Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 Performance Analysis: Intel Core i5-12400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER

The measured frame rates for this combination reveal a system that scales predictably across resolution and quality presets, with the RTX 4070 SUPER providing substantial headroom at lower resolutions while the CPU begins to assert its influence as settings climb. The dataset covers twelve distinct configurations spanning three resolutions and four quality levels, offering a complete picture of how this hardware pair behaves in Hitman 2's stealth environments.

Settings Recommendations

The data shows a clear tiered structure across quality presets at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 109.6 average FPS, which is perfectly playable for a stealth title where precise timing matters. However, the Medium preset jumps to 197.3 FPS — an 80% improvement over Ultra while still maintaining visual fidelity that suits the game's detailed interiors. The High preset sits between at 151.5 FPS, but the incremental visual gain over Medium is marginal compared to the 45.8 FPS difference between them.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts. High produces 94.4 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold comfortably and approaches the 90+ FPS range where Hitman 2's crowd and physics simulations feel fluid. Ultra drops to 68.5 FPS — still playable but noticeably closer to the boundary where frame pacing becomes more critical. Medium offers 126.5 FPS, but at this resolution the visual distinction between Medium and High is more pronounced than at 1080p, making High the better balance point.

For 3840x2160, the situation inverts. Ultra falls to 38.3 FPS, which is below the 40 FPS minimum for comfortable play in a game requiring precise timing for silent takedowns. High produces 50.6 FPS — marginal but workable if VRR is available. Medium at 66.9 FPS emerges as the functional sweet spot, offering a 32% improvement over High while retaining enough detail to appreciate the game's architectural storytelling. Low at 92.9 FPS is technically smooth but strips away the atmospheric lighting that defines Hitman 2's tone.

The optimal experience across all resolutions is Medium at 4K, High at 1440p, and Medium at 1080p. The 1080p Medium result is particularly compelling because it delivers nearly 200 FPS, which future-proofs the system for high-refresh displays without sacrificing the visual cohesion the game's levels rely on.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 SUPER carries 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit bus, yielding 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. In Hitman 2, which is not typically memory-hungry at lower presets, this capacity proves ample even at 4K Ultra. The GPU's 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores are largely idle in this non-ray-traced title, but the raw rasterization throughput — 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 — drives the measured results.

The clock behavior is notable. With a base of 1980 MHz and a boost of 2475 MHz, the GPU maintains high sustained clocks under load, as evidenced by the scaling from 1080p Low at 263.7 FPS to 4K Ultra at 38.3 FPS. That 263.7 FPS figure is near the practical ceiling for many displays, suggesting the GPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p Low. Instead, the frame rate is likely limited by CPU draw call processing or game engine constraints.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the clear limiter. The 50.6 FPS at High versus 38.3 FPS at Ultra represents a 24% drop for one preset step, which aligns with the increased shader and fill-rate demands. The GPU's pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 554.4 GTexel/s are being fully exercised at this resolution. The 12 GB VRAM is not a constraint in any measured configuration — even 4K Ultra stays within capacity, as the game's textures are modest by 2024 standards despite its 2018 release date.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Hitman 2?

A: Yes, but with caveats. The data shows 50.6 FPS at 4K High and 66.9 FPS at 4K Medium. For a locked 60 FPS experience, Medium is the appropriate choice. Ultra at 38.3 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-12400F's average benchmark score of 19221 is effectively tied with the Intel Core i7-8700K at 19210 (0.1% difference) and the Intel Core i5-1335U at 19167 (0.3% difference). The AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS scores 19364, placing it 0.7% ahead, while the AMD EPYC 7773X trails at 18979 (1.3% behind).

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 94.4 FPS. This places the system well above the 60 FPS standard and close to the 100 FPS mark where high-refresh displays start to benefit. It is the highest quality setting that maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS at this resolution.

Q: Does the GPU outperform its closest market rivals?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER's average benchmark score of 42576 is slightly behind the NVIDIA RTX A6000 at 42653 (-0.2%) and the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE at 42723 (-0.3%). It leads the AMD Radeon Pro 580X at 41991 by 1.4% and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 at 41897 by 1.6%.

Q: Is there a significant difference between Low and Medium settings?

