Hard West

The benchmarked combination for this analysis is an Intel Core i5-14600K processor paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, both tested exclusively on Hard West. This turn-based tactics game was measured at 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160, with Low, Medium, High, and Ultra presets. The measured frame rates reveal a title that scales predictably with resolution and settings, and the performance data indicates the GPU is the primary limiter at higher pixel counts. Below, the numbers are examined to determine the optimal experience and the relative roles of each component.

The core specifications that anchor this analysis: the i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread Raptor Lake design with a 3.50 GHz base clock and 5.30 GHz boost clock, 24 MB of L3 cache, and a 125 W TDP. The RTX 4070 is an Ada Lovelace chip with 5888 shading units, 184 tensor cores, 46 ray tracing cores, base and boost clocks of 1920 MHz and 2475 MHz, and a 12 GB GDDR6X memory bus with a 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. The combo ranks 829th out of 3722 measured system configurations in this game, placing it well inside the performance envelope of the tested database.

Resolution Scaling

Resolution scaling is the first diagnostic. Moving from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 delivers a 4x increase in pixel count, and the measured average framerates drop accordingly—each preset shows an approximate 66% reduction in average FPS, although precise percentages are not required to see the trend.

At the High preset, the 1080p average of 161 fps falls to 102 fps at 1440p and further to 54 fps at 2160p. The Low preset shows 256 fps, 162 fps, and 85 fps for the same progression. The Ultra preset drops from 121 fps to 76 fps to 40 fps. The Medium preset offers a slightly wider set of data: 210 fps (min 178, max 241), 133 fps (min 113, max 153), and 70 fps (min 59, max 80). The consistency of the drop across all four presets—each roughly a factor of three from full HD to 4K—indicates that the pixel math is the dominant cost, regardless of scene complexity or CPU speed. The game renders with a largely uniform fill-rate demand, so the GPU remains the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The min FPS values support this: the bottom of the 4K Medium curve (59 fps) almost hits the 60 fps line, while at 1080 Medium the minimum (178) is nearly triple the 4K minimum. This scaling profile is typical of a graphics that is limited by rasterization throughput, and not by the game's AI or logic.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data offers a clear tier list. At 4K, the only preset that maintains an average above 60 fps is Medium (70 fps). Ultra is cut to 40 fps, High to 54, and Low comes in at 85. So for a smooth 4K experience, Medium is the sensible ceiling; it also has a recorded min of 59, very near the classic 60 mark. At 2560x1440, every preset exceeds the 60 baseline; Low at the extreme is 162 High, but Medium and High provide a better balance, with 133 and 102 respectively. Ultra is a 76 fps average, which still stands above 60. Given the turn-based nature of Hard West, visual quality can be prioritized without stressing reaction times, so High at 1440p earns the top recommendation—it gives 102 and quite high detail. For 1920x1080, even Ultra is at 121 fps, so the game is freedom to max all settings. If the aim were even higher refresh, then Low at 256 fps may be useful, but the visual cost of dropping from Ultra to Ultra would be severe. The safest default is: 4K Medium, 1440p High, and 1080p Ultra. These of the measured average each leave a tangible buffer without giving away the best: 70, 102, and 121 fps, respectively.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS of the conop on 1080p High?

A: The average is 161 fps.

Q: What is the 4K, Ultra frame performance?

A: The average dips to 40 fps.

Q: Does the system maintain above 60 fps at 1440p with all settings?

A: Yes, all measured presets at 1440p exceed 60 fps: Low at 162, Medium at 133, High at 102, and Ultra at 76.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory configuration for this title?

A: The RTX 4070 uses 12 GB of GDDR6X, rated at 21 Gbps effective with a 192-bit bus.

Q: What is the CPU’s turbo frequency?

A: The i5-14600K has a 5.30 GHz boost clock.

Q: What placement does this combo achieve in the game’s benchmark list?

A: It ranks 829 out of 3722 tested combination.

How This Combo Ranks

The recorded rank of 829 out of 3,722 in Hard West speaks to a high-midtype performance. In the total CPU percentile, the i5-14600K ranks at the 90th percentile of all processors, while the RTX 4070 hits the 81st percentile of the GPU. That ìlys on the CPU end more than the GPU, but the combined score resonates with the measured a forc that this is a solid pairing for the game. At 1440p, it achieves a average 133 fps on Medium, the middle range of the preset. Immediately above the CPU nearest rival—the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, at 48 dh in average score, and the AMD EPYC 4345P, both around 48K 450, and these introduce the CPU’s scores: the difference is only a 0.2–0.3% variation on the synthetic CPU test. The GPU's nearest rival list shows the Tesla P4 and RX Vega 56 are within 0.1–0.4% of the RTX 4070, indicating the 4070’s raw synthetic average is close to those extremely different cards, yet in this turn‑based game the 4070’s boost clock rarely matters because the graphics load is moderate. To summarize: the combination is not an outlier for the game, but its rank score of 829 / 3722 puts it ahead of nearly three-quarters of the configs tested, meaning many of the most expensive video cards / CPUs are not necessary for this title. The balance is that the CPU is over-provisioned relative to the GPU’s load, which is a positive for future compatibility but not leveraged by Hard West.

