Hitman 2

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the Intel Arc B580 produces a clear, tiered performance profile in Hitman 2, with results that scale predictably across the three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the combination delivers a strong baseline: Low settings average 142 FPS, Medium 106.9 FPS, and High 77 FPS. Ultra is the only preset that dips below the 60 FPS threshold, landing at 57.4 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages compress noticeably—Low drops to 88.4 FPS, Medium to 65.8 FPS, High to 53.4 FPS, and Ultra to 39.8 FPS. At 3840x2160, the Arc B580’s bandwidth limits become apparent: Low averages 48.4 FPS, Medium 37.5 FPS, High 24.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 19.1 FPS. Notably, the dataset provides no min or max FPS values, so the analysis relies solely on average frame rates, which still reveal a consistent pattern of diminishing returns as resolution scales upward.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the i5-14600K and Arc B580 combination shows its strongest hand. The Low preset averages 142 FPS, which is more than double the 60 FPS playable threshold and indicates the CPU is not a limiting factor at this resolution. Medium follows at 106.9 FPS, still far above the threshold, while High averages 77 FPS—a comfortable margin that suggests headroom for demanding scenes. Ultra is the outlier at 57.4 FPS, falling just 2.6 FPS short of the playable line. The step from High to Ultra costs 19.6 FPS, a larger drop than the 29.9 FPS difference between Low and Medium, indicating that Ultra introduces a disproportionately heavy load on the GPU’s shading units.

At 2560x1440, the scaling pattern shifts. Low averages 88.4 FPS, which remains playable but is 53.6 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium averages 65.8 FPS, clearing the threshold by 5.8 FPS, while High drops to 53.4 FPS and Ultra to 39.8 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 12.4 FPS, and between High and Ultra it is 13.6 FPS—both smaller than the 22.6 FPS drop from Low to Medium. This suggests that at 1440p, the GPU is becoming the primary constraint, as each preset step costs a similar amount of performance rather than the steep Ultra penalty seen at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the combination is clearly overmatched. Low averages 48.4 FPS, which is below the playable threshold, and every other preset falls further: Medium at 37.5 FPS, High at 24.6 FPS, and Ultra at 19.1 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 10.9 FPS, between Medium and High is 12.9 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 5.5 FPS. The relatively small drop from High to Ultra at 4K contrasts with the larger drop at 1080p, implying that at 4K the render resolution itself—rather than specific settings—is the dominant factor, and the GPU’s 12 GB memory and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient to maintain fluid frame rates regardless of preset.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High, with an average of 77 FPS. This is the optimal choice because it provides a 17 FPS margin over the threshold while Ultra falls short at 57.4 FPS. The data shows no reason to select Medium (106.9 FPS) or Low (142 FPS) unless the user prioritizes maximum frame rates over visual fidelity, but High is the highest preset that meets the playable criterion.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are Medium, averaging 65.8 FPS. This clears the 60 FPS threshold by 5.8 FPS, which is a modest but real buffer. Low averages 88.4 FPS and is also playable, but Medium offers a substantial visual upgrade for a 22.6 FPS cost. High (53.4 FPS) and Ultra (39.8 FPS) are not viable under the 60 FPS rule.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves the playable threshold. The closest is Low at 48.4 FPS, which is 11.6 FPS below the target. The verdict data confirms this: the playable settings list is empty for 4K, and the best settings field is null. Users targeting 4K would need to reduce resolution or accept sub-60 FPS performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest playable preset at 1920x1080?

A: High settings, which average 77 FPS. Ultra is not playable, averaging 57.4 FPS.

Q: Does the Intel Arc B580 handle 2560x1440 in Hitman 2?

A: Yes, but only on Low and Medium presets. Medium averages 65.8 FPS, which is the best playable option; High falls to 53.4 FPS and Ultra to 39.8 FPS.

Q: Can this combo run Hitman 2 at 3840x2160?

A: No. The highest average is 48.4 FPS on Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. No preset at 4K is playable.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p on Medium settings?

A: Medium drops from 106.9 FPS at 1920x1080 to 65.8 FPS at 2560x1440, a loss of 41.1 FPS, or roughly 38% of the 1080p average.

Q: What is the average FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1920x1080?

A: Low averages 142 FPS, while Ultra averages 57.4 FPS, a difference of 84.6 FPS. This shows the Ultra preset imposes a significant load on the GPU at 1080p.

Q: Is the i5-14600K the bottleneck at any resolution?

