Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the Intel Arc B370 produces a specific set of results in Hitman 2, with the measured data showing a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and settings. This combination ranks at 2768 out of 3001 tested combos, placing it in the lower portion of the database. The data indicates that this system is heavily constrained by the graphics solution, which limits the high-end CPU from reaching its potential in this stealth title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2768 out of 3001 places this pairing in the bottom 8% of all tested combinations. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the Intel Arc B370, which holds a percentile of 5 against all GPUs. The Arc B370’s average benchmark score of 1184 puts it in direct competition with legacy mobile and entry-level desktop parts; its nearest rivals include the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 at 1186 (deltaPct of -0.2%), the ATI Radeon HD 5770 at 1190 (deltaPct of -0.5%), and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M at 1192 (deltaPct of -0.7%). The only rival it beats is the AMD FirePro M2000, which scores 1168, a deltaPct of 1.4%. In practical terms, the Arc B370 is within 1% of a decade-old integrated-class GPU, which explains why the combo sits so low despite the CPU’s strength.

The Ryzen 9 9900X, by contrast, ranks in the 92nd percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 57498. Its nearest rivals are the AMD EPYC 9015 at 57555 (deltaPct of -0.1%), the AMD EPYC 7313 at 57399 (deltaPct of 0.2%), the Intel Core i9-14900 at 58115 (deltaPct of -1.1%), and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M at 58323 (deltaPct of -1.4%). These deltas are all within 1.5%, meaning the 9900X performs essentially on par with those server and high-end desktop parts in synthetic CPU tests. However, in Hitman 2, the CPU’s computational headroom is largely irrelevant because the GPU becomes the bottleneck at every tested configuration.

The benchmark data for the combo shows that the best result comes at 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the average FPS reaches 73. That is the only configuration that achieves a playable frame rate in the 60+ range. Every other setting and resolution combination falls below that threshold. The ranking of 2768 reflects the overall average of these measured results, which are dragged down by the GPU’s inability to handle higher resolutions or graphics presets. The CPU’s high percentile does not translate into a high combo rank because the game’s frame rate is dictated by the graphics card.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture for optimization. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 73 FPS, which is the highest average in the entire dataset. The Medium preset at the same resolution drops to 54 FPS, with a minimum of 46 and a maximum of 63. High at 1080p yields 41 FPS, and Ultra drops to 30 FPS. The data shows a linear degradation as settings increase: from Low to Medium is a 19 FPS drop (26%), from Medium to High is a 13 FPS drop (24%), and from High to Ultra is an 11 FPS drop (27%). This pattern indicates that each step up in quality costs roughly a quarter of the previous frame rate.

For a playable experience, the Low preset at 1080p is the only viable option if the target is 60 FPS or higher. The Medium preset at 1080p, with an average of 54 FPS, could be considered if the user accepts a slightly lower frame rate and the minimum of 46 FPS does not cause issues. The data shows that the minimum at Medium (46 FPS) is still above 30, which is often considered a playable threshold for slower-paced games like Hitman 2, but the average suggests a less fluid experience. High at 1080p (41 FPS) and Ultra at 1080p (30 FPS) are progressively worse, with Ultra hitting the exact 30 FPS average that many consider the bare minimum for console-like performance.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 46 FPS, which is 27 FPS lower than the same preset at 1080p. Medium at 1440p averages 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 and maximum of 40. High at 1440p drops to 26 FPS, and Ultra falls to 19 FPS. None of these are ideal, but Low at 1440p is the most playable option if the user insists on a higher resolution. The 4K results are uniformly poor: Low at 3840x2160 averages 25 FPS, Medium averages 19 FPS (minimum 16, maximum 21), High averages 14 FPS, and Ultra averages 10 FPS. These numbers are below playable thresholds for most users.

