Hitman 2

Hitman 2’s measured performance on the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti combination shows a clear stratification across its four preset levels, with the data indicating that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience for this hardware pairing. At 1080p, Medium produces 112 FPS, which is more than double the 62.2 FPS of Ultra and represents a 34.5% improvement over High’s 83.3 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 31.7 FPS (from 143.7 down to 112), but the visual fidelity gains typically outweigh that reduction for a stealth title where environmental readability matters. At 1440p, Medium maintains 68.1 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold comfortably, while High drops to 51.7 FPS and Ultra falls to 37 FPS. The 4K results reinforce this recommendation: Medium produces 38.6 FPS, which is playable but not ideal, whereas High manages only 26.8 FPS and Ultra dips to 21.4 FPS. For users prioritizing smoothness over maximum detail, Low at 4K delivers 47.7 FPS, but Medium is the better compromise across all resolutions. The data suggests that Medium is the highest preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS at 1440p, making it the default choice for this configuration.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the primary driver of frame rate in Hitman 2, and its specifications explain the performance scaling observed in the measured results. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is directly relevant to Hitman 2’s large, detailed environments, which require substantial texture streaming. The card’s 4864 shading units, 152 TMUs, and 80 ROPs provide the raw compute throughput, with a boost clock of 1665 MHz and a base clock of 1410 MHz. The GPU’s FP32 performance is rated at 16.20 TFLOPS, which is the figure that correlates most strongly with rasterized game performance in this title. The RTX 3060 Ti’s 38 RT cores and 152 tensor cores are present, but Hitman 2 does not heavily utilize ray tracing, so the traditional raster pipeline dominates the workload. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 25120 places it in the 69th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (25180, -0.2% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 (25235, -0.5% delta), indicating that it sits in a tightly contested performance tier. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game’s High preset at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra result of 21.4 FPS suggests that memory bandwidth and capacity become limiting factors at extreme resolutions, as the gap between Low and High at 4K is 20.9 FPS (47.7 vs. 26.8).

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a consistent and predictable degradation as resolution increases, which reveals the GPU-bound nature of Hitman 2 on this platform. Moving from 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by approximately 38-42% across all presets: High falls from 83.3 to 51.7, Low from 143.7 to 90.3, Medium from 112 to 68.1, and Ultra from 62.2 to 37. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is even more severe, with High dropping from 51.7 to 26.8 (a 48% reduction), Medium from 68.1 to 38.6 (43% reduction), and Low from 90.3 to 47.7 (47% reduction). This non-linear scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is becoming memory-bandwidth limited at higher pixel counts. The RTX 3060 Ti’s 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p workloads, but 4K resolution demands significantly more memory throughput, which explains why the 4K results fall below playable thresholds for most presets. The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor here, as the Core i5-14400F’s strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3093) ensures that frame delivery is not bottlenecked by processor logic at any resolution. The frame rate drop from 1080p Low (143.7 FPS) to 4K Low (47.7 FPS) represents a 66.8% reduction, which is a clear indication that the GPU is the sole bottleneck in this configuration.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 60 FPS gaming at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset delivers 68.1 FPS at 2560x1440, which is the only setting above Low that maintains a comfortable margin over 60 FPS. High drops to 51.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS.

Q: Can this combination handle 4K gaming?

A: At 4K, the Low preset produces 47.7 FPS, while Medium drops to 38.6 FPS. Neither High (26.8 FPS) nor Ultra (21.4 FPS) achieves playable frame rates, so 4K is only viable with significant quality reductions.

Q: How does the RTX 3060 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score of 25120 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (25180, -0.2% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 (25235, -0.5% delta), indicating that these cards are statistically equivalent in raw compute.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: Low produces 143.7 FPS, while Ultra produces 62.2 FPS, representing a 56.7% reduction in performance. This gap widens to 55.2% at 1440p (90.3 vs. 37) and 55.1% at 4K (47.7 vs. 21.4).

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

A: The benchmark data shows that frame rates scale dramatically with resolution, which indicates a GPU bottleneck. The CPU’s single-core performance (Cinebench R23 score of 3093) is sufficient to feed the GPU even at 1080p Low where the frame rate reaches 143.7 FPS.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM limit performance?

A: The 8 GB GDDR6 memory is adequate for 1080p and 1440p presets, but the 4K Ultra result of 21.4 FPS suggests that memory capacity and bandwidth become limiting factors at that resolution, as the GPU’s 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is stretched thin.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F plays a supporting but essential role in Hitman 2, and its specifications are more than adequate for this title’s demands. The processor features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, operating within a 65 W TDP. The architecture is Raptor Lake, built on Intel’s 10 nm process, with a 20 MB shared L3 cache. For a stealth game like Hitman 2, which relies heavily on AI routines, physics interactions, and level streaming, the CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities are relevant. The processor’s Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21914 and single-core score of 3093 indicate strong performance in both threaded and latency-sensitive workloads. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combination reaches 143.7 FPS, which is high enough to stress CPU frame delivery, yet the processor maintains this rate without issue. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 32508 places it in the 88th percentile among all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-12800H (32513, 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446, 0.2% delta), showing that it sits at the top of its performance tier. The 16 threads allow for efficient handling of background processes and game logic, while the 4.70 GHz boost clock ensures that single-threaded game code executes with minimal latency. The combination of 10 cores and 16 threads is particularly well-suited for Hitman 2’s open-ended sandbox levels, where multiple NPCs and dynamic systems run concurrently. The processor’s PassMark multi-thread score of 25783 and single-thread score of 3723 further corroborate its capability to avoid becoming a bottleneck in this game, as the observed frame rates are consistently GPU-limited across all tested resolutions and presets.