Hard West

Settings Recommendations

The measured results show a clear hierarchy across the four settings presets in Hard West. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 103 FPS, which is 28.1 FPS below Medium's 131.1 but still comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset drops to 74.2 FPS at this resolution, a substantial 28.8 FPS penalty over High. For the best balance of visual fidelity and smooth gameplay, the High preset at 1080p is the recommended choice, as it maintains a high frame rate while avoiding the diminishing returns of Ultra.

Stepping up to 2560x1440, the High preset produces 61.9 FPS, which is just barely above the 60 FPS mark. Medium achieves 83.7 FPS here, providing more headroom for demanding scenes. The Low preset reaches 98.7 FPS at 1440p, showing that this combination has significant performance reserves when settings are lowered. For 1440p users, Medium is the optimal preset, offering a 21.8 FPS advantage over High while still maintaining solid visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. High manages only 34.1 FPS, making it unplayable for smooth gameplay. Medium drops to 45.3 FPS, still below the 60 FPS target. Even Low only reaches 55.5 FPS at 4K, which is borderline. The data indicates that 4K gaming with this combo requires accepting either Low settings or a frame rate below 60 FPS. Given that Low at 4K provides 55.5 FPS, this is the only viable preset for 4K, though players may prefer dropping to 1440p for a better experience.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 7600 ranks 1146 out of 1699 tested combos in Hard West. This places it in the lower-middle tier of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 67% of other combos outperform it in this game. The ranking reflects that while the CPU is exceptionally strong, the GPU is the limiting factor for this title's demands.

The CPU alone sits in the 93rd percentile versus all CPUs, indicating it is a top-tier processor. The GPU, however, ranks in the 63rd percentile versus all GPUs, which is notably lower. This disparity explains why the combo ranks where it does — the CPU's strength cannot fully compensate for the GPU's mid-range positioning in Hard West's rendering workload.

When examining the GPU's nearest rivals, the RX 7600 scores within 0.6% of the RX 7600 XT and 0.8% of the RX 460, while trailing the RTX 3070 Mobile by 1.3% and the Arc B570 by 1.5%. These narrow margins indicate that the RX 7600 is positioned in a tightly contested performance band, and its ranking in this game reflects that competitive but not dominant standing.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock reaches 2655 MHz, with a game clock of 2250 MHz and a base clock of 1720 MHz. The GPU contains 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, with 32 ray tracing cores. Its FP32 performance is rated at 21.75 TFLOPS.

In Hard West, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's demands across all tested resolutions and settings. The benchmark data shows no signs of VRAM-related stuttering or performance collapse at 4K Ultra, which would typically manifest as dramatic frame time spikes. The 45.3 FPS at 4K Medium and 34.1 FPS at 4K High indicate a progressive scaling that aligns with traditional GPU compute limits rather than memory capacity issues.

The RX 7600's nearest rival data shows it performs nearly identically to the RX 7600 XT (0.6% difference) and RX 460 (0.8% difference), which is surprising given the architectural differences. The GPU's overall benchmark average of 20258 places it in the 63rd percentile, confirming its mid-range classification. In Hard West specifically, the GPU's 128-bit memory bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth appear adequate, as frame rates scale predictably with resolution changes.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo achieve 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, at Medium settings the combo delivers 83.7 FPS at 2560x1440, and at High settings it reaches 61.9 FPS. Both exceed the 60 FPS threshold, though High has less headroom.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160, only Low settings reach near-playable frame rates at 55.5 FPS. Medium produces 45.3 FPS, High drops to 34.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 25.7 FPS. For 4K, Low is the only reasonable preset.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1080p?

A: Ultra at 1920x1080 delivers 74.2 FPS, which is 28.8 FPS lower than High's 103 FPS. The performance cost of Ultra is substantial, making High the better choice for maintaining higher frame rates.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: Low achieves 98.7 FPS at 2560x1440, while Ultra drops to 48.5 FPS. This represents a 50.2 FPS difference, showing that the Ultra preset nearly halves performance compared to Low.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: The CPU ranks in the 93rd percentile versus all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 63rd percentile. The data suggests the GPU is the limiting component, as frame rates scale significantly with resolution changes, indicating GPU-bound performance.

Q: How does this combo perform at 1080p Medium?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the combo delivers 131.1 FPS, which is the second-highest result among all tested configurations. Only Low at 158.4 FPS is faster.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a predominantly GPU-bound workload. At High settings, performance drops from 103 FPS at 1920x1080 to 61.9 FPS at 2560x1440, a 40% reduction, then further to 34.1 FPS at 3840x2160, an additional 45% drop. This consistent decline with increasing pixel count indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

The Low preset shows similar scaling: 158.4 FPS at 1080p, 98.7 FPS at 1440p, and 55.5 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 38% and 44% respectively, closely mirroring the High preset's scaling pattern. This uniformity across settings confirms that resolution scaling is the dominant factor, and the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are being taxed progressively.

The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest decline: 74.2 FPS at 1080p, 48.5 FPS at 1440p, and 25.7 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is only 34.6% of the 1080p Ultra performance. This disproportionate drop at the highest settings suggests that the Ultra preset introduces rendering features that disproportionately impact the GPU at higher resolutions, likely related to the 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with 30 MB of shared L3 cache. Its multi-threaded performance is exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39000 and a single-core score of 5505.

In Hard West, a turn-based tactics game, the CPU's workload is primarily focused on game logic, AI pathfinding, and unit calculations rather than continuous physics simulation. The 13700K's single-thread performance, evidenced by a PassMark single-thread score of 4333 and Geekbench single-core score of 2850, is more than sufficient for this genre. The game does not appear to stress the CPU heavily, as evidenced by the smooth scaling of frame rates with GPU resolution changes.

The CPU's nearest rival data shows it performs within 0.5% of the Core i7-13700KF, AMD EPYC 4364P, Core i9-12900F, and Ryzen 9 PRO 5945. This indicates the 13700K is positioned at the top of its performance class. With a 93rd percentile ranking versus all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 47282, the 13700K provides ample headroom for Hard West's computational demands, ensuring the GPU remains the sole limiting factor in this configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear progression: Low settings produce 158.4 FPS, Medium reaches 131.1 FPS, High delivers 103 FPS, and Ultra drops to 74.2 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 84.2 FPS, representing a 53% reduction in performance from the lowest to highest settings.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds with reduced absolute numbers. Low achieves 98.7 FPS, Medium hits 83.7 FPS, High manages 61.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 48.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 50.2 FPS, a 51% reduction, which is consistent with the 1080p scaling.

At 3840x2160, performance drops significantly across all settings. Low produces 55.5 FPS, Medium reaches 45.3 FPS, High delivers 34.1 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 25.7 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 29.8 FPS, a 54% reduction, maintaining the same relative scaling pattern seen at lower resolutions.

The data shows that resolution has a more significant impact than settings changes. Moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings reduces frame rates from 103 to 34.1 FPS, a 67% drop. In comparison, moving from High to Ultra at 1080p only reduces frame rates by 28.8 FPS, a 28% drop. This indicates that players seeking higher frame rates should prioritize resolution reduction over settings reduction.