Hitman 2

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a flagship-tier combination that produces exceptionally high frame rates in Hitman 2. This analysis breaks down the measured performance data, focusing on how the CPU and GPU interact across resolutions and settings to deliver a smooth stealth experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 190 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops that to 121 FPS, a 36% reduction. At 4K High, the average falls to 65 FPS, which is 66% below the 1080p result. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4090 becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the sheer pixel count demands more from the graphics card than the CPU.

The Low settings preset shows the most extreme scaling. At 1080p Low, the system produces 334 FPS. This drops to 214 FPS at 1440p (a 36% decrease) and then to 114 FPS at 4K (a 47% decrease from 1440p). The fact that 1080p Low exceeds 300 FPS suggests the CPU is still feeding the GPU effectively, but the 4K result shows the GPU’s raw fill rate is the bottleneck. The difference between 1080p and 1440p Low is 120 FPS, while the difference between 1440p and 4K Low is 100 FPS, showing a consistent scaling trend.

Medium settings provide the only rows with min/max FPS data, which helps understand frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the average is 251 FPS with a minimum of 213 and a maximum of 288. At 1440p Medium, the average is 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 and a maximum of 184. At 4K Medium, the average is 85 FPS with a minimum of 73 and a maximum of 98. The gap between min and max FPS remains relatively consistent across resolutions, indicating that the frame time variance does not explode with resolution—a sign of a well-balanced system.

Ultra settings present the most demanding scenario. The 1080p Ultra average is 140 FPS, dropping to 89 FPS at 1440p and 48 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 48 FPS is the only measured point below 60 FPS, which is a crucial threshold for smooth gameplay. This suggests that Ultra at 4K is not viable for a consistent experience, while 1440p Ultra remains comfortably playable.

The data indicates that the CPU headroom is substantial at lower resolutions, with 1080p Low hitting 334 FPS, but the GPU’s workload dominates as pixel count rises. For players targeting high refresh rates, 1440p is the sweet spot, while 4K requires a settings compromise.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the primary driver of frame rates in this test, especially at higher resolutions. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Hitman 2’s detailed environments. The GPU’s boost clock of 2520 MHz, paired with 16384 shading units, delivers the raw compute needed to push 4K High at 65 FPS.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rivals in the database are the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60326, 0% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60140, 0.3% delta), though these are professional cards that do not reflect gaming performance. The RTX 4090’s PassMark G3D score of 38194 and DirectX 12 score of 150 show its theoretical capabilities, but the measured FPS in Hitman 2 is the more relevant metric.

The scaling from Low to Medium to High settings shows the GPU’s performance headroom. At 4K, Low produces 114 FPS, Medium produces 85 FPS, and High produces 65 FPS. This represents a 26% drop from Low to Medium and a 24% drop from Medium to High. The diminishing returns are typical of a GPU that is already highly utilized; each settings tier adds more visual fidelity at a proportional cost to frame rate.

The RTX 4090’s 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are present but not heavily exercised in this game, as Hitman 2 is primarily a rasterization workload. The GPU’s pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s are the specifications that matter for filling the screen. The fact that 4K Ultra drops to 48 FPS indicates the GPU is fully saturated at that point, with no additional headroom for higher detail.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 129th out of 3711 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the top 3.5% of all configurations. This is an exceptional result, though not the absolute top, suggesting that there are a few combos with even higher raw performance—likely those with more aggressive overclocks or alternative CPU choices.

The CPU itself is a strong contributor to this ranking. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D sits in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 75779. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 (75738, 0.1% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D (75716, 0.1% delta), showing that the 9950X3D is essentially tied with the best professional parts. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285 trails slightly at 75488 (0.4% delta), indicating that AMD’s 3D V-Cache design provides a marginal edge.

The combo’s rank of 129 out of 3711 is remarkable given the age of the game. Hitman 2 was released in 2018, and modern hardware massively exceeds its requirements. The fact that this combo still ranks this high suggests that the game’s engine scales well with both CPU and GPU resources, but the GPU is the more significant factor for overall FPS.

The delta between this combo and the top-ranked ones is not available in the data, but the percentile position implies that the 9950X3D + RTX 4090 is a near-optimal pairing. For context, the GPU’s percentile (88) is lower than the CPU’s (95), but the measured FPS shows that the GPU is not holding the combo back in a meaningful way—except at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full measured FPS table shows a consistent pattern across all settings. At 1080p, the averages range from 140 FPS (Ultra) to 334 FPS (Low). The Medium preset sits at 251 FPS with a min of 213 and max of 288. High settings produce 190 FPS. This wide spread shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p, as even the most demanding preset exceeds 140 FPS.

