Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X paired with the Intel Arc B390 presents a starkly lopsided pairing for Hitman 2. The data measured for this combination shows a system where the integrated graphics solution is the definitive performance ceiling. While the 16-core CPU is a high-end desktop part, the Arc B390 operates in the lowest percentile of GPUs, resulting in frame rates that are largely unplayable at higher settings. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to explain the scaling behavior, component roles, and the practical limits of this configuration.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable yet severe degradation as resolution increases, confirming that the Intel Arc B390 is the sole limiting component. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 80 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops the average to 51 FPS, a 36% reduction. At 2160p Low, the average falls to 27 FPS, which is a 66% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern is classic for a GPU-bound scenario, as the rendering load on the Arc B390 increases exponentially with pixel count.

Analyzing the Medium preset tells a similar story. The 1080p Medium average is 60 FPS, which falls to 39 FPS at 1440p and then to 21 FPS at 2160p. The step from 1080p to 1440p is a 35% loss, and the step to 4K is a 65% loss from the starting point. The High preset shows the most severe drop: 46 FPS at 1080p, 29 FPS at 1440p, and 16 FPS at 2160p. The 4K High result is 65% lower than the 1080p High result. This consistent pattern across all presets indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput and shading capacity are exhausted well before the CPU can become a factor.

The shape of the scaling curve—where the 4K results are consistently less than half of the 1080p results—suggests that the Arc B390's 24 ROPs and 48 TMUs are insufficient for high-resolution output. The memory bandwidth being "System Dependent" and shared with the CPU further compounds the issue at higher resolutions, as the demand for texture data and frame buffer access grows. The data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking; if the Ryzen 9 5950X were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain flat across resolutions. Instead, the FPS drops sharply, proving the integrated GPU's rendering capabilities are overwhelmed by the increased pixel count.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process. Its performance metrics are extremely low, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. The measured 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 is only 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and 2.7% higher than the GeForce GT 710, positioning it alongside decade-old discrete entry-level parts. This is the context for every FPS number in this report.

The GPU's clock behavior is unusual: a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. This wide range suggests a power-constrained design that can boost when thermal and power budgets allow, but the average FPS results indicate that sustained boost clocks are rarely achieved under load. The 80 W TDP is low, and with "System Shared" memory, the GPU has no dedicated VRAM. The lack of dedicated memory means the bandwidth is "System Dependent," which for Hitman 2—a game with detailed environments—likely causes severe stutter and low average FPS due to memory contention with the CPU.

The shading units (1536) and 12 ray tracing cores are present, but the FP32 compute of 7.680 TFLOPS is insufficient for a modern title at high resolutions. The pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are the theoretical limits, but the measured data shows the actual performance is far below these caps. At 1080p Low, the 80 FPS average is the only playable result. At 1080p Medium, the 60 FPS average is technically playable but with a minimum FPS of 51, indicating frame time inconsistency. Any setting above Medium at 1080p, or any resolution above 1080p, drops below 50 FPS, which is not suitable for a stealth action game requiring precise timing.

The GPU's performance characteristics explain the FPS collapse at 4K Ultra: 11 FPS average. This is a direct consequence of the 24 ROPs being unable to fill the 8.3 million pixels of a 4K frame. The 3DMark score percentile of 9% is a strong predictor of this outcome, as it places the Arc B390 in the bottom decile of all GPUs. For Hitman 2, the data indicates that the Arc B390 is only viable for 1080p gaming at Low or Medium settings, and even then, the experience is marginal.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its benchmark scores are exceptional: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26017, a Geekbench multi-core score of 15233, and a 3DMark max threads score of 11597. The CPU sits in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with a Passmark multithread score of 45424. The nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX (deltaPct -0.2) and the Intel Core i9-13900F (deltaPct 0.4), showing the 5950X is competitive with modern high-end parts.

However, Hitman 2 does not require this level of processing power. The game is primarily GPU-bound in most scenarios, and the measured FPS data confirms that the CPU is not a bottleneck. The single-thread score of 3470 in Passmark and a 3DMark single-thread score of 944 are more than adequate for the game's AI and game logic. The 64 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide ample data for the CPU to feed the GPU, but the GPU cannot keep up.

The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would be most likely to become a limiting factor, the FPS is 80. This is a modest result that could easily be achieved by a much weaker CPU. The CPU's high performance is effectively wasted in this pairing. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 10810 and the Cinebench R15 multi-core score of 4324 are irrelevant to the FPS results because the Arc B390 cannot process frames fast enough to create a CPU bottleneck. The CPU is operating at a fraction of its capacity, waiting for the GPU to render each frame.

