Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and AMD Radeon RX 580 pairing in Hitman 2 presents a study in balanced, but dated, hardware. The CPU, a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 2 part, brings strong multi-threaded headroom, while the GPU, a Polaris 20 chip from the RX 500 series, shows its age at higher resolutions. The data reveals a system that can handle 1080p gaming but struggles significantly as pixel counts climb, making the performance ceiling heavily dependent on the graphics card.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is built on the Zen 2 architecture (Matisse) using a 7 nm process from TSMC. With 6 cores and 12 threads, its base clock of 3.60 GHz can boost up to 4.20 GHz, providing a solid foundation for modern games. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache is a notable asset for gaming workloads, helping to reduce memory latency and improve performance in scenarios that require rapid data access. The CPU’s benchmark scores reinforce its capability; it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15045 and a single-core score of 2124.

In the context of Hitman 2, which is a stealth title that often simulates complex AI and crowd behaviors, the CPU’s thread count is relevant. The 12 threads allow the processor to handle background game logic without bottlenecking the main render thread. However, the data suggests that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor in this pairing. At 1080p Low settings, the system produces an average of 75.7 FPS, a figure that drops as the GPU becomes more strained. The Ryzen 5 3600’s percentile ranking of 76 against all CPUs indicates it is a well-above-average processor for its time, sitting close to rivals like the Intel Core i5-11400, which has an average score 0.1% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 5 1600, which the 3600 edges out by 0.2%.

The architecture’s efficiency is also notable. With a TDP of 65 W and support for PCIe Gen 4 (though the GPU uses PCIe 3.0), the CPU provides a stable platform. The benchmark results show that even under heavy multi-threaded loads, such as the PassMark multi-thread score of 17700, the processor maintains its composure. In Hitman 2, this translates to consistent frame pacing at lower resolutions, but the performance ceiling is clearly defined by the graphics card, not the processor.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is a GCN 4.0 architecture card (Polaris 20) fabricated on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries. It features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 1257 MHz, with a boost clock of 1340 MHz, and its memory runs at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). These specs allow the card to deliver 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which was respectable at its launch but is now considered entry-level.

In Hitman 2, the RX 580’s memory capacity of 8 GB is sufficient, but the raw shading power is the bottleneck. The card has 2304 shading units and 144 TMUs, but its pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s are modest by modern standards. This becomes evident in the measured FPS. At 1080p High settings, the card averages 46.9 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. Moving to 1440p High drops the average to 26.9 FPS, indicating the GPU is struggling to fill the larger frame buffer.

The GPU’s benchmark percentile of 53 places it in the middle of the pack, with rivals like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (0% delta) and the GTX 950 (0.1% faster) showing similar overall scores. This is a clear indication that the RX 580 is not a high-end part. Its PassMark G3D score of 8813 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 37453 reflect its compute limitations. In the context of the game’s Ultra settings, the GPU’s weaknesses are fully exposed, as the average FPS at 1080p Ultra is just 32.2, and at 4K Ultra it falls to a slideshow-like 14 FPS.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling across resolutions tells a clear story about system balance. At 1080p Low, the system averages 75.7 FPS, which is the highest result in the dataset. This suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions, but the GPU is already starting to cap the frame rate. Dropping to 1080p Medium reduces the average to 60.6 FPS, a 20% decrease, while High settings produce 46.9 FPS. The jump to Ultra at 1080p is dramatic, falling to 32.2 FPS, which is a 57% drop from Low settings.

The scaling becomes more punishing at 1440p. At 1440p Low, the average FPS is 47.8, which is a 37% reduction from the 1080p Low figure. This indicates that the GPU is now the primary bottleneck, as the increased pixel count directly impacts the rendering load. The 1440p High result of 26.9 FPS is a 43% drop from 1080p High, reinforcing that the RX 580’s fill rate and shader throughput are insufficient for this resolution. At 4K, the situation is dire. The 4K Low average is 27.9 FPS, which is 63% lower than 1080p Low. The 4K High average of 17.5 FPS and 4K Ultra of 14 FPS are effectively unplayable.

This pattern indicates that the Ryzen 5 3600 is not the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat across resolutions at the same settings. Instead, the FPS drops sharply with each resolution increase, which is a classic sign of GPU saturation. The RX 580 simply lacks the compute power to handle the pixel throughput demanded by 1440p and 4K, making the CPU’s headroom irrelevant at those settings.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Ryzen 5 3600 and RX 580 ranks 1657 out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places it in the bottom 8% of all tested systems, which is a poor showing for a pairing that includes a relatively capable CPU. The low rank is almost entirely attributable to the GPU’s performance. While the CPU sits in the 76th percentile against all CPUs, the GPU is in the 53rd percentile, and its real-world gaming performance is what drags the combo down.

This ranking means that most other tested combinations, even those with weaker CPUs, outperform this setup in Hitman 2. The data suggests that the RX 580 is holding back the system significantly. For example, the CPU’s nearest rivals, like the Intel Core i5-11400, have nearly identical CPU scores, but when paired with a stronger GPU, they would likely rank much higher. The combo’s position indicates that it is suitable for 1080p gaming on lower settings, but it is not competitive with modern hardware at higher resolutions or quality presets.

The rank also reflects the age of the components. The GPU was released in 2017, and the CPU in 2019, and the game itself is from 2018. The hardware is simply not optimized for the game’s demands at higher settings. The 1657th rank out of 1795 combos is a clear signal that users should expect significant compromises in visual fidelity or resolution to achieve playable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings for this combo to achieve a playable frame rate?

A: At 1080p Low, the system averages 75.7 FPS, which is the only setting in the dataset that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 60.6 FPS, which is still playable, but High settings at 46.9 FPS may feel sluggish for fast-paced action.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 3600 compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core i5-11400?

A: The Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 18129, while the Intel Core i5-11400 scores 18150. The deltaPct is -0.1%, meaning the Intel chip is 0.1% faster on average, which is a negligible difference in real-world gaming.

Q: Is the 8 GB of VRAM on the RX 580 sufficient for Hitman 2?

A: Yes, the 8 GB of GDDR5 memory is not the limiting factor in this game. The GPU’s compute performance (6.175 TFLOPS) and memory bandwidth (256.0 GB/s) are the bottlenecks, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops at higher resolutions despite having adequate VRAM capacity.

Q: Why does the FPS drop so significantly from 1080p to 4K?

A: The FPS drops from 75.7 at 1080p Low to 27.9 at 4K Low, a 63% reduction. This is because the RX 580’s pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s is too low to handle the 8.3 million pixels at 4K, making the GPU the primary limiting component.

Q: What does the combo rank of 1657 out of 1795 indicate about this system?

A: It indicates that this is a below-average pairing for Hitman 2. The GPU’s performance is the primary drag, as it sits in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU is in the 76th percentile, showing an imbalance where the GPU severely limits the system.

Q: Can this system achieve 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: No, the data shows that the maximum average FPS at 1440p is 47.8 on Low settings. At 1440p Medium, the average is 36.8 FPS, and at High, it is 26.9 FPS, so 60 FPS is not achievable at any settings in the dataset.