Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with AMD Ryzen 5 8400F + AMD Radeon RX 580

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 delivers a playable but constrained experience in Hitman 2, with the measured frame rates showing a system that is firmly GPU-limited at higher resolutions and settings. The combo ranks 1650 out of 1795 tested configurations, placing it in the lower quartile of performance for this game. The data reveals a pairing where a modern 6-core Zen 4 processor is held back by a 2017-era graphics card, particularly at 1080p where the CPU's headroom cannot be fully utilized due to the GPU's throughput ceiling.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F brings 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. This processor, built on TSMC's 4 nm process, shows strong synthetic benchmark results: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20851 and a single-core score of 2943, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 951. The processor's percentile versus all CPUs stands at 82, indicating it outperforms the vast majority of installed processors. However, in Hitman 2, these CPU capabilities are largely underutilized because the game's frame rates at 1080p Low (75.5 FPS) are well below what this CPU could theoretically deliver in a less GPU-bound scenario.

The nearest rivals in CPU performance, based on average benchmark scores, include the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (deltaPct 0), the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (deltaPct -0.1), and the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (deltaPct 0.3). The Ryzen 5 8400F's multi-threaded performance is essentially identical to these competitors, with the PassMark multithread score of 24530 reflecting its 12-thread capability. For Hitman 2, which is known to be more sensitive to single-thread performance in certain scenes, the 3DMark 2-thread score of 1874 and PassMark single-thread score of 3684 indicate adequate headroom for the game's AI and physics calculations.

The CPU's 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth on DDR5 provide sufficient data throughput for Hitman 2's level streaming. However, the benchmark data shows that reducing resolution from 1440p to 1080p at Low settings improves FPS from 52.6 to 75.5, a gain of 22.9 FPS, which is modest compared to what a fully CPU-unlocked scenario would show. This suggests that even at 1080p Low, the GPU is still the primary limiter, and the Ryzen 5 8400F is never the bottleneck in this configuration.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580, based on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, provides 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. Its clocks are set at 1257 MHz base and 1340 MHz boost, with memory running at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The GPU delivers 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and has a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s. In the broader GPU landscape, this card sits at the 53rd percentile, with an average benchmark score of 13559. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (deltaPct 0), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (deltaPct 0.1), and the AMD Radeon Pro 455 (deltaPct 1.1).

The RX 580's 8 GB VRAM is adequate for Hitman 2's texture requirements, but the card's raw compute power limits performance significantly. At 1080p Ultra, the system achieves 34.6 FPS, while dropping to Low settings yields 75.5 FPS—a 40.9 FPS difference that highlights how heavily the GPU's shading units (2304) and texture units (144) are taxed by higher quality presets. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1005 and PassMark G3D score of 8813 provide context for the GPU's overall capability, which is clearly insufficient for 4K gaming in this title.

The GPU's performance scaling across resolutions is telling. At High settings, moving from 1080p (47.2 FPS) to 1440p (26.6 FPS) to 4K (17.8 FPS) shows a steep decline that is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The RX 580's 32 ROPs and 193.0 GTexel/s texture rate become serious bottlenecks at higher pixel counts, particularly with the game's detailed environments and crowd simulations. The card's 185 W TDP and PCIe 3.0 x16 interface are also factors, though the benchmark data does not isolate these effects.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across twelve configuration points allows for clear guidance on optimal settings for this hardware combination. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 75.5 FPS, which is the only configuration exceeding 60 FPS in the entire dataset. This makes 1080p Low the only truly smooth experience, with Medium at 55.7 FPS being borderline acceptable for players who prioritize visual fidelity over absolute smoothness. High at 47.2 FPS and Ultra at 34.6 FPS are playable but will exhibit noticeable frame pacing issues during action sequences.

