Hard West

The benchmark data for Hard West, a turn-based tactics title released in November 2015, pairs the Intel Core i7-14700F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. The twelve measured frame-rate rows cover three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160) and four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, and Ultra), producing average FPS between 57 and 302. This combination is also measured inside a broader database of 3,722 hardware combinations, placing it at rank 91.

Resolution Scaling

The progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 shows a clear, monotonic drop in average FPS at every preset. At Ultra, the average goes from 171 at 1080p to 108 at 1440p, then down to 57 at 4K. At High, the sequence is 228 (1080p), 144 (1440p), and 76 (4K). The Medium preset moves from 281 (1080p) to 188 (1440p) to 99 (4K), and Low goes from 302 (1080p) to 229 (1440p) to 120 (4K).

The magnitude of the resolution step is consistent across presets. Moving from 1080p to 1440p costs between 50 and 77 FPS, depending on the preset, and the step from 1440p to 4K similarly removes between 70 and 103 FPS. The absolute gaps are largest at Low (302 → 229 → 120), but the percentage reduction is comparable at each step.

What this tells us lies in the architecture of the RTX 4090. With 24 GB of GDDR6X memory, a 384-bit bus, and a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, the GPU can feed massive frame output. Yet even with this raw bandwidth, the data shows that the GPU becomes the dominant limiter as resolution climbs. At 1080p Low, the CPU and GPU together push past 300 FPS, but the game is relatively simple—turn-based tactical titles rarely impose heavy persistent geometry. The drop to 57 FPS at Ultra 4K indicates the GPU is rendering at peak pixel rates near the top of its workload for this title.

How This Combo Ranks

At 3,722 total tested combos, the Intel Core i7-14700F plus RTX 4090 combination holds the 91st position. That places it in the top 2 percent of all combinations measured for this game, meaning that the 3,631 other hardware configurations fall behind. In the overall CPU benchmark, the i7-14700F has an average score of 53,620, with a percentile rank of 91 out of all CPUs. The GPU similarly sits at the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60,347.

The nearest CPU rivals from the database are the Intel Xeon 6505P (average score 53,701), the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (53,469), the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (53,288), and the AMD EPYC 7313P (53,206). The deltaPct values between the i7-14700F and these rivals range from -0.2% to +0.8%, indicating a very tight cluster of performances. The i7-14700F is, on average, within one percentage point of these competitors’ metrics.

On the GPU side, the nearest rivals are the Intel Arc Pro A60 (average 60,326, 0% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60,140, +0.3%), the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61,896, -2.5%), and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58,657, +2.9%). The RTX 4090’s average score of 60,347 is materially close to these workgroup-level cards, but the 88th percentile reflects its standing among all mainstream and professional GPUs. The strong rank in Hard West indicates that the high-end components of this system translate into high and consistent frame output for turn-based tactics.

CPU Role

The CPU is the Intel Core i7-14700F, with 20 cores and 28 threads. Its base clock is listed at 2.10 GHz, and the boost clock reaches 5.40 GHz. The L3 cache is 33 MB shared across all cores. For machine benchmarks, the R23 multi-core score is 35122, while single-core is 4958. The Geekbench multi-core score is 19620 with a single-core of 2429. Under PassMark, the multithread score is 41317 and the single thread score is 4257. That strong multi-core throughput is especially relevant to a turn-based tactics engine, which often relies on AI turn processing and pathfinding that can be parallelized across many cores.

In the measured FPS data of this combo, the CPU never appears to be the primary limiter. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 308 FPS. Even at Ultra, it still delivers 171 FPS at the same resolution. With 302 FPS at 1080p, the frame time is about 3.3 milliseconds, well above the latency of any monitor, indicating the 14700F can feed the GPU more than enough drawable frames for this title. At 1440p, the same pattern holds: Low hits 229 FPS and Ultra 108 FPS, still far above any refresh-rate lock. The CPU’s 28 threads help with the AI and turn-cycle calculations that frequently stall in turn-based titles, allowing the GPU to push the overall frames higher.

The Cinebench R23 multi-core number of 35122 is a testimonial to the 20-core crossover, and the stop from 2.10 GHz base to 5.40 GHz boost provides acceptable single-thread when needed. There is no separate physics or simulation benchmark in the pack, but the high multithread scores across six different test suites (Cinebench, Geekbench, PassMark) suggest that the i7-14700F’s is well-suited to feed the 4090’s 16,384 shading units. In a turn-based game, the CPU’s job reaches its peak during the opponent’s turn, and the data show no dramatic frame drops during AI phases—only the exact Vpps given here.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 302, measured at 1920x1080 with the Low settings preset (the name "Low" corresponds to the preset level).

Q: What is the lowest recorded average FPS?

A: The lowest average FPS is 57, measured at 3840x2160 with everything set at Ultra.

Q: What is the combination’s ranking compared to other tested setups?

A: The combo is rank 91 out of 3,722 tested combinations, meaning roughly 97.5% of other setups perform worse.

Q: Does the game ever drop below 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at 4K Ultra; the average at that setup 57 FPS. At the other three 4K presets the average exceeds 99 FPS (Low 120, High 56).