A: At 1080p, the gap is 66.4 FPS (263.7 vs 197.3). At 1440p, it is 41.4 FPS (167.9 vs 126.5). At 4K, it is 26 FPS (92.9 vs 66.9). The relative difference shrinks as resolution increases, indicating that GPU load grows faster than the settings delta's impact.

Q: Can this system run Hitman 2 at 200+ FPS?

A: Only at 1080p with Medium settings or lower. The 1080p Medium result is 197.3 FPS, just under 200. The 1080p Low result of 263.7 FPS clears the threshold comfortably. At 1440p, even Low falls short at 167.9 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific CPU-GPU combination holds rank 337 out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the top 19% of all configurations in the database. The percentile ranking for the individual components supports this: the CPU sits at the 77th percentile among all processors, while the GPU reaches the 84th percentile among all graphics cards. The combination's rank is slightly below what the GPU percentile alone would suggest, indicating that the i5-12400F imposes some limitation in certain scenes.

The delta between CPU and GPU percentiles (7 points) points to a mild imbalance. The GPU is capable of more than the CPU can feed in CPU-bound scenarios, which manifest at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 263.7 FPS result likely approaches the engine's or CPU's frame generation ceiling. At 4K Ultra, the GPU's 84th percentile ranking is fully utilized, as the 38.3 FPS result reflects pure GPU throughput limits.

In the broader context, the rank 337 out of 1795 puts this combo in the upper quartile of all tested systems. It outperforms the majority of combinations while trailing top-tier pairings that would use higher-core-count CPUs or more powerful GPUs. The i5-12400F's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for Hitman 2's threading model, which scales to roughly 8 threads effectively, but the 4.40 GHz boost clock is the more relevant factor for this game's single-thread-heavy simulation work.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the classic shift from CPU to GPU limitation. At Low settings, the progression is 263.7 → 167.9 → 92.9 FPS. That represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 45% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 65%, which is less than the 75% reduction in pixel count (1920x1080 = 2.07M pixels vs 3840x2160 = 8.29M pixels). This sub-linear scaling indicates that the CPU is constraining performance at 1080p Low, preventing the frame rate from rising as high as pixel count alone would allow.

At Ultra settings, the progression is 109.6 → 68.5 → 38.3 FPS. The drops are 37% and 44% respectively, for a total reduction of 65% — nearly identical to Low. This consistency suggests that regardless of settings, the limiting component shifts at the same resolution boundaries. However, the absolute values tell a different story: at 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, while at 1080p Low, the CPU limits.

The Medium preset shows the most linear scaling: 197.3 → 126.5 → 66.9 FPS, with drops of 36% and 47%. The High preset follows a similar pattern at 151.5 → 94.4 → 50.6 FPS (38% and 46% drops). The uniformity across presets indicates that Hitman 2's rendering pipeline has consistent resolution scaling behavior, with the GPU becoming progressively more dominant as pixel count increases. The 4K results across all presets (38.3 to 92.9 FPS) show a 2.4x range, while 1080p results (109.6 to 263.7 FPS) show a 2.4x range as well — confirming that settings have equal relative impact at each resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings produces the following average frame rates: Low at 263.7 FPS, Medium at 197.3 FPS, High at 151.5 FPS, and Ultra at 109.6 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 66.4 FPS (25% reduction), Medium to High costs 45.8 FPS (23% reduction), and High to Ultra costs 41.9 FPS (28% reduction). The consistency of these percentage drops indicates balanced setting scaling.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 167.9 FPS, Medium at 126.5 FPS, High at 94.4 FPS, and Ultra at 68.5 FPS. The absolute differences between settings are 41.4, 32.1, and 25.9 FPS respectively, showing diminishing absolute gaps as settings rise. The percentage reductions are 25%, 25%, and 27% — again consistent across the preset ladder.

At 3840x2160, the data shows: Low at 92.9 FPS, Medium at 66.9 FPS, High at 50.6 FPS, and Ultra at 38.3 FPS. The gaps are 26, 16.3, and 12.3 FPS, with percentage reductions of 28%, 24%, and 24%. The 4K Ultra result of 38.3 FPS is the only measured configuration below 40 FPS, making it the single non-viable option in the dataset. The 4K Low result at 92.9 FPS demonstrates that even at maximum resolution, this system can approach triple-digit frame rates when settings are reduced, though the visual compromise is significant for a game that relies on environmental storytelling.