Hard West

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Hard West, a turn-based tactics title from 2015. This combination lands at rank 5 out of 2949 tested combos, placing it in the top 0.2% of all configurations analyzed. The data shows a system that is dramatically overqualified for this title, with performance limited by the game's engine rather than the hardware at most settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals how the workload shifts between the CPU and GPU. At 1080p Low settings, the combo produces 333 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 251 FPS, a 24.6% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 131 FPS, which is 60.7% lower than the 1080p result. These are large percentage drops that indicate the GPU is becoming the primary limiter as pixel count increases, though even at 4K the frame rates remain far above what the game requires.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings levels. At High settings, the averages are 249 FPS at 1080p, 158 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 4K. The 1440p to 4K drop at High is 47.5%, which is steeper than the 36.5% drop from 1080p to 1440p. This suggests the GPU is increasingly stressed at higher resolutions, with the 4K resolution demanding significantly more pixel throughput than the GPU can maintain relative to lower resolutions.

The Medium settings data provides the only complete min/max frame time information in the pack. At 1080p Medium, the average is 310 FPS with a minimum of 263 and maximum of 356. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 205 FPS with a minimum of 174 and maximum of 236. At 4K Medium, the average is 108 FPS with a minimum of 92 and maximum of 124. The minimum frame rates show that even the worst-case dips at 4K Medium stay above 90 FPS, which is critical for maintaining smooth gameplay in a turn-based title where consistent frame pacing matters more than raw peak performance.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling. The 1080p Ultra average is 187 FPS, 1440p Ultra drops to 118 FPS, and 4K Ultra falls to 62 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured scenario below 100 FPS, and it represents a 66.8% reduction from the 1080p Ultra figure. This indicates that Ultra settings at 4K are the only configuration that genuinely stresses this hardware combination, with the GPU fully engaged and the frame rate approaching the point where visible performance differences might occur.

The overall pattern suggests that below 4K, the system is likely CPU-bound or engine-limited, as the frame rates exceed 150 FPS at all settings at 1080p and 1440p. The transition to 4K introduces a more balanced workload, with the GPU becoming the dominant factor in determining final frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 features 20 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This is a high-core-count desktop processor from the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 42216 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5960 in single-core, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs tested.

For a turn-based tactics game like Hard West, the CPU workload is typically modest. The game's mechanics involve unit positioning, line-of-sight calculations, and deterministic combat resolution, none of which are particularly demanding on modern processors. The data supports this: at 1080p Low, the system produces 333 FPS, which is likely near the engine's maximum frame output rather than a true CPU limit.

The nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database provide context for the Ultra 7 265's position. It scores an average of 64640, which is 0.3% behind the AMD EPYC 4464P and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F. The AMD EPYC 7343 is 0.7% behind, and the AMD EPYC 9124 is 0.7% ahead. These deltas are minimal, indicating that the Ultra 7 265 is well-positioned among high-end desktop and server processors.

With 20 threads and no hyperthreading, the Ultra 7 265 provides ample parallel processing capacity for any game that can utilize multiple cores. However, Hard West is from 2015, and its engine is unlikely to scale beyond a few threads. The single-core performance, as measured by the 5960 Cinebench R23 score, is more relevant for this title, as turn-based games often have a primary simulation thread that limits overall performance.

The 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 192 KB L1 cache per core provide low-latency access to frequently used game data. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the game's memory footprint, which is modest given its age. The CPU's performance in Passmark Physics (2923) and Integer Math (134773) further indicates strong general-purpose compute that would handle any auxiliary tasks like pathfinding or AI routines the game might spawn.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a monster of a graphics card, featuring 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2407 MHz. This configuration produces 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s.

In the Passmark G3D benchmark, the RTX 5090 D scores 44065, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% ahead), AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% behind), NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (2.1% behind), and NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (2.4% behind). These are all significantly less powerful in real-world gaming, indicating that the RTX 5090 D's synthetic score undersells its actual gaming capability, likely due to driver optimizations and architecture differences in older benchmark workloads.