At 1440p, no preset achieves 60 FPS. Low settings provide 52.6 FPS, which is the most viable option for 1440p gaming, while Medium drops to 38.9 FPS, High to 26.6 FPS, and Ultra to 22.7 FPS. For players with 1440p displays, the Low preset is the recommended choice, as it maintains a frame rate close to playable while avoiding the severe dips seen at higher presets. The 4K resolution is effectively unplayable across all settings, with Low at 24.2 FPS, Medium at 22.3 FPS, High at 17.8 FPS, and Ultra at 13.5 FPS.

The data indicates that the optimal experience is 1080p with the Low preset, as it provides the largest margin above the 60 FPS threshold. For those willing to accept lower frame rates, 1080p Medium offers a 10.5 FPS improvement over High while still maintaining playability. The 1440p Low setting at 52.6 FPS is the best compromise for higher-resolution displays, but the 1080p Low configuration is the only one that fully utilizes the display's refresh rate potential without significant compromise.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Hitman 2 at 60 FPS?

A: Only at 1080p with the Low preset, which achieves 75.5 FPS. The next closest is 1080p Medium at 55.7 FPS, which is below 60 FPS. All 1440p and 4K configurations fall well short of 60 FPS, with the best 1440p option (Low) at 52.6 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in this game?

A: The RX 580's average benchmark score of 13559 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564, deltaPct 0) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (13549, deltaPct 0.1). It is slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 455 (13416, deltaPct 1.1) and slightly behind the NVIDIA P106-090 (13716, deltaPct -1.1).

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 8400F the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: No. The benchmark data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at all tested resolutions and settings. Even at 1080p Low, the system only reaches 75.5 FPS, which is far below the CPU's capability as indicated by its 82nd percentile ranking and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20851.

Q: What is the best resolution for this hardware combo?

A: 1080p is the only resolution where playable frame rates are achievable. At 1080p Low, the system delivers 75.5 FPS. The 1440p Low preset at 52.6 FPS is the only viable option at that resolution, while 4K is unplayable at all settings.

Q: How much performance does the Ultra preset cost compared to Low at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the Ultra preset achieves 34.6 FPS compared to 75.5 FPS on Low, representing a drop of 40.9 FPS. This is a 54.2% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional graphical features heavily tax the RX 580's 6.175 TFLOPS of compute performance.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM on the RX 580 cause any issues?

A: The 8 GB GDDR5 memory with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient for Hitman 2 at the tested settings, as the frame rate drops correlate with the GPU's compute limitations rather than memory capacity. The steep FPS declines at higher presets are consistent with shading and texture unit saturation, not VRAM exhaustion.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At Low settings, the system delivers 75.5 FPS at 1080p, 52.6 FPS at 1440p, and 24.2 FPS at 4K. This represents a 30.3% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 67.9% drop from 1080p to 4K. The pixel count increases by 78% from 1080p to 1440p and by 300% from 1080p to 4K, but the FPS does not scale proportionally, indicating that the RX 580's fill rate and memory bandwidth become progressively more strained.

At High settings, the scaling is even more dramatic: 47.2 FPS at 1080p drops to 26.6 FPS at 1440p (a 43.6% reduction) and then to 17.8 FPS at 4K (a 62.3% reduction from 1440p). The diminishing returns at higher resolutions suggest that the GPU's 32 ROPs and 193.0 GTexel/s texture rate are overwhelmed by the increased pixel workload. The 256-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth also become limiting factors at 4K, where the larger framebuffer requirements and higher texture fetch volumes exceed what this 2017-era card can efficiently handle.

The scaling behavior confirms that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this title. If the Ryzen 5 8400F were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences between resolutions, particularly at Low settings where the GPU workload is reduced. Instead, the consistent and substantial FPS drops at every resolution increase point to the RX 580 as the sole performance constraint. This is further supported by the CPU's 3DMark max-thread score of 6165 and Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 8757, which demonstrate ample processing headroom that remains unused as the GPU struggles to keep up with Hitman 2's rendering demands.