Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 produces a spread of frame rates in Hard West that clearly separates CPU-bound scenarios from GPU-bound ones. At 1080p, the system is practically idling from a graphics standpoint, while at 4K the RTX 4080 is finally given meaningful work. The measured results show that this combination ranks 281st out of 3722 tested combos, placing it in the top 8% of all configurations in the database for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, which is expected for a turn-based tactics game that does not demand heavy CPU simulation work. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 206 at 1920x1080 to 131 at 2560x1440, then to 69 at 3840x2160. That represents a 36% reduction moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another 47% reduction moving from 1440p to 4K. The total scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings is a 67% drop in average frame rate.

The pattern repeats at other settings. At Medium, the average goes from 244 at 1080p to 170 at 1440p to 89 at 4K. At Low, the numbers are 262, 207, and 109 respectively. At Ultra, the system delivers 155 at 1080p, 98 at 1440p, and 51 at 4K. The scaling factors are similar across presets, which indicates the performance ceiling is being set by the GPU rather than the CPU. If the processor were the limiting factor, the gap between 1080p and 1440p would be much smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K.

The 1080p results are remarkably high. Even at Ultra settings, the average of 155 FPS is far beyond what a turn-based tactical game needs for smooth play. At Low settings, 262 FPS at 1080p suggests the RTX 4080 is capable of far more than Hard West can throw at it. The GPU is essentially waiting on the game engine at this resolution. The 4K numbers are more telling. The jump from 109 FPS at Low to 51 FPS at Ultra at 3840x2160 shows a 53% performance penalty for maxing out the visual features, which is a substantial cost.

The scaling behavior indicates that Hard West is not a demanding title by modern standards. The RTX 4080 at 4K Ultra produces 51 FPS, which is playable but not silky smooth. The fact that Low settings at 4K nearly double the frame rate to 109 FPS suggests the Ultra preset includes effects that are disproportionately expensive relative to their visual benefit in this game.

GPU Role

The RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this pairing for Hard West frame rates. The GPU carries 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1400 MHz with 22.4 Gbps effective transfer. The base clock of 2205 MHz and boost clock of 2505 MHz provide the compute throughput needed to push high frame rates at 1440p and 4K.

The chip is built on TSMC 5 nm with 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. The AD103 chip includes 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units. The 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores are present but largely irrelevant for a game like Hard West, which does not use ray-traced effects. The FP32 compute rating of 48.74 TFLOPS is far more than this title requires.

The GPU benchmark data shows the RTX 4080 sits at the 86th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 54247 places it within 0.1% of the RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores 54209. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828, 1.1% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698, 2.6% higher. The RTX 4080 also trails the AMD Radeon 8060S by 2.7%, which scores 55757. These are all within a tight band, suggesting the RTX 4080's performance in synthetic benchmarks is competitive with its nearest rivals.

In Hard West specifically, the GPU's role becomes clear when examining the 4K results. At 4K High, the average of 69 FPS is respectable but not exceptional. The 4K Ultra result of 51 FPS shows the RTX 4080 being pushed to its limits by a game that is not particularly demanding. The GPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p, where even Ultra settings produce 155 FPS, but it becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Hard West. This game was released in 2015 and does not feature large texture sets or complex geometry. The memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s is likewise overkill for this title. The GPU's pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s are far beyond what a turn-based tactics game can utilize.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 8400F and RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 281 out of 3722 tested combos in Hard West. This places the configuration in the top 7.5% of all systems tested for this game. The ranking reflects the strong GPU performance at higher resolutions, where the RTX 4080 can stretch its legs.

The CPU component of this combo is less impressive in isolation. The Ryzen 5 8400F sits at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25005. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F scores 24964, just 0.2% lower. The Intel Core i7-11850H scores 24935, 0.3% lower. The Intel Core i7-13620H scores 24911, 0.4% lower. The AMD EPYC 9474F scores 25103, which is 0.4% higher. This places the 8400F in the middle of a very tight pack of processors with similar multi-threaded performance.

The combination ranking of 281 out of 3722 is driven primarily by the GPU. The RTX 4080 at the 86th percentile among GPUs is a much stronger component relative to its peers than the 8400F is among CPUs. The pairing works well in Hard West because the game does not heavily tax the processor, allowing the GPU to determine the final frame rates.

The rank of 281 might seem low for a system with an RTX 4080, but the context matters. Hard West is an older game with modest requirements, and many other configurations with top-tier CPUs and GPUs will achieve similar frame rates. The ranking includes a wide range of hardware, and the top 281 systems all deliver excellent performance in this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium settings as the sweet spot for this combination across all resolutions. At 4K Medium, the average of 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 103 FPS provides a smooth experience with headroom. At 1440p Medium, the average of 170 FPS with a minimum of 144 and maximum of 195 is far beyond what any display can show. At 1080p Medium, the average of 244 FPS with a minimum of 207 and maximum of 280 is essentially uncapped.

