Hitman 2

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this CPU/GPU combo in Hitman 2 at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS at 132, followed by Medium at 99, High at 75, and Ultra at 55. For a balance of visual quality and performance, Medium provides a substantial uplift over High while keeping the average above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 6600 handle 4K in Hitman 2?

A: The data indicates that 4K is not viable for smooth gameplay. At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 26 FPS, Medium averages 34 FPS, and Ultra drops to 19 FPS. Only the Low preset reaches 45 FPS, which is still below the typical 60 FPS target.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 7700 a bottleneck for the RX 6600 in this game?

A: Benchmark results suggest the CPU is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The Ryzen 7 7700 has 8 cores and 16 threads with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, and its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 18760 indicates strong headroom. The FPS drops are much larger when moving from 1080p to 1440p than from 1440p to 4K, pointing to the GPU as the primary constraint.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested configurations?

A: This combination of AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 ranks 2895 out of 3711 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the lower portion of the database for this specific title.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM on the RX 6600 cause issues at 4K?

A: The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The measured FPS at 3840x2160 shows a steep decline across all settings, with the Ultra preset hitting just 19 FPS, which is consistent with the card being overwhelmed at that resolution, though VRAM size alone is not the sole factor.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 7700 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 7700 has an average benchmark score of 40081, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, 0.2% lower than the Intel Core 5 221E, 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 270, and 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i9-13905H. These are all very close results, indicating the 7700 is well within the same performance class.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. Its boost clock reaches 2491 MHz, with a game clock of 2044 MHz. The card features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is paired with a 128-bit memory bus, resulting in a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. These specifications place the GPU in the 63rd percentile among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19036.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's role is central to determining playable settings. The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern: at 1920x1080, the card can push high frame rates, but as resolution increases, performance degrades rapidly. The FP32 compute throughput of 8.928 TFLOPS is sufficient for 1080p gaming, but the 4K results reveal the card's limits. For instance, at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to just 19, which is unplayable for a stealth title that benefits from smooth camera movement.

The memory bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s is a key consideration. Hitman 2 features large, detailed environments with many AI-driven NPCs. At 1080p, the 8 GB VRAM is adequate, but at 1440p and 4K, the combination of higher resolution textures and increased memory pressure likely contributes to the performance cliff. The 64 ROPS also limit fill rate at higher resolutions, which explains the steep drop from 48 FPS at 1440p High to 26 FPS at 4K High.

The RX 6600's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA Quadro K6000, which scores nearly identically (deltaPct of 0), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile, which is 0.1% slower. This places the RX 6600 in the same performance tier as a mobile RTX 40-series chip, which helps contextualize its capabilities. The card is end-of-life, but it remains a capable 1080p option, as the data shows.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 75 at 1920x1080, down to 48 at 2560x1440, and further to 26 at 3840x2160. This represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 46% drop from 1440p to 4K. The diminishing returns are expected, as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced. The average FPS at 1080p is 132, which drops to 85 at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and then to 45 at 4K (a 47% reduction). The fact that the relative drops are similar across settings suggests that the GPU's raw throughput is the limiting factor, rather than a specific setting like textures or shadows.

The Medium preset shows a unique pattern because it is the only one with min and max FPS data. At 1080p, the average is 99 FPS with a min of 84 and max of 114. At 1440p, the average is 64 FPS with a min of 54 and max of 73. At 4K, the average is 34 FPS with a min of 29 and max of 39. The consistent ~35 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p, and another ~30 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K, indicates that the GPU is being saturated.

The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of 55 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 35 at 1440p, and a mere 19 at 4K. This steep curve shows that Ultra settings include effects that disproportionately tax the RX 6600 at higher resolutions. The data suggests that for this combo, 1080p is the sweet spot, with 1440p being playable only on Low or Medium settings, and 4K being unsuitable for any preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Ryzen 7 7700 and RX 6600 combo delivers playable performance across all presets. The Low preset achieves an average of 132 FPS, which is excellent for competitive or fast-paced play. Medium drops to 99 FPS, still well above the 60 FPS threshold, with a minimum of 84 FPS and maximum of 114 FPS, indicating stable frame times. High averages 75 FPS, which is comfortable for a stealth game. Ultra averages 55 FPS, which is just below the ideal 60 FPS mark but still playable for most users.

