Hard West

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

The measured FPS data for Hard West with the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 194.9 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops this to 122.8 FPS, a reduction of roughly 37%. Pushing further to 3840x2160 at Low settings yields 64.5 FPS, which is about 47% lower than the 1440p result and 67% lower than the 1080p figure. This steep decline suggests that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the pixel count increases dramatically from roughly 2 million pixels at 1080p to over 8 million at 4K.

The Ultra preset tells a similar story but with even more pronounced drops. At 1080p Ultra, the system averages 92.1 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, this falls to 60.6 FPS, a 34% decrease. At 4K Ultra, the average plunges to 28.4 FPS, which is a 69% reduction from the 1440p figure and a 69% drop from 1080p as well. This pattern indicates that Ultra settings amplify the GPU's workload, making the resolution scaling steeper. The data implies that while the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, the RTX 5060's 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 128-bit bus become the limiting factor as both resolution and graphical complexity increase.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is substantial but not uniform. At 1080p, Low produces 194.9 FPS while Ultra produces 92.1 FPS — a difference of 102.8 FPS. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 62.2 FPS (122.8 vs 60.6). At 4K, the gap shrinks further to 36.1 FPS (64.5 vs 28.4). This narrowing gap suggests that at 4K, even Low settings are heavily taxing the GPU, leaving less room for additional graphical features to impact performance. The benchmark results indicate that this system is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming in Hard West, with 4K requiring significant compromises in settings.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 brings specific hardware characteristics that directly influence Hard West's performance across the measured configurations. The GPU's memory configuration includes 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Memory clocks run at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed. These specifications matter because Hard West, as a turn-based tactics title from 2015, likely does not demand massive VRAM allocations, but the 8 GB capacity still proves adequate for all tested settings, including Ultra at 4K, where the average FPS of 28.4 indicates the GPU is compute-bound rather than memory-limited.

The GPU's boost clock of 2497 MHz and base clock of 2280 MHz are relatively modest for the 50-series generation, yet the benchmark scores show the card holding its own. The RTX 5060 achieves a passmark G3D score of 20891 and a passmark GPU compute score of 10899, placing it in the 73rd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT with a deltaPct of 0, meaning they perform essentially identically in aggregate benchmarks, and the AMD Radeon RX 570 with a deltaPct of -0.2, slightly below. This positioning suggests the RTX 5060 is a capable mid-range card, and the measured FPS in Hard West reflects that.

The GPU's architecture, Blackwell 2.0, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC, includes 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s provide the raw throughput needed for the game's 2D sprite-based environments and turn-based combat scenes. The FP32 performance of 19.18 TFLOPS indicates solid raw compute power, which helps explain why the card can push 194.9 FPS at 1080p Low. However, at 4K Ultra, the combination of higher pixel count and increased shading complexity overwhelms the 48 ROPs, resulting in the 28.4 FPS average. The data suggests that Hard West's visual effects, while not current-generation, still scale heavily with GPU fill-rate and shading resources.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 provides the most comfortable experience, with all settings above 92 FPS on average. Specifically, High settings at 1080p yield 121.5 FPS, while Ultra achieves 92.1 FPS. At 2560x1440, High settings still maintain 76.9 FPS, but Ultra drops to 60.6 FPS, making 1440p usable but requiring settings compromises.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5060's average benchmark score is 30109, with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT at 30097 (deltaPct 0), the AMD Radeon RX 570 at 30158 (deltaPct -0.2), the NVIDIA Tesla M60 at 29969 (deltaPct 0.5), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile at 29928 (deltaPct 0.6). Essentially, these GPUs are all within 0.6% of each other.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM limit performance in Hard West?

A: Based on the measured results, the 8 GB GDDR7 memory appears sufficient. Even at 4K Ultra with 28.4 FPS average, the performance drop is more attributable to the GPU's shading and rasterization capabilities than memory capacity. No settings row shows a catastrophic collapse that would indicate VRAM exhaustion.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700X's CPU performance affect this game?

A: The CPU's strong single-thread score of 4459 in Cinebench R23 and multi-thread score of 31588 in the same test suggest it is not a bottleneck at any tested resolution. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K follows a GPU-bound pattern, indicating the CPU can comfortably feed the RTX 5060.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, the difference is 102.8 FPS (194.9 Low vs 92.1 Ultra). At 1440p, the difference is 62.2 FPS (122.8 Low vs 60.6 Ultra). At 4K, the difference narrows to 36.1 FPS (64.5 Low vs 28.4 Ultra), showing that Low settings at 4K are still demanding.

