Hard West

# Hard West with Intel Core i5-11400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

This combination of an Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces a system that ranks 221st out of 2,949 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the top 7.5% of all configurations. The data shows a turn-based tactics title from 2015 that is far more demanding than its age suggests, with frame rates ranging from 62 FPS at 4K Ultra to 211 FPS at 1080p Low. The pairing demonstrates a significant performance ceiling, though the six-core Rocket Lake processor creates a measurable bottleneck at lower resolutions where the GPU has headroom to spare.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance ranking of this CPU-GPU combo in Hard West?

A: The combo ranks 221st out of 2,949 tested combinations, placing it in the top 7.5% of all systems tested for this game.

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in Hard West?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 211 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest measured average is 62 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-11400F compare to its nearest performance rivals?

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17,177, which is 0.3% above the AMD EPYC 7H12 (17,120), 0.6% above the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17,074), 0.4% below the Intel Core i5-12450H (17,239), and 0.6% below the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (17,278).

Q: How does the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77,712, which is 1.1% above the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904), 1.6% below the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940), 2.1% below the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396), and 2.4% below the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 High, the combo averages 179 FPS. At 3840x2160 High, it averages 83 FPS, representing a 53.6% drop when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Which resolution and settings combination provides the most balanced experience?

A: The data indicates that 2560x1440 with Medium settings delivers 169 FPS average with a minimum of 143 FPS and maximum of 194 FPS, maintaining high frame rates while offering substantial visual fidelity over Low settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why Hard West performs so strongly at higher resolutions. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock runs at 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and the memory operates at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed. The card houses 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines, producing a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

These specifications translate directly into the measured frame rates. At 4K Ultra, the card still manages 62 FPS average, which is remarkable for a game from 2015 that does not leverage modern upscaling techniques. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what Hard West requires, but the sheer compute throughput — 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance — drives the high fill rates needed at 3840x2160. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712, confirms it sits near the top of the performance hierarchy.

The GPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at 76,904 (1.1% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78,940 (1.6% higher), and two NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants at 79,396 and 79,605 (2.1% and 2.4% higher respectively). This clustering suggests the RTX 5090 D's benchmark score is competitive with these parts, though the actual in-game performance in Hard West will differ based on driver optimization and architectural strengths.

At 4K resolution, the GPU's role becomes increasingly central. The frame rate progression from Low (131 FPS) to Medium (108 FPS) to High (83 FPS) to Ultra (62 FPS) shows a consistent cost per quality tier, with each step up in settings consuming roughly 20-25% of the remaining headroom. The GPU's 575 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate this is a high-power part, but the benchmark data shows it delivers the expected performance scaling.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides six physical cores and twelve threads based on the Rocket Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. Its base clock of 2.60 GHz boosts to 4.40 GHz, and it carries 12 MB of shared L3 cache alongside 512 KB L2 and 80 KB L1 per core. The processor supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth, and it connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes. This CPU ranks in the 71st percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 17,177.

In Hard West, a turn-based tactics game, the CPU's role is primarily about maintaining consistent frame pacing during AI turns and unit movements. The benchmark data shows the processor's multi-threaded capabilities: Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14,340, Geekbench multicore score of 7,737, and PassMark multithread score of 16,908. Single-thread performance is also solid with Cinebench R23 single-core at 2,024, Geekbench single-core at 1,777, and PassMark single-thread at 2,981. These scores indicate the i5-11400F handles both lightly-threaded game logic and more demanding background tasks.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD EPYC 7H12 at 17,120 (0.3% lower), the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U at 17,074 (0.6% lower), the Intel Core i5-12450H at 17,239 (0.4% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G at 17,278 (0.6% higher). These deltas are all within a fraction of a percent, meaning the i5-11400F sits in a tightly clustered performance band around the 17,100-17,300 mark.

The 65 W TDP and end-of-life production status suggest this is a mid-range processor, and the data supports that positioning. However, in Hard West, the CPU does not appear to be the primary limiter at higher resolutions. The frame rate scaling from 4K to 1440p to 1080p shows diminishing returns as resolution drops, which indicates the GPU remains the bottleneck until very low resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 211 FPS, and the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (211 vs 161 FPS) is smaller than at 4K (131 vs 62 FPS), suggesting the CPU begins to constrain performance as the GPU workload lightens.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience in Hard West with this hardware combination. At 4K, the choice is between visual fidelity and smoothness. Ultra settings yield 62 FPS average, which is playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes. High settings at 4K produce 83 FPS average, a 33.9% improvement over Ultra while sacrificing some visual quality. Medium at 4K delivers 108 FPS average with a minimum of 92 FPS, which provides both excellent smoothness and substantial quality. Low at 4K reaches 131 FPS, but the visual downgrade is significant.

At 1440p, the data shows that Medium settings offer the best balance. The 169 FPS average with a 143 FPS minimum and 194 FPS maximum provides a consistently smooth experience. High settings at 1440p reach 153 FPS average, which is still excellent, while Ultra drops to 118 FPS. Low at 1440p hits 181 FPS but loses too much visual quality for the relatively small frame rate gain over Medium.

