Hitman 2

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows for Hitman 2 with this AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination reveal a clear tiering across the four quality presets at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 132 FPS average, which is the highest figure recorded in the entire dataset. Medium drops to 99 FPS, High to 75 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 55 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 33 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs 24 FPS, and High to Ultra costs another 20 FPS. For players prioritizing smoothness at 1080p, the Medium preset at 99 FPS offers the best balance between visual quality and headroom, especially since the measured minimum at Medium is 84 FPS — still comfortably above typical 60 FPS thresholds.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with compressed headroom. Low delivers 84 FPS, Medium 63 FPS, High 48 FPS, and Ultra 35 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p provides 63 FPS average with a minimum of 54 FPS, which is borderline for 60 FPS displays but acceptable for variable refresh rate panels. At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. Low achieves 45 FPS, Medium 34 FPS (with minimum 29 FPS and maximum 39 FPS), High 25 FPS, and Ultra 19 FPS. No preset at 4K reaches 60 FPS, and even the Low preset fails to hold 60 FPS.

The data suggests that the optimal experience depends on resolution. At 1080p, Medium is the sweet spot — it retains 99 FPS while providing more visual fidelity than Low. At 1440p, Medium again appears as the best compromise, with 63 FPS average and a minimum of 54 FPS. At 4K, the choice is between playability and quality: Low at 45 FPS is the only preset that approaches smooth motion, while Medium at 34 FPS is technically playable but noticeably less fluid. The Ultra preset at any resolution appears to be a visual showcase rather than a practical gaming mode, given the sub-60 FPS results even at 1080p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 brings 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, with 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock runs at 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz. The GPU's 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs define its raw throughput capabilities, which translate to 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The memory clock is listed at 1750 MHz, which corresponds to 14 Gbps effective. These specifications place the RTX 2060 in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290.

The VRAM capacity of 6 GB becomes a relevant constraint at higher resolutions in Hitman 2. The measured FPS drops from 75 at 1080p High to 48 at 1440p High, a 36% reduction, and then to 25 at 4K High, a further 48% reduction from 1440p. While the game's texture requirements at Ultra settings may push against the 6 GB limit, the benchmark data shows the GPU still executes all presets, albeit with diminishing returns. The RTX 2060's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 with an average score of 15283 (0% delta), the AMD Radeon 680M at 15270 (0.1% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM at 15199 (0.6% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 at 15171 (0.8% delta). These near-identical scores indicate that the RTX 2060 sits in a crowded performance tier where small architectural differences matter more than raw score deltas.

The 12 nm TU106 chip with 10,800 million transistors and a 445 mm² die size represents an older manufacturing node compared to the CPU's 4 nm process, which may explain the GPU's relative weakness in this pairing. The RTX 2060's 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present but largely unused in Hitman 2, a game that predates widespread ray tracing adoption. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s provide context for why the GPU scales poorly at 4K: the fill rate requirements at that resolution overwhelm the available throughput.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2360 out of 3001 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the bottom 21% of the database. This ranking reflects the significant imbalance between the CPU and GPU in this pairing. The Ryzen 7 9700F sits in the 94th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 69996, while the RTX 2060 sits in the 58th percentile with an average score of 15290. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU produces a system that is heavily GPU-limited in most scenarios.

The combo rank of 2360 out of 3001 suggests that many other CPU-GPU pairings achieve better performance in Hitman 2, likely because they pair more balanced components. The data implies that the Ryzen 7 9700F has substantial headroom that the RTX 2060 cannot utilize. For context, the CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (avgScore 69875, deltaPct 0.2), Intel Core i7-14700KF (avgScore 70163, deltaPct -0.2), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (avgScore 69515, deltaPct 0.7), and Intel Core i7-14700K (avgScore 69355, deltaPct 0.9). These deltas are all within 1%, indicating that the 9700F performs essentially identically to these high-end alternatives in general benchmarks.

The GPU's nearest rivals, as noted, are all within 0.8% of the RTX 2060's average score, which means swapping the GPU for any of these alternatives would produce nearly identical results. The combination ranking therefore reflects the GPU's position in the market rather than any deficiency in the CPU. If the RTX 2060 were paired with a weaker CPU, the combo rank might improve slightly relative to other combos, but the 9700F's strength does not hurt — it simply goes underutilized.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full preset range produces a wide spread of results. Low settings yield 132 FPS average, representing the peak performance ceiling for this combo at 1080p. Medium delivers 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and maximum of 114 FPS, providing a narrow but stable frame time distribution. High drops to 75 FPS, and Ultra falls further to 55 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 77 FPS spread, with each preset tier costing roughly 20-33 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 84 FPS is only 15 FPS below its average, indicating consistent frame pacing, whereas the maximum of 114 FPS suggests occasional dips below the average.

