Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination delivers a solid, high-refresh-rate experience in Hitman 2, but the data reveals a clear performance ceiling that shifts depending on your resolution and settings. This pairing is capable of excellent frame rates at 1440p and 1080p, but 4K Ultra is a significant challenge. The benchmark results show a system where the CPU has ample headroom, leaving the GPU as the primary driver of performance scaling.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable but steep decline as resolution increases, which is typical for a game like Hitman 2 that is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 253 FPS. This drops to 189 FPS at Medium and 143 FPS at High, before settling at 105 FPS on Ultra. This is a 58% reduction in performance from Low to Ultra at 1080p, indicating that the settings are significantly impacting the GPU's workload.

Moving to 1440p, the scaling pattern holds. The Low preset yields 162 FPS, which is a 36% drop from the 1080p result. Medium delivers 121 FPS, High drops to 92 FPS, and Ultra is 67 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 1440p at the same settings is substantial, confirming that pixel count is a major factor. The frame rate penalty from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 36-38% across the different presets, which aligns with the increased GPU workload.

The jump to 4K (3840x2160) is where the system begins to struggle. At 4K High, the average FPS is just 49. This is a 47% reduction from the 1440p High score of 92 FPS. The Low preset at 4K achieves 86 FPS, which is a 47% drop from the 1440p Low score of 162 FPS. This consistency in the performance penalty suggests that the RTX 5070's compute and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors at this resolution. The 4K Medium preset shows an average of 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS, showing some frame-time variance. The most demanding test, 4K Ultra, only manages 36 FPS, which is barely playable.

The data indicates that this is a system where the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions. The performance decline from 1080p to 4K is almost perfectly linear, which suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D has more than enough processing power to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, but as the pixel count increases, the RTX 5070's rendering capabilities become the sole constraint. The fact that the FPS drops by nearly half at each major resolution step-up points to a classic GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering resolution is the primary factor determining the frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations, this specific pairing holds a mid-tier position. The combo ranks 794th out of 3711 tested combos for Hitman 2, placing it in the top 21% of all systems. This is a strong showing, suggesting that this configuration is better than the vast majority of setups in the database for this title.

This ranking is a composite of the CPU and GPU's capabilities. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54762, and it ranks in the 91st percentile of all CPUs. This is a high-end processor, and its performance is closely matched by its nearest rivals. It is just 0.6% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF and 1.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K. It is also 2% ahead of the Intel Xeon 6505P and 2.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700F. This suggests that the CPU is not a weak link in this combination; it is a top-tier part.

On the other side, the RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40377, which places it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are professional-grade cards like the AMD Radeon Pro 580, which it is 0.1% ahead of, and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100, which it is 0.8% ahead of. It is also 1.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 and 2% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile. These are not typical gaming GPUs, which suggests that the RTX 5070's raw compute power is comparable to these workstation parts, but its gaming-specific features and drivers are what make it relevant here.

The 794th rank out of 3711 combos is a result of a powerful CPU paired with a mid-range to high-end GPU. The CPU's high percentile ranking boosts the overall combination, even if the GPU is not at the absolute top of the charts. The data shows that the system is well-balanced, but the GPU is the component that holds the combo back from a higher rank. The CPU is a top 9% performer, while the GPU is a top 18% performer, which explains why the combo lands in the top 22% overall.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the central component in determining the system's frame rate output in Hitman 2. The card is based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and the GB205 chip, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is a significant factor, as Hitman 2's levels with many NPCs and detailed environments can be memory-intensive.

The card's clock speeds are set at a base of 2325 MHz and a boost of 2512 MHz. These clocks, combined with the 6144 shading units, produce a pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s. The card's FP32 performance is 30.87 TFLOPS. These raw compute figures are what drive the frame rates at lower resolutions, but the memory bandwidth and capacity become more critical as resolution scales up.

The measured FPS data shows that the RTX 5070 is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p. The 4K results, however, show its limits. At 4K Ultra, the 36 FPS average is a direct result of the GPU's inability to process the shader and fill-rate workload fast enough. The 12 GB VRAM is likely sufficient for Hitman 2, but the 192-bit memory bus and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth might be the limiting factor at 4K, where the demand for texture data and memory throughput increases exponentially.

The card's performance in the database shows an 82nd percentile ranking, with a strong passmark G3D score of 29137. However, it is closely matched by professional cards like the Radeon Pro 580, which suggests that while it is a competent part, it is not the absolute fastest gaming GPU. The results in Hitman 2 confirm this, as the card can handle high refresh rates at 1440p but is not a 4K powerhouse.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The exact measured FPS data for this combination is as follows. At 1920x1080, the system achieves an average of 253 FPS on Low, 189 FPS on Medium, 143 FPS on High, and 105 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 161 FPS and a maximum of 218 FPS, indicating a stable experience with some minor fluctuation.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 162 FPS on Low, 121 FPS on Medium, 92 FPS on High, and 67 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 103 FPS and a maximum of 139 FPS. These numbers show that 1440p is the sweet spot for this system, offering high frame rates even at the High preset.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. The Low preset averages 86 FPS, Medium averages 65 FPS, High averages 49 FPS, and Ultra averages 36 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS, indicating that even at this setting, the system can drop below 60 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience depends on your target resolution and refresh rate. For players with a 1080p 144Hz monitor, the High preset is the optimal choice. It delivers 143 FPS, which is close to the refresh rate limit and provides a significant visual improvement over the Medium preset. The Ultra preset at 105 FPS is also viable, but it does not offer a massive visual leap for the 27% performance cost.

For 1440p, the High preset is also the best choice. The 92 FPS average is smooth and provides a great balance of visual fidelity and performance. The Medium preset at 121 FPS is an option for those who prioritize frame rates, but the visual difference between Medium and High is often significant. The Ultra preset at 67 FPS is playable but leaves little headroom for dips, making it a less consistent experience.

At 4K, the situation is different. The Low preset is the only way to get a consistently smooth experience, with an average of 86 FPS. The Medium preset, at 65 FPS, is playable but can dip into the 50s, which might be noticeable. The High and Ultra presets are not recommended for 4K, as they drop to 49 and 36 FPS, respectively, which is not suitable for a fast-paced stealth game. A better strategy for 4K would be to use the Low or Medium preset, as the data shows that the performance cost of increasing settings is very high at this resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a powerful processor that provides a solid foundation for this system. It is a 12-core, 24-thread part from the Ryzen 9000 series, based on the Zen 5 architecture. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, and it features a substantial 128 MB of L3 cache. The processor has a TDP of 120 W and is built on a 4 nm process.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle the game's AI and physics. The benchmark results show that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution. The fact that the FPS scales almost perfectly with resolution indicates that the CPU is not limiting the system. The 1080p Low preset at 253 FPS is a strong indicator of the CPU's capability, as it can handle the high frame rate without being the limiting factor.

The CPU's benchmark scores support this. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 47737 is exceptional, and its single-core score of 6739 is also high. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 12490 is also strong. The CPU is ranked in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, and its average score of 54762 is almost identical to its closest rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, which is only 0.6% slower. This shows that the 9900X3D is a top-tier CPU that provides excellent performance in both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads.

The 128 MB of L3 cache is a significant feature for gaming, as it can hold more of the game's data, reducing the need to access slower system memory. This is likely a key reason why the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution. The data shows that the CPU is a high-end part that will not hold back the RTX 5070, and the overall system performance is limited by the GPU's rendering capabilities.