Hard West

# Hard West with Intel Core i5-13400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The Intel Core i5-13400F pairs with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 in this turn-based tactics title, and the measured data reveals a combo that handles Hard West decisively at most settings, though the game's heavier presets still impose meaningful constraints. The CPU brings 10 cores and 16 threads from the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, while the GPU contributes 5888 shading units and a 12 GB GDDR6X memory buffer. Across all twelve measured configurations, the average frame rates range from 42.9 FPS at 4K Ultra to 254.5 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that the limiting factor shifts depending on resolution and preset. This analysis interprets those numbers in context, examining how the CPU and GPU roles evolve, what settings deliver the best experience, and how this specific combination ranks among the 1699 tested combos.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor built on Intel's 10 nm process, with a 20 MB shared L3 cache and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its boost clock of 4.60 GHz, paired with a 65 W TDP, positions it as a mainstream desktop part that excels in multithreaded workloads — its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21279 and Geekbench multicore score of 10971 confirm strong parallel throughput. However, Hard West is a turn-based tactics title from 2015, a genre that typically relies more on single-thread performance and game logic than on massive core counts. The CPU's single-thread capabilities are solid, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 960 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3004, meaning it can handle the game's AI and turn calculations without bottlenecking the GPU.

The measured FPS data supports this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 254.5 FPS, which is far beyond what a 60 Hz or even 144 Hz display needs, and even at 1080p Ultra it maintains 119.5 FPS. This suggests the CPU is not the primary constraint at lower resolutions; the GPU handles the rendering load while the processor keeps up effortlessly. The CPU's percentile ranking of 82 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25236, places it near rivals like the Intel Core i7-13620H (0.1% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (0.5% lower), indicating it sits in a competitive mid-to-high tier. For a game like Hard West, where battles are turn-based and the visual fidelity is modest by modern standards, the i5-13400F's balance of single-thread speed and multithreaded headroom means it contributes positively without ever becoming the weak link.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Examining the measured FPS across all presets, the data shows a clear hierarchy: Low settings deliver the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra consistently the most demanding. At 1080p, the gap between Low (254.5 FPS) and Ultra (119.5 FPS) is substantial, but even Ultra remains comfortably playable. At 1440p, the spread widens — Low hits 162 FPS, Medium 131.7 FPS, High 99.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 75.1 FPS. At 4K, the differences become more critical: Low achieves 83.1 FPS, Medium 68.1 FPS, High 51.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 42.9 FPS.

The best experience depends on the display's refresh rate. For a 60 Hz target, the High preset at 1440p (99.8 FPS) and even Ultra at 1440p (75.1 FPS) provide headroom, while 4K High (51.8 FPS) dips below 60 FPS, making Medium at 4K (68.1 FPS) the safer choice. For 144 Hz displays, 1080p High (161.8 FPS) or 1080p Medium (209.4 FPS) are the sweet spots, as they maintain high frame rates without the visual degradation of Low. The data suggests that High at 1080p or Medium at 1440p offer the best balance of visual quality and performance, as they stay well above 60 FPS while avoiding the steep cost of Ultra — which at 4K costs roughly 48% of the frame rate compared to Medium (42.9 vs 68.1 FPS). Given that Hard West is a turn-based game where reaction time is less critical, players could justify Ultra at 1440p (75.1 FPS) for maximum visual fidelity, but for smoothness, Medium at 4K is the pragmatic recommendation.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling pattern reveals a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, with the CPU becoming less relevant as pixel count increases. From 1080p Low (254.5 FPS) to 4K Low (83.1 FPS), the frame rate drops by 67.3%, which is a dramatic reduction that points squarely at the GPU's pixel processing limits. Similarly, at High settings, the drop from 161.8 FPS at 1080p to 51.8 FPS at 4K represents a 68% decrease. In contrast, the CPU's workload — game logic, turn calculations, and draw calls — remains relatively constant across resolutions, so the consistent percentage drops indicate the RTX 4070 is the limiting component at 4K.

This is further supported by the GPU's specifications: the RTX 4070 has a 192-bit memory bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth and 12 GB of GDDR6X memory. At 4K, the higher pixel count demands more memory bandwidth and fill rate, and the GPU's pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s becomes the ceiling. The fact that 4K Ultra (42.9 FPS) nearly halves the 1080p Ultra score (119.5 FPS) — a 64.1% drop — underscores this. The CPU's role is not entirely negligible, however; at 1080p Low, the 254.5 FPS figure is close to what the GPU can physically output, but if the processor were weaker, it might cap the frame rate lower. Given the i5-13400F's 3DMark 16-thread score of 7314 and Passmark multithread score of 25032, it has ample headroom, so the data strongly implies that the RTX 4070 is the bottleneck at 4K, while at 1080p the combination is well-balanced with the GPU still being the primary constraint at higher settings.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 holds the rank of 445 out of 1699 combos for Hard West. This places it in the top 26.2% of all tested configurations, which is a solid showing given the game's age and the hardware's mid-to-high tier positioning. The rank reflects the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, and it suggests that while this combo is not at the absolute top, it outperforms the majority of alternatives.

