Hitman 2

Hitman 2 on the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination shows a clear pattern: this is a system that crushes the game at 1080p and 1440p, but 4K Ultra remains a challenge. The data indicates a shift from a CPU-bound scenario at lower resolutions to a GPU-bound one at 4K. The performance deltas between settings are substantial, offering a wide range of experiences depending on the target resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a dramatic impact of resolution on this configuration. At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptionally high frame rates, with the Low preset hitting 262 FPS and even the demanding Ultra preset maintaining a strong 126 FPS. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary limiting factor, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain impressively high but show a noticeable decline. The High preset drops from 172 FPS to 110 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 81 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is starting to take on more of the workload, but the combination is still well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at this resolution. The 1440p Medium preset, with an average of 145 FPS, represents a sweet spot for competitive play, offering a significant boost over High while still looking good.

At 3840x2160, the scaling becomes steep, and the GPU clearly becomes the bottleneck. The High preset averages 58 FPS, which is a 30% drop from the 1440p High result. The Ultra preset falls to 43 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The Low preset at 4K averages 103 FPS, showing that even at this resolution, the RTX 4080 has substantial power. However, the jump from Low to Medium at 4K costs 26 FPS (from 103 to 77), and the jump from High to Ultra costs another 15 FPS (from 58 to 43). This steep scaling curve at 4K emphasizes that the RTX 4080, while powerful, is pushed to its limits by this game's Ultra settings at that resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Hitman 2 with this hardware?

A: The data suggests 2560x1440 is the optimal resolution. At this setting, the High preset delivers 110 FPS and the Ultra preset 81 FPS, both of which are smooth and well above typical 60 FPS targets. 1920x1080 is also excellent, but the high frame rates (172 FPS on High) exceed the refresh rate of most monitors, making 1440p a better use of the hardware's capabilities.

Q: Can this system run Hitman 2 at 4K with the Ultra preset?

A: No, not at a playable frame rate. The measured average FPS for 3840x2160 at Ultra settings is 43 FPS. This is below the standard for smooth gameplay and indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The High preset is the most demanding playable option at 4K, averaging 58 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival in this context?

A: The benchmark data shows the RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, has a score of 54209, which is a deltaPct of 0.1%. This indicates the RTX 4080 is essentially on par with the RTX 4080 SUPER in general compute performance, so performance in Hitman 2 should be nearly identical.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 5700X3D's multi-threaded performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X3D has an average benchmark score of 24709. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D, has a score of 24728, a deltaPct of -0.1%. This indicates the Ryzen 7 5700X3D is effectively tied with the Ryzen 5 7600X3D in overall average benchmark score, despite having more cores and threads.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at Medium settings?

A: The measured data includes min and max FPS values for the Medium preset. At 1920x1080, the average is 227 FPS, with a minimum of 193 and a maximum of 261 FPS. At 2560x1440, the average is 145 FPS, with a minimum of 123 and a maximum of 167 FPS. At 3840x2160, the average is 77 FPS, with a minimum of 66 and a maximum of 89 FPS. The spread between min and max is consistent, indicating stable frame pacing.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game at 1080p?

A: The data strongly suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at 1920x1080. The fact that the Low preset yields 262 FPS and the Ultra preset still yields 126 FPS shows the GPU is capable of very high output. The performance difference between presets is likely due to CPU processing of game logic and draw calls, which becomes the bottleneck at these high frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

For a balance of visual quality and performance, the High preset is the recommended choice. At 2560x1440, it delivers an average of 110 FPS, which is excellent for a smooth experience. At 3840x2160, it delivers 58 FPS, which is playable but on the edge of the 60 FPS target. The data shows that the jump from High to Ultra is costly, with a significant drop in frame rates at every resolution. At 1440p, the drop from 110 FPS on High to 81 FPS on Ultra is a 26% performance penalty. At 4K, the drop from 58 FPS to 43 FPS is a 26% penalty as well, pushing the experience into unplayable territory.

The Medium preset offers a compelling alternative, especially for high-refresh-rate displays. At 1440p, it achieves 145 FPS, which is a 32% improvement over the High preset's 110 FPS. At 1080p, the Medium preset's 227 FPS is a significant boost over High's 172 FPS and provides a better experience than Ultra's 126 FPS. The Low preset is best reserved for maximum frame rates, particularly at 4K where it is the only way to get above 100 FPS, but it comes with a substantial visual fidelity cost. In summary, High is the best quality-per-frame-rate option for most users, while Medium is the best for competitive or high-refresh-rate play.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Here is the complete breakdown of measured average FPS data for this configuration.

At 1920x1080:

• The Low preset achieves an average of 262 FPS.
• The Medium preset achieves an average of 227 FPS, with a minimum of 193 FPS and a maximum of 261 FPS.
• The High preset achieves an average of 172 FPS.
• The Ultra preset achieves an average of 126 FPS.

At 2560x1440:

• The Low preset achieves an average of 193 FPS.
• The Medium preset achieves an average of 145 FPS, with a minimum of 123 FPS and a maximum of 167 FPS.
• The High preset achieves an average of 110 FPS.
• The Ultra preset achieves an average of 81 FPS.

At 3840x2160:

• The Low preset achieves an average of 103 FPS.
• The Medium preset achieves an average of 77 FPS, with a minimum of 66 FPS and a maximum of 89 FPS.
• The High preset achieves an average of 58 FPS.
• The Ultra preset achieves an average of 43 FPS.

The data shows a clear trend: the performance cost of each preset tier is consistent across resolutions. The transition from Low to Medium, Medium to High, and High to Ultra each results in a roughly 15-25% reduction in frame rate. This consistency makes it easier for users to predict the performance impact of their settings choices.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this configuration for Hitman 2, especially at higher resolutions. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for Hitman 2, which is not known for being a VRAM-heavy title. The data confirms this, as the performance drop from 1440p to 4K is substantial, indicating a raw compute or fill-rate limit rather than a memory capacity issue.

The GPU's clock speeds are 2205 MHz base and 2505 MHz boost, and it can reach a memory clock of 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with its 9728 shading units, deliver the high frame rates seen in the benchmark data. The RTX 4080's performance places it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247. Its closest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, has a deltaPct of just 0.1%, showing the 4080 is essentially a performance twin. The data shows that at 4K, the RTX 4080 is the limiting factor, as the frame rates drop significantly, particularly on the Ultra preset. This suggests that for 4K Ultra gaming, a more powerful GPU would be needed to maintain a stable 60 FPS in this title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D plays a crucial role in ensuring the RTX 4080 is not held back at lower resolutions. With 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, it has a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It also features a large 96 MB shared L3 cache, which is beneficial for gaming workloads. The CPU's performance is strong, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 24709. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D, is only 0.1% faster on average, showing this chip is competitive.

The benchmark results show that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p, the High preset achieves 172 FPS and the Low preset 262 FPS, indicating that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough data to maintain very high frame rates. The single-threaded performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3157. However, the data suggests the CPU's multi-threaded performance is its strength. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22366 is a good indicator of its capability to handle the game's background tasks. While the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, its strong performance ensures that it doesn't limit the RTX 4080, allowing the GPU to be the deciding factor at 4K. The data shows that the CPU's high core count and cache size are not being fully utilized by this game, as the 1080p frame rates are more indicative of CPU limits than the 4K results.