Hard West

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination delivers exceptional performance in Hard West, with the data showing a clear dominance at every resolution and settings preset tested. The measured frames per second (FPS) range from a playable 62 FPS at 4K Ultra to a staggering 245 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that this pairing is far more than sufficient for the turn-based tactics title. The primary bottleneck shifts from the GPU at 4K to the CPU at lower resolutions, but in all cases, the experience remains smooth and responsive.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 serves as the central processing unit for this configuration. It is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz, which can boost up to 4.40 GHz under load. The processor features a total of 18 MB of shared L3 cache, alongside 80 KB of L1 and 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core. This specification set positions it as a solid mid-range desktop part, with a percentile rank of 72 among all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the majority of processors on the market.

In the context of Hard West, a turn-based tactics game from 2015, the CPU's role is less about raw frame generation and more about maintaining a stable baseline. The game's engine is not particularly demanding by modern standards, and the data confirms this. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is relatively modest in terms of FPS impact (245 FPS vs 187 FPS), suggesting that the CPU is not the limiting factor even at the highest preset. The i5-12400's single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 910 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2257, is more than adequate for the game's logic and AI calculations.

The processor's multithreaded capabilities, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15989 and a Passmark multithread score of 18747, ensure that background tasks and the game's internal systems do not cause stuttering. Interestingly, the i5-12400's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the AMD EPYC 7643 (deltaPct -0.1), Intel Core i7-1355U (deltaPct -0.3), AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (deltaPct -0.7), and Intel Core i3-14100F (deltaPct 0.9). This shows that the i5-12400 sits in a competitive performance tier, with the Core i3-14100F being the only rival that slightly edges it out by 0.9%, while the other three are marginally behind. For a game like Hard West, this level of CPU performance is effectively overkill, allowing the GPU to take the lead in determining frame rates.

FAQ

*Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400 sufficient for playing Hard West at high frame rates?*

A: Yes. The data shows the combination achieves 208 FPS at 1080p High and 158 FPS at 1440p High. Even at 4K High, the average FPS is 83, indicating the CPU is not a bottleneck for this game.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest rivals in raw benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, scores 76904, which is 1.1% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is 1.6% higher, and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB and 16 GB are 2.1% and 2.4% higher, respectively. This places the RTX 5090 D in a competitive position, though not at the absolute top of the comparison set.

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

A: The data suggests 1440p offers the best balance. At 1440p Ultra, the average FPS is 118, which is well above the 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS. For a turn-based game, 118 FPS is exceptionally smooth, making 1440p a strong choice for visual fidelity without sacrificing performance.

Q: Does the game benefit from the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of VRAM?

A: The measured FPS data does not indicate any VRAM-related limitations. Even at 4K Ultra, the game runs at 62 FPS, and there are no reported minimum FPS drops that would suggest memory capacity issues. The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory is far beyond the requirements of this title.

Q: How much faster is 1080p compared to 4K for this game?

A: At High settings, the average FPS at 1080p is 208, which is 2.5 times higher than the 83 FPS at 4K. This indicates a significant performance scaling with resolution, highlighting the GPU as the primary factor in frame rate variation.

Q: Is the i5-12400 a better performer than the Intel Core i3-14100F?

A: No, the average benchmark scores show the Core i3-14100F is 0.9% higher than the i5-12400. However, in Hard West, the i5-12400's performance is more than sufficient, and the difference is unlikely to be noticeable in gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and expected scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p High, the average FPS is 208. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 158 FPS, a 24% reduction. At 4K High, the average falls to 83 FPS, which is a 47% reduction from the 1440p result and a 60% reduction from 1080p. This trend is consistent across all settings presets.

The scaling behavior indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component as resolution increases. The RTX 5090 D, despite its immense power, still has to render four times the pixels at 4K compared to 1080p, which directly impacts frame rates. The CPU's role becomes less significant at higher resolutions, as the workload shifts to pixel processing. For instance, at 1080p Low, the average FPS is 245, but at 4K Low, it drops to 131. This 46% reduction is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's pixel throughput.

