Hitman 2

Hitman 2 with the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 presents a classic bottleneck scenario where the CPU's immense power is held back by the GPU's age. The benchmark data shows a system that is highly capable at 1080p but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K, making it a pairing best suited for 1080p or modest 1440p gaming. The combination ranks 2936 out of 3711 tested combos for this title, placing it in the lower half of all tested systems, a position driven almost entirely by the graphics card's performance ceiling.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a clear and immediate GPU limitation. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 132 FPS, but this drops to 84 FPS at 1440p and further to just 45 FPS at 4K. This steep decline—a 66% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings—indicates that the rendering load is overwhelming the RTX 2060 well before the CPU can become a factor.

The pattern persists across all quality presets. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 75 FPS at 1080p to 48 FPS at 1440p and 25 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with 55 FPS at 1080p dropping to 35 FPS at 1440p and a nearly unplayable 19 FPS at 4K. These results point to a system where the GPU is the sole limiting factor at every resolution above 1080p.

The data suggests that the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's processing power is largely untapped in this configuration. Even at 1080p Ultra, where the CPU should be most stressed, the 55 FPS average is still well below what this processor is capable of feeding. The transition from Medium to Ultra at 1440p shows a drop from 63 FPS to 35 FPS, a 44% performance penalty that aligns with the GPU's shading and memory bandwidth constraints rather than any CPU limitation.

For users targeting 4K, the RTX 2060 simply does not have the rendering horsepower to provide a smooth experience in Hitman 2. The 25 FPS average at High and 19 FPS at Ultra fall below the threshold for comfortable play. Dropping to Low settings at 4K yields 45 FPS, which is playable but far from ideal. The resolution scaling data makes it clear that this combo is a 1080p-oriented setup, with 1440p possible only at reduced quality settings.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Hitman 2 at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: No. The measured data shows 25 FPS at High settings and 19 FPS at Ultra for 3840x2160 resolution. Only at Low settings does the frame rate reach 45 FPS, which is marginally playable but not recommended for a stealth game requiring precision.

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system?

A: The data indicates 1080p High at 75 FPS is the sweet spot, offering a solid balance of visual quality and performance. For higher frame rates, 1080p Medium delivers 99 FPS, while 1080p Low reaches 132 FPS for competitive or high-refresh-rate play.

Q: How does the RTX 2060's 6 GB VRAM affect performance at higher resolutions?

A: The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is a limiting factor at 4K. The measured frame rates at 3840x2160 are consistently low across all settings, with the Ultra preset dropping to 19 FPS, suggesting the GPU is both bandwidth and capacity constrained at this resolution.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X3D bottlenecked by the RTX 2060?

A: Yes, the benchmark results strongly indicate a GPU bottleneck. The CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads with a 5.50 GHz boost clock are far more capable than what the RTX 2060 can utilize. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K follows the GPU's performance curve, not the CPU's capabilities.

Q: What kind of frame rates can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 63 FPS, with a minimum of 54 FPS and a maximum of 73 FPS. This is a playable range for most users, though the minimum frame rate may cause occasional stutters in dense scenes.

Q: How does this combo compare to other systems tested in Hitman 2?

A: This combination ranks 2936 out of 3711 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 21% of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the RTX 2060's age and performance class rather than the CPU, which ranks in the 91st percentile among all CPUs.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2936 out of 3711 tested combinations for Hitman 2 places it firmly in the lower quartile of all tested systems. This is a surprisingly low position given the CPU's capabilities, but it becomes understandable when considering the GPU's percentile ranking of 58 among all GPUs. The RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 15290 puts it in a tie with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta) and just 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon 680M, 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600.

In contrast, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's average benchmark score of 54762 places it in the 91st percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (-0.6% delta), Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (+1.3% delta), Intel Xeon 6505P (+2% delta), and Intel Core i7-14700F (+2.1% delta). The massive mismatch between CPU and GPU performance tiers explains why this combo ranks so poorly—the system is effectively limited by the weakest component, and in this case, that is the graphics card.

