Hard West

# Hard West with Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070

This combo ranks 1203rd out of 3722 tested combinations in Hard West, placing it in the upper third of all systems evaluated. The pairing of a six-core Coffee Lake processor from 2018 with a current-generation Blackwell GPU produces a system that delivers playable frame rates across all tested resolutions, though the performance ceiling is clearly dictated by the processor in lower-resolution scenarios. The Intel Core i5-9400 sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254, placing it within 0.4% of rivals like the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500. The RTX 5070, meanwhile, ranks at the 82nd percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 40377, which positions it roughly 0.8% above the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 and 2% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile in aggregate GPU benchmarks.

How This Combo Ranks

The 1203rd position out of 3722 combos indicates a system that comfortably outperforms the median configuration tested for Hard West. In percentile terms, this pairing sits at roughly the 67th percentile of all tested combinations, meaning roughly two-thirds of tested systems deliver lower performance in this game. The ranking reflects a substantial imbalance between components: the GPU is a top-tier part by benchmark standards, while the CPU is a mid-range part from an older generation. In a turn-based tactics title like Hard West, where frame rates often exceed 100 FPS at mainstream resolutions, this imbalance becomes evident in the measured data. The CPU's 47th percentile standing among all processors means nearly half of all tested CPUs outperform it, yet the system still achieves 129 FPS at 1080p Ultra settings. This suggests that Hard West's engine is not heavily threaded and does not punish the i5-9400's six-core, six-thread configuration as severely as more modern titles might. The GPU's 82nd percentile ranking, by contrast, indicates a component that outperforms over four-fifths of all tested GPUs, making it the clear performance driver in this pairing. The combination's overall rank is therefore best understood as a GPU-limited result at high resolutions, transitioning to a more balanced profile at 1080p where both components contribute meaningfully to the final frame rate.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070 brings 12 GB of GDDR7 memory across a 192-bit bus, delivering 672.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Its base clock of 2325 MHz boosts to 2512 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute at 30.87 TFLOPS. In Hard West, a game originally released in 2015 with turn-based gameplay, the GPU's role shifts depending on resolution. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor: the system drops from 91 FPS at Low settings to 43 FPS at Ultra, a 52.7% reduction that scales almost linearly with the rendering workload. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Hard West, as the game's asset complexity from 2015 does not challenge modern memory pools. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 178923 indicate strong DirectX 12 and Vulkan performance, though Hard West's engine likely relies on older API paths given its release date. The PassMark DirectX 9 score of 320 and DirectX 10 score of 180 suggest the GPU handles legacy APIs competently, which matters for a game from this era. The RTX 5070's 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs means it outperforms the vast majority of installed graphics cards, and in Hard West specifically, it provides headroom that allows even 4K High settings to maintain 57 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p Ultra, the system achieves 129 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, this drops to 82 FPS (a 36.4% reduction); and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 43 FPS (a 47.6% reduction from 1440p and a 66.7% reduction from 1080p). This scaling curve is steeper than what would be expected from a purely GPU-limited scenario, indicating that at 1080p, the CPU begins to constrain performance. The 1080p Medium result of 160 FPS versus the 1440p Medium result of 137 FPS shows only a 14.4% drop, which is modest compared to the 4K Medium result of 74 FPS, a 46% reduction from 1440p. This non-linear scaling suggests the system operates in a CPU-limited regime at 1080p for lower settings, transitions to a balanced regime at 1440p, and becomes firmly GPU-limited at 4K. The Low settings data reinforces this: 1080p Low hits 172 FPS, while 1440p Low reaches 147 FPS (a 14.5% drop), and 4K Low drops to 91 FPS (a 38.1% drop from 1440p). The relatively small gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings, versus the large gap between 1440p and 4K, indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU adequately up to 1440p, but the GPU's rendering workload at 4K becomes the dominant constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 172 FPS average, Medium settings yield 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 and maximum of 184, High settings reach 145 FPS, and Ultra settings maintain 129 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 43 FPS, representing a 25% performance penalty for maximum quality settings. At 2560x1440, the results shift downward: Low settings achieve 147 FPS, Medium settings deliver 137 FPS with a minimum of 117 and maximum of 158, High settings produce 109 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 82 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread at 1440p is 65 FPS, a 44.2% penalty, which is nearly double the relative penalty seen at 1080p. At 3840x2160, the frame rates fall further: Low settings manage 91 FPS, Medium settings achieve 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 and maximum of 86, High settings produce 57 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 43 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread at 4K is 48 FPS, representing a 52.7% penalty. Critically, the 4K Ultra result of 43 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold commonly associated with smooth gameplay, while 4K High at 57 FPS is borderline. All other resolution and setting combinations exceed 60 FPS, with 1080p and 1440p configurations all surpassing 80 FPS even at Ultra settings.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Hard West at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High settings, the system averages 57 FPS, which is below 60 but generally playable. 4K Medium averages 74 FPS, and 4K Low averages 91 FPS. 4K Ultra drops to 43 FPS, which is noticeably less smooth.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at 1080p?

