Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination delivers a highly capable Hitman 2 experience, but the data shows that the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p and 1440p, this pairing provides excellent frame rates, while 4K requires a compromise on visual fidelity to maintain smooth gameplay. The benchmark results indicate that the RTX 4070 is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, whereas the Ryzen 9 9900X's substantial processing power ensures the CPU is rarely a limiting factor.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation across all tested resolutions. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset achieves an average of 60 FPS, which is the minimum threshold for smooth, playable stealth gameplay. In contrast, the High preset drops to 46 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls further to 34 FPS, both of which introduce noticeable stutter and reduce the responsiveness required for precise aiming and evasion. The Low preset, while reaching 81 FPS at 4K, sacrifices too much environmental detail, which is a core element of the Hitman 2 experience for spotting guards and planning routes.

The Medium preset’s advantage is even more pronounced at lower resolutions. At 2560x1440, the Medium settings deliver 113 FPS, which is a substantial improvement over the 86 FPS seen on High and more than double the 63 FPS on Ultra. This 1440p Medium configuration provides a high-refresh-rate experience that is ideal for competitive or fast-paced play. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset achieves 177 FPS, which is excellent for 144Hz or 165Hz displays. While the Low preset pushes the frame rate to 236 FPS, the visual compromise is unnecessary given that the jump from Medium to Low yields diminishing returns in playability for a stealth game.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combination. The data shows that Ultra yields the lowest frame rates at every resolution: 34 FPS at 4K, 63 FPS at 1440p, and 99 FPS at 1080p. While 99 FPS at 1080p is playable, the performance cost of Ultra settings is disproportionate to the visual gains. The High preset, which sits between Medium and Ultra, is a viable alternative at 1080p and 1440p for users who prioritize graphical fidelity, but it is not the best experience. The measured results strongly suggest that Medium is the sweet spot, delivering a stable 60 FPS at 4K and over 100 FPS at 1440p, ensuring a fluid experience without the frame rate dips that plague the higher presets.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations, this pairing of the Ryzen 9 9900X and RTX 4070 ranks 916th out of 3711 combos for Hitman 2. This places it in the top 25% of all tested systems, indicating a strong overall performance tier. The percentile data for the individual components corroborates this position. The CPU, with a percentile rank of 92, outperforms 92% of all tested CPUs, while the GPU, with a percentile of 81, outperforms 81% of all tested GPUs. This combination of a top-tier CPU and a high-end GPU results in a system that is well above average for this game.

The ranking suggests that while this combo is not at the absolute state-of-the-art, it is far from a mid-range setup. The 916th position out of 3711 combos places it ahead of a significant majority of systems, which is expected given the premium components involved. However, the gap between the CPU’s 92nd percentile and the GPU’s 81st percentile is telling. It indicates that the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing for Hitman 2, as the CPU has more headroom relative to its peers than the GPU does. This dynamic is reflected in the frame rate data, where the GPU-bound nature of high-resolution rendering becomes apparent. The combo’s rank reflects the RTX 4070’s capability, but it also highlights that the Ryzen 9 9900X is not being fully utilized in this specific game, as the frame rates are more constrained by the graphics card’s output than by the processor’s computational limits.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the defining component for frame rates in Hitman 2, particularly as resolution increases. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, the GPU provides a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s, which is sufficient for the game’s textures at 1080p and 1440p, but the data suggests it becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU’s boost clock of 2475 MHz and its 5888 shading units are the primary drivers of pixel throughput, and the measured FPS shows a clear correlation between resolution and performance that is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario.

The RTX 4070’s role is most evident when examining the scaling from 1080p to 4K. At the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 134 FPS at 1920x1080 to 86 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 46 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 66% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, which is a classic sign of the GPU struggling to fill the increasing number of pixels. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is not the issue at these settings, as the game does not appear to exceed this limit based on the performance data. Instead, the raw compute power and memory bandwidth of the GPU are the bottlenecks. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS is substantial, but the demands of 4K rendering with High settings outpace its capabilities, resulting in sub-60 FPS performance.

The GPU’s performance relative to its rivals confirms its mid-to-high-end positioning. The nearestRivals data shows that the RTX 4070’s average benchmark score of 37648 is within 1.3% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile and 0.4% of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56. This close grouping indicates that the RTX 4070 is a solid performer but not a class leader. For Hitman 2, this means that users can expect consistent frame rates at 1440p, but 4K gaming will require lowering settings to Medium, as evidenced by the 60 FPS average at that configuration. The GPU is the component that dictates the experience, and the data shows that its performance ceiling is reached at 4K with anything above Medium settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates exceptional capability. The Low preset achieves an average of 236 FPS, which is extraordinarily high and indicates a scenario where the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as the GPU has ample headroom. The Medium preset yields 177 FPS, with a minimum of 151 FPS and a maximum of 204 FPS, showing tight frame times and a stable experience. The High preset delivers 134 FPS, which is still excellent for competitive play. The Ultra preset drops to 99 FPS, which is the only setting at 1080p that falls below the 100 FPS mark, but it remains perfectly playable.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. The Low preset hits 151 FPS, which is a 36% decrease from the 1080p Low result, indicating the GPU is starting to take on more work. The Medium preset achieves 113 FPS, with minimum and maximum values of 96 and 130 FPS, respectively. This is a sweet spot for 1440p, as it provides a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors. The High preset drops to 86 FPS, which is still playable but shows a significant 24% reduction from the Medium preset. The Ultra preset falls to 63 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold and suggests that the visual enhancements at this level are costly.

