Hard West

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured frame rates for Hard West show a steady, predictable degradation as resolution increases, but the pattern is not uniform across all settings presets. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 drops the average from 250 FPS to 215 FPS, a reduction of 35 FPS, and then further to 123 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 50.8% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. At High settings, the scaling is steeper: 212 FPS at 1080p falls to 148 FPS at 1440p, then to 78 FPS at 4K — a 63.2% reduction from the 1080p baseline. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling loss: 175 FPS at 1080p drops to 111 FPS at 1440p and then to 58 FPS at 4K, a 66.9% decline.

These percentage differences tell a clear story about the limiting component. The fact that the FPS drop accelerates as resolution increases — particularly at higher settings presets — indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more dominant as the rendering load grows. At 1080p, even at Ultra settings, the system maintains 175 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately at that resolution. However, the steep decline at 4K, especially at Ultra where the average falls to 58 FPS, points to the GPU being the primary bottleneck when pixel count quadruples. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are being stressed by the 4K Ultra workload, whereas at 1080p the data suggests the frame rate is more evenly balanced between CPU and GPU contributions.

The Medium preset offers a useful intermediate view. At 1080p Medium, the average is 233 FPS with a minimum of 198 FPS and maximum of 268 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 192 FPS (min 163, max 221), and at 4K Medium it reaches 101 FPS (min 86, max 116). The minimum-to-maximum spread narrows as resolution increases: 70 FPS spread at 1080p, 58 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. This narrowing spread at higher resolutions suggests that frame time variance is being compressed by the GPU's consistent workload saturation, a classic sign of GPU-bound operation. When the GPU is fully utilized, frame rates become more stable because there is less variation from CPU scheduling or driver overhead.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT brings 8 cores and 16 threads to the system, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. This is a Zen 3 (Vermeer) architecture processor on the AMD Socket AM4 platform, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC with 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a 32 MB shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth. The processor's benchmark data shows strong single-thread performance: a 3dmark single-thread score of 959 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3359. Multi-threaded results are also robust, with Cinebench R23 multi-core reaching 23794 and Passmark multithread at 28053.

For a turn-based tactics game like Hard West, the CPU's role is primarily in handling game logic, unit AI, pathfinding, and turn resolution. The genre does not typically demand the same frame-per-second throughput as fast-paced shooters, but the data shows the 5800XT is more than capable. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 250 FPS, which is close to the practical ceiling for many displays. Even at 1080p Ultra, the average stays at 175 FPS, indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution. The single-thread score of 3359 in Cinebench R23 suggests that the processor's per-core performance is sufficient for the game's primary thread, which in turn-based tactics often handles the bulk of simulation logic.

The processor's 16 threads come into play during large battlefield scenarios where multiple units act simultaneously. The Passmark physics score of 1355 and floating-point math score of 53808 indicate solid compute throughput for game physics and collision detection. However, the benchmark results for this combo show that at higher resolutions, the FPS drops significantly regardless of CPU capability, which confirms that the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. The 5800XT's 81st percentile ranking among all CPUs and its avgBenchmarkScore of 29879 place it in the upper tier, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H (avgScore 29868, deltaPct 0) and AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS (avgScore 29955, deltaPct -0.3). The processor's 105 W TDP and unlocked multiplier (part number 100-000001582) suggest headroom for overclocking, though the measured data does not include overclocked results.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU (chip GB202) built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. Its memory subsystem is substantial: 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The GPU has 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, along with 170 ray-tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. Base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost of 2407 MHz. Compute capabilities include 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 and 104.8 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1). The card is dual-slot, requires a 950 W suggested PSU, and uses a 1x 16-pin power connector. Its 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs and avgBenchmarkScore of 79842 place it near the top, with nearest rivals being NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (avgScore 79605, deltaPct 0.3) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (avgScore 80959, deltaPct -1.4).

In Hard West, the GPU's role scales directly with resolution and settings quality. The measured data shows that at 4K Ultra, the RTX 5090 delivers 58 FPS, which is the lowest average across all measured configurations. This is surprising given the card's raw compute power, but it reflects the game's older engine (released 2015-11-17) which may not fully utilize the modern GPU architecture. The Passmark G3D score of 39650 and 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18355 indicate strong overall performance, yet the game's rendering path may not benefit from the GPU's full feature set. The DirectX 12 score of 185 in Passmark is notably lower than the DirectX 11 score of 341, which suggests the game might be running in a compatibility mode rather than leveraging the newest API features.

