Hitman 2

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a strong showing in Hitman 2, but the data reveals a clear performance ceiling that shifts depending on how much load you put on the GPU. This combination ranks in the 64th percentile of tested setups, landing at 648 out of 1795 combos. The measured results show a system that is exceptionally capable at 1080p and 1440p, yet struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K when settings are pushed to their limits. The core issue is that the RX 6800 XT is a high-end graphics card with a 16 GB frame buffer, but the i5-10400F’s six physical cores and twelve threads become a bottleneck at lower resolutions where the GPU is not fully saturated.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 217.3 FPS, which is an enormous frame rate that indicates the GPU is not being stressed at all. As you move to 1440p Low, the average drops to 140.6 FPS, a reduction of roughly 35%. At 4K Low, the average falls to 75.2 FPS, which is still smooth but shows a steep decline. This pattern, where the frame rate nearly halves from 1080p to 4K, suggests that the CPU is holding back performance at the lower resolutions. The i5-10400F, with its 2.90 GHz base and 4.30 GHz boost clock, simply cannot feed the RX 6800 XT enough data at 1080p, so the GPU idles and the frame rate is artificially capped.

The scaling becomes even more telling when you look at the High settings. At 1080p High, the average is 124.6 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 80.2 FPS, and at 4K High, it falls to 46 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is about 35%, which is a typical cost for the extra pixels, but the gap between 1440p and 4K is about 43%, which is larger. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is finally becoming the limiting factor, as the RX 6800 XT has to work much harder to fill those 3840x2160 pixels. The data shows that this setup is best suited for 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates without the CPU becoming a severe bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. Its benchmark scores show a processor that is competent for gaming but not exceptional. In Cinebench R23, it scores 10297 points in multi-core and 1453 points in single-core, which places it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rivals in the data include the AMD EPYC 7552 and the Intel Core i5-8500, with the i5-10400F being roughly 1.1% slower than the i5-8500 in average benchmark score. In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p where the frame rates are extremely high. At 1080p Low, the 217.3 FPS average is a clear sign that the CPU is the limiting factor, as the GPU has plenty of headroom.

The single-thread performance is particularly relevant for this game. The 3DMark single-thread score is 688, and the Passmark single-thread score is 2541, which are solid numbers for a 10th-gen Core i5. However, compared to more modern CPUs, the 4.30 GHz boost clock is not exceptionally high. The data suggests that the CPU can handle the game's logic and AI at 1440p without issue, but at 4K, the GPU takes over as the primary bottleneck. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache is adequate, but the dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s is a potential limitation for a game that relies heavily on streaming assets. The benchmark results indicate that the i5-10400F is a capable pairing for the RX 6800 XT at 1440p, but it does not unlock the card's full potential at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 648 out of 1795 places this setup in the upper third of all tested combinations. This is a respectable position, but it is not near the top, which reflects the CPU's mid-range status. The RX 6800 XT is a high-end GPU, ranking in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, but the i5-10400F only ranks in the 73rd percentile of CPUs. This imbalance means the combo is limited by the processor. The data shows that the combo performs best in scenarios where the GPU is heavily loaded, such as 4K Ultra, where the 29.4 FPS average is more dependent on the graphics card's raw compute power.

Compared to other combos, this setup is likely to be beaten by systems with more modern CPUs that have higher single-thread performance. The nearest rivals for the CPU, such as the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, which is 0.8% faster in average score, or the Intel Core i5-8500, which is 1.1% faster, could potentially push the frame rates higher in CPU-bound scenarios. However, the RX 6800 XT's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth ensure that the GPU is never the weak link in most scenarios. The rank of 648 suggests that this is a well-balanced build for 1440p gaming, but for those chasing maximum frame rates at 1080p, a stronger CPU would be advisable.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the combo's performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings yield 217.3 FPS, Medium yields 161.8 FPS, High yields 124.6 FPS, and Ultra yields 89.1 FPS. These numbers show that even at Ultra settings, the combo is capable of delivering a smooth experience on a high-refresh-rate monitor. The jump from Low to Medium is a 25% reduction in frame rate, while the jump from High to Ultra is a 28% reduction, which is typical for the increased draw distance and shadow quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain highly playable. Low settings average 140.6 FPS, Medium averages 107 FPS, High averages 80.2 FPS, and Ultra averages 60.2 FPS. The 60.2 FPS at Ultra is right at the threshold for smooth gameplay, and the data suggests that this is the sweet spot for the resolution. At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low settings average 75.2 FPS, which is still playable, but Medium drops to 57.9 FPS, High to 46 FPS, and Ultra to 29.4 FPS, which is not playable for a smooth experience. The data clearly shows that 4K gaming with this combo requires turning down settings significantly.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is a powerhouse based on the RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process with 26,800 million transistors. It features 4608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 128 raster operations pipelines, which gives it a pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1825 MHz, a game clock of 2015 MHz, and a boost clock of 2250 MHz. This raw compute power is evidenced by its Passmark G3D score of 24980, which places it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, just 0.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A550M.

The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s, which is crucial for high-resolution textures. In Hitman 2, the GPU's role becomes dominant at 4K. The difference between Low and Medium settings at 4K is 17.3 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is 16.6 FPS. This shows that the GPU is heavily taxed at this resolution. The data also indicates that the GPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p, as the frame rates are far above the refresh rate of most monitors. The FP32 performance of 20.74 TFLOPS ensures that the card can handle the game's complex lighting and particle effects without issue, but the CPU limits the overall throughput.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on your target resolution. For 1920x1080, the Ultra preset at 89.1 FPS is the best choice, as it provides a high level of visual fidelity while still maintaining a frame rate that is well above 60 FPS. The High preset at 124.6 FPS is also excellent, but the jump to Ultra is worth the 35 FPS cost for the added detail. For 2560x1440, the High preset at 80.2 FPS is the best balance, as it offers a smooth experience with high-quality visuals. The Ultra preset at 60.2 FPS is playable, but it sits right at the edge of the smoothness threshold, so High is the safer recommendation.

For 3840x2160, the data suggests that this combo should be used with the Low preset, which averages 75.2 FPS. This is the only preset at 4K that provides a truly smooth experience. The Medium preset at 57.9 FPS is borderline, and High at 46 FPS is not recommended for action-heavy sequences. The Ultra preset at 29.4 FPS is not playable. The data shows that to get the best experience at 4K, you have to sacrifice visual quality significantly, which makes 1440p the sweet spot for this pairing. The i5-10400F and RX 6800 XT combo is a capable 1440p machine first, a solid 1080p machine second, and only a marginal 4K machine when settings are lowered.