Hard West

Settings Recommendations

For Hard West, the measured data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate headroom. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 81 FPS, which is playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes. The High preset at the same resolution jumps to 109 FPS average, a 34.6% improvement over Ultra, while Medium sits at 141 FPS and Low reaches 173 FPS. Given that Hard West is a turn-based tactics title where precise camera control and unit readability matter more than twitch response, the High preset at 1080p offers the best balance: it holds a comfortable triple-digit average while retaining enough visual detail for the game's moody Western aesthetic.

At 2560x1440, the situation shifts. High produces a 69 FPS average, which is adequate but not silky. Medium delivers 90 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS, making it the safest choice for consistent smoothness at this resolution. The data indicates that Medium at 1440p is the sweet spot for users prioritizing frame pacing over maximum eye candy. Ultra at 1440p drops to 52 FPS, which is noticeably less fluid and risks stutter in busy tactical encounters.

For 3840x2160, the measured rows tell a stark story. Ultra averages only 27 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable play. High manages 36 FPS, still marginal. Medium reaches 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS, making it the only 4K preset that approaches acceptable playability. Low at 57 FPS is the sole 4K setting that clears 60 FPS on average. Benchmark results indicate that 4K users should either accept Low settings or drop to 1440p Medium for a markedly better experience.

The recommendation hierarchy across all resolutions is consistent: Medium provides the most reliable frame rates relative to visual quality, while High is viable only at 1080p. Ultra is reserved for users who prioritize image quality over smoothness, as it consistently costs 25-35% performance versus High across every resolution tested.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 2164 out of 3722 tested combos in Hard West. That places it in the 42nd percentile of all combinations, meaning roughly 58% of tested pairings deliver higher average frame rates in this game. The ranking reflects a mid-pack position: the GPU is a Turing-generation part with 65th percentile standing among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at 81st percentile among all processors. The combo's overall position suggests the RTX 2070 SUPER is the limiting factor in this pairing for Hard West.

The CPU's nearest rivals show it performs essentially at parity with its immediate competitors. The AMD Ryzen 7 7840H scores 29868 average benchmark points, with a deltaPct of 0 versus the 5800XT. The Ryzen 7 8845HS and Ryzen 7 7840HS both score 29955, trailing the 5800XT by 0.3%. The Ryzen 5 9600X scores 29713, which is 0.6% behind. These sub-1% differences mean the CPU choice has negligible impact on this combo's ranking.

The GPU's nearest rivals tell a similar story of tight competition. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480, which is 1% ahead of the RTX 2070 SUPER's 20282 average. The RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534, 1.2% ahead. The Intel Arc B570 scores 20556, 1.3% ahead, and the Intel Arc A750 scores 20582, 1.5% ahead. This cluster of GPUs all perform within 1.5% of each other, meaning the RTX 2070 SUPER's ranking in Hard West is driven more by the game's specific engine demands than by raw hardware tier separation.

Given that the combo sits at 58.1% of the way through the field, the data suggests this pairing is adequate for Hard West at mainstream resolutions but will struggle at 4K Ultra. The rank is consistent with the measured FPS data: strong 1080p performance, acceptable 1440p performance, and marginal 4K performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a 12 nm process node from TSMC, containing 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die. Its memory subsystem comprises 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1605 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, while memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These specifications place it in the 65th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20282.

In Hard West, the GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth appear sufficient for all tested settings, as the measured FPS scaling follows a predictable pattern across presets. The 8 GB frame buffer does not bottleneck at any resolution in the data, since even 4K Ultra produces a playable (if low) 27 FPS average rather than crashing or stalling. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth supports the texture streaming typical of a turn-based tactics game, which tends to have static scenes with layered detail rather than fast-moving geometry.

The GPU's 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s. These figures correlate with the measured frame rates: at 1920x1080, the GPU produces 173 FPS on Low settings, indicating that raw rasterization throughput is not the limiting factor at lower presets. The FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS provides adequate compute for the game's lighting and shadow calculations, though the 27 FPS at 4K Ultra suggests the GPU is overburdened by the combination of high resolution and maximum effects.

The RTX 2070 SUPER's Turing architecture includes 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, though Hard West, as a 2015 turn-based title, likely does not leverage ray tracing or DLSS features. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility ensure modern API access, but the game's age means these features are probably unused. The measured data shows that the GPU's performance headroom is best utilized at Medium settings across all resolutions, where the FPS remains above 40 even at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 2070 SUPER paired with the Ryzen 7 5800XT delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 173 FPS, the highest measured in the entire dataset. Medium averages 141 FPS with a minimum of 120 FPS and maximum of 163 FPS, showing tight frame pacing. High averages 109 FPS, which is a 22.7% drop from Medium. Ultra averages 81 FPS, representing a 25.7% drop from High and a 53.2% drop from Low. The scaling from Low to Ultra is 92 FPS, indicating that Hard West's Ultra preset imposes a significant rendering cost.

