Hitman 2

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT produces a solid Hitman 2 experience, but the data reveals a clear performance ceiling. The RX 9070 XT is a high-end GPU, yet at 4K Ultra this combo drops to 35.3 FPS, which is not playable. The measured results show that the "High" preset is the sweet spot for this pairing, balancing visual fidelity with playable frame rates across all resolutions. At 1440p High, the combo delivers 87.2 FPS, while 1080p High hits 133.8 FPS, both well within smooth gaming territory. The Ultra preset is punishing, costing roughly half the frame rate of High at every resolution, making it a poor choice for actual gameplay with this hardware.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the High preset is the recommended starting point for this CPU-GPU combo. At 1080p, High delivers 133.8 FPS, which is over 34% faster than Ultra's 99.7 FPS. The gap widens at higher resolutions: at 1440p, High produces 87.2 FPS compared to Ultra's 62.9 FPS, a 38.6% advantage. At 4K, High holds at 49.1 FPS, which is borderline playable, while Ultra falls to 35.3 FPS, which is not. The Medium preset offers a middle ground, but the gains over High are modest—only 33.6% faster at 1080p (178.8 vs 133.8) and 28.1% at 1440p (111.7 vs 87.2). Since Hitman 2 benefits from higher texture quality and the RX 9070 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, High is the best balance.

The Low preset is unnecessary for this hardware. It does push frame rates to 233.1 FPS at 1080p and 153.5 FPS at 1440p, but the visual downgrade is not worth the performance headroom. The data shows that High already exceeds 60 FPS at 1440p and approaches 50 FPS at 4K, so dropping to Low only makes sense if chasing extremely high refresh rates at 1080p on a 240Hz monitor. For most users, High is the optimal preset—it leverages the GPU's 48.66 TFLOPS FP32 compute power without hitting the CPU bottleneck that appears at lower settings.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific configuration ranks 448th out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the top 25% of all system pairings. The rank reflects the combined performance of the Core i5-12400 and the RX 9070 XT, not just the GPU's raw capability. The GPU itself sits at the 82nd percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 39647, while the CPU is at the 77th percentile with an average score of 19850. In Hitman 2 specifically, the combo's rank suggests the game is more GPU-bound than CPU-bound, as the RX 9070 XT's high compute power is partially held back by the six-core processor.

The CPU's nearest rivals show it is competitively positioned. The Core i7-9700 scores 19831, just 0.1% lower than the i5-12400's 19850. The Core i7-8700 sits 0.2% higher at 19894, while the Core i5-11600K is 0.4% lower at 19771. This means the i5-12400 is essentially on par with older eight-core and six-core chips from Intel, despite having fewer cores than the i7-9700. The GPU's nearest rivals are less relevant here—the AMD Radeon Pro 575 scores 39703 (0.1% higher), the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile scores 39568 (0.2% lower), and the RX Vega 64 scores 39879 (0.6% higher). These are not direct competitors in gaming, but the deltaPct values confirm the RX 9070 XT is a substantial leap over older AMD flagship cards.

FAQ

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

A: At 4K High, the combo averages 49.1 FPS, which is playable but not smooth by modern standards. Dropping to Medium yields 62.3 FPS, while Ultra drops to 35.3 FPS. For consistent 60 FPS at 4K, the Low preset (81.1 FPS) is required, but that sacrifices visual quality significantly.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using with this hardware?

A: No. Ultra costs a 47.4% performance penalty over High at 1080p (99.7 vs 133.8 FPS) and a 46.3% penalty at 1440p (62.9 vs 87.2 FPS). The visual gain in Hitman 2 does not justify halving your frame rate, especially since High already looks excellent.

Q: How does the i5-12400 compare to other CPUs in this class?

A: The i5-12400 scores 19850 on average, which is 0.1% higher than the Core i7-9700 (19831) and 0.2% lower than the Core i7-8700 (19894). It outperforms the Core i5-11600K by 0.4% (19771). This places it squarely in the mid-range tier—competitive but not a standout.

Q: Does the RX 9070 XT bottleneck the CPU at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the opposite. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 233.1 FPS, which is likely CPU-limited given the i5-12400's 6 cores and 12 threads. The CPU's 3dmark single-thread score of 910 and passmark single-thread score of 3456 indicate strong per-core performance, but the game engine may not scale perfectly across all threads.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 1440p High offers the best balance, delivering 87.2 FPS with strong visual fidelity. At 1080p, the combo exceeds 130 FPS on High, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. 4K is only viable on Medium (62.3 FPS) or Low (81.1 FPS).

