Hard West

Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015, presents an interesting case study for the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination. The measured data reveals a configuration that is capable of delivering smooth gameplay across most settings, but with clear performance ceilings at higher resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured frame rates, compares the combo against other tested configurations, and examines the roles of the CPU and GPU in shaping the experience.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combo in Hard West depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 90 FPS, which is excellent for a turn-based strategy game. However, the Medium preset pushes the average to 117 FPS with a minimum of 99 FPS, providing a substantial performance buffer that ensures fluidity even in complex scenes. The Low preset at 143 FPS is excessive for this genre, and the visual sacrifice is not warranted when Medium offers such high performance.

At 2560x1440, the High preset maintains a solid 57 FPS average, which is perfectly playable for turn-based tactics. The Medium preset jumps to 74 FPS (with a minimum of 63 FPS), making it the sweet spot for a high-refresh-rate monitor. While Low at 90 FPS is smoother, the jump from High to Medium is less significant here, and the visual fidelity of High is often beneficial for seeing enemy positions and environmental details. The Ultra preset, at 43 FPS, is playable but risks feeling sluggish.

For 3840x2160 (4K), the situation changes dramatically. The Low preset is the only playable option, yielding an average of 47 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 FPS, which is borderline. The High preset at 30 FPS and Ultra at 22 FPS are not recommended for a comfortable experience. The data suggests that for the best balance of visual quality and performance, Medium is the ideal preset at both 1080p and 1440p, while Low is the only viable choice for 4K on this hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the RTX 2060 and Ryzen 5 4600G have ample headroom. The Low preset achieves an average of 143 FPS. Moving to Medium results in 117 FPS average, with a minimum of 99 FPS and a maximum of 135 FPS. The High preset delivers 90 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 67 FPS. This shows a 53% performance difference between Low and Ultra, indicating that Hard West's higher presets have a significant impact on the GPU load.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected. The Low preset averages 90 FPS, which is a 37% drop from the 1080p Low figure. Medium averages 74 FPS (min 63, max 85), High averages 57 FPS, and Ultra averages 43 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 52%, consistent with the 1080p scaling. The minimum FPS on Medium (63 FPS) is still comfortably above 60, suggesting that this setting provides a stable experience.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. The Low preset averages 47 FPS, which is a 67% reduction from the 1080p Low result. Medium averages 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 FPS, indicating that frame pacing can become an issue. High drops to 30 FPS, and Ultra falls to 22 FPS. The data shows a 47% difference between Low and Ultra at 4K, which is smaller than at lower resolutions, suggesting that the GPU is so heavily loaded that even the Low preset is straining its limits.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks at 2950 out of 3722 tested combos in Hard West. This places it in the 21st percentile of all tested configurations, indicating that while it is not a top-tier performer, it is also not near the bottom. The CPU itself holds a 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs, while the GPU sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs. This discrepancy suggests that the CPU is relatively stronger than the GPU in this pairing, which is reflected in the frame rates being more heavily influenced by resolution changes.

The GPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta), AMD Radeon 680M (0.1% delta), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (0.6% delta). This indicates that the RTX 2060 sits in a performance class alongside significantly older and newer integrated solutions, which is an unusual position. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE (0.1% delta), Intel Core 7 150U (0.6% delta), and Intel Core i3-14100T (-0.8% delta), showing it is competitive with modern low-power and mobile chips.

This ranking data implies that the combo is balanced for 1080p gaming, but its position in the 21st percentile means that a majority of tested systems can handle Hard West at higher settings or resolutions. The 4K results, where even Low settings only reach 47 FPS, are a direct consequence of the GPU's mid-range standing.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and reveals the limiting component. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 143 at 1080p to 90 at 1440p (a 37% drop) and then to 47 at 4K (a 67% drop from 1080p). This scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering resolution directly impacts the fill rate and pixel processing demands.

At Medium settings, the drop is from 117 FPS at 1080p to 74 FPS at 1440p (a 37% drop) and then to 39 FPS at 4K (a 67% drop). The consistency of these percentages across settings is a strong indicator that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the bottleneck. The Ryzen 5 4600G, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is clearly capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p, as evidenced by the 143 FPS result on Low settings.

The fact that the 4K results are so low, even on Low settings, suggests that the 6 GB of VRAM and the GPU's raw compute power are insufficient for the pixel count. The data implies that for this game, the RTX 2060 is the limiting factor, and that upgrades to the CPU would not yield significant FPS gains at 1440p or 4K. The scaling pattern points to a classic GPU-bound scenario where resolution is the primary variable.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, with its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, provides a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz. The benchmark results show a passmark G3D score of 14111, which places it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. The data indicates that this GPU is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Hard West, but struggles at 4K.

The GPU's memory configuration is particularly relevant. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor for a 2015 turn-based tactics game, as the textures and geometry are not overly demanding. However, the memory bandwidth becomes critical at 4K, where the GPU must access more data per frame. The 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for lower resolutions, but the 47 FPS average on Low at 4K suggests that the GPU's compute units (1920 shading units) are the primary constraint.

The RTX 2060's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon 680M, is an integrated GPU, which highlights the RTX 2060's age. The 0.1% delta between them in average benchmark score is surprising, but the discrete RTX 2060 still has the advantage of dedicated VRAM and higher sustained clocks. In Hard West, the measured results show that the GPU's performance is directly tied to the settings preset, with Ultra being only 56% of the Low preset's FPS at 1080p (67 FPS vs 143 FPS), indicating a heavy reliance on shader complexity.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 is the best resolution, with the High preset averaging 90 FPS and Medium averaging 117 FPS. At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 57 FPS, which is still playable, but 3840x2160 only reaches 47 FPS on Low settings.

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

A: The data indicates that 4K is only viable on the Low preset, which averages 47 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 FPS, which is inconsistent. High and Ultra at 4K are not recommended due to 30 FPS and 22 FPS averages.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its closest rivals?

A: The RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 15290 is nearly identical to the GeForce GTX 580 (15283, 0% delta) and the AMD Radeon 680M (15270, 0.1% delta). It is slightly ahead of the RTX 3050 OEM (15199, 0.6% delta).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. The FPS drops by 67% from 1080p to 4K on Low settings, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking is higher than the GPU's 58th percentile.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking for this game?

A: This specific combo ranks 2950 out of 3722 tested configurations in Hard West, placing it in the 21st percentile. This indicates it performs better than 21% of tested systems but is outclassed by the majority.

Q: What are the frame times like on Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440 on Medium, the measured average FPS is 74, with a minimum of 63 FPS and a maximum of 85 FPS. The minimum of 63 FPS suggests good frame pacing, keeping it above the 60 FPS threshold.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, running at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. Its benchmark scores show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 13593 and a single-core score of 1919. The 3DMark multi-threaded scores range from 4863 (16 threads) to 4889 (max threads), while the single-thread score is 726. This data places the CPU in the 71st percentile of all CPUs.

In Hard West, a turn-based tactics game, the CPU's role is less demanding than in real-time strategy or action titles. The game's logic is primarily event-driven, and the 12 threads provide ample parallel processing power for AI calculations and game state updates. The high single-thread performance (Geekbench single-core score of 1460) ensures that the main game loop is not bottlenecked.

The measured FPS data suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 143 FPS, which is a high frame rate that many CPUs would struggle to maintain. The fact that the FPS drops dramatically at 4K, while the CPU load likely remains similar, confirms that the GPU is the primary constraint. The CPU's 8 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support are sufficient for the game's data access patterns. The combo's ranking of 2950 out of 3722, when the CPU alone ranks in the 71st percentile, further suggests that the GPU is holding back the overall performance in this specific title.