A: The data does not isolate CPU vs. GPU usage, but the FPS scaling suggests that at 1080p Low (142 FPS), the CPU is likely the limiting factor, while at 4K (19.1 FPS on Ultra), the GPU is clearly the constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600K and Intel Arc B580 combination ranks 2801 out of 3711 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, meaning a majority of tested hardware configurations outperform it in this specific game. The percentile data for the individual components supports this: the CPU sits at the 90th percentile among all CPUs, indicating strong general compute capability, while the GPU is at the 68th percentile among all GPUs. The discrepancy between the CPU’s high percentile and the combo’s relatively low rank suggests that the Arc B580 is the limiting factor for Hitman 2, as the game’s frame rates are heavily dependent on the GPU’s rasterization performance. The combo rank of 2801 out of 3711 means that roughly 24% of tested combos perform worse, but the majority deliver higher average FPS. This is consistent with the GPU’s modest 68th percentile standing, which places it below many mid-range and high-end cards in the database.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the Intel Core i5-14600K’s average benchmark score of 48618 is closely matched by several other processors. The Intel Xeon Gold 5318H scores 48698, a delta of -0.2%, meaning it is essentially equivalent in general compute. The AMD EPYC 4345P scores 48470 (delta 0.3%), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX scores 48287 (delta 0.7%), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995 (delta -0.8%). In Hitman 2, any of these CPUs would likely produce similar frame rates when paired with the same GPU, as the game’s CPU demands at 1080p Low are met by all of them. For the GPU, the Intel Arc B580’s average score of 23021 is bracketed by the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (23061, delta -0.2%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895, delta 0.6%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (23172, delta -0.7%), and NVIDIA P106-100 (23249, delta -1%). The RTX 2080 and RTX 3080 are notable comparisons: despite being older architectures, their scores are within 1% of the Arc B580, suggesting they would deliver nearly identical FPS in Hitman 2. The RX 580 2048SP and P106-100 are also within 1%, indicating that the Arc B580’s performance class is well established across multiple vendors.

The Verdict

This PC can run Hitman 2, but the playable range is strictly limited to 1920x1080 and 2560x1440. At 1920x1080, the High preset averages 77 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold with a 17 FPS buffer. Medium and Low are also playable, averaging 106.9 FPS and 142 FPS respectively. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 65.8 FPS, which is playable but with a slimmer margin of 5.8 FPS; Low is also playable at 88.4 FPS. The High preset at 1440p averages 53.4 FPS and is not playable, and Ultra at 39.8 FPS is far below the threshold. At 3840x2160, no preset is playable—the best average is 48.4 FPS on Low, which is 11.6 FPS short of the target. The verdict data confirms this: playable settings exist only for 1440p (Low, Medium) and 1080p (High, Low, Medium), with the best settings being Medium at 1440p (65.8 FPS) and High at 1080p (77 FPS). Users seeking a consistent 60+ FPS experience should target 1080p High for quality or 1440p Medium for higher resolution, while avoiding 4K entirely.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a clear division of labor between the Intel Core i5-14600K and Intel Arc B580 across resolutions. At 1920x1080, the CPU’s role is more prominent: the Low preset averages 142 FPS, which is a frame rate that most GPUs in the Arc B580’s class cannot sustain, indicating the i5-14600K’s 14 cores and 20 threads are capable of feeding the GPU at high speed. The drop from Low to Medium at 1080p is 35.1 FPS (142 to 106.9), and from Medium to High is 29.9 FPS (106.9 to 77), showing that the GPU begins to take over as settings increase. At 2560x1440, the GPU’s dominance grows: Low averages 88.4 FPS, which is still high but 53.6 FPS lower than at 1080p, a direct consequence of the increased pixel count. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p on the same preset (e.g., Medium: 106.9 to 65.8 FPS, a 41.1 FPS drop) demonstrates that the Arc B580’s 456.0 GB/s bandwidth and 13.67 TFLOPS are insufficient to maintain frame rates when pixel output rises by 78%. At 3840x2160, the GPU is unequivocally the bottleneck: even Low averages only 48.4 FPS, which is 39.6 FPS lower than 1440p Low, and Ultra falls to 19.1 FPS. The CPU’s high percentile (90th) cannot compensate for the GPU’s 68th percentile standing, and the game’s frame rates at 4K are almost entirely determined by the Arc B580’s raw throughput. In summary, the i5-14600K is more than sufficient for Hitman 2 at all resolutions, but the Arc B580’s performance ceiling is reached at 1440p Medium, with 1080p being the only resolution where the CPU’s capabilities are fully utilized.