The recommendation from the data is to use the Low preset at 1080p for the best frame rate. If visual quality matters more, Medium at 1080p offers a compromise at 54 FPS average, but the minimum of 46 FPS indicates potential dips. The Ultra preset at any resolution is not recommended, as the averages of 30 FPS (1080p), 19 FPS (1440p), and 10 FPS (4K) are all too low for smooth gameplay. The measured rows show that the GPU saturates quickly with higher settings, so the only way to get acceptable performance is to minimize the graphics load.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the limiting component. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 73 at 1920x1080 to 46 at 2560x1440 (a 37% drop) and then to 25 at 3840x2160 (a 66% drop from 1080p). At Medium settings, the averages are 54 (1080p), 35 (1440p), and 19 (4K), representing a 35% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 65% drop from 1080p to 4K. High settings show 41 (1080p), 26 (1440p), and 14 (4K), with a 37% drop to 1440p and a 66% drop to 4K. Ultra settings show 30 (1080p), 19 (1440p), and 10 (4K), with a 37% drop to 1440p and a 67% drop to 4K.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings is telling. Regardless of whether the preset is Low or Ultra, the resolution scaling penalty is nearly identical: roughly 37% for the jump from 1080p to 1440p, and another 30-31% for the jump from 1440p to 4K. This uniform scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. If the CPU were limiting performance, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences at lower resolutions (where the CPU has more influence) and larger differences at higher resolutions (where the GPU takes over). Instead, the FPS scales almost exactly with the pixel count increase: 1440p has 1.78 times the pixels of 1080p, and the FPS drops by a factor of roughly 1.6, while 4K has 4 times the pixels of 1080p, and the FPS drops by a factor of roughly 3.

The data shows that the Intel Arc B370, with its system-shared memory and 25 W TDP, cannot handle the increased pixel throughput at higher resolutions. The GPU’s boost clock of 2400 MHz and base clock of 300 MHz are insufficient for the demands of 4K rendering. The fact that even the Low preset at 4K only achieves 25 FPS, while the same preset at 1080p achieves 73 FPS, confirms that the graphics solution is the limiting factor. The Ryzen 9 9900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, is not the constraint here; if it were, the FPS at 1080p Low would be higher than 73, and the drop to 4K would be less severe.

The resolution scaling data also shows that the gap between settings widens at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 43 FPS (73 vs 30). At 1440p, the difference is 27 FPS (46 vs 19). At 4K, the difference is 15 FPS (25 vs 10). This narrowing gap suggests that the GPU is so overwhelmed at 4K that even reducing settings has diminishing returns. The hardware simply runs out of throughput, and no amount of setting adjustments can recover playable performance.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 73, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. This is the only configuration where the average exceeds 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 2768 out of 3001 tested combos, placing it in the bottom portion of the database. The low rank is driven by the Intel Arc B370’s 5th percentile GPU score, which offsets the Ryzen 9 9900X’s 92nd percentile CPU score.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X the bottleneck in this system?

A: No. The data shows that the CPU has a high average benchmark score of 57498 and ranks in the 92nd percentile. The FPS scaling across resolutions and settings indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the frame rate drops consistently with increased pixel count and graphics load.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values for the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset has measured minimum FPS values of 46 at 1920x1080, 30 at 2560x1440, and 16 at 3840x2160. The corresponding maximum FPS values are 63, 40, and 21.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B370’s average benchmark score is 1184. Its nearest rivals include the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, deltaPct -0.2%), the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, deltaPct -0.5%), and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, deltaPct -0.7%). It only outperforms the AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, deltaPct 1.4%).

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo achieve 30 FPS average?

A: The combo achieves a 30 FPS average at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings. It also achieves 30 FPS as the minimum FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings, but the average at that configuration is 35 FPS.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the decisive component in this combo’s performance, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU is built on the Xe3-LPG architecture with a Panther Lake chip, manufactured on Intel’s 3 nm process. Its base clock is 300 MHz, with a boost clock of 2400 MHz. The memory configuration is entirely system-shared, meaning there is no dedicated VRAM; the size, type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent." This reliance on shared system memory is a critical limitation for a game like Hitman 2, which benefits from dedicated graphics memory for texture streaming and frame buffering.

