Hard West

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread desktop processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, built on the Arrow Lake architecture with a 3 nm process node from TSMC. It operates at a base clock of 3.50 GHz and boosts up to 5.10 GHz, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache and a dual-channel DDR5 memory interface providing 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth. In Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015, this CPU configuration proves more than adequate, as the game’s computational demands are modest by modern standards. The processor’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and single-core score of 4648 place it in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, indicating strong headroom for the game’s AI and pathfinding calculations, which rarely stress even a fraction of these resources.

The CPU’s nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G at 49196 (0.4% higher), the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 at 49228 (0.5% higher), the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H at 48698 (0.6% lower), and the Intel Core i5-14600K at 48618 (0.8% lower). These deltas are negligible, meaning the Ultra 5 245 sits in a tight performance band with these parts, all within a single percentage point. For Hard West specifically, where frame rates are overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher settings, this CPU performance tier is effectively a non-factor; even at 1080p Low, where the CPU’s influence is most pronounced, the measured average of 325 FPS demonstrates that the processor is not a bottleneck. The 14 cores and 14 threads, while not featuring hyper-threading, still provide ample parallelism for the game’s turn-based logic, which typically runs on a handful of threads.

The PassMark multi-thread score of 38706 and single-thread score of 4394 further reinforce the CPU’s capability, though the game’s engine from 2015 likely cannot exploit such modern hardware fully. The 65 W TDP and 3 nm process ensure efficient operation, but these attributes do not directly translate to in-game performance differences here. The data indicates that in Hard West, the CPU role is essentially preparatory: it must feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic, but the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings suggests the processor easily keeps pace. At 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 62, the limiting factor is clearly the GPU’s rendering workload, not the CPU’s compute throughput. The boost clock of 5.10 GHz ensures single-threaded responsiveness, which matters for the game’s UI and input latency, but benchmark results show the CPU is never the constraining component in this pairing.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a flagship graphics card from the GeForce 50-series, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. It features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, with base and boost clocks of 2017 MHz and 2407 MHz respectively. The card’s 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines provide massive raw compute, with FP32 performance rated at 104.8 TFLOPS. In Hard West, a game that is not graphically intensive by current standards, this GPU is overkill, but the measured data shows how its headroom translates to exceptionally high frame rates.

The GPU’s benchmark results include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14326, Geekbench OpenCL score of 310674, and PassMark G3D score of 44065, placing it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at 76904 (1.1% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78940 (1.6% lower), and NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants at 79396 and 79605 (2.1% and 2.4% lower respectively). These deltas are small, indicating the RTX 5090 D’s average score of 77712 is within a few percentage points of these parts, though the game’s actual performance diverges significantly from synthetic benchmarks.

In Hard West, the GPU’s role dominates the measured FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 62, which suggests the card is still delivering playable performance even at the highest settings and resolution. At 4K High, the average rises to 83 FPS, while 4K Medium hits 108 FPS and 4K Low reaches 131 FPS. These numbers show a clear scaling pattern: as settings drop, the GPU’s workload decreases, and frame rates climb proportionally. The GPU’s 32 GB VRAM is far beyond what Hard West requires, as the game’s textures and geometry from 2015 would fit within a fraction of that capacity, so VRAM capacity is never a limiting factor. Similarly, the 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures texture streaming is instantaneous, but the game’s art assets are small enough that this bandwidth is underutilized.

The RTX 5090 D’s boost clock of 2407 MHz and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance mean that even at 4K Ultra, the card is not fully saturated; the measured 62 FPS likely reflects the game engine’s single-threaded rendering limitations rather than the GPU’s raw capability. At 1080p Low, the average FPS of 325 demonstrates that the card can push frame rates far beyond typical display refresh rates, but such performance is academic for a turn-based tactics game where smoothness matters less than strategic depth. The PassMark DirectX 12 score of 219 and DirectX 11 score of 371 are oddly low compared to the G3D score, indicating that the game’s older API usage may not fully leverage the card’s modern architecture, but the measured FPS still shows excellent real-world performance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear resolution scaling pattern across the four settings presets. From 1080p to 1440p to 4K, the average frame rates drop consistently, with the magnitude of the drop depending on the settings level. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 325 at 1080p to 251 at 1440p, a 22.8% reduction, and then to 131 at 4K, a 47.8% reduction from 1440p. This steep decline at 4K indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, demanding significantly more rasterization work.

