Hitman 2

Hitman 2, a 2018 stealth title, exhibits a wide performance envelope on the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination. The measured data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the processor provides ample headroom at lower settings. This analysis walks through the benchmark results, focusing on how the frame rate responds to resolution and settings changes, and what that implies about the balance of this particular hardware pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic and consistent drop in frame rates across all settings, clearly identifying the GPU as the primary performance limiter. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 141 FPS at 1080p to 90 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 48 FPS at 4K. This represents a 66% reduction in average FPS from the lowest to the highest resolution. The scaling is not linear; the jump from 1080p to 1440p costs 51 FPS, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs another 42 FPS, showing that pixel count increases have a compounding effect on rendering load.

The pattern holds for the other presets, reinforcing that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the component under strain. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 249 FPS at 1080p to 159 FPS at 1440p and 85 FPS at 4K. Even at the lowest quality preset, the 4K result is less than half of the 1080p figure. This suggests that the game's engine is capable of scaling its workload with resolution, and the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth resources are being saturated as the pixel count increases.

The data indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this scenario. If the processor were the limiting factor, we would expect to see a plateau in performance as resolution decreases, with frame rates remaining similar at 1080p and 1440p. Instead, the frame rates continue to rise significantly at lower resolutions. For instance, at Medium settings, the average FPS jumps from 119 at 1440p to 186 at 1080p, a 56% increase. This behavior is characteristic of a system where the GPU has the capacity to render more frames when the resolution is lowered, but is fully occupied at higher resolutions.

The measured minimum FPS values, available only for the Medium preset, further support the GPU-bound analysis. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 54 FPS, which is 84% of the 64 FPS average. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 101 FPS, and at 1080p Medium, it is 158 FPS. The minimum frame rate scales proportionally with the average, showing that the GPU is consistently and predictably handling the increased load without causing stutter or frame time spikes that a CPU bottleneck might introduce.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, with its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, provides a massive 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. In Hitman 2, this is likely a decisive factor in the smooth scaling observed at 4K. The game's detailed environments and crowd simulations can demand significant memory bandwidth, and the data suggests the GPU has ample headroom in this regard, as the performance drops are more attributable to raw shading and rasterization workload than to memory capacity issues.

The GPU's clock speeds are listed as a base of 2017 MHz and a boost of 2407 MHz. The benchmark results show that the card is able to sustain high frame rates even at 1440p, where the average often exceeds 100 FPS on lower presets. For a game released in 2018, this modern flagship GPU operates with substantial performance to spare, as evidenced by the 249 FPS average at 1080p Low. This high frame rate at the lowest resolution suggests that the GPU is not the limiting factor there, and the CPU is likely nearing its own limits.

The RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is a theoretical figure, but the measured FPS provides a practical view. At 4K Ultra, the average is 35 FPS, which is a demanding workload that brings the GPU to its knees. This is the only preset and resolution combination where the system's performance dips below the 60 FPS threshold. The difference between 4K High (48 FPS) and 4K Ultra (35 FPS) is a 27% drop, showing that the Ultra preset introduces a significant amount of additional visual complexity that disproportionately affects the GPU.

The GPU's performance percentile is 92, and its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X. While those comparisons are based on synthetic benchmarks, the game data here shows the RTX 5090 is capable of delivering playable frame rates at 1440p High (90 FPS) and even 4K High, though the latter is borderline. The 32 GB memory size is more than sufficient for this title, and the benchmark results do not indicate any memory-related performance cliffs.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 presents the most balanced experience for this combo. It achieves an average of 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay with no visible stutter. This provides a significant margin above the 60 FPS target, while still offering a visual quality step up from Low. The jump from Low to Medium at 1440p costs 40 FPS (159 to 119), but the improvement in visual fidelity is typically worth the trade-off for a game like Hitman 2, which relies on detailed crowd scenes and lighting.

For users prioritizing maximum visual quality, the High preset at 1440p, with its 90 FPS average, is also a strong choice. It delivers a high frame rate that is suitable for most displays and offers better shadows and textures than Medium. However, the 4K High result of 48 FPS is below the 60 FPS ideal, making it less recommendable for a consistently smooth experience. The Ultra preset should be avoided at all resolutions for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, as it drops to 104 FPS at 1080p and 35 FPS at 4K, showing a disproportionate performance cost.

At 1920x1080, the High preset is the sweet spot, delivering 141 FPS. This is a massive improvement over the 104 FPS of Ultra, while still providing a high level of visual detail. The Medium preset at 1080p offers 186 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual difference between Medium and High is often more noticeable at lower resolutions. The data suggests that the GPU has enough power at 1080p to handle the High preset without issue, making it the recommended choice for most users at this resolution.

