Hard West

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a playable experience for Hard West, though the data reveals significant performance scaling challenges at higher resolutions. The combination ranks 1413th out of 1699 tested combos for this title, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. The measured frame rates show a clear pattern: the setup is well-suited for 1080p gaming, becomes marginal at 1440p with high settings, and struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K.

FAQ

*Q: What is the overall performance rank of this CPU and GPU combination in Hard West?*

A: This combo ranks 1413th out of 1699 tested combinations, placing it in the 83rd percentile of tested systems for this game.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-14400F compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-14400F scores 32508 on average, which is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-12800H (32513, 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446, 0.2% ahead). It trails the AMD Ryzen 7 250 by 0.2% (32584) and the Intel Core i7-13705H by 0.2% (32586).

Q: What is the GPU's synthetic benchmark standing relative to other graphics cards?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074 and sits in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600S, scores 15996 (0.5% behind), while the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Pro 5700 both score 16351 (1.7% ahead).

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 1080p with High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with High settings, the measured average frame rate is 91.2 FPS, which provides a smooth experience for the turn-based tactics genre.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to the 1080p Low performance?

A: The 4K Ultra setting yields an average of 24.9 FPS, while 1080p Low produces 142.5 FPS. This represents a substantial performance drop of roughly 82% when moving from the lightest to the heaviest configuration.

Q: Does the combo achieve 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, but only on Low and Medium settings. At 2560x1440, Low averages 89.6 FPS and Medium averages 75.3 FPS. High settings drop to 55.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 42.1 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The data places this system at rank 1413 out of 1699 combos for Hard West, meaning roughly 83% of tested configurations outperform it. This is a mid-to-low tier result for a turn-based tactics game, which typically does not demand the same GPU resources as fast-paced shooters. The ranking reflects the RTX 2060's position in the graphics hierarchy more than the CPU's capability, as the i5-14400F holds an 88th percentile ranking among all CPUs.

The gap between the CPU's strong standing and the combo's overall rank highlights a GPU-bound scenario in this title. The RTX 2060's percentile rank of 58 among all GPUs is notably lower than the processor's 88, and the measured frame rates corroborate this bottleneck. At 1080p, the system produces respectable numbers across all settings, but the 4K results show the GPU struggling to maintain fluid motion, with even Medium settings averaging just 39.1 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 brings 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. Its base clock runs at 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz, and the memory operates at 1750 MHz, translating to 14 Gbps effective. The Turing architecture chip, TU106, contains 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units, with a pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s.

For Hard West, the GPU's role is critical at higher resolutions. The 4K data shows a steep drop-off: High settings average 28 FPS, Medium 39.1 FPS, and Low 44.6 FPS. The VRAM capacity of 6 GB appears sufficient for this 2015 title, as the performance degradation follows a predictable pattern tied to resolution and settings rather than memory limitations. The GPU's FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS provides context for its capabilities, though the game's turn-based nature means the average frame rates are more forgiving than they would be in action genres.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data covers three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system performs admirably across the board. Low settings average 142.5 FPS, Medium averages 114.4 FPS, High averages 91.2 FPS, and Ultra averages 68.6 FPS. Every preset except Ultra exceeds the 90 FPS mark, and even Ultra remains comfortably above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the results show a clear scaling penalty. Low settings average 89.6 FPS, Medium averages 75.3 FPS, High averages 55.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 42.1 FPS. The step from Medium to High represents a 26% reduction in average frame rate, indicating that the GPU begins to feel the load at this resolution with more demanding presets.

The 3840x2160 results are the most telling. Low settings average 44.6 FPS, Medium averages 39.1 FPS, High averages 28 FPS, and Ultra averages 24.9 FPS. None of the 4K presets reach the 60 FPS threshold, and even Low settings fall short of 45 FPS. The difference between 1080p Low and 4K Low is 97.9 FPS, demonstrating the extreme resolution scaling on this GPU.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience based on the measured rows, 1920x1080 with High settings is the clear recommendation. The 91.2 FPS average provides smooth, responsive gameplay for a turn-based tactics title, and the visual fidelity at High should be more than adequate for the game's stylized Western setting. Ultra at 1080p is also viable at 68.6 FPS, but the 22.6 FPS drop from High to Ultra may not justify the marginal visual gains.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings offer the best balance, with a 75.3 FPS average that keeps gameplay fluid while maintaining reasonable visual quality. High at 1440p dips to 55.5 FPS, which may be acceptable for turn-based play but falls below the 60 FPS threshold. Users prioritizing visual quality over frame rate could opt for High, but Medium provides more headroom.

For 4K, the data suggests that Low settings are the only viable choice, yielding 44.6 FPS. Medium drops to 39.1 FPS, and the higher presets fall below 30 FPS. Given the genre's slower pace, 4K Low might still be playable for some users, but the 44.6 FPS average indicates the GPU is at its limit.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Raptor Lake architecture, running on a 10 nm process node. It features a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, and it offers PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-14400F demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance, scoring 21914 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 9203 in Cinebench R20 multi-core. Its single-core results are equally solid, with 3093 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 1299 in Cinebench R20 single-core. The Passmark multi-thread score of 25783 reinforces its capability for workloads that leverage multiple cores.

For Hard West, a turn-based tactics game from 2015, the CPU's role is largely secondary to the GPU. The game's mechanics involve strategic planning and unit management rather than real-time physics or complex AI simulations. The measured frame rates show a GPU-bound pattern, particularly at higher resolutions where the RTX 2060 becomes the limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU has the least load, the system achieves 142.5 FPS, which is well within the CPU's capabilities given its 88th percentile ranking. The processor's 16 threads and high boost clock ensure that any CPU-side tasks in Hard West are handled with ample headroom, allowing the benchmark results to reflect pure GPU performance.