Hard West

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 compare to its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F?

A: The two processors are effectively tied in aggregate benchmark performance. The Core Ultra 5 225 and the Ryzen 5 5600F both post an average score near 36,938, with a delta of 0%. The Intel chip sits at the 85th percentile among all tested CPUs.

Q: What is the performance gap between the RTX 5060 and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT?

A: The RTX 5060 leads by 1.2% in average benchmark score (26,331 vs. 26,011). The NVIDIA card ranks at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, placing it in the upper-midrange tier.

Q: Which settings preset delivers the best balance of frame rate and visual quality at 1080p?

A: The High preset at 1080p delivers 125 FPS average, which is 33 FPS higher than Ultra (93 FPS) while still offering substantial visual fidelity. Medium runs at 162 FPS but High provides a better quality-to-performance tradeoff for this turn-based title.

Q: How much performance drops when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average frame rate falls from 125 FPS at 1920x1080 to 79 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 41 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Hard West at maximum settings?

A: The data shows Ultra settings at 4K produce only 31 FPS average, indicating the GPU is heavily taxed. The 8 GB GDDR7 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the game's requirements, but frame rates at 4K Ultra fall below playable thresholds.

Q: Where does this CPU-GPU combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the RTX 5060 ranks 1,288th out of 2,949 tested combos in Hard West. This places it in the 44th percentile of all configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals a clear hierarchy across the four presets tested. At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces 198 FPS average, Medium reaches 162 FPS, High drops to 125 FPS, and Ultra falls to 93 FPS. The step from High to Ultra costs 32 FPS (a 26% reduction), which is substantial for a turn-based tactics game where frame rates above 60 are already smooth.

For the best experience, the High preset at 1080p is the recommended target. It delivers 125 FPS average, which is more than double the 60 FPS threshold typically considered smooth. The visual upgrade from Medium to High is worth the 37 FPS sacrifice, while Ultra's additional graphical effects do not justify the further 32 FPS drop. Given the genre's slower pacing, frame rates above 100 FPS offer diminishing returns; High provides the best balance of image quality and headroom.

At 2560x1440, the same logic applies. High runs at 79 FPS average, which remains comfortably smooth. Medium runs at 103 FPS, but High's improved fidelity is preferable. Ultra drops to 59 FPS, which is borderline for a game that benefits from stable frame pacing. Users with 1440p displays should stick with High to maintain a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. High produces only 41 FPS average, Medium runs at 54 FPS, and Ultra falls to 31 FPS. For 4K displays, Medium at 54 FPS is the only preset that approaches playable territory, though even this falls short of 60 FPS. Users prioritizing smoothness at 4K should consider reducing resolution or accepting Medium settings. The Low preset at 66 FPS is the only 4K option that clears 60 FPS, but it sacrifices substantial visual quality.

The data suggests that High at 1080p or 1440p offers the most balanced experience, with frame rates well above playable thresholds and good visual fidelity. For 4K, Medium is the practical ceiling, with the understanding that frame rates will hover in the 50s.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression across resolutions reveals a GPU-bound workload at higher settings. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 125 at 1080p to 79 at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 41 at 4K (a 48% further reduction). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a graphics-card-limited scenario, where pixel count directly dictates performance.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more dramatic: 198 FPS at 1080p falls to 125 FPS at 1440p (37% drop) and then to 66 FPS at 4K (47% drop). The fact that even Low settings cannot maintain high frame rates at 4K indicates that the RTX 5060's raw rasterization throughput is the primary constraint. The GPU's 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 119.9 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for 4K at high refresh rates in this title.

The Medium preset shows a slightly different pattern. At 1080p, it runs at 162 FPS; at 1440p, it drops to 103 FPS (36% reduction); at 4K, it falls to 54 FPS (48% reduction). The consistent ~37% drop from 1080p to 1440p across all presets suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at these settings. If the Core Ultra 5 225 were limiting performance, we would expect to see a smaller delta between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings, where the GPU has less work to do.

