Hard West

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination ranks 1059th out of 1699 tested combos in Hard West. This places the pairing in the lower-middle tier of the database, suggesting that while the components are far from obsolete, they are not optimized for this specific turn-based tactics title. The ranking reflects a system that delivers playable performance at most settings, but it is not a top-tier contender for this game, with nearly 40% of tested configurations outperforming it.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1059 out of 1699 puts it in the 38th percentile of all tested systems. This is a modest standing, indicating that the i5-9400 and RTX 2070 SUPER are adequate but unexceptional for Hard West. The processor itself sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2305. Its closest rivals—the Intel Core i3-10305 and Intel Core i3-1125G4—are within 0.2% of the i5-9400’s score, showing that the CPU is essentially performance-equivalent to those parts. The Xeon E-2134 trails by just 0.4%, while the Core i7-8809G leads by only 0.6%. This tight grouping means the CPU is not a differentiator; any of these processors would yield nearly identical results in Hard West.

The GPU tells a similar story. The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 22206, placing it at the 65th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A400, scores 22307, a delta of just 0.5% in favor of the RTX A400. The GeForce GTX TITAN Z is 0.9% behind, while the RTX 4060 Mobile leads by 2.3% and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 trails by 2.5%. These margins are small, meaning the GPU’s performance class is well-defined, but it is not a standout. In the context of Hard West, a game that is not graphically demanding, this mid-pack hardware is sufficient for smooth play, but the rank shows it is not a high-end setup.

GPU Role

The RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 1605 MHz, boosting to 1770 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These specifications are more than adequate for Hard West, a title from 2015 that does not stress modern GPUs. The GPU’s 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs provide ample raw throughput for the game’s turn-based visuals, which are not particle-heavy or geometry-intensive.

The data shows that the GPU is not the limiting factor in most configurations. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 172.8 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. Even at 4K with Medium settings, the average is 49.4 FPS, indicating that the GPU can handle the resolution scaling without collapsing. The GPU’s 65th percentile standing among all GPUs reinforces that it is a solid mid-range performer, and in a game like Hard West, its 8 GB VRAM is never saturated. The 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die, produced on a 12 nm process, give it the computational headroom to run this game at high frame rates, but the bottleneck shifts to the CPU at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is pronounced but predictable, revealing where the system’s limits lie. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 107.1 FPS at 1080p to 67.5 FPS at 1440p, a 37% reduction, and then to 34.4 FPS at 4K, a further 49% drop. This steep decline at 4K indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary constraint at higher resolutions, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, demanding more from the RTX 2070 SUPER’s 8 GB memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. At Low settings, the scaling is similar: 172.8 FPS at 1080p, 109.7 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K. The consistent halving of frame rates from 1440p to 4K across all settings confirms that the GPU is the limiting component in that range.

Conversely, at 1080p, the CPU plays a larger role. The i5-9400, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, is capable of feeding the GPU, but the frame rates are so high at Low and Medium settings that the CPU’s single-thread performance becomes a factor. The jump from 143.3 FPS at Medium 1080p to 172.8 FPS at Low 1080p is a 21% improvement, which suggests that the CPU can keep up, but the GPU is not fully utilized at these settings. At 1440p and above, the GPU’s workload increases, and the CPU’s 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking. The data indicates a balanced system at 1440p, where both components are working in tandem, but at 4K, the GPU’s 65th percentile performance is exposed.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, the Medium preset at 1440p is the optimal choice. The measured average of 89.1 FPS at this setting is smooth and responsive, while the visual uplift over Low is noticeable. At 1080p, High settings deliver 107.1 FPS, which is excellent for a 60 Hz or 144 Hz display, and the jump to Ultra only costs 25.8 FPS, bringing it down to 81.3 FPS. For players prioritizing frame rate, Low at 1080p offers 172.8 FPS, but this sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a game that is not fast-paced.

At 4K, the situation is more constrained. Medium settings yield 49.4 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a turn-based game where frame pacing is less critical. High at 4K drops to 34.4 FPS, which is borderline, while Ultra at 27.6 FPS is too low for a comfortable experience. The data suggests that 4K should be reserved for Medium settings or lower, as the GPU’s 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB VRAM are stretched thin at this resolution. The best experience, however, is clearly at 1440p Medium, where the system achieves a near-90 FPS average without compromising visual clarity. This configuration leverages the GPU’s strengths without exposing the CPU’s mid-pack performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings average 172.8 FPS, Medium scores 143.3 FPS, High achieves 107.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 81.3 FPS. These numbers indicate that the GPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution; the i5-9400’s 6-core, 6-thread configuration and 4.10 GHz boost clock are sufficient to drive these frame rates. The gap between Low and Medium is 29.5 FPS, while the drop from High to Ultra is 25.8 FPS, showing that the Ultra preset adds a significant load without a proportional visual benefit.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show the GPU’s growing influence. Low averages 109.7 FPS, Medium 89.1 FPS, High 67.5 FPS, and Ultra 52.9 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at High is a 39.6 FPS loss, which is expected given the increased pixel count. At this resolution, the RTX 2070 SUPER’s 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs are working harder, and the data shows a linear degradation that aligns with the GPU’s 65th percentile ranking. The CPU is no longer the primary constraint, as the frame rates are still high enough to indicate a balanced system.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is definitively the limiting factor. Low averages 55 FPS, Medium 49.4 FPS, High 34.4 FPS, and Ultra 27.6 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is only 5.6 FPS, but the fall from Medium to High is 15 FPS, and High to Ultra is 6.8 FPS. These results show that the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for high-quality 4K rendering in this game. The 4K Ultra figure of 27.6 FPS is below the 30 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for playability, making this preset impractical. The data clearly shows that for 4K play, users must stick to Low or Medium settings to maintain a playable frame rate.