Hard West

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Hard West with the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER show a clear progression as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers 180 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same preset drops this to 114 FPS, a 37% reduction. At 3840x2160, the High preset yields 60 FPS, which is a 67% drop from the 1080p result. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the primary limiting component as pixel count rises, which is typical for a turn-based tactics title with modest CPU demands.

The Low preset tells a similar story but with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 278 FPS, which falls to 181 FPS at 1440p and 95 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset shows the same trend: 234 FPS at 1080p, 148 FPS at 1440p, and 78 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, drops from 135 FPS at 1080p to 85 FPS at 1440p and finally 45 FPS at 4K.

The frame rate reductions between resolution steps are not perfectly linear, which suggests that the game's rendering workload scales with both pixel count and the complexity of the scene. The fact that 4K Ultra still maintains 45 FPS indicates that the RTX 4070 SUPER has enough headroom to keep the game playable at maximum settings even at the highest resolution, though it falls below the 60 FPS threshold that many users prefer.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Hard West, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-12600KF with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 564th out of 3,722 total combos. This places the system in the top 15% of all tested configurations, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The ranking reflects the balance between the two components, as neither is severely bottlenecking the other in this particular game.

The CPU itself sits at the 79th percentile among all processors in the broader benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 27,799. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-10900K, which scores 27,872 and is 0.3% ahead, and the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which scores 27,896 and is also 0.3% ahead. The AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE and AMD Ryzen 7 6800U are essentially tied, with the former at 27,712 (0.3% behind) and the latter at 27,887 (0.3% ahead). These tiny deltas indicate that the i5-12600KF is exceptionally well-matched against its direct competitors, with no single rival holding a meaningful advantage.

The GPU, meanwhile, ranks at the 83rd percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 43,223. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB at 43,262 (0.1% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile at 43,268 (0.1% ahead), and the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 at 43,301 (0.2% ahead). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile sits 1% ahead at 43,667. Again, the deltas are minuscule, showing that the RTX 4070 SUPER is firmly positioned in its performance class with no clear winner among its closest peers.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD104 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, with a transistor density of 121.8 million per square millimeter. The GPU features 7,168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units, along with 56 ray tracing cores and 224 tensor cores.

The memory subsystem is a key part of the GPU's capability in Hard West. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, the card provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This is ample for a turn-based tactics game, which typically does not require massive memory pools. The base clock is 1980 MHz, boosting to 2475 MHz, and the memory runs at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The pixel rate is 198.0 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 554.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 35.48 TFLOPS.

In the context of Hard West, the GPU's role is most evident in the resolution scaling data. At 1080p Low, the system produces 278 FPS, which is well beyond what any display can show, indicating that the GPU is not the constraint at this setting. As resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the frame rates drop in a manner consistent with the GPU's rendering capabilities. The 4K Ultra result of 45 FPS, while below the 60 FPS target, still demonstrates that the card can handle the game's maximum visual fidelity without becoming unplayable.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results span a wide range depending on settings. The Low preset achieves 278 FPS on average, while Medium drops to 234 FPS with a minimum of 199 FPS and a maximum of 269 FPS. High settings yield 180 FPS, and Ultra produces 135 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 143 FPS, illustrating the significant performance cost of the higher-quality presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected reduction. Low delivers 181 FPS, Medium averages 148 FPS with a range of 126 to 170 FPS, High hits 114 FPS, and Ultra drops to 85 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 96 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, which suggests that the GPU is beginning to become more of a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the results are more constrained. Low averages 95 FPS, Medium 78 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS and a maximum of 89 FPS, High 60 FPS, and Ultra 45 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 50 FPS. Notably, the Medium preset at 4K has the only recorded minimum and maximum values across the entire data set, indicating that this is where the system's frame time consistency starts to become relevant.

The data shows that for a 60 FPS target, the player has options at every resolution. At 1080p, all four presets exceed 60 FPS comfortably. At 1440p, even Ultra stays above 60 FPS. At 4K, High and below are above 60 FPS, while Ultra falls below. For a 144 FPS target, the player is limited to 1080p Low or Medium, or 1440p Low.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF is a 12th-generation Alder Lake processor with 10 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It has a 125 W TDP and is built on Intel's 10 nm process. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and offers PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes from the CPU.

In Hard West, the CPU's role is less prominent than the GPU's, given that turn-based tactics typically do not stress processors as heavily as real-time genres. The benchmark results from the CPU's synthetic tests show strong single-thread and multi-thread performance. The Cinebench R23 multicore score is 23,391, while the single-core score is 3,302. Geekbench results show 12,137 multicore and 2,157 single-core. PassMark's multithread score is 27,575, with single-thread at 3,925.

The 3DMark results further illustrate the CPU's threading capabilities: 7,956 with 16 threads, 6,128 with 8 threads, 3,806 with 4 threads, and 1,995 with 2 threads. The single-thread score is 1,016, and the max-threads score is 7,952. This scaling from 2 to 16 threads shows that the processor gains roughly 4x performance when moving from dual-thread to full utilization, which is sufficient for most games.

For Hard West specifically, the high single-thread performance is likely what matters most, as turn-based games often have a primary game logic thread. The 4.90 GHz boost clock and strong single-core scores suggest that the CPU will not hold back the GPU in this title. The measured frame rates at 1080p Low (278 FPS) indicate that the CPU can feed frames at very high rates, and the consistent scaling across resolutions confirms that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any tested setting.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target frame rate and display resolution. For players with a 1080p display, the High preset at 180 FPS provides an excellent balance of visual quality and performance. Ultra at 135 FPS is also viable if higher visual fidelity is desired, though the difference may be subtle in a turn-based game. Medium at 234 FPS offers headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual downgrade from High is likely not worth the extra frames unless the display supports above 180 Hz.

At 1440p, the High preset at 114 FPS is the recommended starting point. This delivers smooth gameplay on most 1440p displays, which typically cap at 144 Hz. Ultra at 85 FPS is a viable alternative for those who prioritize image quality over frame rate, as it remains above 60 FPS. Medium at 148 FPS is the best option for players with 144 Hz monitors who want to maximize smoothness, but the visual compromise may be noticeable.

For 4K displays, the choice is clearer. High at 60 FPS hits the standard target exactly, making it the best option for a consistent experience. Medium at 78 FPS provides a margin above 60 FPS, which can help with frame time consistency, but the visual difference between Medium and High is likely minor. Ultra at 45 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold, so it is not recommended for most players unless they prefer maximum fidelity and can tolerate the lower frame rate.

In summary, the data suggests that High is the sweet spot across all three resolutions, offering a solid balance between visual quality and performance. For players with high-refresh-rate displays at 1080p or 1440p, Medium or Ultra may be worth considering, but for most users, High delivers the best overall experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with High settings?

A: The average FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings is 60 FPS, which exactly meets the standard 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 SUPER maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: No, the 4K Ultra preset averages 45 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 4K averages 78 FPS, and High averages 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems in Hard West?

A: This combination ranks 564th out of 3,722 tested combos, placing it in the top 15% of all configurations.

Q: What is the performance difference between the i5-12600KF and its nearest CPU rival?

A: The i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27,799. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, scores 27,896, which is 0.3% ahead. The Intel Core i9-10900K scores 27,872, also 0.3% ahead. These differences are negligible.

Q: What is the highest FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The highest average FPS is 278 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest average FPS is 45 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best experience at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 1440p averages 114 FPS, which is above 60 FPS and close to the 144 Hz refresh rate common on 1440p monitors. Ultra averages 85 FPS, and Medium averages 148 FPS, so the choice depends on whether visual quality or frame rate is prioritized.