Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Hitman 2, with the data showing a clear transition from CPU-bound performance at 1080p to GPU-bound performance at 4K. The measured frame rates across the three resolutions and four quality presets provide a complete picture of how this pairing handles the stealth title, revealing that while the CPU has ample headroom, the GPU becomes the primary constraint as pixel count increases.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and follows a predictable pattern across all settings. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 90 FPS at 1920x1080 to 58 FPS at 2560x1440, a 35.6% reduction, and then to 31 FPS at 3840x2160, which represents a 65.6% drop from the 1080p figure. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the GPU's rendering workload grows quadratically with pixel count while the CPU's workload remains relatively constant.

The scaling pattern becomes even more pronounced when examining the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 159 FPS, but this falls to 102 FPS at 1440p (a 35.8% decrease) and 54 FPS at 4K (a 66.0% decrease). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets suggests that the GPU is saturated at all settings when moving to higher resolutions. However, the absolute FPS values at 1080p Low (159 FPS) compared to 4K High (31 FPS) illustrate the extreme range of performance this combo can deliver depending on the resolution and quality trade-off.

The Medium preset provides the only complete dataset with min and max frame rates, offering additional insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the average is 120 FPS with a range of 102 to 137 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 76 FPS with a range of 65 to 88 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 41 FPS with a range of 35 to 47 FPS. The frame rate ranges scale proportionally with the averages, indicating that the GPU maintains consistent frame pacing even when heavily loaded, though the 4K Medium minimum of 35 FPS suggests occasional dips below the 40 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for smooth gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 3,711 tested CPU and GPU combinations in Hitman 2, this pairing achieves a rank of 2,158. This places it in the 58.1st percentile of all tested combos, meaning it outperforms roughly 58% of the systems in the database while being outperformed by the remaining 42%. The mid-pack ranking is notable given the CPU's strong synthetic benchmark performance, which suggests that the GPU's age and tier limit the overall gaming experience in this title.

The CPU itself ranks in the 81st percentile against all CPUs in the broader benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 29,713. Its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark rankings include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE at 29,656 (0.2% delta), the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H at 29,868 (-0.5% delta), the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT at 29,879 (-0.6% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS at 29,955 (-0.8% delta). This clustering within a 1% range indicates that the 9600X's raw processing capability is essentially on par with several higher-tier Ryzen 7 parts, yet the gaming rank in Hitman 2 is dragged down by the RTX 2070 SUPER's position in the overall hierarchy.

The GPU's percentile ranking against all GPUs is 65th, with an average benchmark score of 20,282. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M at 20,480 (-1.0% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile at 20,534 (-1.2% delta), the Intel Arc B570 at 20,556 (-1.3% delta), and the Intel Arc A750 at 20,582 (-1.5% delta). The GPU's mid-tier standing relative to its peers explains why the combo ranks where it does in Hitman 2; the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU's overall compute capability caps the system's performance ceiling.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture using the TU104 chip, manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. The GPU contains 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die, with a transistor density of 25.0M per mm². The memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective data rate.

The GPU's clock speeds are specified at 1605 MHz base and 1770 MHz boost, with a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute performance is rated at 9.062 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 18.12 TFLOPS using a 2:1 ratio. The card features 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, 64 raster output units, 40 ray tracing cores, and 320 tensor cores. The power configuration is rated at 215 W TDP with a suggested 550 W power supply and connections requiring 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors.

