Hitman 2

Hitman 2, a stealth classic from 2018, demonstrates surprisingly demanding performance characteristics when paired with the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070. The measured data reveals a system that excels at high refresh rate 1080p gaming but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K, creating a clear picture of where the performance ceiling lies. This combination of a high-end mobile processor and a desktop-class GPU produces results that are heavily dependent on resolution and graphical presets, with the data showing a dramatic shift in the bottleneck between components as the workload changes.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and reveals a definitive GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At 1080p with High settings, the system produces 97 FPS, but this falls to 62 FPS at 1440p and plummets to 33 FPS at 4K—a total reduction of 66% from the starting point. This steep decline is characteristic of a system where the RTX 4070 is the limiting factor, as the rendering load on the GPU increases quadratically with each resolution step. The data shows that at 4K, even the Medium preset only achieves 44 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to a nearly unplayable 24 FPS, confirming that the GPU simply cannot handle the pixel throughput required at this resolution.

The scaling pattern becomes even more telling when examining the Low preset across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system hits 171 FPS, which drops to 110 FPS at 1440p and 58 FPS at 4K. The fact that 4K Low only manages slightly more than one-third of the 1080p Low performance suggests that the GPU is saturated even at the lowest graphical settings when pushing 8.3 million pixels. This indicates that the RTX 4070's raw rasterization power, measured at 29.15 TFLOPS FP32, is the primary constraint, and no amount of CPU headroom can compensate for the sheer pixel count at 4K. The CPU, with its 16 cores and 64 MB of L3 cache, appears more than capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p, but the resolution scaling curve demonstrates that the graphics card's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are overwhelmed by higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 plays the dominant role in determining this system's gaming performance, particularly as resolution increases. The GPU's specifications—including a boost clock of 2475 MHz, 5888 shading units, and 64 ROPs—are well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the measured data shows its limitations at 4K. The 12 GB VRAM capacity, while generous for most titles, becomes a potential bottleneck at 4K Ultra where the frame rate collapses to 24 FPS, suggesting that the memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s is insufficient for the texture and geometry data required at this resolution and detail level.

Interestingly, the GPU's benchmark scores place it at the 81st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37648. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P4, scores nearly identically (37628, a 0.1% delta), while the RTX 4080 Mobile is only 1.3% faster on average. This positioning suggests that the RTX 4070 is a solid mid-to-high-tier performer, but the in-game results show it struggling at 4K. The data implies that the GPU's 192-bit memory bus and 12 GB frame buffer are adequate for 1440p gaming, where it achieves 62 FPS on High, but the transition to 4K exposes a fundamental bandwidth limitation. The pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s, while impressive on paper, cannot keep pace with the demands of 4K rendering in Hitman 2.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combination varies significantly by resolution. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 97 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while the Ultra preset still manages a respectable 72 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p offers 129 FPS, making it the best choice for players prioritizing high refresh rates on 1440p or 165Hz monitors. However, the Low preset at 171 FPS is likely overkill for most displays and sacrifices visual quality for marginal gains.

For 1440p gaming, the High preset at 62 FPS represents the sweet spot, providing good visual fidelity while maintaining playable frame rates. The Medium preset at 82 FPS is also viable and offers a smoother experience, while the Ultra preset drops to 46 FPS, which may be too low for fast-paced action. At 4K, the situation is more challenging: the Low preset at 58 FPS is the only option that approaches playability, while Medium (44 FPS) and High (33 FPS) are marginal, and Ultra (24 FPS) is effectively unplayable. The data strongly suggests that 4K gaming with this combo requires significant compromises, and users should expect to use Low settings or reduce the resolution to 1440p for a better experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo in Hitman 2?

A: The data shows 1440p with High settings provides the best balance, achieving 62 FPS, while 1080p High offers 97 FPS for higher refresh rate displays.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Hitman 2?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings (58 FPS). Medium settings drop to 44 FPS, High to 33 FPS, and Ultra to 24 FPS, making higher presets impractical at this resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4070 scores 37648 on average, which is 0.1% higher than the Tesla P4 (37628) and 1.3% lower than the RTX 4080 Mobile (38135), placing it in a competitive mid-range position.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The GPU is clearly the bottleneck at 4K, as evidenced by the steep FPS drop from 58 FPS at Low to 24 FPS at Ultra. At 1080p, the CPU appears sufficient, with the system achieving 171 FPS at Low settings.

