Hard West

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for this combo at 1920x1080 with High settings?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti delivers an average of 97 FPS at 1920x1080 on High settings in Hard West.

Q: How does the RTX 3060 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in general GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti's average benchmark score of 25120 places it 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (25180) and 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600 (25235). The deltaPct values are all within a tight 0.7% band, indicating near-identical overall performance among these four GPUs.

Q: What is the CPU's ranking percentile among all processors?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F sits in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, indicating it outperforms the vast majority of processors in the benchmark database. Its average benchmark score is 54097, with the nearest rival being the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X at 54450 (a 0.6% difference).

Q: Does the game run better at 2560x1440 with Medium or at 3840x2160 with Low settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo produces 78.9 FPS, while at 3840x2160 with Low settings it produces 50.3 FPS. The 1440p Medium configuration offers a 28.6 FPS advantage over the 4K Low setup.

Q: What is the worst-performing settings configuration in the measured data?

A: The lowest average FPS recorded is 23.9 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that falls below 30 FPS, making it borderline unplayable for smooth gameplay.

Q: How much faster is the 1920x1080 Low preset compared to the 3840x2160 Ultra preset?

A: The 1920x1080 Low preset achieves 154.5 FPS, which is 130.6 FPS higher than the 23.9 FPS seen at 3840x2160 Ultra. This represents a performance multiplier of roughly 6.5x between the most and least demanding tested configurations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. The GPU contains 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, with 4864 shading units, 152 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. Clock speeds are set at 1410 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory operates across a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications place the RTX 3060 Ti in the 69th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25120.

In Hard West, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution scales upward. The data shows a clear pattern: at 1920x1080, the RTX 3060 Ti maintains high frame rates across all settings, but at 3840x2160, performance drops dramatically. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 26.4 FPS (50.3 vs 23.9), which indicates that the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are being stressed heavily at higher settings. The 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K Ultra preset appears to exceed what this GPU can handle smoothly.

The RTX 3060 Ti's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are all AMD products: the RX 6700M (25180, -0.2% delta), RX 6600 (25235, -0.5% delta), and Radeon 890M (25246, -0.5% delta). These tight margins suggest that in general compute tasks, the RTX 3060 Ti is essentially on par with these competitors. However, in Hard West specifically, the measured FPS data shows that the GPU's performance is adequate for most configurations, with the exception of the most demanding 4K Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal balance of visual quality and playability occurs at 2560x1440 with High settings, which produces 64.7 FPS. This configuration offers a solid frame rate while maintaining the High preset's visual fidelity. For users prioritizing higher refresh rates, the 1920x1080 Medium preset delivers 130.7 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth turn-based tactics gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the data suggests that Ultra settings (23.9 FPS) are not viable for consistent gameplay. The High preset at 4K (35.7 FPS) is marginally playable but still below the 60 FPS threshold that many users prefer. The Low preset at 4K (50.3 FPS) is the most playable 4K option, though it sacrifices visual quality. For the best experience per the measured rows, the 2560x1440 High configuration at 64.7 FPS provides the strongest combination of resolution, visual settings, and frame rate stability.

The 1920x1080 Ultra preset (72.4 FPS) is another viable option, offering the highest visual quality at 1080p while maintaining frame rates above 70 FPS. However, the incremental visual gains from High to Ultra at 1080p may not justify the 24.6 FPS drop (97 vs 72.4) when compared to the High preset at the same resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700F combined with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ranks 1267 out of 1699 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This ranking reflects the GPU's 69th percentile standing rather than the CPU's 94th percentile, suggesting that the RTX 3060 Ti is the limiting factor in this pairing for this particular game. The combo's rank of 1267 out of 1699 means that 432 other hardware combinations produced better performance in Hard West.

Despite the relatively modest combo ranking, the measured FPS data shows that this system is capable of excellent performance at 1080p and good performance at 1440p. The ranking likely reflects the presence of many higher-end GPUs in the database that can handle 4K Ultra settings more effectively. For turn-based tactics like Hard West, where the genre typically doesn't demand extreme frame rates, the actual gameplay experience at 1440p High should be quite satisfactory even if the raw combo rank appears low.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 14th-generation Raptor Lake processor with 20 cores and 28 threads, running at a 2.10 GHz base clock and 5.40 GHz boost clock. The CPU features an 80 KB L1 cache per core, 2 MB L2 cache per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus, and its 65 W TDP makes it a relatively power-efficient desktop processor. The CPU's benchmark scores include a Cinebench R23 multicore result of 35443 and a single-core result of 5003, along with a Geekbench multicore score of 16571.

In Hard West, which is a turn-based tactics game from 2015, the CPU's role is less demanding than in real-time genres. The 20 cores and 28 threads provide substantial headroom for AI calculations and game logic, but the game's age means it likely doesn't utilize all available cores effectively. The CPU's 94th percentile ranking indicates it's far more powerful than what this game requires. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, scores 54450 on average (0.6% higher), while the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 scores 53469 (1.2% lower), showing that the i7-14700F sits in a competitive performance band.

Given that Hard West's measured FPS scales primarily with GPU settings and resolution, the CPU's impact on the results is likely minimal. The single-core performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5003) is more relevant for this genre, as turn-based games often rely on single-threaded logic for game state updates. The high boost clock of 5.40 GHz should provide ample single-thread performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates strong performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves 154.5 FPS, followed by Medium at 130.7 FPS, High at 97 FPS, and Ultra at 72.4 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 53.2% reduction in frame rate, which is expected given the increasing GPU load.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops are more pronounced. Low produces 96.4 FPS, Medium 78.9 FPS, High 64.7 FPS, and Ultra 46.8 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p is the first configuration to dip below 50 FPS, while Low remains above 90 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 49.6 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low averages 50.3 FPS, Medium 45.2 FPS, High 35.7 FPS, and Ultra 23.9 FPS. Only the Low preset at 4K manages to stay above 50 FPS, while Ultra falls well below playable thresholds. The scaling between Low and Ultra at 4K is 26.4 FPS, which is the smallest absolute difference across all resolutions, indicating that the GPU is hitting performance limits even at Low settings.

The overall pattern shows diminishing returns as resolution increases. At 1080p, the RTX 3060 Ti has headroom to handle Ultra settings comfortably. At 1440p, High settings (64.7 FPS) represent the sweet spot. At 4K, only Low settings provide an acceptable frame rate, and even then, the 50.3 FPS result is modest by modern standards. The measured data consistently shows that the 2560x1440 High configuration at 64.7 FPS is the most balanced option, offering good visual quality without sacrificing smooth gameplay.