Hitman 2

Hitman 2, a stealth classic from 2018, proves to be a surprisingly demanding title for modern hardware. At 4K with Ultra settings, this combination of an Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 manages an average of 46 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a smooth experience. The data suggests that while the RTX 5070 is a powerful card, the game's older engine and high-end presets create a significant bottleneck at the highest resolutions, making the choice of settings crucial for performance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and expected trend: performance degrades as resolution increases. However, the rate of that degradation tells a compelling story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 281 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops the average to 241 FPS, a 14% decrease. Pushing further to 4K Low yields 135 FPS, which is a 44% drop from 1440p and a 52% drop from 1080p. This scaling pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the system is heavily CPU-bound; the GPU has ample headroom, but the processor's ability to feed it frames becomes the limiting factor.

The story changes significantly when we look at higher settings. With Ultra settings, the 1080p average is 139 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 88 FPS, a 37% reduction. At 4K Ultra, the average plummets to 46 FPS, another 48% drop from 1440p. This steeper decline at higher settings clearly points to the GPU becoming the primary constraint. The RTX 5070's 12 GB of VRAM and its compute power are being taxed more heavily by the increased pixel count and graphical fidelity, leading to a more pronounced performance hit as resolution climbs.

The gap between settings also widens with resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 142 FPS. At 4K, that difference shrinks to 89 FPS. This convergence suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that the specific workload differences between Low and Ultra matter less than the sheer pixel fill-rate demand. The data implies that for high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p gaming, this CPU-GPU pairing is well-balanced, but for 4K, the RTX 5070 is the definitive limiting factor, and even the most powerful CPU would not be able to overcome its rendering limits.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo can achieve in Hitman 2?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 281, which occurs at 1080p resolution with Low settings. This indicates a massive performance headroom at lower graphical presets.

Q: Is the Core i5-13400F holding back the RTX 5070 in this game?

A: Yes, but only at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p, the FPS ranges from 139 to 281 depending on settings, suggesting the CPU is reaching its limit in feeding the GPU. At 4K, the FPS drops significantly, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting component.

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

A: It can, but only at lower settings. The 4K Medium preset yields a 100 FPS average, which is excellent. However, the 4K Ultra preset drops to just 46 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target most gamers prefer.

Q: How does the i5-13400F compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-13400F has an average benchmark score of 25292. It is statistically tied with the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, which scores 25284, and is only 0.3% behind the Intel Core 5 120. It also outperforms the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H by a 0.4% margin.

Q: What is the average FPS on the High preset at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers a strong 120 FPS average. This is a very smooth experience for most displays and shows the combo's capability at a mainstream resolution.

Q: Does the RTX 5070's benchmark score align with its in-game performance?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40377 and ranks in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. In-game, it demonstrates its strength by achieving over 100 FPS on Medium settings at both 1080p and 1440p, but its performance at 4K Ultra is more modest, highlighting that synthetic benchmarks don't always translate directly to demanding game scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

Analyzing the measured rows, the optimal balance of visual quality and performance varies significantly by resolution. For 1080p users, the High preset is the clear sweet spot, delivering a 190 FPS average. This is a massive jump from the 139 FPS of Ultra, with a visual difference that is often subtle in a game like Hitman 2, which focuses on crowds and lighting rather than extreme geometric detail. The Low and Medium presets offer even higher frame rates, but 190 FPS is already beyond the refresh rate of most monitors, making High the best choice for image quality without sacrificing smoothness.

At 1440p, the Medium preset is arguably the best experience. It delivers a 192 FPS average, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. The High preset is still very good at 120 FPS, but the data suggests that the jump to Ultra costs a significant 32 FPS (from 120 to 88), making it less appealing. For players with 144Hz or 165Hz displays, the Medium preset ensures the system stays near the maximum refresh rate, while High might dip below it in busier scenes. The 88 FPS from Ultra is still smooth, but the performance cost relative to High is steep.

