Hard West

Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015, presents an interesting benchmark scenario for the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher fidelity presets, while the CPU's immense headroom becomes apparent only at lower resolutions and settings. The data indicates that this pairing is capable of delivering exceptionally high frame rates, far exceeding the demands of the genre, and the performance scaling provides clear insights into where the bottleneck lies for this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K demonstrates a classic GPU-bound curve, particularly at higher settings. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo produces an average of 152.4 FPS. Moving to 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 96.3 FPS, a significant 36.8% reduction. The jump to 4K Ultra further reduces performance to 52.8 FPS, which is a 45.2% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline as resolution increases points directly to the rendering workload becoming the primary limiting factor, with the RTX 4080 SUPER's capabilities being taxed more heavily at each step.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically when examining lower settings. At Low settings, the performance is far less constrained. The transition from 1080p (326.3 FPS) to 1440p (208 FPS) results in a 36.2% reduction, but the subsequent move to 4K (106.6 FPS) shows a larger 48.7% drop. The fact that even at 4K Low the frame rate exceeds 100 FPS suggests that the CPU is still providing ample data, but the GPU's fill rate and shading throughput are becoming the constraining factors. The i9-14900K, with its 24 cores and 32 threads, is clearly not the bottleneck in any scenario, as the performance scaling is consistent with what one would expect from a graphics card working harder.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens with resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (326.3 FPS) and Ultra (152.4 FPS) is a factor of 2.14x. At 4K, this gap narrows to 2.02x (106.6 FPS vs 52.8 FPS). This suggests that at higher resolutions, the pixel throughput demands are so high that the additional work required for Ultra settings (likely more complex shading and effects) has a proportionally larger impact, further cementing the GPU as the limiting component. The data shows that this combo is not CPU-limited in Hard West under any tested configuration, as the processor's high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Passmark single-thread score of 4697, is more than sufficient for the game's logic.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate this combo achieves in Hard West?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 326.3 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops to 52.8 FPS. This is the lowest score recorded in the benchmarks, indicating that even a high-end GPU like the RTX 4080 SUPER is pushed hard by this configuration.

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K a bottleneck for the RTX 4080 SUPER in this game?

A: No. The data shows that frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload. The CPU's robust performance, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872, ensures it is not a limiting factor.

Q: What is the performance difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average frame rate on Medium settings is 170.8 FPS, while High settings produce 128.5 FPS. This represents a 24.7% performance drop for the increased visual fidelity.

Q: How does the combo's rank in this game compare to its overall hardware percentile?

A: The combo ranks 62nd out of 1699 tested combinations. The CPU itself is in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. The lower game-specific rank suggests that other combinations with more specialized hardware may perform relatively better in this specific title.

Q: Does the game favor a particular resolution for high refresh rate monitors?

A: Yes. For 144Hz or higher displays, 1080p and 1440p are the viable options. At 1080p, even Ultra settings clear 152.4 FPS, while at 1440p, High settings are required to stay above 128.5 FPS. 4K is not suitable for high refresh rates, as even Low settings only manage 106.6 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this analysis. Its specifications, including 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus with a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s, provide ample resources for Hard West's graphics. The memory clocks run at 1438 MHz, with an effective data rate of 23 Gbps. The GPU's base clock is 2295 MHz, with a boost clock of 2550 MHz, and it is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using a 5 nm process from TSMC.

The GPU's role is clearly defined by the benchmark results. It is the primary arbiter of performance, with its capabilities directly determining the frame rates at each resolution and settings combination. The data shows that the GPU's compute resources, including 10240 shading units and 112 ROPs, are heavily utilized as the resolution increases. The transition from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings, for instance, shows a performance drop from 152.4 FPS to 52.8 FPS, a reduction of over 65%. This is a direct consequence of the GPU having to process four times as many pixels, a workload that scales with the core count and memory bandwidth.

The VRAM capacity of 16 GB is not a limiting factor in this game, given its 2015 release date and the relatively modest texture sizes of that era. The data does not show any anomalous performance drops that would indicate memory swapping or capacity issues. Instead, the performance is consistently tied to the rendering resolution and quality settings. The GPU's FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS is significant, but the game's turn-based nature and graphical complexity do not appear to push the card to its absolute limits at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the extremely high frame rates achieved at 1080p. The RTX 4080 SUPER's role is to provide raw throughput, and it does so effectively, though the results suggest it is slightly over-provisioned for a game of this age at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a clear picture of performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the results are consistently high. Low settings produce an average of 326.3 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire benchmark set. Medium settings follow at 264.9 FPS, with High settings at 205.7 FPS. Ultra settings at 1080p yield 152.4 FPS, which is still an excellent result for any display. The scaling from Low to Ultra at this resolution shows a 53.3% performance reduction, which is a significant cost for the maximum visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. Low settings average 208 FPS, which is a 36.2% drop from the 1080p Low score. Medium settings produce 170.8 FPS, while High settings are at 128.5 FPS. Ultra settings at 1440p bring the average down to 96.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens slightly at this resolution, with Ultra being 53.7% slower than Low. This indicates that the GPU is beginning to feel the pressure of the higher pixel count, but the results are still more than adequate for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the performance characteristics change. Low settings average 106.6 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration to break the 100 FPS barrier. Medium settings are at 90.7 FPS, and High settings at 69.5 FPS. Ultra settings at 4K produce an average of 52.8 FPS, which is the lowest score recorded. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 50.5% performance drop. The data indicates that for a consistent 60 FPS experience at 4K, High settings are the maximum, and for 120 FPS or higher, only 1080p or lower-level 1440p settings are viable.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination achieves a rank of 62 out of 1699 tested combos in Hard West. This places it in the top 3.6% of all tested configurations, which is a strong showing. The CPU's overall percentile is 97, indicating it outperforms 97% of all CPUs in general benchmarks. The GPU's percentile is 88, which is also high but slightly lower than the CPU's relative standing.

The game-specific rank of 62 is lower than what the hardware's individual percentiles might suggest. This implies that while the components are individually excellent, other combinations in the database are better optimized for Hard West. The nearest rivals to the CPU include the Intel Core i9-14900KF, which has a deltaPct of 0.7, meaning it is slightly behind the i9-14900K's average benchmark score of 79824. The AMD EPYC 7413 is 0.3% behind, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is 0.9% behind. These differences are minimal, indicating that the CPU's performance is on par with its closest competitors.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals show a similar pattern. The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is 0.2% ahead, while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 0.4% ahead. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is 2.9% behind the RTX 4080 SUPER's average benchmark score of 53610. The fact that the game-specific rank is 62 out of 1699, despite the high individual component percentiles, suggests that the overall combination is well-balanced but not uniquely suited to this title. The data indicates that this combo is a high-end pairing that will deliver excellent performance in Hard West, with the primary consideration being the resolution and settings target, rather than any CPU or GPU limitation.