Interpreting this rank requires context from the individual components. The CPU's percentile of 82 and the GPU's percentile of 81 are both above average, and the combo's rank of 445 aligns with that — it's a strong pairing that doesn't reach the extremes of top-tier hardware but consistently delivers high frame rates. The nearest rival CPUs, such as the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (0.5% lower average score) and Intel Core i7-13620H (0.1% higher), are very close in overall CPU performance, meaning that swapping the i5-13400F for one of these would likely produce similar in-game results. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rivals — the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.6% lower) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (2.2% higher) — bracket the RTX 4070's performance, so the combo's rank is a product of two components that each sit near the 80th percentile. The data indicates that this combo is competitive for Hard West, offering frame rates that are playable at 4K with adjusted settings and excellent at 1080p and 1440p.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, featuring 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. Its base clock runs at 1920 MHz, boosting to 2475 MHz, and it has 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 21 Gbps effective, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth across a 192-bit bus. These specifications are more than sufficient for a 2015 turn-based tactics game, which is why the GPU achieves high frame rates at lower resolutions and settings — but the 4K Ultra result of 42.9 FPS shows its limits when the pixel load is maximized.

The GPU's role becomes clearer when examining the measured FPS. At 1080p, even Ultra (119.5 FPS) is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and at 1440p, High (99.8 FPS) and Medium (131.7 FPS) are smooth. The RTX 4070's 12 GB VRAM is ample for Hard West, which likely doesn't exceed even 4 GB at any settings, so memory capacity is not a constraint. Instead, the limiting factor is the GPU's raw compute and memory bandwidth at 4K, where the game's higher resolution demands more from the 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 26927 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854 confirm its mid-range standing, and its percentile of 81 against all GPUs places it near the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.6% higher) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (2.2% higher). For Hard West, the RTX 4070 delivers a performance profile that is strong at mainstream resolutions but shows strain at 4K Ultra, making it a capable but not top-tier choice for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 254.5 FPS on Low, 209.4 FPS on Medium, 161.8 FPS on High, and 119.5 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a clear gradient: each step up in settings reduces the frame rate by roughly 20-30%, with the largest drop occurring between Medium and High (47.6 FPS decrease) and the smallest between Low and Medium (45.1 FPS decrease). At 2560x1440, the results are 162 FPS on Low, 131.7 FPS on Medium, 99.8 FPS on High, and 75.1 FPS on Ultra. The pattern persists, but the absolute values are lower, reflecting the increased pixel count — the drop from 1080p to 1440p at each setting ranges from 30-36%.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates fall to 83.1 FPS on Low, 68.1 FPS on Medium, 51.8 FPS on High, and 42.9 FPS on Ultra. The 4K results are telling: even Low settings dip below 90 FPS, and Ultra falls below 45 FPS, which is on the edge of playability for a turn-based game where smoothness is less critical. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is steep — for example, High drops from 99.8 to 51.8 FPS, a 48% reduction. Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset consistently costs the most, and the data shows that Medium offers the best compromise at 4K (68.1 FPS), while at 1080p and 1440p, High remains above 60 FPS. The minimum and maximum FPS values are not available, so the analysis relies solely on averages, which are smooth and consistent across the twelve configurations.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Hard West?

A: The highest measured average is 254.5 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 209.4 FPS at 1080p Medium, indicating that Low settings provide a significant performance headroom.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: No, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 42.9, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. To achieve 60 FPS at 4K, the data shows Medium settings (68.1 FPS) are required.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-13400F has an average benchmark score of 25236, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i7-13620H (25201) and 0.5% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25365). It outperforms the AMD EPYC 9474F (25103) by 0.5%.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations for Hard West?

A: This combo ranks 445 out of 1699 tested combos, placing it in the top 26.2% of all configurations. The GPU also ranks in the 81st percentile against all GPUs, while the CPU ranks in the 82nd percentile.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 1440p High?

A: At 2560x1440 High, the average FPS is 99.8, which is well above 60 FPS. The dramatic drop from 1080p High (161.8 FPS) to 1440p High (99.8 FPS) — a 38% decrease — indicates the GPU is the primary constraint, as the CPU has ample headroom with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz and 10 cores.

Q: What settings should be used for a 144 Hz monitor at 1080p?

A: For 1080p at 144 Hz, the Medium preset (209.4 FPS) and High preset (161.8 FPS) both exceed the refresh rate, while Ultra (119.5 FPS) falls short. Medium or High would fully utilize a 144 Hz display without sacrificing visual quality.