Moving to 2560x1440, the picture changes. Low remains strong at 85 FPS average, but Medium drops to 64 FPS with a min of 54 FPS, which can feel slightly less smooth during intense scenes. High averages 48 FPS, which is borderline for a game that benefits from consistent frame pacing. Ultra averages 35 FPS, which is noticeably less fluid and may be frustrating for players who value responsiveness.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles. Low averages 45 FPS, which is the only preset that approaches acceptable performance, but it still falls short of 60 FPS. Medium averages 34 FPS, High averages 26 FPS, and Ultra averages 19 FPS. The min FPS data for Medium at 4K is 29 FPS, indicating that even the lower bound is far from smooth. In practical terms, the RX 6600 is not suitable for 4K gaming in Hitman 2, and users should stick to 1080p or 1440p with adjusted settings.

The data shows that the gap between presets at each resolution is consistent. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 77 FPS. At 1440p, it is 50 FPS. At 4K, it is 26 FPS. This shrinking gap at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the impact of graphical settings diminishes when the GPU is already saturated.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 ranks 2895 out of 3711 tested combos for Hitman 2. This places the combo in the 22nd percentile of all tested configurations, meaning that roughly 78% of tested combos perform better in this game. This is a low ranking, driven primarily by the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions.

To interpret this rank, consider that the Ryzen 7 7700 is a high-end CPU, sitting in the 87th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 40081. In contrast, the RX 6600 is in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. The mismatch between the CPU's strength and the GPU's mid-range positioning means that in a GPU-bound game like Hitman 2, the combo's rank is dragged down by the graphics card.

The combo rank of 2895 out of 3711 suggests that many other pairings, likely those with more powerful GPUs, achieve higher FPS. However, the data also shows that this combo is not the worst, as there are 816 combos that rank below it. For a user with this specific hardware, the ranking implies that expectations should be set for 1080p gaming, where the combo performs adequately, rather than 1440p or 4K.

The nearest rivals for the CPU, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 and Intel Core i9-13905H, have nearly identical average scores, meaning that swapping the CPU would not meaningfully change the combo's rank. The GPU's rivals, including the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile, also score within 0.4% of the RX 6600, indicating that the combo's rank is representative of a specific performance tier rather than an outlier.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael. It runs on the AMD Socket AM5 platform with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The CPU has a 65 W TDP and supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration, providing 83.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a 32 MB shared L3 cache.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, AI pathfinding, and physics calculations. The Ryzen 7 7700's strong single-thread performance is evident from its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1930, which is crucial for a game that may rely on a primary game thread. Its multicore score of 18760 indicates ample headroom for background tasks and modern game engines that utilize multiple threads.

The benchmark data for the CPU shows a percentile rank of 87, meaning it outperforms 87% of all tested CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 40081 places it just above the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 and just below the Intel Core 5 221E, with deltaPct values of 0.1% and -0.2%, respectively. This indicates that the 7700 is a top-tier CPU for gaming, capable of feeding even high-end GPUs without bottlenecking.

However, in this specific combo, the CPU's potential is not fully utilized at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU's performance allows the RX 6600 to reach 132 FPS on Low settings, showing that the CPU can drive high frame rates. At 4K, the CPU is not the limiting factor, as the GPU's rendering capabilities are exhausted. The data shows that the FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent with GPU-bound behavior, not CPU limitations.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s and 32 MB L3 cache are sufficient for Hitman 2's open-ended levels. The 5.30 GHz boost clock ensures that the CPU can quickly process AI decisions in crowded areas, which is a hallmark of the Hitman series. The Ryzen 7 7700's launch MSRP is $329, and it remains an active production part, making it a sensible pairing for a mid-range GPU like the RX 6600, even if the combo's overall rank in this game is modest.