Hard West

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Hard West across the three tested resolutions reveal a system that scales predictably, with the GPU becoming the dominant constraint as pixel count rises. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces an average of 143 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that to 90 FPS, and at 4K the average falls further to 47 FPS. That represents a 67% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, which indicates the rendering load is scaling heavily with resolution.

The pattern holds across all quality presets. At High settings, the averages are 90 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. At Medium, the numbers are 117, 74, and 39 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset shows the steepest drop: 67 FPS at 1080p, 43 FPS at 1440p, and just 22 FPS at 4K. In every case, the step from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 35-40% of the frame rate, while the step from 1440p to 4K costs another 45-50%. This consistent scaling behavior points to a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the RTX 2060's 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus are being pushed harder.

The fact that even the Low preset at 4K only reaches 47 FPS, while 1080p Low hits 143 FPS, suggests that pixel throughput is the limiting factor rather than CPU processing. The Ryzen 5 5600G, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, has ample headroom at 1080p where frame rates exceed 140 FPS. However, at 4K the GPU's compute resources — 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs — become the bottleneck. The data indicates that for smooth 4K gameplay, players would need to accept the Medium preset (39 FPS) or drop to Low (47 FPS), as the High and Ultra presets fall below 30 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combination in Hard West?

A: Based on the measured data, 1080p offers the most comfortable experience. At High settings, the average is 90 FPS, while Medium reaches 117 FPS unsatisfied. Even the demanding Ultra preset maintains 67 FPS at 1080p, which is above the typical 60 FPS target.

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

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 4K, the Low preset averages 47 FPSched, Medium averages 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 FPS, and High drops to 30 FPS. Ultra falls to 22 FPS, which is likely too low for comfortable play. The data shows that 4K is playable only on lower presets.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in this context?

A: The RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 15290 places it nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283, 0% delta) and the AMD Radeon 680M (15270, 0.1% ahead). It sits slightly ahead of the RTX 3050 OEM by 0.6% and the RX 7600 by 0.8%. This means in synthetic tests, the 2060 is competitive but not dominant; real game performance depends on the specific workload.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600G a strong match for this game?

A: The CPU's percentile rank of 74 among all processors indicates it is above average. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-1220P, scores nearly identically (0.1% delta). In a turn-based tactics game like Hard West, where single-thread performance often matters, the 5600G's single-core score of 1409 in Cinebench R23 suggests adequate processing power for game logic and AI calculations.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Medium preset averages 74 FPS (minimum 63, maximum 85), which is smooth. High averages 57 FPS, while Low reaches 90 FPS. Ultra drops to 43 FPS. For a 60 FPS target, Medium is the recommended choice at this resolution.

Q: Why does the Ultra preset perform so much worse than High?

A: The jump from High to Ultra at 1080p reduces the average from 90 to 67 FPS, a 26% penalty. At 1440p, it drops from 57 to 43 FPS (25% penalty). At 4K, the difference is 30 to 22 FPS (27% penalty). The consistent penalty suggests Ultra enables additional effects that disproportionately tax the GPU's resources, likely related to the 6 GB VRAM capacity or shading complexity.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It contains 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die, with a transistor density of 24.3M per mm². The GPU operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory is paired with a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s — a figure that becomes relevant when comparing performance at different resolutions.

In Hard West, the GPU's role is clearly evident from the frame rate scaling. At 1080p Low, the RTX 2060 achieves 143 FPS, but that number drops by 67% to 47 FPS at 4K Low. This is a classic sign of GPU-bound rendering where the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are being saturated. The GPU's pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are the hardware limits that constrain performance at higher resolutionscars. The shading units (1920) and ROPs (48) process the scene data, but at 4K the sheer number of pixels overwhelms the available throughput.

