Hitman 2

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data for Hitman 2 with the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 reveals a clear and dramatic scaling pattern as resolution climbs. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 331.9 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that to 221.1 FPS, and at 4K it falls further to 116.6 FPS. That is a 65% reduction from 1080p Low to 4K Low, which is a massive hit that points squarely at the GPU becoming the primary constraint as pixel count multiplies.

The pattern intensifies at higher settings. At Ultra, 1080p produces 144.7 FPS, 1440p produces 93.2 FPS, and 4K produces 52 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is just 36% of the 1080p Ultra figure. This is a textbook example of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the RTX 5090's raw throughput — its 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 and 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth — is being taxed heavily by the 4K pixel workload.

Interestingly, the delta between 1080p and 1440p is proportionally smaller than the delta between 1440p and 4K. At High settings, 1080p yields 198.9 FPS, 1440p yields 123.6 FPS (a 38% drop), and 4K yields 68.8 FPS (a 44% drop from 1440p). This non-linear scaling suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is still contributing meaningfully to frame pacing, and the 7800X3D's 8 cores and 16 threads with a 5.00 GHz boost clock are able to feed frames quickly. At 4K, the GPU's pixel and texture rates — 423.6 GPixel/s and 1,636.8 GTexel/s — become the bottleneck, and the CPU's advantage is largely hidden.

The data implies that for this specific pairing, Hitman 2 at 1080p is where the CPU matters most. The 7800X3D's 96 MB of shared L3 cache and Zen 4 architecture are well-suited to the game's stealth simulation logic, which tends to have many AI-driven entities and physics interactions. At 4K, however, the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 512-bit bus width are what carry the load, and the FPS figures reflect that shift in balance.

FAQ

Q: What is the fastest measured setting at 1080p for this combo?

A: Low settings at 1920x1080 produce the highest average FPS at 331.9 FPS, followed by Medium at 262 FPS, High at 198.9 FPS, and Ultra at 144.7 FPS.

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

A: At Ultra, the average FPS drops from 144.7 at 1080p to 93.2 at 1440p, then to 52 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is 64% lower than the 1080p Ultra result.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 7800X3D bottleneck the RTX 5090 in Hitman 2?

A: At 1080p Low, the 331.9 FPS figure suggests the CPU is still keeping pace, but the large drop to 221.1 FPS at 1440p Low indicates the GPU begins to dominate. The 7800X3D's 8 cores and 16 threads with a 4.20 GHz base clock are sufficient for this game's CPU demands.

Q: What is the highest FPS recorded across all measured configurations?

A: The highest average FPS is 331.9, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest is 52 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the 4K Medium result compare to the 4K High result?

A: At 3840x2160, Medium settings produce 87 FPS, while High settings produce 68.8 FPS. This is a 26.5% improvement in FPS by dropping from High to Medium.

Q: Is the RTX 5090's VRAM a factor at 4K in Hitman 2?

A: The RTX 5090 has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, which is far more than Hitman 2 likely requires at any setting. The FPS drops at 4K are more attributable to compute and bandwidth limits rather than VRAM capacity, given that the 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is substantial.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance of visual quality and frame rate depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, Medium settings at 262 FPS offer a strong experience for high-refresh-rate displays, while High at 198.9 FPS is still excellent. Ultra at 1080p yields 144.7 FPS, which is above the 144 Hz threshold for many monitors, making it viable for those who prioritize image fidelity.

At 1440p, High settings at 123.6 FPS are the sweet spot, comfortably exceeding 60 FPS and approaching 120 FPS territory. Medium at 167.7 FPS is the best choice for competitive play or very high refresh rate panels, while Ultra at 93.2 FPS remains smooth and visually rich.

At 4K, the data suggests that High settings at 68.8 FPS are playable, but Medium at 87 FPS provides a noticeably smoother experience with a 26.5% FPS increase. Ultra at 52 FPS is the most demanding configuration and may be preferable only for those who prioritize maximum visual detail over frame rate consistency. Low settings at 4K deliver 116.6 FPS, which is surprisingly high and indicates that even at 4K, this combo can achieve high refresh rates if visual quality is sacrificed.

