Hitman 2

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the Intel Arc B580 lands at rank 1384 out of 1795 tested combinations for Hitman 2, placing it in the lower-mid tier of systems. This ranking is notably weaker than the individual components' percentiles might suggest—the CPU sits at the 72nd percentile among all processors, while the GPU is at the 66th percentile among all graphics cards. The discrepancy between component-level standings and the in-game combo rank points to a system that may be held back by a specific bottleneck rather than representing the sum of its parts.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals provides context for its raw compute capabilities. The i3-12100F scores within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX in average benchmark score, a remarkable parity given the vast differences in core counts and market positioning. It edges out the Intel Core i7-1250U by 0.4%, the Core i3-10105 by 0.6%, and leads the Intel Core i7-7700K by 1.8%. These margins are tight, suggesting the i3-12100F delivers competitive single-thread and multi-thread performance for its class, even if it trails more expensive parts in absolute terms.

For the GPU side, the Arc B580's average benchmark score of 23021 places it just 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon 760M and 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA P106-100. It trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 by 0.7% but leads the RTX 4060 Mobile by 1.3%. The data reveals a graphics solution that sits in a crowded performance band where small percentage differences separate competitors. In Hitman 2 specifically, the measured frame rates suggest the combination struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at higher settings and resolutions, which aligns with its low combo ranking relative to the component percentiles.

# Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset delivers the optimal balance between visual quality and playability. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 140.9 FPS, while Medium drops to 101.9 FPS, High reaches 78.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 57.1 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium represents a 39 FPS reduction, while the step from Medium to High costs another 23.6 FPS. For players prioritizing smoothness, Medium at 1080p offers a strong experience—it maintains triple-digit frame rates while providing a meaningful visual upgrade over Low.

At 2560x1440, the picture shifts notably. Medium yields 66 FPS, which remains playable, but High drops to 54.2 FPS and Ultra falls to 39.1 FPS. The Low preset at this resolution produces 90.8 FPS, indicating that 1440p players seeking high refresh rates must accept significant visual compromises. The data suggests that 1440p Medium represents the practical ceiling for this combo if aiming for 60+ FPS, while 1080p Medium is the sweet spot for the full experience.

The 4K results are sobering. Even at Low, the system only manages 49 FPS, and Ultra falls to 20.5 FPS. No preset at 3840x2160 achieves a consistently smooth 60 FPS, meaning 4K gaming with this hardware requires substantial sacrifices or an acceptance of sub-optimal performance. The recommendation from the measured data is clear: 1080p Medium offers the best combination of frame rate and fidelity, with 1440p Low as a viable alternative for those who prioritize resolution over detail settings.

# Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a system that becomes progressively more GPU-limited as pixel count increases. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 140.9 FPS; moving to 1440p Low yields 90.8 FPS, a 35.6% drop, and 4K Low drops to 49 FPS, a 65.2% reduction from 1080p. This steep decline with resolution indicates the GPU is the primary constraint at higher pixel counts, as the CPU's performance headroom becomes less relevant when the rendering workload expands.

For Medium settings, the pattern holds: 101.9 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p (a 35.2% drop), and 38.9 FPS at 4K (a 61.8% drop from 1080p). High settings show 78.3 FPS at 1080p, 54.2 FPS at 1440p (a 30.8% drop), and 27.8 FPS at 4K (a 64.5% drop). Ultra delivers 57.1 FPS at 1080p, 39.1 FPS at 1440p (a 31.5% drop), and 20.5 FPS at 4K (a 64.1% drop).

The consistency of these percentage drops—roughly 30-35% from 1080p to 1440p and 61-65% from 1080p to 4K—points to the GPU as the limiting component. The Arc B580's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with 456.0 GB/s bandwidth and 192-bit bus width becomes the determining factor at higher resolutions. The CPU, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, shows it can keep up at lower resolutions where the 140.9 FPS result at 1080p Low suggests it is not a significant bottleneck at that level. However, the data implies that any attempt to push this combo beyond 1080p gaming will be constrained by the graphics card's throughput rather than processor limitations.

# FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 is the most viable resolution. At Medium settings, the combo achieves 101.9 FPS, and even Ultra maintains 57.1 FPS. Higher resolutions produce sub-60 FPS at most settings, with 1440p Ultra at 39.1 FPS and 4K Ultra at 20.5 FPS.

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

A: The i3-12100F scores within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, 0.4% behind the Intel Core i7-1250U, 0.6% ahead of the Core i3-10105, and 1.8% ahead of the Core i7-7700K in average benchmark scores.

Q: Is the GPU capable of 4K gaming in this title?

