Hard West

# Hard West: AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a strong showing in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. This combination sits at rank 1013 out of 3722 tested combos, placing it in the upper third of all systems tested. The CPU, an 8-core/16-thread Zen 3 part with a boost clock of 4.80 GHz, ranks in the 81st percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 3080 with 10 GB of GDDR6X memory ranks in the 68th percentile of all GPUs. The data shows this pairing is well-balanced for Hard West, with frame rates ranging from playable at 4K Ultra to exceptionally high at 1080p Low.

FAQ

Q: What average frame rate can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 155 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and indicates the system has substantial headroom for this resolution and preset.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 compare to its closest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 3080's average benchmark score of 23172 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with the NVIDIA P106-100 scoring 23249 (a delta of -0.3%) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 scoring 23250 (also -0.3%). The AMD Radeon RX 6600M and AMD Radeon R9 M290X both score 23273 and 23276 respectively, showing the RTX 3080 is within 0.4% of these comparison points.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5800XT significantly faster than its closest rival?

A: The Ryzen 7 5800XT has an average benchmark score of 29879, which is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H at 29868 (0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X at 29713 (0.6% delta). The AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS and AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS both score 29955, putting them just 0.3% ahead of the 5800XT.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gameplay?

A: At 3840x2160, the Medium preset delivers an average of 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS and maximum of 77 FPS. This is the only 4K preset with a recorded minimum frame rate, and it provides the best balance between visual quality and performance for 4K displays.

Q: How much faster is the system at 1080p compared to 4K on High settings?

A: Moving from 3840x2160 High to 1920x1080 High increases the average FPS from 51 to 155, representing a 204% improvement. This shows the system scales well with resolution reductions, typical for a GPU-bound title.

Q: Does the system maintain consistent frame times at Medium settings?

A: Medium settings show the tightest frame pacing across all resolutions. At 1080p, the range is from 171 to 231 FPS around an average of 201; at 1440p, it's 108 to 146 around 127; and at 4K, it's 57 to 77 around 67. These narrow ranges indicate stable performance without major frame time spikes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the primary driver of Hard West's frame rates, as evidenced by the performance scaling across resolutions. The GPU features 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, providing 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 1710 MHz and base clock of 1440 MHz help sustain high throughput in this turn-based tactics title, which doesn't stress the CPU heavily.

The RTX 3080's 8704 shading units and 272 texture mapping units deliver substantial raw compute power, reflected in its 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. For a game like Hard West, which is not graphically intense by modern standards, this GPU has considerable headroom. The data confirms this: even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains 38 FPS average, and at 1080p Low it reaches 246 FPS.

The GPU's memory configuration is more than sufficient for Hard West's requirements. The 10 GB frame buffer at 4K Ultra doesn't appear to bottleneck performance, as the frame rate drops follow a consistent pattern from 1080p to 4K. The memory clock of 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective) combined with the wide 320-bit bus ensures texture streaming and asset loading remain smooth, which is critical for turn-based games where camera movements can load large scene data quickly.

The RTX 3080's percentile ranking of 68 among all GPUs places it above the median, and its benchmark scores show it performing nearly identically to several competing cards. In Hard West specifically, the GPU demonstrates it can handle 4K gaming at Medium settings with a playable 67 FPS average, making it a capable choice for high-resolution displays in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 achieves rank 1013 out of 3722 tested combos in Hard West. This places the system in the top 27% of all configurations tested, which is strong for a mid-cycle CPU paired with a previous-generation high-end GPU.

The ranking reflects the balance between the components. The Ryzen 7 5800XT, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, provides ample processing power for Hard West's turn-based logic, but the game's rendering demands are what push the system's ranking. The RTX 3080's benchmark percentile of 68 indicates it performs above average relative to all GPUs, and this translates into strong frame rates in Hard West.

Compared to the CPU's nearest rivals, the 5800XT shows virtually identical average benchmark scores, with deltas ranging from -0.3% to 0.6%. This means the CPU choice has little impact on the final ranking in this GPU-bound scenario. The RTX 3080's nearest rivals also show near-identical scores, with deltas between -0.3% and -0.4%, suggesting that the specific GPU model matters less than having a capable card in this performance tier.

