Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Intel Arc B570 pairing delivers a playable experience in Hitman 2 only at specific settings and resolutions. The measured data shows that the 1080p Medium preset, with an average of 93 FPS, provides the best balance of fluidity and visual fidelity. While 1080p High reaches 70 FPS, the Medium setting offers a 23 FPS improvement over High, which is substantial for maintaining smooth camera pans during stealth sequences. At 1440p, the Medium preset is the only viable option, producing 59 FPS, which is right at the edge of acceptable smoothness. The 4K resolution is largely impractical for this combo, as even the Low preset only yields 42 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to an unplayable 18 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The data indicates a clear hierarchy across the four tested presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. At 1080p, the jump from Low (123 FPS) to Medium (93 FPS) costs 30 FPS, but the visual upgrade is typically significant in a game like Hitman 2, which relies on detailed environments for disguises and reconnaissance. The Medium preset is the sweet spot, as it remains well above the 60 FPS threshold while offering a more stable frame time experience, evidenced by the min/max range of 79 to 106 FPS.

For 1440p, the Medium preset (59 FPS) is the recommended choice, as it barely misses the 60 FPS mark but is far smoother than the High preset (45 FPS). The High preset’s 45 FPS average introduces noticeable stutter during fast turns, making it less ideal for the game’s action moments. The Ultra preset at 1440p (33 FPS) is not recommended for active play, as it falls below the minimum threshold for a responsive stealth title.

At 4K, the situation is dire. No preset achieves a playable frame rate. The Low preset (42 FPS) is technically the fastest, but the visual degradation is severe. The Medium preset (32 FPS) and High preset (24 FPS) are cinematic slideshows, and Ultra (18 FPS) is unplayable. Benchmark results indicate that this combination should be restricted to 1080p or 1440p gaming, with 1080p Medium being the definitive recommendation for a smooth, high-fidelity experience.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a desktop processor built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) with 8 cores and 16 threads. It features a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.20 GHz. The processor’s substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a defining characteristic, designed to reduce memory latency in gaming workloads. Its benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23230 and a single-core score of 2080, place it in an elite tier, with an 87th percentile ranking among all CPUs.

In the context of Hitman 2, the data shows that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck. At 1080p Low, where the GPU load is lowest, the system achieves 123 FPS, indicating that the CPU can feed frames well beyond the GPU’s capacity at higher settings. The CPU’s multi-threaded capability, evidenced by a PassMark multi-thread score of 40009 and a 3DMark 16-thread score of 10081, ensures that the game’s AI and physics simulations do not cause hitches. The single-thread performance, with a PassMark single-thread score of 4430 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2964, is also critical for a game that often tracks a single character in complex scenes. The processor’s performance relative to its nearest rivals reinforces its strength; it sits 0.4% above the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS and 0.7% above the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 in average benchmark scores, while being 0.8% below the AMD Ryzen 7 7700. This consistency shows that the 9800X3D is a powerful partner that does not limit the Arc B570 in this title.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Hitman 2 at 4K resolution smoothly?*

A: No. Benchmark results show that even at Low settings, the average FPS at 3840x2160 is only 42. At Medium, High, and Ultra presets, the average FPS drops to 32, 24, and 18 respectively, all of which are below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice. It produces an average of 59 FPS, which is just below 60 but playable, whereas the High preset drops to 45 FPS and the Low preset, while faster at 79 FPS, sacrifices too much visual detail for the stealth genre.

Q: How does the 1080p Medium preset compare to 1080p High in terms of frame rate?

A: The 1080p Medium preset delivers an average of 93 FPS, which is 23 FPS higher than the 1080p High preset’s 70 FPS. The Medium preset also shows a min/max range of 79 to 106 FPS, indicating better frame pacing consistency.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B570 the limiting factor in this setup?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary constraint. The transition from 1080p Low (123 FPS) to 1080p High (70 FPS) shows a massive 43% drop, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU’s high benchmark scores, including a 3DMark max-threads score of 10067, indicate it has ample headroom.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The Low preset yields an average of 123 FPS, while Ultra yields only 52 FPS. This represents a 71 FPS difference, highlighting the significant cost of the Ultra preset’s advanced effects on the Arc B570’s rendering pipeline.

