Hitman 2

The Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti pairing delivers a distinctly mixed experience in Hitman 2, one that shifts from silky-smooth at 1080p to nearly unplayable at 4K Ultra. The data shows a combo ranking at 1312 out of 1795 tested configurations, placing it in the lower-middle tier for this specific title. The 14-core CPU is rarely the bottleneck; instead, the 8 GB GPU struggles under the game’s highest fidelity settings at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average frame rate is 81.3 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. This makes 1080p High a strong setting combination for this hardware.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Core i5-14600KF scores 0.4% higher than the Core i5-14600K, and 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. Its average benchmark score is 49367, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs.

*Q: Is the RTX 3060 Ti capable of 4K gaming in Hitman 2?*

A: At 4K with High settings, the average FPS is 26, which is below the playable threshold. Even dropping to Low settings only yields 47.3 FPS, indicating the GPU is the primary limiting factor at this resolution.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile compared to all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti sits in the 69th percentile for all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 25120, making it roughly equivalent to the AMD Radeon RX 6600, which trails by just 0.5%.

Q: What is the maximum FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 145.5 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This suggests the game can run at very high frame rates when visual fidelity is not a priority.

Q: How much L3 cache does the CPU have?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600KF features 24 MB of shared L3 cache. This is combined with a 2 MB per-core L2 cache and 80 KB per-core L1 cache.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the decisive component in determining Hitman 2’s performance ceiling, particularly as resolution and settings scale upward. The card, built on the Ampere architecture with an 8 nm process, features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The benchmark data shows that this memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but it becomes a critical constraint at 4K.

At 4K with Ultra settings, the GPU delivers an average of just 20.3 FPS, a figure that indicates the graphics card is overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum detail. The card’s boost clock of 1665 MHz and 16.20 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are not enough to maintain fluid motion under these conditions. In contrast, at 1080p with Low settings, the same GPU achieves 145.5 FPS, showing that its raw compute power is ample when the workload is reduced. The data suggests that the RTX 3060 Ti is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming in this title, where its 8 GB frame buffer and 4864 shading units can be fully utilized without hitting a memory or bandwidth wall.

The GPU’s position relative to its rivals reinforces this assessment. It trails the AMD Radeon RX 6700M by 0.2% and the RX 6600 by 0.5% in average benchmark score, indicating that its performance class is well-defined. The measured FPS in Hitman 2 aligns with this positioning, as the card produces playable results at lower resolutions but falls short of the demands of 4K Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF provides a robust foundation for Hitman 2, with its 14 cores and 20 threads ensuring that the game’s simulation and AI logic are never the primary bottleneck. The processor’s boost clock of 5.30 GHz, combined with a base clock of 3.50 GHz, delivers strong single-thread performance, which is critical for a stealth game that tracks numerous NPC behaviors. The CPU’s 24 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain low latency for frequently accessed game data.

Synthetic benchmarks confirm the processor’s capability. The CPU scores 4643 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 32889 in multi-core, while its Geekbench single-core score is 2778 and multi-core is 15636. These figures place the i5-14600KF in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49367. Its nearest rival, the Core i5-14600K, is just 0.4% slower, while the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is 0.6% slower, indicating that the i5-14600KF is a highly competitive desktop processor.

In the context of Hitman 2, the CPU’s strength is most evident at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS of 145.5 suggests that the processor is capable of feeding frames to the GPU at a very high rate. The processor’s 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier indicate that it is designed for enthusiast-level performance, and the data shows that it does not hold the system back in this game. The CPU’s role is to provide a stable platform, and the benchmark results indicate that it succeeds, leaving the GPU as the limiting factor in most scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system’s performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 145.5 FPS on Low, 108.8 FPS on Medium, 81.3 FPS on High, and 59.8 FPS on Ultra. This shows a clear scaling pattern, with the Ultra preset reducing performance by over 58% compared to Low, but still remaining playable.

At 2560x1440, the averages drop significantly: Low yields 93.3 FPS, Medium 69.8 FPS, High 53.7 FPS, and Ultra 41 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is substantial, with High settings losing about 34% of its frame rate. This indicates that the GPU is starting to feel the pressure of increased pixel count, though the results remain acceptable for most players.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles. Low settings produce 47.3 FPS, Medium 37.6 FPS, High 26 FPS, and Ultra a mere 20.3 FPS. The High and Ultra presets at 4K fall well below the 30 FPS playability threshold, making them unsuitable for a smooth experience. The data shows a consistent pattern: the RTX 3060 Ti can handle Hitman 2 at 1080p and 1440p with any settings, but at 4K, only the Low preset approaches acceptable performance.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the fundamental balance of this system. At 1080p High, the system averages 81.3 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 53.7 FPS, a reduction of 27.6 FPS. At 4K High, the average falls to 26 FPS, a further reduction of 27.7 FPS. This linear drop indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU has ample headroom to handle the increased pixel workload.

The pattern is similar across all settings. At Low, the transition from 1080p (145.5 FPS) to 1440p (93.3 FPS) represents a 35.9% performance loss, and the move to 4K (47.3 FPS) results in another 49.3% loss. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with 59.8 FPS at 1080p dropping to 41 FPS at 1440p and finally to 20.3 FPS at 4K. This steep decline at 4K Ultra highlights the GPU’s 8 GB memory capacity and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth as the primary constraints, as the game’s texture and shading demands exceed what the card can efficiently deliver.

The data suggests that for this pairing, 1440p is the practical ceiling for high-quality play, and 1080p is the optimal resolution for maximizing frame rates. The CPU’s performance, which ranks in the 93rd percentile, is sufficient to support any resolution, but the GPU’s 69th percentile ranking means it will struggle with 4K. This makes the RTX 3060 Ti the definitive bottleneck in this configuration, and users seeking 4K performance would need a more powerful graphics card.