Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with AMD Ryzen 5 5600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

The pairing of AMD's Ryzen 5 5600X with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4080 produces a striking range of frame rates in Hitman 2, from a barely-playable 43 FPS at 4K Ultra to a blistering 297 FPS at 1080p Low. This combination sits at rank 309 out of 3,711 tested combos, placing it in the top 8.3% of all configurations tested for this game. The data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but increasingly CPU-bound as resolution drops, with the 6-core, 12-thread Zen 3 processor showing its limits at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop varies dramatically by settings preset. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 172 FPS at 1920x1080 to 110 FPS at 2560x1440 to 58 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 36% reduction going from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 47% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 66%, which indicates the RTX 4080 is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The Low settings preset tells a different story. At 1080p Low, the system produces 297 FPS, which drops to 193 FPS at 1440p and 103 FPS at 4K. The percentage decline from 1080p to 1440p is 35%, nearly identical to the High preset, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is 47% again. However, the absolute numbers reveal that at 1080p Low, the CPU is likely becoming the bottleneck — 297 FPS is an extremely high frame rate that stresses the Ryzen 5 5600X's single-thread capabilities.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the system delivers 126 FPS, dropping to 81 FPS at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and then to 43 FPS at 4K (a 47% reduction from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 43 FPS is the only sub-60 FPS result in the entire dataset, suggesting that this preset combination pushes the RTX 4080 beyond its comfortable limits in this particular game engine.

The Medium preset, which is the only one with min and max FPS data recorded, shows a similar pattern: 227 FPS at 1080p, 145 FPS at 1440p, and 77 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are consistent across all presets — approximately 36% from 1080p to 1440p and 47% from 1440p to 4K — which indicates that the scaling behavior is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven.

What the data reveals about the limiting component is nuanced. At 4K, the RTX 4080 is clearly the bottleneck across all presets, as the frame rates scale nearly linearly with the pixel count increase. At 1080p, however, the relatively modest frame rate differences between presets (297 FPS Low vs 126 FPS Ultra) suggest the CPU is starting to constrain performance, particularly at Low settings where the GPU has less work to do.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 brings substantial resources to Hitman 2, and the measured results reflect a GPU that is overqualified for this game at lower resolutions but appropriately challenged at 4K Ultra. The card features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 716.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2205 MHz with a boost clock of 2505 MHz, and its memory runs at 1400 MHz with 22.4 Gbps effective speed.

In terms of compute capability, the RTX 4080 packs 9,728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster operation processors. The card also includes 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores, though Hitman 2's engine from 2018 does not heavily leverage these features. The GPU's FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s are far beyond what this game requires, which explains the extremely high frame rates at 1080p.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Hitman 2 at any resolution, as this game's texture requirements are modest by modern standards. The memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s ensures that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU has ample bandwidth to feed its processing units. The fact that 4K Ultra still only produces 43 FPS suggests that the bottleneck at that preset is raw shader throughput or some other compute limitation rather than memory capacity or bandwidth.

The RTX 4080's benchmark scores place it at the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54,247. Its nearest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER at 54,209 (a 0.1% difference), followed by the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 54,828 (-1.1%) and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55,698 (-2.6%). These margins are small, indicating that the RTX 4080 sits in a tightly contested performance bracket, though its actual in-game results for Hitman 2 are what matter most here.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 4080 overkill for Hitman 2 at 1080p?

A: The data suggests yes for most settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 297 FPS, and even at 1080p Ultra it maintains 126 FPS. The Ryzen 5 5600X appears to become the limiting factor at this resolution, as the GPU has more than enough power to push far beyond typical display refresh rates.

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

A: Based on the measured results, 1440p offers the best balance. At 1440p High, the system delivers 110 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Even at 1440p Ultra, the 81 FPS average remains highly playable, making this resolution the sweet spot for visual quality and performance.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 309 out of 3,711 tested combos for Hitman 2, placing it in the top 8.3% of all configurations. This indicates that while the system is not the absolute fastest, it is significantly above average and should provide a high-quality experience in this game.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck at 4K?

A: At 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The frame rates at 4K (58 FPS High, 77 FPS Medium, 103 FPS Low, 43 FPS Ultra) are all substantially lower than at lower resolutions, and the scaling pattern aligns with pixel count increases, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios.

Q: What settings preset delivers the highest frame rates?