At 1440p, the averages range from 89 FPS (Ultra) to 214 FPS (Low). Medium produces 160 FPS (min 136, max 184), while High produces 121 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings: Low drops by 36%, Medium by 36%, High by 36%, and Ultra by 36%. This uniformity indicates that the GPU’s workload scales linearly with pixel count.

At 4K, the averages range from 48 FPS (Ultra) to 114 FPS (Low). Medium produces 85 FPS (min 73, max 98), while High produces 65 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is steeper: Low drops by 47%, Medium by 47%, High by 46%, and Ultra by 46%. This suggests that the GPU is hitting a memory bandwidth or fill rate limit at 4K, where the additional pixels require more than just raw compute.

The Medium preset is the only one with min/max FPS data, which provides insight into frame consistency. At 1080p, the min is 213 FPS (85% of average), and at 4K, the min is 73 FPS (86% of average). This consistency across resolutions is a positive sign, as it means the game does not produce sudden frame hitches even when the GPU is heavily loaded.

The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that falls below 60 FPS, with an average of 48 FPS. This is a critical data point for players with 4K displays. The High preset at 4K (65 FPS) is marginally above 60 FPS, but the Medium preset (85 FPS) provides a more comfortable margin for variable refresh rate monitors.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the best experience depends on the target resolution. For 1080p displays, the High preset at 190 FPS is the recommended choice, as it offers a substantial visual upgrade over Medium (251 FPS) while still delivering frame rates far above any display’s refresh rate. The Ultra preset at 140 FPS is also viable, but the visual difference between High and Ultra is not worth a 26% frame rate drop.

For 1440p displays, the High preset at 121 FPS is optimal. It provides a smooth experience for 120 Hz monitors, and the Ultra preset at 89 FPS is still above 60 FPS for those who prioritize visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 160 FPS is excellent for competitive play, but the High preset strikes the best balance between image quality and performance.

For 4K displays, the Medium preset at 85 FPS is the clear recommendation. The High preset at 65 FPS is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes, and the Ultra preset at 48 FPS is not recommended for a consistent experience. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 73 ensures that even the most complex scenes remain smooth, making it the only 4K option that guarantees a stable frame rate.

The Low preset is not recommended at any resolution, as the game’s stealth mechanics benefit from detailed environments for spotting enemies and planning routes. The Low preset at 4K (114 FPS) sacrifices too much visual clarity for performance that is not needed.

The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, so players with 4K displays should prioritize the Medium preset. For 1440p and 1080p, the CPU’s strength allows for higher settings without compromising frame rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D plays a supporting role in this combo, but its specifications ensure that it never bottlenecks the RTX 4090. The CPU features 16 cores and 32 threads, with a base clock of 4.30 GHz and a boost clock of 5.70 GHz. The 128 MB of L3 cache is the defining feature of the X3D series, providing a massive pool of fast memory for game data.

The CPU’s benchmark results confirm its strength. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42018 and single-core score of 2259 show a balanced design. The PassMark single-thread score of 4737 and multithread score of 70255 indicate that both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads are handled well. The 3DMark 8-thread score of 9259 and 16-thread score of 16374 show that the CPU scales effectively with core count.

In Hitman 2, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the system produces 334 FPS. This high frame rate requires the CPU to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and the 9950X3D’s high single-thread performance (Geekbench single-core score of 3064) ensures that the game’s main thread is not a limiting factor. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1292 further supports this.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the database—the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 and 9755X3D—have average scores within 0.1% of the 9950X3D. This means that the CPU choice is unlikely to cause a meaningful difference in Hitman 2 frame rates, as the game is not heavily multi-threaded. The 9950X3D’s 128 MB of L3 cache is beneficial for games that reuse data, but Hitman 2’s levels are not large enough to fully exploit it.

The CPU’s 170 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (89.6 GB/s bandwidth) are adequate for this workload. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the RTX 4090, though the GPU is using PCIe 4.0 x16, which does not bottleneck performance.

The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution or setting in this test. Even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU produces 48 FPS, the CPU has enough headroom to push higher if the GPU could keep up. This is the ideal scenario for a high-end combo: the CPU provides a stable foundation, and the GPU determines the final frame rate.