Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with AMD Ryzen 5 9600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

This configuration pairs AMD's 6-core Zen 5 desktop processor with NVIDIA's flagship Blackwell GPU, producing a combination that ranks first out of 3,001 tested combos in Hitman 2. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets reveal a system with substantial headroom at lower settings, while the game's engine characteristics become increasingly visible as resolution and fidelity scale upward.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 207 FPS at 1080p to 132 FPS at 1440p, then further to 71 FPS at 4K. This represents a 36% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 46% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear; the pixel count increase from 1440p to 4K is roughly 2.25 times, yet the frame rate drops by less than half, indicating that the RTX 5090 D's compute resources are still being utilized efficiently at higher resolutions.

Low settings exhibit the most dramatic resolution scaling. At 1080p Low, the system produces 365 FPS, which drops to 234 FPS at 1440p and 124 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is still more than double the 1080p High figure, demonstrating that the GPU has enormous headroom when graphical effects are minimized. The 4K Low result of 124 FPS is notable because it exceeds the 1080p Ultra result of 153 FPS by a significant margin — the gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution is larger than the gap between 1080p and 4K at the same preset.

Medium settings provide the only rows with min and max FPS values in the dataset. At 1080p Medium, the average is 274 FPS with a minimum of 233 and maximum of 315, showing a 30% spread between worst and best frames. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 175 FPS with a 149 FPS minimum and 201 FPS maximum — a similar 35% spread. At 4K Medium, the average is 93 FPS with a 79 FPS minimum and 107 FPS maximum, maintaining the same relative variability. This consistent frame time variance across resolutions suggests the game's engine, not the GPU, is introducing the fluctuation.

Ultra settings produce the steepest scaling curve. From 153 FPS at 1080p, Ultra drops to 98 FPS at 1440p and 52 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest measured figure in the entire dataset, and it represents a 66% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score. This indicates that at Ultra quality, the combination of high pixel count and maximum effects pushes the rendering pipeline to its limit, with the GPU becoming the dominant constraint.

The overall resolution scaling behavior suggests that at 1080p and 1440p, the system is partially CPU-limited even with the Ryzen 5 9600X's strong single-thread performance, as the frame rates scale less than proportionally with pixel count. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor, particularly at High and Ultra presets where the frame rates align more closely with what the RTX 5090 D's raw throughput would suggest.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory operates across a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth — a figure that becomes relevant in Hitman 2's larger environments where texture streaming and draw call submission can stress memory subsystems. The GPU's base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and its memory runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective throughput.

In the measured results, the GPU's role shifts dramatically based on resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the 365 FPS average is likely beyond the engine's ability to feed frames consistently, meaning the CPU or game logic becomes the bottleneck. The fact that 1080p Ultra produces 153 FPS while 4K Low produces 124 FPS illustrates how the GPU's workload varies: Ultra settings at 1080p add substantial pixel shading and effects work, while 4K Low primarily stresses the rasterizer and memory bandwidth without the additional shader complexity.

The RTX 5090 D's 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs provide the raw compute needed for Hitman 2's crowd rendering and environmental detail. The GPU achieves a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s, which explains why even at 4K Medium the system maintains playable frame rates above 90 FPS. The 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance is substantial for a game from 2018, and the measured data shows the GPU is not fully saturated until the highest resolution and quality combinations.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 92 among all GPUs, combined with its average benchmark score of 77,712, places it in the upper echelon of graphics hardware. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (score 78,940, delta -1.6%), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (score 79,605, delta -2.4%), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (score 79,396, delta -2.1%). These deltas are small, indicating that the RTX 5090 D's raw compute performance is comparable to these data-center-oriented cards, though its gaming-specific features and driver optimizations likely contribute to the measured in-game results.

