Hitman 2

The Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination presents a compelling snapshot of a mid-range 2021-era pairing in Hitman 2, a 2018 stealth title. The measured data reveals a system that is highly capable at 1080p, increasingly strained at 1440p, and largely out of its depth at 4K. This analysis breaks down the specific FPS figures, component roles, and settings trade-offs, while contextualizing the combo’s standing among 1,795 tested configurations.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo consistently achieves playable frame rates across all settings, ranging from 53.9 FPS at Ultra to 132.4 FPS at Low. At 2560x1440, only the Low and Medium presets (86.7 and 65.1 FPS) clear the 60 FPS threshold, while 3840x2160 fails to reach 60 FPS on any preset.

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

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17,181, placing it at the 75th percentile of all CPUs. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, scores 17,189, a negligible delta of 0%. The Intel Core i7-1260P and Core Ultra 7 164U are both 0.2% behind, while the Core i5-1240U is 0.2% ahead.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile and how does it stack against similar cards?

A: The RTX 2060 sits at the 58th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 16,074. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600S, scores 15,996, meaning the RTX 2060 is 0.5% faster. Conversely, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Pro 5700 are both 1.7% faster, while the Radeon Pro W5500 is 1.8% slower.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from Low to Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the average FPS drops from 132.4 on Low to 100.1 on Medium, then to 76.8 on High, and finally to 53.9 on Ultra. This represents a 59.3% reduction in average frame rate from the lowest to the highest preset.

Q: Does the combo rank highly among all tested combinations?

A: No, the combo ranks 1,421st out of 1,795 total combinations, putting it in the lower half of tested systems. This low rank reflects the age of both components, though the data shows they still deliver solid 1080p performance in this specific title.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth of the GPU and how does it affect 4K performance?

A: The RTX 2060 has a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. At 3840x2160, the average FPS collapses to just 17.8 on Ultra and 28.3 on High, suggesting the 192-bit bus and 6 GB GDDR6 frame buffer are insufficient for the pixel throughput demanded at this resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. Its 1,920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines are paired with 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, though Hitman 2 does not leverage ray tracing. The GPU’s base clock is 1,365 MHz with a boost of 1,680 MHz, while the 6 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 1,750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 192-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

In this game’s measured results, the GPU is the dominant bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 17.8 is barely interactive, while dropping to Low at 4K nearly triples the frame rate to 45.9. The pattern is consistent: at 1440p, the GPU can handle Low (86.7 FPS) and Medium (65.1 FPS) but falls to 37.1 FPS on Ultra. At 1080p, the RTX 2060 finally has enough headroom to push Ultra to 53.9 FPS, but the 132.4 FPS Low result indicates the card is never fully saturated at this resolution, leaving room for the CPU to matter.

The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 14,111 and its 58th percentile ranking suggest it is an average performer by modern standards. Compared to its nearest rival, the RX 7600S, the RTX 2060 is marginally faster by 0.5%, but the AMD Pro 5700 is 1.7% quicker. In practical terms, these margins are negligible, and the measured FPS data shows that settings and resolution have a far larger impact on performance than any synthetic score difference.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake-S family, built on Intel’s 14 nm process. It operates at a 2.60 GHz base clock and boosts up to 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU has 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is dual-channel DDR4 with a theoretical bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, accessed via 20 PCIe Gen 4 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-11400F scores 14,372 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,029 in single-core, placing it at the 75th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are all mobile or low-power parts, with the Ryzen 7 5700U matching its average score exactly. The CPU’s PassMark multithread score of 16,908 and single-thread score of 2,981 indicate strong per-core performance, which is relevant for Hitman 2’s physics and AI calculations.

The measured FPS data suggests the CPU is rarely the limiting factor, even at 1080p Low where the GPU is idle. The jump from 100.1 FPS at Medium to 132.4 FPS at Low is significant, but the 6-core/12-thread configuration is sufficient to feed the RTX 2060 at these rates. At 1440p and above, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as evidenced by the steep FPS declines across all settings. The CPU’s 4.40 GHz boost clock and 12 MB L3 cache are adequate for this 2018 title, which does not demand the multi-threaded muscle of more modern games.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy of playable settings for each resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 76.8 FPS, which is the optimal balance of visual quality and smoothness, comfortably exceeding the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at 100.1 FPS is also viable for players prioritizing higher refresh rates, while the Ultra preset at 53.9 FPS dips below 60 and may introduce noticeable stutter on standard 60 Hz displays.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 65.1 FPS is the only setting that maintains a 60+ FPS average without dropping to the visually sparse Low preset. High at 50.7 FPS is playable but not ideal, while Ultra at 37.1 FPS is too demanding for a smooth experience. For 4K, the data shows no recommended preset: the best result is Low at 45.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and requires significant visual compromises. Players with 4K displays should consider lowering resolution or accepting sub-30 FPS on High.

The recommendation is to use the High preset at 1080p for the best experience, or Medium at 1440p if the display resolution is higher. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p and even then falls short of 60 FPS, making it a poor trade-off for the marginal visual gains over High.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1,421 out of 1,795 tested combinations places it in the 21st percentile, meaning roughly 79% of tested systems perform better in this specific game. This low rank is expected given the age of both components, but the measured FPS data reveals that the combo is still capable of delivering a smooth 1080p experience. The GPU’s 58th percentile and CPU’s 75th percentile rankings suggest the bottleneck is primarily the GPU, which is the older component (2019 release vs. 2021 for the CPU).

The rank likely suffers from the combination’s inability to handle higher resolutions, as the 4K results are particularly poor. In contrast, the CPU’s strong single-thread performance (2,981 PassMark single-thread score) helps maintain decent frame rates at 1080p, where the GPU is not fully saturated. The delta of 0% to its nearest CPU rival indicates the i5-11400F is not a weak link; rather, the RTX 2060’s 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit bus are the limiting factors for this pairing in Hitman 2.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a smooth progression across settings: Low runs at 132.4 FPS, Medium at 100.1 FPS, High at 76.8 FPS, and Ultra at 53.9 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 32.3 FPS, from Medium to High is 23.3 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 22.9 FPS, indicating that each preset tier has a similar performance cost.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 86.7 FPS on Low, 65.1 FPS on Medium, 50.7 FPS on High, and 37.1 FPS on Ultra. The relative drops are consistent, but the absolute values are lower by roughly 35–40% compared to 1080p. At 3840x2160, the results are 45.9 FPS on Low, 34.6 FPS on Medium, 28.3 FPS on High, and 17.8 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is higher than the 1080p Ultra result, highlighting the massive cost of resolution scaling.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p and from 1440p to 4K is not linear, revealing the GPU’s memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate limits. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 76.8 at 1080p to 50.7 at 1440p (a 34% reduction) and then to 28.3 at 4K (a 44% reduction from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p High to 4K High is 63.2%, meaning the GPU loses nearly two-thirds of its performance when moving from the lowest to the highest tested resolution.

This scaling pattern suggests the RTX 2060’s 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is also a factor, as 4K textures may exceed the frame buffer, causing spills into system memory. The CPU’s role in this scaling is minimal, as the i5-11400F is capable of feeding the GPU at all resolutions; the bottleneck is purely the GPU’s rendering throughput. The data implies that players with 1440p or 4K displays should stick to Low or Medium settings to maintain playable frame rates, as the cost of Ultra is prohibitive at these resolutions.