Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the Intel Arc B370 produces a severely constrained gaming experience in Hitman 2, as evidenced by the measured frame rates. This combination ranks in the bottom percentile of all tested configurations, with the GPU acting as the primary bottleneck across all resolutions and settings. The data reveals a system that struggles to maintain playable frame rates at standard resolutions, making it a configuration suited only for the most forgiving graphical presets.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate behavior across resolutions illustrates a classic case of GPU-bound performance collapse. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS at High settings drops from 41 to 26, a 36.6% reduction. Scaling further to 3840x2160 yields only 14 FPS on average, representing a 65.9% decline from the 1080p baseline. This steep degradation curve indicates that the Intel Arc B370's rendering capabilities are exhausted quickly as pixel count increases.

The scaling pattern becomes even more telling when examining the Low preset. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 73 FPS, but this falls to 46 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 37% drop) and 25 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 65.8% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across different quality settings suggests that resolution scaling is the dominant factor, not the complexity of the scene or the CPU's ability to feed the GPU.

The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly punishing. At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 35 at 2560x1440 to 19 at 3840x2160, a 45.7% reduction. This disproportionate loss at 4K indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate are overwhelmed, as the Arc B370 relies on System Shared memory, making its effective bandwidth system-dependent rather than fixed. The pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s are simply insufficient for the demands of 4K rendering in this game.

The limiting component is unambiguously the GPU. The Ryzen 5 5600X, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is not the constraint here; the 3.70 GHz base and 4.60 GHz boost clocks provide ample single-thread performance for Hitman 2's stealth gameplay. The evidence is in the scaling: if the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain relatively flat as resolution increases. Instead, the FPS drops sharply with each resolution step, confirming that the Intel Arc B370's 1280 shading units and 20 ROPs are the limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined Ryzen 5 5600X and Arc B370 configuration ranks 2768 out of 3001 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the bottom 7.8% of all systems. This rank reflects the fundamental mismatch between the CPU's mid-range capability and the GPU's entry-level performance, with the latter dragging the overall experience down.

Contextualizing the individual components makes this ranking unsurprising. The Ryzen 5 5600X holds a 75th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21771. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H at 21749 (0.1% higher), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U at 21874 (0.5% higher), and the Intel Core i7-11700 at 21891 (0.5% higher). This places the CPU in solidly mid-pack territory, capable of handling modern gaming workloads without issue.

In stark contrast, the Intel Arc B370 sits at the 5th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of only 1184. Its nearest rivals are all legacy or low-power parts: the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 at 1186, the ATI Radeon HD 5770 at 1190, and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M at 1192. The 0.2-0.7% deltas between these scores show that the Arc B370 is competing with hardware from more than a decade ago, not modern gaming GPUs.

The combination of a 75th-percentile CPU with a 5th-percentile GPU produces a system that is catastrophically imbalanced for gaming. The combo rank of 2768 out of 3001 reflects this reality: the CPU's potential is entirely wasted when paired with a GPU that cannot translate its processing power into frame rate. The result is a configuration that performs worse than the sum of its parts would suggest, as the GPU bottleneck constrains every aspect of gameplay.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the system achieves playable frame rates. At this resolution, even the Ultra preset manages 30 FPS on average, while Low settings reach 73 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform compared to High?

A: Across all resolutions, Ultra consistently delivers significantly lower frame rates than High. At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 30 FPS versus 41 FPS for High, a 26.8% reduction. At 2560x1440, the gap widens to 19 FPS versus 26 FPS, a 26.9% drop.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this configuration?

A: The GPU is the definitive bottleneck. The resolution scaling pattern shows frame rates dropping sharply with each increase in pixel count, which is characteristic of GPU-bound performance. The CPU's 75th percentile ranking and strong benchmark scores indicate it is not the constraint.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 2560x1440?

A: At 1440p, the system averages 46 FPS on Low, 35 FPS on Medium, 26 FPS on High, and 19 FPS on Ultra. Only the Low preset approaches acceptable smoothness, while the higher presets fall below typical playability thresholds.

Q: How does the Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B370's average benchmark score of 1184 places it within 0.7% of the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190), and AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192). The AMD FirePro M2000 trails at 1168, 1.4% lower.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Hitman 2?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the maximum average frame rate achieved is 25 FPS on Low settings. The Medium preset averages 19 FPS, High averages 14 FPS, and Ultra averages only 10 FPS. None of these are viable for smooth gameplay.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to a clear hierarchy of playable configurations, with 1920x1080 being the only resolution that delivers consistently acceptable performance. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 73 FPS, which provides a fluid experience suitable for the stealth mechanics of Hitman 2. The Medium preset at 54 FPS remains playable, though the 46 FPS minimum frame rate indicates occasional dips below the desired threshold.

