Hard West

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Hard West. The data shows a clear narrative: this combo is a 1080p champion that struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K, especially on higher presets. The CPU’s strong single-thread performance is not the limiting factor here; rather, the GPU’s 6 GB VRAM and Turing-era architecture become the primary bottlenecks as pixel count rises.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the combo is overwhelmingly capable, with the Low preset hitting 143 FPS and High reaching 90 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, those numbers drop by roughly 37% on Low (90 FPS) and 37% on High (57 FPS). The scaling to 3840x2160 is brutal: High falls to 30 FPS, a 67% reduction from 1080p, and Low plummets to 47 FPS, a 67% drop as well.

This pattern indicates that the RTX 2060 is the dominant limiting component. The CPU’s benchmark percentile (89th vs all CPUs) and its PassMark single-thread score of 4516 suggest it has ample headroom for a turn-based tactics title. The game’s genre, which typically relies on CPU logic for unit AI, does not show a CPU-bound signature here. Instead, the 4K results — particularly the Ultra preset’s 22 FPS — point squarely at GPU fill-rate and memory bandwidth constraints. The RTX 2060’s 336.0 GB/s bandwidth and 192-bit bus are insufficient for 8.3 million pixels per frame, especially when texture detail rises.

The 1440p results offer a middle ground: 57 FPS on High and 74 FPS on Medium are respectable, but the 43 FPS on Ultra shows the GPU is already nearing its limit. The 1080p results, by contrast, show the combo operating in its comfort zone. The 67 FPS on Ultra at 1080p is the highest preset tested at that resolution, and it remains above the 60 FPS threshold. The scaling from 1080p High (90 FPS) to 1440p High (57 FPS) is a 37% drop, while 1440p High to 4K High is a 47% drop. This non-linear degradation confirms that memory bandwidth and pixel throughput become progressively more critical as resolution climbs.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060’s specifications directly explain the measured results. With 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, the card offers 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock of 1365 MHz and boost clock of 1680 MHz are modest by modern standards, and the 1920 shading units must handle the load. The GPU’s 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290, places it as a mid-range part. Its nearest rivals — the GTX 580, Radeon 680M, RTX 3050 OEM, and RX 7600 — all score within 0.8% of the RTX 2060, indicating that this card is firmly in the entry-to-mid tier for modern gaming.

For Hard West, a turn-based tactics game with static scenes and unit sprites, the GPU’s role is primarily about resolving high-resolution textures and maintaining consistent frame pacing. The VRAM capacity of 6 GB is the likely culprit for the 4K Ultra result of 22 FPS. At 3840x2160, texture sets for detailed environments likely exceed the 6 GB allocation, forcing memory swapping. The 4K Medium result of 39 FPS (with a min FPS of 33) shows that reducing texture quality mitigates the issue, but the card still cannot maintain fluid motion. The 4K Low result of 47 FPS, while better, still falls below the 60 FPS target.

The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) ensures feature compatibility, but the Turing architecture’s 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are irrelevant for this non-ray-traced title. The FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS is the raw horsepower available for rasterization, and the data shows it is adequate for 1080p but insufficient for 4K. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are the theoretical limits, but real-world results are lower due to memory bottlenecks.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 1080p with the Ultra preset?

A: No. The measured average FPS for 1920x1080 Ultra is 67 FPS, which exceeds 60 FPS. However, there is no min FPS recorded for this setting, so frame drops below 60 cannot be ruled out. The Medium preset at 1080p shows a min FPS of 99, indicating smoother pacing.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all presets achieve an average above 60 FPS. At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 57 FPS, which is close but not consistently above the threshold. The 4K results are all below 50 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rival, the GTX 580?

A: The RTX 2060’s average benchmark score is 15290, while the GTX 580 scores 15283, a delta of 0%. This means they perform nearly identically in synthetic benchmarks. In Hard West, the RTX 2060’s 6 GB VRAM likely provides an advantage over the older card, but the measured FPS data is specific to this GPU.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: The data suggests no. The CPU ranks in the 89th percentile for all CPUs, and its single-thread score of 4516 is strong. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent with a GPU bottleneck, as higher resolutions show disproportionate frame rate drops.