In essence, the Ryzen 9 5950X is a supercar engine attached to a bicycle drivetrain. The CPU's role in this configuration is to provide the minimum required frame data to the GPU, which it does effortlessly. The measured FPS variance across settings is entirely attributable to the GPU's rendering limits, not the CPU's compute capability. The 105 W TDP and 7 nm process node are fine for a desktop part, but they do not translate into gaming performance when paired with an integrated GPU that is 9th percentile.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based strictly on the measured FPS data, the only playable configuration is 1080p with the Low preset, which yields an 80 FPS average. This is the only setting where the frame rate comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold, providing a smooth experience for Hitman 2's stealth mechanics. The 1080p Medium preset hits exactly 60 FPS average, but the minimum FPS of 51 suggests occasional dips that could be noticeable during fast camera pans or crowded scenes. If a consistent 60 FPS is required, 1080p Low is the safe choice.

The 1080p High preset drops to 46 FPS, which is a significant downgrade in smoothness. The 1440p Low preset (51 FPS) is borderline, but the 1080p Medium (60 FPS) is a better option due to the higher average and the fact that it runs at a lower resolution, which reduces GPU load. For users who prioritize visual fidelity over playability, 1080p Medium is the highest preset that maintains a 60 FPS average. Going to 1440p Medium (39 FPS) or 2160p Low (27 FPS) is not recommended, as the frame rates fall below the playable threshold for an action game.

The Ultra preset is unusable at all resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 34 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it is 21 FPS; and at 4K Ultra, it is 11 FPS. These results indicate that the Arc B390 lacks the raw shading power and memory bandwidth to handle the Ultra preset's added effects. The data suggests that the "best experience" is a trade-off between resolution and settings: 1080p Low provides the highest FPS, while 1080p Medium provides a slightly better visual experience at the cost of a lower minimum FPS. Given the game's stealth gameplay, where reaction time matters, the 80 FPS of 1080p Low is the most reliable option. The 1080p Medium at 60 FPS average is acceptable for less demanding players, but the minimum FPS of 51 should be noted.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve in Hitman 2?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 80, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: Is this combo capable of running Hitman 2 at 4K resolution?

A: The data shows it is not capable of a playable experience at 3840x2160. The best 4K result is 27 FPS average on Low settings, while the Medium preset drops to 21 FPS and High to 16 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest rival in terms of GPU benchmark score?

A: The Arc B390 has a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX's score of 1463 and 2.7% higher than the GeForce GT 710's score of 1443.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1080p Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 51 FPS, while the average is 60 FPS and the maximum is 69 FPS.

Q: Does the Ryzen 9 5950X bottleneck the GPU in this configuration?

A: No. The FPS scales down consistently as resolution increases, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU has a 3DMark max threads score of 11597, which is far more than Hitman 2 requires, so it is not the bottleneck.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 2662 out of 3001 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 11% of configurations for Hitman 2 performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The full measured dataset is presented below for reference. All values are average FPS unless otherwise noted.

3840x2160 (4K)

• Ultra: 11 FPS
• High: 16 FPS
• Medium: 21 FPS (min 17, max 24)
• Low: 27 FPS

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Ultra: 21 FPS
• High: 29 FPS
• Medium: 39 FPS (min 33, max 44)
• Low: 51 FPS

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Ultra: 34 FPS
• High: 46 FPS
• Medium: 60 FPS (min 51, max 69)
• Low: 80 FPS

The pattern is consistent: each step down in resolution at the same settings yields a roughly 40-50% increase in FPS, while each step down in settings at the same resolution yields a similar percentage gain. The 1080p Low result of 80 FPS is the only data point that approaches a high-refresh experience. The 1440p Low result of 51 FPS is the closest competitor but still falls short. The 2160p results are uniformly below 30 FPS, which is unplayable for this genre. The Medium preset at 1080p is the only other data point with a 60 FPS average, but the 51 FPS minimum suggests potential frame pacing issues.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X + Intel Arc B390 combination ranks 2662 out of 3001 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places it in the bottom 11.3% of all configurations, a poor result that accurately reflects the measured FPS data. The rank is largely driven by the GPU's 9th percentile performance, as the CPU is in the 91st percentile. The data shows that the combo is significantly hamstrung by the integrated graphics, which cannot leverage the CPU's capabilities.

To contextualize the rank, consider the GPU's nearest rivals: the Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad, which is only 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M (1460) and 2.5% higher than the GT 625 OEM (1446). These are all entry-level parts from a decade ago, and their performance in Hitman 2 would be similarly low. The combo's rank of 2662 is consistent with a system that can barely manage 1080p Low at 80 FPS. In contrast, the CPU's nearest rivals—the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX and the Core i9-13900F—would likely rank much higher in this game when paired with a discrete GPU, but the Arc B390 drags the entire system down.

The rank of 2662 out of 3001 means there are 339 combos that perform worse. These are likely systems with even older integrated GPUs or severely underpowered CPUs. However, the presence of the Ryzen 9 5950X in this combo makes the ranking particularly disappointing, as the CPU is a top-tier part. The data indicates that the bottleneck is absolute: no amount of CPU power can compensate for a GPU that is 2.7% faster than a GT 710. The combo's ranking is a direct reflection of the GPU's inability to render Hitman 2 at playable frame rates outside of the lowest settings at 1080p. For users considering this pairing, the benchmark results are clear: the Ryzen 9 5950X is wasted, and the experience will be defined by the Arc B390's severe limitations.