Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers a performance profile in Hard West that is heavily dictated by resolution, with the GPU becoming the primary constraint only at 4K. This combination ranks in the top 12.4% of all tested combos, demonstrating substantial headroom for the turn-based tactics title, though the data reveals a distinct scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K that highlights the balance between the 6-core processor and the high-end Ada Lovelace graphics card.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly by settings preset. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 171 FPS at 1080p to 108 FPS at 1440p, then to 57 FPS at 4K. This represents a 37% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 47% reduction from 1440p to 4K, indicating that the GPU's rendering workload scales almost linearly with pixel count when the visual fidelity is moderate.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically at Low settings, where the RTX 4080 produces 270 FPS at 1080p, 231 FPS at 1440p, and 127 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is only 14%, suggesting that the CPU is beginning to limit performance at lower resolutions where the GPU has ample headroom. However, the 45% reduction from 1440p to 4K at Low settings shows that even with minimal graphical load, the 4K pixel count reasserts the GPU as the bottleneck. At Medium settings, the progression is 226 FPS at 1080p, 153 FPS at 1440p, and 80 FPS at 4K, with the 1080p-to-1440p drop of 32% indicating a more balanced workload between CPU and GPU.

Ultra settings present the steepest scaling curve, with 138 FPS at 1080p dropping to 87 FPS at 1440p and finally to 45 FPS at 4K. The 37% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and the 48% reduction from 1440p to 4K confirm that Ultra settings place a consistent and heavy load on the GPU across all resolutions. The overall pattern reveals that at 1080p, particularly with Low or Medium settings, the Ryzen 5 7600's six cores are sufficient to keep the RTX 4080 well-fed, but the 4K results across all presets—ranging from 45 FPS at Ultra to 127 FPS at Low—show that the GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth become the defining factor at higher pixel counts.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 463 out of 3,722 tested combinations places this system in the 87.6th percentile overall for Hard West, a strong showing that reflects the high-end nature of both components. This ranking is particularly impressive given the game's 2015 release date, as the turn-based tactics genre typically does not demand the latest hardware. The Ryzen 5 7600's percentile of 78 among all CPUs, combined with the RTX 4080's percentile of 86 among all GPUs, suggests that the pairing is well-matched for this title, with the GPU slightly outranking the CPU in relative performance.

The nearest rivals for the CPU provide context for its position in the overall ranking. The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX scores 26,274 on average, a mere 0.2% lower than the Ryzen 5 7600's 26,324 average benchmark score, indicating that the desktop chip's performance is nearly identical to that of a high-end mobile processor. The Intel Core i9-11900KF trails by 0.4%, while the AMD Ryzen 5 8540U is 0.5% behind, showing that the 7600 sits in a tight cluster of competitive mid-range to high-end CPUs. For the GPU, the RTX 4080 SUPER is virtually tied at 0.1% higher average score, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and Radeon 8060S are 2.6% and 2.7% ahead, respectively, in synthetic benchmarks, though this does not directly translate to Hard West's measured FPS.

The 4K results are where this combo's ranking truly shines, as the 57 FPS average at High settings and 45 FPS at Ultra represent playable frame rates for a turn-based game, whereas many lower-ranked combos would struggle to maintain 30 FPS at those settings. The data suggests that this pairing is overkill for 1080p gaming in Hard West, but it provides a comfortable experience at 1440p and 4K, which is reflected in its high percentile ranking.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, brings 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with memory running at 1400 MHz or 22.4 Gbps effective. These specifications are directly relevant to Hard West's performance, as the game's measured FPS data shows that the GPU's memory subsystem and compute capabilities are the primary drivers of frame rates at higher resolutions.

At 1080p, the RTX 4080's 9,728 shading units and 112 ROPs deliver 270 FPS at Low settings, but the GPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution—the CPU's single-thread performance becomes more relevant. The GPU's 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is more than sufficient for the game's turn-based tactical rendering, which primarily involves static scenes and character models rather than fast-paced action. The 280.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 761.5 GTexel/s texture rate ensure that even Ultra settings at 1080p (138 FPS) do not stress the GPU's fill rate capabilities.

At 4K, the GPU's role becomes dominant. The 57 FPS average at High settings and 45 FPS at Ultra reflect the increased pixel workload, which the 16 GB memory buffer handles without issue—Hard West is an older title with modest texture requirements, so the RTX 4080's memory capacity is not a limiting factor. The 716.8 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and memory access at 4K do not introduce stutters, as evidenced by the Medium settings results showing a minimum FPS of 68 at 4K, which is 85% of the average. The GPU's 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores are largely unused in this title, but they contribute to the card's overall benchmark scores, which rank it in the 86th percentile among all GPUs.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo in Hard West?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 270 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At 4K, the maximum average FPS is 127, also at Low settings.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 463rd out of 3,722 tested combos, placing it in the top 12.4% of all systems benchmarked for Hard West.