At 4K Ultra, the 52 FPS average suggests the GPU is the clear limiting factor, with the combination of high resolution and maximum effects consuming all available shader and memory resources. The 4K High result of 71 FPS improves by 37% over Ultra, while 4K Medium reaches 93 FPS and 4K Low hits 124 FPS — a progression that shows each preset reduction releases significant GPU headroom.

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 uses TSMC's 4 nm process and contains 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die. The chip operates with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth, which is relevant for Hitman 2's level streaming.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 9600X demonstrates strong single-thread performance with a 3DMark single-thread score of 1,253, a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,183.5, and a Geekbench single-core score of 2,923. These figures align with the processor's 5.40 GHz boost clock and Zen 5's improved IPC. Multi-threaded scores include a Cinebench R23 multi-core result of 17,528.5, a Geekbench multi-core score of 14,438, and a 3DMark max threads score of 7,590. The processor's percentile ranking of 81 among all CPUs reflects its position in the desktop market, with an average benchmark score of 29,713.

The CPU's influence in Hitman 2 is evident when examining the 1080p results. At Low settings, the 365 FPS average is far beyond typical display refresh rates, and the frame rate likely becomes constrained by the game's simulation and draw call processing rather than the GPU. The gap between 1080p Low (365 FPS) and 1440p Low (234 FPS) is 56%, which is larger than the pixel count increase of 78% from 1080p to 1440p — this suggests the GPU is becoming more involved at 1440p, but the CPU is still contributing to the overall performance envelope.

The Ryzen 5 9600X's nearest rivals in the benchmark database provide context for its gaming capability. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT scores 29,879 with a delta of -0.6%, the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS scores 29,955 with a delta of -0.8%, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H scores 29,868 with a delta of -0.5%. These deltas are all within 1% of the 9600X's average score, indicating that the processor's overall compute performance is very similar to these alternatives, despite differences in core counts and architectures. The 9600X's 6 cores and 12 threads appear sufficient for Hitman 2, as the game's engine does not seem to scale beyond this thread count in a way that would bottleneck the RTX 5090 D.

At 4K resolutions, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The 4K Low result of 124 FPS is still high enough that the CPU must be delivering frames efficiently, but the 4K Ultra result of 52 FPS indicates the GPU is fully saturated. The 4K Medium result with a 79 FPS minimum suggests that occasional CPU-side hitches can occur even at high resolutions, though the overall average remains solid.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 274 FPS average with a 233 FPS minimum, which is more than sufficient for any display technology. At 1440p Medium, the 175 FPS average with a 149 FPS minimum keeps gameplay smooth even during demanding scenes. At 4K Medium, the 93 FPS average with a 79 FPS minimum provides a high-refresh-rate experience on 4K displays that support it.

The High preset is the recommended choice for 4K gaming, as it delivers 71 FPS average — slightly above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. The 1440p High result of 132 FPS and 1080p High result of 207 FPS are both excellent, though the step from Medium to High at 1440p costs 43 FPS (from 175 to 132), which may not justify the visual improvement for competitive play.

Ultra settings are only viable at 1080p, where the 153 FPS average remains playable. At 1440p Ultra, the 98 FPS average is acceptable for most users, but the 4K Ultra result of 52 FPS falls below the standard 60 FPS target and would cause noticeable stuttering on displays with variable refresh rates. The Low preset is not recommended for this configuration, as the visual quality reduction is substantial while the frame rate gains — 365 FPS at 1080p, 234 FPS at 1440p, and 124 FPS at 4K — exceed what most displays can show.

For users with high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p monitors, Medium provides the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate stability, as evidenced by the complete min/max data available for that preset. For 4K users, High is the optimal choice, offering 71 FPS average while maintaining the visual quality expected from a flagship GPU.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data shows that 1440p Medium provides 175 FPS average with a 149 FPS minimum, making it the highest-resolution setting that comfortably exceeds 144 FPS for high-refresh-rate displays. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 93 FPS, which still provides smooth gameplay but limits refresh rate potential.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 207 FPS at 1080p to 71 FPS at 4K, representing a 66% reduction. The 1440p result of 132 FPS sits between these extremes, showing the scaling curve is steepest between 1440p and 4K.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 9600X sufficient for the RTX 5090 D in this game?

