Hard West

Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from late 2015, presents a modest workload for modern hardware. The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a performance profile that is heavily dictated by resolution and quality settings, with the data showing a clear transition from CPU-bound territory at 1080p to GPU-bound territory at 4K. The measured results place this pairing at rank 953 out of 1699 tested combos in this specific game, indicating a mid-pack standing that reflects the game's age and its relative insensitivity to extreme hardware muscle.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo achieves an average of 89 FPS. This is a playable frame rate, though notably lower than the 115.7 FPS seen at High settings, showing that the Ultra preset imposes a significant performance cost even at this resolution.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X has an average benchmark score of 27606, placing it just 0.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800, which scores 27535. This indicates that the two processors are virtually identical in overall performance, with the difference being within the margin of error for most testing.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 121.2 on Low settings to 76.2 on High settings. This represents a substantial 45 FPS difference, or roughly 37% lower performance, demonstrating the significant load that higher graphical fidelity places on the system.

Q: Is the RTX 4060's performance closer to the Intel Arc B580 or the AMD Radeon RX 6600M?

A: The RTX 4060's average benchmark score is 23181. It sits 0.7% above the Intel Arc B580 (score 23021) and 0.6% below the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (score 23321). The data suggests it is essentially wedged between these two rivals, with all three being near-performance equals.

Q: What is the best performance result recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 185.7 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that exceeds 180 FPS, highlighting how well the combination scales when graphical load is minimized.

Q: How much faster is the 5800X in a single-threaded workload compared to its multi-threaded Cinebench R23 score?

A: The CPU scores 3327 points in Cinebench R23 single-core and 23571 points in the multi-core test. The multi-core score is roughly 7 times higher, which reflects the scaling from 8 cores and 16 threads, though the single-core score remains solid for gaming tasks.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations for Hard West, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 secures the 953rd position out of 1699 total combos. This places it just slightly below the median, a result that is more a reflection of the game's low system requirements than a critique of the hardware itself. Modern high-end components often surpass the needs of a 2015 turn-based strategy title, and the ranking indicates that many other, often older or more balanced, configurations deliver comparable or better performance in this specific title.

The ranking is influenced by the fact that Hard West is not graphically demanding. The data shows that the RTX 4060, which holds a 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs, is capable of high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the game's engine may not leverage the full potential of the 8-core, 16-thread CPU. The combo's rank suggests that a less powerful CPU might yield a similar experience, as the bottleneck shifts decisively to the GPU at higher resolutions. This is not a sign of weakness in the 5800X, which sits in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, but rather an indication that the game's workload is not particularly sensitive to the multi-threaded capabilities this processor offers.

The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals show how close the field is at this performance tier. The 5800X is 0.3% faster than the Ryzen 7 5800, 0.4% faster than the Ryzen 5 8500GE, and 0.8% faster than the Intel Core i5-12600KF. Similarly, the GPU is within 0.8% of its closest competitors. This clustering suggests that the system's overall rank is determined more by the game's optimization for specific hardware combinations than by any single component's raw power.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is built on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, and manufactured on a 7 nm process. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The processor has a 32 MB L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. These specifications make it a formidable desktop processor, and its benchmark scores confirm this, with a multi-threaded Passmark score of 27732 and a single-thread score of 3445.

In the context of Hard West, the CPU's role appears to be less critical than the GPU, particularly at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows a significant drop from 1080p to 4K, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 185.7 FPS, but at 4K with Ultra settings, it falls to 31.5 FPS. This scaling suggests that the 5800X is providing ample headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, but the game's visual effects and pixel count overwhelm the RTX 4060 as resolution increases.

The CPU's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R20 single-core score of 1397, is likely beneficial for the game's turn-based logic and AI calculations, which often rely on single-threaded execution. However, the game's age means it likely does not utilize all 16 threads effectively. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 7586 is high, but the game may only scale to a fraction of that capability. The data indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p, but its contribution to the overall frame rate becomes less pronounced as the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 1440p and 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how the combo scales with settings and resolution. At 1920x1080, the performance is consistently high, with an average of 185.7 FPS on Low, 151.2 FPS on Medium, 115.7 FPS on High, and 89 FPS on Ultra. This shows a predictable decline as settings increase, with a 96.7 FPS difference between the lowest and highest presets. The system is clearly capable of delivering a smooth experience at this resolution across all settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but begin to show the GPU's workload. The averages are 121.2 FPS on Low, 98.5 FPS on Medium, 76.2 FPS on High, and 56.9 FPS on Ultra. The relative performance drop from 1080p is noticeable; for instance, High settings see a reduction from 115.7 FPS to 76.2 FPS, a 34% decrease. This indicates that the RTX 4060 is starting to feel the pressure of the higher pixel count, though 1440p Ultra remains playable.

At 3840x2160, the performance takes a significant hit, which is expected for this GPU class. The averages are 62.4 FPS on Low, 50 FPS on Medium, 42.2 FPS on High, and 31.5 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 30.9 FPS, with the Ultra setting dipping below the 30 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for a playable experience. The data shows that 4K gaming is only feasible with lower settings, and even then, the frame rates are not as high as what is seen at lower resolutions. This breakdown confirms that the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K being reserved for less demanding titles or lower quality presets.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, specifically the AD107 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz, with 3072 shading units and 96 texture mapping units. Its compute power is rated at 15.11 TFLOPS for FP32 operations, and it holds a 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

In Hard West, the GPU is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions. The data shows a clear trend: as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, the average FPS drops by roughly half to two-thirds, depending on the settings. For example, at High settings, the frame rate goes from 115.7 FPS at 1080p to 42.2 FPS at 4K. This is a 63.5% reduction, which illustrates the heavy burden that 4K rendering places on the 8 GB of VRAM and the 128-bit memory bus.

The GPU's benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 19545, place it in a competitive position, but its performance in this game is constrained by the memory bandwidth and capacity. The RTX 4060 is 0.7% faster than the Intel Arc B580 and 0.6% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, indicating that it is a mid-range performer. In the context of Hard West, the GPU's role is to manage the graphical effects and texture loads, which it does adequately at 1080p and 1440p, but the Ultra settings at 4K expose its limitations, resulting in the lowest recorded average of 31.5 FPS. The data suggests that for this game, the RTX 4060 is best paired with a 1080p or 1440p monitor to achieve a consistently smooth experience.