Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 pairing delivers a clear picture of where the bottleneck lies in Hitman 2. This combination, ranking 1739th out of 3001 tested combos, shows a system that is capable of strong 1080p performance but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at higher resolutions. The data indicates that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as resolution increases, while the CPU provides a solid foundation that rarely holds the system back.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 159 FPS at 1920x1080 to 102 FPS at 2560x1440, a 36% reduction. Pushing further to 3840x2160, the average drops to 54 FPS, which is 66% lower than the 1080p result. This pattern is consistent across all settings, showing that the RX 9060 simply cannot maintain the pixel throughput demanded by 4K.

At High settings, the scaling is similar: 90 FPS at 1080p drops to 58 FPS at 1440p (36% loss) and then to 31 FPS at 4K (66% loss from 1080p). The Ultra preset tells an even more concerning story, with 66 FPS at 1080p falling to 43 FPS at 1440p and just 23 FPS at 4K. These numbers suggest that the game becomes progressively less playable as resolution increases, with the gap between 1440p and 4K being particularly punishing.

The medium preset provides the only complete frame time data, showing minimums and maximums. At 1080p Medium, the average is 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 and maximum of 137. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 76 FPS with minimums at 65 and maximums at 88. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 and maximum of 47. The minimum frame rates at 4K dip below 40 FPS, which is noticeable for a stealth game requiring precise timing.

The scaling behavior indicates that the system is not CPU-limited at higher resolutions. The consistent percentage drops across all presets suggest that the GPU is the bottleneck, as a CPU limitation would typically show less severe degradation at 4K. The 1080p results, particularly the 159 FPS Low setting, show that the CPU can feed the GPU well enough for high frame rates, but the GPU cannot keep up when pixel count increases.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 44 chip manufactured on a 4 nm process. It features 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. The GPU has 28 ray tracing cores and operates with a base clock of 1700 MHz and a boost clock of 2990 MHz, with a game clock rated at 2400 MHz. The memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's performance in Hitman 2 aligns with its benchmark scores. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and a PassMark G3D score of 17631 place it in the 59th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which scores 16129 in the average benchmark, a 0.7% delta from the RX 9060's 16014 average score. This close performance parity suggests the RX 9060 should deliver similar frame rates to the RTX 3060 Ti in most titles.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes a concern at higher resolutions. The 4K results show average frame rates dipping to 23 FPS at Ultra and 31 FPS at High, which suggests the GPU is not just bandwidth-limited but potentially memory-limited as well. The 128-bit memory bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are modest figures for 4K gaming, and the data reflects this limitation. The game clock of 2400 MHz and boost clock of 2990 MHz are high, but they cannot compensate for the memory subsystem constraints.

The GPU's texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s are competitive figures, yet the 4K results show the card falling below 60 FPS even at Low settings. The FP32 performance of 21.43 TFLOPS is respectable for this class, but Hitman 2's engine appears to be more dependent on fill rate and memory bandwidth than raw compute throughput. The 132 W TDP indicates a power-efficient design, but efficiency does not translate into higher frame rates when the memory bus is the limiting factor.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture using the Matisse codename on a 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, with 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth, and it uses the AMD Socket AM4 platform with PCIe Gen 4 providing 16 lanes.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance for its class. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15045 and single-core score of 2124 indicate a balanced processor that can handle both heavily threaded workloads and single-threaded tasks. The Geekbench multicore score of 7372 and single-core score of 1536 reinforce this assessment. The PassMark multithread score of 17700 and single-thread score of 2562 place it in the 71st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17035.

The nearest CPU rivals are closely matched: the Intel Core i7-1260P scores 17007 (0.2% delta), the Intel Core i5-11400 scores 17067 (-0.2% delta), and the AMD EPYC 7742 scores 16998 (0.2% delta). This clustering around 17000 suggests the Ryzen 5 3600 is well-positioned within its performance tier, offering competitive compute capabilities that should not bottleneck most games.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is evident from the 1080p results. The 159 FPS average at Low settings shows that the CPU can push frame rates well above what most displays can show. The 90 FPS at High settings and 66 FPS at Ultra settings at 1080p indicate that the CPU is not the limiting factor, as these frame rates are high enough that the GPU would typically be the constraint. The 3DMark scores of 4605 for 16 threads and 696 for single-thread further demonstrate that the processor has sufficient headroom for gaming workloads.

