Hitman 2

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a broad performance envelope in Hitman 2, ranging from a highly playable 89.2 FPS at 1080p Ultra to a demanding 28.4 FPS at 4K Ultra. The measured data shows that this combination is heavily influenced by both resolution and graphical preset, with the CPU’s 4 cores and 8 threads proving sufficient for high frame rates at lower resolutions, while the GPU’s capabilities become the limiting factor at 4K. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS rows to determine the optimal settings, explain the scaling behavior, and contextualize the combo’s rank among 1795 tested configurations.

Settings Recommendations

For a balanced experience prioritizing smooth gameplay, the High preset at 2560x1440 is the standout choice, delivering an average of 79 FPS. This setting provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium while maintaining a frame rate that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, making it ideal for a stealth title where consistent motion is crucial. At 1920x1080, the High preset is also excellent, producing 125.4 FPS, which is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate monitors and leaves headroom for demanding scenes.

If the goal is to maximize visual fidelity, the Ultra preset is only viable at 1920x1080, where it achieves 89.2 FPS. This is the only resolution where Ultra remains above the 60 FPS threshold. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 60.1 FPS, which is borderline; the data suggests that High at 1440p is a more stable choice, offering a 31.5% higher average FPS (79 vs 60.1) with likely minimal perceptible visual difference in most gameplay scenarios.

The Low preset is not recommended for general play, as it sacrifices too much visual detail. However, it is the only way to achieve playable frame rates at 4K, with 78.2 FPS. For competitive or high-refresh-rate play at 1080p, Low yields 220.4 FPS, but this is a niche use case. The Medium preset serves as a middle ground, offering 166.2 FPS at 1080p and 105.8 FPS at 1440p, but the jump to High provides a better visual-to-performance trade-off, costing only 24.5% performance at 1440p (from 105.8 to 79 FPS) for a substantial quality increase. Therefore, the data clearly points to High as the best overall experience across 1080p and 1440p.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The data shows that Low is the only viable preset at 3840x2160, yielding an average of 78.2 FPS. The next step up, Medium, drops to 53.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. High (44.2 FPS) and Ultra (28.4 FPS) are not suitable for 4K.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested combinations?

A: This specific combination of Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks 647th out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places it in the 64th percentile of all tested configurations, indicating a solid mid-to-upper tier standing.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the scaling pattern suggests the CPU is a significant factor. The frame rate difference between Low (220.4 FPS) and Ultra (89.2 FPS) is 147.3%, but the large absolute numbers, especially at Low, indicate the GPU is not being fully saturated. The 4-core CPU with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz is likely the limiting component in this resolution range, as evidenced by the enormous frame rates that the GPU can produce.

Q: What is the performance drop from 1440p High to 4K High?

A: The average frame rate drops from 79 FPS at 2560x1440 High to 44.2 FPS at 3840x2160 High, a reduction of 44.1%. This significant drop highlights the transition from a CPU-influenced scenario to a heavily GPU-bound one.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide a playable experience at 1440p?

A: Yes, but barely. The measured average is 60.1 FPS, which is right at the 60 FPS threshold. While technically playable, any demanding in-game scene could cause dips below this level. The High preset at 79 FPS offers a more consistent experience.

Q: How does the CPU’s 4-core/8-thread configuration affect performance?

A: The i3-12100F has 4 cores and 8 threads with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its benchmark scores, such as 11912 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 1681 in single-core, suggest strong per-core performance. This allows it to drive high frame rates at 1080p, as seen with 220.4 FPS on Low, but its limited core count may prevent it from fully pushing the GPU to its maximum potential in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and expected inverse relationship between resolution and performance, but the magnitude of the drop reveals the changing bottleneck. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the High preset, the average FPS falls from 125.4 to 79, a 37.0% decrease. This is a substantial drop, but the absolute numbers remain high, suggesting the system is still capable. The transition from 1440p to 3840x2160 on the same preset is even steeper, with FPS plummeting from 79 to 44.2, a 44.1% reduction.

This scaling pattern is critical for identifying the limiting component. At 1080p, the frame rates are exceptionally high (up to 220.4 FPS on Low), indicating that the GPU has ample headroom and is not the primary constraint. Instead, the 4-core CPU is likely the bottleneck, as it cannot issue draw calls fast enough to fully utilize the RX 6800 XT. As resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the GPU's workload becomes more demanding, and the frame rates drop accordingly, indicating a shift to a GPU-bound scenario. At 4K, the RX 6800 XT is clearly the limiting factor, with even the Medium preset only managing 53.8 FPS.

