Hitman 2

The Core i5-12400 and RTX 3080 Ti combination delivers its most balanced experience at 1440p High, where the 88.7 FPS average represents a strong middle ground between visual fidelity and fluidity. At 1080p, the Ultra preset still produces 100.6 FPS, which is playable, but the step to High at 135.8 FPS is a more comfortable margin above typical refresh-rate targets. The 4K Ultra result of 36.2 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold, making that preset impractical for this pairing. The data indicates that High settings at 1440p is the optimal choice: it provides 88.7 FPS, which is 44.7% faster than the 4K High result while retaining substantially more detail than the Medium preset's 110.7 FPS at the same resolution. For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, 1080p Low achieves 237.8 FPS, but this sacrifices the stealth game's atmospheric lighting and shadow detail. The Medium preset at 1440p, offering 110.7 FPS, serves as a compromise for high-refresh displays, though the visual jump from Medium to High appears justified given the relatively modest performance cost observed in the measured rows.

GPU Role

The RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory over a 384-bit bus provides 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for a 2018 title like Hitman 2. The GPU's 10,240 shading units and 80 RT cores are relevant here, though Hitman 2 predates widespread ray tracing adoption. The card's boost clock of 1665 MHz and base of 1365 MHz define its operating envelope. The benchmark data shows the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions: from 1080p High at 135.8 FPS to 1440p High at 88.7 FPS, a 34.7% drop, and then to 4K High at 45.5 FPS, another 48.7% reduction. This scaling pattern indicates the RTX 3080 Ti's raw compute is being taxed heavily at 4K, where even the Low preset only yields 84.2 FPS. The GPU's percentile ranking at 83 versus all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41,224, places it near the RTX 3090 (41,441, deltaPct -0.5) and just ahead of the RTX 5070 (41,687, deltaPct -1.1). This suggests the 3080 Ti remains a high-tier option, but the 4K Ultra result of 36.2 FPS shows its limits on this specific workload. The 19 Gbps effective memory speed and 28,300 million transistors on an 8 nm Samsung process contribute to its 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, which explains its ability to push 237.8 FPS at 1080p Low without the CPU becoming the limiting factor.

CPU Role

The Core i5-12400 provides 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost up to 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache are modest by modern standards but sufficient for Hitman 2's AI-driven crowd simulations. The CPU's benchmark scores indicate strong single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core result of 2,249 and multi-core of 15,935. The Passmark single-thread score of 3,456 and multi-thread of 18,747 further characterize its capability. The CPU's percentile rank of 77 versus all CPUs, with an average score of 19,850, places it essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-9700 (19,831, deltaPct 0.1) and slightly ahead of the Core i7-8700 (19,894, deltaPct -0.2). This parity with older i7 parts suggests the i5-12400's architecture is efficient, but its 6-core count limits multi-threaded scaling in CPU-bound scenarios. In Hitman 2, the evidence indicates the CPU is not the primary constraint at 1080p: the jump from 1080p Low at 237.8 FPS to 1080p High at 135.8 FPS is a 42.9% reduction, driven by GPU load rather than CPU limits. At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes further, as the 45.5 FPS at High versus 84.2 FPS at Low shows a 46% spread that tracks GPU settings. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5,873 versus max-thread 5,890 shows negligible scaling beyond 16 threads, confirming the 6-core/12-thread configuration saturates its capabilities around that point.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti ranks 453rd out of 1,795 tested combinations in Hitman 2, placing it in the top 25.2% of all combos. This rank is notable because it combines a mid-range CPU (77th percentile) with a high-end GPU (83rd percentile), yet the resulting position suggests the game's optimization favors the GPU more heavily. The ranking implies that while the CPU is adequate, it is not the differentiator; the RTX 3080 Ti's 83rd percentile GPU standing is what carries this combo upward. The deltaPct values for the GPU's nearest rivals show how close the 3080 Ti sits to the RTX 3090 (-0.5%) and RTX 5070 (-1.1%), meaning that swapping to those cards would yield minimal FPS changes. Conversely, the CPU's nearest rivals—the i7-9700 at 0.1% and i7-8700 at -0.2%—indicate that upgrading the processor would have negligible impact on Hitman 2's performance. The data suggests this combo's 453rd rank is respectable but not elite; combos with top-tier CPUs like the Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX (which the i5-12400 trails by -0.4% in average score) might rank higher in CPU-sensitive sections, but Hitman 2's measured FPS shows GPU dominance. The rank of 453 against 1,795 total means this configuration outperforms roughly 1,342 other combos, placing it in the upper quartile of tested systems.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals distinct scaling patterns across all settings. At High settings, FPS drops from 135.8 at 1080p to 88.7 at 1440p (a 34.7% decrease) and then to 45.5 at 4K (a 48.7% decrease from 1440p). This compounding drop indicates the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU's workload remains relatively constant while pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K. The Low settings show a similar but shallower curve: 237.8 FPS at 1080p, 149.8 at 1440p (37.0% drop), and 84.2 at 4K (43.8% drop from 1440p). The percentage drops are more severe at Low settings because the GPU is less burdened by shading work, so the pixel throughput becomes the dominant factor. At Medium, the progression is 176.7 to 110.7 (37.4% drop) to 60.2 (45.6% drop). Ultra settings show the steepest absolute decline: 100.6 at 1080p, 61.3 at 1440p (39.1% drop), and 36.2 at 4K (41.0% drop). The consistent pattern of roughly 35-40% reductions from 1080p to 1440p and then 41-49% from 1440p to 4K confirms that Hitman 2's rendering pipeline scales with resolution in a predictable manner. The 4K results, ranging from 36.2 FPS at Ultra to 84.2 at Low, demonstrate that even the RTX 3080 Ti cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K High (45.5 FPS) without dropping to Medium (60.2 FPS). This resolution scaling analysis points squarely to the GPU as the bottleneck; the CPU's 12 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU even at 1080p Low where 237.8 FPS is achieved, indicating headroom that is only fully utilized at lower resolutions. The measured data shows no signs of CPU limiting at any resolution, as the FPS reductions track GPU settings and pixel counts rather than core utilization thresholds.