Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination delivers a decisive performance profile in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title where frame pacing matters more than raw reaction time. The data indicates that the Ultra preset is largely unnecessary, while High offers a superior balance of visual fidelity and headroom across all tested resolutions. The GPU's substantial 16 GB memory buffer and high bandwidth prove to be the dominant factors in this pairing, with the CPU providing ample headroom at every settings tier.

Settings Recommendations

Benchmark results for Hard West show a clear hierarchy where the High preset provides the most compelling experience for this specific hardware pairing. At 1920x1080, the High preset averages 203 FPS, which is 48 FPS below the Low preset’s 240 FPS but 69 FPS above the Ultra preset’s 155 FPS. The Medium preset sits between High and Low at 224 FPS, yet the High preset’s visual uplift over Medium is typically substantial in this genre.

The case for High strengthens at higher resolutions. At 2560x1440, High delivers 131 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold and only 39 FPS behind Low’s 206 FPS. More importantly, the gap between High and Ultra widens to 33 FPS at this resolution (131 vs 98 FPS), making Ultra a poor trade for marginal visual gains. At 3840x2160, High maintains 69 FPS, which remains playable, while Ultra drops to 51 FPS—a figure that approaches the lower bound of smoothness for many users.

Low settings are not recommended for this configuration. The data shows that Low at 1080p reaches 240 FPS, but this exceeds the refresh rate of most displays and sacrifices the atmospheric lighting and shadow quality that define Hard West’s Western noir aesthetic. The RTX 4080’s compute resources are underutilized at Low, as evidenced by the 109 FPS at 4K Low versus 69 FPS at 4K High—a 58% performance penalty for enabling High, which suggests the GPU is still heavily capable.

Medium presents a viable alternative for users prioritizing frame rate over fidelity. At 4K, Medium yields 89 FPS with a reported minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 103 FPS, offering a 29% improvement over High. However, the jump from Medium to High costs only 20 FPS at 1080p (224 to 203 FPS), which is a modest price for the visual upgrade. The optimal choice is High, as it provides the best balance of image quality and performance headroom across all three resolutions, with the 4K result of 69 FPS still allowing for smooth gameplay.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the clear performance driver in this pairing, and the benchmark data highlights its memory subsystem as a critical asset. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. In Hard West, a game with detailed sprite work and environmental textures, this bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and draw calls do not become bottlenecks, even at 4K Ultra.

Clock speeds further reinforce the GPU’s dominance. The RTX 4080 operates at a base clock of 2205 MHz and boosts to 2505 MHz, which translates to a pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s. These figures explain why the GPU maintains high frame rates even when the CPU is not stressed. The FP32 throughput of 48.74 TFLOPS provides ample shading power for the game’s lighting effects, though the turn-based nature of Hard West means these resources are often idle between actions.

The GPU’s 5 nm process node and Ada Lovelace architecture contribute to its efficiency, but the key takeaway from the data is that the RTX 4080 is never the limiting factor in this test. At 1080p Low, the combination hits 240 FPS, which is likely a cap imposed by the game engine or test methodology rather than a hardware limit. The GPU’s 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247, places it well above typical mid-range parts.

Comparing the RTX 4080 to its nearest rivals, the data shows it is virtually tied with the RTX 4080 SUPER, with a deltaPct of 0.1% in favor of the SUPER. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X trails by 1.1%, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.6% behind. This narrow spread means that in Hard West, the RTX 4080’s performance is representative of the top tier, but not exceptional within it. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is particularly relevant for future titles, though for Hard West specifically, the measured results show no signs of memory pressure, as even 4K Ultra does not cause a catastrophic frame rate collapse.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combination?

A: The highest recorded average is 240 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This likely represents a practical ceiling for the game’s engine or the test setup.

*Q: Is the RTX 4080 powerful enough for 4K gaming in Hard West?*

A: Yes, the data shows playable performance at 4K. The High preset averages 69 FPS, and Medium reaches 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS. Ultra drops to 51 FPS, which may be borderline for some users.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X has an average benchmark score of 27578, which is identical to the Intel Core i5-12600K (deltaPct 0%). It is 0.2% faster than the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and 0.3% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, but 0.2% slower than the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X.

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

A: The GPU is the primary performance driver. The evidence is the resolution scaling: dropping from 1080p to 4K at High settings reduces average FPS from 203 to 69, a 66% decrease, indicating that the GPU’s fill rate is the bottleneck. The CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at all settings.

