Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060

The pairing of AMD's Ryzen 7 9850X3D with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060 produces a fascinating bottleneck study in Hitman 2, a stealth title from 2018 that remains demanding at higher resolutions. The measured frame rates across four settings tiers and three resolutions reveal a system where the CPU's substantial headroom — the 9850X3D posts a 92nd-percentile standing among all CPUs — is repeatedly capped by the RTX 2060's 58th-percentile GPU ranking. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 132 FPS, but that figure collapses to 19 FPS at 4K Ultra, a spread that defines the GPU as the primary constraint in every scenario measured.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that Hitman 2's rendering load scales aggressively with pixel count. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 132 FPS at 1920x1080 to 84 FPS at 2560x1440, a 36% reduction, and then to 45 FPS at 3840x2160, a further 46% decline. This trajectory indicates that even at the lowest preset, the RTX 2060's 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are overwhelmed by 4K's pixel throughput. The 192-bit memory bus and 1920 shading units simply cannot sustain the fill rate demands at that resolution.

At Medium settings, the scaling pattern is similar but with tighter margins. The 1080p average of 99 FPS drops to 63 FPS at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and then to 34 FPS at 4K (a 46% decline from 1440p). These proportional drops across resolutions suggest a consistent GPU-bound scenario where the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads are never the limiting factor. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D's 96 MB shared L3 cache and 4.70 GHz base clock provide ample single-thread performance for Hitman 2's engine, which is known to favor strong IPC over raw core counts.

High settings show the same pattern with lower absolute numbers: 75 FPS at 1080p, 48 FPS at 1440p, and 25 FPS at 4K. The reductions are 36% and 48% respectively. Ultra settings, however, reveal the most dramatic scaling — 55 FPS at 1080p falls to 35 FPS at 1440p (a 36% drop) and then to 19 FPS at 4K (a 46% drop). The consistent 36%-then-46% pattern across all four presets is a clear signature of GPU-limited performance; the CPU's contribution is effectively constant, and the variance comes entirely from the graphics card's rendering capacity.

The data shows that 1080p is the only resolution where this combo approaches smooth gameplay, and even then only at Low or Medium settings. The 4K results are uniformly below playable thresholds, with the best 4K figure being 45 FPS at Low — a marginal result for a stealth game that benefits from consistent frame pacing. The 1440p results sit in a middle ground: 84 FPS at Low is excellent, 63 FPS at Medium is acceptable, but 48 FPS at High and 35 FPS at Ultra suggest that users should prioritize settings over resolution.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 as the only resolution where all four settings presets deliver playable averages, ranging from 55 FPS at Ultra to 132 FPS at Low. At 2560x1440, only Low and Medium presets exceed 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS, with the highest average being 45 FPS at Low.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9850X3D's CPU performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score is 58386, placing it 0.1% above the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58323) and 0.5% above the Intel Core i9-14900 (58115). It trails the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 by 0.7% (58826) and the Intel Xeon w5-2545 by 0.2% (58504). This indicates the 9850X3D sits in a tightly competitive band among high-end processors.

Q: Is the RTX 2060's 6 GB VRAM sufficient for Hitman 2 at 4K?

A: The results indicate it is not. At 3840x2160, the best average is 45 FPS at Low, falling to 34 FPS at Medium and 25 FPS at High. The 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth appear inadequate for the texture and geometry loads at 4K, as evidenced by the steep FPS declines across all presets.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking relative to all tested graphics cards?

A: The RTX 2060 sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283, delta 0%), AMD Radeon 680M (15270, delta 0.1%), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199, delta 0.6%). This places it in the mid-range tier.

Q: Does the CPU's 3D V-Cache (96 MB L3) impact Hitman 2 performance?

A: The cache configuration is substantial, with 80 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 96 MB shared L3. While the measured FPS data does not isolate cache effects, the CPU's 92nd-percentile ranking and consistent frame delivery across resolutions suggest it is not a bottleneck in this game.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values at Medium settings across resolutions?

A: The measured minimums are 84 FPS at 1920x1080, 54 FPS at 2560x1440, and 29 FPS at 3840x2160. These figures indicate that even at Medium, 4K produces frame drops below 30 FPS, making the experience potentially stutter-prone.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience. At 1920x1080, Medium settings deliver 99 FPS average with a minimum of 84 FPS and maximum of 114 FPS — this is the sweet spot for balanced quality and smoothness. Low settings push to 132 FPS, which may appeal to competitive players, but the visual trade-off is significant. High settings at 75 FPS remain playable, while Ultra at 55 FPS dips below the 60 FPS threshold that many stealth gamers prefer for responsive camera movement.

At 2560x1440, Medium is again the recommended preset, delivering 63 FPS average with 54 FPS minimum and 73 FPS maximum. This provides a consistent experience above 50 FPS, which is acceptable for a methodical stealth game. Low settings at 84 FPS offer more headroom for action sequences, but High at 48 FPS and Ultra at 35 FPS are too inconsistent for comfortable play. Users prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate might tolerate High, but the data shows Medium as the best compromise.

