Hard West

# Hard West with AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015, presents an interesting benchmark case for this mobile-first CPU paired with a mainstream desktop GPU. The measured data shows a combo ranking at 1787 out of 2949 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This is a game where strategic depth matters more than raw frame rates, yet the performance envelope here reveals distinct bottlenecks depending on resolution and settings. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 brings 16 cores and 32 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ships with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and Ada Lovelace architecture. The interplay between this high-core-count CPU and a GPU that sits at the 61st percentile among all tested graphics cards shapes every result in this dataset.

FAQ

Q: What is the best measured average frame rate for this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS recorded at 1920x1080 is 166 FPS on Low settings. Medium delivers 136 FPS, High drops to 104 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 78 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 4060 outperform the Radeon 780M integrated graphics in this pairing?

A: According to the nearest rivals data, the RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17639, while the AMD Radeon 780M scores 17588. This represents a delta of 0.3%, meaning the RTX 4060 is marginally ahead by a negligible margin.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-core performance compare to the Intel Core i9-14900K?

A: The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 has an average benchmark score of 77740, which is 1.7% lower than the Intel Core i9-14900K's score of 79097. The deltaPct of -1.7 indicates the AMD chip trails slightly in overall benchmark averages.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1440p High to 4K High?

A: At 2560x1440 High settings, the average FPS is 66. Moving to 3840x2160 High settings reduces this to 35 FPS. That represents a 47% decrease in average frame rate.

Q: Are there any settings where the frame rate exceeds 100 FPS at 4K?

A: No. The highest average FPS at 3840x2160 is 55 FPS on Low settings. Medium scores 45 FPS, High scores 35 FPS, and Ultra scores 26 FPS. None of the 4K measurements approach triple-digit frame rates.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across all tested configurations?

A: The only configurations with minimum FPS data are Medium settings. At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum is 115 FPS. At 2560x1440 Medium, it drops to 73 FPS. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum is 38 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is a 16-core, 32-thread processor built on the Zen 5 architecture with a 4 nm process node from TSMC. Its base clock runs at 3.00 GHz, boosting up to 5.10 GHz, with a 64 MB shared L3 cache. This is a mobile segment chip designed for the AMD Socket FP11 platform, and it supports LPDDR5X memory across a quad-channel bus offering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU's benchmark scores are substantial: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35314 and a single-core score of 2044, plus a Geekbench multi-core score of 20992. It sits at the 95th percentile among all CPUs tested, indicating strong raw compute capability.

For a turn-based tactics game like Hard West, the CPU's role is primarily in handling game logic, pathfinding, and AI decision-making rather than continuous physics or simulation threads. The data suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. The 16-core configuration is overkill for a 2015 title, but the high boost clock of 5.10 GHz helps ensure single-threaded responsiveness. In the nearest rivals comparison, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77740 on average, sitting just 1.6% above the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX (76513) and 2% above the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX (76212). The only rival that beats it is the Intel Core i9-14900K at 79097, a 1.7% margin. This tells us the CPU has ample headroom for this game, meaning frame rate swings across settings are more likely GPU-driven, especially at higher resolutions.

The Passmark multi-thread score of 54934 reinforces the CPU's strength in parallel workloads, but Hard West's turn-based nature rarely stresses all 32 threads simultaneously. The single-thread Passmark score of 4147 indicates solid per-core performance, which matters more for game logic that isn't easily parallelized. The data implies the CPU will not bottleneck the RTX 4060 in this title, even at 1080p Low where the GPU is pushed hardest relative to resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1787 out of 2949 tested combos for Hard West. This places it in the 60th percentile of all combinations, meaning roughly 40% of tested systems perform worse. The rank is modest, but context matters: Hard West is not a demanding title by modern standards, so even lower-ranked combos can achieve playable frame rates. The combo's position suggests that while the CPU is high-end, the GPU's mid-tier status (61st percentile among all GPUs) anchors overall performance.