GPU Role

The role of the RTX 4070 in this game can be derived from its specs and the measured frame numbers. At 12 GB of memory, Hard West likely cannot exceed 4 GB – there is no indication of memory pressure in the FPS rows, but residual … The 192-bit bus is 20 effective, giving a total bandwidth of not be questioned. In a game that is mostly static scenes and simple lighting, the fill-rate components matter more: the pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s are raw throughput indices. At 4K Resolution, the GPU sells its bandwidth: the 38.4 GPixel number corresponds to each pixel being shaded ~4 times at a glance, but the actual rate of 70 fps on Medium implies the pixel and texture count are effectively utilized. Boost clock of 2475 MHz and 1313 memory manual becomes not relevant at base. The 29.15 TFLOPS FP include suggests it had no problems with instructions. The 12 GB and 13 byte bandwidth the task. This is a classic case where the load is at 144, but the 4070 is not pushed above its limits, so increasing graphical preset tends to shadow effects, and the frame drops proportionally.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is the full measured dataset from the FACT names:

At 1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: avg 256, no min/max recorded
• Medium: avg 210, min 178, max 241
• High: avg 161, no min/max
• Ultra: avg 121, no min/max

At 2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: avg 162, min/max not listed
• Medium: avg 133, min 113, max 153
• High: avg 102, no min/max
• Ultra: avg 76, no the extremes

At 3840x2160 (2160/4K):

• Low: avg 85, no min/max
• Medium: avg 70, min 59, max 80
• High: avg 54, no extremes
• Ultra: avg 40, no min/max

The Medium set, in its 1080–1440–4K progression, shows that min frames follow the average but never go below 59 – 4K at 59 is almost touching the 60 Hz line within the measured variability. There is no single setting where the frame time is irregular; the stability is strong, and the absence of min/max in many rows indicates the measurement did not get involved in frames that would put the consistent.

Measured Settings

(below we give a fair summary of the above)

CPU Role

The Core i5-14600K influences this game primarily through its potential. With 14 physical cores / 20 threads, a boost 5.30, and 24 MB L3, this CPU is far beyond what the game requires for its logic. justifies. Cinebench R23 multicore score is 24491 and single-core 2064, and Geekbench 6 /13 thread score of 2491. Such raw can cause the game to become perfectly CPU-bound at 1080 / Low, the measured 256 fps at 1080p Low shows that the i5-14600K is capable of driving the pipeline to that level. As the resolution grows, the game moves away from CPU bottleneck; at 4K Low context the average drops to 85 FPS, which is 171 fps less – a clear sign that the GPU fills the load. The game's turn‑based logic is often a single‐thread, so the single‑core performance (Cinebench 2064 points) is a nice fit; the core body does not sleep entirely, and the 20 threads are available if the newer generations compile multi-threaded scenarios. Bring all 14 cores forward, but the measured performance shows that Hard West does not extract multicore of the i5 at all; at 1080p the high–med gap (161 vs 210) is only 49 fps, not a change in characters but still a significant amount, meaning the CPU is lightwork. The maximum of 256 fps at 1080 Low comes with minimal graphics effects, and again the i5 shows no sign of cut. Overall, the high core and single‑thread are the advantage – the game is far from a stress for a 14-core, and the bottleneck is always the specific resolution, never the CPU. The CPU's 24 MB L3 cache is enough for the external data. The ECC true support is not relevant. The i5-14600 is more than enough, and the data indicate the combo would only be limited by GPU choice. As a result, this set up is ideal for that game: the CPU is never the constraint, and the GPU can be adjusted to reach the target resolution.

Summary

The Intel Core i5-14600K and RTX 4070 combination in Hard West behaves exactly as silver chart suggests: at 1080p and 1440, the high is 256 and the average, with a 1440p, the combination sustains 60+ even at Ultra (76 fps), but 4K needs a drop to Medium to hold 70. The CPU is surplus, the GPU shows their fill‑rate nature. If we compare the CPU's average to opponent (e.g., the newer Xeon 5318H is within 0.2% not attributes), the 14600K’s high performance does not create a visible advantage in this specific game because the bottleneck is elsewhere. The ranking 829 / 3722 confirms the set is strong, but not top‑tier; this stems largely from the RTX 4070 being a 1440p class card rather than a 4K-class, and the game’s modest raster demands—and the management of contrast is that the 4070's 12 GB and Boost are sufficient but not extreme for this turn‑based product, leaving the CPU untouched. There is no notable instability, with the min for 4K Medium being the lowest point among the recorded results, but; most rows have no min/max data, but the 4K Medium 59 frame is the only one low that initiates a single recast. The harness recommends playing at 4K Medium, 1540p High, and 1080p Ultra for the optimal image retention based on the measured points. The 14600K can be considered all handle anything the game throws; the 4070's 90th percentile and GPU 81st align to a good but not max-setting card. The data are comprehensively recorded in this analysis, leaving the decision to the user within those stat bands.