Hard West

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks #553 out of 3,722 tested combos in Hard West. This places the combination firmly in the top 15% of all systems tested, which is a strong result for a turn-based tactics title that does not heavily stress modern hardware. The ranking reflects the GPU's dominant position in the benchmark database, where it sits at the 86th percentile among all tested graphics cards, while the CPU holds a more modest 71st percentile among all processors.

The delta between the two components' percentile standings is telling. The RTX 4080 is a top-tier enthusiast card, while the Core i5-11400F is a mid-range desktop processor from the Rocket Lake generation. In most gaming scenarios, this kind of pairing would create a CPU bottleneck, but Hard West's turn-based nature means the workload is less demanding on the processor. The data supports this interpretation: the combo's rank is driven primarily by the GPU's raw capability rather than the CPU's processing power.

When examining the nearest rivals for the CPU, the i5-11400F trades blows with some unexpected competitors. It sits 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7H12, a server-class processor, and 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U. Conversely, it trails the Intel Core i5-12450H by 0.4% and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G by 0.6%. These margins are negligible in real-world gaming, confirming that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration.

The GPU's nearest rivals show a similar clustering. The RTX 4080 sits 0.1% ahead of the RTX 4080 SUPER, which is essentially a tie, and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X. It trails the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.6% and the AMD Radeon 8060S by 2.7%. These small deltas suggest that the measured performance in Hard West is consistent with the broader benchmark averages for this GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 brings substantial resources to Hard West. The card features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 716.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The base clock runs at 2205 MHz with a boost clock of 2505 MHz, while the memory operates at 1400 MHz with an effective data rate of 22.4 Gbps. The GPU's 5 nm process node from TSMC houses 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 121.1M per mm².

These specifications translate into measured performance that is clearly visible in the frame rate data. At 1080p with Low settings, the RTX 4080 achieves 211 FPS on average. This is not a demanding workload for a card with 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power and 304 TMUs backed by 112 ROPs. The card's 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores are largely irrelevant for Hard West, as the game is a turn-based tactical title without ray tracing or DLSS requirements.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its position. It achieves 34,457 in Passmark G3D and 20,671 in Passmark GPU Compute, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,567. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 214,739 and Vulkan score of 263,779 further establish the card's compute capability. At 4K Ultra settings, the card still manages 51 FPS average, which is playable but shows the limits of even this powerful GPU when pushed to maximum quality at the highest resolution.

The measured data shows that the RTX 4080 is never the bottleneck in this pairing. Even at the most demanding tested configuration—4K Ultra—the card maintains an average above 50 FPS. The card's pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s ensure that fill-rate limitations are not an issue at any tested resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a clear scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p High settings, the combo averages 179 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 131 FPS, a reduction of approximately 27%. At 4K High, the average falls to 69 FPS, which is roughly 47% lower than the 1440p result and 61% lower than 1080p. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario where pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor.

The Low settings preset shows a different scaling curve. At 1080p Low, the system hits 211 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 181 FPS, a 14% reduction. At 4K Low, it falls to 109 FPS, a 40% drop from 1440p and 48% from 1080p. The smaller percentage drops at lower settings indicate that the CPU has more headroom to feed the GPU, but the GPU still becomes the constraint as resolution climbs.

Medium settings provide the most complete data set, including minimum and maximum frame times. At 1080p Medium, the average is 197 FPS with a minimum of 167 FPS and maximum of 226 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 169 FPS with a range of 143 FPS to 194 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 89 FPS with a range of 76 FPS to 103 FPS. The consistent minimum frame rates suggest that frame pacing remains stable even as resolution increases.

Ultra settings show the steepest scaling. The 1080p Ultra average of 155 FPS drops to 98 FPS at 1440p, a 37% reduction. At 4K Ultra, the average plummets to 51 FPS, which is 48% lower than 1440p and 67% lower than 1080p. This steep drop indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that scale disproportionately with pixel count, likely including higher-resolution shadows and post-processing that tax the GPU's shading units.

The data indicates that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU likely constrains the system, as evidenced by the relatively small differences between Low and Ultra settings (211 FPS versus 155 FPS). At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with the spread between Low and Ultra widening to 109 FPS versus 51 FPS. This is the expected behavior for a high-end GPU paired with a mid-range CPU.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance for optimal settings. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 197 FPS average with a minimum of 167 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth for any display. The High preset at 179 FPS is also excellent, and the Ultra preset at 155 FPS remains well above the refresh rate of most monitors. For 1080p users, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance headroom, but High is recommended for those who prioritize image fidelity.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 131 FPS, which is sufficient for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 169 FPS offers more headroom but with slightly reduced visual quality. The Ultra preset at 98 FPS is still playable but begins to approach the 60 FPS threshold on more demanding scenes. The data suggests that 1440p High is the sweet spot for this resolution, providing a substantial visual upgrade over Medium while maintaining a comfortable frame rate margin.

