Hard West

FAQ

Q: How does this AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX + AMD Radeon 760M combo rank in Hard West?

A: The combo ranks 2939 out of 2949 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 0.3% of all tested systems for this game. This is a very low position, indicating that the integrated GPU is a severe bottleneck for this title.

Q: What is the best playable settings/resolution combination for this system?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers an average of 53 FPS, which is the only configuration that approaches smooth gameplay. The 1920x1080 Medium preset provides 44 FPS average, which is acceptable for a turn-based tactics game, while Ultra at 1080p drops to 25 FPS.

Q: How does the Radeon 760M compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Radeon 760M has an average benchmark score of 6019, which is 0.3% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6400 (6001) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M (6000), and 0.5% lower than the NVIDIA Quadro P2000 (6049). The GPU sits at the 35th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the CPU's synthetic benchmark standing relative to other processors?

A: The Ryzen 9 8945HX scores 76212 on average, placing it at the 95th percentile of all CPUs. It is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (76155) and 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (75779), while trailing the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P by 0.4%.

Q: Can this system handle 4K resolution in Hard West?

A: No. At 3840x2160, even the Low preset only achieves 18 FPS average, and Medium drops to 15 FPS. Ultra at 4K produces just 8 FPS, which is unplayable by any standard.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its single-threaded performance?

A: The CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42713 versus 6030 single-core, showing very strong scaling across its 16 cores and 32 threads. In PassMark, the multi-thread score is 51405 while single-thread is 3907.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX paired with the AMD Radeon 760M sits at rank 2939 out of 2949 tested combos in Hard West. This places the system in the bottom fraction of a percent — a staggering result for a CPU that otherwise ranks in the 95th percentile of all processors.

The enormous gap between CPU capability and in-game ranking highlights a fundamental imbalance. The Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread Dragon Range processor based on Zen 4 architecture, capable of a 5.40 GHz boost clock. It delivers a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42713, putting it within 0.4% of the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P and 0.1% above the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX. Yet in Hard West, the combination performs as if it were among the weakest systems ever tested.

The culprit is the Radeon 760M, an integrated graphics solution with 512 shading units and a 2599 MHz boost clock. While its PassMark G3D score of 5310 places it near discrete GPUs like the RX 6400 and GTX 770M, the 15 W TDP and system-shared memory severely limit sustained performance. The GPU's 35th percentile standing among all GPUs contrasts sharply with the CPU's 95th percentile, and in a game like Hard West, the graphics pipeline dominates the experience.

The rank of 2939 out of 2949 means only 10 tested combinations perform worse. For a system with a top-tier mobile CPU, this is an extraordinary underperformance that can only be explained by the integrated GPU's inability to feed the display pipeline at playable rates in this particular title.

Settings Recommendations

For this combination, the measured FPS data provides clear guidance on playable configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 53 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate recorded across all tested settings and resolutions. This is the only configuration that achieves above 50 FPS.

The Medium preset at 1080p produces 44 FPS average with a minimum of 37 FPS and maximum of 50 FPS. For a turn-based tactics game where precise frame timing is less critical than in action titles, this is a viable option that likely offers improved visual fidelity over Low. The minimum of 37 FPS remains smooth enough for the genre's deliberate pacing.

High settings at 1080p drop to 34 FPS average, while Ultra falls to 25 FPS. The step from Medium to High costs 10 FPS, and from High to Ultra another 9 FPS. Given that Hard West is a turn-based game, the 34 FPS at High could be acceptable for players prioritizing visuals, but the 25 FPS at Ultra risks noticeable sluggishness during camera pans and unit animations.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 34 FPS, Medium 28 FPS, High 21 FPS, and Ultra 16 FPS. The 1440p Medium configuration is marginally playable but inferior to 1080p High in both frame rate and likely visual quality. The 4K results are uniformly poor: Low at 18 FPS, Medium at 15 FPS, High at 11 FPS, and Ultra at 8 FPS.