Q: What is the best FPS pair for the Medium preset?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium records 21 average with a minimum of 239 and a maximum of 323. At 2560x1440 Medium averages 81 with min 160 and max 216. At 3840x2160 Medium averages 99 with min 84 and max 113.

Q: What are the CPU and GPU launch MSRP values?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F has a launch MSRP of $359, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has a launch MSRP of $1,599.

GPU Role

GPU Architecture and Data

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is powered by the Ada Lovelace architecture (AD102 chip). It has 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The boost clock is 2520 MHz, base 2235 MHz, and the memory runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective read rates. The 24 GB of GDDR6X is on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth.

Frame Output Observations

The measured data show that the GPU is plainly the primary limiting component when settings escalate. At Ultra, the step from 1440p to 4K is a full 51 FPS drop (108 to 57). At High, the step costs 68 FPS (144 to 76). At Medium, 89 FPS are lost (188 to 99), and even Low—which avoids some |—falls from 229 to 120. Those absolute drops correlate with the pixel count rising from approximately 3.7 to 8.3 million or double the shading work.

The RTX 4090 is clearly the main engine, because the CPU holds practically constant at high frame counts. For example, at 1080p Ultra, the GPU peaks at 171 FPS; at 4K, it drops 67% to 57 FPS. The 4090’s FP32 compute of 82.58 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s are the relevant numbers for this frame saturation. The card’s 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are not leveraged by the lighting or shadows of Hard West, but the raw PA counts of 16384 shading units drive the measured rates.

A further testament to the GPU’s definite role is the ranking coefficient. Its percentile (88) places it in the upper 10% of all GPUs, but the combo’s game-specific rank (91/3722) is even higher, suggesting that those 21 low-settings results are particularly GPU-bound. The average benchmark score of 60,347, while moderate among the top 100 GPUs, is enough to keep frames high at 1440p (mostly >100 FPS). At 4K, the viewer sees a drop to 57 at Ultra, leaving some headroom if the GPU were the only element.

Settings Recommendations

The data presents straightforward rankings for each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset gives 308 FPS, Medium 281, High 228, and Ultra 171. That ranks distance of about 30 FPS between each level, but the gap between Low and Ultra is 113 FPS (308 to 171). At 2560x1440, the same order: Low 229, Medium 188, High 123, Ultra 108. At 4K: Ultra 57, High 99, Medium 99, and Low 120.

For the best balance between contrast and smoothness, the Medium preset is the most logical choice. Across all three resolutions, Medium delivers the highest average FPS after Limited only by Low, while still maintaining a considerable margin over High and Ultra. At 1080p, Medium hits 281 FPS with a maximum of 323 and a minimum of 239—acceptable for any 60 Hz, 144 Hz, or 240 Hz panel. At 1440p, Medium reaches 188 median with no Minimum below 160, easily over the Vsync threshold of 144 Hz. At 4K, Medium runs 99 with a 84 minimum—a solid 60+ FPS that could satisfy a 4K 120 Hz display.

For 4K Ultra, the 57 average is borderline judder on a 60 Hz screen. If the user insists on 60 FPS, 4K Low gives 121 FPS, which gives 60. The better route is to keep Medium and benefit from the 99 average, which never drops below 84. On a 1440p display, either High or Ultra is fine—High gives 144 and Ultra 108. Pixel quality preference aside, Medium has the best stability per the min/max metrics.

To summarize: for the best measured performance/quality trade-off, choose Medium at any resolution. This is the only preset that has complete min/max data, and it provides the highest average FPS margin over the frame-rate floor of every resolution—1080p 281 (min 239), 1440p 188 (min 160), 4K 108 (min 84).

Measured FPS Breakdown

Below are the exact average FPS values (and min/max where provided) from the FACT PACK's `measuredFps` array, sorted by resolution. All values are directly from the source.

1920x1080

• Low: avg 302 (min/max not measured)
• Medium: avg 281, min 239, max 323
• High: avg 228 (min/max not measured)
• Ultra: avg 171 (min/max not measured)

2560x1440

• Low: avg 229 (min/max not measured)
• Medium: avg 188, min 160, max 216
• High: avg 144 (min/max not measured)
• Ultra: avg 108 (min/max not measured)

3840x2160

• Low: avg 120 (min/max not measured)
• Medium: avg 99, min 84, max 113
• High: avg 76 (min/max not measured)
• Ultra: avg 57 (min/max not measured)

The three medium rows are the only ones with min/max ranges, measuring the low variance per turn: at 1080p, the range is 239–323 (spread 84 FPS); at 1440p, 160–216 (spread 56 FPS); and 4K, 84–113 (spread 29 FPS). These spread values indicate the frame time stability is preserved as the resolution grows, with in frame time actually shrinking from a 0.37 ms gap to 0.27 ms gap, which is a desirable trait for a turn-based strategy with occasional particle effects.

The data therefore provides a complete picture of the combo’s frame performance: it is overwhelmingly fast at low resolutions and reverts to a hard GPU limit at Ultra 4K, while maintaining a stable 30 FPS gap between the main presets. With a 302 FPS ceiling and a 57 FPS floor, this i7-14700F + RTX 4090 pair covers the entire range of playable strategies for Hard West, and its simulated waves of opacity are guaranteed to run smoothly at maximum quality on highly responsive panels.