Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination delivers a decisive performance spread across Hard West’s resolution ladder, with the data revealing a clear transition from CPU-bound behavior at lower resolutions to GPU-bound behavior at 4K. At 1080p, the frame rates are exceptionally high, ranging from 170.4 FPS on Ultra to 243.8 FPS on Low, which indicates that the processor is doing the heavy lifting to keep the graphics card fed. Moving to 1440p, the average frame rates remain strong, with the High preset hitting 145.4 FPS and the Low preset at 210.3 FPS, showing only a modest decline from the 1080p results. The real shift occurs at 4K, where the Ultra preset drops to 54.7 FPS and the High preset falls to 77.2 FPS, while the Low preset still manages a very playable 123.8 FPS. This pattern suggests that the RTX 4090’s rendering load becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions, whereas the 5950X’s 16 cores and 32 threads provide ample headroom to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at 1080p and 1440p.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K is not linear, and the data shows that the performance penalty intensifies with each resolution step, particularly on the higher settings. From 1080p High to 1440p High, the frame rate drops by roughly 30%, but from 1440p High to 4K High, the drop is nearly 47%, which is a substantial increase in GPU workload. Similarly, the Ultra preset sees a 37.5% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 48.6% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The Low preset, by contrast, scales more gracefully, with only a 13.7% drop from 1080p to 1440p and another 41.1% drop to 4K, indicating that the simpler visual settings reduce the GPU’s pixel-pushing demands, allowing the processor to maintain higher frame rates for longer. The data points to a system that is well-balanced for 1440p gaming, where the combo can deliver over 200 FPS on Low and still exceed 140 FPS on High, but at 4K, the RTX 4090 becomes the limiting factor, especially when visual fidelity is prioritized.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications directly influence the measured results in Hard West. With 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, the card offers a memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, which is more than sufficient for this turn-based tactics title, even at 4K resolution. The GPU’s boost clock of 2520 MHz, coupled with its base clock of 2235 MHz, allows it to sustain high throughput across the tested settings. The RTX 4090’s 16,384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units contribute to its raw compute power, with an FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS, which explains why the frame rates remain high even when the resolution increases. The card’s 176 raster operation units (ROPs) are also relevant here, as they handle the final pixel output, and the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU’s pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s is clearly strained, resulting in the lowest measured average of 54.7 FPS.

The RTX 4090’s performance in Hard West aligns with its benchmark scores, which include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 and a PassMark G3D score of 38194. The GPU holds a percentile rank of 91 against all tested GPUs, and its nearest rivals in the database are professional-oriented cards like the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56, which show a deltaPct of -0.4% and -0.9%, respectively, indicating that the 4090 is competitively positioned. The memory clock of 1313 MHz, translating to 21 Gbps effective, ensures that the 24 GB frame buffer is not a bottleneck, even at 4K with High settings where the card still achieves 77.2 FPS. The fact that the Low preset at 4K reaches 123.8 FPS demonstrates that the GPU has significant headroom when the visual load is reduced, but the Ultra preset’s 54.7 FPS shows that the most demanding settings can push the card to its limits in this older title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X serves as the central processing unit in this combination, and its multi-threaded architecture is a key factor in the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions. With 16 cores and 32 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, the CPU operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, which provides the single-thread performance necessary for game logic and the multi-thread capacity for background tasks. The processor’s benchmark results are telling: it scores 38607 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5450 in single-core, with a PassMark multi-thread score of 45424 and a single-thread score of 3470. The 5950X holds a percentile rank of 93 against all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600K, which has an average benchmark score of 49166, representing a deltaPct of -0.2% relative to the 5950X’s average of 49062, placing the two chips in a statistical tie.

In Hard West, the CPU’s role becomes apparent when examining the 1080p results, where the frame rates are highest. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 243.8 FPS, which is only slightly below the 1440p Low result of 210.3 FPS, indicating that the processor is not the limiting factor at these settings. The 5950X’s 64 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support, with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, help maintain consistent frame pacing, which is crucial for a turn-based tactics game where input responsiveness matters. The CPU’s performance in synthetic tests, such as a 3DMark max threads score of 11597 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 12084, further supports its capability to handle the game’s AI and simulation tasks without introducing stutter. However, the data shows that at 4K, the CPU’s advantage diminishes, as the frame rates drop across all settings, confirming that the graphics card is the primary determinant of performance at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are as follows: Low delivers 243.8 FPS, Medium achieves 228.3 FPS, High reaches 209.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 170.4 FPS. These numbers illustrate that even at the highest settings, the system maintains a frame rate well above the refresh rate of most monitors, making the experience exceptionally smooth. At 2560x1440, the results scale down predictably: Low produces 210.3 FPS, Medium hits 190.9 FPS, High manages 145.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 106.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is nearly 50%, showing that the visual settings have a significant impact on performance, but all presets remain playable. At 3840x2160, the frame rates are more moderate: Low yields 123.8 FPS, Medium provides 97 FPS, High delivers 77.2 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 54.7 FPS.

The breakdown highlights a clear hierarchy in settings impact, with Ultra being the most demanding preset across all resolutions. The difference between Medium and High is particularly notable at 1440p, where the frame rate drops from 190.9 FPS to 145.4 FPS, a 23.8% reduction, suggesting that High settings introduce additional effects that tax the GPU more heavily. At 4K, the gap between Medium and High is 20.4%, and the gap between High and Ultra is 29.1%, indicating that the most extreme settings can halve the performance relative to Low. The data also shows that the Low preset at 4K outperforms the Ultra preset at 1440p by a margin of 16.2%, which underscores the GPU’s ability to handle resolution increases when graphical complexity is reduced. Overall, the measured FPS values suggest that this combo is best suited for 1440p gaming with High or Ultra settings, where it can deliver a balance of visual quality and high frame rates, while 4K gaming is viable on Medium or High for a smoother experience.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a combo rank of 71 out of 1699 tested configurations in Hard West. This places it in the top 4.2% of all combos, indicating that it is a high-performing setup for this game. The rank reflects the combined capabilities of the CPU and GPU, and the data shows that the system excels at delivering high frame rates, particularly at 1080p and 1440p. The combo’s position is notable given that the RTX 4090 is an end-of-life product, yet it still ranks highly, which confirms its raw performance in this title. The CPU’s percentile rank of 93 and the GPU’s percentile rank of 91 both contribute to this strong showing, and the measured FPS values align with the expectations set by their individual benchmark scores.

When comparing to other potential combos, the data indicates that this setup is slightly ahead of the average performance level, given that the CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-14600K and Intel Core i5-14600KF, show deltaPct values of -0.2% and -0.6%, respectively, meaning the 5950X is marginally faster. The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56, show deltaPct values of -0.4% and -0.9%, respectively, which places the RTX 4090 in a similar competitive position. The rank of 71 out of 1699 combos suggests that while there are many other configurations that can achieve higher frame rates in other games, this combination is particularly well-suited for Hard West, likely due to the game’s turn-based nature, which benefits from the CPU’s strong single-thread performance and the GPU’s ability to handle the visual effects at high resolutions. The data confirms that this is a top-tier pairing for this specific title, with no significant weaknesses exposed in the measured scenarios.