The data suggests the optimal experience is 1080p Medium, balancing the 44 FPS average with the minimum of 37 FPS ensuring no major dips. Players who prioritize smoothness above all should choose 1080p Low at 53 FPS. The 1080p High setting at 34 FPS represents a middle ground for those who want improved detail without dropping below 30 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system's performance ranges from 53 FPS at Low to 25 FPS at Ultra. The Low preset achieves the highest average of any tested configuration. Medium delivers 44 FPS with a minimum of 37 and maximum of 50. High produces 34 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 25 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, every preset loses approximately 35-38% of its 1080p performance. Low drops from 53 to 34 FPS, Medium from 44 to 28 FPS (minimum 24, maximum 32), High from 34 to 21 FPS, and Ultra from 25 to 16 FPS. The 1440p results show a consistent scaling pattern, with each settings tier roughly 6-7 FPS apart.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates on any preset. Low yields 18 FPS, Medium 15 FPS (minimum 12, maximum 17), High 11 FPS, and Ultra 8 FPS. The 4K results demonstrate that this integrated GPU cannot handle high pixel counts in Hard West, regardless of graphical settings.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings shows a 19 FPS drop (53 to 34), while the jump from 1440p to 4K at Low costs another 16 FPS (34 to 18). This suggests the GPU is bandwidth-limited at higher resolutions, consistent with its system-shared memory design.

The Medium preset at 1080p shows the tightest min/max spread (37-50 FPS), indicating relatively consistent frame pacing. In contrast, the 1440p Medium configuration (24-32 FPS) shows a broader relative range, suggesting increased variance at higher resolution.

Ultra settings are only marginally playable at 1080p (25 FPS) and become entirely unsuitable at 1440p (16 FPS) and 4K (8 FPS). High settings at 1080p (34 FPS) represent the highest visual quality tier that maintains a playable frame rate.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 760M is the primary limiting factor in this configuration. This integrated graphics processor, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a 4 nm process, contains 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 raster output units. Its boost clock reaches 2599 MHz, producing a pixel rate of 41.58 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 83.17 GTexel/s.

The GPU's FP32 compute performance is 5.323 TFLOPS, with FP16 at the same 5.323 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The memory configuration is entirely system-shared, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent" — this means performance scales with the host system's DDR5 memory speed and configuration.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Radeon 760M achieves a PassMark G3D score of 5310 and a PassMark GPU Compute score of 2840. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result is 400, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 20255 and 30336 respectively. The GPU sits at the 35th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 6019.

The nearest rivals in synthetic performance are the AMD Radeon RX 6400 (6001, 0.3% lower) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M (6000, 0.3% lower), with the NVIDIA Quadro P2000 (6049) 0.5% higher. Despite this apparent parity with older discrete GPUs, the Radeon 760M's integrated nature means it shares power and thermal budget with the CPU, and its system-shared memory introduces latency that discrete solutions avoid.

In Hard West specifically, the GPU's 15 W TDP and integrated design manifest as severe frame rate limitations. The measured results show that even at 1080p Low, the system only achieves 53 FPS — a modest result for a 2015 turn-based tactics game. The 8 RT cores and RDNA 3.0 architecture provide modern feature support, but the pixel throughput and memory bandwidth constraints dominate real-world performance.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX provides computational horsepower far beyond what Hard West requires, making it a non-factor in this game's performance ceiling. This 16-core, 32-thread processor from the 8000 series uses Zen 4 architecture on a 5 nm TSMC process, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its TDP is 55 W, and it connects via AMD Socket FL1.

The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 64 MB of L3 total. It supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth. The processor is unlocked for multiplier adjustment and uses PCIe Gen 5 with 28 lanes.

Synthetic benchmarks show exceptional performance. Cinebench R23 scores are 42713 multi-core and 6030 single-core. Cinebench R20 yields 17939 multi-core and 2532 single-core, while R15 produces 4305 multi-core and 607 single-core. PassMark results include a multi-thread score of 51405, single-thread of 3907, integer math at 195180, floating-point math at 117453, and data compression at 677755.

The CPU ranks in the 95th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 76212. Its nearest rivals in aggregate performance are the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (76155, 0.1% lower), AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P (76492, 0.4% higher), AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX (76513, 0.4% higher), and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (75779, 0.6% lower).

In Hard West, the CPU's immense multi-threading capability is largely irrelevant. Turn-based tactics games typically rely on single-thread performance for game logic and AI calculations, and the 8945HX's single-thread score of 6030 in Cinebench R23 is more than sufficient. The game's system requirements date from 2015, predating this CPU by a decade, so even the most demanding AI and pathfinding calculations are unlikely to stress the processor.

The data confirms this: the measured FPS results show consistent scaling with resolution and graphics settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect frame rates to remain similar across resolutions or to show stutter and inconsistency. Instead, the smooth degradation from 53 FPS at 1080p Low to 18 FPS at 4K Low demonstrates that the Radeon 760M, not the Ryzen 9 8945HX, determines performance. The CPU's 32 threads and 5.40 GHz boost clock are effectively wasted in this title, as the integrated GPU cannot feed frames fast enough to utilize the processor's capabilities.