Hitman 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Hitman 2 with the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT shows a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound workload at higher pixel counts. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces 102.6 FPS, but stepping up to 1440p drops that to 67 FPS, and 4K falls to 37 FPS. The 1080p-to-4K transition represents a 63.9% reduction in average frame rate, which is substantial and indicates that the rendering pipeline is heavily dependent on the graphics card's fill rate and memory bandwidth at higher resolutions.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling pattern is even more revealing. At 1080p Low, the system hits 180.1 FPS, which drops to 116.8 FPS at 1440p and 62.7 FPS at 4K. The fact that even at Low settings, 4K performance nearly halves relative to 1440p suggests that the RX 6750 XT's 432.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 166.4 GPixel/s pixel rate become limiting factors when pixel count quadruples. The gap between 1080p and 1440p Low is 63.3 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K Low is 54.1 FPS — both are large, but the proportional drop is consistent with a GPU that has finite resources.

The Ultra preset tells a different story. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 75.3 FPS, which is playable but not high refresh. At 1440p Ultra, the frame rate falls to 48.6 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 27.4 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The 1080p-to-4K drop on Ultra is 63.6% — nearly identical to the High preset's 63.9% drop. This consistency across presets reinforces that resolution scaling is governed primarily by the GPU's raw throughput, not by CPU-side bottlenecks or settings-specific effects.

The data indicates that the limiting component at 1080p and 1440p is not the CPU in most cases. With 6 cores and 12 threads boosting to 4.40 GHz, the i5-12400 has enough headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The proof is in the Low preset numbers: 180.1 FPS at 1080p means the CPU can sustain very high frame rates without becoming the bottleneck. However, at 4K, even the Low preset only yields 62.7 FPS, which is a GPU limitation since the same CPU is capable of much higher output.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is the dominant factor in this combo's Hitman 2 performance, particularly at higher resolutions and quality settings. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for a card in this segment. The boost clock of 2600 MHz and game clock of 2495 MHz on the Navi 22 chip provide the computational muscle, with 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs driving the frame output.

The VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor in any of the measured configurations. Even at 4K Ultra, which is the most demanding scenario, the combo produces 27.4 FPS, and the 12 GB frame buffer is sufficient for Hitman 2's texture loads at this resolution. The data shows no evidence of VRAM-related stutters or crashes, as all 12 measured rows produce stable average FPS figures without min or max anomalies.

The GPU's pixel rate of 166.4 GPixel/s is directly relevant to the resolution scaling observed. At 4K, the card must fill roughly 8.3 million pixels per frame, and at 37 FPS on High settings, that translates to approximately 307 million pixels per second — well within the card's theoretical capability. The texture rate of 416.0 GTexel/s handles the game's detailed environments, and the FP32 throughput of 13.31 TFLOPS supports the lighting and shadow calculations that Hitman 2's stealth gameplay relies on.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the RX 6750 XT's average benchmark score of 35327 is 0.2% above the AMD Radeon RX 5600M's 35264, and 1.3% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080's 35787. The RTX 5070 Ti Mobile sits 0.3% higher at 35435, while the AMD Radeon 880M is 0.9% above. These small deltas indicate that the RX 6750 XT is positioned in a tightly contested performance band, and its Hitman 2 results are consistent with that positioning — capable but not class-leading.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 serves as the supporting cast in this pairing, and the benchmark data shows it is not the limiting factor in Hitman 2's measured configurations. With 6 physical cores and 12 threads via Hyper-Threading, the CPU's multithreaded capabilities are solid, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15935 and single-core score of 2249. The 3DMark results further confirm this: 16-thread score of 5873 and single-thread score of 910.

The CPU's clock behavior is crucial for game performance. The base clock of 2.50 GHz is modest, but the boost clock of 4.40 GHz provides the single-threaded speed that Hitman 2's engine benefits from. The PassMark single-thread score of 3456 places it in a competitive position, and its percentile of 77 versus all CPUs indicates it outperforms the majority of processors in general benchmark terms.

The evidence that the CPU is not the bottleneck comes from the scaling behavior across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 180.1 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it achieves 75.3 FPS. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect the frame rates to cluster regardless of GPU load. Instead, the 104.8 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at the same resolution demonstrates that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting. The 4K Low result of 62.7 FPS versus 4K Ultra's 27.4 FPS shows a similar gap, further confirming GPU dominance.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-12400's average benchmark score of 19850 is 0.1% above the Intel Core i7-9700's 19831 and 0.4% above the Intel Core i5-11600K's 19771. It trails the Intel Core i7-8700 by 0.2% (19894) and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX by 0.4% (19928). These negligible differences mean that swapping to any of these CPUs would not materially change Hitman 2's frame rates in this GPU-bound scenario.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the High preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance for this combo. The 67 FPS average is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the visual uplift from Medium to High is generally worth the 18.8 FPS cost (85.8 to 67 FPS at 1440p). For players targeting 60 FPS as a minimum, High at 1440p is the safest choice that maintains image quality.

