Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a highly capable experience in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. The measured data shows this combination has no trouble maintaining smooth frame rates at mainstream resolutions, with performance scaling predictably as resolution and settings increase. The 16-core/32-thread processor and the Ampere-based GPU create a balanced platform where neither component consistently bottlenecks the other across the tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 133 FPS at 1080p to 84 FPS at 1440p, representing a 36.8% reduction. Moving further to 4K, the average falls to 44 FPS, a 47.6% drop from the 1440p figure and a 66.9% decline from the 1080p baseline. This steep scaling curve strongly indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 becomes the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the pixel throughput demand outstrips what the GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth can sustain.

The Low preset illustrates the same trend with even more dramatic numbers. At 1080p, the combo achieves 211 FPS, which drops to 133 FPS at 1440p and further to 70 FPS at 4K. The percentage losses are 37.0% and 47.4% respectively, showing a remarkably consistent scaling pattern regardless of the visual load. This consistency suggests the game's engine scales resolution in a uniform way, and the RTX 3070's compute resources, including its 5888 shading units and 96 ROPs, are being taxed in a linear fashion as the pixel count increases.

The Medium preset provides the only complete dataset with min and max FPS values, offering insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the average is 173 FPS with a range of 147 to 198 FPS, a spread of 51 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 109 FPS with a 93 to 126 FPS range, a 33 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 57 FPS with a 49 to 66 FPS range, a 17 FPS spread. The narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates that as the GPU becomes more saturated, frame delivery becomes more consistent, which is typical of a GPU-bound scenario.

The Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling, with 99 FPS at 1080p falling to 63 FPS at 1440p (a 36.4% drop) and then to 33 FPS at 4K (a 47.6% drop from 1440p). This pattern mirrors the other presets almost exactly, reinforcing that the resolution scaling behavior is independent of the specific graphics settings chosen. The data supports a conclusion that the RTX 3070's performance ceiling is reached somewhere between 1440p and 4K, with the 4K Ultra setting pushing the GPU to its absolute limit at just 33 FPS average.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide clear guidance on which preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, all presets deliver playable frame rates, with Low at 211 FPS, Medium at 173 FPS, High at 133 FPS, and Ultra at 99 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs 34 FPS, a 25.6% reduction, which may not justify the additional visual fidelity for a turn-based tactics game where smoothness is less critical than in fast-paced genres)Skip to content.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 84 FPS represents the sweet spot for most users. It offers a 33.3% improvement over Ultra's 63 FPS while only sacrificing 25 FPS compared to Medium's 109 FPS. The High setting provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold, whereas Ultra dips closer to that line. The data indicates that High at 1440p is the most efficient configuration, delivering 84 FPS with presumably better visual quality than Medium's 109 FPS, which is still smooth but might show more noticeable graphical compromises.

For 3840x2160, the recommendations become more constrained. The Low preset at 70 FPS is the only configuration that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, while Medium at 57 FPS sits just below that threshold but remains playable. High at 44 FPS and Ultra at 33 FPS fall into marginal territory for a game with turn-based mechanics, where occasional frame drops are less impactful. The Medium preset at 4K, with its documented 49 to 66 FPS range, offers the best compromise between visual quality and playability, accepting a minor sub-60 FPS average for substantially better visuals than Low.

The pattern across all resolutions suggests that the High preset is the optimal choice for this combination when targeting a 60 FPS experience. It delivers 133 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K. For users willing to drop to Medium, the gains are significant: 173 FPS at 1080p, 109 FPS at 1440p, and 57 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset consistently shows a disproportionate performance penalty relative to High, with losses of 25.6% at 1080p, 25.0% at 1440p, and 25.0% at 4K, suggesting the Ultra preset enables expensive effects that provide diminishing returns.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 serves as the dominant performance determinant in this combination, particularly at higher resolutions. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which directly correlates with the texture and geometry throughput required by Hard West's environments. The GPU's 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units process the game's visual data, while its 96 ROPs handle pixel output, a configuration that explains the observed resolution scaling behavior.

The clock speeds of 1500 MHz base and 1725 MHz boost establish the processing headroom available. The 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power provides ample raw throughput for the game's DirectX 12 rendering path, which is supported via the GPU's 12 Ultimate API capability. The 40.31 TFLOPS combined FP32 and FP16 performance indicates the GPU can handle mixed-precision workloads efficiently, though Hard West likely does not heavily utilize such features given its 2015 release date.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it at the 61st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17208. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT with a delta of 0.7%, meaning the RTX 3070 scores 0.7% higher than that card, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 with a 1.0% advantage. The AMD Radeon HD 7970M trails by 1.1%, while the NVIDIA Tesla K40c leads by 1.5%. These narrow margins indicate the RTX 3070 sits in a tightly contested performance band, yet the measured Hard West data shows it handles this game with considerable authority.

The VRAM capacity of 8 GB proves sufficient for all tested settings, with no data suggesting memory capacity becomes a limiting factor. The game's texture demands at 4K Ultra do not appear to exceed the available 8 GB, as the performance drop from High to Ultra at 4K (44 to 33 FPS, a 25.0% reduction) aligns with the additional shading and effect load rather than a memory spillover. The GPU's 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores remain largely idle in this title, as Hard West does not implement ray tracing or DLSS features, making the GPU's rasterization throughput the sole relevant performance metric.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS this combination achieves in Hard West?*

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 211, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset. This represents the peak performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 70 FPS and the Medium preset averages 57 FPS. Therefore, only the Low preset reliably exceeds 60 FPS, while Medium falls slightly below the threshold but remains within a playable range with a documented 49 to 66 FPS window.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its closest rival in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 3070 scores 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT)Skip to content, 1.0% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon HD 7970M. The NVIDIA Tesla K40c leads the RTX 3070 by 1.5%.

