Hitman 2

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER places at rank 1293 out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2. This positions the pairing in the lower-middle tier of the database, meaning roughly 72% of tested configurations deliver higher average frame rates in this specific title. The ranking reflects a substantial mismatch: a top-tier 12-core processor from 2022 paired with a mid-range GPU from 2019. Benchmark results indicate the combo's overall standing is dragged down almost entirely by the graphics card, which sits at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU ranks in the 93rd percentile among all processors. The data shows a 30-percentage-point gap between the two components' relative standing, which is unusually wide for a gaming configuration.

When examining the nearest rivals for each component, the picture becomes clearer. The CPU's average benchmark score of 50556 places it within 0.8% of the Intel Core i9-13980HX, a mobile flagship, and just 0.1% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 235. This tight clustering suggests the Ryzen 9 7900X is not leaving performance on the table in synthetic tests. On the GPU side, the RTX 2060 SUPER's average score of 19774 puts it 0.3% ahead of the GTX TITAN and 0.5% behind the RTX 2070, showing it performs essentially at the boundary between those two older cards. In Hitman 2 specifically, the measured frame rates confirm that the GPU is the limiting factor at every resolution and settings combination tested.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its base clock runs at 1470 MHz with a boost clock of 1650 MHz, while memory operates at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These specifications place the card firmly in the mid-range of the Turing generation, with 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. The card also includes 34 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores, though Hitman 2's release in 2018 predates widespread ray tracing adoption in the stealth genre, so those features have limited direct impact on the measured results.

The GPU's performance in Hitman 2 scales predictably with settings. At 1080p, the card delivers 144.7 FPS on Low, 108.9 FPS on Medium, 82.2 FPS on High, and 62.9 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a steady decline of roughly 26-27% for each step up in quality preset, which is typical for a GPU that is not bandwidth-starved at this resolution. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gameplay in this title, as the game's asset streaming demands do not exceed that threshold even at Ultra settings. At 4K, however, the card's compute throughput becomes the bottleneck rather than memory capacity, as evidenced by the sharp drop to 18.9 FPS at Ultra and 29.8 FPS at High.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested configurations in Hitman 2?

A: It ranks 1293 out of 1795 tested combos, placing it in the lower 28% of all pairings. This rank is primarily attributable to the GPU's mid-range standing rather than the CPU's performance.

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for playable frame rates?

A: At 1080p, all settings presets deliver playable results, with Low at 144.7 FPS, Medium at 108.9 FPS, High at 82.2 FPS, and Ultra at 62.9 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (90.8 FPS), Medium (69.8 FPS), and High (53.9 FPS) remain above 50 FPS, while Ultra drops to 37.2 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component at all tested resolutions. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking versus the GPU's 63rd percentile, combined with the steep FPS drops as resolution increases, points to graphics-bound performance.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The card scores 19774 on average, putting it 0.3% ahead of the GTX TITAN, 0.5% behind the RTX 2070, 0.8% ahead of the Quadro K5200, and 1.3% ahead of the Tesla K40m. These are marginal differences, indicating the card performs as expected for its class.

Q: What is the CPU's synthetic performance relative to its nearest competitors?

A: The Ryzen 9 7900X averages 50556, which is 0.1% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 235, 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT, 0.5% behind the Intel Core i7-13850HX, and 0.8% behind the Intel Core i9-13980HX. All four rivals fall within a 1% band.

Q: Does the GPU's VRAM capacity affect 4K performance?

A: The 8 GB VRAM is not the primary constraint at 4K; rather, the card's compute throughput limits results. The FPS drop from 51.6 at Low to 18.9 at Ultra at 3840x2160 shows a 63% reduction, which aligns with shading and rasterization limits rather than memory exhaustion.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Starting at 1920x1080, the RTX 2060 SUPER delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 144.7 FPS, which is high enough for fast-paced movement through crowded environments. Medium reduces that to 108.9 FPS, a 25% drop, while High comes in at 82.2 FPS, another 24% decrease. Ultra settings yield 62.9 FPS, which is a 23% reduction from High. The consistent step-down pattern suggests the card is scaling evenly with shader complexity rather than hitting a memory or bandwidth wall.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same settings hierarchy holds but with lower absolute values. Low settings maintain 90.8 FPS, which remains fluid for the stealth gameplay where quick reactions matter. Medium achieves 69.8 FPS, High drops to 53.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37.2 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is 31%, larger than the corresponding gap at 1080p (24%), indicating that the card's compute resources are becoming more strained as pixel count rises.

At 3840x2160, the results show a card under significant load. Low settings produce 51.6 FPS, which is just barely playable for a stealth title that does not require twitch reflexes. Medium drops to 35.4 FPS, High falls to 29.8 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 18.9 FPS. The transition from Low to Medium at 4K represents a 31% loss, while Medium to High is a 16% loss, and High to Ultra is a 37% loss. This non-linear pattern suggests that Ultra settings at 4K push the card beyond its efficient operating range.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate behavior across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling curve. At Low settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 37% (from 144.7 to 90.8 FPS), and from 1440p to 4K is 43% (from 90.8 to 51.6 FPS). At Medium settings, the corresponding drops are 36% (108.9 to 69.8) and 49% (69.8 to 35.4). High settings show 34% (82.2 to 53.9) and 45% (53.9 to 29.8) drops. Ultra settings exhibit 41% (62.9 to 37.2) and 49% (37.2 to 18.9) drops.

These percentages align closely with the pixel count increases: 1440p has 78% more pixels than 1080p, and 4K has 125% more pixels than 1440p. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the processor's work does not scale with pixel count. Instead, the consistent 34-49% reductions at each step confirm that the RTX 2060 SUPER is doing the heavy lifting. The CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, which it does without limiting frame rates at any tested setting.

The data also shows that the scaling penalty grows slightly at higher settings. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 82 FPS (144.7 to 62.9), while at 4K the same spread is 33 FPS (51.6 to 18.9). This compression at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is spending proportionally more time on pixel shading, leaving less headroom for settings-based performance variations.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. Its base clock of 4.70 GHz boosts to 5.60 GHz, and it carries 64 MB of shared L3 cache alongside 1 MB of L2 per core. In synthetic benchmarks, it achieves a single-thread score of 4238 in PassMark and 6168 in Cinebench R23, with a multi-thread score of 43695 in Cinebench R23 and 51406 in PassMark's multithread test. These figures place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain consistent frame pacing and avoid bottlenecking the GPU. The game's stealth mechanics involve complex AI routines, crowd simulations, and dynamic lighting changes, all of which benefit from strong single-thread performance. The 7900X's 3DMark single-thread score of 1093 and Geekbench single-core score of 2952 indicate it has ample headroom for these tasks. The fact that frame rates drop by roughly 40-50% when moving from 1440p to 4K, while the CPU's workload remains constant, proves the processor is not the limiting factor.

The CPU's 170 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth provide a solid foundation for feeding the GPU. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes ensures no bandwidth bottleneck on the data path, though the RTX 2060 SUPER uses PCIe 3.0 x16, which is backward compatible. The 12 cores and 24 threads far exceed what Hitman 2 requires; the game was released in 2018 and is optimized for far fewer threads. Benchmark results show the CPU's multi-thread capabilities, such as a PassMark integer math score of 169273 and a floating point score of 103952, are simply not taxed by this title's workload. The processor's nearest rivals all score within 0.8% of its average, meaning any of those CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in this GPU-limited scenario.