Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers a broad spread of frame rates in Hard West, ranging from a 59.4 FPS average at 4K Ultra to a 271.8 FPS average at 1080p Low. This turn-based tactics title from 2015 proves remarkably scalable on modern hardware, with the data revealing that the RTX 4090 is the dominant force at higher resolutions while the Ryzen 5 7500F holds its own at lower presets. The measured results across twelve distinct resolution/settings combinations show a system that can comfortably drive high-refresh monitors at 1440p and even maintain playable 4K performance, though the Ultra preset at 4K dips below the 60 FPS threshold.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that the High preset offers the most balanced experience across all tested resolutions. At 1080p High, the combo averages 227 FPS, which drops to 144.1 FPS at 1440p High and 74.3 FPS at 4K High. These figures represent a consistent step down from Medium settings—which reach 254.2 FPS at 1080p, 190.6 FPS at 1440p, and 96.3 FPS at 4K—but the gap between High and Ultra is more punishing. Ultra settings cost 58.5 FPS at 1080p (168.5 vs 227), 38 FPS at 1440p (106.1 vs 144.1), and 14.9 FPS at 4K (59.4 vs 74.3) compared to High.

For players targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, High at 4K is the safest choice, sitting 14.3 FPS above the threshold. Medium at 4K also works well, offering 96.3 FPS, but the visual jump from Medium to High appears to be a reasonable trade-off given the still-strong 74.3 FPS result. At 1440p, the Ultra preset remains viable at 106.1 FPS, making it the only resolution where Ultra exceed 100 FPS. The data implies that High is the "sweet spot" preset for this combination, delivering strong performance without the steep penalty associated with Ultra.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090 brings 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s boost clock is rated at 2520 MHz with a base of 2235 MHz, and it houses 16,384 shading units alongside 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores. Its pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s suggest enormous headroom for a game like Hard West, which is not graphically demanding by modern standards.

The measured FPS scaling across resolutions strongly indicates GPU-bound behavior at 4K. The transition from 1440p High (144.1 FPS) to 4K High (74.3 FPS) represents a 48.4% drop, while the same settings change from 1080p High (227 FPS) to 1440p High (144.1 FPS) results in a 36.5% decline. This pattern—where higher resolutions cause increasingly severe FPS losses—points to the GPU becoming the primary limiter as pixel counts rise. The RTX 4090’s 24 GB frame buffer is unlikely to be stressed by Hard West’s textures, but the sheer pixel throughput required at 4K Ultra (59.4 FPS) shows that even this flagship GPU has limits in this title.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 7500F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its 32 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (83.2 GB/s bandwidth) are modern specifications, and the CPU’s benchmark scores reflect strong single-threaded performance: 3,218 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 974 in 3DMark single-thread.

In Hard West, the CPU’s role becomes evident at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 250 FPS. At 1080p Low, the combo averages 271.8 FPS, and at 1080p Medium it reaches 254.2 FPS. These numbers suggest that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls to sustain very high frame rates, but the scaling from 1080p Low to 1080p Ultra (271.8 to 168.5 FPS) shows a 38% drop that is likely attributable to increased CPU-side overhead from more complex scene geometry and AI calculations. The 6-core/12-thread configuration appears sufficient, as the 3DMark max-threads score of 6,379 is nearly identical to the 16-thread score of 6,376, indicating that additional threads would not meaningfully improve performance in this workload.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 40th out of 1,699 tested combos in Hard West. That places it in the top 2.4% of all combinations in the database, which is a strong result given that the CPU is a mid-range desktop part while the GPU is a flagship. The ranking suggests that Hard West is not particularly CPU-sensitive at the resolutions where most players would use this combo, since the GPU does the heavy lifting at 4K and 1440p.

