Hard West

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data for Hard West shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, but the shape of that curve reveals which component is doing the heavy lifting. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo of an AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers 133 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same High preset drops that to 84 FPS, a reduction of roughly 37%. Stepping up to 3840x2160 at High brings the average down to 44 FPS, which is about 48% lower than the 1440p result and 67% lower than the 1080p result.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is steeper than the jump from 1440p to 4K in percentage terms. That pattern typically indicates that at 1080p, the system is partially CPU-limited or at least not fully GPU-bound, so the GPU has headroom to absorb the extra pixel load. The 211 FPS at 1080p Low versus 133 FPS at 1080p High reinforces this interpretation: the Low preset removes much of the shading and geometry work, allowing the frame rate to climb well past what a pure GPU-bound scenario would show.

At 4K, the picture changes. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 yields only 33 FPS, while Low at the same resolution reaches 70 FPS. That spread of 37 FPS between presets at 4K is narrower than the 112 FPS spread at 1080p (from 99 FPS Ultra to 211 FPS Low). When the resolution is high enough to saturate the GPU, the preset choices matter less in absolute terms because the pixel throughput dominates the workload. The data suggests that at 4K, the RTX 3070 is the limiting factor; at 1080p, the Ryzen 5 5600's six cores and twelve threads are more likely to cap performance in demanding scenes.

The Medium preset at 3840x2160 shows 57 FPS average with a minimum of 49 and maximum of 66. That minimum-to-maximum range of 17 FPS indicates some scene complexity variance, but the average sits comfortably above the 4K High result. The 1440p Medium data shows 109 FPS average with a 93-126 range, while 1080p Medium shows 173 FPS with a 147-198 range. These ranges are proportionally similar, suggesting that the frame pacing is consistent across resolutions rather than being driven by erratic CPU spikes.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Ryzen 5 5600 with RTX 3070 combo ranks 1581 out of 3722 tested combinations in Hard West. That places it in the upper-middle portion of the field, just past the 57th percentile of all tested combos. Being in the top 42% is respectable for a mid-range pairing, but the rank reveals that the game rewards combinations with more GPU horsepower or better CPU single-thread performance.

To contextualize this rank, consider the CPU's overall standing. The Ryzen 5 5600 sits at the 74th percentile against all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 20468. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V at 20454 (0.1% slower), the AMD Ryzen 5 8500G at 20425 (0.2% slower), and the AMD EPYC 9454P at 20422 (0.2% slower). The EPYC 7713 comes in at 20363, which is 0.5% behind. These are all extremely close scores, meaning the CPU is not the differentiator in this rank.

The GPU side tells a slightly different story. The RTX 3070 holds the 61st percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17208. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT at 17083 (0.7% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 at 17037 (1% behind), and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M at 17019 (1.1% behind). The NVIDIA Tesla K40c is 1.5% ahead at 17468. The GPU's percentile is lower than the CPU's, which suggests that in Hard West, the GPU is more likely to be the bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The gap between the combo's rank (1581 of 3722) and what the individual components' percentiles might suggest indicates that Hard West's engine has specific demands. Turn-based tactics games with detailed sprite work and lighting effects can be surprisingly demanding on fill rate and shader complexity. The 4K Ultra result of 33 FPS is well below the 60 FPS threshold, and the 1440p Ultra result of 63 FPS barely crosses it. These numbers explain why the combo rank is not higher despite the CPU's strong 74th percentile showing.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective. For a game released in 2015, Hard West's texture and geometry demands are modest by modern standards, so the 8 GB capacity is not the limiting factor in these results. Instead, the GPU's compute throughput and rasterization rate drive the measured FPS.

The RTX 3070's base clock is 1500 MHz with a boost of 1725 MHz. The chip, GA104, is built on Samsung's 8 nm process with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. The shading units number 5888, with 184 TMUs and 96 ROPs. The pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 317.4 GTexel/s. In a game like Hard West, which features detailed character sprites and environmental effects, these pixel and texture rates are the primary drivers of the resolution scaling observed.

