Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 pairing produces a strictly entry-level experience in Hitman 2, with the measured data showing a fundamental imbalance where the GPU is the overwhelming bottleneck. At 1080p, the combo can achieve playable frame rates, but only by dropping to the Low preset, which delivers an average of 69 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 52 FPS, which remains acceptable for a stealth title, but the High and Ultra presets fall to 39 FPS and 29 FPS respectively, making them marginal for smooth gameplay. Given the constraints of the 4 GB VRAM and the GTX 1650's modest compute capabilities, the data suggests that the Low preset at 1080p is the only setting that provides both a comfortable frame rate and headroom for the game's dynamic crowd and AI simulations. The Medium preset is a viable alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity over absolute smoothness, as the 44 FPS minimum observed at 1080p Medium indicates occasional dips that could be noticeable during busy scenes. However, the Ultra preset is effectively unplayable, with average frame rates dropping to 29 FPS at 1080p and 10 FPS at 4K, confirming that this combination is not designed for maximum graphical fidelity.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows paint a clear picture: the Low preset is the only configuration that consistently delivers a frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold at 1080p. With an average of 69 FPS at 1920x1080 on Low, this setting provides the smoothest experience available for this hardware combination. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 17 FPS on average, dropping from 69 to 52 FPS, which is a significant 25% reduction in performance for what is typically a modest visual improvement in lighting and shadow quality. For a game like Hitman 2, where stealth mechanics reward precise timing and observation, maintaining a stable frame rate is more critical than texture detail, making Low the recommended default. The Medium preset at 1080p, with its 52 FPS average and 44 FPS minimum, is the highest setting that remains within the range of playability, but the minimum frame rate suggests potential stutter during crowded NPC interactions or when multiple AI agents are active on screen. At 1440p, even the Low preset drops to 44 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold, and the High preset at 1440p delivers only 25 FPS, making any resolution above 1080p unsuitable for this pairing. The data indicates that users should lock the resolution to 1920x1080 and select the Low preset for the best balance of responsiveness and visual clarity. For those who prefer higher fidelity, Medium at 1080p is the ceiling, as the Ultra preset at any resolution produces frame rates below 30 FPS, which undermines the game's core stealth gameplay loop where quick reactions and smooth camera movement are essential.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is a modern 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, which is crucial for Hitman 2's game logic and AI pathfinding. The CPU's benchmark scores support this assessment: it achieves a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3218 and a multi-core score of 22799, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. In the context of this game, the CPU is rarely the limiting factor, as the measured frame rates show a consistent pattern where GPU-bound scenarios dominate. At 1080p Low, the CPU can easily feed the GTX 1650, resulting in 69 FPS, but the frame rate does not increase proportionally with CPU headroom, indicating that the GPU is saturated. The Ryzen 5 7500F's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (83.2 GB/s bandwidth) provide ample bandwidth for game assets, but Hitman 2's engine is not particularly demanding on CPU cache or memory throughput compared to modern titles. The processor's 65 W TDP and 5 nm process node also suggest efficient power delivery, which is beneficial for sustained performance in longer gaming sessions, though this is not directly measured in the FPS data. Compared to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 7500F shows a 0.1% deltaPct against the Intel Core i7-11850H and a 0.2% deltaPct against the Intel Core i7-13620H, indicating that its overall benchmark average (24964) is essentially tied with those parts. In Hitman 2 specifically, the CPU's role is to maintain a stable frame delivery pipeline, and the data shows that at 1080p Medium, the frame rate drops to 52 FPS, which is likely due to increased GPU load from additional effects rather than CPU limitations. The 12 threads are more than sufficient for Hitman 2's multi-threaded engine, which typically scales well up to 8 threads, and the high boost clock ensures that single-threaded bottleneck scenarios, such as NPC count calculations, are handled without stutter. However, the bottleneck analysis becomes clear when examining the 4K results: at 3840x2160 Low, the frame rate is 24 FPS, which is a 65% drop from the 1080p Low result, definitively showing that the GPU is the constraining component, not the CPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is a Turing-architecture GPU with 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, operating at a base clock of 1485 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical limitation for Hitman 2 at higher resolutions and settings. The GPU's benchmark data shows a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305 and a Passmark G3D score of 7880, placing it in the 40th percentile of all GPUs, indicating that it is a lower-tier part even at its release. In Hitman 2, the GTX 1650's role is entirely dominant in determining the frame rates. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the GPU delivers 69 FPS, but this drops to 52 FPS at Medium, 39 FPS at High, and 29 FPS at Ultra, demonstrating that the GPU's fill rate and shading capabilities are quickly overwhelmed by increased texture detail and post-processing effects. The 4 GB VRAM is a particular concern at 4K, where the High preset only achieves 13 FPS and Ultra drops to 10 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is likely swapping textures to system memory, which causes severe frame time spikes. The GTX 1650's nearest rival, the Intel Arc A310, shows a deltaPct of -1, meaning the GTX 1650 is 1% faster in average benchmark score, but this margin is negligible in real-world gaming. The GPU's FP32 performance of 2.984 TFLOPS is modest, and its 75 W TDP with no power connectors indicates that it is a low-power part designed for basic 1080p gaming. In Hitman 2, the GPU's performance scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a 36% reduction in frame rate at Low settings (69 to 44 FPS), and a 36% reduction at High settings (39 to 25 FPS), which is consistent with a GPU that is limited by its memory bandwidth and shading units rather than any CPU constraint. The 4 GB VRAM capacity is the primary bottleneck at High