The CPU’s individual standing is notable: it holds the 82nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24,993. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-11850H, scores 24,974 (0.1% faster), while the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X scores 25,057 (0.3% faster). These are extremely tight margins, indicating that the 7500F is well within the performance envelope of its peers. The GPU, meanwhile, sits at the 91st percentile among all GPUs with an average score of 66,473, and its nearest rivals—the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733, 0.4% faster) and NVIDIA Tesla P40 (66,127, 0.5% slower)—are similarly close. The combo’s 40th-place ranking out of 1,699 reflects the GPU’s high percentile more than the CPU’s, but the overall result is a system that outperforms the vast majority of tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases. At High settings, the averages are 227 FPS (1080p), 144.1 FPS (1440p), and 74.3 FPS (4K). The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 82.9 FPS (36.5%), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 69.8 FPS (48.4%). At Low settings, the same resolution steps yield 271.8 FPS to 228 FPS (43.8 FPS, 16.1%) and then 228 FPS to 122.4 FPS (105.6 FPS, 46.3%). Medium settings show 254.2 FPS to 190.6 FPS (63.6 FPS, 25%) and then 190.6 FPS to 96.3 FPS (94.3 FPS, 49.5%). Ultra settings produce 168.5 FPS to 106.1 FPS (62.4 FPS, 37%) and then 106.1 FPS to 59.4 FPS (46.7 FPS, 44%).

The consistent pattern of larger percentage drops between 1440p and 4K compared to 1080p to 1440p indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more saturated as pixel count increases. This is classic GPU-bound scaling, and the fact that the 1080p to 1440p transition at Low settings only costs 16.1% suggests that the CPU can keep up at lower resolutions, but the GPU’s rendering workload dominates once 4K is reached.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 271.8 FPS, Medium yields 254.2 FPS, High reaches 227 FPS, and Ultra drops to 168.5 FPS. The spread of 103.3 FPS between the lowest and highest presets at 1080p is significant, but even the Ultra result is far above any typical display refresh rate.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 228 FPS (Low), 190.6 FPS (Medium), 144.1 FPS (High), and 106.1 FPS (Ultra). These figures show that 1440p Ultra remains playable on high-refresh monitors, with the 106.1 FPS average comfortably exceeding 100 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 121.9 FPS, which is larger than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU’s workload scales more steeply with settings at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the results are 122.4 FPS (Low), 96.3 FPS (Medium), 74.3 FPS (High), and 59.4 FPS (Ultra). This is the only resolution where any preset falls below 60 FPS, with Ultra averaging 59.4 FPS. The 4K Low result of 122.4 FPS is still excellent, indicating that players who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity can achieve high refresh rates even at 4K. The full data set shows a consistent ordering across all resolutions: Low > Medium > High > Ultra, with no anomalies or unexpected inversions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: High settings at 4K deliver 74.3 FPS, which is 14.9 FPS above the Ultra preset’s 59.4 FPS. Medium settings reach 96.3 FPS, but High offers a better balance of visual quality and performance, staying comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Can this system handle 1440p at maximum settings?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 2560x1440 averages 106.1 FPS, which is well above 100 FPS. This makes 1440p Ultra a viable option for high-refresh-rate monitors without requiring any settings compromises.

Q: Why does the FPS drop so much from 1440p to 4K?

A: At High settings, the average FPS falls from 144.1 at 1440p to 74.3 at 4K, a 48.4% reduction. This larger percentage drop compared to the 1080p-to-1440p transition (36.5%) indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases, with the RTX 4090’s rendering throughput being saturated at 4K.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 7500F compare to its closest rivals in CPU benchmarks?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score is 24,993, placing it at the 82nd percentile. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-11850H, scores 24,974 (0.1% higher), while the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X scores 25,057 (0.3% higher). These differences are negligible, making the 7500F competitively positioned.

Q: Is the RTX 4090’s 24 GB memory capacity relevant for Hard West?

A: The game is from 2015 and is turn-based tactics, so it is unlikely to require large frame buffers. The 24 GB GDDR6X memory is far more than needed, but the GPU’s 1.01 TB/s bandwidth and 16,384 shading units are what drive the high frame rates seen in the measured data.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking among tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 40th out of 1,699 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the top 2.4% of all configurations. This strong ranking is attributable to the RTX 4090’s 91st percentile GPU standing, while the CPU holds the 82nd percentile among all processors.