Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 pairing delivers a highly playable Hitman 2 experience at 1080p and 1440p, with 4K remaining a challenge for the GPU. The measured data shows a clear progression of performance that tracks the settings presets and resolution scaling, offering a straightforward analysis of where this combo excels and where its limits are exposed.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data provides four distinct settings presets across three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 72 FPS, which is fully playable and represents the highest visual fidelity tested. The High preset at the same resolution yields 97 FPS, while Medium reaches 129 FPS and Low jumps to 171 FPS. Given that Hitman 2 is a stealth game where frame pacing matters for precise movement, the High preset at 1080p offers the best balance between visual quality and performance headroom, sitting 25 FPS above Ultra and 32 FPS below Medium.

Moving to 2560x1440, the High preset produces 62 FPS, which is still comfortably within playable territory. The Medium preset at this resolution hits 82 FPS, providing a smoother experience with a modest visual trade-off. Ultra at 1440p drops to 46 FPS, which may feel less responsive for a game that rewards careful timing. The data suggests that High at 1440p is the optimal choice for users prioritizing image clarity, while Medium is the safer recommendation for those who want to maintain higher frame rates without sacrificing too much detail.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes dramatically. High settings yield only 33 FPS, Medium drops to 44 FPS, and Ultra falls to 24 FPS. Even Low at 4K only reaches 58 FPS. None of these configurations achieve the smoothness seen at lower resolutions, so the recommendation is to avoid 4K with this combo unless visual fidelity is the sole priority and the user accepts sub-60 FPS performance. The sweet spot for this pairing is clearly 1440p High or 1080p High, where the data shows the combo operating within its most efficient range.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame places this pairing at rank 2018 out of 3711 tested combinations. This position, roughly in the 54th percentile of all combos, indicates that while this is not a top-tier configuration, it sits squarely in the upper half of tested systems. The ranking reflects the balance between the high-end CPU and the mid-range GPU, where the RTX 4060’s performance ceiling limits the overall result more than the 9800X3D’s capabilities.

The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus score of 87 shows that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a top-tier processor, outperforming 87% of all CPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS, which scores 0.4% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7700, which is 0.8% faster. The GPU, however, has a percentileVsAllGpus score of 61, meaning it outperforms 61% of all GPUs but lags behind the top performers. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon HD 7790 and AMD Radeon 780M, are within 0.3% of its average benchmark score.

This divergence between CPU and GPU performance explains the overall rank. The combo is held back by the graphics card, which cannot fully leverage the CPU’s processing power in GPU-bound scenarios. In games like Hitman 2, where the engine scales with both components, the 4060 becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, pulling the combo’s rank down from what the CPU alone would suggest.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 1830 MHz with a boost clock of 2460 MHz, and the memory runs at 2125 MHz, effectively 17 Gbps. These specifications place the GPU in the mid-range segment, and the benchmark results reflect that positioning.

In Hitman 2, the GPU’s role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the 4060 maintains high frame rates across all presets, with Ultra at 72 FPS and Low at 171 FPS. The jump to 1440p shows a proportional drop, with High falling from 97 to 62 FPS, a reduction of approximately 36%. At 4K, the GPU struggles significantly, with High at 33 FPS and Ultra at 24 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates that the 4060’s 8 GB memory capacity and bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but become strained at 4K, where pixel throughput demands exceed what the card can deliver.

The GPU’s FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS and its 3072 shading units provide adequate compute for Hitman 2’s visual effects at lower resolutions. However, the data shows that the card’s 48 ROPs and 128-bit memory interface limit its ability to push high resolutions effectively. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra, 24 FPS, is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, confirming that the 4060 is not designed for 4K gaming in this title.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data shows that 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 both produce playable frame rates. At 1080p, High settings achieve 97 FPS, and at 1440p, High achieves 62 FPS. The 4K resolution results, ranging from 24 to 58 FPS depending on settings, are below ideal playability thresholds.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4060’s average benchmark score is 17639, with its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7790, scoring 17666, a difference of 0.2%. The AMD Radeon 780M scores 17588, which is 0.3% lower, while the Radeon Pro 560 is 0.5% lower at 17551.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9800X3D a bottleneck for the RTX 4060?