Q: What is the playable preset at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 74 FPS with a min of 63 FPS, making it the highest preset with a min FPS above 60. The High preset averages 57 FPS, which is playable but not consistently smooth.

Q: Why does the 4K Ultra preset perform so poorly?

A: The 22 FPS average at 3840x2160 Ultra is likely due to the 6 GB VRAM capacity being exceeded. The RTX 2060’s 336.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot efficiently handle the texture and geometry data required at that resolution and preset level.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination ranks 2324 out of 2949 tested combos for Hard West. This places it in the bottom 21% of all tested configurations, which is consistent with the GPU’s mid-range standing. The rank reflects the 4K Ultra result dragging down the overall score, as the 1080p results are competitive with higher-tier GPUs.

The CPU’s nearest rivals — the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, Intel Core i9-13900HX, AMD EPYC 4364P, and AMD EPYC 7303 — all have average scores within 0.2% of the Ultra 5 235. This indicates the CPU is not the differentiator in this ranking. The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the RX 7600 (0.8% higher average score), show that the RTX 2060 is at the edge of its performance class. The combo’s rank is therefore a reflection of the GPU’s limitations at high resolutions, not a CPU deficiency.

The measured data shows that the combo outperforms its rank in lower-resolution scenarios. At 1080p Low, the 143 FPS average would be competitive with many mid-range combos. However, the rank is a composite measure across all tested resolutions and settings, and the 4K Ultra result of 22 FPS significantly lowers the aggregate. The 58th percentile GPU ranking, combined with the 89th percentile CPU ranking, creates an imbalance where the CPU is never the bottleneck but the GPU fails at high resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: 143 FPS average
• Medium: 117 FPS average, 99 min, 135 max
• High: 90 FPS average
• Ultra: 67 FPS average

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 90 FPS average
• Medium: 74 FPS average, 63 min, 85 max
• High: 57 FPS average
• Ultra: 43 FPS average

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 47 FPS average
• Medium: 39 FPS average, 33 min, 45 max
• High: 30 FPS average
• Ultra: 22 FPS average

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions, allowing for a frame-time analysis. At 1080p Medium, the range from 99 to 135 FPS shows tight variance. At 1440p Medium, the range widens to 63-85 FPS, but the minimum remains above 60. At 4K Medium, the range is 33-45 FPS, with the minimum indicating occasional stutter. This data suggests that the GPU’s frame pacing degrades significantly as resolution increases, likely due to memory pressure.

The gap between High and Ultra presets widens with resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 23 FPS (90 to 67). At 1440p, it narrows to 14 FPS (57 to 43). At 4K, it shrinks to 8 FPS (30 to 22). This convergence at higher resolutions indicates that both presets are hitting the same memory bandwidth wall, regardless of the additional detail settings in Ultra.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS experience, the data supports 1920x1080 with the High preset, which averages 90 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 67 FPS, which is also playable, but the lack of min FPS data makes the Medium preset (117 FPS average, 99 min) the safer choice for consistent frame pacing. The Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance at 1080p, as it is the highest preset with a recorded min FPS above 100.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, with a 74 FPS average and a 63 FPS minimum. The High preset at 57 FPS is marginally below the 60 FPS target and may produce noticeable frame drops. The Low preset at 90 FPS is smooth but sacrifices visual quality. The Ultra preset at 43 FPS is not recommended for 1440p gaming.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves a 60 FPS average. The Low preset at 47 FPS is the highest average, but the Medium preset at 39 FPS (33 min) provides better visual quality with a playable, if not ideal, frame rate. The High and Ultra presets (30 and 22 FPS, respectively) are unsuitable for smooth gameplay. For 4K, the data suggests either accepting the Low preset or reducing resolution to 1440p and using Medium settings.

The overall recommendation is to prioritize 1080p Medium or High for the best experience. The combo’s CPU strength ensures no CPU-related stutter, and the GPU’s 6 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p textures. At higher resolutions, users should expect to lower presets significantly to maintain playable frame rates.