Hard West

Hard West is a turn-based tactics title from 2015, and this pairing of an AMD Ryzen 5 7500F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER produces a wide spread of frame rates depending on how you configure it. The data shows a system that can obliterate this game at lower settings but also one that can be brought to its knees by the Ultra preset, especially at higher resolutions. This analysis breaks down exactly what each component contributes and where the bottlenecks appear.

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

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor built on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It uses the AMD Socket AM5 platform and supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, which provides a memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. The chip has a 32 MB shared L3 cache, which is often beneficial for game logic and asset streaming.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU demonstrates strong single-threaded performance with a 3dmark_single_thread score of 974 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3218. Its multi-threaded capabilities are equally solid, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22799 and a Geekbench multicore score of 12686. The processor sits in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24993. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i7-11850H (0.1% ahead), AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (0.4% ahead), AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (0.3% behind), and AMD Ryzen 5 8400F (0.3% behind).

For a game like Hard West, which is turn-based and likely does not have heavily threaded game logic, this CPU’s strong single-core performance is more relevant than its multi-core muscle. The high boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensures that the main game thread can run as fast as possible, which is crucial for maintaining consistent frame pacing. The data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the system hits 270.7 FPS, which suggests the CPU is more than capable of feeding frames far beyond what most monitors can display. Even at Ultra settings at 1080p, the frame rate is 153 FPS, indicating that the CPU is not a limiting factor at this resolution. The CPU’s performance headroom is substantial, and it is unlikely to be the primary bottleneck in this configuration until you push to very high frame rates.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a high-end graphics card based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, featuring 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. Its boost clock is rated at 2550 MHz, and it has a substantial 10240 shading units. The GPU’s processing power is considerable, with an FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS and a texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s.

In terms of benchmark standing, the RTX 4080 SUPER ranks in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53610. Its closest competitors are the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (0.2% ahead), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (0.4% ahead), AMD Radeon RX 7700S (2.1% ahead), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (2.9% ahead). For a game from 2015, the 16 GB of VRAM is overkill, but it ensures that even the most demanding textures and effects will fit comfortably without any memory-related stuttering.

The GPU’s role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution scales. At 1080p, the GPU is so powerful that the CPU can easily keep up, leading to very high frame rates. However, the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is significant, which points to the GPU becoming the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the frame rate falls to 49.6 FPS, a clear indication that the GPU is being pushed hard by the game’s Ultra settings at that resolution. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s raw power is more than sufficient for this title, but the game’s Ultra preset appears to be extremely demanding, likely due to inefficient rendering techniques from 2015.

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

The measured data provides clear guidance on the optimal settings for this configuration. At 1080p, every preset is playable, but the differences are stark. Low settings produce 270.7 FPS, Medium produces 251.9 FPS, High produces 206.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 153 FPS. For most users, the High preset at 1080p offers an excellent balance, delivering a very high frame rate of 206.5 FPS while presumably improving visual quality over the lower presets.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 131.4 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth. The Medium preset at 166.7 FPS is also a strong choice if you prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 1440p, however, drops to 98.4 FPS, which is still playable but represents a significant performance cost for what may be marginal visual gains in a turn-based game.

At 4K, the situation changes. The High preset yields 65.6 FPS, which is acceptable but not ideal for a smooth experience. The Medium preset at 88.1 FPS is the best option at this resolution, providing a good balance between visual quality and performance. The Ultra preset at 49.6 FPS is not recommended, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for a responsive experience. The Low preset at 4K produces 105.5 FPS, but this likely compromises visual quality too much for a game that relies on atmosphere and readability.

The data suggests that the High preset is the sweet spot for this combination across all resolutions, with the Medium preset serving as a solid fallback for 4K users who want a smoother frame rate. The Ultra preset should be avoided unless you are willing to accept frame rates in the 50-60 FPS range at 1440p or lower at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 109th out of 1699 tested combos in Hard West. This places it in the top 6.4% of all configurations tested, which is a strong showing for a system that pairs a mid-range CPU with a high-end GPU.

The ranking confirms the GPU’s overwhelming power in this title, as the game is clearly not CPU-bound given the relatively low core count requirements of turn-based tactics. The high ranking indicates that this combo outperforms the vast majority of systems tested, including many that may have more expensive or higher-core-count CPUs. The data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor in determining performance, and the RTX 4080 SUPER’s position in the 88th percentile of all GPUs is the primary driver of this combo’s high rank.

While the CPU’s performance is respectable, it is not the reason for this high placement. The 109th rank out of 1699 combos suggests that for this specific game, the GPU choice matters far more than the CPU. This is a practical insight for builders: if you are targeting Hard West, investing in a high-end GPU will yield better results than spending extra on a more powerful processor.

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

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p with High settings, the system achieves 206.5 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the frame rate drops to 131.4 FPS, a 36.4% decrease. At 4K, the frame rate falls to 65.6 FPS, a 68.2% decrease from the 1080p result.

This pattern is consistent across all settings presets. For example, at Low settings, the frame rate drops from 270.7 FPS at 1080p to 206.2 FPS at 1440p and then to 105.5 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, falling from 153 FPS at 1080p to 98.4 FPS at 1440p and then to 49.6 FPS at 4K.

This scaling behavior indicates that the GPU is the limiting component as resolution increases. The RTX 4080 SUPER is powerful enough to handle the game’s CPU demands at low resolutions, but the pixel fill rate and shading requirements at 4K become the bottleneck. The CPU’s performance is relatively consistent across resolutions, so the frame rate drops are almost entirely attributable to the GPU’s workload increasing with pixel count. This is expected behavior, but the magnitude of the drops, especially at Ultra settings, highlights how demanding the game’s higher presets are on the GPU.

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

The complete measured FPS data for this configuration is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 270.7 FPS
• Medium: 251.9 FPS
• High: 206.5 FPS
• Ultra: 153 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 206.2 FPS
• Medium: 166.7 FPS
• High: 131.4 FPS
• Ultra: 98.4 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 105.5 FPS
• Medium: 88.1 FPS
• High: 65.6 FPS
• Ultra: 49.6 FPS

The data shows a clear hierarchy: lowering the settings preset increases the frame rate at every resolution. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial at all resolutions, but it is most pronounced at 4K, where the frame rate more than doubles between Ultra and Low. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 117.7 FPS, while at 4K it is 55.9 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy fixed cost on the GPU, which is more pronounced at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom.

For a turn-based tactics game, achieving a stable frame rate above 60 FPS is generally sufficient for a smooth experience. Based on the data, the High preset at 1440p (131.4 FPS) or the Medium preset at 4K (88.1 FPS) are the recommended configurations for a balance of visual quality and performance. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it still produces a high 153 FPS. This breakdown provides a clear picture of the system’s capabilities and helps set expectations for different display and quality combinations.