Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination delivers playable frame rates across the board in Hard West, but the scaling pattern reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions while becoming increasingly CPU-limited at 1080p. The data shows a 256.6 FPS average at 1080p Low, which is 3.1 times higher than the 84 FPS at 4K Low, indicating that the graphics card is the primary constraint as pixel count rises. Conversely, the jump from 1080p Ultra (123.9 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (76 FPS) represents a 38.7% drop, while the 1440p to 4K Ultra drop is 49.9%, showing that the GPU's workload scales non-linearly with resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable pattern: performance degrades as resolution increases, but the rate of degradation is steeper at the highest settings. From 1080p High to 1440p High, the average frame rate drops from 162.3 FPS to 103.2 FPS, a 36.4% reduction. Moving from 1440p High to 4K High yields 54.1 FPS, which is another 47.6% reduction. This indicates that the RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game's demands, but the raw compute throughput becomes the limiting factor at 4K.

At Low settings, the scaling is more forgiving. The 1080p Low result of 256.6 FPS drops to 160.7 FPS at 1440p (37.4% lower) and then to 84 FPS at 4K (47.7% lower than 1440p). This suggests that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is still the bottleneck at 4K, but the CPU has more headroom to push frames at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low result being more than double the 4K Medium result (67.6 FPS) confirms that resolution has a larger impact on performance than the preset quality level.

The most telling indicator of the limiting component comes from the Ultra preset. The 4K Ultra result of 38.1 FPS is barely playable, while 1080p Ultra hits 123.9 FPS. The gap between 4K Ultra and 4K Low (38.1 vs 84 FPS) is a 54.6% difference, which is larger than the gap between 1080p Ultra and 1080p Low (123.9 vs 256.6 FPS, a 51.7% difference). This shows that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading units are saturated at 4K, making the preset choice more impactful at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, housing 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. Its boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1920 MHz drive 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output pipelines. The memory subsystem consists of 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth with a memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective).

In Hard West, a turn-based tactics title, the GPU's role is primarily about rendering static scenes and character models rather than high-frequency geometry. The benchmark results show that the RTX 4070's 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is more than adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it achieves 123.9 FPS and 76 FPS on Ultra respectively. The 4K Ultra result of 38.1 FPS suggests that the card's 64 ROPs and 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate become the limiting factor at that resolution, as the game's visual effects tax the rasterization pipeline.

The GPU's 184 tensor cores and 46 RT cores are present but largely unused in this game, as Hard West does not employ ray tracing or DLSS features that would leverage these units. The PassMark G3D score of 26927 places it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.6% higher average score). The RTX 4070's 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for the game's textures at all presets, as evidenced by the stable frame rates across resolutions without signs of memory swapping.

How This Combo Ranks

The Ryzen 5 9600X and RTX 4070 combination ranks 415th out of 1699 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the top 24.4% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the system's ability to deliver high frame rates at mainstream resolutions while falling short of the top-tier setups that can maintain 60+ FPS at 4K Ultra. The rank is influenced by the CPU's 85th percentile standing among all processors and the GPU's 81st percentile, but the combo's in-game performance suggests the pairing is well-balanced for 1440p gaming.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i5-13490F (0.3% higher average score) and the AMD Ryzen 5 230 (0.3% higher), while the GPU's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.6% higher). These small deltas indicate that the combo is positioned in a densely packed performance segment, where minor clock or architecture differences translate to single-digit percentage changes in frame rates. The 415th rank out of 1699 combos means the system outperforms 75.6% of tested configurations, a solid result for a mid-range pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 256.6 FPS on Low, 211.4 FPS on Medium, 162.3 FPS on High, and 123.9 FPS on Ultra. These results show a smooth progression of diminishing returns, with the Ultra preset costing 51.7% of the Low preset's performance. The 1080p results are all well above the 60 FPS threshold, making this resolution the most comfortable for the combo.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 160.7 FPS on Low, 131 FPS on Medium, 103.2 FPS on High, and 76 FPS on Ultra. The 1440p Ultra result of 76 FPS is still playable, but the drop from 1080p Ultra (123.9 FPS) represents a 38.7% reduction. The Medium preset at 1440p (131 FPS) is notably close to the High preset at 1080p (162.3 FPS), suggesting that users can trade resolution for quality with minimal impact.

At 3840x2160, the results are 84 FPS on Low, 67.6 FPS on Medium, 54.1 FPS on High, and 38.1 FPS on Ultra. Only the Low and Medium presets maintain playable frame rates above 60 FPS, while High dips below and Ultra becomes a slideshow. The 4K results highlight the GPU's limitations at this resolution, with the Ultra preset falling 55.2% below the Low preset's 84 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) built on TSMC's 4 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 3.90 GHz and boosts to 5.40 GHz, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth and features 24 PCIe Gen 5 lanes.

In Hard West, a turn-based tactics game, the CPU's role is primarily in game logic, pathfinding, and AI calculations rather than continuous physics or streaming. The 9600X's single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3603 and a PassMark single-thread score of 4570, ensures that the game's decision-making processes run without bottlenecking the GPU. The multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25525 and a PassMark multithread score of 30027, provides ample headroom for background tasks.

The CPU's 32 MB of L3 cache is beneficial for the game's asset management, and the 4 nm process keeps TDP at 65 W, which is modest for a desktop processor. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1253 and 2-thread score of 2456 indicate that the CPU's per-core performance is strong, which is critical for a game that likely relies on a single main thread for simulation. The 1080p Low result of 256.6 FPS suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions, but at 1080p Ultra (123.9 FPS), the CPU's frame pacing becomes more relevant as the GPU's workload decreases.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the Medium preset at 1440p is the recommended configuration. This setting delivers 131 FPS, which is 72.4% higher than the High preset's 103.2 FPS at the same resolution, while still providing a significant visual upgrade over Low. The Medium preset at 1440p also outperforms the High preset at 4K (54.1 FPS) by a factor of 2.4, making it the sweet spot for this combo.

At 1080p, the High preset (162.3 FPS) is recommended over Ultra (123.9 FPS) for users who prioritize frame rate smoothness, as the visual difference between High and Ultra is typically less noticeable than the 23.7% performance gap. For 4K gaming, the Low preset (84 FPS) is the only option that maintains a comfortable frame rate, while Medium (67.6 FPS) is acceptable for users who can tolerate slight dips during intense scenes.

Users with high-refresh-rate monitors should target 1440p Medium (131 FPS) or 1080p High (162.3 FPS) to fully utilize their display's capabilities. The Ultra preset at any resolution is not recommended, as it provides diminishing returns over High while costing 23.7% to 55.2% of the frame rate depending on resolution.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Hard West?*

A: The highest measured average is 256.6 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: No, the 4K Ultra result is 38.1 FPS, which is 36.5% below the 60 FPS target. Only 4K Low (84 FPS) and 4K Medium (67.6 FPS) exceed 60 FPS at that resolution.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 9600X compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score is 28246, which is 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i5-13490F and 0.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 230, but 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p High and 1440p High?

A: The 1080p High result is 162.3 FPS, while 1440p High is 103.2 FPS, representing a 36.4% reduction when moving up one resolution tier.

Q: Is the RTX 4070's VRAM sufficient for this game's highest settings?

A: Yes, the 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is sufficient, as the game runs without apparent memory-related stutters at any resolution or preset, with the 4K Ultra result of 38.1 FPS being limited by compute rather than VRAM capacity.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 415th out of 1699 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the top 24.4% of all configurations.