At 4K, the choices are more constrained. The High preset at 69 FPS is the recommended configuration for a smooth experience, as it stays above the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at 89 FPS offers even more headroom and is arguably the better choice for consistent frame pacing, given that its minimum of 76 FPS is well above the minimum of High. The Ultra preset at 51 FPS dips below the 60 FPS threshold and should be avoided unless visual fidelity is paramount and frame rate fluctuations are acceptable.

The Low preset is not recommended at any resolution, as the performance gains over Medium are modest relative to the visual quality loss. At 1080p, Low delivers 211 FPS versus Medium's 197 FPS, a gain of only 7%. At 1440p, the gain is 181 FPS versus 169 FPS, also 7%. At 4K, Low hits 109 FPS versus Medium's 89 FPS, a more substantial 22% improvement, but the Medium preset's minimum of 76 FPS remains playable. For the best experience, Medium at 4K or High at 1440p are the optimal choices based on the measured data.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hard West?

A: The data shows that 1440p High provides 131 FPS average, which is excellent for high-refresh displays. At 4K High, the average drops to 69 FPS, which is still playable but with less headroom. For the best balance of visual quality and performance, 1440p High is recommended.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: The RTX 4080 is 0.1% ahead of the RTX 4080 SUPER in average benchmark score. This difference is negligible in practice, meaning the two cards perform essentially identically in Hard West.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-11400F a bottleneck for the RTX 4080 in this game?

A: The evidence suggests the CPU is not a significant bottleneck. The combo ranks #553 out of 3,722, and the CPU's nearest rival deltas are all under 1%. At 1080p, the frame rate differences between Low and Ultra settings are modest, indicating the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate at 4K Medium settings?

A: The measured minimum at 4K Medium is 76 FPS, with an average of 89 FPS and a maximum of 103 FPS. This provides a stable experience above the 60 FPS threshold.

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

A: The average frame rate drops from 179 FPS at 1080p High to 69 FPS at 4K High, a reduction of approximately 61%. This scaling is expected for a GPU-bound workload at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide a playable experience at 4K?

A: Yes, but marginally. The 4K Ultra average is 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 89 FPS is recommended for 4K users who want a consistent experience.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, featuring a 12 MB shared L3 cache and 512 KB L2 cache per core. The processor supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Its 65 W TDP makes it a power-efficient choice for a desktop system.

In Hard West, a turn-based tactics game, the CPU's workload is primarily focused on game logic, unit pathfinding, and AI decision-making rather than continuous physics simulation. The benchmark data supports this: the CPU's multi-threaded performance in Cinebench R23 is 14,340 points, while single-thread performance is 2,024 points. These scores place the i5-11400F in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, indicating solid but not exceptional performance.

The CPU's nearest rivals show that it performs within a narrow band of comparable processors. It is 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7H12 and 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, while trailing the Intel Core i5-12450H by 0.4% and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G by 0.6%. These deltas are within the margin of error for benchmark testing, confirming that the i5-11400F is a competitive mid-range option.

The interaction between CPU and GPU in this pairing is evident in the resolution scaling data. At 1080p, the frame rate differences between Low and Ultra settings are relatively small (211 FPS versus 155 FPS), suggesting the CPU is approaching its limit in feeding the GPU. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear constraint, with frame rates dropping to 109 FPS at Low and 51 FPS at Ultra. This pattern indicates that the i5-11400F provides sufficient processing power for Hard West at all tested resolutions, with the GPU determining the final frame rate.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s and PCIe Gen 4 support with 20 lanes ensure that data transfer to the RTX 4080 is not a limiting factor. The processor's Passmark multithread score of 16,908 and single-thread score of 2,981 further confirm its capability in gaming workloads. The 12 MB L3 cache is adequate for most game assets, and the 80 KB L1 cache per core provides low-latency access to frequently used data.

The benchmark results indicate that the i5-11400F, while not a top-tier processor, is more than sufficient for Hard West when paired with the RTX 4080. The combo's #553 rank out of 3,722 shows that this pairing outperforms the vast majority of tested systems, even though the CPU itself sits in the middle of the performance distribution. For this game, the CPU's role is to provide stable frame pacing and avoid bottlenecks, which it accomplishes across all tested settings and resolutions.