Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 combination delivers a solid 1080p experience in Hitman 2, but the data shows a steep performance cliff as resolution increases. Based on the measured frame rates, this pairing is best suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1920x1080, with playable but less impressive results at 2560x1440.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows reveal a clear tiering of performance across the four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 143.5 FPS, which is more than double the 60.3 FPS seen at Ultra. However, the most balanced choice is the High preset at 81.3 FPS. This frame rate clears the 60 FPS threshold with a comfortable margin, while the visual fidelity is significantly better than Low or Medium. The Medium preset at 112.3 FPS offers a higher refresh rate but the gap to High is only 31 FPS, while the visual quality difference is typically substantial.

At 2560x1440, the High preset drops to 55.6 FPS, just below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at 71.3 FPS is the better option here, as it maintains a smooth experience while still being above the Low preset’s 92.1 FPS. The Ultra preset at 42 FPS is not recommended for this resolution, as the frame rate falls into a range where input latency becomes noticeable. For 3840x2160, none of the presets are ideal; the Low preset at 51.1 FPS is the only option above 50 FPS, while High (26.6 FPS), Medium (35.3 FPS), and Ultra (23.9 FPS) are all below playable thresholds. The data indicates that the High preset at 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, balancing frame rate and visual quality. If a higher refresh rate is prioritized, the Medium preset at 112.3 FPS is the next logical step down.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 7600 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The memory clock operates at 2250 MHz with an effective data rate of 18 Gbps. The GPU’s boost clock is 2655 MHz, with a game clock of 2250 MHz and a base clock of 1720 MHz. These specifications position the card in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20258. The nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, scores 20146, meaning the RX 7600 is 0.6% ahead in average benchmark score. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534, placing the RX 7600 1.3% behind that mobile part.

In Hitman 2, the GPU’s role is clearly dominant at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the frame rate drops from 51.1 FPS at Low to 23.9 FPS at Ultra, a reduction of 27.2 FPS. This steep decline suggests the graphics card’s compute and memory resources are saturated. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is likely a limiting factor at 4K with High or Ultra settings, as the game’s texture and geometry demands exceed what the card can efficiently cache. At 1080p, the GPU has more headroom, as evidenced by the 143.5 FPS at Low settings. The card’s 64 ROPs and 128 TMUs handle the pixel and texture work effectively at lower resolutions, but the 128-bit memory bus becomes a bottleneck when the pixel count quadruples at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a significant load shift. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 81.3 FPS at 1920x1080 to 55.6 FPS at 2560x1440, a 25.7 FPS decrease. Moving to 3840x2160, the frame rate falls further to 26.6 FPS, a 54.7 FPS drop from 1440p. This pattern is consistent across all presets. At Low settings, the drop is from 143.5 FPS at 1080p to 92.1 FPS at 1440p, then to 51.1 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset goes from 112.3 FPS to 71.3 FPS to 35.3 FPS across the three resolutions. Ultra settings show the most severe degradation, from 60.3 FPS at 1080p to 42 FPS at 1440p and finally 23.9 FPS at 4K.

The percentage change between 1080p and 1440p is roughly 30-40% across presets, while the change between 1440p and 4K is closer to 50-60%. This indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting component at 4K, as the CPU’s role diminishes with the increased pixel workload. The Ryzen 5 5500’s six cores and twelve threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p, where the frame rates are high. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, as the frame rates collapse regardless of the CPU’s capabilities. The data suggests that this combo is best utilized at 1080p, where the CPU can keep up with the GPU’s output.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution. At High settings, the combo achieves 81.3 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, the same preset drops to 55.6 FPS, and at 3840x2160 it falls to 26.6 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 60.3 FPS. This is playable but leaves little headroom for frame rate dips. The High preset at 81.3 FPS offers a better margin.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at 3840x2160. The frame rate drops to 26.6 FPS at High settings, which is a 54.7 FPS reduction from 1440p. The CPU’s performance is less relevant at this resolution.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 92.1 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 42 FPS. This is a difference of 50.1 FPS.

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

A: This combo ranks 1227 out of 1795 tested combinations, placing it in the lower half of all tested pairings.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking?

A: The Radeon RX 7600 is in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20258.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this CPU and GPU pairing in Hitman 2 is 1227 out of 1795 tested combinations. This places it in the 68th percentile of all tested combos, meaning roughly 68% of tested pairings perform better. The rank reflects the GPU’s mid-tier position and the CPU’s entry-level status. The Ryzen 5 5500 is in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20875. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, scores 20897, which is 0.1% higher. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE scores 20900, also 0.1% higher. The AMD EPYC 7J13 scores 20845, putting the Ryzen 5 5500 0.1% ahead. The Intel Core i5-12600T scores 20917, which is 0.2% higher.

The GPU’s rank is lower than the CPU’s, as the RX 7600 sits in the 63rd percentile. This mismatch explains why the combo rank is below the CPU’s individual percentile. The data suggests that the GPU is the limiting component in this pairing, as the CPU has more headroom relative to its peers. In Hitman 2, the combo’s performance at 1080p is respectable, but the rank indicates that other combos with stronger GPUs will outperform it at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 features six cores and twelve threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. The CPU is built on the Zen 3 architecture using the Cezanne codename, fabricated on a 7 nm process. It has 16 MB of L3 cache, with 512 KB of L2 cache per core and 64 KB of L1 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration, with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The PCIe interface is Gen 3, which may limit data transfer rates to the GPU, but this is less impactful in gaming.

In Hitman 2, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU can deliver frames to the GPU efficiently, as evidenced by the 143.5 FPS at Low settings. The CPU’s single-thread performance, measured at 2319 in Cinebench R23, is sufficient for the game’s AI and physics calculations. The multicore score of 16429 in Cinebench R23 indicates the CPU can handle background tasks without affecting frame rates. However, the CPU’s PCIe Gen 3 interface may reduce bandwidth to the GPU, but the measured data does not show a clear impact at 1080p. At 4K, the CPU is not the bottleneck, as the GPU’s performance drops to 26.6 FPS at High settings. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are adequate for this game. The CPU’s benchmark scores, such as 5411 in 3DMark max threads and 19330 in Passmark multithread, confirm its capability to support the GPU without causing frame rate stalls.