Hard West

Hard West is a turn-based tactics title from 2015, and the benchmark data for the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination shows a system that is overwhelmingly capable of running it at maximum settings. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings presets are exceptionally high, indicating that this pairing is far more powerful than the game demands. The data suggests that players will be limited by the game's engine or the monitor's refresh rate long before they hit a hardware bottleneck.

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 has a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. For a game like Hard West, which is a turn-based tactics title from 2015, the workload is not typically as demanding on multi-threaded performance as modern AAA shooters. The game’s logic, pathfinding, and AI calculations are often more dependent on single-thread performance.

The CPU’s benchmark results confirm its strength. In Cinebench R23, it scores 2943 points in the single-core test and 20851 points in the multi-core test. The PassMark single-thread score is 3685. This level of single-thread performance is more than sufficient for a game of this era. The data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 262 FPS. At 1080p Ultra, it still maintains an average of 129 FPS. The fact that the frame rate scales so significantly between Low and Ultra settings (from 262 to 129 FPS) indicates that at lower settings, the GPU has less work to do, and the CPU is capable of feeding it frames at a very high rate.

However, the CPU's role becomes less critical as resolution increases. The 6-core/12-thread configuration with a 16 MB shared L3 cache provides ample headroom for any background tasks, but the primary driver of frame rates in this test is clearly the GPU. The CPU is not the limiting factor in any of the measured scenarios, as the lowest average frame rate recorded across the entire test suite is 43 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is a situation heavily weighted on the GPU. The Ryzen 5 8400F sits in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25005. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, scores 24964, a negligible 0.2% difference, showing that this CPU is well within the expected performance envelope for its class.

FAQ

Q: Will this CPU and GPU combo maintain a smooth 60 FPS experience at 4K resolution?

A: The data shows that at 4K with High settings, the system averages 57 FPS, which is just shy of the 60 FPS mark. However, dropping the settings to Medium yields an average of 74 FPS, ensuring a smooth experience. Low settings at 4K push the average to 91 FPS, while Ultra settings drop the average to 43 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 8400F compare to its closest competitor in synthetic benchmarks?

A: According to the data, the Ryzen 5 8400F has an average benchmark score of 25005. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, has an average score of 24964. This puts the 8400F exactly 0.2% ahead, making the performance difference statistically insignificant.

Q: Is the RTX 5070 a high-performing GPU in general terms?

A: The benchmark data indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 sits in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 40377. While its nearest rivals in the data are professional workstation cards (AMD Radeon Pro 580 and AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100), its placement in the 82nd percentile confirms it is a high-end consumer graphics card.

Q: What is the best settings preset to use at 1920x1080 for the highest frame rate?

A: The measured data shows that at 1080p, the Low preset achieves an average of 262 FPS, while the Medium preset still achieves a very high 224 FPS. For the highest possible frame rate, Low is the choice, but Medium offers a massive frame rate with likely better visual fidelity. The High preset still delivers 172 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: The benchmark results show that the frame rate scales inversely with resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the FPS is 262, which drops to 129 at 1080p Ultra. This scaling pattern shows that as the GPU workload increases, the frame rate decreases. Since the CPU is a constant in all tests, the data indicates the RTX 5070 is the primary performance limiter, not the Ryzen 5 8400F.

Q: What is the performance delta between the Ryzen 5 8400F and the Intel Core i7-11850H?

A: The Ryzen 5 8400F has an average score of 25005, while the Intel Core i7-11850H has an average score of 24935. The Ryzen 5 8400F is 0.3% faster than the Intel part in these aggregate benchmarks.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture of the performance impact of each settings preset. For players with a standard 60 Hz or 144 Hz monitor, the High preset is the optimal choice for a balance of visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 172 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. At 2560x1440, High still achieves a very smooth 109 FPS average, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate 1440p displays.

For those gaming at 3840x2160, the High preset yields an average of 57 FPS. While this is playable, it is not a locked 60 FPS. The data suggests that the Medium preset is the best experience for 4K, as it provides a 74 FPS average with a minimum of 63 FPS, ensuring a consistent and smooth frame rate without sacrificing too much visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only setting that presents a challenge, with an average of 43 FPS, which is not recommended for a smooth experience.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset is still very much playable, with an average of 129 FPS. However, the performance difference between High and Ultra at lower resolutions is less impactful visually than the frame rate gain from using High. The data shows that the Medium preset offers the best combination of high frame rates and stability, with a minimum FPS of 191 at 1080p, 121 at 1440p, and 63 at 4K. This makes Medium a safe and high-performance choice across all resolutions for players who prioritize a stable frame time.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination is ranked 700th out of 3722 tested combos in this game. This places it in the top 18.8% of all tested configurations, which is a strong showing. This rank is impressive considering the sheer number of possible combinations that have been benchmarked. The high ranking is a direct result of the RTX 5070's raw power and the Ryzen 5 8400F's solid performance, ensuring that the system is never held back by a lack of processing power.

The data shows that the RTX 5070 is a formidable GPU. It achieves a PassMark G3D score of 29137. The Ryzen 5 8400F also performs well in its own right, with a PassMark multithread score of 24389. The combination of these two components results in a system that is overkill for a game like Hard West, pushing the bottleneck well into the territory of the display's refresh rate rather than the hardware itself. The rank of 700 out of 3722 suggests that this is a high-end configuration, and the measured frame rates support this assertion, with even the most demanding 4K Ultra setting producing playable results.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a clear and predictable trend as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system achieves an average of 172 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 with High settings, the average drops to 109 FPS, a 36.6% decrease. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average falls to 57 FPS, a 47.7% decrease from 1440p and a 66.9% decrease from 1080p.

This significant drop in frame rate as resolution scales up is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario. The RTX 5070 is working much harder to render the increased pixel count at 4K, while the CPU's workload remains relatively static. The Ryzen 5 8400F is powerful enough to keep up with the GPU at 1080p, as evidenced by the 262 FPS average at Low settings, but the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The data indicates that the performance curve is steep, and players targeting 4K will need to adjust settings to maintain high frame rates, as the GPU is the primary component being stressed.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: The system achieves an average of 262 FPS.
• Medium: An average of 224 FPS is recorded, with a minimum of 191 FPS and a maximum of 258 FPS.
• High: The average frame rate is 172 FPS.
• Ultra: The average frame rate is 129 FPS.

2560x1440:

• Low: The system achieves an average of 173 FPS.
• Medium: An average of 142 FPS is recorded, with a minimum of 121 FPS and a maximum of 163 FPS.
• High: The average frame rate is 109 FPS.
• Ultra: The average frame rate is 82 FPS.

3840x2160:

• Low: The system achieves an average of 91 FPS.
• Medium: An average of 74 FPS is recorded, with a minimum of 63 FPS and a maximum of 86 FPS.
• High: The average frame rate is 57 FPS.
• Ultra: The average frame rate is 43 FPS.

The data reveals that the RTX 5070 provides a massive performance headroom for this game. Even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate, while low by modern standards, is still playable. The jump from Medium to High settings at 4K results in a 17 FPS loss, while the jump from High to Ultra results in a 14 FPS loss. This shows that the Ultra preset is particularly demanding, but the system handles it gracefully. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset produces frame rates that are well above the refresh rate of most high-end gaming monitors, making this combination excellent for high-refresh-rate competitive play, if the game supported it.