Hard West

Hard West is a turn-based tactics title from late 2015, and this database entry measures the Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 across three resolutions and four quality presets. The data covers 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, with Low, Medium, High, and Ultra settings. The combination ranks 280th out of 3,722 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 7.5% of all recorded systems. The measured frame rates range from a 51 FPS average at 4K Ultra to a 263 FPS average at 1080p Low, showing a very wide performance envelope that depends heavily on both resolution and settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a 60 FPS average in Hard West?

A: The data shows that every measured resolution and settings combination averages above 60 FPS except for 4K Ultra, which averages 51 FPS. At 4K High the average is 69 FPS, 4K Medium averages 89 FPS, and 4K Low averages 109 FPS. All 1440p and 1080p configurations average well above 60 FPS, with the lowest being 1440p Ultra at 98 FPS.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32,279. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U, scores 32,233, placing the i5-14400F 0.1% ahead. The Intel Core i9-11900 scores 32,226, which is 0.2% behind the i5-14400F, while the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS scores 32,354, putting it 0.2% ahead of the i5-14400F.

Q: What is the RTX 4080's memory configuration and clock speed?

A: The RTX 4080 carries 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The GPU's boost clock is 2505 MHz, with a base clock of 2205 MHz and memory clock of 1400 MHz, which translates to 22.4 Gbps effective.

Q: Which settings preset provides the largest performance jump from Ultra to Low at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 51 FPS, while Medium averages 89 FPS (a 38 FPS increase), High averages 109 FPS (a 58 FPS increase), and Low averages 109 FPS. The jump from Ultra to Low at 4K is 58 FPS, which is a 114% increase in average frame rate.

Q: Does the RTX 4080 outperform the RTX 4080 SUPER in the database?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54,247, while the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54,209, giving the RTX 4080 a 0.1% lead in this dataset. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55,698, which is 2.6% higher, and the AMD Radeon 8060S scores 55,757, 2.7% higher.

Q: What is the smallest average FPS recorded for the combo?

A: The smallest average FPS in the measured data is 51 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. The second-lowest is 69 FPS at 4K High, followed by 89 FPS at 4K Medium and 98 FPS at 1440p Ultra.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that the highest settings preset does not always yield playable frame rates at every resolution. At 4K, the Ultra preset averages 51 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS threshold but may feel less smooth on high refresh displays. The High preset at 4K averages 69 FPS, providing a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS while still leveraging the game's visuals. The Medium preset at 4K averages 89 FPS, offering a substantial frame rate improvement with only a moderate step down in visual fidelity.

For 1440p, the Ultra preset averages 98 FPS, which is well above 60 FPS and suitable for high refresh rate monitors. The High preset averages 131 FPS, and Medium averages 170 FPS, making Medium the best choice for users with 144Hz displays at 1440p. The Ultra preset at 1440p, while playable, does not provide the same headroom as Medium.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset averages 155 FPS, which is sufficient for most 144Hz displays, but Medium averages 245 FPS and High averages 206 FPS. For 1080p, Medium offers the highest measured average FPS at 245, followed by High at 206, and Low at 263. The Ultra preset at 1080p remains a strong option for 144Hz displays, but the Medium preset provides a better balance of visual quality and frame rate.

GPU Role

The RTX 4080 is the primary performance driver in this configuration, and its 16 GB GDDR6X memory with a 256-bit bus provides 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory capacity is more than sufficient for Hard West, which is a turn-based tactics title that does not typically require high VRAM usage. The 256-bit bus and high bandwidth help maintain consistent frame rates at higher resolutions, as seen by the 4K High average of 69 FPS.

The GPU's clock speeds, base clock of 2205 MHz and boost clock of 2505 MHz, are relatively high for a modern graphics card. These speeds, combined with the 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, allow the RTX 4080 to handle the game's rendering demands at all tested resolutions. The RTX 4080 uses the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, and it has a TDP of 320 W, which is a moderate power draw for a high-end card.

The measured FPS data shows that the RTX 4080 is the bottleneck at 4K, where the average FPS drops to 51 on Ultra. At 1440p, the card provides high frame rates, with 170 FPS at Medium and 131 FPS at High. The GPU's performance is consistent with its benchmark score of 34,457 in Passmark G3D, which places it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 4080 is also supported by a 700 W PSU recommendation, indicating a robust power delivery system.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS is 263 on Low, 245 on Medium, 206 on High, and 155 on Ultra. The Medium preset at 1080p shows a minimum FPS of 208 and a maximum of 281, indicating a 73 FPS spread. The High preset at 1080p averages 206 FPS, which is 24% lower than Low. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 155 FPS, which is 56% lower than Low.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 207 on Low, 170 on Medium, 131 on High, and 98 on Ultra. The Medium preset at 1440p has a minimum FPS of 144 and a maximum of 195, a 51 FPS spread. The High preset at 1440p averages 131 FPS, which is 37% lower than Low. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 98 FPS, which is 52% lower than Low.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 109 on Low, 89 on Medium, 69 on High, and 51 on Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum FPS of 76 and a maximum of 103, a 27 FPS spread. The High preset at 4K averages 69 FPS, which is 37% lower than Low. The Ultra preset at 4K averages 51 FPS, which is 53% lower than Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 280th out of 3,722 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 7.5% of all configurations. This high ranking indicates that the combo is well-suited to the game's demands. The CPU itself has a percentile rank of 83 among all CPUs, while the GPU has a percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs, both well above average.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 32,279 is 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U and 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i9-11900. The GPU's average benchmark score of 54,247 is 0.1% higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER and 2.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB. These scores suggest that the combo is well-balanced, with both components performing near the top of their respective categories.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. It features 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, along with 80 KB of L1 cache per core. The CPU's memory support includes DDR4 and DDR5, with a dual-channel memory bus.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-14400F achieves a multi-core score of 9,090 in Cinebench C20 and 21,645 in Cinebench C23, and a single-core score of 1,283 in Cinebench C20 and 3,055 in Cinebench C23. In Geekbench, the multi-core score is 11,268 and the single-core score is 2,058. The Passmark multi-thread score is 25,470, and the single-thread score is 3,701.

The CPU's role in this game is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. At 1080p, the CPU can deliver frame rates as high as 263 FPS on Low, indicating that the CPU is not a bottleneck at that resolution. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as seen by the 39% increase in FPS from Low at 1080p (263 FPS) to Low at 1440p (207 FPS). The CPU's 4.70 GHz boost clock supports high single-thread performance, which is typical for turn-based tactics games.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 263 at 1080p to 207 at 1440p (a 21% drop) and then to 109 at 4K (a 59% drop from 1080p). At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 245 at 1080p to 170 at 1440p (a 31% drop) and then to 89 at 4K (a 64% drop). At High settings, the average FPS drops from 206 at 1080p to 131 at 1440p (a 36% drop) and then to 69 at 4K (a 66% drop). At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 155 at 1080p to 98 at 1440p (a 37% drop) and then to 51 at 4K (a 67% drop).

The scaling pattern indicates a GPU-limited scenario at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the 1080p-to-4K drop is 59%, while at Ultra, the drop is 67%, showing that the GPU's load increases with both resolution and settings. The RTX 4080's 16 GB VRAM is likely not a limiting factor, as the game's requirements are modest. The i5-14400F's CPU performance is sufficient for 1080p, but at 4K, the GPU is the main constraint. The data suggests that the combo delivers strong performance at all resolutions, with 1080p and 1440p providing smooth gameplay, while 4K requires settings adjustments to maintain high frame rates.