Hitman 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Hitman 2 with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 reveals a pronounced GPU-bound scaling pattern across resolutions. At 1080p Low settings, the combo produces 303.7 FPS, which drops to 216.6 FPS at 1440p Low and further to 118 FPS at 4K Low. This represents a 61.1% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the RTX 4090's rendering throughput is the limiting factor even at the lowest quality preset. The 5800X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads based on Zen 3 architecture, is clearly capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the triple-digit frame rates.

The scaling behavior shifts notably when moving through quality presets. At 1080p Ultra, the combo delivers 139.7 FPS, while 4K Ultra drops to 45.9 FPS — a 67.2% performance reduction. This steeper decline at higher settings suggests that the GPU's shading units, TMUs, and ROPs are being saturated as pixel count and rendering complexity increase simultaneously. The RTX 4090's 16,384 shading units and 512 TMUs handle the geometry and texture work efficiently, but the 176 ROPs face increasing pressure at 4K with Ultra settings, where the pixel fill rate becomes the dominant constraint.

Comparing the scaling between Low and Ultra presets across resolutions provides insight into the bottleneck distribution. At 1080p, the gap between Low (303.7 FPS) and Ultra (139.7 FPS) is 164 FPS, indicating that the GPU has headroom to absorb additional rendering load. At 4K, the Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 72.1 FPS (118 vs 45.9), demonstrating that the GPU is approaching its maximum throughput ceiling. The fact that 1080p Low exceeds 300 FPS while 4K Ultra stays below 50 FPS confirms that this is a GPU-limited scenario at higher resolutions, with the CPU rarely becoming the primary constraint.

The Medium preset data reinforces this interpretation. At 1440p Medium, the combo produces 161.8 FPS, which is 25.4% higher than 1440p High (124 FPS) and 78.6% higher than 1440p Ultra (90.6 FPS). This scaling pattern suggests that the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s and 24 GB of GDDR6X memory are sufficient to prevent VRAM-related bottlenecks, leaving raw compute and rasterization throughput as the deciding factors. The 5800X's 32 MB L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s do not appear to create measurable memory subsystem constraints in this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo in Hitman 2?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 303.7 at 1080p with Low settings. This indicates that the combination of the Ryzen 7 5800X and RTX 4090 can push well beyond typical display refresh rates at lower resolutions and quality presets.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 45.9. This is below the 60 FPS threshold commonly desired for smooth gameplay, suggesting that Ultra settings at 4K require compromises or upscaling techniques.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates a GPU-bound scenario across most resolutions. At 1080p Low, the CPU still feeds 303.7 FPS, but the steep decline to 118 FPS at 4K Low (a 61.1% drop) shows the GPU's rendering capacity is the limiting factor. The 5800X's 3DMark single-thread score of 943 and multithread score of 7,586 demonstrate ample processing headroom.

Q: What is the performance difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium settings yield 161.8 FPS while High settings produce 124 FPS — a difference of 37.8 FPS or 23.4%. This suggests that High settings add significant visual effects that tax the GPU without proportionate frame rate returns.

Q: How does the 4K Low result compare to the 1080p Ultra result?

A: The 4K Low result (118 FPS) is 15.5% lower than the 1080p Ultra result (139.7 FPS). This indicates that resolution scaling has a more substantial impact on performance than quality preset scaling in this configuration.

Q: What settings should be prioritized for high refresh rate gaming at 1440p?

A: For 1440p displays, the combo achieves 216.6 FPS at Low and 161.8 FPS at Medium, both comfortably above 144 Hz refresh rates. Even High settings at 124 FPS remain viable for 120 Hz displays, while Ultra drops to 90.6 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a combo rank of 51 out of 1,795 tested combinations in Hitman 2. This places the configuration in the top 2.8% of all tested combos, reflecting the exceptional performance ceiling of the RTX 4090 when paired with a capable mid-range enthusiast CPU. The rank demonstrates that while the 5800X may not be the absolute fastest processor available, its performance is more than sufficient to avoid leaving meaningful performance on the table in this title.

The 5800X's percentile ranking of 84 among all CPUs places it above the majority of processors, with an average benchmark score of 27,606. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (score 27,535, deltaPct 0.3%), the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE (score 27,708, deltaPct -0.4%), the Intel Core i7-13700H (score 27,716, deltaPct -0.4%), and the Intel Core i5-12600KF (score 27,827, deltaPct -0.8%). These margins are remarkably tight — the entire cluster of rivals falls within a 1.1% band, indicating that the 5800X's compute performance is highly competitive with newer and differently-positioned processors.

