Hitman 2

Hitman 2, a 2018 stealth title, presents a fascinating case study when paired with the top-tier AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. The benchmark data reveals a system of immense raw power that is heavily constrained by the game's engine and the laws of resolution scaling. The results show a classic pattern where the CPU’s dominance becomes the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions, while the GPU’s capabilities are only fully taxed at 4K with maximum settings. This analysis will break down the measured frame rates, contextualize the hardware’s role, and offer clear guidance on how to best utilize this combination for Hitman 2.

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

The measured FPS data for this combination reveals a predictable yet steep curve as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an extraordinary 342 FPS average. This figure is so high that it clearly indicates the CPU and GPU are nowhere near their limits; the game’s rendering pipeline is the ceiling. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 219 FPS, a significant 123 FPS (or roughly 36%) reduction. This is a stark illustration of how pixel count directly impacts the GPU's workload, even in a title that is not visually demanding by modern standards.

The scaling continues, but the relative percentage drops become more pronounced at higher settings. At 4K Low, the average FPS falls to 117. This is a 102 FPS drop from the 1440p result, showing that the transition to 4K quadruples the pixel count and nearly halves the performance at this setting. This steep decline from 1080p to 4K at Low settings suggests that while the RTX 5090 is immensely powerful, the sheer volume of pixels at 4K begins to engage it more seriously, pulling the bottleneck away from the CPU and towards the GPU.

However, the most telling data point for bottleneck analysis is the scaling at Ultra settings. The 1080p Ultra average is 143 FPS, which drops to 91 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and then plummets to 49 FPS at 4K Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K is a 42 FPS reduction, or over 46%. This indicates that at the highest quality preset, the game’s effects, shadow quality, and geometry complexity are combining with the 4K resolution to create a massive GPU workload. The RTX 5090 is finally being pushed to its limits, and the frame rate reflects the sheer computational demand. The data implies that for this 2018 title, the GPU becomes the definitive limiting factor only at the extreme end of the resolution and settings spectrum.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a monstrous piece of hardware, and its specifications suggest it should trivialize a game like Hitman 2. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory is far beyond what any game from this era could require, ensuring that memory capacity is never a bottleneck. The 512-bit memory bus and 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth provide an immense data pipeline, which is critical for handling the high-resolution textures and effects that Ultra settings demand. The boost clock of 2407 MHz, combined with 21,760 shading units, delivers a theoretical FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS.

Despite this enormous compute power, the measured FPS at 4K Ultra is only 49 FPS. This is a stark reminder that raw theoretical performance does not always translate linearly to real-world frame rates in older games. The data suggests that Hitman 2’s engine, released in 2018, is not optimized to fully utilize the parallel processing capabilities of a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU like the RTX 5090. The game’s draw calls and rendering techniques are likely serialized in ways that prevent the GPU from reaching its full potential.

The performance at lower settings reinforces this interpretation. The jump from 117 FPS at 4K Low to 87 FPS at 4K Medium shows a clear cost for increased visual fidelity. The jump from Medium to High (66 FPS) and then to Ultra (49 FPS) demonstrates that each tier of settings adds a significant load. The RTX 5090’s role here is not to break records but to provide a stable, high-quality experience where its vast resources are only partially utilized, leaving significant headroom for future titles or for running this game at extreme resolutions with high refresh rates, provided the settings are tuned appropriately.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

Within the database of tested system configurations, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a combo rank of 68 out of 3001 combos for Hitman 2. This places it in the top 2.3% of all tested systems, indicating that it is an exceptionally high-performing combination for this game. The data shows that this system is far ahead of the vast majority of other hardware pairings, which is expected given the CPU’s 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU’s 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs.

This rank is interesting because, despite the high absolute performance, the system is not ranked #1. The fact that it is not in the top 10 or top 50 suggests that other combinations may achieve higher frame rates. This could be due to the specific architectural limitations of the RTX 5090 on a 2018 title, or perhaps other CPUs, such as those with higher single-thread performance, might edge it out. The data, however, does not provide a direct comparison to the #1 combo, only that this specific pairing is 68th.

The rank is a relative measure of performance. Considering the CPU’s performance is within 0.9% of rivals like the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and Intel Core i7-14700K, the differences in overall combo ranking are likely driven by the GPU’s performance in this specific game. The GPU is ranked 92nd percentile overall, but the combo is in the 97.7th percentile, suggesting that the CPU+GPU pairing is particularly well-suited for Hitman 2, working together more effectively than their individual percentile scores might suggest. This synergy is a key takeaway from the data.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For a game like Hitman 2, the goal is to balance visual quality with a smooth, playable frame rate. At 4K, the data shows that the High preset (66 FPS) is the most viable option for a 60 FPS experience, while the Medium preset (87 FPS) provides excellent smoothness with a slight reduction in visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 4K, at just 49 FPS, falls below the 60 FPS threshold and would not be ideal for a consistent experience, making it a poor choice for this resolution unless the user prioritizes absolute visual quality over frame rate.