The VRAM capacity of 32 GB is far beyond what Hard West requires, as the game's textures and geometry are from the 2015 era. This means the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute units are being underutilized at lower settings, but at 4K Ultra the workload still manages to stress the card enough to bring frame rates down to 58 FPS. The gap between Low (123 FPS at 4K) and Ultra (58 FPS at 4K) represents a 52.8% performance penalty for maxing out settings, which is substantial. The GPU's boost clock of 2407 MHz and pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s suggest it can handle high fill rates, but the game's draw calls and shader complexity at Ultra settings appear to create bottlenecks that the hardware cannot fully overcome.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance across all three resolutions. At 1920x1080 Medium, the system achieves 233 FPS average with a minimum of 198 FPS and maximum of 268 FPS. This is 58 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's 175 FPS at the same resolution, while still providing a substantial improvement over Low's 250 FPS (which sacrifices visual fidelity). The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs only 17 FPS (from 250 to 233), whereas the jump from Medium to Ultra costs 58 FPS (from 233 to 175). This diminishing return pattern suggests that Medium captures most of the visual benefit without the steep performance penalty.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 192 FPS average (min 163, max 221), which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The High preset at this resolution achieves 148 FPS, and Ultra drops to 111 FPS. The gap between Medium and High at 1440p is 44 FPS, which is significant. For players with 144 Hz monitors, Medium at 1440p provides a comfortable margin above the refresh rate. At 4K, Medium produces 101 FPS average (min 86, max 116), which is playable but not ultra-smooth. High at 4K gives 78 FPS, and Ultra falls to 58 FPS, which approaches the minimum threshold for acceptable frame pacing in a turn-based game where precision timing is less critical.

For the best experience per the measured rows, Medium at 1440p stands out as the sweet spot: 192 FPS average with a tight frame time distribution (min 163, max 221). This combination offers high visual fidelity with robust performance headroom. If 4K is the target resolution, Medium at 101 FPS is the recommended preset, as the step down to High (78 FPS) does not provide enough visual improvement to justify the 22.8% performance loss. The Ultra preset at any resolution is only advisable for users who prioritize maximum visual quality over frame rate, given that it drops below 60 FPS at 4K and provides diminishing returns at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a rank of 158 out of 3722 tested combos in Hard West. This places the combo in the top 4.2% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing but not the absolute top. The rank reflects the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, and the data shows that while the system performs well, it does not reach the highest tier. The fact that 157 other combos outperform this pairing suggests that either newer CPUs or GPUs, or more balanced pairings, achieve higher frame rates in this specific game.

The combo rank of 158 is notable because the RTX 5090 is among the most powerful GPUs available, with a 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs. The Ryzen 7 5800XT, while capable at the 81st percentile among CPUs, is not the newest generation. This suggests that in Hard West, the CPU may be holding back the system from reaching higher ranks, particularly at lower resolutions where CPU overhead is more apparent. At 1080p, the system reaches 250 FPS at Low settings, which is close to the 268 FPS maximum measured at Medium, indicating that the CPU's single-thread performance may cap the frame rate around the 250-270 FPS range. The 3dmark single-thread score of 959 and Cinebench R23 single-core of 3359 show solid but not exceptional per-core performance compared to newer processors.

The nearest rival CPUs to the 5800XT include the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H (avgScore 29868, deltaPct 0) and AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS (avgScore 29955, deltaPct -0.3), which are mobile processors with similar average scores. This indicates that the 5800XT's desktop performance is comparable to high-end laptop chips, but newer desktop CPUs likely offer higher single-thread scores that would benefit Hard West's frame rates. For the GPU, the nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (avgScore 79605, deltaPct 0.3) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (avgScore 80959, deltaPct -1.4), which are professional or workstation cards that are not typically used for gaming. The RTX 5090's avgBenchmarkScore of 79842 is only 0.3% above the P100, which is a surprising comparison given the architectural differences.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS measured for this combo in Hard West?

A: The highest average FPS is 250, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 58, which is below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered optimal, though it may still be playable in a turn-based game.

Q: How does the Medium preset at 1440p compare to High at 1080p?

A: Medium at 2560x1440 delivers 192 FPS average, while High at 1920x1080 delivers 212 FPS. The 1440p Medium has a 20 FPS lower average but provides higher resolution detail.

Q: What is the frame time variance at 4K Medium?

A: At 3840x2160 Medium, the average FPS is 101 with a minimum of 86 and maximum of 116, representing a 30 FPS spread between minimum and maximum.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 Low, the system achieves 250 FPS, and at Medium it reaches 233 FPS, suggesting the CPU's single-thread performance may limit the upper bound around 250 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 158 out of 3722 tested combinations in Hard West, placing it in the top 4.2% of all systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

1920x1080:

• Low: 250 FPS average
• Medium: 233 FPS average (min 198, max 268)
• High: 212 FPS average
• Ultra: 175 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 215 FPS average
• Medium: 192 FPS average (min 163, max 221)
• High: 148 FPS average
• Ultra: 111 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 123 FPS average
• Medium: 101 FPS average (min 86, max 116)
• High: 78 FPS average
• Ultra: 58 FPS average

The data shows a consistent pattern across all settings: each step up in resolution reduces the average FPS by a meaningful margin. From 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the drop is 35 FPS (14%). From 1440p Low to 4K Low, the drop is 92 FPS (42.8%). At Ultra settings, the drops are more severe: 64 FPS from 1080p to 1440p (36.6%) and 53 FPS from 1440p to 4K (47.7%). The Medium preset provides the only configurations with minimum and maximum FPS values recorded, and these show that the frame rate range narrows as resolution increases, from a 70 FPS spread at 1080p to a 30 FPS spread at 4K. This narrowing indicates more consistent frame pacing at higher resolutions, likely due to the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck and maintaining steadier output under sustained load.