Hitman 2

Opening Paragraph

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a wide performance envelope in Hitman 2, a 2018 stealth title. Measured data shows this combination is capable of high refresh rates at 1080p and smooth 60+ FPS at 1440p, but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra settings. The CPU and GPU occupy the 72nd percentile in their respective categories, yet the game’s demands reveal a clear imbalance: the RTX 3070’s raw throughput is often held in check by the i3-12100F’s modest core count, especially at lower resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data, the role of each component, and how this pairing ranks among 1,795 tested combinations.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is an 8 nm Ampere part with a GA104 chip, packing 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. Its memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s base clock is 1500 MHz with a boost of 1725 MHz, while the memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). With 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, the RTX 3070 also features 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. Its pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 317.4 GTexel/s, contributing to a peak FP32 throughput of 20.31 TFLOPS.

In Hitman 2, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution and settings increase. At 3840x2160, the measured FPS drops from 66.5 on Low settings to 40.6 on High, then to 52 on Medium—interestingly, Medium outperforms High—and finally to 27 on Ultra. The 8 GB VRAM buffer is sufficient for the game’s textures, but the bandwidth and compute limits surface at 4K Ultra, where the average of 27 FPS falls below the 30 FPS playability threshold. The RTX 3070’s percentile rank of 72 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28,238, places it near the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (0.9% ahead) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (1% behind), indicating it is a solid mid-high tier card but not a top-tier 4K performer.

At 2560x1440, the GPU shows its strength: High settings yield 72.9 FPS, Medium 94.5, and Low 127.6, with Ultra dropping to 52.2. The pattern suggests that the RTX 3070 is well-suited for 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates without hitting the extreme memory or compute walls seen at 4K. At 1920x1080, the GPU is often underutilized, as the CPU becomes the limiting factor—this is evident from the 196.2 FPS on Low settings versus 110 on High, a gap that narrows less than expected due to CPU constraints.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake-S architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process with a 163 mm² die. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a 58 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3. It supports dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 CPU lanes. The CPU’s benchmark scores show a strong single-thread capability—Cinebench R23 single-core at 1,681 points and Geekbench single-core at 2,224—but its multithreaded performance is limited by the 4 physical cores, as seen in Cinebench R23 multicore at 11,912 points.

In Hitman 2, the CPU’s role is critical at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU can render frames quickly. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo hits 196.2 FPS, but this is likely near the CPU’s ceiling; the 4-core design may struggle to feed the RTX 3070 in scenarios with many NPCs or complex AI, a common trait of stealth games. The single-thread performance is excellent—the i3-12100F ranks in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 13,516—but the 4-core/8-thread configuration is a bottleneck when the game scales across multiple threads. The data shows this at 1080p Medium (143.9 FPS) and High (110 FPS), where the GPU could theoretically push higher if the CPU were not limiting.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (0.1% lower score) and the Intel Core i3-10105 (0.6% higher), indicating that the i3-12100F punches above its weight in synthetic benchmarks. However, in real gaming, the limited core count becomes apparent: at 2560x1440, the gap between Low (127.6 FPS) and High (72.9 FPS) is 54.7 FPS, but at 1080p, the gap between Low (196.2) and High (110) is 86.2 FPS, suggesting the CPU is more of a factor at 1080p. The 3DMark tests reinforce this: 16-thread score is 4,051, but the 4-thread score is 2,859, showing diminishing returns beyond 4 threads, which aligns with the game’s typical CPU usage.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings levels, providing a clear picture of scaling behavior. At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 66.5 FPS, Medium 52 FPS, High 40.6 FPS, and Ultra 27 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 39.5 FPS, a 59.4% reduction, indicating that 4K Ultra is beyond the RTX 3070’s comfort zone. Notably, Medium (52) outperforms High (40.6) by 11.4 FPS, which is unusual; this could reflect different rendering paths or optimization quirks in the game.

At 2560x1440, the FPS averages are: Low 127.6, Medium 94.5, High 72.9, and Ultra 52.2. This resolution is the sweet spot for the combo, as even High settings exceed 70 FPS, and Ultra stays above 50 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is 75.4 FPS, or 59.1% lower, similar to 4K’s percentage drop but with higher absolute values. The 1440p results suggest the GPU is the primary driver, with the CPU providing adequate support.

At 1920x1080, the averages are: Low 196.2, Medium 143.9, High 110, and Ultra 83.6. This is where the CPU bottleneck is most evident: the Low setting’s 196.2 FPS is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame rate, and the drop to Ultra (83.6) is 112.6 FPS, a 57.4% reduction. The 1080p Ultra result of 83.6 FPS is still smooth, but the scaling from Low to Ultra is steeper than at higher resolutions, implying the CPU cannot keep up with the GPU’s potential at the lowest settings. The data shows a consistent pattern: as resolution decreases, the CPU becomes more limiting, while at 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the data, 2560x1440 High settings (72.9 FPS) offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. For higher refresh rates, 1920x1080 Medium (143.9 FPS) or Low (196.2 FPS) are viable, but at 3840x2160, only Low (66.5 FPS) and Medium (52 FPS) are playable.

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

A: At 3840x2160, the combo achieves 66.5 FPS on Low and 52 FPS on Medium, which are playable, but High (40.6 FPS) and Ultra (27 FPS) fall below typical 60 FPS targets. The 27 FPS Ultra result is not smooth for a stealth game requiring precision.

Q: Is the Intel Core i3-12100F a bottleneck for the RTX 3070 in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate the CPU limits performance at 1920x1080, where the gap between Low (196.2 FPS) and High (110 FPS) is 86.2 FPS, suggesting the GPU could push higher if the CPU had more cores. At 2560x1440 and above, the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals in terms of GPU score?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 28,238, which is 0.9% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27,985) and 1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27,956). It is 0.6% lower than the AMD FirePro S7150 (28,409).

Q: What is the CPU’s multithreaded performance relative to its peers?

A: The i3-12100F’s average benchmark score is 13,516, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13,534) and 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i3-10105 (13,430). Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 11,912.

Q: Does the game’s FPS scale linearly with settings at different resolutions?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the drop from Low to Ultra is 39.5 FPS, while at 1920x1080 it is 112.6 FPS. The percentage reduction is similar (around 59%), but the absolute FPS loss is much larger at 1080p, reflecting the CPU’s role at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 808th out of 1,795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the 45th percentile of all configurations. This rank reflects a mid-tier position: the GPU is strong (72nd percentile), but the CPU’s 4-core design drags the overall ranking down, particularly in scenarios where frame rates exceed 100 FPS. The measured FPS data shows that the combo excels at 1440p, where it ranks near the top for playable frame rates, but at 1080p, the CPU bottleneck prevents it from achieving the very highest FPS levels seen with higher-core-count processors.

Relative to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RTX 3070’s 0.9% edge over the RX 6600 XT suggests that swapping in a similar GPU would yield comparable results, but the CPU’s nearest rival, the i3-10105 (0.6% higher score), implies that a slightly stronger CPU could improve the ranking. The combo’s 808th rank out of 1,795 is solidly above the median, but the data indicates that users seeking 4K Ultra performance would need a more powerful GPU, while those targeting 1080p high-refresh gaming would benefit from a CPU with more cores. Overall, this pairing is best suited for 1440p gaming, where it delivers 72.9 FPS on High settings, balancing the strengths and weaknesses of both components.