Hard West

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

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread desktop processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It runs at a 2.50 GHz base clock and boosts to 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. Its cache layout includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. For a turn-based tactics game like Hard West, the CPU's single-thread performance is often more relevant than raw multi-thread throughput, since the game's logic and AI decisions are typically serialized.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 3,093 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 21,914 in multi-core, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2,333 and multi-core of 11,209. These figures place it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32,508. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-12800H (average score 32,513, delta 0%), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32,446, +0.2%), the AMD Ryzen 7 250 (32,584, -0.2%), and the Intel Core i7-13705H (32,586, -0.2%). The near-identical scores among these four parts indicate that the i5-14400F is effectively at parity with its immediate competition, with deltas of at most 0.2%.

For Hard West specifically, the measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 255.2 FPS average, which indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower settings. The game is not heavily threaded, but the i5-14400F's strong single-core performance (3,093 in R23 single) ensures that turn-based AI calculations and pathfinding do not become a limiting factor. The 10-core/16-thread configuration provides headroom for background tasks, but the benchmark results suggest that scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p (from 255.2 down to 120.7 FPS) is driven more by GPU load than CPU capability.

The CPU's memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 gives flexibility in platform pairing, and the 20 MB L3 cache is ample for a game of this scope. The measured data shows no signs of CPU-induced frame pacing issues; the FPS drops observed when moving from 1080p to 4K are consistent with GPU-bound behavior. In short, the i5-14400F is more than sufficient for Hard West, with its single-core throughput being the primary contributor to maintaining high frame rates at lower resolutions.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the Intel Core i5-14400F?

A: The launch MSRP is $196. This places it as a mid-range desktop part, though no pricing comparisons to other CPUs are available in the data.

Q: How does the i5-14400F compare to its nearest rival in raw benchmark scores?

A: The i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32,508. Its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-12800H, scores 32,513 with a delta of 0%. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 scores 32,446 (+0.2%), while the AMD Ryzen 7 250 and Intel Core i7-13705H both score 32,584 and 32,586 respectively, each at -0.2% delta. This means the i5-14400F is within 0.2% of all four rivals, effectively a tie.

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

A: The highest average FPS is 255.2, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest average is 42.4 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This represents a range of 212.8 FPS across all tested configurations.

Q: Does the RTX 4070's memory bandwidth affect 4K performance in Hard West?

A: The RTX 4070 has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. At 4K Ultra, the combo drops to 42.4 FPS, while at 4K High it reaches 52.4 FPS. The substantial drop from 1080p to 4K (e.g., from 162.6 to 52.4 FPS at High settings) indicates that memory bandwidth and GPU compute become limiting factors at higher resolutions, as the CPU is clearly capable of far higher frame rates.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 393rd out of 1,699 tested combinations, placing it in the top 23% of all combos. This rank reflects the balance between the i5-14400F and RTX 4070 for this specific game.

Q: What is the RTX 4070's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4070 is in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37,283. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37,507, -0.6% delta), NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A (38,008, -1.9%), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38,135, -2.2%). The RTX 4070 also trails the AMD Radeon RX 5300M (36,371, +2.5% delta) in this comparison.

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

The measured FPS data for Hard West reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that shifts the bottleneck from CPU to GPU as pixel count increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 255.2 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding frames well beyond typical display refresh rates. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 162.8 FPS (a 36% reduction), and at 4K Low it falls further to 83.5 FPS (a 67% reduction from 1080p). These large percentage drops at Low settings indicate that even with minimal graphical load, the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution rises.

At High settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 162.6 FPS at 1080p drops to 103.7 FPS at 1440p (36% lower), and then to 52.4 FPS at 4K (68% lower than 1080p). The consistent ~36% drop from 1080p to 1440p across all settings (Low, Medium, High) is notable—it suggests a linear relationship between pixel count and GPU load. The Ultra preset shows slightly different behavior: 120.7 FPS at 1080p, 78.1 FPS at 1440p (35% drop), and 42.4 FPS at 4K (65% drop from 1080p). The slightly smaller percentage drop at Ultra 4K compared to Low 4K suggests that at Ultra settings, the GPU is so heavily loaded that additional resolution increases have diminishing relative impact.

The data clearly shows that the RTX 4070 is the limiting component at 1440p and 4K. The i5-14400F, with its strong single-core performance, can sustain over 255 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond what the RTX 4070 can deliver at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops are consistent with GPU compute and memory bandwidth limitations—the RTX 4070 has 504.2 GB/s bandwidth and 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 performance, which are the relevant specs for this workload. At 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom that the GPU is still the primary constraint, but the gap narrows as settings increase. This is typical for a turn-based tactics game where draw calls are limited but pixel shading scales directly with resolution.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and display refresh rate. At 1080p, all presets deliver playable frame rates: Low hits 255.2 FPS, Medium reaches 208.7 FPS, High achieves 162.6 FPS, and Ultra still manages 120.7 FPS. For a 144Hz monitor, High settings at 1080p (162.6 FPS) provide a comfortable margin above the refresh rate, while Ultra (120.7 FPS) falls slightly short. For 60Hz displays, Ultra at 1080p is entirely viable, offering the best visual quality without dropping below 60 FPS.

