Hitman 2

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a solid, if not spectacular, Hitman 2 experience, with the data showing that the Ultra preset is largely unnecessary for a smooth experience at higher resolutions. The sweet spot for this combination is the High preset, which provides a significant performance uplift over Ultra while maintaining visual fidelity, though the Low preset offers the only path to high-refresh-rate gameplay at 1080p. The benchmark results indicate a system that is clearly GPU-limited at 4K, but which transitions to a more balanced, CPU-influenced state as resolution drops.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals a clear hierarchy of performance across the four available presets. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 76 FPS average, which is playable but leaves headroom on the table. Dropping to High raises the average to 103 FPS, a 35.5% improvement that makes the High preset the clear recommendation for 1080p gaming. The Medium preset offers 136 FPS average, and Low hits 182 FPS, but these come with diminishing visual returns that are not justified for the modest hardware in question. For users with 1080p displays, the High preset is the optimal balance of visual quality and frame rate, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS and approaching the 100 FPS threshold that many players find ideal for a stealth title.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts decisively toward High as well. The Ultra preset here yields only 49 FPS average, which is below the desirable 60 FPS baseline for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 1440p produces 66 FPS average, representing a 34.7% increase over Ultra and crossing the critical 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset offers 87 FPS average, which is even more comfortable, but the visual step down from High to Medium is more noticeable at this resolution. The data suggests that High is the best experience per measured frame at 1440p, as it provides a stable 60+ FPS experience without the performance penalty of Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. The Ultra preset drops to 26 FPS average, which is unplayable by any standard. The High preset yields 35 FPS average, still below the 60 FPS target but at least functional for slower-paced stealth gameplay. The Medium preset at 4K produces 46 FPS average with a minimum of 39 FPS, which is the only preset that approaches playability at this resolution. However, the Low preset at 4K delivers 62 FPS average, which is the only preset that achieves a truly smooth experience. For 4K users, the Low preset is the pragmatic recommendation, as it provides double the frame rate of High and nearly 2.4 times the frame rate of Ultra, making it the only viable option for consistent performance. The data clearly shows that this combination is not suited for Ultra settings at any resolution, with even 1080p Ultra failing to break 80 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that becomes increasingly GPU-bound as resolution rises. At High settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 sees the average FPS drop from 103 to 66, a 35.9% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K High, the average falls from 66 to 35 FPS, another 47.0% reduction. This compounding drop pattern is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario, where the rendering load at 4K (4 times the pixel count of 1080p) overwhelms the Radeon RX 7700's capabilities. The frame rate nearly halves at each resolution step, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K.

The Low preset shows a similar but less severe scaling pattern. From 1080p Low at 182 FPS, the frame rate drops to 116 FPS at 1440p, a 36.3% reduction, and then to 62 FPS at 4K, a 46.6% reduction. The consistency of these percentage drops across both High and Low settings suggests that resolution scaling is dominated by the GPU's pixel throughput rather than any CPU limitation. The Radeon RX 7700's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus width are sufficient for the memory demands of Hitman 2 at all tested resolutions, but the raw compute power at 4K is insufficient for high frame rates.

The Medium preset provides additional insight into the limiting component. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 136, dropping to 87 at 1440p (36.0% reduction) and then to 46 at 4K (47.1% reduction). The minimum FPS values for Medium scale from 116 at 1080p to 74 at 1440p to 39 at 4K, showing that even the lows are consistently halved at each step. This uniform scaling across all presets is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, while at 1080p, the frame rates of 182 FPS on Low suggest that the CPU can still push beyond 180 FPS without becoming the bottleneck. The data shows that the Intel Core i5-14600K with its 14 cores and 20 threads is more than capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, but the RX 7700's compute ceiling is reached quickly as resolution climbs.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 plays the dominant role in determining Hitman 2's performance, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 256-bit bus width provides a memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s, which is more than sufficient for the game's texture and geometry demands at 4K with High settings. The 40 ray tracing cores are present, but Hitman 2's implementation is not ray tracing-heavy, so the traditional rasterization performance of the 2560 shading units is what drives the measured results. The boost clock of 2459 MHz and game clock of 2041 MHz define the sustained performance envelope, and the data shows that this configuration peaks at 182 FPS on Low settings at 1080p but falls to 26 FPS on Ultra at 4K.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 15852 places it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, indicating a mid-range performer. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9060, scores 16014, a 1% delta that places the RX 7700 slightly behind. Conversely, the RX 7700 is 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 and 1.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. These small deltas suggest that the RX 7700 is competitive within its class, but the Hitman 2 data reveals that the game's demands at Ultra settings exceed what this GPU can deliver. The 16 GB memory capacity is noteworthy, as it prevents any texture swapping or stuttering issues even at 4K, but the raw compute throughput of 25.18 TFLOPS FP32 is the limiting factor for high preset performance.

