Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 pairing in Hitman 2 presents a fascinating case of extreme component imbalance, where the data reveals a clear bottleneck at higher resolutions. This analysis examines the measured frame rates across three resolutions and four settings presets, interpreting what the numbers indicate about CPU and GPU workload distribution.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor built on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. It features 32 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus delivering 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12735 and a single-core score of 1852, while its Geekbench results show 13413 multi-core and 2521 single-core. The PassMark single-thread score of 3910 places it in the 78th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26324.

For Hitman 2, a stealth game that relies heavily on AI routines and physics calculations for crowd and NPC behavior, the single-thread performance is often the primary determinant of frame pacing. The data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 334 FPS, which is extraordinarily high and suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than the GPU can render at higher settings. The Ryzen 5 7600's 6 cores with 12 threads provide ample parallel processing for the game's engine, which is known to scale reasonably well across multiple cores. The 3DMark scores reinforce this: 6499 with 16 threads, 5508 with 8 threads, and 3686 with 4 threads, demonstrating strong multi-threaded scaling that benefits the game's background simulation tasks.

However, the interesting question emerges when examining how the CPU interacts with the GPU at different resolutions. At 1080p Low, the frame rate of 334 FPS is likely CPU-limited, as the RTX 4090 is capable of rendering far beyond this at such light settings. The CPU's PassMark physics score of 1776 and floating-point math score of 48107 indicate robust computational power for game logic. The data suggests that Hitman 2's engine leverages the 7600's capabilities well, but the bottleneck shifts decisively to the GPU as resolution and settings increase, as evidenced by the dramatic FPS drops discussed later.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo in Hitman 2?*

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 334 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is followed by 251 FPS at 1080p Medium and 214 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 7600 compare to its nearest CPU rivals in average benchmark scores?

A: The Ryzen 5 7600's average benchmark score of 26324 is essentially tied with its nearest rivals. It is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (26274), 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i9-11900KF (26212), and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 8540U (26187). It trails the AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS (26402) by 0.3%.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo, and at what settings?

A: The minimum FPS recorded is 73 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Medium settings. The frame rate range at this setting spans from 73 FPS minimum to 98 FPS maximum, with an average of 85 FPS.

*Q: How does the combo rank among all tested CPU-GPU combinations in Hitman 2?*

A: The combo ranks 129th out of 3711 tested combinations, placing it in the top 3.5% of all configurations tested. This high rank reflects the GPU's dominance, though the CPU's contribution is evident at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the RTX 4090's percentile ranking among all GPUs, and how does it compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 4090 sits in the 88th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rival, the Intel Arc Pro A60, scores 60326 (0% delta), while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896 (2.5% higher) and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657 (2.9% lower).

Q: What are the RTX 4090's key clock specifications?

A: The GPU has a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. Its memory runs at 1313 MHz, which translates to 21 Gbps effective, paired with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling data reveals a stark pattern of GPU-bound performance degradation as pixel count increases. Starting at 1080p High, the combo averages 190 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 121 FPS, a 36.3% reduction. At 4K High, the frame rate falls to 65 FPS, representing a 65.8% drop from 1080p High. This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario, where the RTX 4090's rendering capabilities are being saturated by the increasing pixel workload.

The Low settings preset tells an even more revealing story. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 334 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 214 FPS (a 35.9% decrease), and at 4K Low, it falls to 114 FPS (a 65.9% decrease from 1080p Low). The consistency of these percentage drops across different settings presets strongly indicates that the scaling factor is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. This pattern suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is capable of pushing the GPU to its limits, but the GPU's rendering throughput becomes the primary constraint as resolution increases.

The Medium settings data provides additional insight with its min/max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the range is 213-288 FPS with a 251 average. At 1440p Medium, this drops to 136-184 FPS with a 160 average. At 4K Medium, the range narrows to 73-98 FPS with an 85 average. The narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates that frame time variance decreases as the GPU becomes more consistently loaded, reducing the likelihood of CPU-induced stutters or frame drops. This behavior confirms that the RTX 4090 is the limiting component at 4K, while the CPU has ample headroom to maintain consistent frame delivery.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo's rank of 129 out of 3711 tested combinations places it in the top 3.5% of all configurations evaluated in Hitman 2. This ranking is exceptional, but it deserves scrutiny given the unusual pairing of a mid-range CPU with the flagship GPU. The top-tier rank is almost entirely attributable to the RTX 4090's raw performance at lower resolutions, where the CPU's limitations are not exposed. At 1080p Low, the 334 FPS result is extraordinarily high, and even at 4K Ultra, the 48 FPS average remains playable, though it falls below the 60 FPS target many players prefer.