At 3840x2160, the GPU’s limitations become apparent. The Low preset is the only one that provides a high frame rate, achieving 81 FPS. This is a notable result, as it shows that the GPU can handle 4K when the graphical load is minimized. The Medium preset drops to 60 FPS, which is the minimum for a good experience, with minimum and maximum values of 51 and 69 FPS, indicating some frame pacing issues at the lower end. The High preset falls to 46 FPS, which is noticeably less fluid and may cause issues in fast-paced sections. The Ultra preset bottoms out at 34 FPS, which is not recommended for any serious playthrough. The 4K data clearly shows that the Medium preset is the only viable option for a consistent 60 FPS experience, and even then, the minimum FPS of 51 suggests occasional dips below the target.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound workload that is typical for modern titles. At the Medium preset, the average FPS drops from 177 at 1080p to 113 at 1440p, a 36% reduction, and then to 60 at 4K, a further 47% reduction from the 1440p figure. This steep decline is a direct result of the pixel count increasing by a factor of 2.25 from 1080p to 1440p and another 2.25 from 1440p to 4K. The data shows that the RTX 4070 cannot maintain the same level of performance as the resolution increases, which points to the GPU being the primary limiting component.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets, but the percentage drops are more severe at higher settings. For instance, at the High preset, the FPS drops from 134 at 1080p to 86 at 1440p (a 36% drop) and then to 46 at 4K (a 47% drop from 1440p). This indicates that the GPU is not only struggling with the increased pixel count but also with the added computational load of the High settings’ effects. The Low preset shows a similar trend, with 236 FPS at 1080p, 151 FPS at 1440p, and 81 FPS at 4K. The fact that even the Low preset cannot sustain a 60 FPS minimum at 4K (it averages 81 FPS but the data shows no minimum) suggests that the GPU is the hard limit.

This resolution scaling behavior has important implications for the CPU’s role. At 1080p, the high frame rates (236 FPS on Low) suggest that the CPU is keeping up with the GPU’s output, but the GPU is not being fully utilized. As the resolution increases, the frame rate drops, and the CPU’s workload becomes relatively less demanding. The data shows that the performance bottleneck shifts decisively from the CPU at 1080p to the GPU at 4K. This is a classic sign of a well-balanced system at lower resolutions, but at 4K, the RTX 4070’s capabilities are the sole determinant of the frame rate, and the Ryzen 9 9900X’s power is left untapped.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a high-end processor with 12 cores and 24 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture, and its benchmark results confirm its top-tier status. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 57498 places it in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals in terms of performance are the AMD EPYC 9015 (with a deltaPct of -0.1%) and the Intel Core i9-14900 (with a deltaPct of -1.1%). This indicates that the Ryzen 9 9900X is on par with or slightly ahead of these high-end desktop and server processors in synthetic benchmarks. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.60 GHz and 64 MB of L3 cache are key specifications that contribute to its strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance.

In Hitman 2, the CPU’s role is less critical than the GPU’s, but it is still essential for maintaining high frame rates at lower resolutions. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p with the Low preset, the system achieves 236 FPS, which is a frame rate that many CPUs would struggle to sustain. This high result indicates that the Ryzen 9 9900X’s single-threaded performance is sufficient to feed the GPU with enough data to hit these extreme frame rates. The CPU’s single-thread score in Cinebench R23 is 2253, and its Passmark single-thread score is 4672, both of which are excellent and suggest that the processor is not a bottleneck in this scenario.

However, as the resolution increases, the CPU’s influence wanes. At 4K, the frame rates are significantly lower (e.g., 46 FPS on High), and the CPU is likely idle waiting for the GPU to complete its rendering tasks. This is not a criticism of the CPU, but rather a reflection of the game’s GPU-bound nature at high resolutions. The Ryzen 9 9900X’s multi-threaded capabilities, such as its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32172, are not heavily utilized by Hitman 2, which is a title that does not scale perfectly with many cores. The data suggests that a less powerful CPU could achieve similar frame rates at 4K, but the Ryzen 9 9900X ensures that there is no CPU-induced frame rate cap at any resolution, making it a future-proof component for this game and others that are more CPU-intensive.