For 3840x2160, no preset achieves a comfortable average. Low at 45 FPS is the only option above 40 FPS, while Medium drops to 34 FPS and High to 25 FPS. Ultra at 19 FPS is essentially unplayable. Given these numbers, 4K should be avoided unless the user accepts Low settings and the associated visual compromises. The 6 GB VRAM limitation is particularly evident here, as even Medium settings with their modest texture requirements produce a 34 FPS average.

The overall recommendation across all resolutions is Medium settings. This preset delivers the most balanced frame rates relative to visual quality, with 99 FPS at 1080p, 63 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K. The minimum FPS values at Medium — 84 at 1080p, 54 at 1440p, and 29 at 4K — show that the preset maintains playable performance even in demanding scenes, unlike High or Ultra which see larger drops.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2360 out of 3001 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places it in the bottom 21% of all configurations, which is expected given the GPU's mid-range standing relative to the CPU's high-end positioning. The rank reflects the severe bottleneck imposed by the RTX 2060 — the CPU is capable of far higher frame rates, as evidenced by its performance in synthetic benchmarks, but the GPU cannot translate that headroom into Hitman 2 performance.

The rank of 2360 is particularly telling when compared to the individual component percentiles. The CPU's 92nd-percentile standing suggests it belongs in top-tier combos, while the GPU's 58th percentile aligns more closely with mid-range pairings. The gap between these positions explains why this combo underperforms relative to its CPU potential. In Hitman 2, a game that scales well with GPU power due to its detailed environments and complex lighting, the RTX 2060's limitations are fully exposed.

This ranking also highlights the importance of balanced component selection. Users with the 9850X3D would see substantially better results with a higher-tier GPU, as the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor in any measured configuration. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where CPU load is typically highest, the combo achieves 132 FPS — a respectable figure but far from the CPU's theoretical maximum. The 3001-combo pool includes configurations with similar CPUs paired with stronger GPUs, and those combos likely rank significantly higher.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060's specifications directly explain its performance ceiling in Hitman 2. The GPU features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs operate at a base clock of 1365 MHz and boost clock of 1680 MHz. These figures place it firmly in the mid-range tier, as confirmed by its 58th-percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 15290.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's memory configuration is the most significant constraint. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is insufficient for 4K textures and high-detail geometry, which explains why the 4K results are so poor across all settings. The 336.0 GB/s bandwidth also limits fill rate performance at high resolutions, particularly when combined with the 192-bit bus. The measured FPS data shows that even at Low settings, 4K performance drops to 45 FPS, indicating that the GPU's raw pixel throughput is inadequate for that resolution.

The Turing architecture's feature set — including 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores — provides DirectX 12 Ultimate support, but Hitman 2's engine does not heavily utilize ray tracing or DLSS in the measured configurations. The GPU's fp32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS is modest by modern standards, and its 160 W TDP suggests thermal headroom is not the limiting factor. Instead, the bottleneck is purely computational and memory-related.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores — GTX 580, Radeon 680M, RTX 3050 OEM, and RX 7600 — all sit within 0.8% of its average score, indicating that the RTX 2060 is at the edge of a performance tier. In Hitman 2, this translates to playable 1080p performance, marginal 1440p performance, and unplayable 4K performance. Users seeking better results would need to reduce resolution, lower settings, or upgrade the GPU entirely.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results across all presets. Low settings average 132 FPS, Medium averages 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and maximum of 114 FPS, High averages 75 FPS, and Ultra averages 55 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 77 FPS, representing a 58% performance drop from the lowest to highest preset. This resolution is clearly where the RTX 2060 can flex its capabilities, with even Ultra exceeding 50 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the numbers decline predictably. Low averages 84 FPS, Medium averages 63 FPS with a minimum of 54 FPS and maximum of 73 FPS, High averages 48 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent at approximately 36% across all settings, confirming that the GPU is scaling linearly with pixel count. The Medium result of 63 FPS is the only preset that maintains a 60+ FPS average at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, performance falls off a cliff. Low averages 45 FPS, Medium averages 34 FPS with a minimum of 29 FPS and maximum of 39 FPS, High averages 25 FPS, and Ultra averages 19 FPS. The 4K results show that this combo is not viable for high-fidelity gaming at this resolution. Even the most aggressive settings reduction — dropping from High to Low — only recovers 20 FPS, moving from 25 to 45 FPS, which remains below the 60 FPS target.

The Medium settings data provides the most complete picture, as it is the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum values at all three resolutions. At 1080p, the 84-114 FPS range shows consistent performance. At 1440p, the 54-73 FPS range indicates occasional dips near 50 FPS but generally stable gameplay. At 4K, the 29-39 FPS range reveals severe instability that would be noticeable in a stealth game requiring precise timing. Across all resolutions, the RTX 2060's 6 GB VRAM appears to be the primary constraint, with the 4K results particularly affected by memory bandwidth limitations.