Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with AMD Ryzen 7 9700X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

The pairing of AMD's Zen 5-based Ryzen 7 9700X with NVIDIA's Ampere-generation RTX 3070 produces a set of measured results in Hitman 2 that reveal a system capable of strong 1080p performance but increasingly constrained at higher resolutions. The data shows a clear pattern: this combo delivers excellent frame rates at 1080p across all settings, remains playable at 1440p, but struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K, particularly on higher presets. These results tell a story of a CPU that has ample headroom and a GPU that becomes the decisive factor as pixel count rises.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic drop when moving from 1080p to 4K, which points directly at the GPU as the limiting component. At Low settings, the system delivers 194.6 FPS at 1080p, 123.4 FPS at 1440p, and 65.2 FPS at 4K—a decline of roughly 36.6% from 1080p to 1440p and another 47.1% from 1440p to 4K. This steep scaling curve is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are increasingly taxed by higher pixel counts.

The Ultra settings tell an even more pronounced story. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 81.3 FPS, which drops to 51.1 FPS at 1440p and collapses to 26.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is less than one-third of the 1080p Low figure, indicating that the RTX 3070's 220 W TDP and 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are simply overwhelmed when both resolution and graphical complexity are maxed out. The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution grows as resolution increases: at 1080p the difference is 113.3 FPS, at 1440p it's 72.3 FPS, and at 4K it narrows to 38.8 FPS—suggesting that at 4K, even dropping to Low settings cannot fully compensate for the GPU's limitations.

Settings Recommendations

For the smoothest experience, the data suggests that Medium settings provide the best balance of visual quality and performance at 1080p, where the combo achieves 143.5 FPS—well above the 60 FPS threshold and nearly double the High preset's 111.7 FPS. At 1440p, Medium again emerges as the sweet spot with 91.6 FPS, comfortably exceeding the Ultra preset's 51.1 FPS while still maintaining playable frame rates. At 4K, however, the situation changes: Medium delivers 50.6 FPS, which is borderline for smooth play, while High drops to 35.6 FPS and Ultra falls to 26.4 FPS.

The measured rows indicate that players targeting 60 FPS should avoid Ultra entirely at any resolution, as even 1080p Ultra only reaches 81.3 FPS—a figure that falls short of what higher refresh rate displays can utilize. For 1440p displays, High settings at 70 FPS offer a viable path to smooth gameplay, but the 21.6 FPS jump from High to Medium suggests that the latter preset is the more reliable choice for maintaining consistent frame times. At 4K, the data implies that Low settings at 65.2 FPS is the only preset that reaches playable territory, making it the recommended option for 4K users who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 9700X brings 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. Its benchmark results suggest a processor with substantial single-thread and multi-thread capability: it scores 4459 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 31588 in multi-core, with a Geekbench single-core score of 3353 and multi-core of 17002. The 3DMark results show scaling from 2525 at 2 threads to 9771 at max threads, indicating that the CPU's performance grows steadily with thread count.

In the context of Hitman 2, the measured FPS data reveals that the CPU is not the bottleneck. The dramatic FPS differences between settings at the same resolution—for instance, 194.6 FPS at 1080p Low versus 81.3 FPS at 1080p Ultra—are driven by GPU workload, not CPU limitations. The 9700X's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36029, places it just ahead of the Intel Core i5-14500HX (35940, +0.2%) and slightly behind the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (36165, -0.4%). This level of CPU performance is more than sufficient to feed the RTX 3070 in Hitman 2, as evidenced by the high frame rates at lower resolutions where CPU overhead typically becomes more prominent.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hitman 2?

A: The data shows 1080p as the strongest resolution, with all settings exceeding 81 FPS, and Low hitting 194.6 FPS. At 1440p, Medium and High remain above 70 FPS, but 4K falls below 60 FPS on every preset except Low.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Hitman 2?

A: Only at Low settings, which delivers 65.2 FPS. Medium drops to 50.6 FPS, High to 35.6 FPS, and Ultra to 26.4 FPS, making 4K playable only with reduced visual quality.

Q: Which settings preset delivers the highest frame rate?

A: Low presets consistently produce the highest FPS at every resolution: 194.6 FPS at 1080p, 123.4 FPS at 1440p, and 65.2 FPS at 4K.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 28238 places it slightly above the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27985, +0.9%) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956, +1%), while being marginally behind the AMD FirePro S7150 (28409, -0.6%).

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700X a strong performer in CPU benchmarks?

A: Yes, with a 3DMark max-thread score of 9771 and Cinebench R23 multi-core of 31588, it ranks in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, outperforming the Intel Core i5-14500HX by 0.2%.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the RTX 3070 provide for gaming?

A: The GPU offers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth through its 256-bit bus and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, which becomes a limiting factor at 4K where higher resolutions demand more memory throughput.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip, featuring 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. Its boost clock of 1725 MHz and base clock of 1500 MHz, combined with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yield a pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s. The GPU's 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 46 ray tracing cores position it as a solid mid-range card from the 30-series lineup.

The measured Hitman 2 results show the GPU's behavior across different workloads. At 1080p, the RTX 3070 delivers between 81.3 FPS (Ultra) and 194.6 FPS (Low), demonstrating that it has ample headroom at this resolution. The 1440p results show a more balanced picture, with 51.1 FPS at Ultra and 123.4 FPS at Low. The 4K results, however, reveal the GPU's limitations: even at Low settings, the 65.2 FPS figure is only slightly above 60 FPS, and Ultra drops to 26.4 FPS. This pattern indicates that the RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM and memory bandwidth become constraining factors at 4K, where the higher pixel count demands more memory throughput than the 448.0 GB/s can provide. The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238, places it in the upper-middle tier, consistent with its measured gaming performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its strongest results. Low settings achieve 194.6 FPS, Medium reaches 143.5 FPS, High delivers 111.7 FPS, and Ultra manages 81.3 FPS. The 113.3 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution shows that the GPU has significant performance reserves when pixel count is low.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop but remain respectable. Low settings deliver 123.4 FPS, Medium hits 91.6 FPS, High reaches 70 FPS, and Ultra falls to 51.1 FPS. The 72.3 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is smaller than at 1080p, indicating that GPU load is beginning to dominate.

At 3840x2160, the results show a clear performance cliff. Low settings produce 65.2 FPS, Medium drops to 50.6 FPS, High manages only 35.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 26.4 FPS. The 38.8 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is the smallest of any resolution, confirming that the GPU is the primary limiting factor here. Across all resolutions, the RTX 3070's performance degrades predictably as settings increase, but the rate of degradation accelerates at 4K, where even Low settings barely exceed 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 achieves a combo rank of 842 out of 1795 tested combinations in Hitman 2, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database. This ranking reflects a system that performs well at lower resolutions but is held back by the GPU at higher ones. The CPU's strong synthetic scores—including a 3DMark 16-thread score of 9824 and a Passmark multithread score of 37161—suggest that the processor is not the limiting factor in this pairing, while the GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs indicates that the RTX 3070 is a mid-tier performer that struggles with 4K workloads.

The combination's rank of 842 out of 1795 means it outperforms roughly 53% of all tested combos, a middle-of-the-pack result that aligns with the measured FPS data. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking versus the GPU's 72nd percentile creates an imbalance: the 9700X is a top-tier processor that can drive much faster GPUs, while the RTX 3070 caps the system's overall potential. This suggests that users seeking better 4K performance would benefit more from a GPU upgrade than a CPU upgrade, as the data shows the RTX 3070 is the component that determines the combo's rank in Hitman 2.