Hard West

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers a commanding performance profile in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet still capable of pushing extreme frame rates at 1080p that far exceed the refresh rates of most displays. This analysis breaks down how this combination scales across resolutions and settings, where it stands among 1,699 tested combos, and what the GPU's specifications mean for gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic resolution bottleneck shift. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 310.1 FPS, which is exceptionally high. Moving to 2560x1440 on Low drops this to 235.4 FPS, a reduction of 74.7 FPS. At 4K (3840x2160) on Low, the average falls further to 125.6 FPS. This scaling pattern—a 184.5 FPS difference between 1080p Low and 4K Low—indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU's workload becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The trend is consistent across all settings. At High settings, the combo produces 238.3 FPS at 1080p, 148.8 FPS at 1440p, and 80.5 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 89.5 FPS, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 68.3 FPS. This suggests that the scaling is not linear; the GPU's rendering load increases disproportionately at 4K, which is expected given the 512-bit memory bus and 32 GB of GDDR7 memory are being taxed by the higher pixel throughput. The data confirms that at 4K, the RTX 5090 is the primary constraint, while at 1080p, the i7-13700K's 16 cores and 24 threads are sufficient to keep the pipeline saturated.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling impact. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 178.9 FPS. This drops to 113 FPS at 1440p and 59.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is notable because it is the only configuration in the data set that falls below 60 FPS, indicating that the combination of maximum graphical fidelity and 4K resolution pushes the GPU to its limits. The delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is 65.8 FPS, highlighting how much headroom the settings menu can consume.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 8th out of 1,699 combos for Hard West. This top-tier placement is unsurprising given the hardware involved. The CPU itself sits in the 93rd percentile against all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 47,282. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, scores 47,334, a negligible delta of -0.1%, meaning the two are effectively identical in synthetic performance.

The GPU is similarly positioned, holding the 94th percentile against all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 84,306. Its nearest competitor, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, scores 84,241, a 0.1% delta. The data shows that this combo is near the apex of the current hardware landscape, and its 8th place ranking reflects that. The top 7 combos ahead of it are likely built on even more specialized or newer components, but the margin is small in practical gaming terms, especially given the high frame rates already achieved.

The ranking also benefits from the game's age. Hard West was released in 2015, and its engine is not as demanding as modern titles. This means the i7-13700K's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2,850, is more than adequate. The combo's rank reflects the GPU's brute force rather than any specific CPU optimization, as the turn-based gameplay rarely stresses all 24 threads.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing. Its specifications are staggering: 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. Base clock is 2017 MHz, with a boost clock of 2407 MHz. The memory clock is listed at 1750 MHz, with 28 Gbps effective speed. These figures explain why the GPU can handle 4K Ultra with an average of 59.8 FPS—the sheer memory bandwidth and 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power are dedicated to rasterization.

The GPU's role becomes clearer when examining the FPS deltas between settings. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Ultra costs 131.2 FPS (310.1 to 178.9). At 4K, the same settings jump costs 65.8 FPS (125.6 to 59.8). This shows that at lower resolutions, the GPU has idle capacity that can be consumed by higher settings without a proportional frame rate penalty. At 4K, the GPU is already near its saturation point, so the additional workload from Ultra settings has a more pronounced impact on the final frame rate.

The 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores are present but largely irrelevant for a turn-based tactics game without ray tracing. The data shows no ray-traced metrics, so the GPU's performance is driven by its traditional rasterization units: 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are the specs that matter here, and they are clearly sufficient to produce the measured results. The GPU's 94th percentile ranking against all GPUs reinforces that it is a top-tier part, but the game's age means even a mid-range card would produce playable results; the RTX 5090 simply removes all performance ceilings.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 148.8 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings.

Q: Does this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: No. The average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 59.8, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU's synthetic score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The i7-13700K scores 47,282 on average, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i7-13700KF's score of 47,334.

Q: What is the highest recorded average FPS in the data?

A: The highest is 310.1 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary limiter even at 1080p, as the frame rate drops by 131.2 FPS when moving from Low to Ultra settings, indicating the GPU is handling the increased load.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 5090 has a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s, supported by 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table presents the exact measured average FPS for each resolution and settings combination. All values are taken directly from the benchmark data.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

|---|---|---|

| 3840x2160 | High | 80.5 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 125.6 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 101.4 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 59.8 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 148.8 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 235.4 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 197.6 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 113.0 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 238.3 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 310.1 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 284.2 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 178.9 |

The data shows a consistent hierarchy: Low settings always yield the highest FPS, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the most demanding. At 1080p, the spread between Low and Ultra is 131.2 FPS, while at 4K it narrows to 65.8 FPS. The Medium setting at 1440p (197.6 FPS) is closer to the Low setting at 4K (125.6 FPS) than to the High setting at 1080p (238.3 FPS), demonstrating the resolution's heavy toll. The Ultra setting at 4K is the only configuration that dips below 60 FPS, and it does so by a margin of just 0.2 FPS, making it a borderline case for players seeking a locked 60 FPS experience. The benchmark results indicate that for most scenarios, this combo provides an exceptionally smooth experience, with the i7-13700K providing ample CPU headroom and the RTX 5090 delivering the graphical muscle.