When contextualizing this rank, it's important to consider that the RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 60347 places it at the 88th percentile of all GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 7600's average of 26324 places it at the 78th percentile of all CPUs. This discrepancy in relative performance tiers suggests that the combo's rank benefits primarily from the GPU's dominance. The data implies that for Hitman 2, the 4090's immense compute resources—16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs—are the primary drivers of the high ranking. The CPU's role becomes more significant at lower resolutions where the 4090 is not fully utilized, but at 4K, the GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth are the deciding factors.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 334 FPS average
• Medium: 251 FPS average (min 213, max 288)
• High: 190 FPS average
• Ultra: 140 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 214 FPS average
• Medium: 160 FPS average (min 136, max 184)
• High: 121 FPS average
• Ultra: 89 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 114 FPS average
• Medium: 85 FPS average (min 73, max 98)
• High: 65 FPS average
• Ultra: 48 FPS average

The data reveals a consistent pattern: moving from Low to Ultra settings at any given resolution results in approximately a 58% reduction in average frame rate. At 1080p, this represents a drop from 334 FPS to 140 FPS. At 1440p, the drop is from 214 to 89 FPS. At 4K, it falls from 114 to 48 FPS. The Medium settings, which have the only complete min/max data, show that the frame pacing remains stable, with the spread between minimum and maximum FPS decreasing from 75 FPS at 1080p to 25 FPS at 4K. This tightening of the frame time distribution at higher resolutions further confirms the GPU-bound nature of the workload at 4K.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the target resolution and the user's preference for frame rate versus visual fidelity. At 1080p, every preset exceeds 140 FPS, which is well above the 144Hz refresh rate common in gaming monitors. The High preset at 190 FPS provides an excellent balance, offering substantial visual improvements over Medium (251 FPS) while still maintaining a frame rate that exceeds virtually all display refresh rates. The Ultra preset at 140 FPS remains viable, though it sacrifices 26.3% of the frame rate compared to High for marginal visual gains.

At 1440p, the High preset at 121 FPS is the recommended choice for users with 120Hz or 144Hz displays, as it delivers 36% more frames than Ultra (89 FPS) while still exceeding 100 FPS. The Medium preset at 160 FPS is ideal for competitive play where maximum responsiveness is desired. The Ultra preset at 89 FPS remains playable but may not fully utilize high-refresh-rate displays. At 4K, the situation changes dramatically. The High preset at 65 FPS is the only preset that remains above 60 FPS, making it the minimum viable option for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 85 FPS provides a better experience if visual quality can be slightly compromised, while the Ultra preset at 48 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold and may exhibit noticeable judder on standard 60Hz displays.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a monolithic powerhouse, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip. It features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock of 2235 MHz boosts to 2520 MHz, and its memory runs at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). With 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, the 4090 provides 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. Its 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores further enhance its capabilities, though Hitman 2 does not heavily utilize these features.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's role is primarily defined by its rasterization performance, which the data shows is overwhelming. At 1080p Low, the 334 FPS result demonstrates that the GPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution; the CPU's instruction throughput is the constraint. However, as resolution increases to 4K, the GPU's pixel fill rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s become the determining factors. The 4K Ultra result of 48 FPS indicates that even the 4090's immense resources are taxed by the game's highest settings at 4K, though the game's 2018 release date means it does not fully exploit the GPU's newer features like DirectX 12 Ultimate.

The GPU's 24 GB of VRAM is far more than Hitman 2 requires, as the game's textures are not particularly demanding by modern standards. The memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s ensures that texture streaming and geometry processing are never bottlenecked by memory throughput, allowing the GPU to operate at its computational limits. The PassMark G3D score of 38194 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 255416 place the GPU in the 88th percentile, confirming its position as one of the fastest GPUs ever tested. In Hitman 2, this translates to exceptional frame rates at all but the most demanding 4K Ultra preset, where the GPU still manages a playable 48 FPS average.