Hard West

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a robust experience in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title that scales gracefully across resolutions. The benchmark data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings, while the CPU’s high core count ensures that even the most demanding scenes remain fluid. This analysis parses the measured FPS across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, with settings ranging from Low to Ultra, to provide a clear picture of what this combination offers.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, with the GPU becoming the primary constraint at 4K. At 1920x1080, the average FPS at High settings is 152, which drops to 96 at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 36.8%. When moving to 3840x2160, the average further falls to 50 FPS, a 47.9% drop from 1440p. This steep decline indicates that the processing load is shifting heavily onto the graphics card, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

Looking at the Low settings across all resolutions, the scaling is less linear. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 242 FPS, which is the highest recorded value in the dataset. At 1440p Low, it drops to 153 FPS, a reduction of 36.8%, and at 4K Low, it reaches 80 FPS, showing a 47.7% drop from 1440p. The pattern suggests that while the CPU can handle the frame generation at lower resolutions, the GPU’s workload scaling with resolution is the dominant factor. The Medium preset, which includes min/max FPS data, highlights the stability at each resolution: at 1080p, the range is 168-228 FPS (average 198), at 1440p, it is 106-144 FPS (average 125), and at 4K, it is 56-76 FPS (average 66). These ranges indicate that frame times remain consistent, with no severe stuttering, which is typical for a turn-based game where the scene complexity is relatively static.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific CPU and GPU pairing ranks 1086 out of 3722 combos in Hard West. This places it in the 29.2nd percentile, meaning that it outperforms roughly 29% of all tested systems. The ranking is influenced by the CPU’s high single-thread performance and the GPU’s robust compute capability, but the title is not particularly demanding, so the combo does not break into the higher echelons. The i7-14700F’s average benchmark score is 53620, which places it in the 91st percentile among all CPUs, while the RX 9070’s average score is 23877, placing it in the 69th percentile among GPUs. However, the combo’s rank in game is lower than the CPU’s percentile, suggesting that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, or that the game’s engine does not fully utilize the CPU’s multi-threading capabilities.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. In Hard West, a game that is not heavily multi-threaded, the single-core performance is what matters most. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 single-core score is 4958, which is exceptionally high, ensuring that the game’s main logic thread runs efficiently. The multi-core score of 35122 is also strong, but the game does not likely utilize all 28 threads. The CPU’s PassMark single-thread score is 4257, and the multi-thread score is 41317, indicating balanced performance.

In terms of rival comparisons, the CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, which scores 53288 (0.6% higher), and the AMD EPYC 7313P at 53206 (0.8% higher). The Intel Xeon 6505P is 0.2% slower, and the Xeon Phi 7290 is 0.3% faster. These small deltas show that the i7-14700F is competitive in synthetic benchmarks. However, in Hard West, the CPU’s 20 cores and 28 threads might result in lower utilization, but the high boost clock ensures that the game’s physics and AI calculations are handled without bottlenecking the GPU. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (242 FPS) is likely CPU-bound, as the GPU can render frames quickly, but the CPU’s frame generation limit is not a concern given the turn-based nature.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the average FPS is 152 at High, 242 at Low, 198 at Medium, and 114 at Ultra. At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 96 at High, 153 at Low, 125 at Medium, and 72 at Ultra. At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 50 at High, 80 at Low, 66 at Medium, and 38 at Ultra.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data. At 1080p, the FPS ranges from 168 to 228, showing a 60 FPS spread, which indicates consistent performance. At 1440p, the range is 106 to 144, a spread of 38 FPS, and at 4K, it is 56 to 76, a spread of 20 FPS. The narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes the bottleneck, reducing the frame variation. The Ultra preset at 4K yields an average of 38 FPS, which is the lowest recorded value, and it is likely that the GPU is fully saturated. The data also shows that the jump from Medium to Ultra at 4K is a 42.4% decrease in FPS (from 66 to 38), which is a significant hit for visual improvements.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is a high-end GPU with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, a 256-bit memory bus, and a memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. It has a base clock of 1330 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with a game clock of 2070 MHz. The GPU’s shading units number 3584, with 224 TMUs and 128 ROPs, and it has 56 ray tracing cores. Its compute performance is 36.13 TFLOPS for FP32, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6.

In Hard West, the GPU’s 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for the game’s demands, even at 4K with Ultra settings. The game is not a graphics showcase, so the GPU is not fully stressed at 1080p, where the FPS reaches 242 at Low settings. At 4K, the 50 FPS at High settings shows that the GPU is handling the pixel load, but the drop to 38 FPS at Ultra indicates that the game’s Ultra preset includes effects that are costly. The GPU’s performance relative to rivals is interesting: it is 0.6% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z, 0.8% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 6800S, 1.1% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile, and 1.2% slower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER. These deltas are small, showing that the RX 9070 is in a performance tier where small variations in synthetic benchmarks do not translate into meaningful FPS differences in Hard West.

FAQ

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

A: The average FPS is 125, with a minimum of 106 and a maximum of 144.

Q: Which preset provides the highest FPS at 4K?

A: The Low preset provides the highest average FPS at 4K, achieving 80 FPS.

Q: How does the i7-14700F compare to its nearest rival in CPU performance?

A: The i7-14700F is 0.6% slower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, but 0.8% faster than the AMD EPYC 7313P, based on average benchmark scores.

Q: Is the RX 9070 faster than the RTX 2080 SUPER in this system?

A: No, the RX 9070 is 1.2% slower than the RTX 2080 SUPER in GPU benchmark averages, but the FPS difference in Hard West is not specified.

Q: What is the FPS range at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The FPS ranges from a minimum of 106 to a maximum of 144.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the FPS is 242, which is high, but the CPU’s single-core performance (Cinebench R23 score of 4958) suggests it can handle framerates beyond this, making the GPU the limiting factor.

Q: How many cores and threads does the i7-14700F have?

A: It has 20 cores and 28 threads.

Q: Which resolution shows the largest FPS drop from High to Ultra?

A: At 4K, the drop from High to Ultra is from 50 FPS to 38 FPS, a 24% decrease.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the Medium preset is the optimal choice across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers an average of 198 FPS, which is a perfect balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. The min/max range of 168-228 FPS ensures no noticeable stutter. At 1440p, Medium achieves 125 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS target for most displays, and the range of 106-144 FPS is solid. At 4K, Medium provides 66 FPS, which is playable, though the min/max of 56-76 FPS means there are occasional dips below 60. The Ultra preset at 4K delivers only 38 FPS, which is not recommended for a smooth experience. The High preset at 4K, at 50 FPS, is also below the 60 FPS threshold. The Low preset at 4K, at 80 FPS, is viable, but it sacrifices visual quality. Therefore, Medium is the sweet spot, providing the best experience per the data. For users with 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 114 FPS is also excellent, offering high quality without a significant FPS drop. At 1440p, Ultra at 72 FPS is also acceptable, but Medium offers a 53 FPS higher average. The choice of preset should be guided by the monitor’s refresh rate. For 60 Hz displays, Medium at 4K is ideal; for 144 Hz displays, Medium at 1440p is the highest setting that maintains the refresh rate, as 1080p Medium reaches 198 FPS, which is above 144 Hz. The data suggests that Medium is the most balanced preset, with the least FPS volatility and the best visual quality per frame.