Hard West

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces a highly variable experience in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. The data shows a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, but the CPU's strength becomes apparent at lower settings. This combination ranks 2950th out of 3722 tested combos, placing it in the lower third of the database, yet the measurable FPS reveals it can still deliver playable performance if settings are managed carefully.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about system balance. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 90 FPS at 1920x1080 to 57 FPS at 2560x1440, then plummets to 30 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 66.7% reduction in average FPS when moving from 1080p to 4K, indicating that resolution scaling is heavily taxing the graphics pipeline rather than the processor.

The pattern intensifies when examining Low settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 143 FPS, which drops to 90 FPS at 1440p and then to 47 FPS at 4K. The scaling between 1080p and 1440p shows a 37.1% performance loss, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs another 47.8%. This progressive degradation confirms that the RTX 2060's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput are the limiting factors as pixel count increases.

Ultra settings present the most severe case. The average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 67, which falls to 43 at 1440p and bottoms out at 22 at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 4K at Ultra is a 67.2% drop, nearly identical to the High setting percentage. This consistency suggests the GPU is saturated early at high quality presets, and resolution increases simply multiply the workload without any CPU-related relief.

The Medium preset provides the only complete dataset with min and max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 117 FPS with a range from 99 to 135. Moving to 1440p Medium yields 74 FPS average (63 to 85 range), and 4K Medium produces 39 FPS average (33 to 45 range). The min FPS values never drop below 33 even at 4K, which means the game remains technically playable, though the 22 FPS average at 4K Ultra suggests stutter-prone territory.

These scaling patterns indicate that the CPU is not the limiting component at any resolution. The Ryzen 9 7900X with 12 cores and 24 threads provides ample headroom, so the FPS degradation is purely a function of the RTX 2060's rendering capabilities at higher pixel densities.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip manufactured on a 12 nm process. It contains 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster operations pipelines. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, while its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 1750 MHz with a 192-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

This memory configuration becomes the critical constraint in Hard West. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this 2015 tactical title, but the 192-bit bus width limits how much data can be moved at 4K resolution. The GPU's pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are modest figures that directly explain why 4K Ultra settings produce only 22 FPS average. The card's FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS is adequate for the game's geometry, but the sheer volume of pixels at 3840x2160 overwhelms the ROP count of 48.

The RTX 2060's benchmark scores place it at the 58th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 15290 puts it in close competition with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283 score, 0% delta), AMD Radeon 680M (15270 score, 0.1% delta), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199 score, 0.6% delta), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 (15171 score, 0.8% delta). These rivals are all within 0.8% of the RTX 2060's average score, indicating that this GPU sits in a tightly packed performance tier where no single card has a decisive advantage.

DirectX 12 performance is notably weaker than DirectX 11, with PassMark scores of 53 versus 110 respectively. This suggests the Turing architecture's driver overhead or hardware scheduling does not favor Hard West's likely API usage, which could explain why the game's performance at Ultra settings falls below what raw specs might predict.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 architecture with a 5 nm process. It has a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 170 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth, and it features a substantial 64 MB L3 cache shared across all cores plus 1 MB L2 and 64 KB L1 per core.

This processor is vastly overqualified for Hard West, a turn-based tactics game that rarely demands heavy multi-threaded workloads. The benchmark results show exceptional single-thread capability: 3DMark single-thread score of 1093, Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2016.5, and Geekbench single-core score of 2617. These scores place the CPU at the 91st percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53288.

The nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD EPYC 7313P (53206 score, 0.2% delta), Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (53469 score, -0.3% delta), Intel Xeon 634 (52974 score, 0.6% delta), and Intel Core i7-14700F (53620 score, -0.6% delta). All these CPUs are within 0.6% of the Ryzen 9 7900X's average score, demonstrating that this processor is in the top tier of desktop CPUs despite being paired with a mid-range GPU.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is equally impressive: Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29300, 3DMark max threads score of 12536, and PassMark multithread score of 51406. In Hard West, this means the CPU will never become a bottleneck, even at 1080p Low where the system reaches 143 FPS. The 12 physical cores provide more than enough processing power for the game's AI and turn-based logic, so all FPS variation comes from GPU limitations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers playable frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 143 FPS average, which is smooth enough for any display. Medium settings yield 117 FPS average with a minimum of 99 and maximum of 135. High settings drop to 90 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 67 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 53.1% performance loss, but even the lowest 1080p result remains comfortably above 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance envelope tightens. Low settings still achieve 90 FPS average, Medium drops to 74 FPS (63 to 85 range), High reaches 57 FPS, and Ultra falls to 43 FPS. The 1440p High setting at 57 FPS is borderline for smooth gameplay, while Ultra at 43 FPS will be noticeably less fluid. The Medium preset's 74 FPS average with a 63 FPS minimum remains the safest choice for consistent performance at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 2060 struggles significantly. Low settings produce 47 FPS average, which is playable but not ideal. Medium settings yield 39 FPS average with a minimum of 33 and maximum of 45. High settings drop to 30 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 22 FPS average. These numbers indicate that 4K gaming is only viable at Low or Medium settings, and even then, the frame rate hovers near the edge of playability.

The data shows a clear pattern: at 1080p, the system is CPU-bound with headroom to spare; at 1440p, the GPU begins to limit performance; at 4K, the GPU is fully saturated and settings must be reduced drastically. The 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are the limiting factors at 4K, not the processor's capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2950th out of 3722 tested combos in Hard West. This ranking places the system in the 79.3rd percentile of all tested combinations, meaning roughly 79% of other hardware pairings perform better in this game. The low rank is primarily due to the GPU's modest performance relative to the CPU's high-end positioning.

The rank disparity is telling: the CPU alone sits at the 91st percentile versus all CPUs, while the GPU sits at the 58th percentile versus all GPUs. This imbalance means the system's overall performance is dragged down by the graphics card, which cannot fully utilize the processor's capabilities in this game. The RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 15290 is only 0.8% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600, and 0.6% higher than the RTX 3050 OEM, all of which are mid-range cards that pair more naturally with mid-range CPUs.

In practical terms, this combo ranking suggests that users would see better Hard West performance by either upgrading the GPU or reducing the CPU investment. However, the measured FPS data shows that at 1080p, the system still delivers excellent results (67 FPS at Ultra, 90 FPS at High), making it a viable choice for players who prioritize 1080p gaming. The ranking reflects the system's poor 4K performance, where it falls to 22 FPS at Ultra, rather than its overall capability.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system in Hard West?

A: At 1920x1080, Ultra settings produce 67 FPS average, which is fully playable. For higher smoothness, High settings at 1080p yield 90 FPS average. At 2560x1440, Medium settings provide 74 FPS average with a 63 FPS minimum, making it the best balance for quality and performance. 4K is only viable at Low settings (47 FPS average) or Medium (39 FPS average with 33 FPS minimum).

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.8%: the GTX 580 scores 15283 (0% delta), the Radeon 680M scores 15270 (0.1% delta), the RTX 3050 OEM scores 15199 (0.6% delta), and the RX 7600 scores 15171 (0.8% delta). This indicates they are effectively equivalent performers.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 7900X a bottleneck for this GPU in Hard West?

A: No. The CPU's benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29300 and single-core score of 2016.5, are far beyond what this game requires. The FPS drops from 143 at 1080p Low to 22 at 4K Ultra are entirely attributable to GPU limitations, not CPU constraints.

Q: What is the system's overall ranking among tested combos in this game?

A: The combo ranks 2950th out of 3722 tested combinations. This places it in the lower portion of the database, reflecting the GPU's mid-range performance rather than the CPU's high-end capability.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 90 at 1920x1080 to 57 at 2560x1440 to 30 at 3840x2160. This represents a 66.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K, showing that the GPU cannot scale to higher resolutions without significant frame rate penalties.

Q: Does the 6 GB VRAM capacity affect Hard West performance?

A: The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient for this game, as no VRAM-related stuttering is evident in the data. The limiting factor at 4K is more likely the 48 ROPs and 80.64 GPixel/s pixel rate, which constrain the raw fill rate needed for high-resolution rendering.