Q: Is the RTX 4080's 16 GB memory sufficient for this game?

A: Yes, the 16 GB of GDDR6X memory is more than adequate. Hard West's measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 45 FPS, and no memory-related performance degradation is observed in the data, as the minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 68, indicating stable memory performance.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings average 231 FPS, while Ultra settings average 87 FPS, representing a 62% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest preset.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the CPU has a greater influence, as evidenced by the relatively small drop from Low (270 FPS) to Medium (226 FPS) settings, which is only 16%, suggesting the GPU is not fully saturated at lower resolutions.

Q: What are the measured FPS at 4K High settings?

A: The average FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings is 57, with no minimum or maximum values recorded in the data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings yields high frame rates across the board. Low settings average 270 FPS, Medium settings average 226 FPS with a minimum of 192 FPS and a maximum of 260 FPS, High settings average 171 FPS, and Ultra settings average 138 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 132 FPS, showing that the RTX 4080 has substantial headroom even at the highest preset for this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, Low settings produce an average of 231 FPS, Medium settings average 153 FPS with a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 176 FPS, High settings average 108 FPS, and Ultra settings average 87 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 144 FPS, but the percentage reduction from Low to Ultra (62%) is slightly larger than at 1080p (49%), indicating the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops are more pronounced. Low settings average 127 FPS, Medium settings average 80 FPS with a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 92 FPS, High settings average 57 FPS, and Ultra settings average 45 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 82 FPS, but the relative reduction is 65%, confirming that 4K places the most significant demand on the GPU. The Medium settings at 4K show the tightest minimum-to-average ratio, with the minimum FPS of 68 being 85% of the average, suggesting stable frame pacing.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boosts to 5.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the 7600 achieves a single-thread score of 999 in 3DMark and 1,852 in Cinebench R23, while its multi-thread scores reach 6,503 in 3DMark max threads and 12,735 in Cinebench R23.

For Hard West, a turn-based tactics game that does not heavily utilize multi-threading, the CPU's single-thread performance is the most relevant metric. The 3DMark single-thread score of 999 and Geekbench single-core score of 2,521 indicate strong per-core capability, which is reflected in the 1080p Low settings result of 270 FPS—this is likely near the CPU's maximum frame output for this title. The CPU's 12 threads provide ample parallelism for any background tasks or game logic, but the game's turn-based nature means that most frames are rendered during static camera views, reducing the CPU's workload compared to real-time strategy or action games.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 26,324 places it in the 78th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rival being the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX at 0.2% lower performance. The Ryzen 5 7600's boost clock of 5.10 GHz is critical for maintaining high FPS at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the 270 FPS at 1080p Low being only 14% higher than the 231 FPS at 1440p Low, suggesting that the CPU single-thread limit is approached at 1080p. However, the CPU does not bottleneck the GPU at 4K, where the FPS drops are consistent with GPU-bound scaling.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience at 1920x1080, the High preset at 171 FPS offers a strong balance between visual quality and performance, as the jump to Ultra only adds 33% more frame time while providing diminishing returns in a turn-based game where smoothness is less critical. The Medium preset at 226 FPS is also viable, but High is recommended as the sweet spot for 1080p, given the ample headroom above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 108 FPS is the recommended choice, as it maintains a comfortable frame rate well above 60 FPS while delivering solid visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 87 FPS is also playable, but the 19% reduction from High to Ultra may not justify the additional GPU load, especially for a game where combat is turn-based and fast reaction times are not required. Medium at 153 FPS is excellent for those prioritizing smoothness, but High provides a better visual experience without sacrificing playability.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset at 80 FPS is the best option, as it delivers a smooth experience above 60 FPS with a minimum of 68 FPS, ensuring no noticeable stutters. The High preset at 57 FPS is acceptable for a turn-based game, but the Medium preset's superior frame pacing and 40% higher average FPS make it the more reliable choice. Ultra at 45 FPS is playable but approaches the lower bound of acceptable performance, so it is only recommended for players who prioritize visual detail over frame rate consistency. Overall, the data indicates that Medium at 4K, High at 1440p, and High at 1080p provide the best balance of performance and quality for this combo in Hard West.