The data shows that the performance cost of each preset is consistent across resolutions. For example, at 1080p, Ultra (89.2 FPS) is 59.5% slower than Low (220.4 FPS). At 4K, this gap widens, with Ultra (28.4 FPS) being 63.7% slower than Low (78.2 FPS). This suggests that the visual effects in the Ultra preset are more demanding on the GPU's compute and memory resources, which are already strained at high resolutions. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth of the GPU are sufficient, but the raw pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT achieves a combo rank of 647 out of 1795 tested combinations in Hitman 2. This places it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations, outperforming a majority of tested systems. The rank is a composite measure that accounts for performance across all settings and resolutions, and it reflects the balanced nature of this pairing.

While the GPU is a high-end part, ranking in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, the CPU is more modest, ranking in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs. The combination rank of 647 suggests that the CPU is holding back the system from reaching the top echelons, but the overall performance is still very strong. For context, the CPU’s average benchmark score of 13516 is very close to its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13534, -0.1% delta) and the Intel Core i7-7700K (13280, 1.8% delta). This indicates that the i3-12100F offers competitive processing power for this game, even if its core count is lower.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 49982 is also closely matched with its rivals, including the NVIDIA RTX A1000 (50826, -1.7% delta) and the Intel Arc A550M (49737, 0.5% delta). This suggests that the RX 6800 XT is performing as expected. The 647th rank is therefore a direct result of the CPU’s limitations in this specific game, which is more sensitive to single-thread performance than raw core counts. The data shows that this combo is a capable 1440p machine and a high-refresh-rate 1080p machine, but it is not optimized for 4K Ultra settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. Its base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz are relatively high, and its benchmark results, such as a Geekbench single-core score of 2224 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1681, demonstrate strong per-thread performance. This is crucial for Hitman 2, which, like many stealth and action games, relies heavily on a few primary threads for game logic and physics.

In this system, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p. The measured frame rates on Low settings (220.4 FPS) and High settings (125.4 FPS) are exceptionally high, suggesting that the GPU is not the primary bottleneck. The CPU is able to feed the GPU with enough data to achieve these numbers, but the 4-core limit means it cannot push the frame rate even higher, especially when compared to a system with a more powerful multi-core processor. The 3DMark 8-thread score of 4026 versus the 4-thread score of 2859 shows that the CPU does benefit from its 8 threads, but the ceiling is still 4 physical cores.

The CPU’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache are adequate for this game. The data suggests that the CPU is a capable partner for the RX 6800 XT at 1440p, where the frame rates are still high (79 FPS on High). However, at 4K, the CPU’s role diminishes significantly, as the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. The benchmark results show that the i3-12100F is in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-7700K, which has a similar average score. This indicates that while the CPU is not a top-tier part, its performance is well-balanced for a mid-range gaming system, and it is only in high-resolution, high-detail scenarios that the GPU’s workload overshadows the CPU’s contribution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured average FPS data for this combo is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 220.4 FPS — This is the highest measured frame rate, indicating extreme CPU-bound performance.
• Medium: 166.2 FPS — A significant drop from Low, showing the impact of increased GPU load.
• High: 125.4 FPS — Still a very high frame rate, suitable for high-refresh-rate displays.
• Ultra: 89.2 FPS — The only 1080p setting that approaches the 60 FPS baseline for demanding visuals.

2560x1440:

• Low: 139.7 FPS — A 36.6% drop from 1080p Low, showing the first major impact of resolution scaling.
• Medium: 105.8 FPS — A strong performance for a mid-range preset at 1440p.
• High: 79 FPS — The recommended setting for a smooth and visually pleasing experience.
• Ultra: 60.1 FPS — Borderline playable, but the data suggests High is a safer choice for consistency.

3840x2160:

• Low: 78.2 FPS — The only playable 4K preset, and even this is a 44.0% drop from 1440p Low.
• Medium: 53.8 FPS — Falls below the 60 FPS target, indicating a GPU bottleneck.
• High: 44.2 FPS — A substantial drop from 1440p High, confirming the GPU is the limiting factor.
• Ultra: 28.4 FPS — The lowest measured frame rate, demonstrating the extreme demand of 4K Ultra.

This data breakdown shows a clear hierarchy. The system is capable of excellent performance at 1080p and good performance at 1440p, but it struggles at 4K with any preset above Low. The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent pattern of performance degradation, with the most significant drops occurring at 4K, where the RX 6800 XT’s raw compute power is insufficient for the highest settings.