Hitman 2

Hitman 2’s measured performance on the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti pairing reveals a system that scales predictably across its three preset tiers and four resolutions. The data shows a clear hierarchy where the Ultra preset demands a heavy toll on frame rates, while the Low preset offers headroom that far exceeds display refresh rate capabilities. This combination of a 4-core CPU with a flagship-class GPU produces results that are consistently GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but the frame pacing and average scores suggest the processor is never the primary constraint in this title.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal experience in Hitman 2 for this hardware configuration is the Medium preset at 2560x1440. This pairing delivers a measured average of 113 FPS, with a minimum of 96 FPS and a maximum of 130 FPS. The frame time consistency here is excellent, as the gap between the average and minimum is only 17 FPS, indicating stable performance without severe dips. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset reaches 176 FPS average, but the 1440p result offers a better balance of visual fidelity and smoothness, making it the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate displays. For users with 4K panels, the Medium preset at 3840x2160 produces a 60 FPS average, which is playable but leaves little overhead for demanding scenes; the High preset at 4K drops to 45 FPS, which is noticeably less fluid.

Choosing the High preset at 1440p yields 85 FPS, which is still highly playable, but it sacrifices the headroom provided by Medium. The Low preset, while delivering 150 FPS at 1440p and 235 FPS at 1080p, presents a significant visual downgrade that is unnecessary given the strength of this GPU. The Ultra preset is not recommended for any resolution in this title; even at 1080p, it only achieves 98 FPS, and at 4K it plummets to 33 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The data indicates that Medium at 1440p is the most efficient configuration, providing a 77% higher average frame rate than Ultra at the same resolution while maintaining a minimum above 90 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, as evidenced by its substantial VRAM allocation and memory bandwidth. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for Hitman 2’s asset streaming at 4K Ultra, where the measured 33 FPS average is a direct result of the GPU’s rendering load rather than memory capacity limitations. The core clock speeds of 1365 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost, combined with 10,240 shading units, drive the performance scaling seen in the benchmarks. The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 26896 places it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 41187 is within 2% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, which is its closest rival in the data.

The GPU’s role becomes more apparent when comparing the Low and Ultra presets. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 235 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 98 FPS, a 58% reduction. This scaling is typical for a GPU-bound scenario where the increased shading complexity and texture detail of the Ultra preset saturate the execution units. The 4K results reinforce this: the Low preset at 4K produces 80 FPS, which is still higher than the 2K Ultra result of 63 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU’s compute capacity is the limiting factor at high settings. The 28,300 million transistors on the GA102 chip, built on Samsung’s 8 nm process, provide the raw throughput necessary for these results, but the data shows that even this flagship card cannot maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra in this game.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that the RTX 3080 Ti is the performance bottleneck. Using the High preset as a reference, the average FPS drops from 133 at 1080p to 85 at 1440p and finally to 45 at 4K. This represents a 36% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a 47% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The Low preset shows similar scaling: 235 FPS at 1080p, 150 FPS at 1440p, and 80 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset, which has the most complete data including minimums, scales from 176 FPS at 1080p to 113 FPS at 1440p, and down to 60 FPS at 4K.