High settings are also viable but come with a noticeable cost. At 4K High, the average drops to 69 FPS from 89 FPS at Medium, a 22% reduction. At 1440p High, the average is 131 FPS compared to 170 FPS at Medium, a 23% reduction. At 1080p High, the average is 206 FPS versus 244 FPS at Medium, a 16% reduction. The frame rate penalty for moving from Medium to High is consistent across resolutions, suggesting a uniform increase in shader complexity.

Ultra settings are the most demanding and deliver the lowest frame rates. At 4K Ultra, the average of 51 FPS is borderline for smooth play on a high refresh rate display. At 1440p Ultra, 98 FPS is playable but below the 144 FPS that many monitors target. At 1080p Ultra, 155 FPS is still fast, but the cost of Ultra over High is significant.

Low settings offer the highest frame rates but are unnecessary for this hardware. At 4K Low, the average of 109 FPS is still lower than Medium at 4K, which produces 89 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium at 4K is 20 FPS, which is meaningful but not transformative. At lower resolutions, Low settings produce frame rates above 200 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of almost all displays.

For the best experience, Medium at 1440p or 4K is the recommended starting point. The minimum frame rates at Medium are solid, with 76 FPS at 4K and 144 FPS at 1440p. This leaves room for occasional dips without noticeable stutter. Moving to High at 1440p is also reasonable, as 131 FPS average is still smooth. Ultra should be reserved for users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate stability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 262 FPS, Medium produces 244 FPS with a minimum of 207 and maximum of 280, High produces 206 FPS, and Ultra produces 155 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 107 FPS, representing a 41% reduction when maxing out settings.

At 2560x1440, the average frame rates are still high but show the GPU beginning to work harder. Low settings deliver 207 FPS, Medium delivers 170 FPS with a minimum of 144 and maximum of 195, High delivers 131 FPS, and Ultra delivers 98 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 109 FPS, a 53% reduction. The minimum at Medium of 144 FPS is notable because it matches the refresh rate of many gaming monitors.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop to levels where the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. Low settings produce 109 FPS, Medium produces 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 and maximum of 103, High produces 69 FPS, and Ultra produces 51 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 58 FPS, a 53% reduction. The minimum of 76 FPS at Medium is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play, but the Ultra result of 51 FPS falls below it.

The 4K Medium result deserves particular attention. The minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 103 FPS bracket the average of 89 FPS tightly, indicating consistent frame pacing. This is the only setting at 4K with recorded minimum and maximum values, which suggests it was the target test condition. The 1440p Medium results show a similar pattern with a minimum of 144 and maximum of 195.

Comparing settings across resolutions, the relative performance is consistent. At every resolution, Low is the fastest, followed by Medium, then High, then Ultra. The gap between Medium and High is larger than the gap between Low and Medium, which indicates that High settings introduce effects that are more expensive per frame.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 8400F plays a secondary role in Hard West, as the game's turn-based nature does not create heavy CPU workloads. The processor has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz. It is built on the Zen 4 architecture with the Phoenix codename, fabricated on a 4 nm process by TSMC. The 25,000 million transistors on a 178 mm² die are arranged with 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache.

The CPU's benchmark results show a solid mid-range performer. In Cinebench R23, it scores 20851 in multi-core and 2943 in single-core. The 3DMark results show 6165 in max threads, 6091 in 16 threads, 5275 in 8 threads, 3563 in 4 threads, and 1874 in 2 threads. The single-thread score of 951 in 3DMark and 3685 in PassMark indicate that per-core performance is adequate for games that rely on a few threads.

The 8400F's memory support is limited to DDR5 with dual-channel operation, providing 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This is not a constraint for Hard West, which does not have demanding memory access patterns. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes is more than enough for the RTX 4080, which uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 77 among all processors places it in the upper quarter of CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 25005 is nearly identical to the Ryzen 5 7500F, which scores 24964 and is 0.2% slower. The Intel Core i7-11850H and i7-13620H are also within 0.4% of the 8400F's score. The AMD EPYC 9474F is 0.4% faster with a score of 25103.

In Hard West, the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution. The evidence is in the scaling behavior: if the CPU were limiting performance, the frame rates at 1080p would not scale as cleanly with resolution changes. The 262 FPS at 1080p Low and 206 FPS at 1080p High show that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough draw calls to exceed 200 FPS. The 4K results, where frame rates drop to 51-109 FPS, are clearly GPU-limited.

The 6-core, 12-thread configuration is sufficient for this game. Hard West does not utilize many threads, and the single-thread performance of the 8400F, as shown by its 2943 score in Cinebench R23 single-core, is adequate. The boost clock of 4.70 GHz provides responsive frame times in scenes with many on-screen entities.

The CPU's release date of March 2024 and active production status indicate it is a current product, but its performance in Hard West is not meaningfully different from older processors in the same performance class. The 0.2% difference from the Ryzen 5 7500F is negligible in real-world gaming. For this game, the CPU choice has little impact on the final frame rates, which are determined almost entirely by the GPU and resolution.