Q: What is the highest FPS this combo can achieve?

A: The maximum measured FPS is 171, achieved at 1080p with Low settings. At 1080p Medium, the system reaches 129 FPS, and at High, 97 FPS.

Q: Does the 12 GB VRAM limit performance at any resolution?

A: The data suggests VRAM is not the primary limiting factor at 1080p or 1440p, but the 24 FPS result at 4K Ultra indicates the GPU's memory bandwidth and capacity are strained at this resolution and detail level.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 plays a supporting role in this gaming configuration, providing ample computational headroom that becomes increasingly relevant at lower resolutions. This processor features 16 cores and 32 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz and 64 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark results are impressive, scoring 35314 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2044 in single-core, placing it at the 95th percentile among all CPUs. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-14900K, scores 79097 on average, which is 1.7% higher than the Ryzen's 77740, indicating the AMD chip is a top-tier performer.

In gaming terms, the CPU's influence is most visible at 1080p, where the system achieves 171 FPS at Low settings—a figure that requires strong single-thread performance to feed the GPU efficiently. The 3.00 GHz base clock and 5.10 GHz boost clock suggest the processor can rapidly ramp up to handle demanding game logic, while the 16 cores ensure background tasks don't interfere with gaming performance. However, the measured data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this title: at 4K, the FPS drops to 24 at Ultra settings, which is clearly a GPU constraint. The CPU's 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and quad-channel LPDDR5X support provide ample data throughput to keep the GPU fed, but the game's rendering demands at higher resolutions overwhelm the graphics card before CPU performance becomes relevant.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset reveals a consistent pattern across all settings presets. At 1080p, the system delivers 171 FPS on Low, 129 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 109 and maximum of 148), 97 FPS on High, and 72 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a clear linear progression, with each preset step reducing performance by roughly 25-30%, and all presets remaining above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset's variance, from 109 to 148 FPS, suggests some scenes are more demanding than others, but overall performance is smooth.

Moving to 1440p, the FPS drops to 110 on Low, 82 on Medium (70-95 range), 62 on High, and 46 on Ultra. The pattern shows a similar relative scaling to 1080p, but the absolute values are lower, with Ultra falling below 60 FPS. This resolution is playable on all presets except Ultra, which may be too choppy for some users. At 4K, the data becomes more challenging: Low delivers 58 FPS, Medium 44 FPS (37-50 range), High 33 FPS, and Ultra 24 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K represents a 59% performance penalty, and only the Low preset remains above 30 FPS, making it the only viable option for 4K gaming. The Medium preset's minimum of 37 FPS indicates occasional stutters, while the High and Ultra presets are likely to feel sluggish during intense gameplay sequences.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 1606 out of 3001 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the 54th percentile. This middle-of-the-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component strengths—the CPU is at the 95th percentile and the GPU at the 81st percentile. The discrepancy suggests that Hitman 2's engine may not fully utilize the CPU's 16-core architecture, or that the game's optimization favors different hardware configurations. The ranking implies that there are 1395 combos that perform better in this specific title, many of which likely feature higher-end GPUs that can better handle the game's demanding rendering at higher resolutions.

The combo's rank of 1606 out of 3001 indicates that while this system is capable, it is not exceptional for Hitman 2 specifically. The data suggests that the RTX 4070's 4K performance is a significant limiting factor, and users with this combo would be better served by targeting 1440p as their primary resolution. The ranking is particularly notable when compared to the CPU's overall performance percentile (95th), suggesting that the processor is overqualified for this gaming workload, while the GPU's mid-tier positioning (81st percentile) is more representative of the combo's actual gaming capability. This combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-tier GPU creates an imbalance where the processor is rarely the bottleneck, but the graphics card limits performance in demanding scenarios like 4K Ultra.