The ranking data suggests that pairing this CPU with a more modern GPU would yield dramatically better results. The CPU's headroom is evident in its 3DMark scores, which show strong multi-threaded performance (13795 max threads) and respectable single-thread performance (1269), both far beyond what a 1080p gaming workload requires. The fact that this combo ranks in the bottom 21% despite having a top-tier CPU highlights how critical GPU selection is for Hitman 2 performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a complete picture of this combo's capabilities across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the system delivers consistently playable performance: 132 FPS at Low, 99 FPS at Medium (with a minimum of 84 FPS and maximum of 114 FPS), 75 FPS at High, and 55 FPS at Ultra. These numbers indicate that 1080p is the native resolution for this pairing, with all settings providing at least 55 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops become more pronounced. Low settings produce 84 FPS, Medium averages 63 FPS (minimum 54 FPS, maximum 73 FPS), High averages 48 FPS, and Ultra falls to 35 FPS. The step from High to Ultra at 1440p represents a 27% performance loss, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects are particularly taxing on the RTX 2060.

At 3840x2160, the results are largely below playable thresholds. Low settings achieve 45 FPS, Medium averages 34 FPS (minimum 29 FPS, maximum 39 FPS), High averages 25 FPS, and Ultra drops to 19 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 26 FPS, showing that even the most aggressive settings reduction cannot bring this combo to a comfortable 4K experience.

The Medium preset data, which includes minimum and maximum frame rates, shows consistent frame pacing across resolutions. At 1080p, the range from minimum to maximum is 30 FPS (84 to 114), at 1440p it is 19 FPS (54 to 73), and at 4K it is 10 FPS (29 to 39). This narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is operating closer to its limits, reducing the variance but also confirming the bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 plays the decisive role in this combo's performance, and its specifications explain the observed results. The GPU features 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units, with 30 ray tracing cores and 240 tensor cores. Its base clock of 1365 MHz boosts to 1680 MHz, which is modest by modern standards. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is insufficient for 4K textures but adequate for 1080p.

The RTX 2060's benchmark scores reflect its mid-range positioning. Its passmark G3D score of 14111 and average benchmark score of 15290 place it in the 58th percentile among all GPUs. The GPU's nearest rivals show how tightly grouped this performance tier is: the GTX 580 matches it exactly (0% delta), the Radeon 680M is 0.1% slower, the RTX 3050 OEM is 0.6% slower, and the RX 7600 is 0.8% slower. This indicates that the RTX 2060 sits at a performance plateau that newer budget cards have not significantly surpassed.

The measured frame rates in Hitman 2 align with the GPU's compute capabilities. The FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p but insufficient for higher resolutions. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s becomes a limiting factor at 4K, where the 25 FPS average at High settings suggests the ROPs are saturated. The GPU's 160 W TDP and 450 W suggested PSU rating are consistent with its performance class, but the 12 nm Turing architecture is now several generations old.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D provides an extraordinary amount of processing headroom that the RTX 2060 cannot utilize in Hitman 2. With 12 cores and 24 threads based on Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), this CPU has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. Its 128 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth make it one of the most capable gaming processors available, with a 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs.

The CPU's benchmark scores reinforce its top-tier status. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 47737 and single-core score of 6739 are exceptional, while the Geekbench multi-core score of 22884 and single-core score of 3041 demonstrate strong performance across different workloads. The 3DMark scores show scaling from 2512 (2 threads) to 13795 (max threads), indicating excellent multi-threading efficiency. The Passmark multithread score of 56154 and single-thread score of 4646 further confirm the CPU's capabilities.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is largely passive due to the GPU bottleneck. The frame rates across all resolutions and settings are consistent with what the RTX 2060 can deliver, regardless of the CPU's processing power. The CPU's 5.50 GHz boost clock and 12 cores are far more than this game requires, even at 1080p with all settings maxed. The launch MSRP of $599 for this CPU, paired with the RTX 2060, represents a significant imbalance in component tiers.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s and PCIe Gen 5 support with 24 lanes provide ample bandwidth for any GPU, but the RTX 2060's PCIe 3.0 x16 interface means the system operates at a fraction of the CPU's potential. This mismatch is evident in the combo's overall ranking, where the CPU's strengths are completely overshadowed by the GPU's limitations in this specific game.