The GPU has 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units. It also includes 10 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 6.144 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 12.29 TFLOPS (2:1). These compute figures are modest by modern standards, and the measured 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 reflects that. The GPU’s TDP is 25 W, and it is classified as an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with no power connectors and a slot width of "IGP." This is not a discrete graphics card; it is an integrated solution.

The 5th percentile ranking for the GPU means that it performs better than only 5% of all GPUs in the database. In Hitman 2, this translates to the low FPS numbers observed. The Arc B370’s nearest rivals are all older, lower-performance parts: the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, ATI Radeon HD 5770, AMD Radeon HD 7650M, and AMD FirePro M2000. The deltaPct values are all within 1.5% of the Arc B370, confirming that this GPU is operating at a level comparable to those legacy products. The 25 W TDP and system-shared memory indicate that this GPU is designed for power efficiency rather than gaming performance, which is consistent with the measured data.

The GPU’s role in Hitman 2 is to render the game’s stealth environments, which include dense crowds, complex lighting, and detailed interiors. The benchmark results show that the Arc B370 struggles with these demands, especially at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 10 FPS average is particularly telling; it suggests the GPU is completely overwhelmed. Even at 1080p Low, the 73 FPS average is only possible because the graphics load is minimized. The GPU’s boost clock of 2400 MHz is not sufficient to overcome the lack of dedicated memory bandwidth, and the system-shared memory creates additional latency. The data shows that the GPU is the primary reason this combo ranks 2768 out of 3001.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a high-end desktop processor with 12 cores and 24 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge). It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a TDP of 120 W. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and a memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. It has 64 MB of L3 cache, with 1 MB of L2 cache per core and 80 KB of L1 cache per core. The CPU is manufactured on TSMC’s 4 nm process, with 16,630 million transistors across a 2x 70.6 mm² die size. It uses the AMD Socket AM5 and supports PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes. The integrated graphics are listed as Radeon Graphics, and the launch MSRP is $499.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 9900X performs strongly. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 32172, and single-core is 2253. Geekbench scores are 22174 multicore and 3010 single-core. Passmark results show a multithread score of 54643 and a single-thread score of 4672. The 3DMark scores range from 1286 (single-thread) to 13929 (max threads). The average benchmark score is 57498, placing it in the 92nd percentile. Its nearest rivals are the AMD EPYC 9015 (57555), AMD EPYC 7313 (57399), Intel Core i9-14900 (58115), and Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58323). The deltaPct values are -0.1%, 0.2%, -1.1%, and -1.4% respectively, showing that the 9900X is essentially tied with these processors in average score.

Despite this strong CPU performance, the Hitman 2 results do not reflect the CPU’s capabilities. The measured FPS data shows that the combo’s performance is limited by the GPU, not the CPU. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 73, which is a decent result but not exceptional for a CPU of this caliber. The CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient for Hitman 2, which is not a heavily multithreaded title. The game’s engine typically relies on a few threads for game logic and AI, and the 9900X’s high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core of 2253, Geekbench single-core of 3010) would be more than enough to handle those tasks.

The CPU’s role in this combo is to feed frames to the GPU, but the Arc B370 cannot keep up. The data shows that the FPS scales with resolution and settings in a way that is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see higher FPS at lower resolutions and settings, with the FPS plateauing as the CPU reaches its limit. Instead, the FPS drops consistently as pixel count increases, which indicates that the GPU is saturated. The 9900X’s high memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s and 64 MB of L3 cache provide ample data for the game, but the system-shared memory of the GPU creates a bottleneck that the CPU cannot overcome.

The CPU’s percentile of 92 versus the GPU’s percentile of 5 illustrates the mismatch. The 9900X is capable of running Hitman 2 at much higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU. The data shows that the CPU is not the constraint; the combo rank of 2768 is a direct result of the GPU’s low performance. The CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads, along with its high boost clock of 5.60 GHz, are wasted in this configuration because the GPU cannot render frames fast enough to utilize them. The measured results would be significantly different with a discrete graphics card, but with the Arc B370, the CPU’s role is reduced to maintaining the minimum frame times, which it does without issue.