Looking at the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 4060's average benchmark score of 17639 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666, -0.2% delta), the AMD Radeon 780M (17588, +0.3%), the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17551, +0.5%), and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17509, +0.7%). This clustering indicates the RTX 4060's synthetic performance is tightly grouped with older or integrated solutions, despite being a modern discrete card. In Hard West specifically, this translates to frame rates that are respectable but not exceptional. The combo rank of 1787 reflects that many other GPU pairings, likely with higher-tier graphics cards, achieve better results. The CPU's 95th percentile ranking does little to boost the combo beyond what the GPU can deliver in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4060 delivers strong performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 166 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth for any game. Medium settings drop to 136 FPS, with a minimum of 115 FPS and a maximum of 156 FPS. High settings average 104 FPS, while Ultra settings reduce this to 78 FPS. These numbers indicate that even at the highest quality preset, the game remains well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down predictably. Low settings average 105 FPS, maintaining excellent fluidity. Medium settings average 86 FPS, with a range of 73 to 99 FPS. High settings drop to 66 FPS, which is still playable but shows the GPU beginning to strain. Ultra settings average only 49 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS mark and may be noticeable in fast-paced sequences, though turn-based gameplay is more forgiving of lower frame rates.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more constrained. Low settings average 55 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS target. Medium settings average 45 FPS, with a minimum of 38 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS. High settings average 35 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 26 FPS. These numbers show that 4K gaming is only viable at Low settings for a smooth experience, while Medium and above require compromises. The minimum FPS of 38 at 4K Medium indicates potential stuttering in complex scenes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, along with 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1830 MHz and boosts up to 2460 MHz, with memory running at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). It has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The FP32 performance is rated at 15.11 TFLOPS, and the pixel rate reaches 118.1 GPixel/s.

In Hard West, the GPU's role is central to frame rate, especially as resolution increases. The 8 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for a 2015 title, which likely has modest texture and geometry demands. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 19545 and DirectX 11 score of 175 indicate reasonable DirectX 11 performance, which is the API era this game belongs to. The DirectX 12 score of 76 is lower, but Hard West likely uses DirectX 11 given its release date.

The RTX 4060's 61st percentile ranking among all GPUs is reflected in its performance. At 1080p, it handles the game effortlessly, but 4K pushes it to its limits. The GPU's nearest rivals—all scoring within 0.7% of its average—suggest that in synthetic tests, this card is comparable to much older hardware like the Radeon HD 7790. However, in actual gameplay, the modern architecture and driver support may provide advantages not captured by raw scores. The data shows the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, where frame rates drop significantly regardless of CPU capability.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that Medium settings offer the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average FPS is 136, with a minimum of 115 FPS, ensuring consistent smoothness. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average drops to 86 FPS, which remains fluid and provides a minimum of 73 FPS that stays above the 60 FPS threshold. Even at 4K, Medium settings average 45 FPS, which is playable for a turn-based tactics game where precision timing is not critical.

High settings are viable at 1080p (104 FPS) and 1440p (66 FPS), but at 4K they drop to 35 FPS, which may feel sluggish. Ultra settings are only recommended at 1080p, where 78 FPS is acceptable, but at 1440p (49 FPS) and 4K (26 FPS), the visual upgrade likely does not justify the performance cost. Low settings provide the highest frame rates—166 FPS at 1080p, 105 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K—but sacrifice visual fidelity. For a game like Hard West, which relies on atmospheric art and lighting, Low settings may diminish the experience. Medium is the sweet spot, offering a significant visual improvement over Low while maintaining frame rates that are well within playable ranges.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU's limitations. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 104 at 1920x1080 to 66 at 2560x1440, a 36.5% decrease, and then to 35 at 3840x2160, a 66.3% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus struggle with the pixel count at 4K. At Low settings, the drop is less severe: 166 FPS at 1080p, 105 FPS at 1440p (36.7% decrease), and 55 FPS at 4K (66.9% decrease from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests a resolution-bound bottleneck rather than a settings-driven one.

The scaling pattern points to the GPU as the limiting component at higher resolutions. The CPU's 16-core design and high boost clock are not the constraint here; even at 4K Low with 55 FPS, the CPU is unlikely to be the bottleneck given its 95th percentile ranking. The fact that frame rates at 4K never exceed 55 FPS, even on Low settings, underscores the GPU's inability to handle the pixel throughput required. At 1080p, the GPU is more than capable, delivering 166 FPS on Low, which suggests that if the resolution were lower, the CPU might eventually become a factor. However, within the measured range of 1080p to 4K, the data clearly attributes the frame rate scaling to GPU performance. The 4K Ultra result of 26 FPS is a stark illustration of the GPU's limits, while the 1080p Low result of 166 FPS shows that the combo has significant headroom at lower resolutions. This resolution scaling behavior is typical for a mid-tier GPU paired with a high-end CPU, where the GPU becomes the dominant constraint as pixel count rises.