Hitman 2

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-12600KF compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12600KF posts an average benchmark score of 27,799, which puts it within 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D's score of 27,896 and 0.3% behind the Intel Core i9-10900K's 27,872. This places the chip in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it sits comfortably above the median but not at the top tier.

Q: What is the GPU's standing relative to its nearest rivals in the PassMark G3D benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 scores 20,974 in PassMark G3D, putting it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. It is 1.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16,129 average score) and 1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16,014), but it leads the AMD Radeon R9 370X by 0.1% and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 by 1.1%.

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

A: This system ranks 1,371 out of 3,001 tested combinations in Hitman 2, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database. The data is measured rather than estimated, so these FPS figures come from direct testing of this specific CPU-GPU pairing.

Q: What is the best 4K performance available from this system?

A: At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS achieved is 62 on Low settings. Dropping to Medium yields 46 FPS, High yields 35 FPS, and Ultra yields only 26 FPS. None of the 4K presets reach the 60 FPS threshold except Low settings.

Q: Does the CPU's multi-threading capability show up in the benchmark results?

A: Yes. The i5-12600KF scores 23,391 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 9,824 in R20 multi-core, while single-core scores are 3,302 and 1,386 respectively. In 3DMark, the 16-thread test score of 7,956 nearly matches the max-thread score of 7,952, indicating the 10-core, 16-thread configuration scales effectively under heavy multi-threaded loads.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the GPU provide?

A: The Radeon RX 7700 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This is paired with a base clock of 1900 MHz and a boost clock of 2459 MHz, with memory running at 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective).

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 serves as the primary rendering engine in this Hitman 2 configuration, and its 16 GB VRAM buffer provides ample headroom for the game's 2018-era assets. The GPU's 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs work together to drive the pixel throughput of 236.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s. These specifications translate into a raw FP32 compute capability of 25.18 TFLOPS, which is substantial for a game of this era.

The clock behavior matters here. The base clock of 1900 MHz, game clock of 2041 MHz, and boost clock of 2459 MHz define the operating envelope. In Hitman 2's measured results, the GPU's ability to sustain boost clocks under load becomes evident when comparing 1080p Low (182 FPS) versus 1080p Ultra (76 FPS) — a 2.4x performance delta that reflects the increased shader and texture workload rather than any memory limitation.

The 16 GB GDDR6 memory at 624.1 GB/s is more than sufficient for Hitman 2's largest texture sets. Even at 4K Ultra, where the game demands the most VRAM, the 256-bit bus width ensures data flows without becoming a bottleneck. The 40 ray accelerators are present, though Hitman 2's rasterized rendering means they contribute little to the measured frame rates. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) allows the game to run with modern API features, and the 96 ROPs handle the pixel fill rate efficiently across all tested resolutions.

The GPU's percentile rank of 58 indicates it sits just above the median of all GPUs in the database. In Hitman 2, this translates to playable performance at 1080p and 1440p High settings, but the GPU clearly becomes the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where average FPS drops to 26.

Settings Recommendations

For a balanced experience, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the best compromise in this dataset. It delivers an average of 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS and maximum of 100 FPS, keeping frame times consistent enough for smooth gameplay while maintaining visual fidelity above Low. The 74 FPS minimum is particularly notable, as it stays well clear of dips below 60 FPS.

At 1920x1080, Medium is also the sweet spot: 136 FPS average with a 116 FPS minimum. This provides a significant margin above display refresh rates for most monitors while avoiding the diminishing returns of High (103 FPS) or the visual degradation of Low (182 FPS). The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 76 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive stealth action where quick camera pans benefit from higher frame rates.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves a comfortable experience. Low settings reach 62 FPS average, which is technically playable, but Medium drops to 46 FPS and High falls to 35 FPS. Users on 4K displays should either accept Low settings or reduce resolution to 1440p, where High settings provide 66 FPS and Medium provides 87 FPS.

The data suggests that Medium is the optimal preset across all resolutions, as it maintains the most consistent frame pacing (evidenced by the min/max spread of 26-27 FPS at 1080p and 1440p) while offering meaningful visual improvements over Low. High settings provide a 24% FPS reduction from Medium at 1440p and a 24% reduction at 1080p, making it a reasonable choice for users prioritizing image quality over frame rate. Ultra, however, exacts a disproportionate penalty: 44% slower than High at 1440p and 26% slower at 1080p, with diminishing visual returns.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: The Full HD results show a clear hierarchy. Low settings produce 182 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium drops to 136 FPS with a minimum of 116 and maximum of 157. High settings yield 103 FPS, and Ultra brings the average down to 76 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 58% reduction in frame rate, yet even the worst 1080p preset remains above 60 FPS.