At 2560x1440, all presets shift down substantially. Low averages 109 FPS, which is identical to the 1080p High result — an interesting parity that suggests the resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly the same as moving from Low to High settings at 1080p. Medium averages 90 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 103 FPS, providing a stable experience. High averages 69 FPS, a 23.3% drop from Medium. Ultra averages 52 FPS, which is 24.6% below High and 52.3% below Low. The 1440p dataset shows a consistent 20-25% performance penalty for each preset step up.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to struggle. Low averages 57 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. Medium averages 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS and maximum of 54 FPS, indicating occasional dips below 40 FPS in heavy scenes. High averages 36 FPS, which is marginal for a tactics game where careful cursor movement matters. Ultra averages 27 FPS, a figure that is effectively unplayable for sustained sessions. The 4K data shows a 30 FPS spread from Low to Ultra, with each preset step costing roughly 10 FPS.

Comparing resolutions at the same settings, the data reveals consistent scaling. At Medium settings, 1080p yields 141 FPS, 1440p yields 90 FPS (36.2% lower), and 4K yields 47 FPS (66.7% lower than 1080p). At High settings, 1080p yields 109 FPS, 1440p yields 69 FPS (36.7% lower), and 4K yields 36 FPS (67.0% lower). This consistent proportional scaling indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, with the CPU maintaining sufficient headroom.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hard West?

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 provides the most comfortable experience, with all presets averaging above 80 FPS. At 2560x1440, Medium is the best option at 90 FPS average, while 3840x2160 only becomes playable at Low settings (57 FPS average).

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 5800XT compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The 5800XT scores 29879 average benchmark points. Its nearest rival, the Ryzen 7 7840H, scores 29868, a deltaPct of 0. The Ryzen 7 8845HS and Ryzen 7 7840HS both score 29955, trailing by 0.3%. The Ryzen 5 9600X scores 29713, trailing by 0.6%.

Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER capable of 4K gaming in Hard West?

A: At 3840x2160, only the Low preset (57 FPS average) exceeds 60 FPS. Medium averages 47 FPS, High averages 36 FPS, and Ultra averages 27 FPS. For a playable 4K experience, Low settings are required, making 1440p Medium a better trade-off.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: Across all resolutions, Ultra costs approximately 25% performance versus High. At 1080p, High averages 109 FPS versus Ultra's 81 FPS (28 FPS difference). At 1440p, the gap is 17 FPS (69 vs 52). At 4K, the gap is 9 FPS (36 vs 27).

Q: Does the GPU or CPU limit this combo's performance?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU ranks in the 81st percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 65th percentile. The measured FPS scaling across resolutions and settings follows a pattern consistent with GPU-bound performance, as the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom for Hard West's turn-based logic.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 40 FPS at 3840x2160 Medium settings. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 76 FPS, and at 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum is 120 FPS. No minimum FPS data is available for Low, High, or Ultra presets.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT is a Zen 3 architecture processor (codenamed Vermeer) built on TSMC's 7 nm process node, containing 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. The processor includes 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel configuration, offering 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The CPU has a TDP of 105 W and uses the AMD Socket AM4.

In Hard West, the CPU's role is minimal due to the game's turn-based nature, which does not demand high thread counts for real-time simulation. The 8-core, 16-thread configuration provides far more parallelism than a 2015 tactics title requires. The CPU's benchmark results confirm its strength: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 23794, while single-core scores 3359. PassMark multithread scores 28053, and single-thread scores 3535. These figures place the CPU in the 81st percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 29879.

The CPU's nearest rivals all score within 0.6% of it, indicating that the 5800XT is competitively positioned but not exceptional. Its 3DMark scores show scaling from 959 (single-thread) to 7683 (16-thread), with 8-thread at 6141. This scaling pattern suggests good multi-thread utilization, but Hard West likely uses only 2-4 threads for its core game logic, leaving most of the CPU idle.

The CPU's 4.80 GHz boost clock provides strong single-thread performance, which matters for the game's UI and input handling. The PassMark single-thread score of 3535 indicates fast per-core execution, which helps maintain consistent frame pacing even when the GPU is the bottleneck. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 173 FPS average, suggesting the CPU can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them at lower resolutions.

Memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s and dual-channel DDR4 support are adequate for Hard West's asset streaming. The CPU's PCIe Gen 4 support with 20 lanes ensures the GPU has sufficient bandwidth for texture data, though the RTX 2070 SUPER uses PCIe 3.0 x16, which is backward compatible. The CPU's 32 MB L3 cache helps reduce memory latency for game code, contributing to the stable minimum FPS figures seen at Medium settings across resolutions.

The 5800XT's position in the combo ranking is largely incidental — it provides enough performance to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 2070 SUPER in Hard West, but the GPU determines the final frame rates. The CPU's 81st percentile standing versus the GPU's 65th percentile confirms this relationship, as the pairing's overall combo rank of 2164 out of 3722 reflects the GPU's more modest capabilities relative to the CPU's headroom.