Hitman 2

# How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 145th out of 3,711 tested combinations in Hitman 2. This places the combo in the top 4% of all tested configurations, a strong result for a stealth title that rewards both CPU and GPU headroom. The ranking reflects the exceptional synergy between the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 7800X3D and the RTX 4090, which together deliver frame rates that are competitive with far more specialized hardware combinations.

The combo's percentile standing is reinforced by the individual component benchmarks. The RTX 4090 sits in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 7 7800X3D reaches the 83rd percentile among all CPUs. Both components are near the top of their respective categories, and Hitman 2's engine appears to leverage both equally well — the game's measured FPS data demonstrates no single bottleneck dominating across resolutions. The combination's rank of 145 also suggests that while there are faster configurations, they are overwhelmingly composed of exotic or newer hardware, not mainstream desktop parts.

When compared to its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D shows a near-tie with the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G and Intel Core i7-13650HX, both with a 0% delta in average score. The AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 6950H trails by 0.4%, a negligible margin. This indicates that within the CPU's performance class, the 7800X3D is not markedly ahead of its closest competitors in synthetic tests, yet the gaming results here show it is more than sufficient to feed the RTX 4090 in Hitman 2. The GPU's nearest rivals — the Intel Arc Pro A60 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 — both sit at a 0% delta, while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 2.5% faster and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 is 2.9% slower, placing the RTX 4090 in a tightly contested bracket that does not include any other consumer gaming card.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for optimizing the Hitman 2 experience with this hardware. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 332 FPS on average, which is far beyond any display's refresh rate and indicates that the CPU is the primary driver at this resolution. Moving to Medium drops to 251 FPS, High to 190 FPS, and Ultra to 140 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is a 24% reduction, while High to Ultra costs 26%, showing that each tier has a meaningful impact.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts. Low produces 214 FPS, Medium 160 FPS, High 121 FPS, and Ultra 89 FPS. The medium setting remains above the 144 Hz threshold for high-refresh monitors, while High still comfortably exceeds 120 FPS. Ultra, at 89 FPS, remains playable but misses the high-refresh mark. At 4K, the numbers compress significantly: Low averages 114 FPS, Medium 85 FPS, High 65 FPS, and Ultra 48 FPS. Here, only Low clears the 100 FPS bar, and Medium is the highest setting that maintains a consistent 60+ FPS experience.

The optimal experience depends on the target display. For 1080p and 1440p users with 144 Hz monitors, the Medium preset is the sweet spot — it delivers 251 and 160 FPS respectively, with the 1440p result including a minimum FPS of 136, ensuring no drops below the refresh rate. High at 1440p offers 121 FPS average, which suits 120 Hz displays, but the minimum FPS data is not available to confirm consistency. For 4K, the Medium preset at 85 FPS average (with a 73 FPS minimum) is the recommended choice, as it balances visual fidelity with smooth motion. The High preset at 65 FPS is borderline for 60 Hz displays but risks noticeable stutter on higher refresh panels.

Ultra settings are only advisable at 1080p, where the 140 FPS average still provides a responsive experience. At 1440p and 4K, Ultra's 89 and 48 FPS averages respectively show that the game's most demanding settings are not optimized for this hardware at higher resolutions. Given that Hitman 2 is a stealth game where frame consistency matters for aiming and timing, the Medium preset across all resolutions is the data-backed recommendation.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals how the workload shifts between CPU and GPU. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 332 FPS, which drops to 214 FPS at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and 114 FPS at 4K (a 66% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4090 is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the CPU has enough headroom to push far beyond 300 FPS at 1080p.

The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 251 FPS at 1080p, 160 FPS at 1440p (36% lower), and 85 FPS at 4K (66% lower). The consistent percentage drops across Low and Medium settings suggest that the game's rendering load scales uniformly with pixel count. However, the High preset tells a slightly different story: 190 FPS at 1080p, 121 FPS at 1440p (36% lower), and 65 FPS at 4K (66% lower). The identical percentage reductions across all presets indicate that resolution scaling is independent of graphical complexity in this engine.

At 4K, the gap between presets narrows dramatically. The difference between Low (114 FPS) and Medium (85 FPS) is 29 FPS, while between Medium and High (65 FPS) it is 20 FPS, and High to Ultra (48 FPS) is 17 FPS. This compression shows that at 4K, the GPU is saturated even at Low settings, and each additional graphical feature has a diminishing absolute impact. The CPU's role becomes less pronounced at 4K, where the RTX 4090's fill rate and shading capacity are the primary constraints.