The RTX 2060's benchmark scores place it in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 15290. Its nearest rival, the GTX 580, matches it exactly with a 0% delta, while the Radeon 680M is 0.1% behind. The RTX 3050 OEM and RX 7600 are 0.6% and 0.8% behind respectively. These narrow margins in synthetic tests do not fully capture the 2060's behavior in Hard West, where the 6 GB VRAM capacity may become a limiting factor at Ultra settings. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 22, suggesting the GPU is running out of resources — either memory capacity or compute headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 143 FPS with no reported minimum or maximum values. Medium averages 117 FPS with a minimum of 99 and maximum of 135. High averages 90 FPS, and Ultra averages 67 FPS. This 1080p data shows a smooth progression: each step up in quality costs roughly 20-25 FPS from the previous preset.

At 1440p, the Low preset averages 90 FPS. Medium drops to 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 and maximum of 85. High averages 57 FPS, and Ultra averages 43 FPS. The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium (63) is still above 60, indicating playable performance, but the Ultra preset's 43 FPS average suggests noticeable stutter during intense scenes.

At 4K, the Low preset averages 47 FPS. Medium averages 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 and maximum of 45. High drops to 30 FPS, and Ultra averages 22 FPS. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium (33) is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, and the High preset's 30 FPS average is borderline. Ultra at 22 FPS is playable only for turn-based tactics where precise timing is not critical, but the frame rate is clearly inadequate for any action-oriented sequence.

The data reveals that the RTX 2060's performance envelope in Hard West spans from 143 FPS at 1080p Low to 22 FPS at 4K Ultra — a 6.5x difference. The Medium preset consistently provides the best balance of quality and speed across all resolutions, with the minimum FPS always staying within 15% of the average.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Cezanne), manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 16 MB of shared L3.

In Hard West, a turn-based tactics game, the CPU's role is primarily to handle game logic, AI pathfinding, and scene management. The 5600G's benchmark scores indicate solid single-thread performance: a Geekbench single-core score of 1801 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1409. Multi-threaded performance is also strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10551 and a Passmark multithread score of 19717. The CPU's percentile rank of 74 places it above most processors, and its average benchmark score of 21088 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-1220P (21066, 0.1% delta).

The fact that frame rates at 1080p Low reach 143 FPS suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions. The 5600G's 12 threads can handle the turn-based logic without limiting the GPU. However, at 4K where frame rates drop to 22-47 FPS, the CPU has ample headroom — the limiting factor is clearly the GPU's pixel throughput. The 5600G's 16 MB L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient for the game's data requirements, as evidenced by the stable frame rates even at Low presets where CPU-bound scenarios would typically surface.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience with this hardware combination in Hard West, the Medium preset offers the most balanced performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 117 FPS with a minimum of 99, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and leaves room for frame rate dips without noticeable stutter. At 1440p, Medium averages 74 FPS with a minimum of 63, maintaining smooth gameplay even during busy scenes. At 4K, Medium drops to 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 — playable for turn-based tactics but not ideal for those who prefer higher frame rates.

The High preset is a reasonable alternative for players who prioritize visual fidelity over raw speed. At 1080p, High averages 90 FPS, which is still smooth. At 1440p, it drops to 57 FPS, which is slightly below 60 but acceptable for a slow-paced tactical game. At 4K, High averages 30 FPS, which is borderline; the game remains playable but may feel sluggish during camera movement or effects-heavy turns.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this configuration. At 1080p it averages 67 FPS, which is playable, but at 1440p it drops to 43 FPS and at 4K to 22 FPS. The performance penalty from High to Ultra (approximately 26% across all resolutions) is not justified by the visual improvements in a game where the camera is often static and the action is turn-based)Skip Ultra unless you have a higher-end GPU.

The Low preset is only recommended for 4K play, where it achieves 47 FPS — the highest frame rate available at that resolution. At 1080p and 1440p, Low offers no advantage over Medium since the latter already provides excellent frame rates with improved visual quality. The data clearly shows that Medium is the sweet spot for this RTX 2060 and Ryzen 5 5600G combination, delivering the best balance of frame rate and visual fidelity across all tested resolutions.