Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D + Intel Arc B390

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a distinctly GPU-limited experience in Hitman 2, with the integrated graphics solution dramatically capping frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings. Benchmark results show the combo ranks 2662nd out of 3001 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11.3% of all systems evaluated for this title. The data indicates a system where the CPU's substantial processing headroom is largely wasted, as the Arc B390's measured performance restricts playability to lower resolutions and settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals a clear hierarchy across the four settings presets tested at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 80 FPS average, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that approaches a consistently smooth experience for fast-paced stealth gameplay. Medium at the same resolution drops to 60 FPS average with a minimum of 51 FPS and maximum of 69 FPS, which remains technically playable but shows notable frame variance. High at 1080p falls to 46 FPS average, while Ultra bottoms out at 34 FPS.

For the best balance of visual quality and playability, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 represents the optimal measured configuration. The 60 FPS average is exactly half of the Low preset's 80 FPS, but the visual upgrade from Medium over Low is substantial in a game like Hitman 2 where environmental detail matters for stealth gameplay. The minimum of 51 FPS ensures that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above the 50 FPS threshold, which is critical for maintaining smooth camera movement during aiming and observation sequences.

At 2560x1440, no preset achieves 60 FPS average. Low delivers 51 FPS, Medium drops to 39 FPS, High falls to 29 FPS, and Ultra reaches only 21 FPS. The 1440p Medium configuration, with its 33 FPS minimum and 44 FPS maximum, is the most consistent at this resolution but still falls short of what most players would consider fluid. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with even Low managing only 27 FPS average. Given these measurements, the recommended settings are Medium at 1080p, with Low at 1440p as a secondary option for users who prioritize resolution over detail.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, manufactured on Intel's 3 nm process. Its memory configuration is entirely system-shared, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent" and clock speeds ranging from a 300 MHz base to a 2500 MHz boost. The GPU features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output pipelines, with 12 ray tracing cores. Its compute capabilities include 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 15.36 TFLOPS of FP16 performance via the 2:1 ratio.

The GPU's benchmark standing is remarkably low. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% slower), GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% slower), GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% slower), and GT 710 (1443, 2.7% slower). This places the Arc B390 in direct competition with decade-old entry-level discrete graphics solutions.

In Hitman 2 specifically, the GPU's limitations are immediately apparent. The 80 W TDP and integrated nature of the solution means it shares power and thermal resources with the CPU, yet the frame rates clearly show that the graphics pipeline is the bottleneck. The measured FPS at Ultra settings across all resolutions—34 FPS at 1080p, 21 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K—demonstrates that the Arc B390 simply lacks the throughput to handle high-detail rendering in this title. Even at Low settings, the 4K result of 27 FPS indicates that the GPU's raw pixel throughput is insufficient for modern resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS degradation from 1080p to 4K follows a consistent pattern across all settings, revealing the GPU-bound nature of this configuration. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 80 FPS at 1920x1080 to 51 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 27 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 36.3% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 47.1% further reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is roughly proportional to the pixel count increase, which is the hallmark of a GPU-limited scenario.

For Medium settings, the progression is 60 FPS at 1080p, 39 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K—a 35% drop followed by a 46.2% drop. High settings show 46 FPS at 1080p, 29 FPS at 1440p, and 16 FPS at 4K, with corresponding reductions of 37% and 44.8%. Ultra settings exhibit the steepest absolute decline: 34 FPS at 1080p, 21 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K, representing 38.2% and 47.6% decreases respectively.

The consistency of these scaling percentages—all falling within the 35-38% range for the 1080p to 1440p transition and 44-48% for the 1440p to 4K transition—indicates that performance is scaling almost linearly with pixel count. This is definitive evidence that the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting component at every resolution and settings combination. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D's processing power is not constraining results, as the frame rates would show diminishing returns at higher resolutions if the CPU were the bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2662 out of 3001 tested combinations places it in the bottom percentile of systems evaluated for Hitman 2. This ranking is directly attributable to the GPU's weak performance, as the CPU component of this pairing is far more capable. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D's average benchmark score of 58386 places it in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs, while the Arc B390's average score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs.

This stark contrast between component performance tiers explains the overall combo ranking. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D's nearest CPU rivals include the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58323, 0.1% slower), Intel Xeon w5-2545 (58504, 0.2% faster), Intel Core i9-14900 (58115, 0.5% slower), and AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 (58826, 0.7% faster). These rivals are all within 1% of the Ryzen's average score, confirming its position among high-end desktop processors.

