Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with Intel Core i5-11400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a revealing performance profile in Hitman 2, a 2018 stealth title that scales predictably across resolutions and settings. The measured data shows a combo ranking 840th out of 1,795 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. What makes this pairing particularly interesting is how the CPU's six cores and the GPU's Ampere architecture interact across the three resolutions tested, with the frame rate curves hinting at a system that shifts from GPU-bound at 4K to increasingly CPU-sensitive at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but consistent with the RTX 3070's positioning. At Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 81.1 at 1920x1080 to 55.1 at 2560x1440, then further to 29.7 at 3840x2160 — a 63% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This indicates that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is the clear limiting component, as the pixel throughput demand overwhelms the 8 GB GDDR6 memory and the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically when looking at Low settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 193.2 FPS, which drops to 122.3 at 1440p and 65.4 at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p reduction of 37% suggests the CPU begins to matter more at lower resolutions, because the i5-11400F's 12 threads must feed frames faster than the GPU can render them. At 4K Low, the 65.4 FPS is still respectable, but the gap between Low and Ultra narrows to roughly 2.2x at 4K versus 2.4x at 1080p, implying that resolution scaling is dominated by GPU fill-rate limits rather than CPU logic.

Medium settings tell a similar story: 144.7 FPS at 1080p, 92.6 at 1440p, and 48.9 at 4K. The 1440p-to-4K drop of 47% is the largest relative decline across all settings, reinforcing that 4K is where the RTX 3070's 8 GB frame buffer and 256-bit memory bus start to constrain performance. The data suggests that for smooth 4K play, users would need to dial down to Low, while 1440p offers a balanced midpoint where the GPU still dominates but the CPU's 4.40 GHz boost clock can keep up.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070's role in Hitman 2 is defined by its 8 GB GDDR6 memory, 5888 shading units, and boost clock of 1725 MHz. The measured results show that at 1080p, the GPU rarely becomes the bottleneck at lower settings — the 193.2 FPS at Low is far beyond what most displays can show, indicating that the graphics card is not being fully utilized. However, at Ultra settings across all resolutions, the GPU's compute resources are taxed heavily, with the 20.31 TFLOPS FP32 throughput being pushed to its limits.

The VRAM capacity is a critical factor at 4K Ultra, where the 29.7 FPS average suggests the 8 GB frame buffer may be spilling over or the memory bandwidth is insufficient for the texture loads. Comparing to the nearest rivals in the database, the RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 28,238 sits just 0.9% above the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT and 1% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, yet the Hitman 2 results show the RTX 3070 handling 4K Ultra at nearly 30 FPS — a figure that aligns with its 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility are relevant for Hitman 2, which can leverage modern rendering paths. The passmark DirectX 12 score of 85 versus DirectX 11's 182 suggests that the game's DX12 mode may not be optimally utilized, potentially explaining why the frame rates at High settings (112.3 FPS at 1080p) don't fully reflect the card's raw compute capability. The 8 GB memory is adequate for 1440p High and below, but 4K Ultra pushes into territory where the 14 Gbps effective memory clock and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become limiting factors.

FAQ

Q: Why does the FPS drop so significantly from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: The 1920x1080 Ultra average of 81.1 FPS falls to 29.7 FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra, a 63% reduction. This is because 4K requires four times the pixel throughput, and the RTX 3070's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become the limiting factor, as the GPU's 20.31 TFLOPS compute cannot compensate for the memory bandwidth constraint at that resolution.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-11400F holding back the RTX 3070 at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo hits 193.2 FPS, which is extremely high. The 12-thread CPU with a 4.40 GHz boost clock appears sufficient for most settings, but the drop from 193.2 FPS at Low to 144.7 FPS at Medium (a 25% reduction) suggests that the GPU is still the primary constraint, not the CPU.

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 High delivers 69.3 FPS, which is smooth for most displays. At 4K, only Low (65.4 FPS) and Medium (48.9 FPS) are playable, while Ultra (29.7 FPS) dips below the 30 FPS threshold. 1440p provides the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems in the database?

A: The combo ranks 840th out of 1,795 tested combinations, placing it in the 47th percentile. The CPU's 75th percentile ranking (17,181 average benchmark score) is stronger than the GPU's 72nd percentile (28,238), suggesting the GPU slightly underperforms relative to the CPU in this pairing.

Q: Does the RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM cause issues at 4K?

A: The 4K Ultra result of 29.7 FPS is the only setting that drops below 30 FPS, and the 8 GB memory size likely contributes to this. At 4K Low (65.4 FPS) and Medium (48.9 FPS), the VRAM is sufficient, but Ultra's texture demands exceed what the 8 GB buffer can efficiently manage.

Q: What settings offer the most significant FPS improvement at 1440p?

