Hitman 2

Hitman 2 presents a demanding workload for the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination, with performance scaling that clearly identifies the graphics card as the primary bottleneck. The data shows a playable experience is possible, but only with careful settings management, as the gap between Low and Ultra presets is substantial across all resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, a classic indicator of GPU-bound operation. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 121.2 FPS, but this drops to 75 FPS at 1440p and further to 39.8 FPS at 4K. This represents a 67% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, demonstrating that the GTX 1070's pixel throughput is the limiting factor. The pattern holds across all presets: High settings produce 64.4 FPS at 1080p, 43.6 FPS at 1440p, and 22.5 FPS at 4K, while Ultra settings yield 47.8 FPS, 30.4 FPS, and 17.1 FPS respectively.

The scaling behavior shows that the CPU is not the constraint here. The i3-12100F, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, maintains sufficient headroom at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the 121.2 FPS result at 1080p Low. However, once the resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows faster than the CPU's, and frame rates collapse proportionally. The 4K Ultra result of 17.1 FPS is particularly telling—it is barely above a slideshow and confirms that the GTX 1070's 256-bit memory bus and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are overwhelmed by the pixel count. The 1080p to 1440p transition at Medium settings shows a 32% drop (87.3 to 59.5 FPS), while the 1440p to 4K transition at the same preset shows a 51% drop (59.5 to 29.1 FPS), indicating that the GPU's fillrate limits become more pronounced at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Hitman 2 with this hardware?

A: 1080p is the only resolution where the combo delivers consistently smooth frame rates. At Low settings, it reaches 121.2 FPS, and even High settings manage 64.4 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for most players.

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

A: No, not with acceptable performance. The best 4K result is 39.8 FPS at Low settings, and Ultra settings drop to 17.1 FPS. These numbers are below playable thresholds for a stealth game requiring precise timing.

Q: How much performance does the Ultra preset cost compared to High?

A: The Ultra preset is significantly more demanding. At 1080p, Ultra produces 47.8 FPS versus 64.4 FPS on High, a 26% penalty. At 1440p, the gap widens to 30.4 versus 43.6 FPS, and at 4K, Ultra is 17.1 versus 22.5 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate the GPU is the bottleneck. The 121.2 FPS result at 1080p Low shows the CPU can push high frame rates, but the GPU cannot sustain them as resolution increases, suggesting the i3-12100F has sufficient headroom.

Q: What is the difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: Medium produces 59.5 FPS, while High drops to 43.6 FPS. This 27% difference makes Medium the better choice for 1440p gaming, as it stays closer to 60 FPS while High dips below the smoothness threshold.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations?

A: In Hitman 2, this pairing ranks 1525 out of 1795 tested combos, placing it in the lower percentile of systems. This ranking reflects the GTX 1070's age and the i3-12100F's limited core count in a game that scales with both.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows point to a clear hierarchy of playable configurations. For players prioritizing smooth framerates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 121.2 FPS, which is more than double the 60 FPS target and provides headroom for demanding scenes. However, the visual quality trade-off is steep, and the data suggests a better balance can be found. At 1080p, the Medium preset produces 87.3 FPS, which is still well above 60 FPS and likely offers a substantially better visual experience than Low. The High preset at 1080p, at 64.4 FPS, is the highest quality option that remains playable, though it leaves little margin for frame drops during intense action sequences.

At 1440p, the situation changes. Low settings achieve 75 FPS, making it the only preset at this resolution that clears the 60 FPS bar. Medium produces 59.5 FPS, which is borderline playable but may dip below 60 in crowded areas. High and Ultra drop to 43.6 and 30.4 FPS respectively, making them unsuitable for consistent play. The data indicates that 1440p Medium is the best compromise for users with 1440p monitors, as it offers a playable frame rate with improved visuals over Low. For 4K displays, no preset is truly playable—Low at 39.8 FPS is the highest achievable, and users should consider lowering resolution or accepting significant visual compromises.

The optimal experience, based on the measured rows, is 1080p High at 64.4 FPS. This provides near-60 FPS performance with high-quality visuals, and the 47.8 FPS Ultra result shows that the extra visual fidelity of Ultra is not worth the 26% performance hit.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of tested hardware combinations for Hitman 2, this system sits in the lower tier. The combo ranks 1525 out of 1795 tested configurations, placing it in the bottom 15% of systems tested for this game. This ranking is consistent with the GPU's benchmark position—the GTX 1070 has a percentile of 51 against all GPUs, meaning it performs better than roughly half of tested graphics cards, but its age shows in this specific title. The CPU, by contrast, performs better relative to its peers, with a percentile of 72 against all CPUs.

