Hard West

# Hard West — AMD Ryzen 5 8400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015 that is far more demanding at higher settings than its genre might suggest. Measured data shows this combination ranks 72nd out of 2,949 tested combos, placing it in the top 2.4% of all configurations evaluated for this game. The CPU sits at the 77th percentile among all processors tested, while the GPU ranks at the 92nd percentile among all graphics cards, indicating that this pairing leverages a strong GPU to push frame rates well beyond what the aging title's engine typically requires.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals how Hard West's rendering load shifts between CPU and GPU constraints. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combination produces 221 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops this to 158 FPS, a 28.5% reduction. Further scaling to 3840x2160 yields 83 FPS, representing a 47.5% decline from the 1440p result and a 62.4% drop from 1080p. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 5090 D remains the dominant factor across all resolutions, but the gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly steep, suggesting Hard West's pixel-shading workload expands aggressively at higher resolutions.

The Low preset tells a similar story with even higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 262 FPS. At 1440p Low, this falls to 225 FPS, a 14.1% reduction. At 4K Low, the average drops to 131 FPS, which is 41.8% below the 1440p figure and exactly half of the 1080p result. The fact that 4K Low still delivers 131 FPS — higher than 1080p Ultra's 187 FPS is not applicable here, but the headroom is substantial — demonstrates that even at the most demanding resolution, the GPU has plenty of capacity left when settings are reduced.

Ultra settings produce the steepest scaling curve. From 187 FPS at 1080p, the average falls to 118 FPS at 1440p (a 36.9% drop) and then to 62 FPS at 4K (a 47.5% drop from 1440p and 66.8% from 1080p). This pattern suggests that Ultra settings introduce effects that scale superlinearly with resolution, likely related to shadow resolution and post-processing passes that become more expensive as pixel count increases. The 62 FPS result at 4K Ultra is the only measured configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this is the first point where the GPU begins to struggle.

Medium settings provide the most consistent scaling behavior. At 1080p Medium, the average is 244 FPS, dropping to 205 FPS at 1440p (16.0% reduction) and 108 FPS at 4K (47.3% reduction from 1440p). The min/max values for Medium show tighter variance as resolution increases: the 1080p run spans 207 to 280 FPS (a 73 FPS range), 1440p spans 174 to 236 FPS (62 FPS range), and 4K spans 92 to 124 FPS (32 FPS range). This narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that GPU-bound scenarios produce more consistent frame delivery than CPU-bound ones.

The overall pattern points to a system that is firmly GPU-limited across all tested configurations. The RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provide ample headroom for Hard West's textures, and the 4 nm CPU with 6 cores and 12 threads is rarely the bottleneck. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU's single-thread performance becomes more relevant, as evidenced by the relatively smaller FPS differences between Low and High presets at that resolution compared to 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this combination in Hard West?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 262, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the ceiling for this hardware pairing in the game.

Q: Is 4K Ultra playable with the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and RTX 5090 D?

A: The 4K Ultra preset yields an average of 62 FPS, which is right at the edge of smooth playability. It is technically playable but leaves no headroom for demanding scenes, and it is the only tested configuration below 83 FPS.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from Ultra to High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High produces 158 FPS average compared to 118 FPS on Ultra, representing a 33.9% improvement. This makes High the recommended preset for players prioritizing frame rate at this resolution.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM help in Hard West?

A: Hard West is a 2015 turn-based tactics game, so its VRAM requirements are modest. The 32 GB GDDR7 memory is far beyond what this title needs; the practical benefit is that VRAM never becomes a limiting factor at any settings combination.

Q: What is the rank of this CPU+GPU combination among all tested systems in Hard West?

A: The combo ranks 72nd out of 2,949 tested combinations, placing it in the top 2.4% of all configurations evaluated for this game.

