Hard West

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Hard West with the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER show a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers 101.6 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 drops that to 62.6 FPS, a reduction of roughly 38%. At 3840x2160, the average falls further to 32.2 FPS, which is about 68% below the 1080p figure. This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions.

The data at Low settings reveals an even more pronounced scaling curve. At 1080p Low, the system produces 159.8 FPS. At 1440p Low, it still manages 101.3 FPS, and at 4K Low, it drops to 52.2 FPS. The gap between Low and High settings at 4K is notable: 52.2 FPS versus 32.2 FPS, a difference of 20 FPS. This suggests that the render load from higher graphical fidelity settings compounds with pixel count, pushing the RTX 2060 SUPER to its limits.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At Medium settings, 1440p yields 81.9 FPS while 4K yields 40.5 FPS — the 4K result is less than half. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 46.5 FPS at 1440p to 24.8 FPS at 4K. This halving effect across the board indicates that the GPU is the dominant limiting component at 4K. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is not the bottleneck here; the frame rate collapse is driven entirely by pixel throughput and shading demands.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip fabricated on a 12 nm process. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is adequate for Hard West's texture loads, even at 4K Ultra, though the frame rates suggest the GPU's compute capacity is the limiting factor. The GPU's boost clock is listed at 1650 MHz, with a base clock of 1470 MHz. It has 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, yielding a pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 224.4 GTexel/s.

In benchmark terms, the RTX 2060 SUPER scores 16462 in Passmark G3D and 19774 in average benchmark score, placing it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, which scores 19680 with a deltaPct of 0.5, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN at 19706 with a deltaPct of 0.3. The RTX 2060 SUPER actually leads the GTX TITAN by 0.3% and the RTX 2070 by 0.5%, though these margins are negligible in real-world gaming. The GPU's Passmark DirectX 11 score of 130 and DirectX 12 score of 61 hint at its API efficiency, but Hard West's measured results show it is capable of 101.6 FPS at 1080p High, which is a solid outcome for a turn-based tactics title with moderate visual demands.

The 4K Ultra result of 24.8 FPS is below the 30 FPS threshold typically considered playable. This is not a memory bandwidth issue — 448.0 GB/s is ample for this game. The bottleneck is raw shader throughput and ROP fill rate. The RTX 2060 SUPER's 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is simply insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K with Ultra settings. The game's Low preset at 4K (52.2 FPS) is more viable, indicating that reducing shading complexity allows the GPU to keep up with the pixel count.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S architecture, fabricated on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The processor has 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel mode, and its 65 W TDP makes it a modest power draw. The CPU's benchmark results are strong: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 15935, single-core scores 2249, and Passmark multithread scores 18747.

In the context of Hard West, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, but its performance headroom is evident. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 159.8 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors. The CPU's single-thread performance — 910 in 3DMark single-thread and 3456 in Passmark single-thread — is sufficient to feed the GPU without creating a bottleneck. The percentileVsAllCpus of 77 places it in the upper quarter of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-9700 (avgScore 19831, deltaPct 0.1) and Intel Core i7-8700 (avgScore 19894, deltaPct -0.2). The i5-12400 effectively trades blows with these older i7 parts, with the deltaPct values all within 0.4% of zero.

The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5873 and max-thread score of 5890 indicate that the CPU's 12 threads are well-utilized in multi-threaded workloads, but Hard West is a turn-based tactics game that likely doesn't stress all threads equally. The CPU's boost clock of 4.40 GHz ensures that single-threaded game logic and AI calculations are handled swiftly. The data shows that at 1440p High, the combo still achieves 62.6 FPS, and the CPU is not the limiting factor there. Even at 4K Ultra (24.8 FPS), the frame rate is governed by the GPU's pixel throughput, not the CPU's instruction throughput.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy for settings selection. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 71.6 FPS, which is playable but leaves headroom. The High preset at 1080p yields 101.6 FPS, a substantial improvement over Ultra with presumably minimal visual difference in a top-down tactics game. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 129.5 FPS, and Low hits 159.8 FPS. For 1080p users, High is the sweet spot: it offers a 30 FPS advantage over Ultra while still providing high-fidelity visuals.