At 1440p, the choice becomes more nuanced. High settings deliver 103.7 FPS, which is above 100 FPS and suitable for high-refresh monitors. Medium hits 133.9 FPS, providing even more headroom, while Low reaches 162.8 FPS. Ultra drops to 78.1 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS but leaves less margin. For 1440p users with 120Hz+ displays, Medium (133.9 FPS) appears to be the sweet spot—it offers a 29% FPS improvement over High while likely retaining most visual fidelity. For 60Hz panels, Ultra at 1440p (78.1 FPS) is acceptable, though High at 103.7 FPS provides a more stable experience.

At 4K, the situation is more constrained. Only Low (83.5 FPS) and Medium (70.9 FPS) exceed 60 FPS. High (52.4 FPS) and Ultra (42.4 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold, which may be noticeable in a turn-based game but is not game-breaking. For 4K users with 60Hz displays, Medium settings (70.9 FPS) offer the best balance—it maintains a 60+ FPS average while providing better visuals than Low. High at 4K (52.4 FPS) is playable but may exhibit occasional dips. The data does not include minimum FPS values, so these averages should be interpreted with some caution, but the 70.9 FPS at Medium 4K suggests this is the most practical 4K preset.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 393rd out of 1,699 tested combinations in Hard West. This places the combo in the top 23% of all configurations tested, which is a strong result for a mid-range CPU paired with an upper-mid-range GPU. The rank reflects the game's moderate hardware demands; Hard West is a turn-based tactics title from 2015, so even older hardware can achieve playable frame rates, but this combo demonstrates that the pairing can deliver high refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p.

The RTX 4070's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs and the i5-14400F's 88th percentile CPU ranking suggest that both components are well above average individually. The combo's rank of 393 out of 1,699 indicates that there are 392 other combinations that perform better in this specific game, which likely include higher-end GPUs like the RTX 4080 or 4090, or CPUs with even stronger single-thread performance. However, the delta between this combo and those ranked higher is not provided in the data, so the exact performance gap cannot be quantified.

When considering the nearest rival GPUs, the RTX 4070's performance relative to the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (-0.6% delta) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (-2.2% delta) suggests that the GPU's in-game performance is consistent with its synthetic benchmark scores. The combo's rank is likely driven more by GPU performance at higher resolutions, as the CPU's strong single-core scores (3,093 in Cinebench R23) ensure it is not a limiting factor. For a game like Hard West, where turn-based gameplay does not require extreme frame rates, this combo's 393rd rank is more than adequate, especially given that the measured FPS at 1440p High (103.7 FPS) exceeds what most displays can show.

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

The measured FPS data for Hard West with the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following average FPS: Low settings achieve 255.2 FPS, Medium reaches 208.7 FPS, High hits 162.6 FPS, and Ultra manages 120.7 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent drop of roughly 20% per preset step, with the largest absolute difference between Low and Medium (46.5 FPS) and the smallest between High and Ultra (41.9 FPS). This indicates that even at the highest settings, the RTX 4070 has sufficient headroom at 1080p to maintain frame rates well above 100 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected. Low settings yield 162.8 FPS, Medium provides 133.9 FPS, High delivers 103.7 FPS, and Ultra drops to 78.1 FPS. The relative differences between presets remain similar to 1080p, with a 28.9 FPS gap between Low and Medium, a 30.2 FPS gap between Medium and High, and a 25.6 FPS gap between High and Ultra. Notably, the 1440p Ultra result of 78.1 FPS is still above 60 FPS, making it a viable option for 60Hz displays. The 1440p data shows that the GPU is beginning to become the limiting factor, as the FPS values are roughly 60-64% of their 1080p counterparts across all presets.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop significantly. Low settings average 83.5 FPS, Medium hits 70.9 FPS, High falls to 52.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 42.4 FPS. The gaps between presets at 4K are: 12.6 FPS between Low and Medium, 18.5 FPS between Medium and High, and 10.0 FPS between High and Ultra. The smaller absolute differences at 4K compared to lower resolutions indicate that the GPU is approaching its limits, with pixel throughput and memory bandwidth (504.2 GB/s) becoming the primary constraints. The 4K Low result of 83.5 FPS is the only 4K preset that approaches 1440p High performance (103.7 FPS), but the gap is still substantial. Across all resolutions, the data shows that the RTX 4070 scales predictably with resolution, and the i5-14400F never becomes a bottleneck—the CPU delivers 255.2 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond what the GPU can sustain at higher resolutions.