Conversely, the Arc B390's nearest GPU rivals are all decades-old entry-level parts. The 1.3% to 2.7% deltaPct range separating the Arc B390 from the GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GT 625 OEM, and GT 710 underscores how far behind modern discrete GPUs this integrated solution sits. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a bottom-tier GPU creates an extreme imbalance that the game's benchmark results reflect in the 2662nd overall ranking.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D brings substantial processing resources to this pairing. It features 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process. The CPU operates with a 4.70 GHz base clock and 5.60 GHz boost clock, consuming a 120 W TDP. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 96 MB of shared L3 cache, with 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die.

In CPU-specific benchmarks, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D demonstrates strong performance. Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22807 and singlecore score of 2228 indicate capable multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. Passmark results show 41318 in multithread, 4704 in singlethread, 123140 in integer math, 81998 in floating point math, and 474501 in data compression. These scores place the CPU in the 92nd percentile of all processors.

However, in Hitman 2, the CPU's role is largely subordinated to the GPU's limitations. The game's measured FPS at any resolution and settings combination never approaches the CPU's potential performance ceiling. Even at 1080p Low, where the 80 FPS result is the highest recorded, the Arc B390 is still the limiting factor. The CPU's 16 threads and high boost clock are more than sufficient for Hitman 2's stealth gameplay mechanics, which typically rely more on single-threaded performance for AI and simulation tasks.

The 96 MB of L3 cache is a notable feature for gaming workloads, as large caches can reduce memory latency and improve frame consistency. However, the measured data shows that this advantage cannot manifest in Hitman 2 because the GPU cannot generate frames fast enough to benefit from the CPU's cache efficiency. The DDR5 memory support and 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth further ensure that the CPU is not memory-starved, but again, this headroom goes unused given the GPU bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the complete set of measurements shows a clear performance hierarchy. Low settings produce 80 FPS average, which is the highest figure recorded for this combo. Medium settings yield 60 FPS average with a minimum of 51 FPS and maximum of 69 FPS. High settings drop to 46 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 34 FPS average. The 1080p results demonstrate that the Arc B390 can deliver playable frame rates only at Low and Medium presets, with the 80 FPS Low result being the sole configuration that exceeds typical 60 FPS gaming standards.

At 2560x1440, performance degrades notably. Low settings produce 51 FPS average, which remains the only 1440p preset above 40 FPS. Medium settings achieve 39 FPS average with a minimum of 33 FPS and maximum of 44 FPS. High settings drop to 29 FPS average, and Ultra settings reach only 21 FPS average. The 1440p results indicate that this resolution is only suitable for Low settings, and even then, the 51 FPS average falls short of smooth gameplay targets.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low settings manage 27 FPS average, Medium settings achieve 21 FPS average with a 17 FPS minimum and 24 FPS maximum, High settings drop to 16 FPS average, and Ultra settings reach only 11 FPS average. None of the 4K configurations approach playable frame rates, making this resolution effectively unusable for Hitman 2 with this combo.

The minimum and maximum FPS data, available only for Medium settings, shows increasing variance at higher resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the range is 51-69 FPS, a spread of 18 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 33-44 FPS, an 11 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the range is 17-24 FPS, a 7 FPS spread. This tightening range at lower frame rates suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently saturated as resolution increases, reducing frame time variability even as average performance declines.

FAQ

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

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 delivers 60 FPS average with a 51 FPS minimum and 69 FPS maximum, representing the highest quality settings that maintain playable frame rates. Low at 1080p achieves 80 FPS average but with reduced visual quality, while High and Ultra at 1080p fall to 46 FPS and 34 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it within 2.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443), GT 625 OEM (1446), GeForce 800M (1460), and GT 520MX (1463). This places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, indicating performance comparable to entry-level discrete graphics from over a decade ago.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9850X3D or the Arc B390 the bottleneck in this system?

A: The GPU is the limiting component at every resolution and settings combination. Evidence includes the linear FPS scaling with pixel count (35-38% drops from 1080p to 1440p, 44-48% drops from 1440p to 4K) and the fact that even the lowest settings at 1080p only achieve 80 FPS, far below the CPU's demonstrated capability.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested systems for Hitman 2?

A: This combination ranks 2662nd out of 3001 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 11.3% of all systems evaluated for this game. The ranking reflects the GPU's weak performance despite the CPU's strong 92nd percentile standing among all processors.

Q: Can this system achieve 60 FPS at any resolution in Hitman 2?

A: Yes, at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 80 FPS average. At 1080p Medium, it reaches exactly 60 FPS average. No 1440p or 4K configuration achieves 60 FPS, with the best 1440p result being 51 FPS at Low settings and the best 4K result being 27 FPS at Low settings.

Q: How does the CPU's cache configuration affect gaming performance in this title?

A: The Ryzen 7 9850X3D's 96 MB of shared L3 cache provides substantial capacity for game data, potentially reducing memory latency. However, in Hitman 2, the GPU bottleneck prevents this advantage from manifesting, as frame rates are constrained by the Arc B390's rendering capabilities rather than CPU cache efficiency.