Hitman 2

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination sits at rank 1259 out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. That ranking might look discouraging at first glance, but context matters: this list includes every conceivable pairing, from budget office parts to flagship halo products. The data shows this combo outperforms roughly 30% of all tested pairings, which is respectable for a mid-range 2020-2021 era setup. More importantly, the measured FPS tells a more nuanced story than the raw rank suggests. At 1080p, this combo delivers playable to excellent frame rates across all settings, with the Low preset hitting 144.6 FPS. The bottleneck behavior shifts dramatically by resolution, and the rank reflects the combo's inability to sustain high frame rates at 4K Ultra, where it drops to 23.5 FPS. In practical terms, this is a 1080p-focused pairing that can handle 1440p with settings tuned down, but 4K gaming is only viable on Low settings. The percentile data reinforces this: the CPU sits at the 73rd percentile against all CPUs, and the GPU at the 71st percentile against all GPUs — both are solidly mid-pack components that happen to pair well for 1080p and light 1440p duty.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the star of this pairing, built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip at 7 nm. It carries 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The clock speeds are aggressive: a base of 1968 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a boost up to 2589 MHz. That boost clock is the key figure for gaming — the GPU can push well past its rated game clock under load, and Hitman 2 responds to that headroom. The card's 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs give it a pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s, which are strong figures for this class. In the benchmark database, the RX 6600 XT averages 27985 points and sits at the 71st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (0.1% ahead), AMD Radeon R9 M395X (0.4% ahead), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (0.9% behind). That last comparison is telling — the RX 6600 XT trades blows with an RTX 3070 in average benchmark scores, though the 3070 pulls slightly ahead. For Hitman 2 specifically, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM is sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, but the 128-bit bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth become limiting factors at 4K, where the card's frame rates collapse. The card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which Hitman 2 can leverage, and its PCIe 4.0 x8 interface pairs fine with the CPU's Gen 3 lanes.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Hitman 2 at 1440p smoothly?

A: Yes, with settings adjustments. The data shows 53.8 FPS on High and 70.3 FPS on Medium at 2560x1440, but Ultra drops to 41 FPS. For a 60 FPS target, Medium is the sweet spot, while High gets close enough for most players.

Q: What is the best resolution for this pairing?

A: 1080p is the clear winner. Every setting at 1920x1080 is playable, with Low hitting 144.6 FPS, Medium at 107.6 FPS, High at 84.1 FPS, and Ultra at 58.5 FPS. If you have a 144 Hz monitor, Low or Medium settings will keep you near the refresh ceiling.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with the RX 6600 XT and i5-10400F?

A: Only on Low settings, where the combo averages 52 FPS at 3840x2160. Medium drops to 34.7 FPS, High to 25.9 FPS, and Ultra is unplayable at 23.5 FPS. This is not a 4K pairing unless you are willing to sacrifice visual quality heavily.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-10400F averages 14168 points across all CPU benchmarks, sitting at the 73rd percentile. It is essentially tied with the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.4% ahead), AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% behind), Intel Core i5-8500 (1.1% behind), and AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 (1.2% behind) — all within a 1.2% band, so performance is interchangeable in this class.

Q: What does the GPU's percentile ranking mean for Hitman 2 performance?

A: The RX 6600 XT sits at the 71st percentile of all GPUs, meaning it outperforms about 71% of the database. In Hitman 2, that translates to solid 1080p performance and workable 1440p, but the card's 8 GB VRAM and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are not enough to push 4K beyond Low settings.

Q: Should I prioritize the CPU or GPU upgrade for better Hitman 2 FPS?

A: At 1080p, the GPU is doing most of the heavy lifting — the jump from Low to Ultra only drops FPS from 144.6 to 58.5, which is a GPU-driven scaling. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiter, as the CPU's 12 threads and 4.30 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient. Upgrading the GPU would yield the largest gains across all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data covers four resolutions and four settings each, giving a complete picture of this combo's behavior. At 1920x1080, the combo starts strong with 144.6 FPS on Low, drops to 107.6 FPS on Medium, 84.1 FPS on High, and bottoms out at 58.5 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a steady, predictable scaling curve — each settings tier costs roughly 20-25% performance, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario at this resolution. At 2560x1440, the frame rates step down noticeably: Low hits 95 FPS, Medium falls to 70.3 FPS, High manages 53.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 41 FPS. The 1440p numbers are still playable at Medium and High for most gamers, but Ultra requires a 40-42 FPS tolerance. At 3840x2160, the situation degrades sharply. Low is the only playable option at 52 FPS, Medium drops to 34.7 FPS, High falls to 25.9 FPS, and Ultra is effectively slideshow territory at 23.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 28.5 FPS, which is a 54.8% performance loss — far steeper than the 59.4% loss at 1080p, indicating the GPU is hitting memory bandwidth and shading unit limits. No min or max FPS values were recorded in the data, so the averages represent the sustained performance level, not peak or 1% lows.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the bottleneck structure clearly. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 144.6 at 1080p to 95 at 1440p (a 34.3% reduction) and then to 52 at 4K (a 45.3% reduction from 1440p). At Ultra settings, the drop is steeper: 58.5 to 41 (29.9% reduction) to 23.5 (42.7% reduction from 1440p). The pattern shows that the GPU becomes progressively more limiting as resolution increases, which is expected — the RX 6600 XT's 128-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are simply not enough to feed the pixel demand at 4K. The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal: the i5-10400F's 12 threads and 4.30 GHz boost clock are more than adequate to keep up with the GPU at all resolutions, even at Low settings where the CPU has to feed frames as fast as possible. The fact that 1080p Low hits 144.6 FPS without the CPU capping it suggests the processor is not the limiting factor here. The data indicates that if you want to play at 4K, you must drop to Low settings to get 52 FPS, and even then the experience will feel less smooth than 1440p Medium at 70.3 FPS. The scaling curve also shows diminishing returns: going from 1440p to 4K costs more performance at every settings tier than going from 1080p to 1440p, which is a classic sign of a GPU that is running out of fillrate and bandwidth headroom.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It runs at a 2.90 GHz base clock and boosts to 4.30 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The 65 W TDP and locked multiplier make it a straightforward, power-efficient choice for a gaming rig. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 10297 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1453 in single-core, which are respectable numbers for a 2020-era mid-range chip. Its 3DMark scores scale predictably: 1350 with 2 threads, 2560 with 4 threads, 3929 with 8 threads, and 4735 with max threads, showing that the 12 threads are utilized well in multi-threaded workloads. The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking against all CPUs places it above the median, and its nearest rivals — the AMD EPYC 7552, AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, Intel Core i5-8500, and AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 — are all within a 1.2% performance band, meaning the i5-10400F is competitive with a wide range of CPUs in this class. For Hitman 2 specifically, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The game is a stealth title that does not stress the CPU as heavily as fast-paced shooters, and the data supports this: at 1080p Low, the combo hits 144.6 FPS, which is well above what most 60 Hz monitors can display. The 4.30 GHz boost clock is the key spec here — Hitman 2's engine benefits from single-thread performance, and the i5-10400F delivers that without breaking a sweat. The 12 MB L3 cache is also sufficient for the game's level streaming, and the dual-channel DDR4 memory support at 42.7 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for the GPU's needs. In short, the CPU is not the bottleneck in this pairing at any resolution or settings tier; it provides enough headroom that the RX 6600 XT is always the limiting component.