Hard West

# Hard West with Intel Core i7-12700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER

This combination delivers a decisive performance profile in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015, with the RTX 4070 SUPER clearly acting as the primary constraint across all tested resolutions. The measured frame rates show a system that is never truly challenged at 1080p, remains highly playable at 1440p, and only begins to show meaningful strain at 4K Ultra, where the average dips to 45.2 FPS. The Intel Core i7-12700KF, with its 12 cores and 20 threads, provides ample headroom throughout, as evidenced by the massive FPS jumps when lowering graphical settings at every resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K follows a steep curve that reveals where the bottleneck sits. At High settings, the system delivers 178.3 FPS at 1920x1080, 115.3 FPS at 2560x1440, and 57.6 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 35.3% reduction moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 50.0% drop moving from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets, indicating the GPU is the limiting component.

At Low settings, the frame rates are extraordinarily high: 280.9 FPS at 1080p, 180.1 FPS at 1440p, and 97.9 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result still exceeds the 1080p Ultra result of 135.2 FPS, which underscores how much headroom the CPU provides. When the GPU is unburdened by low graphical demands, the i7-12700KF can push frame rates to levels far beyond what any display can refresh.

The resolution scaling data suggests that Hard West is not a demanding title by modern standards. The RTX 4070 SUPER at 4K High produces 57.6 FPS, which is playable, but the 1080p Ultra result of 135.2 FPS shows the GPU is only moderately stressed at lower resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 45.2 FPS is the only sub-60 FPS figure in the entire dataset, making it the sole configuration where this combo fails to maintain smooth gameplay.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hard West?

A: The data shows 2560x1440 as the sweet spot, with High settings delivering 115.3 FPS and Ultra still hitting 87.6 FPS. Both are well above the 60 FPS threshold, and the visual quality gain over 1080p is substantial.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Hard West?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High, the average is 57.6 FPS, which is borderline playable. Dropping to Medium yields 79.6 FPS, while Low produces 97.9 FPS. Ultra at 4K falls to 45.2 FPS, which is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER scores 42576 on average in benchmarks, placing it 0.2% behind the NVIDIA RTX A6000 and 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE. It leads the AMD Radeon Pro 580X by 1.4% and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 by 1.6%.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-12700KF a bottleneck for this game?

A: No. The CPU sits in the 89th percentile of all processors, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14400, scores nearly identically with a 0.1% delta. The massive FPS gains when dropping from Ultra to Low settings at 1080p (135.2 to 280.9 FPS) confirm the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: What settings preset provides the most balanced experience at 1440p?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 deliver 147.6 FPS, which is more than double the refresh rate of most monitors. High settings at 115.3 FPS also provide excellent smoothness, making either preset viable depending on visual preferences.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Hard West?

A: It ranks 251st out of 1699 tested combos, placing it in the top 14.8% of all system configurations for this game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data clearly indicates that Ultra settings are not worth the performance cost at any resolution. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 135.2 FPS compared to High's 178.3 FPS, a 31.9% reduction for what is likely a minor visual improvement in a turn-based tactics game. The gap widens at higher resolutions: at 1440p, Ultra drops to 87.6 FPS versus High's 115.3 FPS, and at 4K, Ultra falls to 45.2 FPS versus High's 57.6 FPS.

High settings represent the optimal balance across all resolutions. At 1080p, 178.3 FPS is excessive for most displays, but it provides massive headroom for frame time consistency. At 1440p, 115.3 FPS is ideal for high-refresh monitors. At 4K, 57.6 FPS is just below the 60 FPS mark but remains playable for a turn-based title where reaction time is not critical.

