Hard West

# Hard West with Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015, proves remarkably scalable with this modern hardware pairing. The dataset reveals a system capable of delivering fluid frame rates across all tested configurations, though the relationship between settings and performance is far from linear. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination demonstrates that even a decade-old game can stress contemporary components in unexpected ways, particularly at higher resolutions and quality presets.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data offers a clear hierarchy of performance across presets. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 171 FPS, which represents a substantial 46% drop from the 320 FPS achieved at Low settings. However, the Medium preset at 297 FPS and High at 228 FPS both remain far above the 60 FPS threshold, making them excellent candidates for high-refresh-rate displays. The Ultra preset's 171 FPS still exceeds typical 144Hz monitor capabilities, but the diminishing returns from Medium to Ultra suggest that most users will find the Medium or High presets to offer the best balance of visual fidelity and raw speed.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts notably. The Low preset climbs to 229 FPS, while Medium sits at 188 FPS with a minimum of 160 FPS and maximum of 216 FPS. High drops to 144 FPS, which aligns perfectly with standard 1440p 144Hz monitors. Ultra falls to 108 FPS, still comfortably above 60 FPS but showing a more pronounced cost. The Medium preset's narrow min-max range of 160-216 FPS indicates consistent frame pacing, making it the most predictable choice for competitive or fast-paced play at this resolution.

The 3840x2160 results present a more nuanced picture. Low settings yield 120 FPS, Medium drops to 99 FPS with an 84-113 FPS range, High falls to 76 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 57 FPS. For 4K gaming, the Medium preset provides the best compromise: 99 FPS average with a minimum above 84 FPS ensures smooth gameplay on most displays. The Ultra preset's 57 FPS average, while playable, dips below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the baseline for modern action games, though Hard West's turn-based nature makes this less critical. Data suggests that High at 76 FPS offers the best visual quality while maintaining headroom above 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific hardware combination ranks 61st out of 2,949 tested combos for Hard West, placing it in the top 2% of all configurations in the database. This ranking reflects the exceptional performance ceiling of the RTX 4090 paired with the capable Core Ultra 5 235. The percentile positioning indicates that while this is not the absolute fastest pairing possible, it outperforms the overwhelming majority of systems tested with this game.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 46,062 places it in the 89th percentile among all processors, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 at 46,030 (0.1% faster), the Intel Core i9-13900HX at 46,098 (0.1% slower), and the AMD EPYC 4364P at 45,970 (0.2% faster). These razor-thin margins suggest the Core Ultra 5 235 sits in a tightly contested performance tier where single-digit benchmark points separate competitors.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 60,347 places it in the 88th percentile among all graphics cards. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60,326 (0% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 60,140 (0.3% faster), and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M at 61,896 (2.5% faster). The RTX 4090's position here is notable: despite being an end-of-life product, it maintains near-parity with professional workstation cards in synthetic benchmarks.

The combo's 61st rank out of 2,949 configurations suggests that Hard West's performance characteristics favor certain hardware pairings over others. The game's turn-based tactics genre typically emphasizes CPU single-thread performance for AI calculations, but the measured FPS data shows GPU-bound behavior at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Hard West at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, but just barely. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 57 FPS, which falls slightly below the 60 FPS threshold. The game remains playable, but users seeking a consistent 60+ FPS experience should consider the High preset at 76 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with a 144Hz monitor?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers exactly 144 FPS average, matching a standard 144Hz refresh rate. The Medium preset offers 188 FPS for those with higher refresh rate displays, while Ultra at 108 FPS provides the best visual quality while still exceeding 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest competitors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 scores 46,062 on average benchmarks, placing it 0.1% behind the Intel Core i9-13900HX and 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375. It outperforms both AMD EPYC processors by 0.2%, showing near-identical performance across this tier.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 still competitive despite being end-of-life?

A: Yes, with an average benchmark score of 60,347, it sits in the 88th percentile. Its nearest rival, the Intel Arc Pro A60, matches it exactly at 60,326 (0% delta), while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 2.5% faster at 61,896.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows 297 FPS average with a minimum of 252 FPS and maximum of 341 FPS. This provides substantial headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors up to 240Hz.

Q: Does the game favor CPU or GPU performance?

A: The scaling from 1080p to 4K suggests GPU-bound behavior. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 320 FPS, while 4K Low drops to 120 FPS, a 62.5% reduction that indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance envelope is exceptionally wide. Low settings produce 320 FPS average, Medium reaches 297 FPS with a minimum of 252 and maximum of 341, High settles at 228 FPS, and Ultra drops to 171 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 46.6% reduction in average FPS, with the largest single-step decline occurring between High and Ultra at 25%.

