Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with Intel Core i5-12600KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The pairing of Intel's 12th-generation Core i5-12600KF with NVIDIA's flagship RTX 5090 produces a fascinating study in bottleneck dynamics within Hitman 2, a 2018 stealth title that remains surprisingly demanding at high resolutions. This combination ranks 4th out of 1,795 tested combos, placing it in the top 0.2% of all configurations evaluated. The data reveals a system capable of exceptional frame rates, yet one where the CPU's influence becomes increasingly apparent as resolution decreases, while the GPU's immense power is only fully unleashed at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic and consistent drop as resolution scales from 1080p to 4K, with the pattern revealing which component is the limiting factor at each step. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 195.4 FPS, but this falls to 128.3 FPS at 1440p and 66.8 FPS at 4K. This represents a 34% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 48% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is far from linear, which suggests the GPU becomes progressively more dominant as pixel count increases.

The Low settings row tells an even more revealing story. At 1080p Low, the system produces 347.3 FPS, but at 1440p Low it drops to 220.4 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls to 120.2 FPS. The 1080p Low figure is remarkably close to the CPU's theoretical ceiling for this game, indicating that at lower resolutions and settings, the Core i5-12600KF is the primary constraint. The i5-12600KF's 3.70 GHz base clock and 4.90 GHz boost clock, combined with its 10 cores and 16 threads, are impressive, but they cannot fully feed the RTX 5090's appetite at 1080p.

The scaling pattern implies that Hitman 2's engine is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions. The gap between 1080p Low (347.3 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (146.6 FPS) demonstrates that even at the same resolution, the GPU workload varies enormously with settings. However, the fact that 4K Ultra (48.5 FPS) is less than half of 1440p Ultra (91.1 FPS) confirms that at the highest resolution, the RTX 5090's pixel-pushing capabilities become the deciding factor, with its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth being pushed to their limits.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame of 4 out of 1,795 tested combinations places this system in an elite tier, with only three other CPU-GPU pairings outperforming it in Hitman 2. This ranking is particularly noteworthy given that the Core i5-12600KF is not a flagship processor. The CPU's percentileVsAllCpus of 84 indicates it outperforms 84% of all CPUs, but it is not in the top tier. Meanwhile, the RTX 5090's percentileVsAllGpus of 94 places it in the top 6% of all GPUs, and its avgBenchmarkScore of 84,306 is nearly triple the CPU's 27,827.

The ranking suggests that Hitman 2's workload is balanced enough that this mid-high range CPU can still achieve top-tier results when paired with the strongest GPU available. The RTX 5090's nearestRivals show it performing at 0.1% above the RTX 5090 D and 0.2% above the RTX 5050 Mobile, though those comparisons come from synthetic benchmarks rather than in-game results. The CPU's nearestRivals are similarly close, with the Core i9-10900K at 0% delta and the Core i5-12600K at -0.1%, indicating that the i5-12600KF sits at a performance plateau where several CPUs achieve nearly identical average scores.

This ranking implies that for Hitman 2 specifically, the GPU matters far more than the CPU. A 4th place finish with a CPU that ranks 84th percentile suggests that the game's engine is not particularly sensitive to CPU performance beyond a certain threshold, and the RTX 5090's immense compute resources are able to compensate for any CPU limitations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and the data shows its influence growing with resolution and settings. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for Hitman 2's detailed environments at 4K. The GPU's 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s, making it exceptionally well-suited for the game's dense crowds and complex geometry.

The RTX 5090's clock speeds of 2,017 MHz base and 2,407 MHz boost, built on TSMC's 5 nm process with 92,200 million transistors, allow it to maintain high performance even under sustained load. The GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the foundation for its ability to maintain 66.8 FPS at 4K High, a demanding scenario for a 2018 title with modern graphical enhancements. The fact that 4K High (66.8 FPS) is only 38% of the 1080p High score (195.4 FPS) demonstrates the massive pixel count increase at 4K, which requires the GPU to process four times the pixels.

The GPU's passmark_g3d score of 39,650 and geekbench_opencl score of 380,114 reflect its raw compute capabilities, but the in-game results show a more nuanced picture. At 1080p, the GPU is often idle, waiting for the CPU to feed it data. At 4K, however, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and its performance characteristics directly determine the frame rates. The RTX 5090's 94th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms its elite status, and its 0.1% delta from the RTX 5090 D suggests that the standard model is the top-performing graphics card for this workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across twelve scenarios, covering three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 347.3 FPS on Low, 262.8 FPS on Medium, 195.4 FPS on High, and 146.6 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 58% reduction in frame rate, indicating that settings have a substantial impact even at the lowest resolution.

