Hard West

Hard West is a turn-based tactics title from 2015, and this analysis covers the Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. The measured data shows this combination ranks at 100 out of 1699 tested combos for the game, placing it in the top tier. The benchmark results indicate that this system is overwhelmingly capable of handling the game’s demands, with performance headroom that shifts the bottleneck depending on the resolution and settings chosen.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is built on the Raptor Lake-R architecture and features 10 cores with 16 threads. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 21914 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3093 in single-core tests, with a Passmark multithread score of 25783. This processor sits in the 88th percentile of all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 32508 places it in a tight cluster with rivals like the Intel Core i7-12800H (32513) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446), where the deltaPct is negligible at 0 to 0.2 percent.

For a turn-based tactics game like Hard West, the CPU’s role is less about raw frame generation and more about maintaining consistent logic and AI processing. The data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS is 264.6, which is the highest measured across all configurations. This high ceiling suggests that even at lower resolutions, the i5-14400F’s multi-core performance is more than sufficient to feed the GPU. The single-core score of 3093 in Cinebench R23 indicates strong per-thread performance, which is beneficial for games that rely on a single main thread for game logic. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache also helps reduce latency for frequently accessed data, which can smooth out frame pacing in slower-paced strategy titles. In short, the CPU is not a limiting factor in this pairing; the benchmark results show it provides ample headroom for the GPU to operate at its full potential.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this configuration. It is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process and features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. The GPU’s boost clock is 2550 MHz, and it contains 10240 shading units. In synthetic tests, it scores 34245 in Passmark G3D and 246994 in Geekbench OpenCL. The GPU also ranks in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53610, placing it slightly above the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (53489) and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (53414), with deltaPct values of 0.2 and 0.4 percent, respectively.

In the context of Hard West, the GPU role becomes apparent when examining the frame rate scaling with settings. At 4K with Low settings, the average FPS is 110.7, which is still very playable. However, the gap between Low and High settings at 4K is significant, dropping from 110.7 to 68.7 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is heavily taxed by the higher graphical presets, particularly at higher resolutions. The 16 GB VRAM is more than adequate for a game from 2015, even at 4K, so memory capacity is not a bottleneck. Instead, the raw compute power of the RTX 4080 SUPER is what drives these numbers, and the data shows it is capable of delivering high frame rates across all tested configurations, with the only sub-60 FPS result occurring at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p with High settings, the average FPS is 203.8. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 132.6, a reduction of about 35 percent. At 4K High, the average FPS falls to 68.7, which is roughly half of the 1440p result. This scaling indicates that the system is becoming increasingly GPU-bound as resolution increases. At 1080p, the frame rates are so high (157.1 FPS at Ultra, 264.6 at Low) that the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls may be approaching its limit, but the data does not show a plateau that would suggest a hard CPU bottleneck.

The drop from 1080p Low (264.6 FPS) to 4K Low (110.7 FPS) shows that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is still doing substantial work at higher resolutions. Conversely, the difference between 1080p Ultra (157.1 FPS) and 1440p Ultra (96.8 FPS) is a 38 percent decrease, while the jump from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra (51.6 FPS) is a 47 percent decrease. This steeper decline at the highest settings and resolution confirms that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the limiting component in this pairing. The CPU provides enough headroom that the frame rate is dictated almost entirely by the GPU’s rendering workload, which is typical for a turn-based game with modest CPU demands.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the best experience depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 157.1 FPS, which is smooth and well above the threshold for most displays. The High preset at 203.8 FPS offers a significant boost with likely minimal visual difference, making it an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1440p, the High preset at 132.6 FPS provides a strong balance of visual fidelity and performance, while the Ultra preset at 96.8 FPS is still highly playable. For 4K, the Low preset at 110.7 FPS is the only configuration that maintains a triple-digit frame rate, but the High preset at 68.7 FPS is a more visually appealing option that remains comfortably above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 51.6 FPS, which may be acceptable for a turn-based game where reaction time is not critical, but it represents a noticeable performance cost. The data suggests that the High preset is the sweet spot across all resolutions, offering the best trade-off between quality and frame rate, with 4K High being the most demanding yet still viable option.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate this system can achieve in Hard West?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 264.6, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 53610, which is 0.2 percent higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (53489) and 0.4 percent higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (53414).

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14400F a bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: No, the data indicates the CPU is not the limiting factor. At 4K, the frame rate drops from 110.7 FPS on Low to 51.6 FPS on Ultra, showing that the GPU’s rendering workload is the primary constraint.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K on High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 203.8, while at 4K High it is 68.7, representing a reduction of approximately 66 percent.

Q: Which preset provides the highest average FPS above 60 at 4K?

A: The High preset at 4K provides an average of 68.7 FPS, which is the most demanding preset that still maintains an average above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU’s single-thread performance compare to its multi-core performance?

A: The CPU scores 3093 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 21914 in multi-core, showing that multi-threaded scaling is strong, but single-thread performance is also robust for game logic tasks.