and Ultra settings, where the game's texture streaming requirements exceed the available memory, causing the frame rate to plummet even at 1080p. For this game, the GTX 1650 is only suitable for 1080p gaming with reduced settings, and any attempt to push higher resolutions or graphical presets results in an unplayable experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 3580 out of 3711 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the bottom 3.5% of all system configurations. This ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU's limitations, as the CPU is a high-performing part that would typically be paired with a much more capable graphics card. The combo's rank in the 3580th position out of 3711 total combinations indicates that the overwhelming majority of tested systems outperform this pairing in this game. This is not surprising given that the GTX 1650 was an entry-level GPU at its launch in 2019, while the Ryzen 5 7500F is a modern processor from 2023. The data shows a severe performance mismatch: the CPU's benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core of 22799, Geekbench multi-core of 12362) place it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU's benchmark scores (Passmark G3D of 7880) place it in only the 40th percentile of all GPUs. This imbalance means that the CPU is often idle, waiting for the GPU to complete rendering tasks, which is reflected in the frame rates not scaling with CPU performance. In practical terms, this combo's rank suggests that users would benefit more from a balanced system, where the GPU is upgraded to match the CPU's capabilities. The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals show that the Ryzen 5 7500F is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-11850H (0.1% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F (0.2% slower), but these differences are irrelevant when the GPU is the limiting factor. The combo's rank of 3580 out of 3711 is a stark indicator that this pairing is not recommended for Hitman 2, as even the most modest GPU upgrades would likely yield significant frame rate improvements. The data suggests that the GTX 1650 is the primary reason for this low ranking, as the CPU's high performance cannot compensate for the GPU's inability to render the game at acceptable frame rates on higher settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear and dramatic scaling pattern that confirms the GPU as the primary bottleneck. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at the Low preset, the average frame rate drops from 69 FPS to 44 FPS, a 36% reduction. From 1440p to 4K at Low, the frame rate drops further from 44 FPS to 24 FPS, another 45% reduction. This scaling is consistent with a GPU that is fully saturated at 1080p and becomes increasingly overwhelmed as pixel count increases. At the High preset, the frame rates are 39 FPS at 1080p, 25 FPS at 1440p, and 13 FPS at 4K, representing a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 48% drop from 1440p to 4K. This pattern indicates that the GTX 1650's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, as the game's rendering workload increases quadratically with resolution. The Medium preset shows a similar trend: 52 FPS at 1080p, 33 FPS at 1440p, and 18 FPS at 4K, with the 1440p to 4K drop of 45% being the most severe. The Ultra preset is the most extreme case, with frame rates of 29 FPS at 1080p, 18 FPS at 1440p, and 10 FPS at 4K, showing a 38% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 44% reduction from 1440p to 4K. This consistent 40-50% reduction in frame rate for each resolution doubling is a classic sign of a GPU that is limited by its memory bandwidth (128.1 GB/s) and pixel fill rate (53.28 GPixel/s). The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal, as the Ryzen 5 7500F's high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core of 3218) ensures that it can handle the increased draw calls and geometry at higher resolutions without becoming a bottleneck. The data shows that the frame rate scaling is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's inability to process pixels at higher resolutions, which is expected given that the GTX 1650's 896 shading units must work harder to fill the screen. For users considering this combo, the resolution scaling data strongly suggests that 1080p is the only viable resolution, and even then, only the Low preset provides a consistently smooth experience. The 4K results, with maximum frame rates of 24 FPS on Low, are essentially unplayable and serve as a clear warning against purchasing this GPU for high-resolution gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS values across settings show a clear hierarchy. The Low preset delivers an average of 69 FPS, which is the only setting at this resolution that exceeds the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset achieves 52 FPS on average, with a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 60 FPS, indicating that while the average is acceptable, there are noticeable dips during intense scenes. The High preset drops to 39 FPS on average, which is borderline playable but may feel sluggish during stealth sequences that require precise camera control. The Ultra preset is the worst performer at 1080p, with an average of 29 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS minimum for acceptable playability. At 2560x1440, the frame rates decline significantly: Low averages 44 FPS, Medium averages 33 FPS (with a minimum of 28 FPS and maximum of 38 FPS), High averages 25 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. The 1440p Medium results show that even the mid-range preset cannot maintain a stable 30 FPS, as the minimum frame rate of 28 FPS suggests occasional stuttering. At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor: Low averages 24 FPS, Medium averages 18 FPS (with a minimum of 15 FPS and maximum of 20 FPS), High averages 13 FPS, and Ultra averages 10 FPS. The 4K Medium results demonstrate that the frame rate is not only low but also inconsistent, with a 15-20 FPS range indicating severe frame time variance that would be noticeable as judder. The data shows that the GTX 1650's 4 GB VRAM is insufficient for the game's texture requirements at 4K, as evidenced by the dramatic drop from 24 FPS on Low to 13 FPS on High, which suggests that texture loading is causing the GPU to stall. Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently shows the most stable frame time variance, with the minimum and maximum values being closer together than at other settings. This is likely because the Medium preset balances the GPU's shading load and memory usage better than Low (which may be CPU-limited in some scenes) or High/Ultra (which exceed the VRAM capacity). The overall breakdown confirms that this combo is only suitable for 1080p gaming at Low or Medium settings, and even then, users should expect frame rate fluctuations depending on the in-game location and the number of NPCs on screen.