A: The Low preset delivers the highest frame rates at every resolution: 297 FPS at 1080p, 193 FPS at 1440p, and 103 FPS at 4K. However, the visual quality trade-off may not be worth the performance gain at 1440p, where High already delivers 110 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 4080's 16 GB VRAM matter for Hitman 2?

A: The 16 GB VRAM is far more than Hitman 2 requires, as the game was released in 2018 with more modest hardware in mind. The memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s is also more than sufficient, meaning VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor at any resolution or settings preset in this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination ranks 309 out of 3,711 tested combos for Hitman 2, placing it in the top 8.3% of all configurations tested. This is a strong result that reflects the high-end nature of both components, though the ranking suggests there are still 308 configurations that perform better in this specific game.

The CPU component of this combo has a percentile rank of 75 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21,771. Its nearest rivals show how tightly packed the mid-to-high-end CPU market is: the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H scores 21,749 (0.1% higher), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U scores 21,874 (-0.5%), the Intel Core i7-11700 scores 21,891 (-0.5%), and the AMD EPYC 9554P scores 21,899 (-0.6%). These margins of less than 1% indicate that the Ryzen 5 5600X's raw compute performance is competitive with a wide range of CPUs from different generations and market segments.

The GPU component ranks at the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54,247. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54,209 (0.1% higher), which is essentially a tie. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X trails by 1.1% at 54,828, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and AMD Radeon 8060S are 2.6% and 2.7% behind, respectively.

The combination of a 75th-percentile CPU with an 86th-percentile GPU produces a 91.7th-percentile result in Hitman 2, which suggests that the game benefits more from GPU performance than CPU performance. The fact that the combo ranking is higher than either component's individual percentile indicates that this pairing is well-balanced for this particular game, with neither component dragging the other down significantly.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset produces an average of 297 FPS, which is the single highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 227 FPS average, with a minimum of 193 FPS and a maximum of 261 FPS recorded. High settings yield 172 FPS average, while Ultra settings produce 126 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 171 FPS, demonstrating the significant performance cost of higher visual fidelity at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show clear scaling from 1080p. Low settings deliver 193 FPS average, which is still exceptionally high. Medium settings produce 145 FPS average, with a minimum of 123 FPS and a maximum of 167 FPS. High settings achieve 110 FPS average, and Ultra settings drop to 81 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 112 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming a more significant factor.

At 3840x2160, the performance landscape changes dramatically. Low settings still deliver a respectable 103 FPS average, but Medium drops to 77 FPS average, with a minimum of 66 FPS and a maximum of 89 FPS. High settings fall to 58 FPS average, and Ultra settings produce just 43 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 60 FPS, the narrowest of any resolution, confirming that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck at this resolution.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data at all three resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rate ranges from 193 to 261 FPS. At 1440p, it ranges from 123 to 167 FPS. At 4K, it ranges from 66 to 89 FPS. The consistency of these ranges relative to the averages suggests stable frame pacing with no severe stuttering or frame-time spikes.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For players with a 60 Hz display, the High preset at 4K delivers 58 FPS, which is just short of a locked 60 FPS experience. Dropping to Medium at 4K provides 77 FPS, which offers a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while maintaining moderate visual quality.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 110 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate displays up to 100-120 Hz. Players with 144 Hz monitors could consider the Medium preset at 145 FPS, though the visual quality difference between Medium and High may not justify the frame rate increase for most users. The Ultra preset at 1440p produces 81 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS and offers the best visual quality at this resolution.

For 1080p gaming, the High preset at 172 FPS is the recommended choice for most users, as it provides excellent visual quality while maintaining frame rates well above any standard display refresh rate. The Ultra preset at 126 FPS also remains highly playable, and the difference between High and Ultra is primarily in shadow quality and draw distance. The Low preset at 297 FPS is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rates are prioritized over visual fidelity.

The 4K Ultra preset at 43 FPS is the only measured result that falls below 60 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay on most displays. Players who insist on 4K with maximum settings should be prepared for a sub-optimal experience, as this combination of resolution and settings pushes the RTX 4080 beyond its comfortable performance envelope in Hitman 2. The 4K Medium preset at 77 FPS represents the best balance of visual quality and performance at 4K, while the 4K Low preset at 103 FPS offers the smoothest 4K experience at the cost of visual fidelity.