The 2560x1440 resolution reveals a steeper performance curve. Low settings deliver 229 FPS, Medium achieves 188 FPS (minimum 160, maximum 216), High reaches 144 FPS, and Ultra falls to 108 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 17.9%, while Medium to High represents a 23.4% drop, and High to Ultra costs another 25%. This consistent ~20-25% decline per preset step indicates balanced scaling across quality tiers.

At 3840x2160, the performance hierarchy compresses. Low settings produce 120 FPS, Medium drops to 99 FPS (minimum 84, maximum 113), High reaches 76 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 57 FPS. The percentage declines are 17.5% from Low to Medium, 23.2% from Medium to High, and 25% from High to Ultra. Interestingly, the absolute FPS losses remain consistent around 20-25 FPS per step, suggesting the GPU's rendering pipeline is the primary constraint at this resolution.

The minimum FPS data points, available only for Medium settings, show 252 FPS at 1080p, 160 FPS at 1440p, and 84 FPS at 4K. These minimums represent 84.8%, 85.1%, and 84.8% of their respective averages, indicating remarkably consistent frame pacing across all resolutions. The maximum FPS values show similar consistency, with 341, 216, and 113 at the three resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reveals predictable scaling behavior. At Low settings, FPS drops from 320 at 1080p to 229 at 1440p (a 28.4% reduction) and then to 120 at 4K (a 47.6% reduction from 1440p). This represents a total 62.5% decrease from 1080p to 4K, which closely tracks the pixel count increase from 2.07 million to 8.29 million pixels.

Medium settings show similar scaling: 297 FPS at 1080p, 188 FPS at 1440p (36.7% reduction), and 99 FPS at 4K (47.3% reduction from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 66.7%. High settings scale from 228 to 144 FPS (36.8% reduction) to 76 FPS (47.2% reduction), totaling 66.7% decline. Ultra settings follow the same pattern: 171 to 108 FPS (36.8% reduction) to 57 FPS (47.2% reduction), again totaling 66.7%.

These consistent scaling patterns across all presets strongly indicate GPU-bound performance. The nearly identical percentage reductions for each preset at each resolution step suggest that the CPU has ample headroom and is not the limiting factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see diminishing FPS differences as resolution increases, since the GPU would become less capable of keeping up with CPU-generated frames.

The fact that the RTX 4090's performance scales almost perfectly with pixel count indicates that Hard West's rendering workload is heavily pixel-bound. This is typical for turn-based tactics games, which often feature detailed static scenes with limited dynamic elements that would stress CPU physics or AI calculations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This configuration, built on TSMC's 3 nm process with 17,800 million transistors, achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 and a single-core score of 2,085. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,516 and multi-thread score of 37,816 further characterize its capabilities.

For Hard West, a turn-based tactics game, single-thread performance is typically more critical than multi-core throughput. The game's AI decision-making and pathfinding calculations often run on a single thread, making the Core Ultra 5 235's 5.00 GHz boost clock particularly relevant. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors suggests it has ample headroom for these demanding single-threaded workloads.

The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide substantial memory hierarchy for game data. The 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth on a dual-channel DDR5 interface ensures that the CPU can quickly access game assets without becoming a bottleneck. This is particularly important for a game like Hard West, which features procedurally generated maps and complex turn-based interactions.

The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 320 FPS, which would require the CPU to generate frames faster than most games demand. The consistent scaling across resolutions and presets indicates that the CPU is never the limiting factor, even at the highest frame rates. The Core Ultra 5 235's performance relative to its nearest rivals—all within 0.2% of its average score—suggests that any modern mid-range to high-end CPU would perform similarly in this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, built on the AD102 chip with 76,300 million transistors, represents a substantial investment in rendering capability. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, while its base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz drive 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate make it one of the most powerful consumer graphics cards ever produced.

In Hard West, the RTX 4090's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings increase. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the primary determinant of performance, with the CPU providing sufficient support at all tested configurations. The GPU's 88th percentile ranking, with an average benchmark score of 60,347, places it among the top tier of graphics cards, though its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are professional workstation cards rather than gaming-focused products.

The GPU's 24 GB VRAM capacity is far more than Hard West requires, as the game's 2015 release date predates the era of massive texture packs and ray-traced effects. However, this excess VRAM ensures that the GPU never faces memory-related stuttering or texture loading issues, even at 4K Ultra settings. The 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth provides ample headroom for the game's relatively modest texture and geometry demands.

The RTX 4090's end-of-life status is worth noting, as it suggests the GPU represents the pinnacle of the Ada Lovelace architecture. Its performance in Hard West, ranging from 320 FPS at 1080p Low to 57 FPS at 4K Ultra, demonstrates that even a decade-old game can challenge this flagship GPU at maximum settings in 4K. The 57 FPS result at 4K Ultra indicates that Hard West's rendering engine, despite its age, can still exercise the RTX 4090's capabilities when pushed to the extreme.