Hard West

# FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 in Hard West?

A: This combination ranks 1574th out of 2949 tested combos in the game, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rival in GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17639, which is 0.2% below the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666) and 0.3% above the AMD Radeon 780M (17588). It sits in the 61st percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all processors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 sits in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48995. Its closest rival is the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G at 49196, a difference of -0.4%.

Q: What are the measured FPS results at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers an average of 88 FPS. For comparison, Medium settings yield 152 FPS, High settings yield 117 FPS, and Low settings reach 186 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU have integrated graphics?

A: Yes, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 includes Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 execution units, alongside its 14 cores and 14 threads. The GPU in this combo is the discrete RTX 4060.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the CPU support?

A: The CPU supports DDR5 dual-channel memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. This is paired with the RTX 4060's 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivering 272.0 GB/s.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD107 chip at a 5 nm process node from TSMC. Its base clock runs at 1830 MHz with a boost clock of 2460 MHz, while memory operates at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). The GPU packs 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, along with 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores.

In Hard West, the GPU's role is central to frame rate delivery across all resolution and settings combinations. The measured data shows the RTX 4060's performance scaling: at 1080p Medium, the combo hits 152 FPS average, while at 4K Medium it drops to 51 FPS. The GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this turn-based tactics title, as memory pressure does not appear to create bottlenecks even at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, where the average is 29 FPS.

The GPU's raw compute capabilities—15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s—are reflected in the benchmark results. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2302 and Passmark G3D score of 19545 place the GPU in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in benchmark scores are the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (-0.2% delta) and AMD Radeon 780M (+0.3% delta), indicating that the RTX 4060 sits in a tightly contested performance band.

The GPU's 115 W TDP and PCIe 4.0 x8 interface are modest, yet the measured FPS at 1440p High (74 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (88 FPS) demonstrate that this card handles the game's rendering demands comfortably. At 4K, however, the GPU becomes the limiting factor—High settings produce 39 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many users target.

# How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1574th out of 2949 tested combos in Hard West. This places the pairing in the 53rd percentile of all tested systems, meaning slightly more than half of tested combinations deliver better performance in this game. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's strong 90th-percentile standing and the GPU's more modest 61st-percentile position.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 48995 places it within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196) and 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228), while being 0.6% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698) and 0.8% ahead of the Intel Core i5-14600K (48618). This tight clustering indicates the Ultra 5 245 performs near the top of its class in synthetic benchmarks.

For the GPU, the RTX 4060's average score of 17639 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666, -0.2%) and the AMD Radeon 780M (17588, +0.3%). The AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17551, +0.5%) and AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17509, +0.7%) trail by small margins. Despite these close synthetic scores, the measured FPS in Hard West shows the RTX 4060 delivering playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, with 4K requiring settings reductions.

The gap between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's mid-range percentile suggests that the RTX 4060 constrains overall performance more than the CPU does in most scenarios. This is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows larger performance drops from GPU-bound settings increases than from resolution scaling alone at lower settings.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 186 FPS, while Medium settings yield 152 FPS with a minimum of 129 FPS and a maximum of 175 FPS. High settings drop to 117 FPS average, and Ultra settings bring the average down to 88 FPS. The 1080p results show a clear progression: each settings tier costs roughly 30-35 FPS on average, with the gap between Low and Ultra being 98 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales predictably. Low settings achieve 118 FPS average, Medium delivers 96 FPS (minimum 82, maximum 111), High reaches 74 FPS, and Ultra settles at 55 FPS. The 1440p results show a 63 FPS difference between Low and Ultra, with each settings step costing approximately 20-22 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings produce 62 FPS average, Medium drops to 51 FPS (minimum 43, maximum 58), High yields 39 FPS, and Ultra falls to 29 FPS. The 4K results show a 33 FPS difference between Low and Ultra. Notably, the Medium settings row at 4K is the only 4K entry with minimum and maximum FPS data, showing a spread of 15 FPS between the 43 FPS minimum and 58 FPS maximum.