The recommendation is to use Medium or High at 4K, High at 1440p, and High or Ultra at 1080p, depending on the refresh rate of the display. The data indicates that the step from Medium to High costs roughly 20-25% of FPS at each resolution, while the step from High to Ultra costs another 25-30%, making Medium the most efficient preset for maximizing FPS without dropping to the lowest visual tier.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 331.9 FPS average
• Medium: 262 FPS average
• High: 198.9 FPS average
• Ultra: 144.7 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 221.1 FPS average
• Medium: 167.7 FPS average
• High: 123.6 FPS average
• Ultra: 93.2 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 116.6 FPS average
• Medium: 87 FPS average
• High: 68.8 FPS average
• Ultra: 52 FPS average

The data reveals a consistent ordering: Low > Medium > High > Ultra at every resolution, with no anomalies or overlapping values. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p is a 56% reduction in FPS (331.9 to 144.7), at 1440p it is a 58% reduction (221.1 to 93.2), and at 4K it is a 55% reduction (116.6 to 52). This uniformity suggests the settings presets apply similar relative loads regardless of resolution, which is typical for a game where shadow quality, texture filtering, and draw distance scale linearly.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination holds a combo rank of 20 out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places the pairing in the top 1.1% of all configurations tested for this game, which is an exceptional result given the game's 2018 release date. The rank reflects the raw power of both components, but the measured FPS data suggests that the rank is driven more by the RTX 5090's dominance at higher resolutions, where the GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth come into play.

The CPU's percentile of 87 versus all CPUs indicates that the 7800X3D is a high-end processor, but not the absolute top, with an average benchmark score of 31580. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-12700F, scores 31543, a mere 0.1% difference. This proximity in synthetic benchmarks suggests that in CPU-bound scenarios, the 7800X3D does not have a massive advantage over other strong CPUs. However, in Hitman 2, the 1080p Low result of 331.9 FPS implies the CPU is not the limiting factor, allowing the combo to achieve a high rank.

The GPU's percentile of 94 versus all GPUs is even more impressive, with an average benchmark score of 84306. Its nearest rival, the RTX 5090 D, scores 84241, a 0.1% difference, while the RTX 5050 Mobile is 0.2% slower. The fact that this desktop 5090 is only 0.1% ahead of a mobile 5050 in the database's average score is a curiosity, but the measured FPS in Hitman 2 shows the desktop card performing admirably, likely due to its 575 W TDP and full 21760 shading units.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is built on the Zen 4 architecture with a 5 nm process and uses the Raphael codename. It has 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The 120 W TDP is modest for a high-end desktop CPU, which allows for sustained boost clocks under gaming loads. The L3 cache is 96 MB shared, which is a key feature for gaming, as Hitman 2's AI and physics simulations benefit from large, fast cache to reduce memory latency.

In the context of this game, the 1080p Low result of 331.9 FPS is indicative of a CPU that is not holding back the GPU. The 3DMark single-thread score of 959 and multi-thread score of 7980 suggest that both lightly-threaded and fully-threaded workloads are handled well. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29149 and single-core of 4115 further confirm strong per-core performance, which is critical for games that rely on a few main threads.

The data shows that the 7800X3D's 8 cores are sufficient for Hitman 2, as the game likely does not scale beyond 8 threads effectively. The 16 threads provide headroom for background tasks, but the primary determinant of frame rate at 1080p is the CPU's single-thread speed and cache efficiency. The 96 MB L3 cache is particularly notable, as it is larger than the 32 MB L3 on many rivals, potentially reducing memory access stalls in gameplay.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU with 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. It has a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with a 575 W TDP that requires a 950 W suggested PSU. The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for 4K texture streaming and high-resolution rendering.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's role becomes dominant at 4K, where the pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are taxed heavily. The 4K Ultra result of 52 FPS is the lowest measured, but it is still playable, and the 4K Low result of 116.6 FPS shows the GPU's ability to handle 4K when settings are reduced. The 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 compute throughput is overkill for this game, but it ensures no compute-related bottlenecks.

The RTX 5090's 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores are not directly utilized by Hitman 2, as the game predates widespread ray tracing adoption, but they contribute to the GPU's overall benchmark scores. The PassMark G3D score of 39650 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 14411 place the GPU in the 94th percentile, which aligns with the top-tier ranking in this game. The memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s is double what most GPUs offer, and this is likely why the 4K Medium result of 87 FPS is so strong, as Hitman 2's environments have many textures that benefit from high bandwidth.