At 1080p, all settings produce high frame rates, but the differences narrow significantly. Low reaches 211 FPS, Medium 197 FPS, High 179 FPS, and Ultra 161 FPS. The spread from best to worst is only 50 FPS, compared to 69 FPS at 4K. This compression indicates the CPU is beginning to limit performance, making Ultra settings at 1080p a reasonable choice since the frame rate remains above 160 FPS.

For the best overall experience, the 1440p Medium preset stands out. It maintains frame rates above 143 FPS at all times, which is well beyond the refresh rate of most displays, while providing substantially better visuals than Low. For users with 4K displays, High settings at 83 FPS offers the best compromise between quality and smoothness. Those prioritizing maximum frame rates should select 1080p Low, which achieves 211 FPS average.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 221st out of 2,949 tested combos in Hard West. This places the system in the top 7.5% of all configurations tested, which is notable given that the CPU is a mid-range part from 2021 while the GPU is a flagship from 2025. The ranking reflects the game's GPU-intensive nature, where the RTX 5090 D's massive compute resources dominate performance.

The CPU's 71st percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs combine to produce a system that outperforms most configurations. The data shows that in Hard West, the GPU's performance ceiling is the primary driver of the combo's high ranking. The i5-11400F, while not a top-tier processor, provides sufficient single-thread performance to avoid severely limiting the GPU at most settings.

The nearest CPU rivals — the AMD EPYC 7H12, Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, Intel Core i5-12450H, and AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G — all sit within 0.6% of the i5-11400F's average benchmark score. This clustering suggests that swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would produce minimal changes in Hard West performance. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rivals are within 2.4% in benchmark score, indicating that the RTX 5090 D is not uniquely positioned but rather part of a competitive performance tier.

The 221st rank out of 2,949 combos means that roughly 2,728 configurations perform worse in Hard West. This is a strong result for a system built around a six-core processor, and it underscores that Hard West scales primarily with GPU capabilities. Users with this combo can expect performance that exceeds the vast majority of tested systems, with only the most extreme CPU-GPU pairings achieving higher frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data covers four resolutions and four settings levels, providing a complete picture of performance scaling. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 211 FPS on Low, 197 FPS on Medium (with 167 FPS minimum and 226 FPS maximum), 179 FPS on High, and 161 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at 1080p shows a 59 FPS spread between minimum and maximum, indicating some frame time variance but overall smooth performance.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a wider spread across settings. Low produces 181 FPS, Medium 169 FPS (143 minimum, 194 maximum), High 153 FPS, and Ultra 118 FPS. The step from High to Ultra at 1440p costs 35 FPS, which is the largest single-setting drop at this resolution. The Medium preset at 1440p has a 51 FPS variance between minimum and maximum, slightly tighter than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the performance scaling becomes more pronounced. Low produces 131 FPS, Medium 108 FPS (92 minimum, 124 maximum), High 83 FPS, and Ultra 62 FPS. The progression from Ultra to High to Medium to Low shows 21, 25, and 23 FPS improvements respectively, creating a consistent staircase of performance gains. The Medium preset at 4K has a 32 FPS variance between minimum and maximum, which is the tightest of any Medium preset across resolutions.

The data reveals that the combo maintains playable frame rates (above 60 FPS) at all tested configurations, including 4K Ultra. The minimum FPS values are only recorded for Medium settings, showing 92 FPS at 4K, 143 FPS at 1440p, and 167 FPS at 1080p. These minimums indicate that even the lowest measured frame rates remain comfortably above typical display refresh rates, suggesting smooth gameplay throughout.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important characteristics about this combo's performance in Hard West. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 179 at 1080p to 153 at 1440p (14.5% decrease) and then to 83 at 4K (45.8% decrease from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 96 FPS, or 53.6% of the 1080p performance. This scaling pattern indicates the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as resolution increases, which is expected for a graphics-intensive title.

At Low settings, the scaling is similar: 211 FPS at 1080p, 181 FPS at 1440p (14.2% decrease), and 131 FPS at 4K (27.6% decrease from 1440p). The total drop is 80 FPS, or 37.9% of the 1080p value. The relatively smaller percentage drop at Low settings suggests the CPU begins to limit performance at 1080p, preventing the GPU from achieving even higher frame rates.

Medium settings show the most consistent scaling: 197 FPS at 1080p, 169 FPS at 1440p (14.2% decrease), and 108 FPS at 4K (36.1% decrease from 1440p). The total drop is 89 FPS, or 45.2% of the 1080p value. Ultra settings follow a steeper curve: 161 FPS at 1080p, 118 FPS at 1440p (26.7% decrease), and 62 FPS at 4K (47.5% decrease from 1440p). The total drop is 99 FPS, or 61.5% of the 1080p value.

The data shows that the limiting component shifts depending on resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the 211 FPS average suggests the CPU is the primary constraint, as the GPU has sufficient headroom to render far more frames. At 4K Ultra, the 62 FPS result indicates the GPU is fully saturated. The 1440p Medium result of 169 FPS represents a balanced point where neither component is severely limiting, making it the most efficient configuration in terms of performance per quality unit. The increasing percentage drops at Ultra settings across resolutions confirm that the RTX 5090 D's compute resources are the determining factor for maximum quality, while the i5-11400F caps performance at lower resolutions where the GPU would otherwise run unrestricted.