For Hard West, the GPU's role is almost entirely about rendering resolution and settings overhead. The game's visual complexity is low by modern standards, with simple geometry, limited particle effects, and static camera angles typical of turn-based tactics. At 1080p and 1440p, the RTX 5090 D is never the bottleneck, as evidenced by the frame rates exceeding 150 FPS at all settings.

The 32 GB VRAM is overkill for this title, which likely uses less than 2 GB even at 4K Ultra. However, the memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s ensures that texture streaming and any memory-intensive operations are never a concern. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s means the GPU can fill the screen with fragments at extremely high rates, which is why 4K Medium still achieves 108 FPS.

The RTX 5090 D's architecture, Blackwell 2.0, includes 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores, though these are irrelevant for a game that does not support ray tracing or DLSS. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support is also unused, as Hard West likely runs on an older DirectX version given its 2015 release. The GPU's raw rasterization power is what drives the measured results, and that power is abundant.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D achieves rank 5 out of 2949 tested combos in Hard West. This places it in the top 0.17% of all configurations, a remarkable result that reflects the raw performance ceiling of both components.

The rank indicates that only four other CPU/GPU pairings in the database produce higher frame rates in this game. Given that the RTX 5090 D is one of the most powerful consumer GPUs available, and the Ultra 7 265 is a high-end desktop processor, the rank 5 position is expected. The combination is likely limited by the game's engine at lower resolutions, meaning that even the top-ranked combos probably achieve similar frame rates at 1080p.

The data suggests that this combo's rank could be even higher if the game were more demanding on the GPU. At 4K Ultra, where the GPU is fully engaged, the 62 FPS average is competitive with any other configuration that could be paired with a similarly powerful CPU. The rank 5 position reflects the balanced nature of this pairing, where neither component becomes a significant bottleneck in most scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the system delivers extraordinary performance across all settings. Low settings produce 333 FPS average, Medium settings reach 310 FPS (min 263, max 356), High settings achieve 249 FPS, and Ultra settings maintain 187 FPS. The 1080p results show that even the most demanding preset exceeds 180 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of any mainstream monitor.

At 2560x1440 resolution, the frame rates remain exceptionally high. Low settings average 251 FPS, Medium settings drop to 205 FPS (min 174, max 236), High settings produce 158 FPS, and Ultra settings stay at 118 FPS. The 1440p results indicate that the GPU is beginning to influence performance, but the system still easily exceeds 100 FPS at every setting.

At 3840x2160 resolution, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. Low settings average 131 FPS, Medium settings drop further to 108 FPS (min 92, max 124), High settings produce 83 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 62 FPS. The 4K results show a clear progression where each increase in settings level costs approximately 20-25 FPS, indicating that the GPU's workload scales predictably with visual quality.

The complete data shows that this combo is capable of running Hard West at maximum settings with playable frame rates even at 4K, and at extremely high refresh rates at lower resolutions. The 62 FPS at 4K Ultra is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, making this a viable configuration for the most demanding visual preset.

FAQ

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

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 62 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, though it is the lowest result across all tested configurations.

Q: What is the best resolution to use for maximum frame rates?

A: At 1920x1080 Low settings, the system achieves 333 FPS average. This is the highest measured frame rate in the data set, suitable for extreme refresh rate monitors.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has an average benchmark score of 64640, which is 0.3% behind the AMD EPYC 4464P and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F. The AMD EPYC 7343 is 0.7% behind, and the AMD EPYC 9124 is 0.7% ahead.

Q: Is the GPU a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: No, the data shows frame rates above 187 FPS at all settings at 1080p. The GPU is likely not the limiting factor at this resolution, as the engine or CPU appears to cap performance.

Q: What is the frame time consistency at 4K Medium?

A: At 3840x2160 Medium, the average FPS is 108, with a minimum of 92 and maximum of 124. This indicates a variance of 32 FPS between the lowest and highest frame times, which is acceptable for a turn-based game.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 5 out of 2949 tested combos in Hard West, placing it in the top 0.17% of all configurations analyzed.