At Medium settings, the averages are 303 FPS at 1080p, 205 FPS at 1440p, and 108 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 32.3%, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 47.3%. The minimum FPS values for Medium settings also scale: 257 at 1080p, 174 at 1440p, and 92 at 4K, with maximums of 348, 236, and 124 respectively. These numbers show that as resolution increases, the frame time variance grows, but even the 4K minimum of 92 FPS remains well above playable thresholds for a turn-based game.

High settings show a similar pattern: 249 FPS at 1080p, 158 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 36.5%, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 47.5%. Ultra settings yield the lowest averages: 187 FPS at 1080p, 118 FPS at 1440p, and 62 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 36.9%, and the 1440p to 4K drop is 47.5%. Across all settings, the 1440p to 4K drop consistently hovers around 47-48%, which is close to the theoretical pixel count increase of 2.25x, suggesting that at these resolutions, the GPU’s fill rate is the primary constraint.

The resolution scaling analysis indicates that at 1080p, the CPU and GPU are both contributing to frame rate limits, but the CPU’s influence is minimal. At 1080p Low, the 325 FPS average suggests the game engine or CPU is hitting a ceiling, as the GPU could theoretically render more frames, but the turn-based gameplay does not require such high rates. As resolution increases to 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with the RTX 5090 D’s pixel and texture rates being taxed by the higher pixel count. The fact that 4K Ultra still achieves 62 FPS average indicates the card’s 176 ROPs and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are sufficient for Hard West’s relatively simple geometry, but the engine’s draw call overhead and shading complexity at Ultra settings limit performance.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 11th out of 2949 tested combos for Hard West. This top-tier ranking places it in the 99.6th percentile of all configurations, meaning only ten other CPU-GPU pairings achieve higher average frame rates in this game. The ranking is unsurprising given the RTX 5090 D’s position as a flagship GPU, but it also reflects the CPU’s adequate performance in not holding back the GPU at lower resolutions.

The combo’s rank of 11 out of 2949 suggests that the few combos ranked higher likely feature even faster CPUs, such as overclocked flagship processors, or possibly GPUs with higher factory clocks. However, the delta between this combo and those above it is likely small, given that the game’s frame rates are already extremely high. The rank also indicates that the Ultra 5 245 does not significantly detract from the overall performance, as a weaker CPU would potentially drop the combo’s rank by allowing the GPU to be bottlenecked at 1080p.

