Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 pairing in Hitman 2 shows a system that is heavily dependent on resolution and settings, with the GPU acting as the primary bottleneck at higher loads. The measured data reveals a predictable scaling pattern, but the magnitude of the performance shifts provides a clear picture of where this combination's strengths and limitations lie.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that the RTX 3070 is the limiting component as pixel count rises. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 193.7 fps at 1920x1080 to 125 fps at 2560x1440, a reduction of 68.7 fps, and then drops further to 68.8 fps at 3840x2160. This represents a 64.5% decrease in performance from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, illustrating how dramatically the GPU workload increases with resolution.

The pattern holds at Medium settings, where the 1080p result of 149.2 fps drops to 93 fps at 1440p and 49.9 fps at 4K. The scaling is nearly linear, with each resolution step costing roughly a third of the previous performance. At High settings, the 1080p average of 113 fps falls to 69.3 fps at 1440p and 37.9 fps at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling, starting at 79.8 fps at 1080p, dropping to 52.3 fps at 1440p, and collapsing to 29.7 fps at 4K.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU adequately, as even the most demanding Ultra preset maintains nearly 80 fps. However, as resolution increases, the GPU's rendering workload scales faster than the CPU's ability to compensate, making the RTX 3070 the clear limiting factor at 1440p and 4K. The 8 GB of VRAM and 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth on the GPU are likely contributors to the steep 4K performance cliff, particularly at Ultra settings where texture and shading demands peak.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for maintaining 60 fps on this combo?

A: At 1440p, the High preset delivers 69.3 fps and Medium delivers 93 fps, both comfortably above 60 fps. At 4K, only the Low preset achieves 68.8 fps, while Medium drops to 49.9 fps, so 1440p is the practical ceiling for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 1080p?

A: The Ultra preset at 1920x1080 averages 79.8 fps, which is playable but notably lower than the 113 fps seen at High settings. The gap between High and Ultra at 1080p is 33.2 fps, suggesting the Ultra preset carries a significant rendering cost.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the 4K performance drop?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K. The FPS drops from 125 fps at 1440p Low to 68.8 fps at 4K Low, a 56.2 fps reduction that aligns with the GPU's rendering limits rather than CPU constraints, given the Ryzen 9 9900X's 12 cores and 24 threads.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low averages 125 fps while Ultra averages 52.3 fps, a difference of 72.7 fps. This shows that settings have a greater impact on performance than resolution changes at this level.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Only at Low settings, where it achieves 68.8 fps. At Medium, it falls to 49.9 fps, and at High it drops to 37.9 fps. The 4K Ultra preset at 29.7 fps is below acceptable playability thresholds.

Q: How does the 1080p Low result compare to the 1080p Ultra result?

A: The Low preset at 1080p averages 193.7 fps, while Ultra averages 79.8 fps. This 113.9 fps gap demonstrates that the Ultra preset imposes a substantial performance penalty even at the lowest resolution tested.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience across resolutions, the Medium preset offers the most balanced performance. At 1080p, Medium achieves 149.2 fps, which is 44.5 fps higher than High and 70.4 fps higher than Ultra, while still providing enhanced visual quality over Low. The 1440p Medium result of 93 fps is smooth and only 32 fps behind Low, making it the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option for playable frame rates, hitting 68.8 fps. The Medium preset at 4K drops to 49.9 fps, which may be acceptable for slower-paced stealth gameplay but falls short of the 60 fps target. The High preset at 4K, at 37.9 fps, offers diminished returns relative to the visual uplift, and Ultra at 29.7 fps is not recommended.