Q: How much FPS difference exists between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low averages 262 FPS while Ultra averages 187 FPS, a difference of 75 FPS or 40.1%. Both are far above any display refresh rate, so the choice between presets at this resolution has minimal practical impact.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the primary performance driver in this configuration, as evidenced by the clear frame rate scaling with resolution changes. The card's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Hard West's asset streaming needs. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and boosts to 2407 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These clock speeds, combined with 21,760 shading units and 176 ROPs, produce a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

The GPU's benchmark scores corroborate its strong gaming performance. It achieves 44,065 in Passmark G3D and 28,396 in Passmark GPU Compute, with a Geekbench OpenCL score of 310,674 and Vulkan score of 376,915. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result of 14,326 further confirms its DirectX 12 capabilities. At the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, the RTX 5090 D outperforms its nearest rivals by small margins: it is 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, 1.6% behind the RX 6850M XT, and 2.1-2.4% behind the Tesla P100 variants. In Hard West specifically, the GPU's raw throughput translates directly into high frame rates across all settings.

The VRAM capacity of 32 GB is noteworthy in the context of Hard West's age. The game was released in 2015 when 4 GB GPUs were common, and its texture budgets are correspondingly modest. The RTX 5090 D never approaches its memory limits in this title, which means the card's memory bandwidth advantages are not fully exercised. Instead, the GPU's compute throughput and rasterization speed determine the frame rates, and these are so high that the CPU begins to matter more at lower resolutions.

The GPU's TDP of 575 W and 1x 16-pin power connector indicate a high-power design, but the measured FPS results show that this power is well spent in Hard West. The card maintains high utilization across all tested resolutions, with the 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS being the only point where it appears to reach its practical limit. At 1080p, the GPU is likely idling or throttling due to CPU constraints, as evidenced by the relatively small FPS differences between Low and Ultra presets at that resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 262 FPS, Medium averages 244 FPS with a range of 207 to 280 FPS, High averages 221 FPS, and Ultra averages 187 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 75 FPS, representing a 28.6% reduction from the lowest to highest preset. Notably, even Ultra at 1080p exceeds 180 FPS, making this resolution entirely GPU-headroom-limited.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a wider gap between presets. Low averages 225 FPS, Medium averages 205 FPS with a range of 174 to 236 FPS, High averages 158 FPS, and Ultra averages 118 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 107 FPS, or 47.6% of the Low result. The Medium preset's min FPS of 174 is still above the High preset's average, indicating that Medium delivers consistent performance with minimal frame pacing issues.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload becomes more demanding. Low settings average 131 FPS, Medium averages 108 FPS with a range of 92 to 124 FPS, High averages 83 FPS, and Ultra averages 62 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 69 FPS drop, with each settings tier costing roughly 20-25 FPS. The Medium preset's min FPS of 92 ensures that even the lowest frame delivery remains above 90 FPS, while Ultra's 62 FPS average leaves minimal margin for demanding scenes.

Comparing across resolutions at the same settings reveals the scaling factors. For Low, 1080p to 1440p costs 37 FPS (14.1%), and 1440p to 4K costs 94 FPS (41.8%). For Medium, the drops are 39 FPS (16.0%) and 97 FPS (47.3%). For High, the drops are 63 FPS (28.5%) and 75 FPS (47.5%). For Ultra, the drops are 69 FPS (36.9%) and 56 FPS (47.5%). The consistent ~47% reduction from 1440p to 4K across High, Medium, and Ultra suggests a pixel-count-driven bottleneck, while Low's smaller 41.8% drop indicates that reduced shading complexity partially offsets the resolution increase.

Settings Recommendations

For players using a 1920x1080 display, the data shows that even Ultra settings deliver 187 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all 1080p monitors. The choice of preset at this resolution is therefore purely aesthetic; Ultra provides the best visual quality with no practical frame rate penalty. Players with 240 Hz or higher refresh displays can even use High at 221 FPS, but Ultra remains the sensible default.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation depends on the display's refresh rate. For 144 Hz panels, Ultra's 118 FPS is sufficient, though High's 158 FPS provides a more comfortable margin. For 165 Hz or 240 Hz displays, High is the optimal choice, as it delivers 158 FPS while maintaining visual fidelity. Medium at 205 FPS is only necessary for extreme refresh rates above 200 Hz, and Low at 225 FPS offers minimal additional benefit over Medium.

