Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 pairing delivers a robust experience in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. The data shows a combination that is heavily influenced by resolution, with the CPU providing ample headroom at lower settings while the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher presets. The measured frame rates place this configuration in the upper tier of tested combos, though the specific performance characteristics reveal a system that is best tuned for high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p gameplay.

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

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on a 4 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, which are strong figures for a desktop chip. The CPU also features a 16 MB shared L3 cache and 1 MB per core L2 cache, alongside 64 KB per core L1 cache. This configuration provides solid single-thread performance, which is critical for Hard West given its turn-based logic and game simulation.

The CPU’s benchmark scores clarify its capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 20,851 in multi-core and 2,943 in single-core tests. The 3DMark results show a scaling pattern: 1,874 with 2 threads, 3,563 with 4 threads, 5,275 with 8 threads, and 6,165 with max threads. This indicates that while the processor gains from additional threads, the scaling is not linear, suggesting that the game’s core workloads may not fully utilize all 12 threads. The PassMark multithread score of 24,530 and single-thread score of 3,684 reinforce that the CPU is well-balanced, but its true strength lies in maintaining consistent frame pacing rather than pushing extreme multi-threaded throughput.

For Hard West, the CPU’s role is to handle the game’s turn-based calculations, pathfinding, and unit selection without bottlenecking the GPU. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 247.5 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s practical limit for this title. The fact that the FPS drops to 156.1 at High settings at the same resolution suggests that the GPU is already taking on more work, but the CPU still has headroom. The processor’s percentile ranking of 82 against all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 25,064, places it slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (25,057) and just behind the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (25,099), indicating it is a competitive mid-range option.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific CPU and GPU combination ranks 492 out of 1,699 tested combos in Hard West. That places it in the 71st percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms roughly 71% of the combinations in the database. This is a solid result for a pairing of a 2024 CPU with a 2020 GPU, showing that the RTX 3080 remains capable in this older title. The rank is influenced more by the GPU than the CPU, as the RTX 3080’s performance in the game’s rendering workload is the primary differentiator.

The CPU itself has a percentile ranking of 82 against all CPUs, which is higher than the combo’s overall rank. This discrepancy suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in most scenarios, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. The nearest rivals for the CPU include the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X with a delta of 0%, the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 with a delta of -0.1%, and the AMD EPYC 9474F with a delta of -0.2%. These are all within a fraction of a percent, indicating that the 8400F is not a performance outlier but rather a stable, predictable processor.

For the GPU, the RTX 3080 has a percentile ranking of 80 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35,787. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro Duo (35,860, delta -0.2%), the AMD Radeon 880M (35,646, delta 0.4%), and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (36,101, delta -0.9%). The delta values are small, meaning the RTX 3080 sits in a tight performance band. The combo’s rank of 492 reflects this balance, where the CPU is slightly stronger than the GPU relative to their respective pools, but the overall system is well-matched for Hard West.

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

The resolution scaling in Hard West reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior. At 1080p with High settings, the system produces 156.1 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 100.5 FPS, a reduction of 35.6%. At 4K High, the frame rate falls to 49.1 FPS, which is another 51.1% drop from 1440p. This pattern shows that the GPU is the dominant constraint at higher resolutions, as the pixel count increases dramatically and the RTX 3080’s 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 320-bit bus are pushed harder.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is more moderate: 247.5 FPS to 153.2 FPS, a 38.1% decrease. The 4K Low result is 81.8 FPS, a 46.6% drop from 1440p. This indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU still has a significant impact at 4K. However, the gap between High and Low at 1080p is 91.4 FPS (247.5 vs 156.1), which suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution, as it can maintain high frame rates even with reduced GPU load.

The data also shows that the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steeper at Ultra settings than at High. At Ultra, 1080p yields 118.8 FPS, 1440p yields 73.7 FPS, and 4K yields 37.3 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 37.9%, and from 1440p to 4K is 49.4%. This suggests that the RTX 3080’s memory bandwidth and compute units are saturated at Ultra, making the GPU the clear bottleneck. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, does not appear to throttle even at 4K Ultra, as the frame rates are still consistent with GPU-bound behavior.

