Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers exceptional performance in Hitman 2, a 2018 stealth title that remains demanding at high resolutions. This combination achieves 3,001-combo ranking position 110, placing it in the top 3.7% of all tested configurations. The 12-core, 24-thread Zen 5 processor with its 128 MB L3 cache and the 24 GB GDDR6X graphics card produce frame rates ranging from 48 FPS at 4K Ultra to 334 FPS at 1080p Low, demonstrating both the GPU-bound nature of high-resolution play and the CPU's ability to push extreme frame rates at lower settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best-performing settings preset for this combo at 1080p?

A: The Low preset delivers the highest average frame rate at 334 FPS, followed by Medium at 251 FPS, High at 190 FPS, and Ultra at 140 FPS. The Medium preset provides the only recorded minimum and maximum values at this resolution, with 213 FPS minimum and 288 FPS maximum.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54,762, which is 0.6% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55,093) and 1.3% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54,053). It also outperforms the Intel Xeon 6505P (53,701) by 2% and the Intel Core i7-14700F (53,620) by 2.1%.

Q: What is the GPU's relative standing among all tested graphics cards?

A: The RTX 4090 sits at the 88th percentile among all GPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score of 60,347 is virtually tied with the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60,326, 0% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60,140, 0.3% delta), while it trails the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61,896) by 2.5% and leads the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58,657) by 2.9%.

Q: How many frames per second can this system achieve at 1440p with High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the average frame rate is 121 FPS. The Low preset reaches 214 FPS, Medium achieves 160 FPS with a 136-184 FPS range, and Ultra drops to 89 FPS.

Q: Does raising resolution from 1440p to 4K cause a proportional performance drop?

A: No, the drop is not proportional. At High settings, moving from 1440p (121 FPS) to 4K (65 FPS) represents a 46.3% reduction in average frame rate. At Ultra settings, the drop from 89 FPS to 48 FPS is a 46.1% reduction, while Low settings see a 46.7% drop from 214 FPS to 114 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's rank within the full tested database?

A: This CPU-GPU combination ranks 110 out of 3,001 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the 96.3rd percentile of all configurations tested for this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 anchors this system's high-resolution performance. Built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip on a 5 nm TSMC process, this GPU contains 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operation pipelines. The 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for ray-traced effects and DLSS processing, though Hitman 2's conventional rasterization workload primarily engages the traditional shader array.

Memory capacity is substantial at 24 GB of GDDR6X across a 384-bit bus, yielding 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This configuration explains why 4K performance remains playable even at Ultra settings, where large texture datasets and high-resolution framebuffers demand significant memory throughput. The base clock runs at 2235 MHz with a boost clock of 2520 MHz, while memory operates at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). These clocks allow the GPU to sustain high utilization across all tested resolutions.

The measured frame rates reveal a GPU that scales predictably with settings changes. At 4K, the average FPS ranges from 48 at Ultra to 114 at Low, a 2.375x performance spread. The Medium preset shows the only complete min-max data at 4K, with 73 FPS minimum and 98 FPS maximum against an 85 FPS average — a 25 FPS variance that indicates some scene complexity spikes. The GPU's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs and near-identical average benchmark score to the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta) suggest that while this is a top-tier card, the benchmark database includes several workstation-oriented GPUs with comparable aggregate scores.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K shows clear GPU-bound behavior at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 334 FPS at 1080p to 214 FPS at 1440p (36% reduction) and then to 114 FPS at 4K (another 46.7% reduction from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 65.9%, which is roughly proportional to the pixel count increase from 2.07 million to 8.29 million pixels (a 4x increase requiring 4x the pixel throughput).

At High settings, the scaling pattern is similar: 190 FPS at 1080p, 121 FPS at 1440p (36.3% drop), and 65 FPS at 4K (46.3% drop from 1440p). Ultra settings follow the same trend with 140 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p (36.4% drop), and 48 FPS at 4K (46.1% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings presets — approximately 36% from 1080p to 1440p and 46% from 1440p to 4K — indicates that the limiting component remains the same throughout the resolution range.

The CPU's influence becomes apparent at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 300 FPS at Low settings. At this resolution, the 12-core processor's single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 1,269 and PassMark single-thread score of 4,646) can become a factor, as game logic and draw call submission must keep pace with the GPU's rendering output. The 1080p Medium preset shows a 213 FPS minimum against a 251 FPS average, a 38 FPS gap that suggests occasional CPU-bound frame hitches in complex scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo achieves rank 110 out of 3,001 tested combinations in Hitman 2, placing it in the top 3.7% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the synergy between a top-tier consumer GPU and a high-end desktop processor. The RTX 4090's 88th percentile GPU standing and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's 91st percentile CPU standing combine to produce a system that excels at high-refresh-rate 1440p play and maintains playable 4K performance.