The 4K Ultra result of 31 FPS confirms that the RTX 5060 is overwhelmed at the highest resolution and quality settings. The combination of 48 ROPs and 120 TMUs, while adequate for 1080p and 1440p, cannot sustain playable frame rates at 4K with Ultra effects enabled. The data points strongly to the GPU as the limiting component across all resolutions, with the CPU's 10 cores and 20 MB of L3 cache providing ample headroom for this turn-based title.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination ranks 1,288th out of 2,949 tested combos in Hard West. This places the configuration in the 44th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly 56% of combinations deliver higher frame rates in this game.

This ranking is somewhat lower than the individual component percentiles might suggest. The CPU sits at the 85th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 72nd percentile. The combined system's 44th percentile performance indicates that Hard West is particularly demanding on the GPU, and the RTX 5060's midrange positioning drags the overall ranking down relative to the CPU's strength.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (0% delta) and the Ryzen 5 5500X3D (-0.2% delta), all of which would likely produce similar in-game results given the GPU-bound nature of this title. The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (1.2% slower) and the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (0.8% faster), indicating that the RTX 5060 sits in a competitive midrange tier.

For a turn-based tactics game released in 2015, the ranking reflects the game's relatively low thread utilization and modest CPU requirements. The Core Ultra 5 225's strong single-thread performance (3,655 in Cinebench R23 single-core) is more than sufficient, but the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become limiting factors at higher resolutions. The combo's mid-pack ranking is reasonable for a midrange GPU paired with an upper-midrange CPU in a game that favors graphics throughput over processing power.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 brings 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is adequate for Hard West's requirements, as evidenced by playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p across all settings. However, the 4K results suggest that the memory subsystem, while sufficient, is not the primary bottleneck.

The GPU's clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 2280 MHz and a boost clock of 2497 MHz. These relatively high frequencies help the Blackwell 2.0 architecture achieve its 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The 3840 shading units and 120 tensor cores provide ample compute for the game's DirectX 12 rendering path, which is supported via DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).

The measured frame rates reveal that the GPU's 48 ROPs are a limiting factor at 4K. The pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s translates to a theoretical maximum of roughly 119 frames per second at 1080p (2.07 million pixels), but at 4K (8.29 million pixels), that theoretical ceiling drops to about 30 FPS. This aligns with the observed 31 FPS at 4K Ultra settings, confirming that pixel throughput is the binding constraint.

The texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s is less of a concern, as Hard West's turn-based visuals do not demand extreme texture fill rates. The 120 TMUs are sufficient for the game's geometry and texture workloads at all tested resolutions. The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs reflects its position as a capable midrange part that excels at 1080p and handles 1440p well, but struggles at 4K with high-quality settings.

The RTX 5060's 145 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest efficient power delivery, though power consumption is not directly measured in the frame rate data. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is not exceeded in this game at any tested setting, as evidenced by the absence of stuttering or extreme frame drops that would indicate memory swapping.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5060 delivers its strongest results. The Low preset achieves 198 FPS average, providing an exceptionally smooth experience for players prioritizing frame rate. Medium runs at 162 FPS with a minimum of 138 FPS and maximum of 187 FPS, showing solid frame consistency. High drops to 125 FPS, while Ultra falls to 93 FPS. All four presets at 1080p exceed the 60 FPS threshold, making this resolution the most versatile for the combo.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but begins to show the GPU's limits. Low runs at 125 FPS, Medium at 103 FPS (minimum 87 FPS, maximum 118 FPS), High at 79 FPS, and Ultra at 59 FPS. The Ultra preset barely misses the 60 FPS mark, suggesting that 1440p users should avoid maximum settings if they want a consistent 60+ FPS experience. High at 79 FPS offers the best quality-to-speed ratio at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5060 struggles to maintain playable frame rates at higher settings. Low runs at 66 FPS, which is the only 4K preset that clears 60 FPS. Medium drops to 54 FPS (minimum 46 FPS, maximum 62 FPS), showing noticeable variance that could cause perceptible stuttering. High falls to 41 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 31 FPS. These results clearly indicate that 4K gaming with this GPU requires significant settings compromises.

The frame time consistency, where measured, shows tighter variance at Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the range spans 49 FPS (138 to 187); at 1440p Medium, it spans 31 FPS (87 to 118); at 4K Medium, it spans 16 FPS (46 to 62). This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently saturated as pixel count increases, reducing the variability caused by scene complexity changes.