2560x1440: At QHD, Low delivers 116 FPS, Medium provides 87 FPS (74 min, 100 max), High reaches 66 FPS, and Ultra falls to 49 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 36-37% of performance across all presets, which aligns with the increased pixel count. Ultra at 1440p dips below 60 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay.

3840x2160: 4K performance is constrained. Low achieves 62 FPS average, Medium manages 46 FPS (39 min, 53 max), High drops to 35 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 26 FPS. The min FPS of 39 at Medium indicates occasional stutters, while the 53 FPS maximum never reaches 60. High and Ultra presets are effectively unplayable at this resolution, with frame rates below 40 FPS.

The measured data shows consistent scaling behavior: each step up in quality costs roughly 20-30% of frame rate, with the Ultra preset being the most demanding jump. The Medium preset's min/max values provide the only complete frame time data in the dataset, revealing a 14 FPS spread at 1080p and 26 FPS spread at 1440p and 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across presets. At Low settings, FPS falls from 182 at 1080p to 116 at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and then to 62 at 4K (a 47% reduction from 1440p). Medium settings show the same pattern: 136 to 87 to 46, with 36% and 47% drops respectively. High settings drop from 103 to 66 to 35, and Ultra from 76 to 49 to 26.

This scaling pattern reveals that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck at higher resolutions. The pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the frame rate drops by roughly 60-66% across all presets, which is close to what pure pixel-throughput scaling would predict. The RX 7700's 236.1 GPixel/s pixel rate becomes increasingly strained as resolution rises, and the 4K Ultra result of 26 FPS indicates the shader workload saturates the GPU's 25.18 TFLOPS FP32 capacity.

The 1440p to 4K transition is particularly punishing, with frame rates nearly halving. This suggests that the GPU's 624.1 GB/s memory bandwidth, while generous, still cannot fully compensate for the increased memory traffic at 4K. The CPU's role diminishes at higher resolutions; at 1080p, the i5-12600KF's strong single-thread performance (3,302 in Cinebench R23 single-core) helps push frame rates to 182 on Low, but by 4K, the GPU's compute limits dominate.

The data indicates that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo in Hitman 2, with Medium and High presets both delivering playable frame rates. At 1080p, the system has headroom to spare, but the scaling curve shows diminishing returns — the jump from Low to Medium costs 25% of performance, while High to Ultra costs 26% at 1080p, versus 44% at 1440p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF's 10 cores and 16 threads, based on the Alder Lake architecture, provide substantial compute headroom for Hitman 2's simulation and AI workloads. The CPU's 3.70 GHz base clock and 4.90 GHz boost clock, combined with a 20 MB L3 cache, ensure that game logic and draw calls are processed without becoming the primary bottleneck in most scenarios.

Benchmark data shows the CPU's strength: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23,391 and single-core score of 3,302 indicate robust performance in both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded tasks. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 7,956 nearly matches the max-thread score of 7,952, demonstrating that the hybrid architecture of 6 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores scales well. The PassMark multi-thread score of 27,575 and single-thread score of 3,925 further confirm this balance.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role becomes most apparent at 1080p Low settings, where the 182 FPS average suggests the GPU is being fed with minimal CPU overhead. The i5-12600KF's 4.90 GHz boost clock helps maintain high minimum frame rates in crowded scenes, a critical factor for a stealth game where NPC counts can spike. However, the CPU's 125 W TDP and 10 nm process node indicate it operates within moderate power envelopes, which is reflected in its 79th percentile ranking.

The nearest rivals provide context: the i5-12600KF is 0.3% slower than the Ryzen 7 5800X3D and 0.3% slower than the Core i9-10900K on average, despite the latter having more cores. This suggests that Hitman 2's workload benefits from the i5's high single-thread performance (3,302 in R23 single-core) more than raw core counts. The 16 threads are sufficient to handle the game's parallel tasks, and the 20 MB L3 cache reduces memory latency for frequently accessed game data.

At 4K resolutions, the CPU's influence diminishes. The frame rate differences between presets at 4K (62 FPS Low to 26 FPS Ultra) are almost entirely GPU-driven, as the i5-12600KF has ample headroom to maintain above-60 FPS physics and AI updates. The CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads also ensure that background system tasks do not interfere with game performance, a factor that becomes more important in a stealth game with persistent world simulation.