Interestingly, the gap between settings presets narrows at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low (245 FPS) and Ultra (187 FPS) is 58 FPS. At 4K, the difference between Low (131 FPS) and Ultra (62 FPS) is 69 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset's additional graphical effects have a proportionally larger impact on the GPU at 4K, further confirming that the GPU is the bottleneck in this scenario. The data shows that for a turn-based tactics game, even 4K High at 83 FPS is a playable experience, but for those seeking the highest frame rates, 1080p or 1440p are the preferred choices.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive overview of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets.

1080p:

• Low: Average FPS of 245. This is the highest recorded average in the entire dataset, indicating the game runs exceptionally well at the lowest settings.
• Medium: Average FPS of 229, with a minimum of 194 and a maximum of 263. The minimum FPS shows that even in demanding scenes, performance remains above 190 FPS.
• High: Average FPS of 208. This is a substantial 37 FPS drop from Low, but still very high.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 187. The most demanding preset at 1080p yields a 24% reduction compared to Low.

1440p:

• Low: Average FPS of 211. This is only 14% lower than the 1080p Low result, showing that the GPU handles the resolution increase well.
• Medium: Average FPS of 196, with a minimum of 167 and a maximum of 226. The minimum FPS remains well above 60, ensuring smooth gameplay.
• High: Average FPS of 158. This is a 25% drop from the Low preset at the same resolution.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 118. This is the first preset where the average FPS drops below 120, but it remains highly playable.

4K:

• Low: Average FPS of 131. This is the highest average at 4K, showing that the RTX 5090 D can still deliver high frame rates at this resolution with reduced settings.
• Medium: Average FPS of 108, with a minimum of 92 and a maximum of 124. The minimum FPS is still above 90, which is excellent for a turn-based game.
• High: Average FPS of 83. This is a significant drop from Medium, but still a very playable frame rate.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 62. This is the lowest recorded average, but it is still perfectly playable for the genre.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the Medium preset often provides a good balance, with minimum FPS values that are close to the average, indicating stable performance. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with the largest drops in FPS, particularly at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the primary driver of frame rates in this configuration. It is based on the GB202 chip and the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. The GPU features a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. It also includes 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores. This hardware is paired with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The GPU's raw compute power is substantial, with an FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS.

In Hard West, the GPU's role is critical, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. The RTX 5090 D's percentile rank of 92 among all GPUs indicates it is in the top 8% of graphics cards. Its average benchmark score of 77712 places it slightly above the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76904, deltaPct 1.1) and below the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78940, deltaPct -1.6) and NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants. The data shows that the RTX 5090 D is more than capable of handling Hard West at maximum settings, even at 4K.

The 32 GB of VRAM is a significant asset, though the game's requirements are likely far lower. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (62 FPS) suggests that the GPU is fully utilized, and there is no indication of memory bottlenecks. The GPU's high texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s contribute to its ability to render the game's environments and characters at high resolutions without compromising on frame rate. The data confirms that the RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, providing the vast majority of the performance headroom.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the user's priority for resolution versus frame rate. For users with a 1080p display, the Ultra preset is recommended, as it delivers 187 FPS, which is more than sufficient for a smooth experience. The visual fidelity improvements from Ultra are worth the 24% performance cost compared to Low.

For 1440p users, the High preset is the best choice. It delivers 158 FPS, which is 34% higher than the Ultra preset's 118 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is likely minimal in a turn-based game, but the frame rate boost provides extra headroom. The Medium preset at 196 FPS is also viable, but High offers a better visual experience with only a 19% reduction in FPS.

For 4K users, the Medium preset is the recommended choice. It provides an average of 108 FPS, with a minimum of 92 FPS, ensuring that the game never drops below 90 FPS. The High preset at 83 FPS is also playable, but the Medium preset offers a safer margin for frame rate stability. The Ultra preset at 62 FPS is technically playable but leaves little room for frame rate dips, which could be noticeable in a game that relies on smooth camera movements. Overall, the data suggests that users should prioritize the Medium preset at 4K for the best balance of visual quality and performance, while High or Ultra are excellent choices for lower resolutions.