A: The CPU has a percentileVsAllCpus score of 87, indicating it outperforms most processors. In contrast, the GPU’s percentileVsAllGpus is 61. The data suggests the GPU is the limiting component, especially at higher resolutions where FPS drops more sharply than CPU performance would predict.

Q: What FPS can I expect at 1440p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured data shows an average of 46 FPS at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings. This is lower than the High preset’s 62 FPS but still within a range that some users may find acceptable for a stealth game.

Q: Does the combo rank in the top half of tested systems?

A: Yes, the comboRankInGame is 2018 out of 3711 total combinations, placing it in the upper half of all tested systems. This rank reflects the balance between the high-end CPU and mid-range GPU.

Q: How does the 9800X3D perform relative to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The 9800X3D’s average benchmark score is 39768. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS, scores 39603, which is 0.4% higher. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 scores 40048, 0.7% higher, while the Ryzen 7 7700 scores 40081, 0.8% higher.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 97 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the same preset drops to 62 FPS, a reduction of 35 FPS or approximately 36%. At 3840x2160, High falls to 33 FPS, another 29 FPS drop from 1440p, representing a further 47% reduction. This scaling is consistent across all presets, with Low dropping from 171 FPS at 1080p to 110 FPS at 1440p and 58 FPS at 4K.

The data indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases. The CPU’s performance, as measured by its benchmark scores, remains constant regardless of resolution, but the GPU’s workload scales with pixel count. The 8 GB memory and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth of the RTX 4060 become insufficient at 4K, where the card cannot maintain the frame rates seen at lower resolutions. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is significant but manageable, while the gap between 1440p and 4K is severe, suggesting that users should target 1440p as the maximum resolution for this combo.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge. It operates with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.20 GHz, and its 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a key feature for gaming workloads. The CPU’s benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23230 and a single-core score of 2080. Its Geekbench scores are 18696 multicore and 2964 single-core.

In Hitman 2, the CPU’s role is to handle game logic, AI, and physics, which are typically single-threaded or lightly threaded tasks. The 9800X3D’s strong single-core performance, evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 1212, ensures that these tasks are processed efficiently. However, the benchmark data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this pairing. At 1080p, where the GPU has more headroom, the CPU’s performance allows the 4060 to reach 171 FPS on Low settings. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and the CPU’s capabilities are underutilized.

The CPU’s 16 threads and high clock speeds also contribute to consistent frame pacing, as the measured FPS for Medium settings at 1080p shows a minimum of 109 FPS and a maximum of 148 FPS, indicating stable performance. The CPU’s 120 W TDP and 4 nm process node make it an efficient choice, though the data shows that its full potential is not realized in this GPU-bound scenario.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 171 FPS, Medium reaches 129 FPS with a minimum of 109 and maximum of 148, High achieves 97 FPS, and Ultra drops to 72 FPS. These numbers indicate that the RTX 4060 is well-suited for 1080p gaming, with even Ultra settings maintaining frame rates above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down but remains playable. Low averages 110 FPS, Medium hits 82 FPS with a range of 70 to 95, High delivers 62 FPS, and Ultra falls to 46 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p reduces High settings performance by 35 FPS, a significant but expected drop that still leaves the combo viable for most users.

At 3840x2160, the GPU’s limitations become apparent. Low averages 58 FPS, Medium drops to 44 FPS with a range of 37 to 50, High falls to 33 FPS, and Ultra reaches only 24 FPS. These numbers show that 4K gaming is not practical with this combo, as even Low settings struggle to maintain 60 FPS, and Ultra is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The data confirms that this pairing is optimized for 1080p and 1440p, with 4K requiring a more powerful GPU to achieve acceptable performance.