Hitman 2

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER places 126th out of 1,795 tested combinations in Hitman 2. That places this configuration in the top 7% of all tested combos, a strong result for a game that launched in 2018. The CPU itself sits at the 93rd percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 88th percentile among all graphics cards. The combo's overall position reflects a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically underperforms relative to the other.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 9 7900X posts an average score of 50,556, sitting within 0.8% of its nearest rivals. The Intel Core i9-13980HX trails by 0.8%, while the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is essentially tied at 0.1% behind. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT and Intel Core i7-13850HX sit 0.4% and 0.5% behind, respectively. This clustering shows that the 7900X is not a performance outlier in either direction; it is firmly in the upper tier of CPUs but not a class leader.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4080 SUPER averages 53,610 in benchmark scores. The nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, is just 0.2% ahead. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 0.4% ahead, while the AMD Radeon RX 7700S and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti trail by 2.1% and 2.9%, respectively. These margins are narrow, indicating that the 4080 SUPER sits at a performance plateau where small architectural differences determine rankings.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers an average of 41.3 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS threshold typically desired for smooth gameplay, indicating that Ultra settings at 4K push the hardware to its limits.

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

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 300.4 FPS. For a more balanced experience, 2560x1440 at High settings delivers 110.7 FPS, which combines high visual fidelity with frame rates well above typical display refresh rates.

Q: How much performance drop occurs when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 170.4 at 1920x1080 to 110.7 at 2560x1440, then to 61.9 at 3840x2160. The 4K figure represents a 63.7% reduction from the 1080p result.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 300.4 FPS. The CPU's single-thread score of 1,093 in 3DMark and multi-thread score of 12,536 at max threads suggest the processor can sustain high frame rates, but the GPU's rendering pipeline becomes the bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 126th out of 1,795 total tested combinations. This places it in the top 7% of all configurations tested for Hitman 2.

Q: What settings provide the best balance of visual quality and frame rate at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium settings yield 147.8 FPS, while High settings drop to 110.7 FPS. Both are well above 60 FPS, so the choice depends on whether visual fidelity or maximum frame rate is prioritized.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the performance profile shifts as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 300.4 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops this to 191.8 FPS, a 36.2% reduction. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 100.9 FPS, representing a 66.4% drop from the 1080p baseline.

This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 4K, but the rendering workload grows substantially. The pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s define the upper bound of output, and Hitman 2's scenes at 4K approach these limits.

At 1080p, the frame rates exceed 300 FPS at Low settings, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU adequately. The Ryzen 9 7900X's 12 cores and 24 threads, with boost clocks up to 5.60 GHz, provide strong single-thread performance that matters for game logic and draw call processing. However, the 300.4 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low indicates the GPU still manages the final output.

The scaling from High to Ultra settings at each resolution is more dramatic. At 4K, High delivers 61.9 FPS while Ultra drops to 41.3 FPS, a 33.3% reduction. At 1440p, the same settings comparison shows 110.7 FPS versus 81.6 FPS, a 26.3% drop. At 1080p, High hits 170.4 FPS and Ultra falls to 125.7 FPS, a 26.2% reduction. The consistent percentage drops suggest that Ultra settings add a relatively uniform workload increase across resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 300.4 FPS. Medium settings reduce this to 226.4 FPS, a 24.6% decrease. High settings yield 170.4 FPS, a further 24.7% reduction from Medium. Ultra settings drop to 125.7 FPS, representing a 26.2% decrease from High. The progression from Low to Ultra across four settings tiers results in a total reduction of 58.2%.

At 2560x1440, the performance curve follows a similar pattern but at lower absolute values. Low settings average 191.8 FPS. Medium settings deliver 147.8 FPS, a 22.9% decrease. High settings produce 110.7 FPS, a 25.1% drop from Medium. Ultra settings fall to 81.6 FPS, a 26.3% reduction from High. The total drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 57.5%.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates reflect the increased rendering burden. Low settings average 100.9 FPS. Medium settings drop to 75.8 FPS, a 24.9% decrease. High settings fall to 61.9 FPS, an 18.3% reduction from Medium. Ultra settings reach 41.3 FPS, a 33.3% drop from High. The overall reduction from Low to Ultra at 4K is 59.1%.

The data shows that the relative performance penalty for each settings tier remains fairly consistent across resolutions. The largest single-step drop occurs at 4K when moving from High to Ultra, where the frame rate falls by 20.6 FPS. The smallest absolute difference between tiers appears at 4K between Medium and High, a gap of 13.9 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X brings 12 cores and 24 threads to this pairing, built on the Zen 4 architecture with a 5 nm process. The base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz provide substantial single-thread throughput. In 3DMark's single-thread test, the CPU scores 1,093, while the 2-thread test scores 2,137. The 4-thread score of 4,151 and 8-thread score of 7,798 show scaling up to eight threads. The max-thread score of 12,536 indicates that additional threads beyond eight provide diminishing returns for this workload.

Cinebench results reinforce this pattern. The R15 multicore score of 4,404 versus single-core of 621 shows a 7.1x scaling factor across 24 threads. The R20 scores of 18,351 multicore and 2,590 single-core represent a 7.1x ratio. R23 scores of 43,695 multicore and 6,168 single-core show a 7.1x scaling. This consistent scaling suggests the CPU handles multi-threaded workloads effectively, though Hitman 2's engine may not fully utilize all 24 threads.

The CPU's 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core help maintain low latency access to frequently used data. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures the CPU can feed the GPU without memory bandwidth becoming a bottleneck. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the RTX 4080 SUPER, which uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 connection.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role becomes apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the 300.4 FPS result indicates the CPU can sustain very high frame rates. The single-thread performance, highlighted by a Geekbench single-core score of 2,952 and PassMark single-thread score of 4,238, matters for game logic and AI calculations typical of stealth gameplay. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 10,972 suggests that while the CPU has substantial multi-threading capability, the game's engine likely benefits most from strong per-core performance rather than raw thread count.

The CPU's 170 W TDP and 13,140 million transistors on a 2x 71 mm² die size indicate a high-power design optimized for performance. The 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its position as a top-tier processor, though the nearest rivals show that the 7900X is not uniquely dominant. The delta percentages of -0.1% to -0.8% against its closest competitors suggest that in CPU-bound scenarios, the choice between the 7900X and its rivals would produce nearly identical results.