In context, the RTX 5090 D’s percentile of 92 among all GPUs and the CPU’s percentile of 90 among all CPUs both place these components in the upper echelon of their respective categories. The combo’s 11th place ranking out of 2949 means that the pairing is nearly optimal for Hard West, with only a handful of configurations performing better. The data does not specify which combos rank higher, but the implication is that they would feature CPUs with higher single-threaded performance, which could marginally improve the 1080p Low frame rate of 325 FPS. For practical purposes, this combo delivers near-maximum achievable performance in Hard West, and the rank of 11 reflects the law of diminishing returns at the very top of the performance spectrum.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates span from 187 FPS at Ultra settings to 325 FPS at Low settings. The Medium preset achieves 303 FPS average, with a minimum of 257 FPS and a maximum of 348 FPS, while the High preset hits 249 FPS average with no minimum or maximum recorded. The Ultra setting’s 187 FPS average is still exceptionally high, and the spread between Low and Ultra is 138 FPS, indicating that the GPU has substantial headroom even at the highest quality settings. The Medium preset’s minimum of 257 FPS ensures that even in the most demanding scenes, the frame rate never drops below a threshold that would cause visible stutter, though at these rates, such drops would be imperceptible.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 251 FPS at Low, 205 FPS at Medium, 158 FPS at High, and 118 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset’s minimum is 174 FPS and maximum is 236 FPS, showing tighter variance than at 1080p. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at Low settings (325 to 251 FPS, a 22.8% reduction) and least pronounced at Ultra (187 to 118 FPS, a 36.9% reduction). This suggests that at higher settings, the GPU is already more heavily loaded, so the additional pixel count has a proportionally larger impact. The 1440p Ultra average of 118 FPS remains comfortably above 60 FPS, making it a viable resolution for players with high-refresh-rate displays.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 131 FPS at Low, 108 FPS at Medium, 83 FPS at High, and 62 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset’s minimum is 92 FPS and maximum is 124 FPS, with the minimum still above 60 FPS. The 4K Ultra average of 62 FPS is the only measured result that approaches the 60 FPS threshold, and it just barely exceeds it. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows reductions of 47.8% at Low, 47.3% at Medium, 47.5% at High, and 47.5% at Ultra, which are nearly uniform across settings. This consistency indicates that at 4K, the GPU’s pixel throughput is the dominant factor, and the settings level affects the absolute frame rate but not the relative scaling. The lowest recorded minimum across all measurements is 92 FPS at 4K Medium, which means no configuration in this dataset ever drops below 60 FPS, even at the most demanding settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users. The 205 FPS average, with a minimum of 174 FPS and maximum of 236 FPS, provides a smooth experience that far exceeds the refresh rate of typical 1440p monitors, which usually top out at 144 Hz or 165 Hz. The Medium settings in Hard West likely include moderate shadow quality, texture filtering, and effects, which are more than sufficient for a game with a stylized art direction from 2015. The 174 FPS minimum ensures no perceptible stutter, and the headroom above 205 FPS average means the GPU is not being pushed to its limits, keeping power consumption and thermals in check.

For users with 1080p displays, the High preset at 249 FPS average is the recommended choice, as it provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium (303 FPS) while still maintaining frame rates well above any display’s refresh rate. The 74 FPS difference between High and Ultra at 1080p (249 vs 187) might tempt some to choose Ultra, but the visual difference in a turn-based tactics game is likely minimal, and the lower average FPS does not compromise gameplay. Alternatively, the Medium preset at 1080p with a 303 FPS average and 257 FPS minimum offers the highest frame rate consistency, which could benefit players using high-refresh-rate displays that support up to 360 Hz.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 108 FPS average is the best option, as it maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while delivering better visuals than Low (131 FPS). The Ultra preset at 4K, with a 62 FPS average, is technically playable but leaves no headroom for scene complexity spikes, and the game’s turn-based nature means that a 62 FPS average could occasionally dip below 60 FPS. The High preset at 83 FPS average is a middle ground, but Medium’s 108 FPS provides a more comfortable buffer. For players who prioritize visual fidelity above all, the 4K Ultra setting is viable, but the data suggests that Medium provides the best experience per the measured rows, as it achieves over 100 FPS at all resolutions except 1080p Low, which is unnecessary for this genre.

The Low preset, while achieving the highest frame rates (325 FPS at 1080p, 251 FPS at 1440p, 131 FPS at 4K), sacrifices too much visual quality for a game where the strategic view and environment details contribute to the atmosphere. The Medium preset’s minimum FPS values across all resolutions (257 at 1080p, 174 at 1440p, 92 at 4K) all exceed 60 FPS, making it the safest recommendation for any resolution. Given that Hard West is a turn-based tactics game where frame rate spikes are less critical than in action titles, the Medium preset at 1440p provides a visually pleasing experience with ample performance margin. The measured data shows no scenario where the RTX 5090 D struggles, so the recommendation leans toward higher visual quality at lower resolutions, but the 1440p Medium configuration stands out as the sweet spot for overall experience.