Hitman 2

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-12400 compare to its nearest rivals in general CPU benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19,850, placing it almost exactly level with the Intel Core i7-9700 (19,831, +0.1%) and the Intel Core i7-8700 (19,894, -0.2%). It sits just 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K, showing this chip is right in the middle of a tightly grouped pack.

Q: What is the RTX 4090's standing among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4090 ranks in the 91st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66,473. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733, -0.4% delta) and the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (66,127, +0.5%), meaning the 4090 is essentially tied with these professional compute cards in aggregate benchmarks.

Q: How does this combo rank in Hitman 2 specifically?

A: This specific CPU+GPU combination ranks 53rd out of 1,795 tested combos in Hitman 2. That puts it in the top 3% of all tested configurations for this game, indicating excellent performance despite the game's age relative to the hardware.

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 307.7 FPS average. At Medium settings it drops to 248.4 FPS, at High settings 194.1 FPS, and at Ultra settings 139.8 FPS.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the combo delivers 46.4 FPS average, while at 1920x1080 Ultra it achieves 139.8 FPS. That is a 67% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings.

Q: Does the i5-12400 hold back the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is a limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 307.7 FPS, which is remarkably high, but the scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is only a 30% drop (to 215.7 FPS), suggesting the GPU is not the sole bottleneck at these high frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S generation, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The chip scores 5,873 in 3DMark's 16-thread test and 910 in the single-thread test, demonstrating strong multi-threaded scaling. In Cinebench R23, it achieves 15,935 multi-core and 2,249 single-core.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining frame rates across settings at the same resolution. At 1080p, going from Low to Ultra settings drops average FPS from 307.7 to 139.8, a 55% reduction. This is a much larger drop than what would be expected if the GPU were the only variable changing. The CPU has headroom to push over 300 FPS at Low settings, but as the GPU workload increases with higher settings, the frame rate falls, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

The i5-12400's 12 threads are well-utilized by Hitman 2's engine, which can spread work across cores. The 18 MB L3 cache helps keep frequently accessed game data close to the cores. The chip's 65W TDP and 10nm Intel process node allow it to sustain boost clocks without significant thermal throttling, which is crucial for maintaining consistent frame times in a stealth game where sudden action can spike CPU demand.

The CPU's position in the 77th percentile among all CPUs means it sits comfortably above average, and its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks – the i7-9700 and i7-8700 – are all within 0.4% of its score. This tight grouping suggests that in CPU-bound scenarios, swapping between these chips would yield nearly identical performance. However, the i5-12400's modern Alder Lake architecture with DDR4/DDR5 memory support gives it platform advantages beyond raw compute.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a monster of a GPU: 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 128 RT cores, and 512 tensor cores. It operates at a base clock of 2235 MHz and boosts to 2520 MHz, with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's FP32 performance is 82.58 TFLOPS, and it ranks in the 91st percentile among all GPUs.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's raw power is most visible at 4K resolution. At 3840x2160, the RTX 4090 delivers 115.2 FPS at Low settings, 84.3 FPS at Medium, 64.4 FPS at High, and 46.4 FPS at Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 60% performance hit, which is substantial but expected given the game's draw distance and shadow quality options at Ultra.

The GPU's 24 GB VRAM is far beyond what Hitman 2 requires, even at 4K Ultra, so memory capacity is not a constraint. The memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, however, is critical for the game's large open-world environments, which stream textures and geometry as the player moves through the level. The 4090's texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s ensures that texture filtering at Ultra settings does not become a bottleneck.

The RTX 4090's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks – Tesla T4, Tesla P40, Radeon Pro Vega 56, and Quadro P6000 – are all within 1.3% of its score, but those are professional cards optimized for compute, not gaming. In actual gaming workloads like Hitman 2, the 4090's Ada Lovelace architecture with dedicated RT and tensor cores gives it advantages that aggregate benchmarks may not fully capture.

How This Combo Ranks

This combo ranks 53rd out of 1,795 tested configurations in Hitman 2, placing it in the top 2.95% of all combos. This is an impressive result for a mid-range CPU paired with an enthusiast GPU. The rank suggests that while the i5-12400 is not the absolute fastest CPU available, it is more than capable of feeding the RTX 4090 enough data to achieve high frame rates in this game.