At 1080p, the GPU's raw throughput is more than sufficient to push past 100 FPS on High (133 FPS) and even exceed 200 FPS on Low (211 FPS). The fact that 1080p Ultra drops to 99 FPS shows that the Ultra preset introduces enough additional shading work to cut performance by about 26% relative to High. At 4K, the pixel throughput requirement quadruples relative to 1080p, and the data shows the RTX 3070 cannot maintain 60 FPS on any preset at that resolution. The best 4K result is Low at 70 FPS, while High and Ultra sit at 44 and 33 FPS respectively.

The GPU's FP32 throughput of 20.31 TFLOPS and FP16 of 20.31 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio) indicate that the card handles compute-heavy effects without a specialized advantage in half-precision. DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support and Vulkan 1.4 mean the GPU is fully compatible with modern rendering paths, but Hard West's age means it likely uses older DirectX 11 paths, which the PassMark DirectX 11 score of 182 reflects in relative terms. The DirectX 12 score of 85 and DirectX 9 score of 247 show that the legacy API performance is strong, which matters for a 2015 title.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the full set of measured results spans from 99 FPS at Ultra to 211 FPS at Low. High sits at 133 FPS, and Medium at 173 FPS with a minimum of 147 and maximum of 198. The gap between Low and Ultra is 112 FPS, which is the largest spread across all resolutions. This wide range suggests that at 1080p, the CPU and GPU have enough combined headroom that preset changes have outsized effects on frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the results compress somewhat. Low delivers 133 FPS, High 84 FPS, Medium 109 FPS (93-126 range), and Ultra 63 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 70 FPS, narrower than at 1080p. The Medium preset at 1440p actually outperforms the High preset by 25 FPS, which is notable given that Medium typically reduces visual quality in ways that should free up GPU resources. The minimum of 93 FPS on Medium at 1440p is still above the High average of 84 FPS, indicating that the Medium preset's reduced shadow and effect complexity translates directly to measurable gains.

At 3840x2160, the results are the tightest. Low achieves 70 FPS, Medium 57 FPS (49-66 range), High 44 FPS, and Ultra 33 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 37 FPSanding. No preset at 4K reaches 60 FPS except Low, which exceeds it by 10 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 49 FPS and maximum of 66 FPS shows some scenes are playable while others dip below the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 33 FPS is below playable standards for most users, and even High at 44 FPS is borderline.

Comparing across resolutions at the same preset reveals the scaling factors. High preset: 133 to 84 to 44 FPS as resolution moves from 1080p to 1440p to 4K. Medium preset: 173 to 109 to 57 FPS. Low preset: 211 to 133 to 70 FPS. Ultra preset: 99 to 63 to 33 FPS. Each preset follows a similar proportional decline, but the Low preset maintains the highest absolute FPS at every resolution, which is expected given the reduced workload.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For a 1080p display, the Medium preset at 173 FPS average with a 147 minimum is the strongest measured option. It delivers a 40 FPS improvement over High and only 76 FPS less than Low, while providing better visual fidelity than Low. The Ultra preset at 99 FPS is playable but offers diminishing returns over Medium given the 74 FPS gap. For competitive or high-refresh-rate play, Low at 211 FPS is the choice, but Medium strikes the best balance between smoothness and image quality based on the measured data.

At 1440p, Medium at 109 FPS (93 minimum) is the recommended preset. It clears the 60 FPS threshold by a wide margin and maintains a minimum above 90 FPS, which is important for consistent frame pacing in a turn-based tactics game where sudden camera movements can occur. High at 84 FPS is also viable, but the 25 FPS cost over Medium is substantial. Ultra at 63 FPS barely crosses 60 FPS, so if visual maximums are desired, it works, but the 16 FPS gap between Medium and Ultra is steep relative to the visual gains typical of that preset step.

