card has ample compute headroom for this turn-based tactics title. Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops by roughly 25-35% across all presets, which aligns with the increased pixel count. The 4K results show the steepest decline: High falls to 39.4 FPS and Ultra to 30.3 FPS. This suggests that at 4K, the RTX 5060's 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit memory interface become limiting factors, particularly at higher settings where texture and shading demands grow.

The GPU's benchmark scores corroborate its mid-range positioning. Its passmark G3D score is 20891, with a passmark G2D score of 1154. In DirectX 11 it scores 200, while DirectX 12 yields 77. These numbers, combined with the measured FPS, indicate that Hard West is more dependent on raw rasterization than on advanced features. The RTX 5060's nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT with a deltaPct of 0, the AMD Radeon RX 570 at -0.2, the NVIDIA Tesla M60 at 0.5, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile at 0.6. The close deltas suggest that the RTX 5060 performs within a tight band of GPUs, and the game's results reflect that parity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, based on the Zen+ architecture. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz with a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, and it features 16 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU has a TDP of 65 W and supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel mode with a bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 11186 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1579 in single-core, with a passmark multithread score of 13160.

For Hard West, a turn-based tactics game, the CPU's workload is typically lighter than in real-time genres. The measured frame rates suggest that the Ryzen 5 2600 does not bottleneck the RTX 5060 at 1080p, where even Ultra achieves 92.6 FPS. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, so the CPU's influence diminishes further. However, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads provide adequate headroom for game logic and AI calculations inherent to the genre.

The Ryzen 5 2600's nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core i5-1345U with a deltaPct of -0.4, the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U at 0.6, the Intel Core i5-11600KF at -0.6, and the Intel Core i7-10700F at 0.7. These deltas are all within 1%, indicating that the CPU's processing power is competitive with those parts. In the context of Hard West, the data shows that the CPU alone does not limit frame delivery; the combination's performance is governed by the GPU and the chosen settings, particularly at 1440p and 4K where the CPU has ample time to prepare frames.

How This Combo Ranks

The database ranks this specific combo — AMD Ryzen 5 2600 with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 — at position 978 out of 1699 tested combinations for Hard West. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the ranking table. While the GPU sits in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs, the CPU is in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, yet the combo's rank suggests that many other pairings deliver higher frame rates in this title.

The rank of 978 out of 1699 means that roughly 58% of tested combos perform better in Hard West. This is not surprising given that the Ryzen 5 2600 is an older 2000-series part, and the RTX 5060, while capable, is paired with a CPU that may hold back performance in CPU-light scenes. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p Ultra, the combo reaches 92.6 FPS, which is respectable but not exceptional for a modern GPU. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 61.9 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 30.3 FPS.

Comparatively, the nearest rival combos in the database involve GPUs like the RX 7700 XT and RTX 5070 Mobile, which have nearly identical average scores (deltaPct of 0 and 0.6). This implies that swapping the CPU or GPU within a similar tier would yield marginal differences. The combo's rank indicates that for Hard West, the experience is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but it is not a top-tier configuration for this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1920x1080 with this combo?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 delivers an average of 148.7 FPS, which is close to the Low preset's 160.4 FPS but with better visual quality. High drops to 122 FPS and Ultra to 92.6 FPS, so Medium offers the best combination of smoothness and fidelity.

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

A: At 3840x2160, only the Low preset produces a fluid experience at 66.2 FPS. Medium averages 52.2 FPS, High 39.4 FPS, and Ultra 30.3 FPS. Players can use Low for 4K, but higher settings will result in noticeable stutter.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at higher resolutions?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600's impact diminishes as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU and GPU work together to reach 160.4 FPS on Low. At 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, as evidenced by the steep FPS drop across all settings, so the CPU has less influence on the final frame rate.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 978 out of 1699 tested combinations for Hard West. This places it below the median, indicating that while it is playable, many other CPU-GPU pairings achieve higher frame rates.

Q: Does the RTX 5060's memory bandwidth matter for this game?

A: The RTX 5060 has 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth and 8 GB of GDDR7. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate falls to 30.3 FPS, which suggests that the memory subsystem, combined with the pixel load, limits performance at the highest settings.

Q: Are there any settings where the frame rate exceeds 120 FPS?

A: Yes. At 1920x1080, Low averages 160.4 FPS, Medium 148.7 FPS, and High 122 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low achieves 121.5 FPS. All other combinations fall below 120 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured data shows a full range of performance. The Low preset averages 160.4 FPS, which is the highest score for this combo in any configuration. Medium follows at 148.7 FPS, High at 122 FPS, and Ultra at 92.6 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 42.3% reduction in frame rate, with the largest single drop occurring between High and Ultra at 29.4 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 121.5 FPS for Low, 100 FPS for Medium, 77.8 FPS for High, and 61.9 FPS for Ultra. The transition from Low to Medium costs 21.5 FPS, while Medium to High costs 22.2 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 15.9 FPS. This resolution shows a more even decline across presets compared to 1080p, where the Ultra drop is steeper.

At 3840x2160, the results are 66.2 FPS for Low, 52.2 FPS for Medium, 39.4 FPS for High, and 30.3 FPS for Ultra. The delta between Low and Medium is 14 FPS, between Medium and High is 12.8 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 9.1 FPS. This tightening of the gaps indicates that at 4K, each preset increment adds a smaller absolute penalty as the GPU approaches its bandwidth limit.

The data shows that resolution scaling is consistent: moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces frame rates by roughly 24-33% depending on the preset, while moving from 1440p to 4K reduces them by another 45-51%. Across all resolutions, the Low preset provides the highest frame rates, and Ultra provides the lowest. The combo's performance is best described as smooth at 1080p for all presets, playable at 1440p up to High, and only viable at 4K with Low settings.