Q: How does this combo rank against all tested systems?

A: It ranks 448th out of 1795 combos, which puts it in the top 25%. This is a strong result, considering the CPU is a mid-range six-core part and the GPU is a high-end RDNA 4.0 card. The rank reflects a balanced pairing that avoids severe bottlenecks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions (1080p, 1440p, 4K) and four quality presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra), providing a complete picture of performance scaling. At 1080p, the combo ranges from 233.1 FPS on Low to 99.7 FPS on Ultra. Medium hits 178.8 FPS, and High lands at 133.8 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 23.3% performance, while Medium to High costs 25.2%, and High to Ultra costs 25.5%. This linear degradation suggests the GPU is the primary limiter even at 1080p, as the CPU can feed enough frames to exceed 200 FPS on Low.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts. Low produces 153.5 FPS, Medium 111.7 FPS, High 87.2 FPS, and Ultra 62.9 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 27.2%, Medium to High is 21.9%, and High to Ultra is 27.8%. The 1440p High result of 87.2 FPS is 34.8% lower than the 1080p High result, indicating that resolution scaling is becoming a factor. The RX 9070 XT's 644.6 GB/s memory bandwidth handles the increased pixel load well, but the GPU's compute units are being pushed harder.

At 4K, the results show a steep decline. Low averages 81.1 FPS, Medium 62.3 FPS, High 49.1 FPS, and Ultra 35.3 FPS. The gap between Low and High is 39.5%, while High to Ultra is 28.1%. The 4K Ultra result of 35.3 FPS is effectively unplayable, and even 4K High at 49.1 FPS is marginal. The 4K Low result of 81.1 FPS is the only fully playable option at this resolution, but it sacrifices most of the graphical enhancements that make Hitman 2's environments shine.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear resolution scaling trend: from 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by approximately 35-40% across all settings. For example, High goes from 133.8 FPS at 1080p to 87.2 FPS at 1440p, a 34.8% reduction. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is even steeper: High goes from 87.2 FPS to 49.1 FPS, a 43.7% reduction. This indicates that the RX 9070 XT is the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the GPU's 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs are tasked with rendering more pixels.

The scaling is not perfectly linear, which reveals something about the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 233.1 FPS, but at 1440p Low it drops to 153.5 FPS (34.1% lower), and at 4K Low it falls to 81.1 FPS (47.2% lower than 1440p). This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is partially limiting the frame rate—the i5-12400's 12 threads can only generate so many draw calls. Once the resolution increases, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the frame rate drops proportionally to the pixel count increase. The 4K High result of 49.1 FPS is roughly one-third of the 1080p High result (133.8 FPS), which is close to the expected 4x pixel count penalty.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide solid gaming performance. The 3dmark benchmarks show a single-thread score of 910 and a max-thread score of 5890, indicating strong per-core performance that scales well with additional threads. In Hitman 2, this CPU is sufficient to avoid being the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, but at 1080p Low settings, the frame rate of 233.1 FPS suggests the CPU is reaching its limit.

The CPU's synthetic benchmarks—Cinebench R23 multicore at 15935 and single-core at 2249—place it in the mid-range tier. Its nearest rivals, the Core i7-9700 (19831) and Core i7-8700 (19894), score within 0.2% of the i5-12400, confirming that this six-core part trades blows with older eight-core chips. In Hitman 2, which is not heavily multithreaded, the i5-12400's high boost clock helps maintain consistent frame pacing. The CPU's 65W TDP and 10nm process node mean it runs cool, but its lack of multiplier unlocking prevents overclocking, so the stock 4.40 GHz boost is the ceiling.

The data indicates that the i5-12400 is a capable partner for the RX 9070 XT in this game, but not a perfect match. At 4K Ultra, the combo drops to 35.3 FPS, which is overwhelmingly GPU-bound. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 233.1 FPS, which is likely CPU-bound given the GPU's headroom. For this pairing, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU enough frames at lower resolutions, and it does so effectively up to around 200 FPS. Beyond that, the 12 threads become the limiting factor, but this is rarely a practical concern since most monitors cap at 240Hz or lower.