For 4K displays, Low at 70 FPS is the only preset that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. Medium at 57 FPS is close and may be acceptable for slower-paced tactics gameplay, but the 49 FPS minimum risks noticeable drops during busy scenes. High at 44 FPS and Ultra at 33 FPS are below acceptable thresholds for smooth play. Given the turn-based nature of Hard West, some players may tolerate sub-60 FPS, but the data shows that Low is the only preset that avoids frame rate dips below 60 FPS at 4K.

The overall recommendation across all resolutions is to use Medium as the baseline preset. It consistently outperforms High by 30-40% in FPS terms while maintaining a minimum that stays above 49 FPS even at 4K. The only exception is 4K, where Low is necessary for a stable 60+ FPS experience. For users with 1080p or 1440p displays, Medium provides the best combination of measured FPS and reasonable visual quality.

FAQ

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

A: At 1080p, the combo achieves 133 FPS on High and 173 FPS on Medium. At 1440p, High drops to 84 FPS and Medium to 109 FPS. At 4K, High falls to 44 FPS. Based on the measured data, 1440p with Medium settings (109 FPS) offers the best balance of resolution and frame rate.

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

A: At 4K, only the Low preset reaches 70 FPS average. Medium sits at 57 FPS with a 49 minimum, High at 44 FPS, and Ultra at 33 FPS. Smooth 60 FPS play is only possible on Low at 4K.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals in GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, scores 17083, which is 0.7% behind. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 is 1% behind at 17037, and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M is 1.1% behind at 17019.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 ranks in the 74th percentile against all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 20468cars. Its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, scores 20454, just 0.1% lower.

Q: Does the GPU memory capacity affect the results?

A: The RTX 3070 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. For Hard West, a 2015 title, the measured FPS values indicate that memory capacity is not the limiting factor; the GPU's compute and rasterization rates are the primary constraints at higher resolutions.

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

A: The Ryzen 5 5600 with RTX 3070 ranks 1581 out of 3722 tested combos in Hard Westcars. This places it in the upper-middle range, consistent with the GPU's 61st percentile and CPU's 74th percentile.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 is a six-core, twelve-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates on the AMD Socket AM4 platform with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The 65 W TDP indicates efficient power delivery, and the 7 nm process node from TSMC houses 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache.

In Hard West, the CPU's role is more pronounced at lower resolutions where the GPU is not saturated. The 1080p Low result of 211 FPS demonstrates that the CPU can sustain very high frame rates when the GPU workload is minimal. The single-thread performance, measured at 882 in 3dmark_single_thread and 3256 in passmark_single_thread, is strong for a 2022 release. The multi-threaded scores, including 5659 in 3dmark_max_threads and 18309 in cinebench_r23_multicore, show that the twelve threads are well-utilized in synthetic tests, but Hard West's turn-based engine likely relies more on single-thread performance for game logic and AI calculations.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores all fall within 0.5% of its average score of 20468. This tight grouping suggests that the Ryzen 5 5600 is not a performance outlier in its class, and any FPS differences in Hard West between similar CPUs would be minimal. The 74th percentile ranking against all CPUs indicates that the processor is capable, but not top-tier, which aligns with the combo's 1581st rank out of 3722.

At 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes. The FPS gap between the 1080p and 4K results for the same preset is substantial (e.g., High goes from 133 to 44 FPS), which indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput is the bottleneck at 4K. The CPU has enough headroom at 4K to feed the GPU without becoming a limiting factor, as evidenced by the fact that the 4K results scale consistently with preset changes rather than showing CPU-bound plateaus.

The boost clock of 4.40 GHz is relevant for the game's single-threaded aspects. Hard West, being a turn-based tactics title, may have periods of low GPU utilization during menu navigation or AI turns, where the CPU's single-thread performance determines responsiveness. The passmark_single_thread score of 3256 and geekbench_singlecore of 1936 suggest that the processor handles these tasks without issue, though the measured FPS data does not break out those scenarios separately.