Hard West

# Hard West with Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080

The data describes a turn-based tactics title from late 2015 paired with a modern 14-core Intel processor and a 10 GB Ampere-generation GPU. This combination ranks in the 74th percentile of tested configurations for this game, suggesting a system that is far from the frontier of performance but still delivers playable frame rates across most settings. The measured results show a clear pattern: at 1080p the CPU and GPU together produce very high frame rates, while at 4K the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. The following analysis breaks down what the numbers reveal about this specific pairing.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance rank of this CPU+GPU combo in Hard West?

A: This combo ranks #764 out of 2949 tested configurations, placing it in the top 26% of all tested combos for this game. That is a solid mid-to-upper tier position, indicating the system is capable of running the game well, though not at the very top of the leaderboard.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 compare to its closest CPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46062. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, scores 46030 (0.1% lower), while the Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46098 (0.1% higher). The AMD EPYC 4364P and EPYC 7303 score 45970 and 45960 respectively, both 0.2% lower. This places the Ultra 5 235 in a very tight performance cluster.

Q: What is the RTX 3080's average benchmark score and percentile ranking?

A: The RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 23172 and sits in the 68th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA P106-100 (23249, 0.3% higher), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 (23250, 0.3% higher), and AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23273, 0.4% higher). The GPU's performance is consistent with its position as a high-end but previous-generation part.

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

A: The highest average FPS is 246, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is more than double the 116 FPS seen at Ultra settings at the same resolution, showing the wide performance range available depending on quality presets.

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

A: The lowest average FPS is 38, recorded at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. This is the only measured configuration that falls below 40 FPS, indicating that 4K Ultra is the most demanding scenario for this hardware pairing.

Q: Does the CPU have integrated graphics, and what is its TDP?

A: Yes, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 includes Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 24 execution units. The CPU has a TDP of 65 watts, making it a mid-range power envelope part for a desktop processor. The 14 cores and 14 threads (no hyperthreading) are paired with a 3.40 GHz base clock and 5.00 GHz boost clock.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 764 out of 2949 tested configurations places this system in the top 26% of all tested pairings for Hard West. This is a notable position for a game released in late 2015, as the hardware is far more modern than the title's original target platform. The rank suggests that while the system is not the absolute fastest for this game, it is comfortably above the median tested configuration. The top 25% of combos typically deliver high frame rates at demanding settings, and the measured FPS data confirms this pattern.

The percentile ranking of the individual components provides context. The CPU sits at the 89th percentile of all CPUs, which is a very strong position, while the GPU is at the 68th percentile of all GPUs. The gap between these two percentiles suggests the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing, which is corroborated by the FPS scaling patterns across resolutions. In a turn-based tactics game, where the CPU often handles significant game logic and pathfinding, the strong CPU percentile is beneficial, but the GPU must still render the scene.

Compared to other combos, this rank of 764 indicates the system is not bottlenecked by the CPU in most scenarios. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and Intel Core i9-13900HX, all have average scores within 0.2% of the Ultra 5 235, meaning the choice of CPU is unlikely to cause major rank swings. The GPU's rivals, including the AMD Radeon RX 6600M and Radeon R9 M290X, are similarly close in average score, but the RTX 3080's 68th percentile places it above many other tested GPUs.

The rank of 764 out of 2949 means there are 763 combos that perform better, which is a significant number. However, many of those likely feature newer or more expensive GPUs. For a game like Hard West, which is not a graphically intensive AAA title, this rank translates into very playable performance at most settings, as the FPS data will show. The system is not overkill for this game, but it is also not underwhelming.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is a high-end GPU from the Ampere generation, built on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It features 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units, along with 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz, with memory running at 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus provides 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for a card of this era.

In Hard West, the GPU's role is primarily to render the game's 2D and 3D environments. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 38 FPS, which is the lowest in the dataset. This suggests the GPU is heavily loaded at that resolution and quality setting. The jump from 4K Ultra (38 FPS) to 4K High (51 FPS) is a 13 FPS improvement, showing that reducing settings from Ultra to High provides meaningful headroom. At 4K Low, the FPS rises to 82, which is more than double the Ultra figure, indicating the GPU has significant performance reserves when settings are lowered.

The RTX 3080's 10 GB VRAM is a key consideration. At 4K with Ultra settings, the game may be approaching the VRAM limit, which could explain the steep drop to 38 FPS. The medium settings at 4K show a minimum FPS of 57 and a maximum of 77, with an average of 67, suggesting the GPU can handle 4K if the player is willing to compromise on quality. The GPU is clearly the limiting component at high resolutions, as the CPU's strong single-thread and multi-thread scores do not prevent the FPS from dropping at 4K.

