Hitman 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Hitman 2 across the three tested resolutions reveal a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling at higher settings, but with notable deviations at lower presets that indicate the CPU's influence. Starting at 1920x1080, the system produces an average of 306 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 274 FPS on Medium, 207 FPS on High, and 153 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, the corresponding numbers are 234 FPS (Low), 175 FPS (Medium), 132 FPS (High), and 98 FPS (Ultra). At 3840x2160, the averages fall further to 124 FPS (Low), 93 FPS (Medium), 71 FPS (High), and 52 FPS (Ultra).

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings shows a reduction from 306 to 234 FPS, a drop of approximately 23.5%. At High settings, the same resolution step reduces performance from 207 to 132 FPS, a decline of about 36.2%. The transition from 1440p to 4K at Low settings brings the frame rate from 234 down to 124 FPS, a 47% reduction, while at High settings the drop is from 132 to 71 FPS, a 46.2% decrease. These figures indicate that at higher settings, the scaling is nearly proportional to pixel count, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario. At Low settings, however, the scaling is less severe per pixel, suggesting that the CPU begins to cap the maximum achievable frame rate at lower resolutions.

The Ultra preset data reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 153 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it drops to 98 FPS; and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 52 FPS. The step from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra represents a 35.9% reduction, while the step from 1440p to 4K at Ultra represents a 46.9% reduction. The 4K Ultra figure of 52 FPS is particularly telling, as it suggests that even this combination of a 6-core processor and a flagship GPU cannot maintain a smooth 60 FPS experience at maximum settings in this title. The data shows that the limiting component shifts with the preset: at Low and Medium, the CPU's single-threaded performance appears to constrain results, while at High and Ultra, the GPU's rendering workload dominates.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combination achieves in Hitman 2?

A: The highest recorded average is 306 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only measured configuration that exceeds 300 FPS.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K in Hitman 2?

A: At 4K with High settings, the average is 71 FPS, which is above 60. With Medium settings at 4K, the average rises to 93 FPS. However, at 4K Ultra, the average drops to 52 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Medium preset compare between 1080p and 1440p?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 274 FPS with a minimum of 233 and maximum of 315. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average is 175 FPS with a minimum of 149 and maximum of 201. The resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p results in a 36.1% reduction in average frame rate at this preset.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for any configuration?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 79 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. This is the only measured row with a minimum below 100 FPS.

Q: Is the difference between High and Ultra settings larger at lower resolutions?

A: At 1080p, the difference between High (207 FPS) and Ultra (153 FPS) is 54 FPS. At 1440p, the difference is 34 FPS (132 vs 98). At 4K, the difference is 19 FPS (71 vs 52). The absolute gap narrows as resolution increases, but the percentage difference remains relatively consistent.

Q: Which preset at 1440p provides the closest frame rate to the 1080p High setting?

A: At 1440p, the Medium preset averages 175 FPS, which is between the 1080p High (207 FPS) and 1080p Medium (274 FPS). The 1440p High preset at 132 FPS is closer to the 4K Medium figure of 93 FPS than to any 1080p measurement.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node and a die size of 750 mm². It contains 92,200 million transistors on a chip designated GB202. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz effective 28 Gbps. The memory subsystem comprises 32 GB of GDDR7 across a 512-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings increase. The measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 306 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum output for this title. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 52 FPS, a reduction of 83% from the 1080p Low figure. This scaling behavior is consistent with a GPU that is heavily loaded at higher resolutions, particularly with the 32 GB memory buffer being capable of holding all necessary assets without paging.

The RTX 5090 D's shading units (21,760) and texture mapping units (680) provide substantial compute throughput, as reflected in the FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are directly relevant to fill-rate-bound scenarios at 4K. The benchmark results for this GPU show a PassMark G3D score of 44,065 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376,915, which place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT with a score of 78,940 and a delta of -1.6%, and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB with a score of 79,605 and a delta of -2.4%. These comparisons indicate that the RTX 5090 D sits in a performance tier where small percentage differences separate it from the next closest GPUs.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D achieves a rank of 37 out of 3,001 tested combinations in Hitman 2. This places it in the top 1.2% of all tested systems, which is a strong result given that the CPU is a 6-core part from the Alder Lake generation. The ranking reflects the game's sensitivity to single-threaded performance and the GPU's ability to push high frame rates when not constrained by the processor.

The CPU's own percentile ranking is 72 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18,683. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643 with a score of 18,697 and a delta of -0.1%, the Intel Core i7-1355U with 18,730 and a delta of -0.3%, and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 with 18,811 and a delta of -0.7%. The Intel Core i3-14100F is the closest competitor from the same family, with a score of 18,519 and a delta of +0.9%. These narrow deltas suggest that the i5-12400 is well-positioned within its performance class, and the combo rank of 37 indicates that the GPU does not significantly drag down the overall result in this game.