The CPU's percentile ranking (91st among all CPUs) is notably higher than the GPU's (88th among all GPUs), suggesting that the processor has more headroom relative to its peer group than the graphics card does. This is consistent with the measured frame rates: at 1080p Low, the system reaches 334 FPS, which is high enough that CPU limitations would likely emerge before GPU limitations at even higher refresh rates. The average benchmark score of 54,762 for the CPU places it within 0.6% of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, its closest rival, while the GPU's 60,347 average score puts it in a dead heat with the Intel Arc Pro A60.

The 110th rank among 3,001 combos indicates that roughly 109 other configurations outperform this one in Hitman 2. Given the GPU's end-of-life production status and the CPU's recent release date, this ranking reflects the absolute ceiling of current consumer hardware rather than any deficiency in this particular pairing.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D contributes to this system's performance through its 12 cores and 24 threads, built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) using a 4 nm TSMC process. The processor operates at a 4.40 GHz base clock and boosts to 5.50 GHz, with a 120 W TDP. The 128 MB L3 cache is particularly relevant for gaming workloads, as Hitman 2's level data and AI pathfinding benefit from large, low-latency cache hierarchies.

Synthetic benchmarks show strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 47,737, while the 3dmark max-threads test scores 13,795. Single-thread performance is equally robust, with Cinebench R23 single-core at 6,739 and Geekbench single-core at 3,041. The PassMark multithread score of 56,154 and PassMark single-thread score of 4,646 place the CPU in the 91st percentile among all processors.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role becomes most apparent at 1080p, where the GPU is less likely to be the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the 334 FPS average exceeds what many displays can show, indicating that the CPU is successfully feeding the GPU with minimal delay. The 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 support provides adequate data flow for game assets, while the PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes ensures the GPU receives data without bandwidth constraints. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking versus the GPU's 88th suggests that in CPU-heavy scenes, this processor has more headroom to maintain frame pacing than the graphics card does at high resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 334 FPS, Medium averages 251 FPS with a 213-288 FPS range, High averages 190 FPS, and Ultra averages 140 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 213 FPS represents a 38 FPS drop from the average, indicating that some scenes impose heavier CPU load.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains strong but drops by roughly one-third at each settings level. Low averages 214 FPS, Medium averages 160 FPS with a 136-184 FPS range, High averages 121 FPS, and Ultra averages 89 FPS. The Medium preset's min-max spread of 48 FPS (136 to 184) is larger than at 1080p, suggesting greater scene-to-scene variance as GPU load increases.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. Ultra averages 48 FPS, High averages 65 FPS, Medium averages 85 FPS with a 73-98 FPS range, and Low averages 114 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K shows the tightest relative min-max spread (25 FPS against an 85 FPS average, a 29.4% variance), which is narrower than the 1080p Medium spread of 30% (75 FPS against 251 FPS). This counterintuitive result suggests that at higher resolutions, the GPU's consistent rendering workload smooths out frame delivery compared to the CPU-bound spikes visible at lower resolutions.

The scaling factors between settings presets are consistent across resolutions. Ultra-to-High differences are 25% at 1080p (140 to 190 FPS), 26.5% at 1440p (89 to 121 FPS), and 26% at 4K (48 to 65 FPS). High-to-Medium differences are 32.1% at 1080p, 32.2% at 1440p, and 30.8% at 4K. Medium-to-Low differences are 33.1% at 1080p, 33.8% at 1440p, and 34.1% at 4K. This uniformity indicates that each settings tier imposes a similar relative performance penalty regardless of resolution.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p displays, the High preset at 190 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for high-refresh-rate monitors up to 165 Hz. The Medium preset at 251 FPS is preferable for 240 Hz displays, though the 213 FPS minimum means occasional drops below that threshold. Players with 360 Hz monitors should use the Low preset at 334 FPS to maximize frame rates, accepting reduced visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 121 FPS, which is ideal for 120 Hz displays. The Ultra preset at 89 FPS remains smooth for 90 Hz monitors and provides maximum visual detail. The Medium preset at 160 FPS suits 165 Hz displays, offering a 136 FPS minimum that stays above common 144 Hz refresh rates. The Low preset at 214 FPS exceeds all mainstream display refresh rates at this resolution.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset at 85 FPS is the recommended choice for 60 Hz displays, providing a 73 FPS minimum that prevents noticeable stutter. The High preset at 65 FPS is playable on 60 Hz screens with some headroom, while the Low preset at 114 FPS suits 120 Hz 4K displays. The Ultra preset at 48 FPS should only be considered for 48-60 Hz displays, as the average falls below standard 60 Hz refresh rates and likely produces visible frame pacing issues in action-heavy scenes.

The measured data shows that the Medium preset consistently provides the most stable frame delivery, as it is the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum values at every resolution. The min-max ranges at Medium (213-288 at 1080p, 136-184 at 1440p, 73-98 at 4K) indicate that this settings level avoids the extreme drops seen at higher presets while maintaining substantially better visual quality than Low. For players prioritizing consistency over absolute maximum detail, Medium represents the sweet spot across all three resolutions tested.