A: No. Even at Low settings, the Arc B580 only produces 49 FPS at 3840x2160. Medium drops to 38.9 FPS, High to 27.8 FPS, and Ultra to 20.5 FPS. None of these reach a smooth 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the GPU's performance tier relative to other cards?

A: The Arc B580's average benchmark score of 23021 places it 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon 760M, 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA P106-100, 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, and 1.3% ahead of the RTX 4060 Mobile.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary constraint at 1080p. The 140.9 FPS result at Low settings indicates sufficient headroom. However, the steep FPS drops at higher resolutions—35.6% from 1080p to 1440p at Low—show the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking in this game?

A: The combination ranks 1384 out of 1795 tested combos for Hitman 2, placing it in the lower-mid tier despite the individual components having percentile scores of 72 (CPU) and 66 (GPU).

# GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580's specifications paint a picture of a mid-range graphics solution with notable bandwidth advantages. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth, a figure that should theoretically support higher resolutions. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2670 MHz with a boost clock of 2670 MHz, while memory runs at 2375 MHz or 19 Gbps effective. These clocks remain constant, suggesting a fixed operating point rather than dynamic boosting behavior.

The rendering pipeline consists of 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units, with 20 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s indicate the card can process geometry and textures at a substantial rate. The FP32 performance of 13.67 TFLOPS places it in a competitive band, but the measured game results show this theoretical throughput does not translate to high frame rates at 4K in Hitman 2.

The GPU's benchmark results include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3068, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 92821, and a Vulkan score of 109672. In PassMark tests, it scores 15748 in G3D and 7729 in GPU compute. These synthetic results align with the GPU's 66th percentile ranking among all graphics cards. In Hitman 2, the Arc B580's performance at 1080p is respectable, but the 4K results—where even Low settings only reach 49 FPS—suggest the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are insufficient for the higher pixel counts. The 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die at 5 nm process node indicate a modern architecture, yet the game's demands at 4K overwhelm the card's capabilities.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F provides 4 cores and 8 threads based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.30 GHz boosts to 4.30 GHz, and the chip carries 12 MB of shared L3 cache alongside 1.25 MB of L2 per core and 80 KB of L1 per core. The 58 W TDP suggests a power-efficient design, and the CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel interface, with PCIe Gen 5 providing 16 lanes.

Benchmark data shows the CPU's capabilities across various workloads. In Cinebench R23, it scores 11912 in multicore and 1681 in single-core. Geekbench results show 7413 multicore and 2224 single-core. The 3DMark tests reveal scaling from 893 in single-thread to 4051 in 16-thread tests, with 4-thread and 8-thread scores of 2859 and 4026 respectively. These results indicate the CPU's performance plateaus after 8 threads, as the 8-thread score of 4026 nearly matches the 16-thread score of 4051—consistent with a 4-core/8-thread design.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's impact is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is less burdened. The 140.9 FPS at 1080p Low demonstrates that the processor can feed frames quickly enough to avoid becoming a bottleneck. However, the 72nd percentile ranking and the tight margins against rivals—within 1.8% of the Core i7-7700K—suggest this is a competent but not exceptional CPU. The PassMark multithread score of 14015 and single-thread score of 3444 reinforce this assessment. The CPU's role in this combo appears to be supplementary; it provides enough headroom for 1080p gaming but does not compensate for the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data across all resolution and settings combinations provides a complete picture of this combo's performance in Hitman 2.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 140.9 FPS, which represents the highest frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings achieve 101.9 FPS, maintaining triple-digit performance. High settings yield 78.3 FPS, still comfortably above 60 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 57.1 FPS, slightly below the 60 FPS threshold but playable.

At 2560x1440, performance decreases across all settings. Low produces 90.8 FPS, which remains smooth. Medium achieves 66 FPS, just above 60. High drops to 54.2 FPS, below the ideal threshold. Ultra falls to 39.1 FPS, which may feel less fluid in a stealth game requiring precise movements.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles significantly. Low settings yield 49 FPS, which is below 60. Medium drops to 38.9 FPS. High manages only 27.8 FPS. Ultra falls to 20.5 FPS, which is likely to feel choppy and detract from the gameplay experience.

The progression from 1080p to 4K shows consistent reductions across all settings. The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is also notable: at 1080p, the difference is 83.8 FPS; at 1440p, 51.7 FPS; and at 4K, 28.5 FPS. This narrowing delta at higher resolutions indicates the GPU becomes increasingly the limiting factor, as the additional workload from higher settings has less absolute impact when the resolution is already overwhelming the graphics card.