Hard West

# Hard West: AMD Ryzen 5 4600G + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 — Benchmark Analysis

Hard West, a 2015 turn-based tactics title, presents an interesting case study in hardware scaling because its relatively modest engine demands interact with a top-tier GPU and a mid-range APU in unexpected ways. The measured data for this combination — an AMD Ryzen 5 4600G paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 — reveals a system that is heavily influenced by the CPU's Zen 2 architecture and the GPU's massive Blackwell 2.0 compute resources. At 1080p, the combo achieves 186.7 FPS on Low settings, but this drops to 61.8 FPS at 4K Ultra, a 67% reduction that suggests the GPU is being increasingly taxed as resolution climbs. This analysis interprets these numbers to understand where the bottleneck lies and what the experience means for players.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K is telling. At 1080p Low, the system delivers 186.7 FPS, but at 1440p Low it falls to 164.1 FPS, and at 4K Low it reaches 124 FPS. This 33.6% drop from 1080p to 4K on Low settings indicates that even at the lowest visual quality, the GPU is still doing substantial work. The RTX 5090, with its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, is not the limiting factor here — the data suggests the CPU is the constraining element at lower resolutions. The Ryzen 5 4600G's 8 MB of shared L3 cache and 6 cores/12 threads at a 4.20 GHz boost clock are modest compared to modern CPUs, and the benchmark scores reflect this: its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 13593 and single-core score of 1919 place it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, but its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i3-13100F, which has a slightly higher average score.

At 1440p High, the combo hits 133.7 FPS, while 4K High drops to 78.6 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings (a 41.2% reduction) is steeper than the Low-settings drop (24.4%), indicating that the GPU's rendering load is becoming more significant as resolution increases. This pattern continues at Ultra: 146 FPS at 1080p, 113.7 FPS at 1440p, and 61.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra figure is the only result below 100 FPS in the entire dataset, suggesting that Hard West's effects, shadows, and post-processing at Ultra are computationally expensive on the RTX 5090's 21,760 shading units. The data implies that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU is holding back the GPU, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, especially on higher presets.

FAQ

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 4600G compare to its nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 4600G has an average benchmark score of 17489, which is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE (17482, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-12450H (17475, 0.1% delta). The Intel Core i3-14100T and Core i3-13100F score slightly higher at 17636 and 17665, respectively, putting the 4600G at a 0.8% and 1% deficit.

Q: What is the RTX 5090's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 5090 sits in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84306. Its nearest rival is the RTX 5090 D (84241, 0.1% delta), while the RTX 5050 Mobile is only 0.2% behind, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails by 1.3%.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo achieve its highest FPS?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 186.7 at 1080p with Low settings. The next-best is 178 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 164.1 FPS at 1440p Low. The lowest is 61.8 FPS at 4K Ultra.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in this game?

A: The combo is ranked 282 out of 1699 tested combinations, placing it in the top 16.6% of all combos for Hard West. This rank reflects the strong GPU performance counterbalanced by the CPU's mid-range positioning.

Q: What is the CPU's single-threaded performance relative to its multicore?

A: The Ryzen 5 4600G scores 1919 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 13593 in multicore, a ratio of about 1:7.1. Its 3DMark single-thread score is 726, while the max-thread score is 4889, showing that the CPU scales well with threads but has limited single-core headroom.

Q: Does the GPU's memory bandwidth matter for this game's results?

