Hard West

Hard West is a turn-based tactics title from 2015 that remains remarkably easy to drive on modern hardware. The measured data for the Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER shows a system that is capable of high refresh rates at 1080p and remains playable even at 4K, provided settings are managed carefully. The combination ranks 1224th out of 1699 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database, yet the actual frame rates tell a story of a pairing that is well-suited for this genre’s modest graphical demands.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data reveals a clear hierarchy of performance across the four available presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 154.4 FPS, which is exceptionally high and far beyond the needs of a turn-based strategy game. Medium drops to 130.6 FPS, and High sits at 98.1 FPS, both of which are still excellent for a 60Hz or even 144Hz display. The Ultra preset, however, brings the average down to 71.6 FPS, which is the first point where the system begins to show strain, though it remains perfectly playable.

For the best experience, the High preset appears to be the optimal choice at 1080p. It offers a 98.1 FPS average, which is 26.5 FPS higher than Ultra while likely delivering most of the visual fidelity improvements over Medium. The jump from Medium to High costs 32.5 FPS, but the visual gains in a game with a distinct art style are typically worth the trade-off for a smoother camera pan across the map. Pushing to Ultra yields only a marginal visual upgrade for a significant 26.5 FPS loss, making it the least efficient preset in terms of performance per frame.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts. The High preset still delivers a robust 64.7 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS. Medium provides a larger headroom at 83.1 FPS. Given that the game is turn-based and does not require twitch reflexes, the 64.7 FPS from High is acceptable, but Medium at 83.1 FPS is the safer bet for maintaining a locked 60 FPS with room to spare. Ultra at 49.7 FPS dips below the 60 FPS threshold, making it a less desirable option for consistent smoothness. Low at 97.1 FPS is unnecessary unless chasing the highest possible frame rates.

For 4K resolution, the data indicates that compromises are mandatory. The High preset manages only 33.2 FPS, which is below the standard for smooth motion. The Medium preset improves this to 43.5 FPS, but it is still not ideal. The Low preset provides the most playable experience at 51.6 FPS, which is the only preset at 4K that approaches a consistent 60 FPS target. Given the genre's slower pacing, 51.6 FPS is playable, but it requires sacrificing visual quality. The Ultra preset at 24.2 FPS is effectively unplayable. Therefore, the recommendation for 4K is to use Low settings to maximize fluidity, or to accept Medium if visual fidelity is prioritized over frame rate smoothness.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Hard West with this hardware?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with High settings provides a 98.1 FPS average, which is the sweet spot for a high-refresh experience without the performance penalty of Ultra. 2560x1440 is also viable with High settings at 64.7 FPS, while 4K requires Low settings to reach 51.6 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, Ultra delivers a 71.6 FPS average, which is playable. However, at 1440p Ultra drops to 49.7 FPS, and at 4K Ultra falls to 24.2 FPS, making it unplayable at higher resolutions. The data suggests that Ultra is only a reasonable choice at 1080p.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: The data shows a significant drop across all presets. With High settings, the average FPS falls from 98.1 at 1080p to 64.7 at 1440p, a reduction of 33.4 FPS. With Low settings, it drops from 154.4 to 97.1, a reduction of 57.3 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 2060 SUPER the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data suggests that the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions and settings. The frame rate drops consistently as resolution increases, from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the graphics card is struggling to fill pixels. The CPU’s strong multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14372) is less likely to be a bottleneck in this turn-based title.

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

A: The data shows a substantial gap. Low settings achieve an average of 154.4 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 71.6 FPS. This represents a performance difference of 82.8 FPS, highlighting the significant cost of maxing out graphical features.

Q: How does this system rank compared to other tested combinations?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F and RTX 2060 SUPER combination ranks 1224th out of 1699 tested combos in the database. This places it in the lower 28th percentile of all tested systems, indicating that while it is capable of playing this game well, there are many faster configurations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the central component driving the frame rates in Hard West, as evidenced by the performance scaling across resolutions. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for a 2015 title, as the game’s textures and assets are unlikely to exceed 8 GB even at 4K, preventing any memory-related stuttering.

The GPU’s clock speeds are listed as a base of 1470 MHz and a boost of 1650 MHz. These clocks, combined with the Turing architecture’s 2176 shading units, produce a peak FP32 performance of 7.181 TFLOPS. The measured results indicate that this compute power is enough to handle the game’s rendering loads. The RTX 2060 SUPER scores 16462 in the Passmark G3D benchmark, placing it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival in the database is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, which scores 19680, a delta of just 0.5%, showing that this card is operating at the upper edge of its performance class.

The data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset yields only 24.2 FPS, which is a clear indication that the GPU’s pixel throughput is overwhelmed by the 8.3 million pixels on screen. Even at High settings, the 33.2 FPS average is below the playable threshold for most users. This is a classic case of a mid-range GPU struggling with 4K resolution, regardless of the game’s age. The 7.181 TFLOPS of compute power is insufficient for high-fidelity 4K rendering in this configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. Starting at 1920x1080, the system exhibits outstanding performance. The Low preset achieves a 154.4 FPS average, which is the highest recorded in the dataset. Medium follows closely at 130.6 FPS, High at 98.1 FPS, and Ultra trails at 71.6 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 53.6% reduction in frame rate, showing a steep cost for maximum visual quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease predictably. Low settings produce a 97.1 FPS average, which is still very high. Medium delivers 83.1 FPS, and High drops to 64.7 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to 49.7 FPS, which is the first time the data shows a result below the 60 FPS mark at this resolution. The performance gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 47.4 FPS, a similar relative drop to 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the system’s limitations become apparent. Low settings yield 51.6 FPS, which is the only preset that stays above 50 FPS. Medium dips to 43.5 FPS, High to 33.2 FPS, and Ultra to a meager 24.2 FPS. This resolution is clearly not the intended target for this hardware configuration. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 27.4 FPS, which is a smaller absolute gap than at lower resolutions, but the overall performance is far less playable.

Resolution Scaling

The impact of resolution on frame rate is severe and consistent across all settings. When moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the pixel count increases by 77.8%. The data shows a correspondingly large drop in performance. With High settings, the average FPS falls from 98.1 to 64.7, a 34.1% decrease. This indicates that the GPU is heavily dependent on the pixel fill rate, confirming that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary limiting component.

When escalating from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160, the pixel count increases by another 125%, resulting in an even more dramatic performance collapse. With High settings, the frame rate drops from 64.7 to 33.2, a 48.7% reduction. This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU that is running out of raw throughput. The data suggests that the game’s rendering engine becomes increasingly fill-rate bound at higher resolutions, making the GPU’s 105.6 GPixel/s pixel rate the decisive factor.

The scaling pattern points to a system that is balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming but is not suited for 4K. The CPU’s 12-thread configuration and Rocket Lake architecture provide ample processing power for the game’s AI and logic, but the GPU cannot keep pace with the escalating pixel demands. The 154.4 FPS at 1080p Low shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions, but the 24.2 FPS at 4K Ultra shows the GPU is completely saturated. This analysis confirms that for this specific combo, Hard West is a GPU-limited experience at resolutions above 1440p.