Hitman 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for the Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT in Hitman 2 reveal a predictable but instructive scaling pattern across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 171.6 FPS, which drops to 109.3 FPS at 1440p and then to 60.0 FPS at 4K. That progression from 1080p Low to 1440p Low represents a 36.3% reduction in average frame rate, while moving from 1440p Low to 4K Low cuts performance by another 45.1%. The steepness of these drops, particularly at the 4K step, signals that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck as pixel count climbs.

Looking at the High preset, the scaling behavior shifts slightly. The i5-14400F and RX 6700 XT deliver 101.7 FPS at 1080p, 61.1 FPS at 1440p, and 34.3 FPS at 4K. The percentage decline from 1080p to 1440p here is 39.9%, and from 1440p to 4K it is 43.9%. The consistency of these large drops across both Low and High presets suggests that the Radeon RX 6700 XT, with its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth, is doing the heavy lifting at every resolution tested. The CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads appear sufficient to keep feeding the GPU at 1080p, as evidenced by the 171.6 FPS Low result, but the frame rate ceiling at higher resolutions is firmly set by the graphics card's raw throughput.

At Ultra settings, the picture becomes even more clear. The average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 74.6, falling to 45.9 at 1440p Ultra and just 23.4 at 4K Ultra. The delta between 1440p and 4K Ultra is a 49.0% reduction, which is the largest percentage drop observed across any preset in this dataset. This indicates that the most demanding settings amplify the GPU bottleneck disproportionately. The RX 6700 XT's 13.21 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, while respectable for its class, simply cannot sustain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra in Hitman 2, which was released in 2018 and has since had its graphical ceiling pushed by modern hardware.

The Medium preset offers a middle ground that illustrates the scaling trend cleanly: 129.0 FPS at 1080p, 82.2 FPS at 1440p, and 46.4 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 36.3% from 1080p to 1440p and 43.6% from 1440p to 4K. These figures are nearly identical to the Low preset's scaling percentages, which reinforces that resolution alone, rather than preset complexity, is the dominant factor in frame rate degradation. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU can push frame rates high enough that even the GPU's 2560 shading units become the limiting factor at Ultra, but at 4K, every preset is constrained by the graphics card's ability to fill pixels.

In summary, the resolution scaling analysis points to a system where the Intel Core i5-14400F is rarely the limiting component in Hitman 2. The CPU's single-thread performance, measured at 3093 in Cinebench R23, is strong enough to avoid becoming a bottleneck at 1080p. The RX 6700 XT, ranking in the 77th percentile among all GPUs, is the clear performance gate, particularly at 4K where even Low settings only manage to hit 60.0 FPS average.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo in Hitman 2?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 171.6, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra compared to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate is 23.4 FPS, which is a 68.6% reduction from the 74.6 FPS observed at 1080p Ultra.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting factor. The RX 6700 XT's frame rates drop sharply with resolution, while the i5-14400F's 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom.

Q: What is the best resolution for maintaining a 60 FPS average with this hardware?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo averages 61.1 FPS. At 3840x2160 with Low settings, it averages exactly 60.0 FPS, so 1440p High is the higher-quality option that still clears the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RX 6700 XT compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 6700 XT has an average benchmark score of 33721, which is 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6800's score of 33493, and 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A5000's 33294.

Q: Does the combo's rank in this game reflect its overall capability?

A: The combo ranks 1013 out of 1795 tested combinations in Hitman 2, placing it in the 56th percentile of all tested combos, which is consistent with its mid-range positioning in synthetic benchmarks.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rate data for Hitman 2 with the Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT provides a clear hierarchy of playable settings. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 101.7 FPS average, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay on a standard 60 Hz or even 144 Hz display. The Medium preset at 129.0 FPS offers a 26.8% performance uplift over High, but the visual quality trade-off may not be worth it given that High already exceeds triple-digit frame rates. The Ultra preset at 74.6 FPS remains playable, but it is 26.7% slower than High, suggesting diminishing returns for the extra graphical fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts. High settings yield 61.1 FPS average, which is just above the 60 FPS target and suitable for most monitors. Medium settings at 82.2 FPS provide a 34.5% performance buffer, making them the safer choice for users who want to avoid frame rate dips in crowded stealth sequences. Ultra at 45.9 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold and should be avoided unless the user prioritizes image quality over responsiveness. Low at 109.3 FPS is available for competitive play, but the graphical degradation is severe and unnecessary given the High preset's playability.

For 4K, the options narrow considerably. Low settings at 60.0 FPS average is the only preset that hits the 60 FPS target, making it the only viable choice for 4K gaming on this hardware. Medium at 46.4 FPS and High at 34.3 FPS both fall short of smooth gameplay, while Ultra at 23.4 FPS is effectively unplayable for action sequences. The data shows that the RX 6700 XT's 12 GB of VRAM is sufficient for 4K textures, but its 165.2 GPixel/s pixel rate cannot sustain high preset complexity at that resolution.