The ranking data indicates that 1,742 other combos perform worse than this setup, while only 52 perform better. Those 52 combos likely feature higher-end CPUs with more cores or faster single-thread performance, such as the 12th-gen Core i7 or i9 parts, or AMD Ryzen 7000-series chips. However, the delta between this combo and those above it is likely small, given that the i5-12400's nearest rivals are all within 0.4% of its benchmark score.

The fact that a 6-core CPU from 2022 can rank this highly in a game from 2018 speaks to both the game's optimization and the CPU's strong single-thread performance. Hitman 2's engine is not heavily multi-threaded, so the i5-12400's single-core score of 910 in 3DMark and 2,249 in Cinebench R23 are more relevant than its multi-threaded scores.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers:

• Low: 307.7 FPS average
• Medium: 248.4 FPS average
• High: 194.1 FPS average
• Ultra: 139.8 FPS average

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 215.7 FPS average
• Medium: 160.9 FPS average
• High: 121.8 FPS average
• Ultra: 92.1 FPS average

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 115.2 FPS average
• Medium: 84.3 FPS average
• High: 64.4 FPS average
• Ultra: 46.4 FPS average

The 1080p numbers show a clear hierarchy: Low settings enable over 300 FPS, which is far beyond what most displays can show. Medium and High settings still provide excellent frame rates above 190 FPS. Ultra at 1080p drops to 139.8 FPS, still smooth for most gamers but showing the performance cost of maxed-out settings.

At 1440p, the frame rates remain very playable. Even Ultra settings hit 92.1 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for most monitors and in the range where high-refresh displays (120Hz+) would show benefits. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 57%, slightly less than the 55% drop at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor.

At 4K, the picture changes dramatically. Low settings give 115.2 FPS, which is still excellent, but Ultra settings drop to 46.4 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for many players. This is the only resolution/settings combination where the combo fails to maintain 60 FPS, indicating that 4K Ultra is pushing the RTX 4090 to its limits in this game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the best experience depends on the target frame rate and resolution. For 1080p displays, High settings at 194.1 FPS offers an excellent balance between visual quality and performance. The jump from High to Ultra costs 54.3 FPS (from 194.1 to 139.8), which is a 28% reduction for what is typically a modest visual improvement in this game's Ultra preset.

For 1440p, Medium settings at 160.9 FPS provides a very smooth experience, while High at 121.8 FPS is still above the 120Hz threshold that many modern monitors support. Ultra at 1440p drops to 92.1 FPS, which is still playable but sacrifices the high-refresh experience that the GPU is capable of delivering at lower settings.

For 4K, the recommendation is to avoid Ultra settings entirely. High at 64.4 FPS is just above the 60 FPS target, but Medium at 84.3 FPS offers a more comfortable margin and is likely to produce more consistent frame times. Low at 115.2 FPS is the only 4K option that truly takes advantage of the RTX 4090's power, but the visual sacrifices may not be worth the frame rate gains for most players.

The data implies that the "best" setting is one that prioritizes frame rate stability over absolute visual fidelity. Since Hitman 2 is a stealth game where precise timing and smooth camera movement matter, maintaining a high average FPS is more important than maxing out every graphical option.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about the system's bottlenecks. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 307.7 FPS at 1080p to 115.2 FPS at 4K, a 63% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 139.8 FPS to 46.4 FPS, a 67% reduction. These similar percentages suggest that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at both settings extremes.

However, the absolute frame rates tell a different story. At 1080p Low, the CPU is likely the bottleneck, as 307.7 FPS exceeds what the i5-12400 can feed to the GPU in many game scenes. The CPU's single-thread performance, while strong, has limits, and the game's main thread can become saturated at these extreme frame rates.

At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting component. The RTX 4090's 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth and 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 power are being fully utilized, especially at Ultra settings where the game's heavy draw distances and shadow calculations scale with resolution.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings shows a 47% drop (from 121.8 to 64.4 FPS), which is roughly proportional to the pixel count increase (1440p has 3.7 million pixels, 4K has 8.3 million, a 2.25x increase). This near-linear scaling suggests the GPU is working at full capacity in both scenarios, with no unexpected bottlenecks.

The data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can deliver extremely high frame rates. At 4K, it is still capable of solid performance, but users must be willing to compromise on settings to maintain smooth gameplay. The i5-12400's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for this game, and the RTX 4090's massive compute power is the main driver of the high frame rates seen at lower resolutions.