Hard West

# Hard West Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 7 5700 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

This combination pairs an 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 5700 from the 5000 series, built on the Zen 3 architecture with Cezanne codename and a 7 nm TSMC process, with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5080, a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU on a 5 nm process with the GB203 chip. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four settings tiers provide a clear picture of how this system handles Hard West, a turn-based tactics title released in 2015. The game's modest engine demands are met with substantial headroom, though the scaling patterns reveal where each component's contribution becomes most evident.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K follows a predictable pattern that illuminates the balance between CPU and GPU workload. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system delivers 198 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 High drops that to 135 FPS, a 31.8% reduction. At 3840x2160 High, the average falls to 71 FPS, which represents a 47.4% further drop from 1440p. This steep decline as resolution increases indicates that the RTX 5080 becomes the limiting factor at higher pixel counts, while the Ryzen 7 5700 has ample compute headroom at lower resolutions.

The Low settings tier shows even more dramatic scaling. At 1080p Low, the system hits 233 FPS. At 1440p Low, it manages 200 FPS, a 14.2% decrease. At 4K Low, the average drops to 113 FPS, a 43.5% reduction from 1440p. The fact that 1080p Low only reaches 233 FPS—not significantly higher than the 217 FPS at Medium—suggests that the CPU is beginning to cap performance at lower resolutions, or that the game engine itself imposes a ceiling around this frame rate region.

Medium settings provide the only tier with complete min/max data. At 1080p Medium, the average is 217 FPS with a minimum of 185 and maximum of 250. At 1440p Medium, the average is 176 FPS with a range of 150 to 203. At 4K Medium, the average is 92 FPS with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 106. The frame time consistency degrades noticeably at 4K, where the gap between min and average widens to 13 FPS, suggesting that the GPU's workload at this resolution introduces occasional stutters even in a turn-based game.

Ultra settings present the heaviest load. From 160 FPS at 1080p Ultra, the system drops to 101 FPS at 1440p Ultra, a 36.9% decline. At 4K Ultra, the average plummets to 53 FPS, a 47.5% drop from 1440p. This 4K Ultra figure sits below the 60 FPS threshold, which could matter for players who prefer locked frame rates. The scaling pattern across all four settings tiers shows that Hard West's rendering load scales almost linearly with pixel count, confirming that the RTX 5080's rasterization throughput is the dominant factor in this configuration once resolution increases beyond 1080p.

FAQ

Q: How does this combination perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system averages 53 FPS. This is the lowest measured result across all resolution and settings combinations. For context, it is 34% slower than the 4K High result of 71 FPS, and 58% below the 4K Low average of 113 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for maintaining high frame rates?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 provides the highest frame rates across all settings tiers. At Medium settings, the 1080p average of 217 FPS is 23.3% higher than the 1440p Medium average of 176 FPS, and 136% higher than the 4K Medium average of 92 FPS.

Q: Is there a significant difference between Low and Medium settings at 1080p?

A: The difference is modest. At 1080p, Low averages 233 FPS while Medium averages 217 FPS, a 7.4% gap. However, the Medium tier provides a documented minimum of 185 FPS and maximum of 250 FPS, whereas the Low tier does not include min/max data, so consistency comparisons are limited.

Q: How does the RTX 5080's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 56083, placing it in the 87th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon 8060S, scores 55757, which is 0.6% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 57367, putting it 2.2% higher than the RTX 5080.

Q: What does the CPU's benchmark performance indicate for this game?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700 achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20655 and a single-core score of 2916. Its PassMark multithread score is 24303, with a single-thread score of 3296. The CPU sits in the 78th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25517, placing it within 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U.

Q: Does the game benefit more from CPU or GPU headroom?

A: The resolution scaling data suggests the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions. At 4K, frame rates drop dramatically across all settings, while the CPU's 8-core, 16-thread configuration with a 4.6 GHz boost clock appears sufficient for this turn-based tactics title, as evidenced by the high 1080p frame rates approaching the 233 FPS ceiling.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings. For players prioritizing the highest possible frame rates, Low settings at 1080p deliver 233 FPS, the maximum recorded result in this dataset. However, the difference between Low and Medium at 1080p is only 16 FPS (233 vs 217), making Medium the more sensible choice for most users since it likely provides improved visual quality at a negligible performance cost. The Medium tier also includes documented min/max values—185 to 250 FPS at 1080p—which indicates the frame pacing remains solid even at high averages.

At 1440p, Medium settings produce 176 FPS average, which is still far above what a turn-based game requires for smooth play. The 1440p Medium minimum of 150 FPS ensures no noticeable dips during camera pans or effect-heavy turns. Players with 1440p displays should consider Medium as the sweet spot, as High settings at this resolution drop to 135 FPS, a 23.3% reduction, while Ultra falls to 101 FPS.

For 4K users, the choice becomes more consequential. Medium settings at 4K average 92 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS, which remains comfortably playable. High settings at 4K drop to 71 FPS, and Ultra falls to 53 FPS. Given that Hard West is a turn-based tactics game where twitch reflexes are not required, even the 53 FPS Ultra result could be acceptable for many players. However, the data suggests that Medium at 4K provides the best balance, maintaining an average above 90 FPS while presumably retaining most visual features. The 71 FPS High result is also viable, but the 21 FPS gap between High and Medium at 4K—71 vs 92—makes Medium the more robust recommendation for maintaining consistent performance.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 332nd out of 3722 tested combinations for Hard West. This places it in the top 8.9% of all tested system configurations, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The rank reflects the overall performance level achieved across the measured scenarios.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 78th among all CPUs, combined with the GPU's 87th percentile ranking, suggests that this pairing leverages the RTX 5080's strengths well. The GPU's average benchmark score of 56083 is its primary contribution to the combination's overall standing. The CPU's average score of 25517, while respectable, is not the differentiator here—the RTX 5080's compute and rasterization capabilities drive the combination's position in the rankings.