For users seeking higher visual fidelity, the High preset at 1080p offers 41 FPS, which is borderline acceptable for a game that does not require twitch reflexes. The Ultra preset at 30 FPS sits at the edge of playability, and the absence of minimum frame rate data suggests potential inconsistency. Given the game's stealth genre, where precision and reaction time matter, the Medium preset at 1080p emerges as the optimal balance between visual quality and performance.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset at 46 FPS is the only option that approaches smoothness, while Medium at 35 FPS and High at 26 FPS are marginal at best. The Ultra preset at 19 FPS is not viable. For users who must play at 1440p, Low settings are the only recommendation, and even then, frame pacing may suffer in crowded scenes.

The 3840x2160 resolution should be avoided entirely. The maximum of 25 FPS on Low settings is insufficient for enjoyable gameplay, and the higher presets render the game essentially unplayable. The data suggests that this combo is fundamentally a 1080p configuration, and users should adjust their expectations accordingly.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings produces the following average frame rates: Low achieves 73 FPS, Medium achieves 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 and maximum of 63, High achieves 41 FPS, and Ultra achieves 30 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 43 FPS, demonstrating the significant performance cost of the higher-quality presets. The Medium preset's minimum of 46 FPS suggests that even at this moderate setting, there are moments of noticeable frame rate drops, likely during complex scenes or when multiple NPCs are on screen.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance diminishes substantially. Low settings average 46 FPS, representing a 37% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium averages 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 and maximum of 40, indicating that the 30 FPS floor is barely maintained. High settings average 26 FPS, while Ultra falls to 19 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 27 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor across all presets.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low settings average 25 FPS, Medium averages 19 FPS with a minimum of 16 and maximum of 21, High averages 14 FPS, and Ultra averages 10 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 16 FPS highlights the instability at this resolution, with frame times likely varying significantly. The 15 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is the smallest spread across all resolutions, confirming that the GPU is saturated regardless of the quality settings chosen.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X provides the computational foundation for this configuration, and its specifications suggest it is more than capable of handling Hitman 2's requirements. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, the CPU offers a robust multi-threaded performance profile. The base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz deliver strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for game logic and AI calculations.

Benchmark results corroborate the CPU's capability. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11838 and single-core score of 1541 indicate solid processing power. The Geekbench multicore score of 9173 and single-core score of 1989 further reinforce this assessment. The 3DMark scores show scaling from 1793 with 2 threads to 5588 with maximum threads, demonstrating that the CPU can effectively utilize its 12 threads when the workload demands it.

In the context of Hitman 2, the CPU's role is to manage the game's stealth AI, physics interactions, and scene loading. The Ryzen 5 5600X's PassMark multithread score of 21858 and floating-point math score of 39487 suggest it handles these tasks efficiently. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU's capabilities are never fully utilized, as the GPU bottleneck prevents the system from reaching the frame rates the CPU could support at lower resolutions.

The CPU's 75th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21771, places it in the upper-middle tier of processors. Its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H and Intel Core i7-11700, show that the 5600X is competitive with other established mid-range parts. This performance headroom is wasted in this configuration, as the Arc B370 cannot translate the CPU's processing power into higher frame rates.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the decisive factor in this configuration's performance, and its specifications reveal why it struggles so severely in Hitman 2. Based on the Xe3-LPG architecture with 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units, the GPU is designed for power efficiency rather than raw gaming performance. The 25 W TDP and integrated graphics form factor (IGP) suggest this is intended for compact or low-power systems, not dedicated gaming rigs.

The memory configuration is particularly problematic. The Arc B370 uses System Shared memory, meaning its bandwidth is dependent on the system's DDR4 memory rather than dedicated VRAM. The Ryzen 5 5600X supports dual-channel DDR4 with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, but this is shared with the CPU, creating contention. The GPU's effective memory bandwidth is therefore system-dependent, likely resulting in significantly lower throughput than a dedicated graphics card would provide.

The GPU's benchmark results are damning. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 places the Arc B370 at the 5th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, ATI Radeon HD 5770, and AMD Radeon HD 7650M, all of which are legacy parts from years ago. The 0.2-0.7% performance deltas between these GPUs show that the Arc B370 is not merely slow; it is competing with hardware that is obsolete by modern standards.

The GPU's clock speeds of 300 MHz base and 2400 MHz boost are respectable for an integrated part, but the low core counts and shared memory undermine any advantage. The fp32 performance of 6.144 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s are insufficient for Hitman 2's rendering demands at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data confirms this, with the GPU failing to maintain 30 FPS at 1080p Ultra and dropping to single digits at 4K Ultra. The Arc B370 is simply not designed for gaming at the level required by this title.