At 2560x1440, the same preset ladder compresses. Low achieves 84 FPS, Medium 63 FPS (minimum 54, maximum 73), High 48 FPS, and Ultra 35 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 49 FPS, narrower than at 1080p due to the increased pixel count taxing the GPU more uniformly. The Medium preset's minimum of 54 FPS is dangerously close to the 60 FPS target, but its maximum of 73 FPS shows the system can exceed that threshold when scenes are less demanding. The 1440p High preset at 48 FPS is the first setting that falls below 60 FPS on average, suggesting that High at this resolution is only suitable for players who tolerate frame rates in the 40s.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly below 60 FPS. Low yields 45 FPS, Medium 34 FPS (minimum 29, maximum 39), High 25 FPS, and Ultra 19 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 26 FPS, the smallest of any resolution, indicating that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck at 4K regardless of settings. The Medium preset's minimum of 29 FPS and maximum of 39 FPS show a 10 FPS range, which is proportionally wider than at lower resolutions — a sign of inconsistent frame pacing under heavy GPU load. The 4K Ultra result of 19 FPS is barely interactive, while the 4K High result of 25 FPS offers only marginal improvement.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset to use at 1920x1080 with this combo?

A: The Medium preset provides 99 FPS average with a minimum of 84 FPS, making it the highest quality setting that maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. Low runs at 132 FPS, but the 33 FPS gain over Medium may not justify the visual quality reduction.

Q: Can this combo run Hitman 2 at 60 FPS on 2560x1440?

A: Only the Low preset achieves this, with 84 FPS average. Medium runs at 63 FPS average but drops to 54 FPS minimum, which will cause occasional stutter on 60 Hz displays. High and Ultra fall below 60 FPS at 48 FPS and 35 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290, sitting within 0.8% of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283), AMD Radeon 680M (15270), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 (15171). These deltas are negligible, meaning performance differences would be imperceptible.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700F holding back the RTX 2060 in Hitman 2?

A: The data suggests the opposite: the CPU is not the bottleneck. The 9700F scores 69996 on average benchmarks and ranks in the 94th percentile, while the GPU ranks in the 58th percentile. The combo rank of 2360 out of 3001 indicates the GPU limits overall performance.

Q: What FPS can be expected at 4K with this hardware?

A: No preset reaches 60 FPS at 3840x2160. Low achieves 45 FPS, Medium 34 FPS (minimum 29), High 25 FPS, and Ultra 19 FPS. The 4K experience is limited to the Low preset for playable frame rates.

Q: How does the 9700F compare to the Ryzen 9 7950X in general benchmarks?

A: The 9700F scores 69996 on average, which is 0.7% higher than the Ryzen 9 7950X's 69515. This puts the 9700F effectively at parity with one of AMD's flagship desktop CPUs, despite the 9700F being a lower-tier part in the 9000 series.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process with 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die. It operates at a 3.80 GHz base clock and boosts to 5.50 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy consists of 80 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 32 MB shared L3. Memory support includes DDR5 on a dual-channel bus with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth, and ECC memory is supported. The CPU connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes and uses the AMD Socket AM5.

The 9700F's benchmark scores reveal a processor that excels in both single-threaded and multithreaded workloads. Its PassMark single-thread score is 4691, while the multithread score reaches 36470. Integer math scores 120788, floating-point math scores 77955, and data encryption scores 21488. The average benchmark score of 69996 places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals — the Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875), Core i7-14700KF (70163), Ryzen 9 7950X (69515), and Core i7-14700K (69355) — all fall within 0.9% of the 9700F's score, making this processor essentially interchangeable with those high-end parts in general workloads.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role appears minimal given the measured FPS patterns. The fact that FPS scales nearly linearly with resolution and preset changes — 132 FPS at 1080p Low down to 19 FPS at 4K Ultra — indicates the game is GPU-bound across all tested configurations. A CPU-bound scenario would show less variation across resolutions because the CPU workload would remain constant while the GPU workload increased. The 9700F's 8 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for Hitman 2's stealth gameplay, which typically relies on a handful of threads for AI, physics, and scene management. The CPU's high single-thread score of 4691 ensures that the main game thread has ample headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how this combo scales from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 across all four presets. At Low settings, the progression is 132 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K. This represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 46% drop from 1440p to 4K. At Medium settings, the progression is 99 FPS, 63 FPS, and 34 FPS, with drops of 36% and 46% respectively. High settings show 75 FPS, 48 FPS, and 25 FPS, with drops of 36% and 48%. Ultra settings show 55 FPS, 35 FPS, and 19 FPS, with drops of 36% and 46%.

The consistency of these percentage drops — approximately 36% from 1080p to 1440p and approximately 46-48% from 1440p to 4K — across all presets is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting component. The pixel count increases by 78% from 1080p to 1440p (from 2.07 million to 3.69 million pixels), and by another 125% from 1440p to 4K (from 3.69 million to 8.29 million pixels). The FPS drops do not match these pixel count increases proportionally, suggesting that other factors such as memory bandwidth and fill rate play a role in the scaling behavior.

The RTX 2060's 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 80.64 GPixel/s pixel rate become increasingly strained as resolution rises. At 4K, even Low settings produce only 45 FPS, which is less than half of the 1080p Low result. This disproportionate drop indicates that the GPU's fixed-function units — ROPs and TMUs — are saturated at higher resolutions. The 6 GB VRAM capacity may also contribute to the scaling issues at 4K Ultra, where texture demands likely exceed the available memory, though the data does not explicitly confirm VRAM overflow. The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal, as evidenced by the consistent FPS ratios across presets — a CPU-bound system would show larger FPS differences between Low and Ultra at a given resolution because the CPU workload would vary with settings changes. Here, the FPS differences between presets are substantial at every resolution, confirming the GPU is the primary constraint.