The best experience per the measured rows is 1080p High, which balances graphical fidelity with a 101.7 FPS average. For users with 1440p displays, Medium at 82.2 FPS is the recommended compromise, as it provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while retaining meaningful visual detail. At 4K, Low settings at 60.0 FPS is the only recommendation. The overall pattern suggests that the i5-14400F's strong single-core performance, evidenced by its 311 Cinebench R15 single-core score, allows the CPU to keep up with the GPU at lower resolutions, making the preset choice primarily a GPU-bound decision.

How This Combo Ranks

In the context of all tested hardware combinations for Hitman 2, the Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT sits at rank 1013 out of 1795 total combos. This places the pairing in the middle of the pack, which is consistent with the individual component rankings. The CPU ranks in the 88th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 77th percentile among all graphics cards. The combo's overall rank is lower than both individual percentiles, indicating that the pairing does not synergize exceptionally well in this specific title, or that the game's rendering demands favor different hardware configurations.

The nearest rivals for the CPU in synthetic benchmarks show how close the i5-14400F is to its competition. It scores 32508 on average, which is essentially identical to the Intel Core i7-12800H's 32513 (0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645's 32446 (0.2% delta). The AMD Ryzen 7 250 scores 32584, which is 0.2% higher, and the Intel Core i7-13705H scores 32586, also 0.2% higher. These sub-1% differences indicate that the i5-14400F is right at the edge of its performance class, and any ranking differences in Hitman 2 would be more attributable to the GPU than the CPU.

For the GPU, the RX 6700 XT's average benchmark score of 33721 places it just 0.7% above the Radeon RX 6800's 33493, and 1.3% above the RTX A5000's 33294. The card is 1% below the Radeon HD 7950's 34050 and 1% below the Radeon RX 480's 34059, though these latter comparisons involve older architectures that likely score higher in specific legacy tests. The tight clustering of these scores means that in Hitman 2, the GPU's actual frame rate performance relative to these rivals would depend heavily on the game's specific optimization for RDNA 2.0 architecture.

The combo rank of 1013 out of 1795 suggests that roughly 56% of tested combinations outperform this pairing in Hitman 2. This is not a poor result, but it does indicate that the RX 6700 XT, despite its solid synthetic scores, is not a top-tier performer in this particular game. The 1080p High result of 101.7 FPS is respectable, but many combos with higher-end GPUs would push well beyond that figure. The data positions this setup as a solid mid-range option that handles 1080p and 1440p well but struggles at 4K, consistent with its 77th percentile GPU ranking.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F brings a 10-core, 16-thread configuration based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process node. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz provide the computational headroom needed for modern game engines. In Hitman 2, which is a stealth game that relies heavily on AI-driven crowd simulations and complex physics interactions, the CPU's role is to maintain consistent frame pacing, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck.

The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 171.6 FPS average. This high figure indicates that the CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and per-core L2 cache of 1.25 MB are sufficient to feed the GPU without creating a bottleneck. The i5-14400F's single-core performance, measured at 311 in Cinebench R15 and 3093 in Cinebench R23, is critical for Hitman 2's engine, which typically relies on a few heavily loaded threads for game logic and rendering commands. The 16 threads ensure that background tasks and AI processing do not starve the primary game threads.

The CPU's memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5, with a dual-channel bus, allows for flexible system builds. In Hitman 2, memory bandwidth can impact frame rates in crowded areas where many NPCs are simulated simultaneously. The i5-14400F's 10 cores, split between performance and efficiency cores in the Raptor Lake design, provide a balanced workload distribution. The 65 W TDP indicates that this processor runs efficiently, which is beneficial for sustained gaming sessions where thermal throttling could otherwise reduce boost clocks.

Comparing the i5-14400F to its nearest CPU rivals, the data shows virtually identical average benchmark scores. The Intel Core i7-12800H scores 32513, a 0% delta from the i5-14400F's 32508. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 scores 32446, just 0.2% lower. These negligible differences suggest that in CPU-bound scenarios, such as 1080p Low in Hitman 2, swapping between these processors would yield nearly identical frame rates. The i5-14400F's boost clock of 4.70 GHz is competitive with these rivals, and its 10 cores provide more physical cores than many mobile processors in the same performance class.

The game's release in 2018 predates the CPU's 2024 release, meaning the i5-14400F has more than enough computational power for Hitman 2's engine. The CPU's percentile ranking of 88 among all processors confirms that it sits well above the median. In this specific game, the CPU role is largely to avoid becoming a limiting factor, and the data shows that the i5-14400F accomplishes this. The frame rate drops observed from 1080p to 4K are consistent with GPU limitations, not CPU stalls, as the 4K Low result of 60.0 FPS is still well above what a CPU bottleneck would typically produce. The processor's strong multi-threaded score of 21914 in Cinebench R23 further underscores its capability to handle the parallel workloads that Hitman 2's simulation layer generates.