At 3840x2160, the tradeoffs become more pronounced. For 60 Hz displays, Ultra's 62 FPS is just barely playable, but the lack of headroom makes High's 83 FPS the safer recommendation. For 120 Hz or 144 Hz 4K panels, Medium at 108 FPS is the best balance, providing smooth gameplay while maintaining decent visual quality. Low at 131 FPS is the choice for maximum frame rate, but the visual sacrifice is significant given the game's art style.

The Medium preset deserves special attention across all resolutions. It consistently delivers frame rates that are 10-20% higher than High while requiring only a modest visual downgrade. The measured min/max values for Medium show tight frame pacing: 207-280 FPS at 1080p, 174-236 FPS at 1440p, and 92-124 FPS at 4K. This consistency makes Medium the recommended default for turn-based tactics, where stable frame delivery enhances the experience more than marginal visual improvements.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F provides the computational foundation for this configuration, with 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture (Phoenix codename) on a 4 nm process. Its base clock of 4.20 GHz boosts to 4.70 GHz, and it carries 16 MB of shared L3 cache plus 1 MB L2 per core. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 20,851, while single-core reaches 2,943. Passmark multi-thread scores 24,389, with single-thread at 3,685. The 3DMark results scale from 951 single-thread to 6,165 max threads, demonstrating that the CPU scales well up to its full thread count.

In Hard West, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p, where the GPU is not fully stressed. The fact that Low settings produce 262 FPS while Ultra produces 187 FPS — a 75 FPS difference — suggests that the CPU can drive frame rates up to approximately 260 FPS before becoming the limiting factor. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU takes over as the bottleneck, and the CPU's performance becomes less critical. This is consistent with the CPU's 77th percentile ranking among all processors, which indicates solid but not top-tier performance.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores are all within 0.4% of its average score of 25,005. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is 0.2% ahead, the Intel Core i7-11850H is 0.3% ahead, the Intel Core i7-13620H is 0.4% ahead, and the AMD EPYC 9474F is 0.4% behind. This tight clustering means that in Hard West, any of these CPUs would deliver nearly identical frame rates when paired with the RTX 5090 D. The 8400F's 4.70 GHz boost clock and 12 threads are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at all but the highest frame rates.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 83.2 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for Hard West's data requirements. The 4 nm process node and 65 W TDP indicate efficient operation, though the measured frame rates suggest that power delivery is not a constraint. The CPU's PCIe Gen 4 support with 20 lanes provides sufficient bandwidth for the GPU, though the RTX 5090 D's PCIe 5.0 x16 interface is not fully utilized in this configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks 72nd out of 2,949 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the top 2.4% of all configurations evaluated. This ranking reflects the GPU's dominant role in determining frame rates for this game; the RTX 5090 D's 92nd percentile GPU ranking pulls the combo upward, while the CPU's 77th percentile ranking does not hold it back significantly.

The rank of 72 out of 2,949 means that 2,877 other combinations perform worse, while 71 perform better. Given that the RTX 5090 D is one of the fastest GPUs available, the combos ranked above this one likely pair it with even higher-performing CPUs, such as flagship models with more cores or higher clock speeds. The data indicates that in Hard West, the marginal gains from such CPU upgrades are minimal at 4K but could be more noticeable at 1080p, where the CPU has a larger influence on frame rates.

The combo's position relative to the GPU's rival score comparisons is telling. The RTX 5090 D is 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT and 1.6% behind the RX 6850M XT in average benchmark scores, yet in Hard West, the FPS results are consistently high across all settings. This suggests that the game is not particularly sensitive to the subtle differences between these GPUs; instead, the absolute performance level of the RTX 5090 D ensures top-tier results regardless of minor benchmark variations.

The CPU's nearest rivals all score within 0.4% of the 8400F's average, meaning that swapping to a Ryzen 5 7500F or Intel Core i7-13620H would likely change the combo's ranking by only a few positions. The 72nd rank is therefore more a function of the GPU's capability than the CPU's specific model. For players considering this combination, the data shows that Hard West is thoroughly GPU-bound at 1440p and 4K, making the RTX 5090 D the primary determinant of the experience. At 1080p, the CPU's 12 threads and high boost clock are sufficient to prevent any meaningful bottleneck, as evidenced by the 262 FPS Low preset result.