Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F paired with the Intel Arc B390 delivers a severely GPU-bound experience in Hitman 2, with performance collapsing at higher resolutions and settings. The combination ranks in the bottom 11% of all tested combos, indicating that this is not a viable configuration for smooth gameplay beyond the lowest settings at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a stark and consistent pattern: performance falls off a cliff as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 80 FPS, which is the only playable result in the entire dataset. Moving to 1440p at the same Low settings drops the average to 51 FPS, a 36% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 27 FPS, which is 66% below the 1080p Low result.

This scaling behavior is a clear indicator that the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting component. The GPU's performance is so constrained that even reducing resolution from 1080p to 1440p costs a massive 29 FPS at Low settings. When the settings are raised to High, the 1080p result is 46 FPS, but 1440p High drops to 29 FPS, and 4K High bottoms out at 16 FPS. The data shows a nearly linear relationship between pixel count and frame rate, which is the hallmark of a system where the graphics processor is completely saturated.

The gap between Low and Medium settings at 1080p is 20 FPS (80 vs 60), but at 4K the gap narrows to just 6 FPS (27 vs 21). This compression of performance at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU is running out of raw throughput. The 4K Ultra result of 11 FPS is essentially a slideshow, and even the 1440p Ultra average of 21 FPS is barely interactive. The scaling pattern strongly suggests that no amount of CPU headroom can compensate for the Arc B390's inability to process Hitman 2's rendering workload at higher pixel densities.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its benchmark results show strong single-threaded performance, with a 3dmark_single_thread score of 974 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3218. In multi-threaded workloads, it scores 22799 in Cinebench R23 and 26825 in Passmark multithread.

However, in Hitman 2, the CPU's role is almost entirely secondary. The game's engine is not heavily threaded, and the Ryzen 5 7500F's 6 cores are more than sufficient to feed the Arc B390. The evidence lies in the fact that the frame rates collapse when resolution increases, which is a GPU workload, not a CPU one. At 1080p Low, where the CPU would have the most influence, the 80 FPS result is likely near the ceiling of what the GPU can output, not the CPU.

The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are ample for this game. The processor's 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates it is a capable mid-range part, but this ranking is irrelevant in this pairing. The bottleneck is so severe that the CPU is effectively idle much of the time. Even at 1080p Ultra, where the CPU would need to handle more draw calls, the result is only 34 FPS, which is still far below what the Ryzen 5 7500F could theoretically support. The data shows that the CPU is not the constraint; the frame rates are dictated entirely by the GPU's limitations.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and Intel Arc B390 ranks 3300 out of 3711 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places it in the 11th percentile of all systems tested, meaning nearly 89% of all other combinations deliver higher frame rates. The ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU's low performance, as the CPU's individual standing (77th percentile) is far above the combo's overall position.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-11850H (0.1% slower), the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F (0.2% faster), and the Intel Core i7-13620H (0.2% slower). These deltaPct values are negligible, indicating that the Ryzen 5 7500F is well-matched against its peers in raw compute. However, this CPU performance is wasted in this pairing because the GPU's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% faster), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1.5% faster), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (2.5% faster).

The GPU's percentile of 9 vs all GPUs is the key statistic. The Arc B390 is in the bottom decile of all graphics cards, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 is only 1.3% ahead of the GT 520MX. The combo's ranking of 3300 out of 3711 reflects this GPU deficiency. The data shows that upgrading the GPU would dramatically improve the ranking, while upgrading the CPU would have almost no effect in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings levels, providing a complete picture of the combo's capabilities. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low averages 80 FPS, Medium averages 60 FPS (with a minimum of 51 and maximum of 69), High averages 46 FPS, and Ultra averages 34 FPS. These are the only settings where the game approaches playability, with Low being the sole result above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance drops significantly. Low averages 51 FPS, Medium averages 39 FPS (with a minimum of 33 and maximum of 44), High averages 29 FPS, and Ultra averages 21 FPS. The 1440p Medium result is the only one in this resolution that stays above 30 FPS, but it is still below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low averages 27 FPS, Medium averages 21 FPS (with a minimum of 17 and maximum of 24), High averages 16 FPS, and Ultra averages 11 FPS. All 4K results are below 30 FPS, with Ultra being below 12 FPS, making the game effectively unplayable at this resolution.

The pattern across all resolutions shows that the gap between Low and Medium is smaller than the gap between Medium and High. For example, at 1440p, the drop from Low to Medium is 12 FPS, while the drop from Medium to High is 10 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 8 FPS. This suggests that the GPU's memory and shading resources are exhausted quickly as settings increase, with diminishing returns on visual quality at the cost of significant frame rate.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process. It has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. Its boost clock is 2500 MHz, and it operates with a TDP of 80 W. The GPU uses System Shared memory, meaning its bandwidth is system dependent and cannot be independently measured.

The GPU's FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS, which is modest by modern standards but not the primary issue. The critical limitation is the memory configuration. With System Shared memory, the GPU must contend with the CPU for memory bandwidth, and the effective bandwidth is capped by the system's DDR5 configuration. This is evident in the game's performance scaling: at 1080p Low, the GPU can achieve 80 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 34 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 46 FPS, which indicates that the GPU's shading units are not the bottleneck as much as the memory bandwidth and fill rate.

The GPU's benchmark score of 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad puts it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts, with the GT 520MX being 1.3% faster and the GT 710 being 2.7% faster. This is damning context: the Arc B390 is competing with GPUs from over a decade ago. In Hitman 2, the 4K Ultra result of 11 FPS directly reflects this low standing. The GPU's 24 ROPs and 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for modern game rendering at high resolutions. The data shows that the GPU is the single largest factor limiting this combo's performance, and its System Shared memory architecture is a major contributor to the poor results.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings/resolution combination for this system in Hitman 2?

A: The only combination that achieves 60 FPS or higher is 1080p Low, which averages 80 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 60 FPS, but the minimum is 51 FPS, so there may be occasional dips below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K?

A: All 4K results are below 30 FPS. The best 4K result is Low settings at 27 FPS, followed by Medium at 21 FPS, High at 16 FPS, and Ultra at 11 FPS. None of these are playable.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this pairing?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU has a 77th percentile ranking, while the GPU is in the 9th percentile. At 1440p Low, the combo achieves 51 FPS, but at 1080p Low, it achieves 80 FPS, showing that the GPU's throughput is the limiting factor.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 is 1.3% slower than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% slower than the GeForce 800M, and 2.5% slower than the GT 625 OEM. It is 2.7% faster than the GT 710.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Medium averages 60 FPS, while High averages 46 FPS. This is a 14 FPS drop, which is a 23% reduction in performance for one step up in visual quality.

Q: Does the CPU's 6-core/12-thread configuration help in Hitman 2?

A: The CPU's configuration is sufficient, but not beneficial in this pairing. The frame rates are so low due to the GPU that the CPU's 12 threads are never fully utilized. The game's performance is dictated by the GPU, not the CPU's core count.