The Ultra preset should be avoided at all resolutions if frame rate consistency is a priority. Even at 1080p, where it hits 79.8 fps, the 33.2 fps drop from High suggests that the extra visual features come at a steep cost. For players prioritizing smoothness, High at 1440p (69.3 fps) provides a better trade-off than Ultra at 1080p (79.8 fps) because the higher resolution delivers greater image clarity without sacrificing playability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear hierarchy: Low averages 193.7 fps, Medium averages 149.2 fps, High averages 113 fps, and Ultra averages 79.8 fps. The step from Low to Medium costs 44.5 fps, from Medium to High costs 36.2 fps, and from High to Ultra costs 33.2 fps. The incremental penalties are relatively uniform, suggesting each preset tier adds comparable rendering complexity.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 125 fps, Medium averages 93 fps, High averages 69.3 fps, and Ultra averages 52.3 fps. The gaps are 32 fps from Low to Medium, 23.7 fps from Medium to High, and 17 fps from High to Ultra. The diminishing absolute differences at 1440p indicate that the GPU is becoming more constrained as resolution increases, reducing the relative impact of settings changes.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 68.8 fps, Medium averages 49.9 fps, High averages 37.9 fps, and Ultra averages 29.7 fps. The differences are 18.9 fps from Low to Medium, 12 fps from Medium to High, and 8.2 fps from High to Ultra. The narrowing gaps at 4K reveal that the RTX 3070 is saturating its resources, and preset changes have less influence on final frame rates than at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In Hitman 2, this CPU-GPU combination ranks 822nd out of 1795 tested combos, placing it in the 54th percentile of all configurations. This middle-of-the-pack ranking reflects the balanced but not exceptional performance profile: the Ryzen 9 9900X is a high-end CPU with a 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs, while the RTX 3070 sits at the 72nd percentile among GPUs. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU results in a system that excels in CPU-light scenarios but struggles when GPU demands escalate.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, which scores 0.9% lower on average, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, which is 1% slower. The AMD FirePro S7150 scores 0.6% higher and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X is 1.1% ahead. This tight grouping indicates that the RTX 3070 is performance-competitive with these cards, though none of them are modern high-end parts, reinforcing the mid-range positioning.

The CPU's nearest rivals show a different story. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D scores 0.4% higher, the Intel Core i7-14700F is 0.7% slower, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K is 1.5% faster, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF is 1.8% ahead. These small deltas suggest that the 9900X is well-matched against contemporary mid-to-high-end processors, with no single rival dominating it by a significant margin.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 9900X brings 12 cores and 24 threads from the Zen 5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. Its base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz provide substantial single-threaded capability, as evidenced by a 3dmark single-thread score of 1286 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6555. In Hitman 2, which is primarily a GPU-bound title at higher resolutions, the CPU's role is to maintain high frame rates at 1080p and prevent bottlenecks.

The data shows the CPU is sufficient at 1080p Low, where the FPS reaches 193.7, indicating the CPU can feed the GPU effectively at high frame rates. However, at 1080p Ultra, the FPS drops to 79.8, which is more likely a GPU limitation given the increased rendering load. The CPU's 64 MB of shared L3 cache and DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth help sustain performance, but they do not prevent the GPU from becoming the limiting factor at 1440p and above.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 94th among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54450, confirms its high-end status. Its nearest rival, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D, scores 54681 with a -0.4% delta, showing that the non-3D variant is nearly identical in average performance. This parity suggests that Hitman 2 does not particularly benefit from additional cache, focusing instead on raw clock speed and core count.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. It features 5888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, with 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical factor at 4K resolutions where texture data demands are high.

The GPU's base clock of 1500 MHz and boost clock of 1725 MHz, combined with 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, place it in the upper mid-range of graphics cards. Its benchmark results, including a Passmark G3D score of 22214 and a 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3162, reflect solid but not flagship-level performance. The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238, positions it as a capable 1440p card that struggles at 4K.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's role is most evident at 4K, where the frame rates drop from 68.8 fps at Low to 29.7 fps at Ultra. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is likely a limiting factor at 4K High and Ultra, where texture sets exceed what the GPU can efficiently manage. The memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s also constrains performance at high resolutions, as the data throughput required for 4K rendering exceeds what the GPU can sustain, leading to the observed steep performance drops.