A: The RTX 5090's 1.79 TB/s bandwidth and 32 GB VRAM are far beyond what Hard West requires, as evidenced by the fact that 4K Ultra still achieves 61.8 FPS. The bandwidth is not a bottleneck; the data indicates that the GPU's compute throughput at 21760 shading units is the relevant factor at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 282 out of 1699 tested combos in Hard West, a position that places it in the 83rd percentile of all systems evaluated. This is a strong showing, but the data suggests the CPU is limiting the overall potential. The RTX 5090 alone is in the 94th percentile of GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 4600G is in the 75th percentile of CPUs. The gap between these two percentiles — 19 points — indicates that the processor is the weaker link in this pairing. In a turn-based tactics game like Hard West, where frame pacing and logic updates matter, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient but not exceptional; the 3DMark 16-thread score of 4863 and passmark multithread score of 15992 confirm this. The combo's rank of 282 suggests that many other systems with more balanced CPU-GPU pairings achieve better results, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU bottleneck is more pronounced. At 4K Ultra, however, the rank would likely improve relative to less capable GPUs, since the RTX 5090's raw power becomes the deciding factor.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for the best experience. At 1080p, Medium settings deliver 178 FPS, which is only 4.7% lower than Low (186.7 FPS) but likely offers significantly better visual quality. High at 1080p drops to 157.2 FPS, still well above 144 Hz, while Ultra at 146 FPS remains playable. For 1440p, Medium (150.1 FPS) is the sweet spot — it is 8.5% faster than High (133.7 FPS) and 24.3% faster than Ultra (113.7 FPS), with minimal visual compromise expected. At 4K, the choice is more constrained: Medium (104 FPS) provides a smooth 60+ experience, while High (78.6 FPS) is acceptable for slower-paced tactical gameplay. Ultra at 61.8 FPS is technically playable but sits near the 60 FPS threshold, making it risky for systems with variable refresh rates. The recommendation is to use Medium at 1080p and 1440p for the best balance of speed and quality, and High at 4K if visual fidelity is paramount — the 78.6 FPS figure still offers headroom above 60 FPS. Low settings are only advisable for competitive play, but given the genre, they offer no advantage.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full dataset reveals a consistent pattern across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the FPS ranges from 146 (Ultra) to 186.7 (Low), with Medium at 178 and High at 157.2. The spread of 40.7 FPS between Low and Ultra indicates that the settings presets have a moderate impact on performance — the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as the RTX 5090 would typically show a wider gap on a more demanding title. At 1440p, the range is 113.7 (Ultra) to 164.1 (Low), a 50.4 FPS spread, showing that the GPU begins to take on more load as pixel count increases. Medium here is 150.1 FPS, and High is 133.7 FPS. At 4K, the spread widens dramatically: Low hits 124 FPS, Medium reaches 104 FPS, High drops to 78.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 61.8 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 62.2 FPS, more than double the 1080p spread. This scaling behavior — where the delta between presets grows with resolution — is a classic sign of a GPU-limited scenario at 4K. The data shows that the RTX 5090's performance scales roughly linearly with the number of pixels rendered, while the CPU's contribution becomes less significant at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G is a 7 nm Zen 2 part with 6 cores and 12 threads, boosting to 4.20 GHz from a 3.70 GHz base. Its 8 MB of shared L3 cache is modest for a 2020 processor, and the memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s (dual-channel DDR4) is a far cry from the GPU's 1.79 TB/s. In Hard West, a turn-based tactics game that relies on AI pathfinding and game logic, the CPU's single-thread performance is crucial. The 3DMark single-thread score of 726 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1919 place it below many modern processors; its nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-14100T, has a higher average benchmark score despite having fewer cores. The passmark single-thread score of 2653 confirms this limitation. However, the CPU's multicore capabilities are adequate: the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 13593 and 3DMark max-thread score of 4889 indicate that the processor can handle the game's threading. The fact that 1080p Low (186.7 FPS) is only 13.6% higher than 1080p Ultra (146 FPS) suggests that the CPU is not fully saturated at any settings level — the GPU is still doing most of the work. Yet, the CPU's 75th percentile ranking means it is not the primary strength of this combo.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a 5 nm Blackwell 2.0 monster with 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. Its boost clock of 2407 MHz and 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provide 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Hard West's textures. The GPU's FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS is the dominant factor in the measured FPS, especially at 4K. The data shows that the RTX 5090's performance scales predictably with settings: at 4K, Low (124 FPS) is 1.58x faster than Ultra (61.8 FPS), a ratio that aligns with the GPU's compute load increasing with visual complexity. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 14411 and passmark G3D score of 39650 place the GPU in the 94th percentile, and its nearest rivals are all within 1.6% in average score. The GPU's 176 ROPs handle pixel fill at 423.6 GPixel/s, which is why 4K Ultra still achieves 61.8 FPS — the pixel rate is high enough to avoid a fill-rate bottleneck. The RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate mean that the GPU is never the constraint at 1080p or 1440p; the CPU's logic processing is the limiter. But at 4K, the GPU's shading workload becomes the primary driver of performance, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops when moving from Medium to High to Ultra.