Hard West

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers a performance profile in Hard West that is defined by extreme resolution sensitivity. At 1920x1080, the combination produces frame rates well beyond the refresh rate of most displays, but the data indicates a steep drop-off as resolution increases. The measured results show a clear progression: the average frame rate at 1080p High is 206 FPS, which falls to 131 FPS at 1440p High, and then to 69 FPS at 4K High. This scaling pattern suggests that while the CPU is more than capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, the rendering load at 4K begins to heavily tax the graphics card, shifting the bottleneck firmly onto the RTX 4080.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate deltas across resolutions provide a quantitative look at where the performance ceiling lies. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings results in a 75 FPS drop (from 206 to 131), a 36% reduction. The subsequent step from 1440p to 3840x2160 at High settings yields another 62 FPS drop (from 131 to 69), a 47% reduction. This accelerating decline is characteristic of a system where the GPU is increasingly the limiting component; the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the RTX 4080's compute resources are stretched accordingly.

The Low settings data reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the average frame rate is 317 FPS, which drops to 207 FPS at 1440p and 109 FPS at 4K. Even at the lowest graphical preset, the 4K resolution still cuts performance by roughly two-thirds compared to 1080p. This suggests that Hard West is not a particularly demanding title in terms of CPU logic, but the sheer fill-rate and shading requirements at 4K are significant enough to constrain even a high-end GPU like the RTX 4080.

The Medium settings row, which includes minimum and maximum frame rate data, offers additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the average is 269 FPS with a minimum of 228 FPS and a maximum of 309 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 170 FPS with a minimum of 144 FPS and a maximum of 195 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 103 FPS. The minimum frame rates at 4K Medium (76 FPS) are still above 60 FPS, indicating that the combination maintains playable performance even under load, but the gap between minimum and maximum widens at higher resolutions, suggesting less consistency.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K Ultra settings for this combination?

A: The measured average frame rate for 3840x2160 at Ultra settings is 51 FPS. This is the lowest average across all tested resolutions and settings for this combo.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, which is 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores 54209. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.6% higher.

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

A: The highest average frame rate is 317 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The second highest is 269 FPS at 1080p Medium.

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

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs. Its average benchmark score is 70163.

Q: Does the data include minimum frame rate information for all settings?

A: No. Minimum and maximum frame rates are only provided for the Medium settings at each resolution. For example, at 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 144 FPS and the maximum is 195 FPS.

*Q: How many total combinations does this combo rank against in Hard West?*

A: The combo ranks 191st out of 3722 tested combinations for this game. This places it in the top 6% of all tested combos.

How This Combo Ranks

In the specific context of Hard West, the combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 191 out of 3722 tested combinations. This places the pairing in the upper echelon of systems tested for this title. Given that Hard West is a turn-based tactics game from 2015, the high ranking is unsurprising; the hardware is far more powerful than what the game's engine likely requires for smooth operation. The rank indicates that the vast majority of tested combos (3531 of them) produce lower average frame rates across the measured settings.

The combo's percentile ranking for the CPU is 94, and the GPU's percentile ranking is 86. While the CPU is positioned slightly higher relative to its peers than the GPU, both components are well above average. In the game's specific benchmark, the combo's rank of 191 suggests that the limiting factor is not the CPU's processing power but rather the GPU's ability to render at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p, the system can push frame rates above 300 FPS on Low settings, which reflects the CPU's single-thread and multi-thread capabilities, but the GPU's performance ceiling becomes apparent as resolution increases.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete matrix of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 317 FPS, Medium produces 269 FPS (with a minimum of 228 and maximum of 309), High produces 206 FPS, and Ultra produces 155 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 51% reduction in frame rate (from 317 to 155), indicating that the graphical settings have a substantial impact on performance, but even at Ultra, the system remains well above the 144 Hz threshold.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops are more pronounced. Low settings yield 207 FPS, Medium yields 170 FPS (minimum 144, maximum 195), High yields 131 FPS, and Ultra yields 98 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at High settings represents a 36% performance loss, while at Ultra, the loss is 37% (from 155 to 98). The 1440p Ultra result of 98 FPS is still highly playable on standard 60 Hz or 144 Hz displays.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to show its limits. Low settings produce 109 FPS, Medium produces 89 FPS (minimum 76, maximum 103), High produces 69 FPS, and Ultra produces 51 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 51 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold that many users consider the baseline for smooth gameplay. The drop from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 48% (from 98 to 51), which is the largest single-resolution performance penalty observed in the data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the primary driver of the frame rate differences observed across resolutions. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The memory clock is specified as 1400 MHz, with an effective data rate of 22.4 Gbps. This memory subsystem is well-suited for high-resolution textures, which is a likely reason why the 4K results, while lower, still remain playable at Medium settings (89 FPS).

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial: it has 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units. The boost clock is rated at 2505 MHz, with a base clock of 2205 MHz. The chip, designated AD103, is built on a 5 nm process at TSMC and contains 45,900 million transistors on a die size of 379 mm². The FP32 performance is rated at 48.74 TFLOPS, which provides ample compute headroom for a game like Hard West, which relies more on scene complexity than physics simulation.

The RTX 4080's benchmark results place it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, is virtually identical with a delta of 0.1%, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.6% higher. This indicates that the GPU is performing as expected for its class. The measured FPS data suggests that at 1080p, the GPU is not the bottleneck, as frame rates exceed 200 FPS on High settings. However, at 4K, the GPU's rasterization throughput becomes the limiting factor, as evidenced by the 51 FPS average at Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target display resolution and refresh rate. For users with a 1080p display, the Ultra preset is recommended, as the average frame rate of 155 FPS is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate of common gaming monitors. Even the minimum frame rate at 1080p Medium (228 FPS) is exceptionally high, so there is no risk of dropping below 60 FPS at any setting.

For 1440p displays, the High preset offers an average of 131 FPS, which is suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Ultra preset at 1440p produces 98 FPS, which is still smooth but may be preferable for users with 100 Hz or 120 Hz displays. The Medium preset at 1440p, with a minimum of 144 FPS, is also a viable option for those who prioritize maximum frame rate consistency.

For 4K displays, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, as it provides an average of 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS. This ensures that frame rates remain above 60 FPS even in demanding scenes. The High preset at 4K (69 FPS) is acceptable for users with 60 Hz displays, but the minimum frame rate is not provided, so there is some uncertainty about potential dips. The Ultra preset at 4K (51 FPS) is below the 60 FPS threshold and is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF plays a critical role in ensuring that the GPU is not starved of data at lower resolutions. The CPU features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This high boost clock is particularly beneficial for gaming, as it ensures strong single-threaded performance, which is often the bottleneck in older games like Hard West that may not be well-optimized for multi-core processors.

The CPU's benchmark scores corroborate its strength. In Cinebench R23, it scores 44167 in multi-core and 6235 in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 21462 multi-core and 2578 single-core. The Passmark multithread score is 52425, and the single-thread score is 4480. These scores place the CPU in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70163. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, has a score of 69996, a delta of 0.2%, indicating that the i7-14700KF is marginally ahead.

The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. This large L3 cache is beneficial for game data that is frequently accessed. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel mode and has 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes. The measured FPS data indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor, as the 1080p Low setting achieves 317 FPS, which is exceptionally high. The drop to 4K Low (109 FPS) is primarily attributable to the GPU's rendering load, not CPU limitations, as the game's turn-based nature likely places minimal demands on CPU logic.