The 1013th rank out of 3722 combos indicates that the majority of tested systems either feature faster GPUs or more recent hardware. However, within the context of Hard West's modest graphical requirements, this combo delivers excellent performance that will satisfy most players, particularly those targeting 1080p or 1440p high-refresh-rate displays.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 246 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 201 FPS average with a range of 171 to 231 FPS, while High settings yield 155 FPS average. Ultra settings reduce performance to 116 FPS average, still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong. Low settings achieve 155 FPS average, Medium delivers 127 FPS (ranging from 108 to 146), and High produces 98 FPS. Ultra settings at 1440p drop to 73 FPS average, which is still very playable. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows roughly a 37% performance reduction across all settings, consistent with the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the system shows its limits but remains usable. Low settings achieve 82 FPS average, Medium delivers 67 FPS (with a minimum of 57 and maximum of 77), and High produces 51 FPS. Ultra settings at 4K drop to 38 FPS average, which is borderline for smooth gameplay but acceptable for a turn-based tactics game where precise timing isn't critical.

The Medium settings at 4K stand out as the only preset at that resolution with recorded minimum and maximum values, indicating the most stable frame pacing. The 57 FPS minimum ensures the game never drops below a playable threshold, even during complex scenes with multiple characters and environmental effects.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear GPU-bound pattern. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 155 FPS at 1080p to 98 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 51 FPS at 4K (an additional 48% reduction). This progression closely follows the pixel count increase, which is the hallmark of a GPU-limited scenario.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 246 FPS at 1080p drops to 155 FPS at 1440p (37% reduction) and then to 82 FPS at 4K (47% reduction from 1440p). The consistent percentage drops across different presets indicate that the CPU (Ryzen 7 5800XT) is not the limiting factor at any resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the frame rate to plateau at lower resolutions, but the data shows continuous scaling with resolution.

The Medium settings show the most stable scaling pattern, with FPS at 201 (1080p), 127 (1440p), and 67 (4K). The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is 37%, and from 1440p to 4K is 47%. This consistency suggests the RTX 3080's compute resources scale predictably with resolution, and the 10 GB VRAM is sufficient even at 4K.

Ultra settings show the steepest scaling: 116 FPS at 1080p, 73 FPS at 1440p, and 38 FPS at 4K. The 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p matches other presets, but the 48% drop from 1440p to 4K is slightly larger, indicating that Ultra settings at 4K may be pushing the GPU's memory bandwidth limits. This is the only scenario where the GPU appears to struggle with the data throughput requirements.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p displays, the data shows that High settings (155 FPS) provide an excellent balance between visual fidelity and performance. The jump to Ultra (116 FPS) offers diminishing returns for the 25% performance cost, while Medium (201 FPS) and Low (246 FPS) are unnecessary for most players given the high refresh rates already achieved at High.

At 1440p, Medium settings (127 FPS) are the recommended starting point, as they offer a substantial improvement over High (98 FPS) while maintaining frame rates well above 100 FPS. Ultra at 73 FPS is still playable, but the 42% performance drop from Medium makes it a less attractive option unless visual quality is the top priority.

For 4K displays, Medium settings (67 FPS) are the clear choice. This is the only 4K preset with recorded minimum and maximum frame times, showing stable performance between 57 and 77 FPS. High settings (51 FPS) are borderline for smooth gameplay, while Ultra (38 FPS) drops below the generally accepted playable threshold. Low settings (82 FPS) sacrifice too much visual quality for the performance gain.

The overall best experience across all resolutions is Medium settings. This preset consistently provides the most stable frame pacing, as evidenced by the recorded minimum and maximum values at every resolution. The performance gains from dropping to Low are modest compared to the visual quality loss, while the step up to High costs 23-29% of performance without a proportional visual improvement in this turn-based tactics title.

For players with 144Hz or higher refresh rate monitors at 1080p, High settings (155 FPS) will saturate the display, making this the optimal choice. At 1440p with 144Hz displays, Medium settings (127 FPS) come close to maxing out the refresh rate while maintaining excellent image quality. For 4K users, Medium is the only sensible choice, delivering 67 FPS that will feel smooth in a turn-based context where reaction time is not critical.