For 4K, the choice is more constrained. The Ultra preset's 46 FPS average is not ideal for a fast-paced stealth game, as it can feel sluggish. The High preset at 63 FPS is playable, but it is on the edge of what is considered smooth. The Medium preset, however, provides an excellent 100 FPS average. This is the recommended setting for 4K, as it offers a large performance boost over High (a 37 FPS difference) while still maintaining a high level of visual fidelity. The Low preset at 135 FPS is an option for competitive play, but the visual compromise is substantial.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides a comprehensive look at the system's performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the combo is exceptionally strong. The Low preset achieves an average of 281 FPS. The Medium preset averages 252 FPS, with a minimum of 214 FPS and a maximum of 290 FPS, showing consistent performance. The High preset averages 190 FPS, and the Ultra preset brings the average down to 139 FPS. This shows a system that can easily handle high refresh rates at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains impressive. The Low preset averages 241 FPS. The Medium preset is still very fast, with an average of 192 FPS and a minimum of 163 FPS. The High preset delivers a solid 120 FPS average. The Ultra preset, however, shows a more significant drop, averaging 88 FPS. This is a clear step down from the lower presets, indicating the increased load on the GPU.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload becomes the dominant factor. The Low preset averages 135 FPS, which is still very playable. The Medium preset drops to an average of 100 FPS, with a minimum of 85 FPS and a maximum of 115 FPS. The High preset averages 63 FPS, which is right at the edge of 60 FPS gaming. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of only 46 FPS. This breakdown clearly shows that 4K Ultra is the only combination that pushes the system below the 60 FPS threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Hitman 2, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 94th out of 3711 total combos. This places it in the top 2.5% of all tested systems, indicating a very high level of performance. The rank suggests that this is a top-tier configuration for this game, likely outperforming the vast majority of systems that players are using.

This high ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data. The combo is capable of delivering over 60 FPS at 4K on most settings and can push well beyond 100 FPS at 1440p. The rank of 94 out of 3711 is a strong indicator that the i5-13400F and RTX 5070 are a well-matched pair for this title, providing a level of performance that would be considered high-end. It implies that very few other CPU-GPU combinations in the database can deliver a better experience in Hitman 2, making this build a robust choice for the game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 22604 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3191 in single-core, demonstrating strong multi-threaded and capable single-threaded performance. Its average benchmark score of 25292 puts it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, and it is virtually tied with rivals like the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS and Intel Core 5 120.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions. The FPS difference between 1080p Low (281 FPS) and 1440p Low (241 FPS) is relatively small compared to the larger drop at higher settings. This suggests that at these settings, the game is not fully utilizing the GPU, and the CPU's ability to process game logic and draw calls is the limiting factor. The strong single-thread score of 3191 in Cinebench R23 is likely crucial here, as many game engines, including the one powering Hitman 2, still rely heavily on a few primary threads.

The data implies that the CPU is more than sufficient for this game. Even at 1080p, it can feed the RTX 5070 enough data to achieve over 250 FPS on Medium settings. The CPU's performance headroom means that it will not be the bottleneck in most gaming scenarios, except perhaps in extreme cases with very high refresh rate monitors and low graphical settings. Its 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample processing power for the game's AI and simulation tasks, ensuring that the GPU is the primary component that determines final frame rates, especially as resolution and graphical load increase.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is a powerful graphics card built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture. It features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. Its boost clock is rated at 2512 MHz. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 29137 in Passmark's G3D test and 5077 in 3DMark's Steel Nomad DX12 test. Its average benchmark score of 40377 places it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, which is a strong showing, though its nearest rivals in the database are professional workstation cards like the AMD Radeon Pro 580.

The GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings increase. The measured data shows that the gap in FPS between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p, the difference is 142 FPS, but at 4K, it is 89 FPS. This indicates that the RTX 5070 is being progressively more taxed by the higher pixel count and more complex shaders, making it the primary performance limiter at 4K.

The 12 GB of VRAM is a critical factor. While it is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, the 4K Ultra preset likely demands a large amount of memory for textures. The fact that 4K Ultra drops to 46 FPS suggests the card is not only compute-bound but may also be nearing its memory capacity limits, causing performance to suffer. The data confirms that the RTX 5070 is a high-end card that excels at 1080p and 1440p, but for 4K gaming, it requires users to be more selective with their settings to maintain high frame rates.