Relative to the nearest rival CPUs, the Ryzen 7 5700 sits within 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U (score 25446), and within 0.1% of both the Intel Xeon D-2752TER (25530) and the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H (25550). The AMD Ryzen 5 7640U scores 25485, which is 0.1% below the Ryzen 7 5700. These tight margins indicate that CPU choice among this performance class has minimal impact on the overall combination rank for Hard West. For the GPU, the RTX 5080's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon 8060S with a score of 55757, a 0.6% difference, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE outperforms it by 2.2% with a score of 57367.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 features 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.70 GHz with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This 5000-series processor uses the Zen 3 architecture with the Cezanne codename, fabricated on a 7 nm TSMC process. The CPU includes 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 16 MB of L3 cache. It supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, and it carries a 65 W TDP.

In benchmark terms, this CPU achieves a 3DMark 16-thread score of 6628 and a single-thread score of 901. Its 3DMark 2-thread score is 1762, while the 4-thread score reaches 3382 and the 8-thread score hits 5585. The max-thread score of 6617 nearly matches the 16-thread result, indicating the processor scales effectively across all available threads. Cinebench R23 results show 20655 in multicore and 2916 in single-core. Geekbench scores are 9959 multicore and 1907 single-core.

For Hard West, a turn-based tactics game from 2015, the CPU demands are relatively light. The game's turn-based nature means most computation occurs during discrete actions rather than continuous real-time simulation. The Ryzen 7 5700's 8 cores and 16 threads provide substantial parallel processing capability, though the game likely does not utilize all threads heavily. The PassMark physics score of 984 and the floating-point math score of 51427 give an indication of the CPU's general compute capability, while the integer math score of 90091 and the data compression score of 316699 suggest strong general-purpose throughput.

The CPU's single-thread performance, measured at 3296 in PassMark single-thread, is likely more relevant for Hard West's main game loop, which may not be fully multithreaded. The boost clock of 4.60 GHz helps ensure responsive turn processing and quick load times. The CPU's 78th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates it outperforms the majority of processors, though for this particular game, the RTX 5080's GPU capabilities have a larger impact on overall frame rates, as demonstrated by the resolution scaling patterns.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset covers four settings tiers across three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low setting produces an average of 233 FPS. Medium at 1080p averages 217 FPS, with a minimum of 185 FPS and a maximum of 250 FPS. High at 1080p averages 198 FPS, and Ultra averages 160 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 31.3% total reduction in average FPS, from 233 down to 160.

At 2560x1440, the Low setting averages 200 FPS. Medium at 1440p averages 176 FPS with a minimum of 150 and a maximum of 203. High at 1440p averages 135 FPS, and Ultra drops to 101 FPS. The 1440p range from Low to Ultra spans 200 FPS down to 101 FPS, a 49.5% reduction. This steeper decline compared to 1080p indicates that the GPU's rendering load at higher pixel counts amplifies the performance differences between settings tiers.

At 3840x2160, the Low setting averages 113 FPS. Medium at 4K averages 92 FPS with a minimum of 79 and a maximum of 106. High at 4K averages 71 FPS, and Ultra drops to 53 FPS. The 4K range from 113 FPS down to 53 FPS represents a 53.1% reduction across settings tiers, the largest relative spread of any resolution. This widening gap at 4K suggests that higher settings increasingly tax the RTX 5080's fill rate and shader throughput.

The Medium settings tier is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions. At 1080p, the frame range is 185 to 250 FPS, a 65 FPS spread. At 1440p, the range is 150 to 203 FPS, a 53 FPS spread. At 4K, the range narrows to 79 to 106 FPS, a 27 FPS spread. The narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates that frame pacing becomes more consistent as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, with less variance from CPU-side frame delivery fluctuations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB203 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm TSMC process with 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die. The GPU runs at a base clock of 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2617 MHz. Its memory subsystem consists of 16 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 1875 MHz, which translates to 30 Gbps effective.

The GPU's compute specifications include 10752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, 112 ROPs, 84 ray tracing cores, and 336 tensor cores. Its pixel rate is 293.1 GPixel/s, and its texture rate reaches 879.3 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 56.28 TFLOPS, with FP16 also rated at 56.28 TFLOPS in a 1:1 ratio. The card has a 360 W TDP, uses a dual-slot design with a single 16-pin power connector, and requires a 750 W power supply.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5080 scores 8637 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 235901 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 255450 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its PassMark G3D score is 36565, with a GPU compute score of 21789. The PassMark DirectX scores show 389 for DirectX 9, 324 for DirectX 11, and 151 for DirectX 12, with a DirectX 10 score of 208. The G2D score is 1415. The GPU's average benchmark score is 56083, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs.

For Hard West, the RTX 5080's role is central to frame rate delivery, particularly at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 53 FPS, while low by modern standards, is still playable for a turn-based title. The GPU's 16 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for a 2015 game, and the 960.0 GB/s memory bandwidth ensures no bandwidth-related bottlenecks. The GPU's 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 performance provides ample compute headroom, though the game's age means it likely does not leverage the Blackwell architecture's newer features such as ray tracing or tensor core acceleration. The measured frame rates suggest that the RTX 5080's raw rasterization performance is the decisive factor in this configuration, with the CPU providing sufficient support to avoid becoming a limiting factor at any tested resolution or settings level.