A: The i5-9400 constrains performance at 1080p, as evidenced by the relatively small FPS gains between settings. At 1080p, Low produces 172 FPS while Ultra produces 129 FPS, a 25% spread. The CPU's six cores and six threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost of 4.10 GHz, are sufficient to maintain high frame rates but do not allow the GPU to reach its full potential at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 1440p offers the best balance. At 1440p High, the system achieves 109 FPS, and 1440p Ultra reaches 82 FPS. Both are well above 60 FPS, and the visual quality improvement over 1080p is substantial. 4K is playable at Medium settings (74 FPS) or High settings (57 FPS) if visual fidelity is prioritized over frame rate smoothness.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: In aggregate benchmarks, the RTX 5070 scores 40377 on average, which is 0.1% above the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (40318), 0.8% above the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 (40063), and 2% above the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile (39568). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 by 1.2% (40870).

Q: Is the 12 GB VRAM sufficient for Hard West?

A: Yes. Hard West was released in 2015 and does not feature the demanding asset complexity of modern titles. The 12 GB GDDR7 memory with 672.0 GB/s bandwidth provides ample headroom for this game at any resolution and setting combination.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p Ultra?

A: The system averages 129 FPS at 1080p Ultra. This is comfortably above 60 FPS and approaches the refresh rate of high-refresh monitorsholics. For even higher frame rates, dropping to High settings yields 145 FPS, and Medium settings produce 160 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that Medium settings provide the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 and maximum of 184, offering a 23.3% improvement over Ultra while maintaining visual quality that is difficult to distinguish in a turn-based tactics game. At 1440p Medium, the system achieves 137 FPS with a minimum of 117 and maximum of 158, which is 67.1% faster than 1440p Ultra (82 FPS) and still well above the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K Medium, the system produces 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 and maximum of 86, which is the only 4K configuration that maintains a minimum above 60 FPS. The High settings, while producing respectable averages (145 FPS at 1080p, 109 FPS at 1440p, 57 FPS at 4K), do not offer a meaningful advantage over Medium in terms of frame rate stability relative to their performance cost. Ultra settings, which deliver 129 FPS at 1080p, 82 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K, are only recommended for players who prioritize maximum visual quality over frame rate headroom. For most users, Medium settings at 1440p represent the sweet spot: the 137 FPS average and 117 FPS minimum provide smooth gameplay with a significant resolution upgrade over 1080p, while the 4K Medium configuration at 74 FPS serves as a viable alternative for those with 4K displays who can tolerate slightly lower frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 contributes six cores and six threads based on the Coffee Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz boosts to 4.10 GHz, with 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 64 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 per core. The processor supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth, and its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 6629 and single-core score of 935 place it at the 47th percentile among all CPUs. In Hard West, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p, where the frame rate differences between settings are compressed: 1080p Low (172 FPS) is only 33.3% faster than 1080p Ultra (129 FPS), compared to the 52.7% difference between 4K Low (91 FPS) and 4K Ultra (43 FPS). This compression indicates that at 1080p, the CPU's six threads become a limiting factor, as the GPU could theoretically render more frames if the processor could feed it faster. The i5-9400's nearest rivals in aggregate CPU benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (avgScore 2259, deltaPct -0.2%), the Intel Core i7-10710U (avgScore 2248, deltaPct 0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (avgScore 2246, deltaPct 0.4%), all of which perform within 0.5% of the i5-9400. This clustering suggests that the i5-9400 delivers performance consistent with its peer group, and the measured FPS in Hard West reflects this mid-range CPU capability. For a turn-based tactics title where frame rates above 60 FPS are generally sufficient, the i5-9400 does not present a significant bottleneck at 1440p or 4K, but at 1080p with lower settings, it prevents the RTX 5070 from fully demonstrating its capabilities.