Hard West

The combo of Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 in Hard West is ranked 165th out of 3,722 tested system combinations, placing it in the top tier of measured performance. The CPU is an Arrow Lake Refresh 24-core part with a 5.50 GHz boost clock, while the GPU is an Ada Lovelace card with 16 GB GDDR6X memory and 9728 shading units. Measured FPS spans from 328 at 1080p Low to 51 at 4K Ultra, and the twelve data points reveal clear scaling behavior across resolution and preset levels. This page breaks down the results, compares the components against their nearest rivals, and interprets what the numbers imply for players.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo occupies position 165 out of 3,722, which is roughly the top 4.4% of all measured configurations. This percentile places the pairing at the upper edge of what is viable for the hardware market, largely because both halves are near the top of their respective product stacks. Look at the CPU first. The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus sits at the 96th percentile when compared to all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 93,785. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6520P, is statistically identical at a delta of 0%. The three other contenders—AMD EPYC 4564P (−1.5%), AMD EPYC 9175F (−1.9%), and AMD EPYC 4565P (−2.1%)—all score slightly lower. That places the Intel chip at the top of the CPU chart by a meaningful margin.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4080 has an 86th percentile vs. all GPUs and an average score of 54,247. Its closest product is the RTX 4080 SUPER, which is only 0.1% faster—essentially a tie. The next rivals, the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (−1.1%), Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (−2.6%), and Radeon 8060S (−2.7%), are noticeably farther behind. Because both the CPU and GPU are at or near the top of their benchmark tiers, the combo's overall rank of 165 out of 3,722 is expected. The numbers corroborate that the system is balanced and that neither component is holding the other back in a significant way.

The nearestRivals data also points to the fact that the RTX 4080 is essentially the same as the SUPER variant when measured by this benchmark suite. That means the follow-up SUPER model offers no measurable advantage in this particular game, and the two can be considered interchangeable for frame‑rate predictions. Similarly, the CPU is within 0% of the Intel Xeon 6520P, which is a server part; for gaming, the extra cores of the Ultra 7 are more important, but the raw compute score line up closely.

GPU Role

The RTX 4080 uses the AD103 chip with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256‑bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. Its core runs at 2205 MHz base and 2505 MHz boost, and the memory effective speed is 22.4 Gbps. For a turn‑based tactics game like Hard West, high bandwidth is not a bottleneck; the visual load is modest by 2026‑era standards. Nevertheless, the GPU still sets the pace at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra the combo delivers only 51 FPS, indicating that the extreme preset plus 8.3 million pixels is a significant drain. In contrast, at 1080p Ultra the same preset produces 155 FPS, a 3-fold increase.

The 16 GB VRAM is nearly excess for Hard West, which likely uses a small footprint; none of the measured frames show any indication of VRAM pressure. The bus width (256 bit) and bandwidth (761.5 GB/s) are far more than needed. This means the GPU's computational strength—its 9728 unified shaders and 304 tensor cores—is the deciding element, not memory capacity. The core count and clock speeds translate directly into the ability to push medium-resolution frames at high speeds.

At 1080p Low, the combo hits 328 FPS, which is almost six times the rate of 4K Ultra. That extreme range suggests the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, while at the lowest setting the CPU is allowed to lead. The data shows that the RTX 4080 is capable of delivering title‑appropriate frame rates even at 1440p Ultra (98 FPS) and 4K High (69 FPS), which are all playable for a turn-based game that does not require high refresh.

Resolution Scaling

Resolution affects average FPS in a consistent pattern across all four presets. At High settings, the mean FPS is  per resolution: 1080p 206, 1440p 131, and 4K 69. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 75 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is another 62 FPS. These are not proportional to the pixel‑count change—the resolution jumps are 1.78× and 2.25× in total pixel count, but the FPS decrease is about 36% and 47% respectively. This indicates that the GPU is becoming the sole limit as the render size grows. When the preset is Low, the same pattern holds: 1080p Low gives 328 FPS, 1440p Low 207 FPS, and 4Kp Low 109 FPS. That is exactly a halving between each resolution step, which is the classic sign of a GPU‑bounded scenario.

For Hard West, which does not have heavy VRAM usage, the scaling strongly points to the pixel fill rate and shading cores as the main determinants. At 1080p, the 328 FPS result (likely the highest fps measured across the full dataset) indicates that the CPU can push far more frames than the GPU can render; thus the system is CPU‑limited. At 4K, however, the GPU’s raw raster throughput caps the output, and the CPU’s capabilities remain in the background. The medium preset includes min/max frames, and at 4K Medium the minimum is 76 and the maximum 103 FPS, showing some variability but still a stable average of 89 FPS—slightly higher than High.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded across all tested configurations?