*Q: Does the CPU’s cache size have a measurable impact on Hitman 2?*

A: While the CPU has a large 96 MB L3 cache, the measured FPS data does not isolate its specific impact. However, the CPU’s ability to maintain high average FPS in CPU-light scenarios (like 1080p Low) suggests that the cache and high boost clock of 5.20 GHz are sufficient to avoid becoming a bottleneck, allowing the GPU to be the sole focus of performance scaling.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Intel Arc B570 ranks at 2399 out of 3001 combos. This places it in the bottom 20% of all tested systems, which is a critical context for expectations. The low ranking is not a reflection of the CPU, which is in the 87th percentile of all CPUs, but rather the GPU, which sits in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. The Arc B570’s average benchmark score of 20556 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which scores 20534 (a 0.1% delta), and the Intel Arc A750, which scores 20582 (a -0.1% delta). This indicates that the GPU is a mid-range performer.

The ranking of 2399 out of 3001 is a direct result of the GPU’s limitations at higher resolutions. While the CPU is a top-tier part, the GPU’s 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus with 380.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient for 4K Ultra settings in this game. The 4K Ultra result of 18 FPS is a stark indicator of why this combo ranks so low. The data shows that for users targeting high refresh rates at 1080p, this combo is adequate, but in the broader context of all available hardware, it falls behind due to its inability to handle demanding 4K or high-refresh 1440p scenarios. The combo’s performance is strictly a function of the GPU’s mid-range ceiling, which the 9800X3D cannot overcome.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and dramatic scaling penalty as resolution increases. Starting at 1080p Low, the system achieves 123 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 79 FPS, a 35.8% reduction. At 4K Low, the average plummets to 42 FPS, which is a 65.9% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This scaling behavior is a textbook sign of a GPU-limited workload. The pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the frame rate drops by roughly two-thirds, which is consistent with the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth constraints.

This pattern intensifies at higher settings. At Medium, the FPS drops from 93 at 1080p to 59 at 1440p and then to 32 at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K (27 FPS loss) is nearly as large as the drop from 1080p to 1440p (34 FPS loss), indicating that the GPU is exhausting its resources. The 4K Ultra result of 18 FPS is particularly revealing, as it shows that the GPU’s rendering units are fully saturated. The CPU’s role in this scaling is minimal; the 9800X3D’s high single-thread score (2080 in Cinebench R23) ensures that it is never the limiting factor even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is under the least stress. The data shows that the Intel Arc B570 is the definitive bottleneck, and any attempt to play at 4K will result in sub-60 FPS performance regardless of the CPU’s capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Intel Arc B570 is as follows:

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Low: Average 123 FPS.
• Medium: Average 93 FPS, with a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS.
• High: Average 70 FPS.
• Ultra: Average 52 FPS.

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Low: Average 79 FPS.
• Medium: Average 59 FPS, with a minimum of 50 FPS and a maximum of 68 FPS.
• High: Average 45 FPS.
• Ultra: Average 33 FPS.

3840x2160 (4K)

• Low: Average 42 FPS.
• Medium: Average 32 FPS, with a minimum of 27 FPS and a maximum of 36 FPS.
• High: Average 24 FPS.
• Ultra: Average 18 FPS.

The 1080p Medium result stands out as the only configuration that combines a high average with a stable frame time window, as the min/max spread of 27 FPS is the tightest among the medium presets. In contrast, the 1440p Medium preset shows a wider spread of 18 FPS, suggesting less consistent rendering. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with the High and Ultra presets failing to reach even 25 FPS. The data confirms that the Intel Arc B570 is a 1080p-class GPU in this title, with 1440p Medium being the absolute maximum for a playable experience, contingent on the user’s tolerance for sub-60 FPS. The 9800X3D’s performance is consistent across all resolutions, but the GPU’s frame delivery is the sole determinant of the user experience.