The 1080p Ultra result of 140 FPS is notable — it is only 14 FPS higher than 1440p Ultra's 89 FPS would suggest a linear scaling, but the actual difference is 51 FPS. This suggests that at 1080p Ultra, the CPU still has enough headroom to maintain high frame rates, while at 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The data indicates that the Ryzen 7 7800X3D's 96 MB of shared L3 cache and 5.00 GHz boost clock are sufficient to keep the RTX 4090 fed at lower resolutions, but the GPU's 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth and 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 throughput ultimately define the upper limits at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional performance across all four presets. Low settings produce an average of 332 FPS, which is the highest recorded frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium reduces this to 251 FPS, with a minimum of 213 FPS and a maximum of 288 FPS, indicating tight frame pacing. High averages 190 FPS, while Ultra drops to 140 FPS. The 1080p results show no signs of CPU limitation, as even the most demanding preset maintains a frame rate well above any practical refresh rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected scaling. Low averages 214 FPS, a 36% reduction from 1080p. Medium produces 160 FPS average, with a minimum of 136 FPS and a maximum of 184 FPS — the minimum is still above 120 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay on high-refresh monitors. High averages 121 FPS, which is borderline for 120 Hz displays but still playable. Ultra at 1440p averages 89 FPS, a 36% drop from 1080p Ultra, confirming the uniform resolution scaling observed across all presets.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4090 begins to show its limits. Low averages 114 FPS, which is just above the 100 FPS mark and provides a good 4K experience. Medium averages 85 FPS, with a minimum of 73 FPS and a maximum of 98 FPS — the minimum is below the 75 Hz threshold, which may cause visible stutter on some displays. High averages 65 FPS, which is acceptable for 60 Hz monitors but not ideal for variable refresh rate panels. Ultra averages 48 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS standard and is only suitable for slower-paced stealth sections.

The Medium preset is the only setting that provides minimum FPS data across all resolutions, allowing for a consistency analysis. At 1080p, the minimum of 213 FPS represents an 85% ratio to the average, indicating excellent frame pacing. At 1440p, the minimum of 136 FPS is also 85% of the average, showing consistent performance. At 4K, the minimum of 73 FPS is 86% of the average, which is equally stable. This consistency suggests that the combo does not suffer from sudden frame drops, making it reliable for a stealth game where precise timing is crucial.

FAQ

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D + RTX 4090 combo overkill for Hitman 2?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the combo produces frame rates far beyond typical display refresh rates — 332 FPS at 1080p Low and 214 FPS at 1440p Low. However, at 4K Ultra, the average drops to 48 FPS, showing that the game can still challenge even this hardware when pushed to maximum settings.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144 Hz monitor?

A: For 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 160 FPS average with a 136 FPS minimum, ensuring the frame rate never drops below the 144 Hz refresh rate. At 1080p, Medium produces 251 FPS with a 213 FPS minimum, providing a comfortable margin above 144 Hz. At 4K, no preset consistently maintains 144 FPS — the Low preset averages 114 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 145th out of 3,711 tested combinations, placing it in the top 4% of all configurations. This rank reflects the balanced performance of the CPU and GPU, with the Ryzen 7 7800X3D in the 83rd percentile among CPUs and the RTX 4090 in the 88th percentile among GPUs.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Hitman 2?

A: The data shows a shift depending on resolution. At 1080p, the CPU limits performance — even at Ultra, the frame rate reaches 140 FPS, suggesting the GPU has additional headroom. At 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, as frame rates drop to 114 FPS at Low and 48 FPS at Ultra, indicating the CPU is not fully utilized.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 7800X3D's cache configuration benefit Hitman 2?

A: The CPU features 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is likely beneficial for the game's level-loading and AI calculations. The 1080p results show high frame rates across all presets, indicating that the cache, combined with the 5.00 GHz boost clock, provides sufficient memory bandwidth for the game's CPU-bound scenarios.

Q: What is the minimum FPS consistency across resolutions?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum FPS at all resolutions. The minimum-to-average ratio is consistently around 85-86% (213/251 at 1080p, 136/160 at 1440p, 73/85 at 4K), indicating stable frame pacing without significant drops.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock is 4.20 GHz with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, and it has a TDP of 120 W. The CPU's 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a defining feature, providing substantial on-die storage for game data that benefits titles like Hitman 2, which rely on frequent data access for AI, physics, and level geometry.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 7800X3D achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16,817 and a single-core score of 1,713. Its Geekbench scores are 15,610 multi-core and 2,426 single-core. These results place the CPU in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 33,079. The nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G and Intel Core i7-13650HX, both with identical average scores, and the AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 6950H, which trails by 0.4%.

The CPU's gaming performance in Hitman 2 is best demonstrated by the 1080p Low results, where the combo achieves 332 FPS. This figure indicates that the CPU can drive frame rates far beyond what most displays can show, even with the RTX 4090 handling rendering. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 7,980 and the 3DMark 8-thread score of 6,539 suggest strong multi-threaded performance, which Hitman 2 likely utilizes for its crowd simulation and complex NPC behaviors.

The 7800X3D's 16 threads and high boost clock ensure that the CPU does not become a bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rates across all presets (140-332 FPS) show that the CPU has ample headroom. However, at 4K, where the GPU is more heavily loaded, the CPU's role diminishes, and the frame rates are primarily determined by the RTX 4090's capabilities. The CPU's 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and DDR5 support also contribute to smooth data flow, though the game's performance at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU's 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is the more critical factor for 4K gameplay.