Q: Is this combo ranked highly among all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 875th out of 1699 tested combinations in Hard West, placing it in the middle of the pack. This rank reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU, with neither component being exceptionally high-end relative to the full database.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 achieves a combo rank of 875 out of 1699 tested combinations in Hard West. This middle-of-the-pack ranking is informative because it places the system roughly in the 51st percentile of all combos tested for this specific game. The ranking suggests that while the hardware is competent, there are many more powerful combinations in the database, particularly those with higher-tier GPUs. The CPU's 89th percentile standing among all CPUs and the GPU's 73rd percentile among all GPUs indicate a slight imbalance, with the processor being relatively stronger than the graphics card in aggregate benchmarks.

This rank becomes more meaningful when considering the individual component standings. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14500HX, has an average score of 35940 with a deltaPct of 0.2, meaning the Ryzen 7 9700X is essentially tied with it. The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H sits at 36165 with a deltaPct of -0.4, slightly ahead. For the GPU, the RTX 5060's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, matches its average score within 0.1%. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU explains why the overall combo rank sits in the middle — the system's gaming performance in Hard West is likely determined more by the GPU, which is the weaker link relative to the CPU's capabilities.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings based on resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 121.5 FPS average, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay in a turn-based tactics game. Ultra at 1080p yields 92.1 FPS, still highly playable, so players with 1080p displays can comfortably use Ultra settings. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 161.8 FPS, and Low reaches 194.9 FPS, both of which are excessive for this genre but demonstrate the system's headroom.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 76.9 FPS is the recommended choice, as it maintains fluidity while preserving visual quality. Medium at 1440p hits 100.6 FPS, which is also smooth, but the visual fidelity may be noticeably lower. Ultra at 1440p drops to 60.6 FPS, which is playable but could feel less responsive during camera pans or particle effects. For 3840x2160, the data suggests that High at 43 FPS or Medium at 52.9 FPS are the only viable options, with Low at 64.5 FPS being the best for maintaining higher frame rates. Ultra at 4K at 28.4 FPS is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. The best experience per the measured rows would be 1080p Ultra at 92.1 FPS or 1440p High at 76.9 FPS, depending on display resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured average FPS values across all resolutions and settings is as follows:

At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 194.9 FPS, Medium produces 161.8 FPS, High produces 121.5 FPS, and Ultra produces 92.1 FPS. This progression shows a nearly linear decline of roughly 25-30 FPS per settings tier from Low to High, with a smaller drop from High to Ultra. At 2560x1440, Low produces 122.8 FPS, Medium produces 100.6 FPS, High produces 76.9 FPS, and Ultra produces 60.6 FPS. The relative gaps between tiers remain similar to 1080p, but the absolute values are lower, reflecting the increased pixel count. At 3840x2160, Low produces 64.5 FPS, Medium produces 52.9 FPS, High produces 43 FPS, and Ultra produces 28.4 FPS.

The data reveals that the drop from 1080p to 1440p reduces FPS by roughly 37-39% across all settings, while the drop from 1440p to 4K reduces FPS by roughly 47-53%, depending on the settings tier. The 4K Ultra result of 28.4 FPS is the only measured value below 30 FPS, indicating a hard limit for this combo at maximum settings and resolution. The High and Medium presets at 4K, at 43 and 52.9 FPS respectively, are the only 4K options that approach playability, though they still require a compromise on visual fidelity.

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

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge, fabricated on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It features a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. This configuration provides substantial single-thread performance, which is critical for turn-based tactics games like Hard West that may not fully utilize many cores. The CPU's single-thread score in Cinebench R23 is 4459, while its multi-thread score is 31588, indicating strong performance in both metrics.

In the context of Hard West's measured FPS, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling pattern. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 194.9 FPS, which is likely approaching the game's engine limit or the CPU's frame-pacing capability. The CPU's 3DMark scores support this: a 16-thread score of 9824 and a max-thread score of 9771, with a single-thread score of 1280. These benchmarks suggest the CPU can handle high frame rates without becoming a bottleneck. The 89th percentile standing among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36029, places it just ahead of the Intel Core i5-14500HX (35940, deltaPct 0.2) and just behind the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (36165, deltaPct -0.4).

The memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 89.6 GB/s bandwidth provides ample data throughput for game logic, AI calculations, and asset streaming in Hard West. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache is particularly beneficial for turn-based tactics, where repetitive calculations on small datasets can benefit from cache locality. The CPU's 5.50 GHz boost clock ensures that single-threaded game logic, such as pathfinding and enemy AI turns, executes swiftly. While the measured FPS data does not isolate CPU performance from GPU performance, the lack of a significant frame rate plateau at lower resolutions suggests that the Ryzen 7 9700X is not limiting the RTX 5060 in this game. The combo's overall rank of 875 out of 1699 reflects this balance — a strong CPU paired with a mid-range GPU produces respectable but not exceptional results in Hard West.