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

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are 247.5 FPS on Low, 201.9 FPS on Medium, 156.1 FPS on High, and 118.8 FPS on Ultra. This shows a smooth progression where each settings tier costs roughly 20-30% of the previous frame rate. The gap between Low and Medium is 45.6 FPS, between Medium and High is 45.8 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 37.3 FPS. These numbers indicate that the RTX 3080 has substantial headroom at 1080p, and the CPU is able to feed it with frames up to the 247.5 FPS ceiling.

At 2560x1440, the results are 153.2 FPS on Low, 129.3 FPS on Medium, 100.5 FPS on High, and 73.7 FPS on Ultra. The relative drops are more pronounced: Low to Medium is 23.9 FPS, Medium to High is 28.8 FPS, and High to Ultra is 26.8 FPS. This resolution is likely the sweet spot for this combination, as it provides high frame rates while still showing meaningful differences between settings. The 1440p High result of 100.5 FPS is particularly notable, as it crosses the 100 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 81.8 on Low, 66.5 on Medium, 49.1 on High, and 37.3 on Ultra. The scaling here is steeper, with Low to Medium dropping 15.3 FPS, Medium to High dropping 17.4 FPS, and High to Ultra dropping 11.8 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 37.3 FPS is below the 40 FPS mark, which may be considered borderline for smooth gameplay, though turn-based tactics often tolerate lower frame rates better than action titles. The 4K High result of 49.1 FPS is playable but does not match the fluidity seen at lower resolutions.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture using an 8 nm process from Samsung, with a GA102 chip containing 28,300 million transistors. It operates with a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz, with memory running at 1188 MHz, which translates to 19 Gbps effective. The GPU has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for Hard West at all tested settings, as the game’s older engine does not appear to exceed the 10 GB capacity even at 4K Ultra.

The GPU’s compute capabilities are strong: it has 8,704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. The pixel rate is 164.2 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 465.1 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 29.77 TFLOPS. These specifications indicate that the RTX 3080 is a high-end card from its generation, and its benchmark scores confirm this. In PassMark G3D, it scores 25,086, and in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 4,407. The Geekbench OpenCL score is 167,014, and the Vulkan score is 145,176.

The GPU’s role in Hard West is to handle the game’s 2D sprite-based rendering and lighting effects, which are not particularly demanding by modern standards. However, the data shows that the RTX 3080 still becomes the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where it delivers 37.3 FPS. This is likely due to the game’s lack of optimization for high-resolution rendering, rather than a lack of raw GPU power. The RTX 3080’s percentile ranking of 80 against all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 35,787, place it slightly below the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (36,101) but above the AMD Radeon 880M (35,646). This suggests that while the card is aging, it remains a competent performer for this title.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 156.1 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay in a turn-based tactics title. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 118.8 FPS, which is still highly playable but offers diminishing visual returns. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 247.5 FPS, but this is likely unnecessary for a game that does not require fast reaction times. For most players, the High preset at 1080p provides the best balance, as it maintains a high frame rate while presumably offering better visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the High preset yields 100.5 FPS, which is an excellent result. The Medium preset at 129.3 FPS is also viable, but the jump to High is worth the 28.8 FPS cost for improved visuals. The Ultra preset at 73.7 FPS is still playable, but the drop from High suggests that the GPU is being taxed more heavily. The Low preset at 153.2 FPS is not recommended for visual quality reasons, but it shows that the system can handle high refresh rates if needed. For 1440p, High is the clear recommendation, as it offers a balance of frame rate and visual quality.

At 4K, the situation is more nuanced. The High preset delivers 49.1 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay but acceptable for a turn-based game. The Medium preset at 66.5 FPS is a better choice for those who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, as it is comfortably above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 37.3 FPS is too low for consistent smoothness, and the Low preset at 81.8 FPS sacrifices too much visual quality. The data suggests that at 4K, the Medium preset is the best option for a playable experience, while High is viable for those who prefer better visuals and can tolerate slightly lower frame rates. The RTX 3080’s 10 GB of VRAM is not a limitation here, as the game does not appear to be memory-constrained at any setting.