The GPU's benchmark scores support its mid-high tier status. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 4407, and the Geekbench OpenCL score is 152423. The Passmark G3D score of 25086 places it in the 68th percentile, which aligns with the FPS results in this game. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s is likely sufficient for Hard West's art style, which is not overly texture-heavy, but the 4K Ultra result shows that even this bandwidth is not enough for the most demanding settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the system delivers high frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 246 FPS, which is the highest figure in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 201 FPS, with a minimum of 171 and a maximum of 231. High settings average 155 FPS, and Ultra settings average 116 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is never CPU-bound in a problematic way, as even Ultra settings stay well above 100 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops but remains highly playable. Low settings average 155 FPS, Medium averages 127 FPS (min 108, max 146), High averages 98 FPS, and Ultra averages 73 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is 28 FPS, from Medium to High is 29 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 25 FPS. These are relatively consistent drops, suggesting the GPU is handling the increased pixel count without a sudden bottleneck.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more variable and the GPU's limits become apparent. Low settings average 82 FPS, Medium averages 67 FPS (min 57, max 77), High averages 51 FPS, and Ultra averages 38 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 4K is 13 FPS, which is the largest single-setting drop in the dataset. The 4K Ultra result of 38 FPS is the only configuration below 40 FPS, indicating that this is the point where the hardware is stretched.

The data shows that the system is capable of 60+ FPS at 1080p and 1440p on all settings except 1440p Ultra (73 FPS, still above 60). At 4K, the system can achieve 60+ FPS only on Low settings (82 FPS) and Medium settings (67 FPS). High settings at 4K produce 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra produces 38 FPS. This breakdown provides a clear picture of what the hardware can deliver.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals the GPU-bound nature of the system at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 246 at 1080p to 155 at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 82 at 4K (a 47% reduction from 1440p). This scaling is consistent with a GPU that is being increasingly loaded as pixel count rises. The CPU's strong performance does not compensate for the GPU's workload at higher resolutions.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 201 FPS at 1080p drops to 127 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 67 FPS at 4K (a 47% reduction). The consistent percentage drops across settings suggest that the GPU is the primary limiting factor, as the CPU's performance headroom is not being exhausted. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to plateau at lower resolutions, but instead it continues to scale with resolution.

At High settings, the drop from 1080p (155 FPS) to 1440p (98 FPS) is a 37% reduction, and from 1440p to 4K (51 FPS) is a 48% reduction. The 4K High result of 51 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that the GPU is struggling to maintain smooth performance at this resolution and quality setting. The Ultra settings show the most severe scaling: 116 FPS at 1080p drops to 73 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 38 FPS at 4K (a 48% reduction).

The scaling pattern shows that the system loses roughly 37% of its FPS going from 1080p to 1440p, and another 47-48% going from 1440p to 4K. This is typical for a GPU-bound scenario, where the number of pixels being rendered directly impacts the frame rate. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking does not prevent this scaling, confirming that the RTX 3080 is the limiting component at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus, providing 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Its Passmark multithread score is 37816, and its single-thread score is 4516, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs.

In Hard West, a turn-based tactics game, the CPU is responsible for game logic, AI pathfinding, and unit management. The game's release date of late 2015 means it was designed for much older hardware, so the Ultra 5 235 is vastly more powerful than what the game originally targeted. The CPU's strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085) is particularly relevant, as older games often rely heavily on single-threaded performance.

The CPU's multi-thread performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14769) is also strong, but the game may not fully utilize all 14 cores. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (246 FPS) suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough frames even at low settings, where the GPU workload is lighter. The fact that the FPS scales down as resolution increases indicates the CPU is not the bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rivals all have average benchmark scores within 0.2% of the Ultra 5 235, which means the choice of CPU among these similar parts would have negligible impact on Hard West performance. The 65-watt TDP is modest for a 14-core processor, indicating efficient power delivery. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking suggests it is a strong performer for a desktop part, and in this game, it provides more than enough processing power.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience depends on the player's resolution preference and desired frame rate. For 1920x1080, all settings deliver playable results, but Ultra settings at 116 FPS provide a significant visual upgrade over Low settings at 246 FPS. The 116 FPS at Ultra is still well above the 60 FPS threshold, so players with 1080p monitors should choose Ultra for the best visual quality without sacrificing smoothness.

At 2560x1440, Ultra settings produce 73 FPS, which is above 60 FPS and provides a good balance of visual quality and performance. High settings at 98 FPS are also excellent, but the jump to Ultra is only 25 FPS lower, making Ultra a reasonable choice for most players. The 73 FPS at 1440p Ultra is playable and offers a better visual experience than High settings, though some players may prefer the higher frame rate of High for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, the recommendation changes. Medium settings at 67 FPS (min 57, max 77) provide the best balance, as they are the only settings that achieve an average above 60 FPS at 4K. High settings at 51 FPS are below the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra at 38 FPS is too low for smooth gameplay. Players with 4K displays should use Medium settings to maintain playable frame rates, as the visual difference between Medium and High may not justify the 16 FPS drop.

For players who prioritize frame rate over visual quality, Low settings at 4K (82 FPS) are also viable, but Medium offers a significant visual upgrade for a 15 FPS drop. The measured minimum FPS of 57 at 4K Medium suggests occasional dips below 60 FPS, but the average of 67 indicates overall smooth performance. The data supports Medium settings at 4K as the optimal choice for this hardware combination.