A: Moving from Ultra (55.1 FPS) to High (69.3 FPS) provides a 26% improvement, while dropping to Medium (92.6 FPS) yields a 68% increase over Ultra. The Low setting (122.3 FPS) more than doubles the Ultra frame rate, indicating that setting changes have a substantial impact at this resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 193.2 FPS on Low, 144.7 FPS on Medium, 112.3 FPS on High, and 81.1 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 58% reduction, which is the smallest relative drop across all resolutions, indicating that 1080p is where the RTX 3070 has the most headroom. The 144.7 FPS Medium result is particularly notable, as it exceeds the 144 Hz refresh rate that many monitors support, making this setting a sweet spot for competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 122.3 FPS (Low), 92.6 FPS (Medium), 69.3 FPS (High), and 55.1 FPS (Ultra). The High setting's 69.3 FPS is above the 60 FPS standard, while Ultra dips below that threshold. The Low-to-Ultra reduction is 55%, slightly less than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the results are 65.4 FPS (Low), 48.9 FPS (Medium), 37.7 FPS (High), and 29.7 FPS (Ultra). This is the only resolution where no setting achieves 60 FPS, and even Low struggles to stay above 65 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra drop is 55%, consistent with 1440p, confirming that 4K is uniformly GPU-bound across all quality presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 840 out of 1,795 tested combinations places it in the 53rd percentile of all systems tested for Hitman 2. This mid-pack positioning is interesting because the individual components rank higher in their respective categories: the i5-11400F sits at the 75th percentile among CPUs, while the RTX 3070 ranks at the 72nd percentile among GPUs. The discrepancy suggests that Hitman 2's engine may not fully utilize the strengths of this pairing, or that other combos with similar hardware achieve better optimization.

Comparing to the CPU's nearest rivals, the i5-11400F's average benchmark score of 17,181 is virtually identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17,189, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i7-1260P (17,212, -0.2% delta). In the GPU category, the RTX 3070's 28,238 average score is 0.9% above the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT but 1% below the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti. These small deltas indicate that the combo's rank is not due to a weak component, but rather the specific demands of Hitman 2's stealth gameplay, which may favor higher single-thread performance or different memory configurations.

The 4K Ultra result of 29.7 FPS is particularly telling when compared to the GPU's 72nd percentile ranking. While the RTX 3070 handles most modern titles well at 4K, Hitman 2's Ultra preset appears to be unusually demanding, possibly due to its crowd simulation and dynamic lighting systems. The combo's rank of 840 suggests that users with comparable hardware should expect similar mid-tier placement in this specific title.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target, the data indicates that 1080p Ultra (81.1 FPS) and 1440p High (69.3 FPS) are the optimal choices. The 1440p High setting offers a 25% improvement over 1440p Ultra (55.1 FPS) while maintaining visual quality above Medium. For users with 144 Hz displays, 1080p Medium (144.7 FPS) is the highest setting that consistently exceeds that refresh rate, while 1440p Low (122.3 FPS) comes close.

At 4K, the only settings that provide a playable experience are Low (65.4 FPS) and Medium (48.9 FPS). The jump from Low to Medium costs 25% of the frame rate but delivers noticeably better visuals, making Medium the recommended choice for 4K users who prioritize image quality over frame rate. High (37.7 FPS) and Ultra (29.7 FPS) should be avoided unless playing on a 30 Hz display or accepting significant motion judder.

The most efficient settings per the measured rows are 1080p Medium (144.7 FPS), which delivers 78% of the Low frame rate with substantially better visuals, and 1440p High (69.3 FPS), which provides 75% of the Low FPS while maintaining a high level of detail. For users with variable refresh rate monitors, 1440p Medium (92.6 FPS) offers a comfortable margin above 60 FPS and below the 100 FPS threshold, making it the most versatile choice across different display capabilities.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F contributes to Hitman 2's performance through its six cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (51.2 GB/s bandwidth) provide adequate data throughput for the game's AI-driven stealth mechanics. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14,372 and single-core score of 2,029 indicate that it handles both multi-threaded workloads and single-threaded game logic competently.

At 1080p Low, the 193.2 FPS result suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck, as the GPU is capable of rendering frames faster than the game logic can process them. However, the 144.7 FPS at Medium and 112.3 FPS at High show that as GPU load increases, the CPU's role becomes more pronounced. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5,619 and max-thread score of 5,652 indicate that the CPU's multi-threading capabilities are well-utilized when the game engine spawns multiple AI agents and simulation threads.

The CPU's 75th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 17,181, places it slightly above the RTX 3070's 72nd percentile GPU ranking. This suggests that the i5-11400F provides a solid foundation for the RTX 3070 without creating a significant imbalance. The 65W TDP and 14 nm process node (Rocket Lake architecture) mean the CPU runs efficiently, but its 4.40 GHz boost clock is the key factor in maintaining high frame rates at 1080p, where the game's single-threaded performance is critical.

The nearest rival CPUs, including the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U and Intel Core i7-1260P, show near-identical average benchmark scores (within 0.2%), indicating that the i5-11400F's performance in Hitman 2 is representative of its class. The 12 threads provide enough parallelism for modern game engines, and the 12 MB L3 cache helps reduce memory latency during intense stealth sequences with multiple NPCs. For users upgrading from older quad-core CPUs, the i5-11400F's six cores and 12 threads deliver a meaningful performance uplift in Hitman 2, particularly at 1440p where the data shows a 24% improvement from Ultra to High settings (55.1 to 69.3 FPS).