At 2560x1440, the results are 220.4 FPS on Low, 169.9 FPS on Medium, 128.3 FPS on High, and 91.1 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 37% at Low settings to 38% at Ultra settings, showing a consistent scaling factor. This consistency suggests that at 1440p, both the CPU and GPU are working in a balanced manner, with neither component being the sole limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the system produces 120.2 FPS on Low, 89.8 FPS on Medium, 66.8 FPS on High, and 48.5 FPS on Ultra. The 4K results show the steepest scaling, with Ultra being only 40% of the Low score. This indicates that at 4K, the RTX 5090's compute resources are fully utilized, and the frame rates are entirely dependent on the GPU's ability to render Hitman 2's environments. The 4K Low score of 120.2 FPS is particularly notable, as it demonstrates that the GPU can maintain high frame rates at 4K when the graphics load is reduced, but the 48.5 FPS at 4K Ultra shows the game's maximum settings are extremely demanding even for the flagship GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF plays a critical but secondary role in this configuration. Its 10 cores and 16 threads, based on the Alder Lake architecture, provide the computational foundation for Hitman 2's game logic, AI, and physics. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help minimize memory latency, which is important for the game's complex systems. The 3.70 GHz base clock and 4.90 GHz boost clock allow for rapid single-threaded performance, as evidenced by the 3dmark_single_thread score of 1,016 and cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 3,309.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are substantial, with a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 23,444 and a passmark_multithread score of 27,575. However, the data suggests that Hitman 2 does not heavily utilize the CPU's multi-threading capabilities. The 1080p Low result of 347.3 FPS is likely near the CPU's single-threaded limit, as the game's engine appears to be primarily single-thread bound. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs and its avgBenchmarkScore of 27,827 place it just below the Core i9-10900K (27,829) and Core i5-12600K (27,851), showing that it is a capable but not top-tier processor.

The CPU's role becomes more pronounced at lower resolutions and settings, where it acts as a bottleneck. The fact that 1080p Low (347.3 FPS) is only 58% higher than 1440p Low (220.4 FPS) suggests that the CPU is constraining performance at both resolutions. At 4K, however, the CPU's limitations are masked by the GPU's workload, allowing the system to achieve frame rates that are more representative of the GPU's capabilities. The CPU's 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform provide a solid foundation, but the data indicates that a stronger CPU would likely improve 1080p performance significantly.

FAQ

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so much from 1080p to 4K?

A: The data shows a consistent reduction in FPS as resolution increases. At High settings, the system drops from 195.4 FPS at 1080p to 128.3 FPS at 1440p and 66.8 FPS at 4K. This happens because the GPU must render four times the pixels at 4K compared to 1080p, making the RTX 5090 the limiting component at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The bottleneck shifts depending on resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the 347.3 FPS result suggests the CPU is the limiting factor, as the Core i5-12600KF cannot feed the GPU fast enough. At 4K Ultra, the 48.5 FPS result shows the GPU is fully saturated, making it the bottleneck.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 4th out of 1,795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the top 0.2% of all configurations. The RTX 5090's 94th percentile GPU ranking and the CPU's 84th percentile ranking combine to deliver elite performance in this game.

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

A: The data shows that 1440p provides the best balance of performance and visual quality. At 1440p High, the system achieves 128.3 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold, while 4K High at 66.8 FPS is also playable but leaves less headroom.

Q: How much impact do graphics settings have on performance?

A: Settings have a substantial impact at all resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 200.7 FPS (347.3 vs 146.6). At 4K, the difference is 71.7 FPS (120.2 vs 48.5). The Ultra preset is particularly demanding, reducing performance by over 50% compared to Low at every resolution.

Q: Is the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM used effectively in this game?

A: While the RTX 5090 has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, Hitman 2 is a 2018 title that likely does not require that much VRAM. The 4K Ultra result of 48.5 FPS indicates the GPU's compute limits are reached before memory capacity becomes an issue, though the 1.79 TB/s bandwidth helps maintain consistent performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1920x1080, all settings presets deliver playable frame rates, with even Ultra achieving 146.6 FPS. However, the High preset at 195.4 FPS provides an excellent balance for high-refresh-rate monitors, while Low at 347.3 FPS is ideal for competitive play or maximum smoothness. The Medium preset at 262.8 FPS is a strong middle ground for 1080p users with 240 Hz displays.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 128.3 FPS is the recommended choice for most users, as it provides a visually rich experience while maintaining frame rates well above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 91.1 FPS is also viable for those prioritizing visual quality, while Medium at 169.9 FPS is excellent for 144 Hz monitors. Low at 220.4 FPS offers the highest frame rates for esports-style play, though visual fidelity suffers.

At 3840x2160, the High preset at 66.8 FPS is the best choice for a smooth 4K experience, as it stays above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 89.8 FPS provides additional headroom for variable refresh rate displays, while Ultra at 48.5 FPS should only be used if visual quality is paramount and frame rates above 50 FPS are acceptable. The Low preset at 120.2 FPS demonstrates the GPU's capability, but the visual compromise is significant.

For the best overall experience, the data suggests using High settings at 1440p, which delivers 128.3 FPS with a strong balance of visual quality and performance. Users with 4K displays should opt for High settings at 66.8 FPS, while those with 1080p high-refresh monitors can choose between Medium at 262.8 FPS and High at 195.4 FPS depending on their preference for visual fidelity versus frame rate. The Ultra preset is best reserved for users with the most powerful displays who prioritize image quality above all else.