At 1080p, the High preset delivers 102.6 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 137.3 FPS, and Low produces 180.1 FPS, but the visual degradation at Low is severe. For competitive or fast-paced play, Medium at 1080p provides a 34.7 FPS advantage over High, which could be worthwhile if the user prioritizes frame rate over shadows and textures.

The 4K Ultra preset is not recommended, as the 27.4 FPS average is below playable standards. Even 4K High at 37 FPS is marginal. The data shows that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo: High delivers 67 FPS, Medium delivers 85.8 FPS, and Low delivers 116.8 FPS. The 4K Low preset at 62.7 FPS is technically playable, but the visual compromise is steep compared to 1440p High.

For the best experience per the measured rows, 1440p High is the sweet spot. It offers 67 FPS with no settings compromise, and it leaves headroom for the occasional frame dip without dropping below 60 FPS. If the user has a 1080p panel, High is the recommendation at 102.6 FPS, with Medium as a fallback for higher refresh rates.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Hitman 2 at 4K smoothly?

A: No. The measured data shows 4K High at 37 FPS and 4K Ultra at 27.4 FPS, both below the 60 FPS threshold. Even 4K Low only reaches 62.7 FPS, which is border-line playable but visually compromised.

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU pairing?

A: 1440p is the sweet spot. At High settings, the combo produces 67 FPS, and at Medium it produces 85.8 FPS. The 1080p results are higher but the resolution scaling benefits from the extra pixel density at 1440p.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Hitman 2?

A: The GPU is the limiting component. Evidence comes from the 1080p Low result of 180.1 FPS, which shows the CPU can sustain very high frame rates. As resolution increases to 4K, FPS drops to 27.4-62.7 FPS depending on settings, which is GPU-bound behavior.

Q: How does the RX 6750 XT compare to its nearest rival GPUs?

A: The RX 6750 XT's average benchmark score of 35327 is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 5600M (35264, 0.2% higher) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile (35435, 0.3% lower). It trails the RTX 3080 by 1.3% and the AMD Radeon 880M by 0.9%.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured data shows 75.3 FPS average at 1080p Ultra. This is playable but not ideal for high-refresh monitors. Dropping to High increases the average to 102.6 FPS.

Q: Is the i5-12400's 6-core configuration sufficient for this game?

A: Yes. The 12-thread configuration with a 4.40 GHz boost clock is more than adequate. The CPU's percentile of 77 versus all CPUs and its near-parity with rivals like the i7-9700 (0.1% delta) show it is not a limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 180.1 FPS, which is the peak performance of the entire dataset. Medium drops to 137.3 FPS, High to 102.6 FPS, and Ultra to 75.3 FPS. The gap from Low to Ultra is 104.8 FPS, representing a 58.2% reduction in performance when maxing out quality settings. This wide spread indicates the GPU has significant headroom at 1080p, and the CPU is never the limiting factor.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down proportionally. Low averages 116.8 FPS, which is still very smooth. Medium produces 85.8 FPS, High produces 67 FPS, and Ultra drops to 48.6 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 68.2 FPS, a 58.4% reduction — nearly identical to the 1080p percentage. This consistency suggests the GPU's performance scales linearly with pixel count, with no unexpected bottlenecks emerging at intermediate resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates on higher presets. Low averages 62.7 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS mark. Medium drops to 49 FPS, High to 37 FPS, and Ultra to 27.4 FPS. The gap from Low to Ultra is 35.3 FPS, a 56.3% reduction. The 4K results show that the RX 6750 XT's memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s is the constraining factor, as the pixel throughput required at 4K exceeds what the card can sustain for demanding settings.

The full dataset shows a clear pattern: every resolution has a similar percentage drop from Low to Ultra, but the absolute frame rates at 4K are too low for a good experience on High or Ultra. The 1440p High result of 67 FPS is the best balance, offering 60+ FPS with high visual quality. The 1080p High result of 102.6 FPS is the best high-refresh option.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT combination ranks 870th out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the 48.5th percentile of all systems tested for this game. This mid-pack ranking reflects the GPU's position in the performance hierarchy — it is a capable card, but not a top-tier one, and Hitman 2's engine responds well to higher-end GPUs that can maintain higher frame rates at 4K.

The ranking is consistent with the GPU's percentile of 79 versus all GPUs and the CPU's percentile of 77 versus all CPUs. Both components sit in the upper-middle range of their respective categories, and their combination produces a system that is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming but falls short at 4K with high settings. The combo's rank of 870 out of 1795 suggests that roughly half of tested systems outperform it, which aligns with the RX 6750 XT's position relative to rivals like the RTX 3080 and RTX 5070 Ti Mobile.

The data shows that this combo is not a top performer in Hitman 2, but it is far from the bottom. The 1080p Low result of 180.1 FPS demonstrates that the system can handle esports-level frame rates when settings are lowered, and the 1440p High result of 67 FPS is solid for most gaming scenarios. The rank of 870 indicates that users seeking maximum performance in Hitman 2 would need a stronger GPU, particularly for 4K Ultra, but for mainstream resolutions and settings, this combo delivers a competent experience that justifies its mid-pack positioning.