The resolution scaling pattern indicates that the CPU, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, is not hindering performance at 1080p. If the Intel Core i3-12100F were the limiting factor, we would expect to see a smaller performance gap between 1080p and 1440p, as the GPU would be waiting on the CPU. Instead, the data shows a consistent proportional drop in frame rates as resolution increases, which is the hallmark of a GPU-limited scenario. The 4K results are particularly telling: the Ultra preset’s 33 FPS average is exactly half of the 2K High result of 85 FPS, suggesting that the pixel fill rate and shading load at 4K are overwhelming the GPU’s 112 ROPs and 320 TMUs. The 186.5 GPixel/s pixel rate is insufficient for 4K Ultra in this title, leading to sub-60 FPS performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers a measured average of 235 FPS, which is the highest result in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 176 FPS, with a minimum of 150 FPS and a maximum of 203 FPS, showing a tight frame envelope. High drops to 133 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 98 FPS for this resolution. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system has substantial headroom even at High settings, making it suitable for 144Hz or 240Hz monitors, provided the user accepts the visual compromise of Medium.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset still achieves a very high 150 FPS average. Medium delivers 113 FPS with a minimum of 96 FPS, which remains above the 90 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. High drops to 85 FPS, and Ultra falls to 63 FPS. The 1440p Medium result is the standout configuration, as it maintains a minimum above 60 FPS while offering better visual quality than Low. The Ultra preset at this resolution is borderline, with an average that dips below the 60 FPS standard, making it less desirable for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, the performance takes a significant hit. Low averages 80 FPS, which is playable but represents a substantial drop from lower resolutions. Medium averages 60 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 69 FPS, meaning the frame rate can dip below 60 in demanding scenes. High averages 45 FPS, and Ultra averages 33 FPS, which is too low for a smooth experience. The 4K data clearly shows that this GPU, while powerful, is not sufficient for maxed-out settings at this resolution in Hitman 2. The minimum FPS data for Medium at 4K (51 FPS) is the only sub-60 minimum recorded, highlighting the need to lower settings for 4K play.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 is the optimal resolution, as the Medium preset achieves a 113 FPS average with a 96 FPS minimum. This provides a smooth experience with high visual fidelity, unlike 4K, where the best preset (Low) only reaches 80 FPS, or 1080p, which offers excessive frame rates at the cost of image sharpness.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to Medium in terms of performance?

A: At 1440p, the Ultra preset averages 63 FPS, while Medium averages 113 FPS. This is a 44% performance reduction for Ultra, which is a significant trade-off. At 1080p, Ultra averages 98 FPS versus Medium’s 176 FPS, a 44% drop. The data suggests that the visual gains from Ultra do not justify the substantial frame rate loss.

Q: Is the Intel Core i3-12100F bottlenecking the RTX 3080 Ti?

A: No, the benchmark results indicate a GPU-limited scenario. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is proportional to the resolution increase, which would not occur if the 4-core CPU were the primary constraint. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 893 and its 68th percentile ranking among all CPUs suggest it has adequate single-core performance for this game.

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded in the dataset?

A: The lowest average frame rate is 33 FPS, achieved at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset. The lowest minimum frame rate is 51 FPS, recorded at 3840x2160 with the Medium preset. These are the only instances where the average or minimum falls below 60 FPS, respectively.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti has an average benchmark score of 41187, which is 0.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (40870) and 2% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (40377). It sits in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, indicating strong overall performance relative to the broader market.

Q: Does the game benefit more from CPU or GPU headroom?

A: The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions. For example, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 235 FPS, which is a CPU-limited figure, but this drops to 98 FPS at 4K Ultra. The GPU’s 12 GB of VRAM and 912.4 GB/s bandwidth are fully utilized, while the CPU’s 4 cores and 8 threads are sufficient for this title, as evidenced by the consistent scaling patterns.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, plays a supporting role in this configuration. The processor’s base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz provide sufficient single-thread performance for Hitman 2, which is a stealth game that relies on AI and physics calculations. The CPU’s benchmark scores reflect its capabilities: a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1674 and a multi-core score of 11860. The PassMark single-thread score of 3444 and the 3DMark single-thread score of 893 indicate that the Alder Lake architecture’s single-core performance is not a hindrance, especially when compared to its nearest rivals. The Intel Core i5-9500, which is 0.3% faster in average score, and the Intel Core 5 120UL, which is 0.7% slower, show that the i3-12100F is well-positioned in its performance tier, sitting in the 68th percentile of all CPUs.

The CPU’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support (DDR4 or DDR5) are adequate for this game. The fact that the measured FPS at 1080p Low (235 FPS) is the highest in the dataset suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU with draw calls and geometry data without becoming a bottleneck. However, the 4-core design does limit multi-threaded scaling in other applications, as evidenced by the 3DMark multi-thread score of 4023, which is nearly identical to the 8-thread score of 4026, indicating that the extra threads provide minimal benefit. For Hitman 2 specifically, the CPU’s role is to maintain a stable frame delivery, which it does effectively, as the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium (96 FPS) proves that the processor is not causing stutters or frame drops. The 58W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform make it a modest component, but its performance in this game is more than sufficient to avoid limiting the RTX 3080 Ti until the resolution drops to 1080p and the Low preset, where the GPU’s workload is light enough to expose CPU limitations.