The rank of 37 out of 3,001 means that only 36 other combinations produce higher average frame rates in Hitman 2. Given that the RTX 5090 D is a top-tier GPU, the limiting factor for this combo's rank is likely the CPU's 6-core, 12-thread configuration. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (306 FPS) is the highest of any resolution/settings combination, which suggests that the CPU can drive very high frame rates, but the game's engine may not scale perfectly with additional cores beyond this point.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process node. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel interface, and it connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes from the CPU.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 306 FPS, while at 1440p Low it reaches 234 FPS, and at 4K Low it manages 124 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low is a 23.5% reduction, which is less than the pixel count increase of 77% (from 2.07 million to 3.69 million pixels). This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is limiting the frame rate at 1080p, and the GPU has headroom to maintain performance as resolution increases until it becomes the limiting factor.

The i5-12400's single-threaded performance is reflected in its benchmark scores: 3DMark single-thread score of 910, Cinebench R23 single-core of 2,257, and Geekbench single-core of 1,848. The multi-threaded scores are 5,890 (3DMark max threads), 15,989 (Cinebench R23 multicore), and 8,564 (Geekbench multicore). Hitman 2, being a 2018 title, likely does not utilize more than 6 cores effectively, so the single-threaded performance is more critical. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz provides adequate single-core throughput, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p.

The CPU's nearest rivals show that it is competitive with much higher-end parts in synthetic benchmarks. The AMD EPYC 7643, which is a server processor with many more cores, scores only 0.1% higher on average. This indicates that the i5-12400's per-core efficiency is strong, which benefits games like Hitman 2 that depend on single-threaded performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers the following average frame rates across presets: Low produces 306 FPS, Medium produces 274 FPS with a minimum of 233 and maximum of 315, High produces 207 FPS, and Ultra produces 153 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p has the widest recorded range, with a 82 FPS spread between minimum and maximum. The transition from Medium to High at this resolution represents a 24.5% reduction, while the transition from High to Ultra represents a 26.1% reduction.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 234 FPS on Low, 175 FPS on Medium with a minimum of 149 and maximum of 201, 132 FPS on High, and 98 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a minimum-to-maximum spread of 52 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p at Medium is 36.1%, which is more pronounced than the 23.5% reduction at Low, indicating that the GPU load increases disproportionately with resolution at higher settings.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 124 FPS on Low, 93 FPS on Medium with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 107, 71 FPS on High, and 52 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K has the tightest range of all measured Medium presets, with a 28 FPS spread. The reduction from 1440p to 4K at High is 46.2%, and at Ultra it is 46.9%. The 4K Ultra figure of 52 FPS is the lowest average in the entire dataset, and the 4K High figure of 71 FPS is the second lowest.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each resolution step reduces frame rates by approximately 30-50% depending on the preset, with larger percentage drops at higher settings. The only preset where the reduction from 1080p to 1440p is smaller than the reduction from 1440p to 4K is Low (23.5% vs 47%), while at Medium, High, and Ultra, the two steps are more comparable in percentage terms.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal preset depends on the target resolution and desired smoothness. At 1920x1080, all presets deliver averages above 150 FPS, with even Ultra maintaining 153 FPS. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays, the Low preset at 306 FPS provides the maximum headroom, but the Medium preset at 274 FPS with a minimum of 233 FPS is likely the best balance, as it offers significantly higher visual quality while still exceeding 200 FPS on average.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 132 FPS is a solid choice for most users, as it provides a substantial visual improvement over Medium (175 FPS) while remaining well above 100 FPS. The Ultra preset at 98 FPS is acceptable for 60 Hz displays but may not be ideal for 144 Hz monitors. The Medium preset at 175 FPS with a minimum of 149 FPS is the recommended choice for those prioritizing smoothness, as it never drops below 149 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The High preset at 71 FPS is the best option for maintaining a fluid experience, as it exceeds 60 FPS on average. The Medium preset at 93 FPS provides additional headroom and is recommended for users with 60 Hz displays who want to ensure consistent performance, given its minimum of 79 FPS. The Ultra preset at 52 FPS is not recommended for 4K gaming, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold and may result in noticeable stutter in fast-paced scenes.

For users with variable refresh rate monitors, the Medium preset at 1440p (175 FPS average) or 4K (93 FPS average) offers the best combination of visual fidelity and frame time consistency, as evidenced by the recorded minimum and maximum values. The data indicates that the High preset at 4K (71 FPS) is the highest quality setting that maintains a playable frame rate at that resolution, while Low presets at any resolution are best reserved for maximum frame rate scenarios where visual quality is secondary.