In summary, the measured data supports a tiered approach: for 1080p, use High; for 1440p, use Medium or High; and for 4K, use Low (85 FPS) or Medium (64 FPS) if you want to stay above 60 FPS. The 4K Medium result, with a minimum of 54 FPS, is a viable option for a cinematic experience, but it is the only 4K preset that approaches a playable frame rate. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution due to its steep performance penalty.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 holds a combo rank of 619 out of 3001 total combos for this game. This places it in the top 21% of all tested systems, indicating a strong but not top-tier performer for Hitman 2 specifically. Given the GPU's high percentile (92) and the CPU's 95th percentile, one might expect a higher rank, but the game's age and its scalability with other hardware combinations likely account for the position.

The rank suggests that while this combo is capable of high frame rates, there are other pairings that achieve higher average FPS in this specific title. This could be due to the game's engine favoring certain architectures or clock speeds over others. For instance, the CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, has a nearly identical average benchmark score (76155 vs 76212, a 0.1% delta), so the processor choice is not a differentiator here. The GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, has a delta of 0.3%, which is also negligible.

The combo's rank is likely determined by the GPU's performance at higher resolutions, where the 4K results are relatively low. A combo with a more powerful GPU, or one that overclocks better, could easily surpass this rank. The data indicates that the RTX 5090, while a flagship card, is not the absolute fastest in every game scenario. The 619th rank is a solid result, but it leaves room for improvement, suggesting that users with this combo should not expect world-record performance in Hitman 2, but rather a very capable and consistent experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 141 FPS. This is a high frame rate that is well-suited for smooth gameplay on standard 60Hz or 144Hz monitors.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Hitman 2?

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. At 4K Medium, the average is 64 FPS with a minimum of 54 FPS. At 4K High, the average drops to 48 FPS. The 4K Ultra preset is not playable, with an average of only 35 FPS.

Q: Which preset gives the highest frame rate?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 yields the highest average at 249 FPS. This is the best option for maximum performance, but it comes with a significant reduction in visual quality.

Q: How does the 1440p Medium performance compare to 4K Medium?

A: At 1440p Medium, the average is 119 FPS, which is nearly double the 64 FPS at 4K Medium. The minimum frame rate also shows a large gap, at 101 FPS versus 54 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data points to the GPU as the primary limiter. Frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution, dropping by roughly two-thirds from 1080p to 4K. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates at lower resolutions would not increase as much as they do.

Q: What is the rank of this combo among all tested systems?

A: It ranks 619th out of 3001 total combinations. This means it performs better than the majority of tested systems, but it is not at the very top.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact average frame rates for each resolution and settings preset. Minimum and maximum values are only available for the Medium preset.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 1920x1080 | Low | 249 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 186 | 158 | 214 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 141 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 104 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 159 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 119 | 101 | 137 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 90 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 66 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 85 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 64 | 54 | 73 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 48 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 35 | - | - |

The data exhibits a clear hierarchy. At 1080p, the frame rate drops by 63 FPS when moving from Low to Medium, then 45 FPS to High, and 37 FPS to Ultra. This shows that each quality tier has a similar absolute performance cost at this resolution. At 1440p, the drops are 40 FPS (Low to Medium), 29 FPS (Medium to High), and 24 FPS (High to Ultra). At 4K, the drops are 21 FPS (Low to Medium), 16 FPS (Medium to High), and 13 FPS (High to Ultra). The absolute cost of each settings tier decreases as resolution increases, but the relative cost remains significant.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. In Hitman 2, the CPU's role appears to be primarily to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions. The benchmark results show that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p Low, where the system achieves 249 FPS. This high frame rate confirms the CPU's strong single-thread performance, which is critical for game logic and draw call submissions.

The CPU's benchmarks show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42713 and a single-core score of 6030. These scores indicate a very capable processor for both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads. In a game like Hitman 2, which can utilize multiple cores for AI and physics, the 16 cores provide a substantial advantage. However, the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K suggests that the game becomes GPU-bound well before the CPU's limits are reached.

The CPU's 64 MB of L3 cache is a large pool that can help keep frequently accessed game data close to the cores, reducing memory latency. This is likely a contributing factor to the consistent minimum frame rates seen at Medium settings, where the 158 FPS minimum at 1080p is still very high. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, while lower than the GPU's, is sufficient for the game's data transfer needs, as the performance is not limited by memory throughput in these tests.

The processor's percentile rank of 95 and its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, showing a negligible 0.1% performance delta, confirm that this CPU is a top-tier mobile part. In this specific game, the CPU's high core count and clock speed ensure that the RTX 5090 is never left waiting for data, allowing the GPU to operate at its full potential. The fact that the frame rate continues to scale down to 1080p without plateauing strongly suggests the CPU is handling the game's demands with ease.