Hard West

Hard West is a turn-based tactics title from 2015, and the benchmark data for the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 shows a configuration that is heavily constrained by the game's engine and CPU demands rather than the GPU's raw capabilities. The CPU is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from AMD's 7000 series based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, this chip achieves a multi-threaded score of 24,128 in Cinebench R23 and a single-core score of 3,406, placing it in the 83rd percentile among all tested CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 26,272 places it nearly exactly in line with its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U (26,262, 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 7 7735U (26,305, -0.1% delta), indicating that its performance profile is well understood. For a game like Hard West, which relies on turn-based logic and AI pathfinding, the single-thread performance is critical, and the data suggests the 7600X's 5.30 GHz boost clock is sufficient to drive high frame rates, though not without limits.

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

The Ryzen 5 7600X brings 6 cores and 12 threads, a configuration that is more than adequate for a turn-based tactics game released in 2015. Hard West was developed in an era when dual-core CPUs were common, so the modern Zen 4 architecture with its 5 nm process and 32 MB of shared L3 cache is far beyond the game's minimum requirements. The CPU's single-thread performance, as measured by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,406, is the primary driver here. In the measured FPS data, the gap between settings at the same resolution reveals where the CPU becomes the bottleneck. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 290.6 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 178.0 FPS, a difference of 112.6 FPS that is almost entirely attributable to the additional draw calls and game logic complexity at higher settings. The CPU's 12 threads help maintain consistency in scenes with multiple units, but the fact that the Ultra preset at 1080p still produces 178.0 FPS indicates that the game engine is not scaling perfectly with the available threads. The 7600X's 4.70 GHz base clock ensures that even under sustained load, the CPU does not throttle, which is essential for maintaining stable frame times in a game where turns can involve complex calculations.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

Out of 1,699 tested combinations of CPUs and GPUs in Hard West, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 7600X and RTX 5090 ranks 16th. This is a top 1% result, reflecting that the combination of a high-end 2022 CPU and a flagship 2025 GPU is near the absolute ceiling for this game. However, the rank is not higher because Hard West's engine has inherent limits that prevent even the most powerful hardware from achieving unlimited frame rates. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 290.6 FPS, which is close to the practical limit for many display refresh rates. The 16th rank out of 1,699 suggests that there are a handful of other combinations, likely with CPUs that have even higher single-thread scores, that can push slightly higher. The delta between this combo and the top-ranked ones is not available in the data, but the percentile placement indicates that the 7600X is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. Instead, the game's engine, which was designed for hardware from 2015, simply cannot utilize the full potential of the RTX 5090, as evidenced by the relatively modest FPS gains when moving from High to Low settings at 4K.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a behemoth of a GPU, with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. Its base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and it features 21,760 shading units. In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5090 scores 39,650 in PassMark G3D and 14,411 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 94th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 84,306 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D (84,241, 0.1% delta), and it is only 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 (83,209). For Hard West, the GPU's role is almost entirely about rendering resolution and settings, as the game's visual fidelity is modest by modern standards. The 32 GB of VRAM is far more than the game could ever use, even at 4K Ultra, but the data shows that the GPU is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 112.6 FPS, but this is likely due to CPU limitations rather than GPU rendering power. The RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is overkill for a game that was released when GPUs had a fraction of that capability. The GPU's 176 ROPs and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate ensure that even at 4K, the fill rate is not a limiting factor, which is confirmed by the 4K results showing a more gradual decline in FPS as settings increase.

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

Examining the measured FPS across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of CPU limitation at lower resolutions and GPU limitation at higher resolutions. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 240.1 FPS, which drops to 151.4 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and further to 77.4 FPS at 4K (a 68% reduction from 1080p). This scaling is steep, indicating that the GPU is being tasked more heavily as resolution increases, but the absolute numbers at 1080p are so high that they exceed what most monitors can display. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 290.6 FPS, which is likely near the engine's maximum frame rate cap or the CPU's limit for processing game logic. When moving to 1440p Low, the FPS drops to 236.5, a 18.6% reduction, which is less than the 37% drop seen on High settings. This suggests that at Low settings, the GPU has more headroom, and the CPU is still the primary limiter. At 4K Low, the FPS is 127.5, which is still very playable, but the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 69.6 FPS (127.5 vs 57.9), showing that the GPU is now the bottleneck at the highest settings. The data indicates that this combination is best suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p gaming, where the CPU can keep up, while 4K gaming is possible but with a more significant performance hit, especially at Ultra settings.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, High delivers 240.1 FPS, which is smooth on any display, and it is only 50.5 FPS slower than Low, which is a negligible difference given the frame rates involved. At 1440p, High produces 151.4 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth for a turn-based tactics game, and it is 41.4 FPS faster than the Ultra preset's 110.8 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p offers 194.8 FPS, which is higher, but the visual improvements from Medium to High are worth the 43.4 FPS trade-off. At 4K, High drops to 77.4 FPS, which is still playable, but the Ultra preset's 57.9 FPS is noticeably worse. For players with a 4K display, the Medium preset at 100.4 FPS is the sweet spot, as it provides a 43% FPS increase over High while maintaining acceptable visual fidelity. The Low preset is not recommended because it sacrifices too much visual quality for a marginal FPS gain, especially at 1080p where the difference between Low and High is only 50.5 FPS. The Ultra preset is only advisable for players who prioritize maximum visual detail over frame rate, and even then, the 57.9 FPS at 4K may be too low for some users, though it is still above the 30 FPS threshold for turn-based games.

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

At 1920x1080, the benchmark results are as follows: the Low preset achieves an average FPS of 290.6, which is the highest recorded for this combination. The Medium preset delivers 274.6 FPS, a 5.5% reduction from Low. High settings produce 240.1 FPS, which is 17.4% lower than Low, and Ultra settings yield 178.0 FPS, a 38.7% drop from Low. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p represents a 112.6 FPS range, indicating that the game engine is sensitive to settings changes even at this resolution. At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 236.5 FPS, which is 18.6% lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium settings at 1440p deliver 194.8 FPS, a 17.6% reduction from Low. High settings produce 151.4 FPS, a 36% reduction from Low, and Ultra settings drop to 110.8 FPS, a 53.2% reduction from Low. The 1440p results show a more pronounced impact of settings, with the range from Low to Ultra being 125.7 FPS. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 127.5 FPS, which is 46.1% lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium settings at 4K deliver 100.4 FPS, a 21.3% reduction from Low. High settings produce 77.4 FPS, a 39.3% reduction from Low, and Ultra settings drop to 57.9 FPS, a 54.6% reduction from Low. The 4K results show a tighter range of 69.6 FPS from Low to Ultra, confirming that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at this resolution. Across all resolutions, the data consistently shows that the RTX 5090 is overprovisioned for this game, and the Ryzen 5 7600X's single-thread performance is what ultimately caps the maximum achievable frame rates, particularly at 1080p and 1440p.