Hitman 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Hitman 2 with the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 shows a steep performance drop as resolution increases, which is typical for a stealth game that relies heavily on GPU rendering. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers 114.1 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings reduces that to 68.8 FPS, a decline of roughly 40%. Pushing further to 3840x2160 High brings the average down to 39.7 FPS, which is about 65% below the 1080p figure. This pattern indicates that the rendering workload scales almost linearly with pixel count, a hallmark of GPU-bound scenarios.

The scaling story becomes even clearer when looking at the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 196.5 FPS, which is an exceptionally high frame rate that suggests the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions. At 1440p Low, the average drops to 127.5 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls to 65.2 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p Low is about 35%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K Low is about 49%. These percentages are consistent with a GPU that is being progressively saturated as pixel count rises. The fact that Low settings at 4K still manage 65.2 FPS shows that the RTX 3070 has headroom when graphical effects are minimized, but the Ultra preset tells a different story.

At Ultra settings, the frame rates collapse dramatically. The 1080p Ultra average is 80 FPS, which is still playable, but 1440p Ultra falls to 49.5 FPS, and 4K Ultra plunges to 27.5 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at each resolution is substantial: at 1080p, Ultra is about 30% slower than High; at 1440p, Ultra is about 28% slower; and at 4K, Ultra is about 31% slower. This consistent delta indicates that the Ultra preset introduces a significant number of GPU-intensive effects, such as higher shadow quality, ambient occlusion, and anti-aliasing, which scale poorly with resolution. The data strongly suggests that the RTX 3070 is the limiting component at higher resolutions and settings, as the CPU’s performance headroom becomes irrelevant when the GPU is overwhelmed.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip, produced on an 8 nm process by Samsung. It houses 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 44.4M per mm². The GPU operates with a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is a critical factor for Hitman 2’s large, detailed environments. The GPU also features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, 96 raster output units, 46 RT cores, and 184 tensor cores, delivering 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

In the context of Hitman 2, the RTX 3070’s VRAM capacity and bandwidth play a significant role in the measured results. The game’s levels are known for their dense geometry and complex lighting, which can consume substantial memory. The 8 GB frame buffer appears sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the playable frame rates across most settings. However, at 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 27.5 suggests that the GPU is not only compute-bound but may also be hitting memory bandwidth limitations. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is a moderate figure for a 30-series card, and the data shows that pushing 4K with Ultra effects causes the frame rate to fall below 30 FPS, which is a clear sign of the GPU struggling to keep up.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reflect its mid-range positioning. It achieves a passmark G3D score of 22214 and a passmark GPU compute score of 11195. Its percentile ranking versus all GPUs is 72, meaning it outperforms 72% of tested GPUs. The nearest rivals show a tight grouping: the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is 0.9% slower, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti is 1% slower, while the AMD FirePro S7150 is 0.6% faster and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X is 1.1% faster. This indicates that the RTX 3070 sits in a competitive band where small performance differences separate it from peers. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3162 further underscores its capability, but the Hitman 2 data shows that the GPU’s strengths are best utilized at lower resolutions where the CPU can keep up.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the combo achieves an average FPS of 144.4, which is a smooth experience for most players.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 28238, while the RX 6600 XT scores 27985, making the RTX 3070 0.9% faster according to the deltaPct of 0.9.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to bottleneck at 4K Ultra?

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS drops to 27.5, which is below playable thresholds. Given that the CPU has a high multithreaded score of 32881 in Cinebench R23, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor at this resolution and settings combination.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of the Intel Core i5-14600K among all CPUs?

A: The i5-14600K ranks in the 93rd percentile versus all CPUs, indicating it outperforms 93% of tested processors.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings yield 68.8 FPS, while Ultra yields 49.5 FPS, a difference of 19.3 FPS or roughly 28% slower on Ultra.

Q: Does the RTX 3070 have enough VRAM for 4K gaming in Hitman 2?

A: The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory appears sufficient for 4K Low, which achieves 65.2 FPS, but 4K Ultra falls to 27.5 FPS, suggesting that VRAM capacity combined with compute limits the Ultra preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings tiers. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 196.5 FPS, which is the highest frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings at 1080p produce 144.4 FPS, High settings yield 114.1 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 80 FPS. This progression shows a clear step-down as graphical fidelity increases, with each tier costing roughly 20-30% performance compared to the previous one.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates are significantly lower but still generally playable. Low settings at 1440p achieve 127.5 FPS, which is still above the 120 FPS threshold for high-refresh monitors. Medium settings at 1440p produce 94.1 FPS, High settings yield 68.8 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 49.5 FPS. The 49.5 FPS figure for Ultra is borderline for smooth gameplay, but it remains above the 30 FPS minimum for most players.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more constrained. Low settings at 4K achieve 65.2 FPS, which is playable, while Medium settings drop to 51.6 FPS, and High settings fall to 39.7 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the worst-case scenario, with an average of 27.5 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold considered minimum for console-like experiences. Across all resolutions, the Low-to-Ultra gap widens as resolution increases: at 1080p, Ultra is 59% slower than Low; at 1440p, Ultra is 61% slower; and at 4K, Ultra is 58% slower. This consistency suggests that the Ultra preset’s effects scale uniformly with pixel count.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 831st out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. This rank of 831 out of 1795 means that roughly 46% of tested combos outperform it, while 54% perform worse. Given that the GPU sits in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs and the CPU in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, the combo’s mid-pack ranking indicates that the game’s performance is heavily influenced by the GPU, which is the weaker component relative to the CPU.

The rank suggests that while the i5-14600K is a top-tier processor, the RTX 3070 holds the combo back from higher positions. In the measured FPS data, the combo still delivers playable frame rates at most settings and resolutions, with the exception of 4K Ultra. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where the CPU has ample headroom, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as workloads increase. Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it achieves high frame rates, but it is not optimized for 4K Ultra gaming.

The nearest rival combos, based on the individual component scores, show how close the field is. The CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, has an average score of 49062 versus the i5-14600K’s 49166, a delta of 0.2%. The GPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, is 0.9% slower. These small margins indicate that the combo’s rank could shift with minor driver or game updates, but the overall positioning remains stable within the upper half of tested systems.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on a 10 nm process by Intel. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and it uses the Intel Socket 1700. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor also includes UHD Graphics 770 integrated graphics, though this is not relevant for discrete GPU testing.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-14600K demonstrates strong multithreaded performance, scoring 32881 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 13810 in Cinebench R20 multicore. Its single-core scores are equally impressive, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2803. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 93 versus all CPUs confirms its high-end positioning. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, which is 0.2% faster, and the Intel Core i5-14600KF, which is 0.4% slower, showing that the 14600K sits at the top of its performance class.

In the context of Hitman 2, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and process game logic. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 196.5 FPS, which is near the limit of what the GPU can render without heavy effects. This suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions and settings, as frame rates are high enough to indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra, the CPU’s performance becomes even less relevant, as the GPU is clearly overwhelmed. The CPU’s high boost clock of 5.30 GHz and large cache are well-suited for the single-threaded nature of many game engines, and the 14 cores provide ample headroom for background tasks. Overall, the data indicates that the i5-14600K is more than capable for Hitman 2, and the combo’s performance is dictated by the GPU’s limitations rather than the CPU’s.