The GPU's memory clock of 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective) and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth are well-suited for Hitman 2's open-ended levels, which feature dense crowds and complex lighting. The pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s provide the fill rates needed for the game's visual effects, but these are insufficient for maintaining 60 FPS at 4K with High settings. The data shows that the RX 7700's capabilities are best utilized at 1080p and 1440p, where it can deliver 103 FPS and 66 FPS respectively on High, but at 4K, the GPU's limitations become evident, with only the Low preset achieving a 60+ FPS average.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600K and AMD Radeon RX 7700 combination ranks 1371 out of 3001 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the 54th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects a mid-tier standing that aligns with the individual component percentiles: the CPU sits in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 58th percentile. The combo's rank is dragged down by the GPU's relative weakness, suggesting that the CPU is overqualified for the GPU's performance ceiling in this game. The data indicates that this pairing is better suited for CPU-intensive titles than for those that rely heavily on GPU rasterization.

The combo's rank of 1371 means it outperforms 1630 other combinations but trails 1370 configurations. This places it in the upper half of all tested combos, which is respectable given the mid-range nature of the GPU. The Intel Core i5-14600K's strong multi-threaded performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24491 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 16673, ensures that the CPU is never the limiting factor in Hitman 2. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs further confirms that this is a high-end processor paired with a mid-range GPU, and the resulting combo rank is consistent with the GPU's 58th percentile standing.

The nearest CPU rivals to the i5-14600K include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H with an average score of 48698 (0.2% higher), the AMD EPYC 4345P with 48470 (0.3% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX with 48287 (0.7% lower). These small deltas indicate that the i5-14600K is in a tightly contested performance tier, but none of these rival CPUs would meaningfully change the Hitman 2 combo ranking given the GPU's dominance in this game's performance equation. The data shows that upgrading the GPU would yield far greater performance gains in Hitman 2 than any CPU swap within this performance class.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K's role in Hitman 2 is to provide a stable foundation that never becomes the bottleneck, and the data confirms this. With 14 cores and 20 threads, the CPU has ample parallel processing capability for the game's AI, physics, and scene management systems. The base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz ensure high single-threaded performance, which is critical for Hitman 2's frame pacing. The CPU's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2064 and Passmark single-thread score of 4270 indicate that it can handle the game's main thread demands without issue.

The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide low-latency access to frequently used game data, which helps maintain consistent frame times. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 182 FPS average, which is near the upper limit of what most displays can show, indicating that the CPU is not holding back the GPU at this resolution. The CPU's Passmark multithread score of 38682 and data compression score of 482020 further demonstrate its capability to handle the complex simulation work that Hitman 2 requires during crowded sandbox levels.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48618, places it just 0.2% behind the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4345P. These rival comparisons show that the i5-14600K is performing at the top of its class, but in Hitman 2, the GPU's 58th percentile standing means that the CPU's headroom is largely unused. The measured FPS data supports this conclusion: the 35.9% FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p at High settings is consistent with GPU-bound behavior, as a CPU-bound scenario would show a much smaller drop. The CPU's 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it a versatile pairing, but in this specific game, the RX 7700's compute limits are the defining factor.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for playing Hitman 2 at 2560x1440 with this combo?

A: The High preset is recommended, as it delivers 66 FPS average, which exceeds the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset drops to 49 FPS average, which is below the playable threshold, while Medium offers 87 FPS but with reduced visual quality.

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

A: Only at the Low preset, which achieves 62 FPS average. The High preset yields 35 FPS, Medium produces 46 FPS, and Ultra falls to 26 FPS. The GPU becomes the limiting factor at 3840x2160, making 4K playable only with significant visual compromises.

Q: How does the RX 7700 compare to its nearest rival in general GPU benchmarks?

A: The RX 7700 scores 15852 on average, which is 1% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014) and 1.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129). It is 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679).

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14600K holding back the RX 7700 in Hitman 2?

A: No, the data shows the CPU is not the bottleneck. The FPS drops from 1080p to 1440p are approximately 36%, which indicates GPU-bound performance. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking and high single-thread scores (2064 in Cinebench R23) confirm it has ample headroom.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 76 FPS average. This is playable, but the High preset provides 103 FPS average, a 35.5% improvement, making High the better choice for smoother gameplay without a significant visual sacrifice.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Hitman 2?

A: This combo ranks 1371 out of 3001 tested combos, placing it in the upper half of all configurations. The ranking is driven by the GPU's 58th percentile standing, while the CPU's 90th percentile performance provides a strong foundation that is not fully utilized in this game.