A: 328 FPS, achieved at 1920×1080 resolution with the Low preset.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS that still appears in the measurable range?

A: The lowest average FPS is 51 FPS, at 3840×2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has a benchmark score 0.1% higher: 54,209 vs 54,247. This margin is negligible and does not affect real‑world performance in this game.

Q: Which of the two main components has a better standing against its peers?

A: The CPU’s 96th percentile is higher than the GPU’s 86th. The Ultra 7 outperforms its nearest rival (Xeon 6520P) by 0%, while the GPU is 0.1% slower than an RTX 4080 SUPER.

Q: What GPU memory configuration does the 4080 use?

A: It has 16 GB of GDDR6X on a 256‑bit bus with 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: At 2560×1440, what is the difference between High and Ultra average FPS?

A: High produces 131 FPS, Ultra produces 98 FPS; a 33 FPS reduction from the Ultra preset.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear guide for which preset to choose on a given display. At 3840×2160, the Medium preset strikes the best balance: it averages 89 FPS with a minimum of 76, while High gives 69 FPS and the Ultra mode drops to 51 FPS. If you want the highest quality without sacrificing a stable 60 FPS, Medium is the safest option. At 2560×1440, High yields a 131 FPS average, which is far above refresh rates and still provides visually rich detail. Ultra also surpasses the 60 FPS line (98 average, minimum of 144? Actually min for medium is 144, but for Ultra no min given). Given that the game is turn‑based, even a 60 FPS floor is sufficient; the Ultra preset at 1440p is a more impactful visual step while staying well above any performance floor.

At 1920×1080, all presets exceed 155 FPS, and even Ultra at 155 FPS is more than enough for any monitor. Here, the compromise between settings and CPU usage is unnecessary. The lowest meaningful difference is Low (328) versus Ultra (236); the gap of 92 FPS is noticeable on very high refresh displays, but for most screens either preset is acceptable. Overall, the strongest recommendation from the data is to run Medium at 4K, High at 1440p, and Ultra at 1080p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is an Arrow Lake Refresh processor with 24 cores and 24 threads, base clock 3.70 GHz, boost up to 5.50 GHz. It uses 24 cores, which sounds overkill for a turn‑based strategy game, but the high boost clock and a single‑core Cinebench R23 score of 2,439 indicate that it can drive game logic quickly. The CPU’s 32 MB of L3 shared cache (36 MB) helps with game state changes, and its PCIe Gen 5 interface offers ample bandwidth for the RTX 4080. In Hard West, CPU at 1080p Low reaches 348 FPS, which is higher than the GPU can sustain at any resolution, signaling that the CPU is not a limiting factor at low presets. Even at 1080p Ultra, the CPU still delivers 155 FPS—far above any displays real capacity.

The PassMark single‑thread score of 5,068 and multithread score of 68,574 show that the CPU excels both in design and in parallel workloads, but the game’s logic is likely single‑threaded. In frame‑rate data, the CPU only appears as a wall at 1080p High/Low; once the resolution rises or the quality preset increases, the GPU takes over. The conclusion is that this processor is more than sufficient for Hard West, providing a large headroom for advanced thread logic and AI routines that occur in turn‑based scripting.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full set of measured frames is presented below. Only the Medium preset has reported minimum and maximum values; others list only the average FPS.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 1920×1080 | Low | 328 | – | – |

| 1920×1080 | Medium | 269 | 228 | 309 |

| 1920×1080 | High | 206 | – | – |

| 1920×1080 | Ultra | 155 | – | – |

| 2560×1440 | Low | 207 | – | – |

| 2560×1440 | Medium | 170 | 144 | 195 |

| 2560×1440 | High | 131 | – | – |

| 2560×1440 | Ultra | 98 | – | – |

| 3840×2160 | Low | 109 | – | – |

| 3840×2160 | Medium | 89 | 76 | 103 |

| 3840×2160 | High | 69 | – | – |

| 3840×2160 | Ultra | 51 | – | – |

The numbers confirm the scaling pattern: at each resolution the Low preset provides higher FPS than the medium, Medium higher than High, and High higher than Ultra. The min/max values for the three Medium presets indicate a tight fluctuation of about 7–10% around the average. For instance, at 4K Medium, the FPS spans from 76 to 103, a stable band of only 27 units. That stability makes the Medium preset a safe choice for consistency.

At 4K Ultra, the average dips to 51 FPS—even a turn‑based title can be playable with 51 FPS, but it shows the GPU is pushed to its limit. In contrast, the CPU never becomes a hindrance; even at the most demanding preset (4K Ultra), the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU. These measured results provide a chilly baseline for owners of this hardware pairing in Hard West.