Medium settings serve as a practical alternative for 4K users, delivering 79.6 FPS at 3840x2160. This is a 38.2% improvement over High at 4K and brings the experience comfortably above 60 FPS. Low settings are unnecessary on this hardware except for extreme refresh rate chasing, where 280.9 FPS at 1080p could theoretically support a 240Hz or higher display.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 251st out of 1699 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the top 14.8% of all configurations. This is a strong result for a game from 2015, indicating that the hardware is well-matched to the title's demands. The rank reflects the GPU's 84th percentile standing among all graphics cards, while the CPU sits in the 89th percentile among processors.

The ranking suggests that most of the 1698 other tested combos either use more powerful hardware or are configured differently. The 251st position implies there are 250 configurations that achieve higher frame rates in this game, likely including systems with higher-end GPUs such as the RTX 4080 or RTX 4090, or possibly multi-GPU setups. However, for a turn-based tactics game, the practical difference between 251st and, say, 100th place is minimal, as even the 4K Ultra result of 45.2 FPS is playable in this genre.

The data shows that this combo performs admirably relative to its synthetic benchmark scores. The RTX 4070 SUPER's average benchmark score of 42576 places it just behind the NVIDIA RTX A6000 and AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE, yet in Hard West, the real-world results are strong enough to rank in the top 15% of all systems tested.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary determinant of frame rates in Hard West, as evidenced by the consistent FPS scaling across resolution changes. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for Hard West, a game from 2015 that does not require large texture pools or high-resolution assets.

The GPU's clock speeds are substantial: 1980 MHz base and 2475 MHz boost. These clocks, combined with 7168 shading units and 224 texture mapping units, allow the card to achieve a pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 554.4 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 35.48 TFLOPS is more than adequate for this title's graphical demands.

The RTX 4070 SUPER's benchmark results show it sits in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 42576. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A6000, scores 42653 — a difference of only 0.2%. This tight grouping indicates that the 4070 SUPER is well-positioned among professional and enthusiast cards. In Hard West specifically, the GPU's 12 GB VRAM is never a limiting factor, as even the highest settings at 4K produce playable frame rates. The 4K Ultra result of 45.2 FPS is the only figure below 60 FPS, suggesting the GPU's raw compute is the constraint rather than memory capacity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates. Low settings yield 280.9 FPS average, Medium delivers 236.1 FPS, High achieves 178.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 135.2 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 145.7 FPS, indicating that graphical settings have a massive impact at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the results remain strong but show the expected scaling. Low settings produce 180.1 FPS, Medium hits 147.6 FPS, High reaches 115.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 87.6 FPS. The percentage drops from 1080p to 1440p range from 35.9% (Low) to 39.1% (High), showing consistent GPU scaling.

At 3840x2160, the system's limits become apparent. Low settings still manage 97.9 FPS, Medium delivers 79.6 FPS, High produces 57.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 45.2 FPS. The 4K results demonstrate that the RTX 4070 SUPER is capable of 4K gaming in this title, but users must compromise on settings to maintain smooth frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF provides the computational foundation for this system, featuring 12 cores and 20 threads based on the Alder Lake architecture. With a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, the CPU delivers strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. The 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core ensure ample data storage for game logic and AI calculations.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i7-12700KF scores 28979 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4091 in single-core, demonstrating a balanced performance profile. The PassMark multi-thread score of 34092 and single-thread score of 3984 further confirm this. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors places it in the upper tier, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i5-14400 (0.1% faster) and Intel Core i7-13800H (0.2% slower).

In Hard West, a turn-based tactics game, the CPU handles game logic, unit AI, and pathfinding calculations. The measured FPS data shows that the CPU is never the bottleneck: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 280.9 FPS, which is far beyond what the GPU can maintain at higher settings. The 12 cores and 20 threads are likely underutilized in this title, as turn-based games typically rely more heavily on single-threaded performance for game logic.

The CPU's memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 provides flexibility, though the dual-channel memory bus and PCIe Gen 4 connectivity with 20 lanes ensure the GPU has sufficient bandwidth. The 125W TDP indicates a power-hungry chip, but the unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking headroom if users desire additional performance, though the data suggests this is unnecessary for Hard West.