The ranking reflects the overall system balance, not just individual component strength. The i3-12100F's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, with a deltaPct of -0.1%, and the Intel Core i7-7700K, with a deltaPct of 1.8%. These close scores indicate the i3-12100F is a competent processor, but the GPU's nearest rivals—including the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (deltaPct 0.7%) and GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (deltaPct -1.4%)—show that the GTX 1070 is in a tight performance band with older and newer mid-range cards. The low combo rank in Hitman 2 suggests that the game's optimization favors systems with more graphics headroom, and this pairing's 8 GB of VRAM and 1920 shading units are not enough to overcome the game's demanding rendering requirements at higher settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the dominant factor in this system's Hitman 2 performance, and the data makes this clear. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Its clocks are modest by today's standards—1506 MHz base and 1683 MHz boost—but the Pascal architecture's efficiency is evident in the 121.2 FPS result at 1080p Low. However, the GPU's 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 64 ROPs become the limiting factor as resolution climbs.

The VRAM capacity is not the issue, as 8 GB is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming in this title. Instead, the bottleneck is raw pixel throughput. The 4K results illustrate this: at Ultra settings, the GPU manages only 17.1 FPS, which is a 64% reduction from the 1080p Ultra result of 47.8 FPS. This scaling is far worse than the 2.25x pixel count increase would suggest, indicating that the GPU's memory bandwidth and ROP count are overwhelmed. The GTX 1070's percentile of 51 against all GPUs positions it as a mid-range card, and its nearest rivals include the GTX 1650 SUPER (deltaPct -1.4%) and Tesla K20Xm (deltaPct -1.7%), showing that it performs in line with other mid-range options from different generations. The 16 nm process node and 7,200 million transistors give it a solid foundation, but the data shows that it cannot keep pace with Hitman 2's increasing demands at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers a wide range of performance depending on settings. Low settings produce 121.2 FPS, Medium 87.3 FPS, High 64.4 FPS, and Ultra 47.8 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 28% of performance, while the step from Medium to High costs 26%, and High to Ultra costs 26%. This linear degradation suggests that each preset tier adds a consistent rendering load.

At 1440p, the results are 75 FPS on Low, 59.5 FPS on Medium, 43.6 FPS on High, and 30.4 FPS on Ultra. The percentage drops between presets are similar to 1080p, but the absolute numbers are lower, with only Low remaining above 60 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result of 30.4 FPS is only 64% of the 1080p Ultra result, showing that resolution scaling hurts more at higher settings.

At 4K, Low produces 39.8 FPS, Medium 29.1 FPS, High 22.5 FPS, and Ultra 17.1 FPS. The 4K Low result is notable because it is the only 4K configuration that approaches playability, but even it falls short of 40 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 17.1 FPS is the worst measured, and the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K (39.8 to 17.1 FPS) represents a 57% performance loss from settings alone. Across all resolutions, the data shows that Low settings offer roughly double the frame rate of Ultra settings, making preset choice as important as resolution selection.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F plays a supporting role in this configuration, and benchmark results indicate it is not the limiting factor in Hitman 2. The CPU has 4 cores and 8 threads, with base and boost clocks of 3.30 GHz and 4.30 GHz respectively. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory provide adequate bandwidth for gaming workloads. The CPU's benchmark scores are strong for a quad-core part: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 11912, single-core 1681, and Geekbench multicore 7413 with single-core 2224.

The CPU's percentile of 72 against all CPUs places it above the median, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-7700K (deltaPct 1.8%) and Core i3-10105 (deltaPct 0.6%). These comparisons show that the i3-12100F competes with higher-tier processors from previous generations. In Hitman 2, the 121.2 FPS result at 1080p Low demonstrates that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough frames, but the GPU cannot translate that into higher resolutions. The 8 threads are sufficient for this game's threading model, as evidenced by the consistent scaling across resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect frame rates to plateau at higher resolutions, but instead they continue to drop, confirming the GPU's dominance. The CPU's 58 W TDP and 10 nm process also indicate it is not thermally constrained, allowing sustained boost clocks during gameplay.