At 1440p, the High preset (124 FPS) is the sweet spot, delivering a very smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors. The Ultra preset (91 FPS) is also highly playable and offers the best visual experience for users with 144Hz displays who want to maximize quality. The Medium preset (164 FPS) is excellent for competitive play or for those with 165Hz+ monitors, but the visual difference between Medium and High is often significant enough to warrant the slight performance cost.

For 1080p, the data reveals a wealth of options. The High preset (194 FPS) is ideal for 144Hz and 165Hz monitors, offering a great balance of quality and speed. The Ultra preset (143 FPS) is also very playable and provides the definitive visual experience for this game. The Medium (257 FPS) and Low (342 FPS) presets are overkill for most displays and would only be useful for users with extreme refresh rates (240Hz+). Therefore, the recommendation is to use the High preset at 1080p and 1440p, and to step down to Medium at 4K to ensure a stable, high-frame-rate experience, as the Ultra preset is not well-suited for 4K play on this title.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS for the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination at 2560x1440 with High settings is 124 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM a limiting factor in Hitman 2?

A: No. The data shows the GPU has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, which is far more than any 2018 game could require. The performance bottlenecks are related to the game engine's utilization of the GPU's architecture, not memory capacity.

Q: How does this system's performance at 4K Ultra compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 143. At 4K Ultra, it drops to 49 FPS. This represents a significant performance decrease of 94 FPS, or roughly 66%, showing the massive load increase from the higher resolution.

Q: What is the best preset for a 60 FPS experience at 4K resolution?

A: Based on the measured data, the High preset at 4K achieves an average of 66 FPS, making it the highest quality setting that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset (87 FPS) is also an excellent choice for higher refresh rates.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded benchmark score compare to the Intel Core i7-14700KF?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F has a Passmark multi-thread score of 36,470. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700KF, has an average score of 70,163, which is a 0.2% difference in favor of the Intel chip, indicating they perform nearly identically.

Q: What is the combo rank for this CPU and GPU pairing in Hitman 2?

A: This combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is ranked 68th out of 3001 tested combos for Hitman 2, placing it in the top 2.3% of all systems in the database.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is built on the Zen 5 architecture and features 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz, which can boost up to 5.50 GHz. This high boost clock is crucial for gaming performance, and the data suggests it is more than sufficient for Hitman 2. The CPU’s Passmark single-thread score is 4,691, which is a strong indicator of its ability to handle the primary game logic thread. The multi-thread score of 36,470 shows it is also capable of handling background tasks and any multi-threaded aspects of the engine.

The performance at 1080p Low (342 FPS) and 1440p Low (219 FPS) strongly implies the CPU is not a limiting factor. At these settings, the GPU can render frames quickly, but the game’s CPU-bound logic (such as AI, physics, and draw call submission) becomes the bottleneck. The fact that the frame rate is so high at 1080p indicates that the 9700F's high single-thread performance is effectively feeding the RTX 5090 with enough data to keep it busy, up to a point.

However, the 4K Ultra result of 49 FPS shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at the highest settings; the GPU is. The frame rate drops are almost entirely attributable to the increased resolution and settings, which place a heavier load on the GPU. The CPU's performance is relatively constant across resolutions, so its role is to ensure the GPU is never starved of work. In this case, the 9700F, with its 5.50 GHz boost clock, successfully accomplishes this, allowing the RTX 5090 to be the sole performance determinant at 4K Ultra. The CPU's 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs supports its capability as a top-tier gaming processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

This section provides the complete measured FPS data for the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 in Hitman 2.

1920x1080:

• Low: 342 FPS average
• Medium: 257 FPS average, with a minimum of 218 FPS and a maximum of 295 FPS
• High: 194 FPS average
• Ultra: 143 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 219 FPS average
• Medium: 164 FPS average, with a minimum of 140 FPS and a maximum of 189 FPS
• High: 124 FPS average
• Ultra: 91 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 117 FPS average
• Medium: 87 FPS average, with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS
• High: 66 FPS average
• Ultra: 49 FPS average

The data shows a consistent trend across all resolutions: the performance cost from Medium to High is significant, and the cost from High to Ultra is even more substantial. At every resolution, the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, suggesting the game’s frame pacing is most stable at this setting. The progression from 1080p to 4K at every setting level demonstrates the increasing load on the GPU, confirming that the RTX 5090 is the primary component responsible for the frame rate differences seen across resolutions.