For the GPU, the RTX 4090 holds a percentile rank of 91 among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 66,473. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (score 66,733, deltaPct -0.4%), NVIDIA Tesla P40 (score 66,127, deltaPct 0.5%), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (score 67,097, deltaPct -0.9%), and NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (score 67,320, deltaPct -1.3%). The sub-1.5% differences between these cards highlight that synthetic benchmark scores do not always translate directly to gaming performance, as the RTX 4090's Ada Lovelace architecture with 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores provides specialized capabilities beyond raw rasterization.

The combination of a top-2% GPU with a top-16% CPU results in a combo ranking that reflects the GPU's dominance in this workload. The data suggests that the 5800X contributes sufficient single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,327) and multithread capability (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23,571) to keep the RTX 4090 fed even at lower resolutions where CPU overhead becomes more significant.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 303.7 FPS average, Medium settings yield 252.8 FPS, High settings reach 189.1 FPS, and Ultra settings maintain 139.7 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 54% performance reduction, with each preset tier consuming additional GPU resources. The 1080p results demonstrate that this configuration is capable of driving high refresh rate displays (240 Hz and above) at Medium settings or lower, while High and Ultra settings remain viable for 144 Hz and 120 Hz displays respectively.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show a clear step down from 1080p. Low settings achieve 216.6 FPS, Medium settings produce 161.8 FPS, High settings reach 124 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 90.6 FPS. The 1440p results indicate that the RTX 4090 still has substantial headroom for competitive or fast-paced gameplay at Medium settings, while High settings comfortably exceed 120 FPS. Ultra settings at 90.6 FPS remain playable but fall below the threshold for 100+ Hz displays.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve flattens considerably as the GPU approaches its limits. Low settings still manage 118 FPS, Medium settings produce 88.9 FPS, High settings reach 67.5 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 45.9 FPS. The 4K results reveal that this combo is best suited for High settings at 60 FPS gaming, with Medium providing a safer margin. Ultra settings at 4K require either resolution scaling or reduced quality expectations, as the 45.9 FPS average falls short of smooth gameplay standards.

The data across all resolutions and settings shows a consistent pattern: the RTX 4090 scales predictably with resolution changes, while the 5800X maintains sufficient CPU throughput to avoid becoming a limiting factor. The largest single-step drop occurs when moving from 1440p High (124 FPS) to 4K High (67.5 FPS), a 45.6% reduction that highlights the pixel-count sensitivity of this title's rendering pipeline.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 serves as the dominant performance driver in this configuration. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Hitman 2's requirements at any resolution. The memory clock runs at 1,313 MHz (21 Gbps effective), and with 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, the GPU's raw compute capacity is substantial. The pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s translate directly to the frame rates observed, particularly at 4K where pixel fill rate becomes critical.

The GPU's Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, contains 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. This transistor density of 125.3M per mm² enables the 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 throughput that drives the high frame rates at lower resolutions. The RTX 4090's boost clock of 2,520 MHz and base clock of 2,235 MHz provide the clock speed headroom necessary to sustain performance across varying workloads. The 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores, while not directly utilized in standard rendering, contribute to the GPU's overall capability and future-proofing.

The GPU's 91st percentile ranking among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 66,473, confirms its position as a top-tier performer. The nearest rival comparisons show deltas of less than 1.5% in synthetic benchmarks, yet the RTX 4090's real-world gaming performance in Hitman 2 demonstrates that architectural efficiency matters more than raw benchmark scores. The 450 W TDP and suggested 850 W PSU requirement indicate that this GPU demands substantial power delivery, but the measured FPS results justify the power envelope for enthusiasts seeking maximum performance.

In Hitman 2 specifically, the GPU's role evolves with resolution. At 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to render 303.7 FPS at Low settings, but the CPU's frame delivery becomes relatively more important. At 4K, the GPU's rendering pipeline becomes fully saturated, and the 45.9 FPS at Ultra represents the practical ceiling for this quality preset. The VRAM capacity of 24 GB ensures that texture loading and memory allocation never become bottlenecks, allowing the GPU to focus entirely on compute and rasterization tasks.