Hard West

Hard West is a turn-based tactics game from 2015, and this pairing of an AMD Ryzen 5 5500 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a study in extremes. The CPU is a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 3 part, while the GPU is a massive Ada Lovelace card with 16 GB of VRAM. The measured frame rates show that this combination is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at high resolutions, but the low-resolution results hint at the CPU's capabilities as a bottleneck. The data indicates a smooth experience at 4K with High settings, and the benchmark results place this specific combo at rank 501 out of 3722 tested configurations.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average frame rate in the measured data is 217 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500 compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500 has an average benchmark score of 19593, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. Its closest rival is the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430, which scores 19617, a negligible difference of -0.1%.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded at 2560x1440 with Medium settings?

A: The minimum frame rate at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 144 FPS, with an average of 170 FPS and a maximum of 195 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 4080's performance closer to the RTX 4080 SUPER or the RX 6750 GRE?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, which is 0.1% higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209). It is 2.6% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698) in this metric, meaning it sits much closer to the SUPER variant.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo achieve a 60 FPS average?

A: At 3840x2160 (4K) with High settings, the average frame rate is 69 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this configuration. Built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD103 chip, it features 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs. The card operates at a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz. Its memory subsystem is substantial: 16 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus, providing 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a critical asset for Hard West, as the game's turn-based tactics can involve complex scenes with many assets loaded.

The GPU's raw compute capabilities are reflected in its Passmark G3D score of 34457, and its compute score of 20671. In the broader context, it sits in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. The benchmark results show a clear pattern: as resolution increases, the frame rate drops significantly, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p, the GPU is so fast that it can push frame rates well over 200 FPS on lower settings, but at 4K, the workload on the render pipeline becomes much heavier.

The RTX 4080's 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores are part of its feature set, though they are not directly measured in the FPS data for this title. The card's pixel rate is 280.6 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 761.5 GTexel/s, which explains its ability to handle high resolutions. The FP32 performance is rated at 48.74 TFLOPS. With a TDP of 320 W and a suggested PSU of 700 W, it is a power-hungry component, but the performance data justifies the requirement. The measured FPS at 4K High (69 FPS) versus 4K Ultra (51 FPS) shows that the jump to the highest preset costs a significant 18 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset is particularly demanding on the GPU's resources.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combo depends heavily on the target resolution. The data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate.

At 3840x2160, the High preset delivers an average of 69 FPS, which is ideal for a smooth, playable experience. The Ultra preset drops to 51 FPS, which, while playable for a turn-based game, is below the 60 FPS marker that many consider the baseline for smoothness. The Medium preset offers 89 FPS, but High provides a better balance of visual quality and performance. Therefore, High is the recommended preset for 4K.

For 2560x1440, the High preset delivers an excellent 131 FPS average. The Medium preset gives 170 FPS, and Low gives 186 FPS, but these higher frame rates come at the cost of visual quality. The Ultra preset at this resolution drops to 98 FPS, which is still smooth. The data suggests that High is the sweet spot, offering a strong visual experience with frame rates well above the refresh rate of most monitors.

At 1920x1080, the situation is different. The Ultra preset runs at 155 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any display. The High preset reaches 184 FPS, Medium 202 FPS, and Low 217 FPS. Given that the Ultra preset still provides a very high frame rate, it is the best choice for 1080p to maximize visual quality without any perceptible performance penalty. The measured data indicates that the GPU has enough headroom at this resolution to run the most demanding preset comfortably.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at how this combo scales across resolutions and settings.

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are 109 FPS on Low, 89 FPS on Medium, 69 FPS on High, and 51 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset is the only one with reported min and max values, showing a range of 76 to 103 FPS. This represents a 40 FPS spread between Low and Ultra, highlighting the significant impact of the higher presets at 4K.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 186 FPS on Low, 170 FPS on Medium, 131 FPS on High, and 98 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset again has the only min/max data, recording a minimum of 144 FPS and a maximum of 195 FPS. The performance drop from Medium to High is 39 FPS, which is a notable step down.

At 1920x1080, the averages are 217 FPS on Low, 202 FPS on Medium, 184 FPS on High, and 155 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 172 FPS and a maximum of 232 FPS. This resolution shows the smallest relative performance drop between settings, with a 62 FPS difference between Low and Ultra, but all settings remain highly playable.

The scaling pattern is consistent: the RTX 4080 is able to brute-force its way through lower resolutions, but the 4K Ultra preset is the only configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, with an average of 51 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is ranked 501st out of 3722 tested combos for Hard West. This places it in the top 13.5% of all configurations tested. This is a strong showing, but the ranking is likely held back by the CPU, which is a mid-range part paired with a flagship GPU.

The GPU itself is in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, is only 0.1% behind in average score, indicating that the performance difference between these two cards is negligible. The CPU is in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19593. The performance gap between the CPU and GPU in their respective percentile rankings suggests a potential imbalance, but the measured FPS data shows that this combo still delivers excellent results in Hard West.

The rank of 501 out of 3722 is a data point that reflects the overall performance of the system. When considering that the GPU is near the top of its class, the ranking is more a function of the CPU's lower standing. The high FPS numbers at 1080p and 1440p suggest that the combo is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming, while the 4K High preset provides a solid 60+ FPS experience.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Cezanne. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. The CPU is built on a 7 nm process at TSMC, with 10,700 million transistors on a 180 mm² die. It features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and a 16 MB L3 cache. The TDP is 65 W, and it supports DDR4 memory on a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 16429 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2319 in single-core. Its 3DMark scores are 5386 for 16 threads and 836 for single-thread. The Geekbench scores are 7976 multi-core and 1730 single-core. These numbers place it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19593. Its closest rival is the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430, which is only 0.1% faster, and the Intel Core i7-10700F, which is 0.5% slower.

For Hard West, a turn-based tactics game, the CPU's role is primarily to manage game logic, AI, and scene setup. The measured FPS data suggests that the CPU is not a major bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the frame rates scale down as resolution increases, which is a GPU-bound pattern. However, at 1080p with Low settings, the 217 FPS average may be approaching the CPU's limit, as it is the highest frame rate recorded. The 12 threads are more than adequate for the game's demands, and the boost clock of 4.20 GHz ensures responsive single-thread performance for AI calculations. The CPU's 16 MB of L3 cache is sufficient for the game's data needs, preventing any cache-related stutters. The launch MSRP of the CPU is $159, making it a cost-effective partner for the RTX 4080, though the overall system is clearly GPU-centric.