Moving to 2560x1440, the High preset drops to 62.6 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium at 1440p gives 81.9 FPS, and Low gives 101.3 FPS. Ultra at 1440p falls to 46.5 FPS, which is below 60 and may feel less smooth. For 1440p, Medium is the recommended preset — it provides an 19.3 FPS advantage over High and a 35.4 FPS advantage over Ultra, while the visual downgrade from High to Medium is often imperceptible in a genre that doesn't rely on fast motion.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. High yields 32.2 FPS, Medium yields 40.5 FPS, and Low yields 52.2 FPS. Ultra at 4K is untenable at 24.8 FPS. For 4K, Low is the only preset that consistently stays above 50 FPS. Medium at 40.5 FPS is playable for a turn-based game, where precise frame timing is less critical than in action titles. The recommendation is to use Medium at 4K for a balance of visual quality and playability, or Low if frame rate stability is the priority. The data clearly shows that Ultra is reserved for 1080p and 1440p users with this combo.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combo ranks 1206 out of 1699 tested combinations in Hard West. This places it in the lower third of all tested systems, which is consistent with the RTX 2060 SUPER being a mid-range GPU from the GeForce 20-series. The comboRankInGame of 1206/1699 means that roughly 71% of tested combos outperform this one, but it also means that about 29% are slower. This rank is driven by the GPU's 63rd percentile standing and the CPU's 77th percentile standing.

The GPU's nearest rivals — the RTX 2070 (deltaPct 0.5), GTX TITAN (0.3), Quadro K5200 (0.8), and Tesla K40m (1.3) — all have average benchmark scores within 1.3% of the RTX 2060 SUPER. In Hard West, this translates to the RTX 2060 SUPER being competitive with these cards, though the measured frame rates are what ultimately matter. The CPU's position relative to rivals (i7-9700 at +0.1%, i7-8700 at -0.2%, Threadripper PRO 5995WX at -0.4%, i5-11600K at +0.4%) shows that the i5-12400 is effectively a lateral move from these processors in synthetic benchmarks.

The rank of 1206 suggests that Hard West is not particularly demanding on hardware, but the combo's position is still limited by the GPU. A stronger GPU would push this combo higher in the rank, while a weaker CPU would drop it further. The data indicates that the i5-12400 provides ample CPU headroom, and the RTX 2060 SUPER is the constraining factor. For a game released in 2015, this combo is adequate but not exceptional, and users should adjust settings per the recommendations above.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the most comfortable resolution, with High settings delivering 101.6 FPS and even Ultra reaching 71.6 FPS. At 2560x1440, Medium gives 81.9 FPS, while at 3840x2160, only Low (52.2 FPS) and Medium (40.5 FPS) are playable.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The GPU is the limiting component at 4K. The frame rate drops from 101.6 FPS at 1080p High to 32.2 FPS at 4K High, a decline that aligns with pixel count scaling. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads with a 4.40 GHz boost clock are not saturated at these settings.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 2070?

A: In average benchmark score, the RTX 2060 SUPER scores 19774 while the RTX 2070 scores 19680, giving the 2060 SUPER a 0.5% advantage. This is a negligible difference, so real-world frame rates in Hard West would be nearly identical.

Q: Can this combo run Hard West at 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, with the right settings. High at 1440p yields 62.6 FPS, and Medium gives 81.9 FPS. Ultra at 1440p falls to 46.5 FPS, so users should stick to High or Medium for a consistent 60+ FPS experience.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-core performance relative to the Intel Core i7-9700?

A: The i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850, while the i7-9700 scores 19831, a deltaPct of 0.1%. This means the i5-12400 is effectively tied with the i7-9700 in overall CPU benchmarks, despite having fewer cores (6 vs 8).

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM on the RTX 2060 SUPER sufficient for Hard West?

A: The 8 GB GDDR6 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for this game. The measured frame rates at 4K Ultra (24.8 FPS) are limited by compute and pixel throughput, not memory capacity, as the game's textures and assets fit within the VRAM budget.