Q: What is the performance difference between Ultra and Low presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 99 FPS while the Low preset averages 211 FPS. This represents a 112 FPS difference, with the Ultra preset delivering approximately 53.1% of the Low preset's performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck at 1440p High settings?

A: The 84 FPS average at 2560x1440 High suggests the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU's 16 cores and 32 threads provide ample processing headroom. The consistent 36-37% FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p across all presets indicates GPU-bound behavior.

Q: Which preset provides the most consistent frame delivery at 4K?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 has a documented range of 49 to 66 FPS, a 17 FPS spread. This is the only 4K configuration with min and max data, indicating it offers reasonably stable frame delivery despite a 57 FPS average.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X plays a supporting but essential role in this combination. With 16 cores and 32 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, the processor provides substantial computational resources that ensure the GPU is never starved of draw calls or game logic updates. The base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 4.90 GHz deliver the single-thread performance necessary for the game's turn-based mechanics, which often depend on discrete logical operations rather than continuous simulation.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate its capability headroom. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 26017 and single-core score of 1614 indicate strong both multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. The Geekbench scores of 15233 multicore and 2083 single-core corroborate this assessment. More relevant to gaming, the 3DMark 16-thread score of 10810 and the 8-thread score of 6598 show that the CPU can handle the thread counts typically utilized by modern game engines, even though Hard West from 2015 likely uses fewer threads.

The CPU's 64 MB of L3 cache provides a large pool of fast-access memory for game data, while the dual-channel DDR4 support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures the processor can feed data to the GPU without creating a memory bottleneck. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes offers substantial bandwidth for the RTX 3070, which connects via PCIe 4.0 x16. This high-bandwidth connection eliminates potential data transfer constraints between the CPU and GPU.

The Ryzen 9 5950X ranks at the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 51947. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX, scores 52073, a mere 0.2% difference, while the AMD EPYC 8124P scores 52121, 0.3% higher. The Intel Core i9-13900F scores 51730, 0.4% lower, and the Intel Core i7-14700 scores 52301, 0.7% higher. These tight margins place the 5950X in a competitive performance tier, though for Hard West, the CPU's role is largely secondary to the GPU.

The measured FPS data confirms the CPU is not a limiting factor at any tested resolution. The consistent FPS scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K across all presets indicates the GPU is the sole bottleneck. If the CPU were constraining performance, the FPS would plateau at higher resolutions rather than continuing to drop proportionally. The 211 FPS at 1080p Low demonstrates the CPU can support very high frame rates, and the 44 FPS at 4K High reflects GPU limitations, not CPU constraints.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers its strongest performance across all presets. The Low preset averages 211 FPS, representing the absolute peak. The Medium preset achieves 173 FPS with a 147 to 198 FPS range, providing both high average performance and reasonable consistency. The High preset averages 133 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 99 FPS. This resolution shows a clear hierarchy where each preset step costs approximately 20-40 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between Medium and High at 40 FPS.

The 2560x1440 results show a proportional reduction across the board. Low averages 133 FPS, Medium 109 FPS with a 93 to 126 FPS range, High 84 FPS, and Ultra 63 FPS. The Medium preset's 93 FPS minimum ensures that even the lowest frames remain well above playable thresholds. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to 21 FPS at this resolution, compared to 34 FPS at 1080p, suggesting the Ultra preset's additional effects become relatively less expensive as pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low averages 70 FPS, Medium 57 FPS with a 49 to 66 FPS range, High 44 FPS, and Ultra 33 FPS. The Medium preset's 49 FPS minimum is the lowest recorded value in the entire dataset, indicating that even at this resolution, frame drops remain contained. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a steady decline, with each preset step costing approximately 13 FPS, a much more uniform pattern than at lower resolutions.

The complete dataset reveals that the Medium preset is the only configuration with full min/max FPS measurements across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 147 to 198 FPS (51 FPS spread); at 1440p, 93 to 126 FPS (33 FPS spread); at 4K, 49 to 66 FPS (17 FPS spread). This narrowing spread at higher resolutions is a classic indicator of GPU-bound operation, where the graphics card's consistent workload produces more predictable frame delivery compared to CPU-bound scenarios where frame times can vary more erratically.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 1581st out of 3722 tested combos in Hard West. This places the pairing in the 57.5th percentile of all combinations, meaning it outperforms slightly more than half of the tested systems. Given the game's 2015 release date and turn-based nature, this ranking reflects a system that is well above average but not at the high-end, as newer and higher-end components naturally achieve better scores.

The ranking position is consistent with the individual component standings. The CPU's 91st percentile among all CPUs and the GPU's 61st percentile among all GPUs combine to produce a mid-to-upper-tier overall result. The GPU's lower percentile relative to the CPU pulls the combination down from what the processor alone could achieve, indicating that the RTX 3070 is the weaker link in this pairing for Hard West's specific workload.

The data shows that the 1581st rank out of 3722 combos is a solid result for this hardware pairing. The measured FPS figures demonstrate playable performance at all tested settings and resolutions, with only the 4K Ultra preset falling to 33 FPS, which remains manageable for a turn-based strategy game. The combination's rank suggests that while there are many faster systems, the vast majority of tested configurations deliver worse results.

The ranking also contextualizes the system's upgrade path. Since the GPU is the limiting factor, particularly at higher resolutions, users seeking improved Hard West performance would benefit more from a GPU upgrade than a CPU upgrade. The CPU's substantial headroom, evidenced by its high percentile ranking and the FPS scaling patterns, means it could support a more powerful GPU without becoming a new bottleneck. This analysis positions the 5950X + RTX 3070 as a well-matched but GPU-limited system whose rank reflects the GPU's mid-tier standing rather than any CPU deficiency.