In the context of Hitman 2, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's asset requirements at all tested settings, as evidenced by the ability to run the Ultra preset without memory-related stutters. However, the 4K Ultra average of 23 FPS indicates that the GPU's raw compute throughput, not memory capacity, is the limiting factor at the highest resolution and quality combination. The 4K High result of 31 FPS similarly demonstrates that even with reduced settings, the GPU cannot maintain smooth frame rates at 2160p resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers consistently high frame rates across all settings. The Low preset achieves 159 FPS average, which represents the highest measured performance in the entire dataset. The Medium preset follows at 120 FPS average with a minimum of 102 FPS and maximum of 137 FPS. The High preset reaches 90 FPS average, while the Ultra preset drops to 67 FPS average. These results indicate that at 1080p, the CPU is capable of driving the GPU to produce frame rates well above the 60 FPS threshold for all presets, with even the most demanding Ultra setting maintaining a comfortable margin above playable levels.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. The Low preset achieves 102 FPS average, still well above 60 FPS. The Medium preset delivers 76 FPS average with a minimum of 65 FPS and maximum of 88 FPS. The High preset drops to 58 FPS average, which falls just below the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset reaches 43 FPS average, indicating that 1440p Ultra is borderline for smooth gameplay with this combo. The frame rate ranges for Medium at 1440p (65-88 FPS) show that the system can occasionally dip below 60 FPS even at this mid-range preset, though the average remains acceptable.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes marginal for most presets. The Low preset achieves 54 FPS average, which is playable but not ideal. The Medium preset delivers 41 FPS average with a minimum of 35 FPS and maximum of 47 FPS. The High preset drops to 31 FPS average, and the Ultra preset reaches only 23 FPS average. These 4K results clearly show that this combo is not suitable for 4K gaming in Hitman 2 at anything above Low settings, with even the Low preset barely maintaining 54 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal experience for this combination depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset at 67 FPS average provides the best visual quality while maintaining smooth gameplay, as the frame rate stays above 60 FPS. Players prioritizing higher refresh rates could select the High preset at 90 FPS or Medium at 120 FPS, but the Ultra preset's 67 FPS is sufficient for most gaming displays.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset offers the best balance with 76 FPS average and a minimum of 65 FPS, ensuring consistently smooth gameplay without dropping below 60 FPS. The High preset at 58 FPS is borderline, and players sensitive to frame rate drops below 60 FPS should stick with Medium. The Ultra preset at 43 FPS is not recommended for competitive or fast-paced play, though it remains serviceable for slower stealth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset at 54 FPS is the only option that approaches playable frame rates, and even this is below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at 41 FPS and High at 31 FPS are not recommended for sustained gameplay. Players with 4K displays should consider lowering the resolution to 1440p for a significantly better experience, as the frame rate more than doubles in most settings when moving from 4K to 1440p.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with Medium settings provides the best balance, achieving 76 FPS average with a minimum of 65 FPS. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset runs at 67 FPS average, while at 3840x2160, even the Low preset only reaches 54 FPS average.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Hitman 2?

A: The measured results indicate that 4K is only playable at Low settings (54 FPS average). Medium settings at 4K produce 41 FPS average with a minimum of 35 FPS, while High and Ultra drop to 31 FPS and 23 FPS respectively, which are below the generally accepted playable threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 20,282, with the nearest rivals being the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M at 20,480 (-1.0% delta), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile at 20,534 (-1.2% delta), Intel Arc B570 at 20,556 (-1.3% delta), and Intel Arc A750 at 20,582 (-1.5% delta).

Q: What is the CPU's performance ranking relative to other processors?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X ranks in the 81st percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29,713. Its nearest rivals are within 1% of this score, including the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE at 29,656 (0.2% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H at 29,868 (-0.5% delta).

Q: Does the game become CPU-bound at any resolution?

A: At 1920x1080 Low, the system achieves 159 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of high frame rates. However, the steep performance drops at 1440p and 4K across all settings indicate that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, with the CPU only becoming a potential constraint at very high frame rates above 120 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: The frame rate drops by approximately 35-36% across all settings when moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440. For example, High settings drop from 90 FPS to 58 FPS, Medium from 120 FPS to 76 FPS, and Low from 159 FPS to 102 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It operates with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU is fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC, containing 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die. Memory support includes DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, with ECC support enabled.

The cache hierarchy consists of 80 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 32 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU supports PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes (CPU only) and includes integrated Radeon Graphics. It is compatible with AMD Socket AM5 and features an unlocked multiplier for overclocking. The launch MSRP is $279.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong single-thread and multi-thread capabilities. The Cinebench R23 scores are 17,528.5 multi-core and 2,183.5 single-core. Geekbench scores reach 14,438 multi-core and 2,923 single-core. The 3DMark scores include 7,585 for 16 threads, 2,456 for 2 threads, 4,649 for 4 threads, 6,726 for 8 threads, 7,590 for max threads, and 1,253 for single thread. PassMark scores include 30,027 for multithread and 4,570 for single thread.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The measured frame rates at 1080p Low (159 FPS) and Medium (120 FPS) suggest that the CPU has sufficient headroom to drive the GPU to high frame rates at lower resolutions. However, the performance scaling indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this game, as the frame rate drops consistently with resolution increases regardless of CPU workload. The CPU's 6-core, 12-thread configuration is more than adequate for Hitman 2, which is a stealth title that does not heavily utilize many threads. The high single-thread performance, evidenced by the Geekbench single-core score of 2,923 and 3DMark single-thread score of 1,253, ensures that the game's primary thread runs efficiently. The CPU's 81st percentile ranking against all CPUs further confirms that it is not the limiting component in this combination for Hitman 2.