Hitman 2

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 presents a classic mid-range pairing in Hitman 2, where the GPU's age becomes the primary bottleneck. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings indicate that this combination is best suited for 1080p gaming, with performance dropping sharply as resolution increases. This analysis breaks down the optimal settings, ranking, and scaling characteristics based on the measured data.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience at 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 75.2 FPS, making it the only configuration in the dataset that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This is the recommended choice for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, as the jump from Medium’s 56.2 FPS to Low’s 75.2 FPS represents a 33.8% improvement in average frame rate, which is substantial for a stealth title where quick camera movements benefit from higher fluidity.

The Medium preset at 56.2 FPS offers a balanced compromise for 1080p if visual fidelity is a priority, though it falls slightly short of the ideal 60 FPS mark. The High preset at 43.8 FPS is playable but noticeably less smooth, and the Ultra preset at 34.6 FPS should generally be avoided at this resolution, as the visual gains do not justify the significant performance cost compared to the other presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, the data shows that no preset provides a fully fluid experience. The Low preset achieves 49.8 FPS, which is the only option above 45 FPS, making it the only viable choice for 1440p gaming if the user insists on this resolution. The Medium preset drops to 35 FPS, and High falls to 29.1 FPS, both of which are below the playable threshold for most action-oriented gameplay. The Ultra preset at 22.9 FPS is not recommended under any circumstances.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor, with even the Low preset only managing 26.4 FPS. The Medium preset at 20.5 FPS, High at 15 FPS, and Ultra at 12.6 FPS all indicate that this combination is not suited for 4K gaming in Hitman 2. For the best experience, users should stay at 1080p with Low or Medium settings, depending on their tolerance for visual trade-offs versus frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 580 combination ranks 1665 out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the 7th percentile of all configurations. This low ranking reflects the GPU’s age, as the RX 580’s average benchmark score of 13559 places it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rivals being the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (score 13564, delta 0%) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (score 13549, delta 0.1%). The data indicates that the RX 580 is essentially on par with these older NVIDIA cards, which explains why this combo struggles in a 2018 title like Hitman 2 at higher resolutions.

The CPU, by contrast, is a strong performer. The Intel Core i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-8700K (score 19210, delta 0.1%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS (score 19364, delta -0.7%), showing that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing. The CPU’s multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16518, far exceeds what the GPU can feed in this game, confirming that the RX 580 is the bottleneck.

The low combo rank is directly attributable to the GPU’s inability to handle Hitman 2’s rendering demands, especially as resolution increases. While the CPU is capable of delivering high frame rates in less GPU-bound scenarios, the RX 580’s 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the game’s engine at 1440p and above, as the measured FPS drops show.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hitman 2?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the average FPS exceeds 60, specifically with the Low preset at 75.2 FPS. At 2560x1440, the best average is 49.8 FPS on Low, and at 3840x2160, the best average is 26.4 FPS on Low.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 580 has an average benchmark score of 13559, which is virtually identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (score 13564, delta 0%) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (score 13549, delta 0.1%). This indicates that the RX 580’s performance is on par with these older cards.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400F a bottleneck in this configuration?

A: No. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 19221 places it in the 77th percentile, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, scores 19210 (delta 0.1%). The measured FPS data shows that performance scales poorly with resolution, which points to the GPU as the limiting component.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 75.2 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 34.6 FPS. This represents a 54% reduction in average frame rate when moving from Low to Ultra.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Hitman 2?

A: No. At 3840x2160, even the Low preset only achieves 26.4 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 12.6 FPS. These frame rates are not playable for a stealth action game.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1665 out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the bottom 7th percentile of all configurations tested.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of performance across all resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are as follows: Low 75.2 FPS, Medium 56.2 FPS, High 43.8 FPS, and Ultra 34.6 FPS. This represents a steady decline of approximately 19 FPS between each preset tier, with the largest absolute drop occurring between Low and Medium.

At 2560x1440, the average frame rates are: Low 49.8 FPS, Medium 35 FPS, High 29.1 FPS, and Ultra 22.9 FPS. The relative performance gap between Low and Ultra is 54%, which is consistent with the 1080p data, but the absolute frame rates are all below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that the GPU is struggling to fill the additional pixels.

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are: Low 26.4 FPS, Medium 20.5 FPS, High 15 FPS, and Ultra 12.6 FPS. The progression shows that the Ultra preset at 4K delivers less than half the frame rate of the Low preset at 1080p, highlighting the severe performance penalty of high-resolution rendering on this GPU.

The data also shows that the difference between Medium and High is less pronounced than between Low and Medium at all resolutions, suggesting that the game’s rendering workload scales non-linearly with settings. For example, at 1080p, the drop from Medium to High is 12.4 FPS, while the drop from High to Ultra is 9.2 FPS, indicating that the High preset may offer a better visual-to-performance ratio than Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU’s limitations. At the Low setting, the average FPS drops from 75.2 at 1080p to 49.8 at 1440p (33.8% decrease) and then to 26.4 at 4K (47% decrease from 1440p). This steep decline indicates that the RX 580’s memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s and its 32 ROPs are insufficient to maintain frame rates as pixel count increases.

At the Medium setting, the progression is from 56.2 FPS at 1080p to 35 FPS at 1440p (37.7% decrease) and then to 20.5 FPS at 4K (41.4% decrease). The High setting drops from 43.8 FPS at 1080p to 29.1 FPS at 1440p (33.6% decrease) and then to 15 FPS at 4K (48.5% decrease). The Ultra setting falls from 34.6 FPS at 1080p to 22.9 FPS at 1440p (33.8% decrease) and then to 12.6 FPS at 4K (45% decrease).

The consistency of the percentage decreases across settings suggests that the limiting factor is the GPU’s raw fill rate rather than the CPU. The Intel Core i5-12400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads and boost clock of 4.40 GHz, is more than capable of feeding the GPU at these frame rates. The data indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck, as the FPS drops are directly proportional to the increase in pixel count, which is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance. Users should therefore focus on lowering resolution or settings to achieve playable frame rates, rather than upgrading the CPU.