The 12 threads and 6 cores are adequate for Hitman 2, which is not known for extreme CPU demands. The 32 MB L3 cache helps with game data locality, and the 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth is sufficient for the game's engine. The boost clock of 4.20 GHz provides good single-thread performance, which is often more important in games that do not scale perfectly across all cores.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 3600 and Radeon RX 9060 ranks 1739th out of 3001 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places the pairing in the lower half of tested configurations, which reflects the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions rather than any CPU deficiency. The rank indicates that while this combo can handle 1080p gaming admirably, it falls behind many other pairings when pushing to 1440p or 4K.

The CPU's performance percentile of 71% among all CPUs is notably higher than the GPU's 59% percentile among all GPUs. This disparity suggests that the GPU is the weaker component in this pairing, which is consistent with the resolution scaling data showing significant frame rate drops at higher resolutions. The CPU has more headroom relative to its peers than the GPU does, meaning the system is unbalanced toward the CPU side in terms of relative performance.

The combo rank of 1739 out of 3001 means that roughly 42% of tested combinations perform better in Hitman 2. This is a below-median result, but context matters. Many of the better-performing combos likely pair the same or similar CPUs with higher-tier GPUs. The data suggests that if a user upgraded the GPU to a model with higher performance, such as moving closer to the RTX 3060 Ti's benchmark score of 16129, the combo rank would improve substantially.

The measured FPS data confirms this analysis. At 1080p, the combo performs well across all settings, but the 4K results are poor. The Ultra preset at 4K delivers only 23 FPS, which is unplayable for most users. Even at 1440p, the Ultra preset at 43 FPS is marginal. The combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it delivers playable frame rates at all settings, and can handle 1440p at Medium or lower settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hitman 2?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 as the best resolution, with average frame rates ranging from 66 FPS at Ultra to 159 FPS at Low. At 2560x1440, the average drops to 43 FPS at Ultra and 58 FPS at High, which is playable but not ideal for competitive play.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to the RTX 3060 Ti in benchmark scores?

A: The RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014, while the RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129. This represents a 0.7% delta, indicating nearly identical performance in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 3600 holding back the RX 9060 in this game?

A: The data suggests no. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking and the 1080p results showing up to 159 FPS indicate the CPU has sufficient headroom. The resolution scaling pattern shows the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Q: What settings should be used for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The measured data shows 4K performance is limited. Low settings deliver 54 FPS average, Medium delivers 41 FPS, High delivers 31 FPS, and Ultra delivers 23 FPS. Users should stick to Low or Medium for acceptable frame rates.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 17035. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-1260P at 17007 (0.2% delta) and the Intel Core i5-11400 at 17067 (-0.2% delta), showing the CPU is well-matched within its performance tier.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum measured frame rate is 65 FPS, with an average of 76 FPS and a maximum of 88 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low settings: 159 FPS average
• Medium settings: 119 FPS average, 101 FPS minimum, 137 FPS maximum
• High settings: 90 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 66 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low settings: 102 FPS average
• Medium settings: 76 FPS average, 65 FPS minimum, 88 FPS maximum
• High settings: 58 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 43 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low settings: 54 FPS average
• Medium settings: 41 FPS average, 35 FPS minimum, 47 FPS maximum
• High settings: 31 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 23 FPS average

The 1080p results show this combo can handle the game smoothly at all settings, with even Ultra exceeding 60 FPS. The 1440p results are mixed, with Low and Medium settings playable but High and Ultra falling below 60 FPS. The 4K results are generally not recommended for serious gameplay, as only Low settings manage to stay above 50 FPS, and Ultra drops to 23 FPS, which is well below acceptable playability thresholds. The medium preset provides the only complete frame time data across all resolutions, showing that frame pacing remains consistent even at lower frame rates, with the gap between minimum and maximum FPS narrowing as resolution increases.