A: The data indicates the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at most settings. At 1080p Low, the 365 FPS average exceeds practical display capabilities, and at 4K Ultra, the 52 FPS result clearly shows GPU limitation. The CPU's single-thread performance, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 1,253, appears adequate for Hitman 2's engine.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 4K with the High preset?

A: The measured average is 71 FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings. This is above the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay, making High the recommended preset for 4K on this configuration.

Q: How does this combination rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This configuration ranks first out of 3,001 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it at the top of the database for this game. The RTX 5090 D's GPU percentile of 92 and the Ryzen 5 9600X's CPU percentile of 81 contribute to this top-tier result.

Q: Are the frame rates consistent, or do they vary significantly?

A: The Medium preset provides min/max data across all resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 233 to 315 FPS around a 274 FPS average; at 1440p, the range is 149 to 201 FPS around a 175 FPS average; at 4K, the range is 79 to 107 FPS around a 93 FPS average. The spread remains proportionally consistent, suggesting stable performance characteristics.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset produces an average of 52 FPS, which is the lowest measured result in the dataset. High improves to 71 FPS, Medium reaches 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 107, and Low achieves 124 FPS. The progression from Ultra to Low at 4K shows a 139% improvement in average frame rate, from 52 to 124 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Ultra delivers 98 FPS, High reaches 132 FPS, Medium produces 175 FPS with a minimum of 149 and maximum of 201, and Low hits 234 FPS. The gap between Ultra and Low at 1440p is 136 FPS, representing a 139% increase. The 1440p results are consistently higher than 4K across all presets, with the largest absolute difference at Low (110 FPS) and the smallest at Ultra (46 FPS).

At 1920x1080, Ultra achieves 153 FPS, High reaches 207 FPS, Medium produces 274 FPS with a minimum of 233 and maximum of 315, and Low delivers 365 FPS. The 1080p Low result is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset, surpassing the 4K Low result by 241 FPS. The 1080p Medium data shows the most complete picture of performance variability, with a 82 FPS spread between minimum and maximum.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently shows the most detailed performance profile with min/max values, while Ultra shows the largest relative drop from High. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p averages a 32% reduction across presets, while the scaling from 1440p to 4K averages a 46% reduction, indicating that the latter resolution jump places more stress on the GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration of AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D achieves the number one rank out of 3,001 tested combinations in Hitman 2. This top placement is notable given that the CPU's percentile ranking of 81 among all CPUs is not the highest possible, but the combination of its strong single-thread performance with the RTX 5090 D's GPU percentile of 92 and top-tier benchmark scores creates a synergistic result.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 77,712 places it in the 92nd percentile, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (score 78,940, delta -1.6%) and NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (score 79,605, delta -2.4%). Despite these rivals having slightly higher average scores, the RTX 5090 D's architectural advantages and driver optimizations for gaming workloads likely contribute to its first-place finish in this specific game.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 29,713 places it in the 81st percentile, with nearest rivals all within 1% of its score. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT (delta -0.6%), AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS (delta -0.8%), AMD Ryzen 7 7840H (delta -0.5%), and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE (delta 0.2%) all show similar compute performance, yet the 9600X's combination with the RTX 5090 D yields the best in-game result among all tested combinations.

The measured FPS data supports this top ranking. The 4K High result of 71 FPS, 1440p High result of 132 FPS, and 1080p High result of 207 FPS all represent strong performance for a game released in 2018. The system's ability to maintain above 60 FPS at 4K with High settings, while also exceeding 350 FPS at 1080p Low, demonstrates a wide performance envelope that few other configurations could match. The rank of 1 out of 3,001 indicates that no other tested combination of CPU and GPU produces higher measured frame rates in Hitman 2, making this the definitive setup for this title in the benchmark database.