Q: What is the expected frame rate range at 2560x1440 with Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 170 FPS, with a minimum of 144 FPS and a maximum of 195 FPS. This provides a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: How does this combination rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 339 out of 3722 tested combinations, placing it in the top 9.1% of all configurations tested for Hard West.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 339 out of 3722 tested combos in Hard West. This places the configuration in the top 9.1% of all systems tested, a strong result that reflects the GPU’s high-end positioning. The CPU’s percentile rank of 79 among all CPUs and the GPU’s percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs both contribute to this overall standing, but the GPU’s higher percentile suggests it is the more influential component in this game.

The rank is particularly impressive when considering the CPU’s age. The Ryzen 7 5700X, released in April 2022, is based on the Zen 3 architecture and uses the AM4 socket. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12600K, scores identically in average benchmarks (27578), while the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is only 0.2% faster. This means that the CPU is not holding back the RTX 4080 in a meaningful way, as the GPU’s performance ceiling is reached before the CPU’s processing limits are tested.

The 339th rank out of 3722 combos also highlights that there are 338 configurations that outperform this setup, likely featuring newer or higher-tier CPUs and GPUs such as the RTX 4090 or Ryzen 9 series. However, the deltaPct values for the GPU’s nearest rivals show that the RTX 4080 is within 2.7% of the AMD Radeon 8060S and 2.6% of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB in synthetic benchmarks, meaning that real-world gameplay differences in Hard West would be minimal for most users.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound scenario that is typical for a turn-based tactics game with modest CPU demands. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 203 at 1920x1080 to 131 at 2560x1440, a 35.5% decrease, and then to 69 at 3840x2160, a further 47.3% decrease from 1440p. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4080’s shading and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors as pixel count increases.

The pattern is consistent across all settings. At Low settings, the drop is from 240 FPS at 1080p to 206 FPS at 1440p (14.2% decrease) and then to 109 FPS at 4K (47.1% decrease). At Medium, the figures are 224, 170, and 89 FPS, respectively. At Ultra, the numbers are 155, 98, and 51 FPS. The most severe penalty occurs between 1440p and 4K, where the pixel count quadruples, and the data shows that the GPU cannot maintain the same frame rate proportionally.

This scaling behavior confirms that the CPU is not the bottleneck. If the CPU were limiting, the frame rate would remain relatively flat across resolutions, or the 1080p results would show a plateau. Instead, the consistent 40-50% drop from 1440p to 4K across all settings is a hallmark of a GPU-limited workload. The Ryzen 7 5700X, with its 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 16 threads, provides sufficient instruction throughput to keep the RTX 4080 fed, even at 1080p Low where the GPU is at its most underutilized.

For users with 1080p displays, the High preset at 203 FPS is effectively a locked experience, offering headroom for frame pacing variations. At 1440p, the 131 FPS average is ideal for 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitors. At 4K, the 69 FPS average is suitable for 60 Hz displays, though users with high-refresh 4K panels may need to drop to Medium (89 FPS) to take full advantage.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data presents the exact average frame rates, with minimum and maximum values where measured, for each resolution and settings preset.

1920x1080

• Low: 240 FPS average
• Medium: 224 FPS average, with a minimum of 190 FPS and a maximum of 257 FPS
• High: 203 FPS average
• Ultra: 155 FPS average

At 1080p, the difference between Low and High is only 37 FPS, indicating that the game’s visual settings have a moderate impact on performance at this resolution. The Medium preset’s minimum of 190 FPS ensures that even the most demanding scenes remain well above the refresh rate of standard gaming monitors.

2560x1440

• Low: 206 FPS average
• Medium: 170 FPS average, with a minimum of 144 FPS and a maximum of 195 FPS
• High: 131 FPS average
• Ultra: 98 FPS average

The 1440p results show a wider spread, with Ultra falling below 100 FPS. The High preset’s 131 FPS is a strong result, and the Medium preset’s minimum of 144 FPS exactly matches the refresh rate of many high-end monitors, guaranteeing a tear-free experience with V-Sync enabled.

3840x2160

• Low: 109 FPS average
• Medium: 89 FPS average, with a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 103 FPS
• High: 69 FPS average
• Ultra: 51 FPS average

At 4K, the data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and performance. The Ultra preset’s 51 FPS average is below the 60 FPS target, making it the only setting that risks perceptible stutter. High at 69 FPS is the recommended choice for 4K, while Medium provides a comfortable margin with its 76 FPS minimum. The Low preset’s 109 FPS demonstrates that the RTX 4080 has significant headroom in this game, even at the highest resolution.