The data pattern indicates that the RTX 4060 handles 1080p with ease even at Ultra settings, maintains playability at 1440p with High settings (74 FPS), and requires Low or Medium settings at 4K to stay above 50 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 29 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below 30 FPS, suggesting this combination is not suitable for maximum settings at 4K.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 features 14 cores and 14 threads, running at a base clock of 3.50 GHz with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. This Arrow Lake-S architecture CPU is built on a 3 nm TSMC process with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache.

In Hard West, a turn-based tactics title that does not heavily tax CPU resources, the Ultra 5 245's capabilities are more than sufficient. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32924 and single-core score of 4648 indicate strong processing power. Its Passmark multithread score of 38706 and single-thread score of 4394 reinforce this assessment. The CPU's 90th-percentile ranking among all processors means it outperforms the vast majority of CPUs in synthetic benchmarks.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s with DDR5 dual-channel support provides adequate data throughput for the game. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency in scenarios where the game needs to access frequently used data. The CPU also supports ECC memory, though this is unlikely to affect gaming performance.

Given the game's genre, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain consistent frame pacing and handle AI calculations during turn-based sequences. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 186 FPS, which is well beyond what the GPU alone would suggest if CPU-bound. This indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower settings. The CPU's Passmark physics score of 2569 and integer math score of 91187 provide context for its general computational capability, though these numbers are more relevant to synthetic workloads than to this specific game.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings deliver 88 FPS average, which is smooth for turn-based tactics. The minimum FPS is not provided for Ultra, but the Medium settings show a 129 FPS minimum against a 152 FPS average. For players seeking maximum visual quality at 1080p, Ultra is the clear choice since it stays above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, High settings provide 74 FPS average, which is a good balance between visual fidelity and performance. Ultra drops to 55 FPS, which is playable but may not feel as smooth. Medium settings at 1440p deliver 96 FPS with a minimum of 82 FPS, making it the safest choice for consistent frame delivery. The 1440p High setting at 74 FPS is recommended for most users, as it offers better visuals than Medium while staying comfortably above 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the choices narrow considerably. Low settings produce 62 FPS average, while Medium delivers 51 FPS with a 43 FPS minimum. High settings fall to 39 FPS, and Ultra drops to 29 FPS. For 4K, Low settings are the only configuration that stays above 60 FPS, while Medium remains above 50 FPS on average. Given that 4K Medium shows a minimum of 43 FPS, users who prioritize frame rate consistency should choose Low, while those who accept occasional dips can use Medium.

Across all resolutions, the data suggests that Medium settings offer the most consistent experience, as it is the only settings tier with minimum FPS data at every resolution. The 1080p Medium result (152 FPS average, 129 FPS minimum) and 1440p Medium (96 FPS average, 82 FPS minimum) both show healthy headroom above 60 FPS. For users with 144Hz monitors, 1080p High at 117 FPS or 1440p Low at 118 FPS are the only settings that reach near that refresh rate.

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how performance scales from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 186 at 1080p to 118 at 1440p (a 36.6% reduction) and then to 62 at 4K (a 47.5% reduction from 1440p). This represents a total 66.7% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the progression is 152 FPS at 1080p, 96 FPS at 1440p (36.8% drop), and 51 FPS at 4K (46.9% drop from 1440p), totaling 66.4% from 1080p to 4K.

High settings show a steeper decline: 117 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p (36.8% drop), and 39 FPS at 4K (47.3% drop from 1440p), totaling 66.7% from 1080p to 4K. Ultra settings follow a similar pattern: 88 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p (37.5% drop), and 29 FPS at 4K (47.3% drop from 1440p), totaling 67.0% from 1080p to 4K.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings tiers—roughly 37% from 1080p to 1440p and another 47% from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The pixel count increases from approximately 2.07 million at 1080p to 3.69 million at 1440p (a 78% increase) and then to 8.29 million at 4K (a 125% increase from 1440p). The FPS drops do not scale linearly with pixel count, suggesting that other GPU resources, such as memory bandwidth and fill rate, also contribute to the performance ceiling.

The GPU's 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate are likely the constraining factors at 4K. The fact that even Low settings at 4K only reach 62 FPS, while 1080p Low reaches 186 FPS, underscores how resolution scaling disproportionately affects this mid-range GPU. The CPU's strong 90th-percentile performance means it is unlikely to be the bottleneck at any resolution; the data points to the RTX 4060 as the component that limits 4K performance.