Hitman 2

The Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti pairing delivers a robust Hitman 2 experience, though the data reveals a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. This combination ranks 219th out of 1795 tested configurations, placing it comfortably in the top 12% of all system combos for this title. The measured results show that the system is capable of high refresh rate gaming at 1080p, but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with maximum settings, indicating a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data indicates that the Ultra preset presents a significant challenge for this hardware combination, yielding frame rates that fall below the 60 FPS threshold at both 4K and 1440p. At 4K Ultra, the system produces an average of 38.2 FPS, which is a substantial drop from the High preset's 54.3 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs roughly 30% of performance at both 4K and 1440p, suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces rendering features that heavily tax the RTX 4070 Ti's resources.

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the High preset emerges as the recommended choice. At 1440p High, the system delivers 102 FPS, which is well above the smooth gameplay threshold and represents a 36% improvement over the Ultra setting at the same resolution. The Medium preset offers even higher frame rates—135.9 FPS at 1440p and 209.9 FPS at 1080p—but the visual downgrade from High is noticeable in a game like Hitman 2, where environmental detail and crowd density matter for immersion.

The Low preset provides the highest possible frame rates, reaching 275.7 FPS at 1080p, but this comes at the cost of the game's atmospheric lighting and shadow quality. Given that the High preset maintains an average above 100 FPS at 1440p, it represents the optimal compromise. Players targeting 4K should note that the High preset at 54.3 FPS is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action sequences, while those with high refresh rate monitors at 1080p will find the High preset at 159.4 FPS to be the sweet spot.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the primary performance driver in this configuration, and its specifications directly explain the observed frame rate patterns. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for Hitman 2's detailed environments at most settings, though the 4K Ultra results suggest that memory capacity or bandwidth may become a limiting factor at extreme resolutions.

The GPU's clock speeds—2310 MHz base and 2610 MHz boost—combined with 7680 shading units and 80 ROPs, deliver the raw compute power needed for this game's complex rendering. The 40.09 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 60 RT cores indicate that the card is well-prepared for modern rendering techniques, though Hitman 2's implementation of these features at Ultra settings clearly imposes a heavy load. The data shows that the transition from High to Ultra at 4K results in a 16.1 FPS drop, while at 1080p the same transition costs 45.4 FPS, revealing that the GPU's workload scales disproportionately with settings rather than resolution.

The RTX 4070 Ti's 285 W TDP and PCIe 4.0 x16 interface provide adequate power delivery and bandwidth for consistent performance. The GPU's percentile ranking of 85th among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 44900, places it as a high-end solution that should handle most titles well. However, the measured results in Hitman 2 show that even this capable GPU cannot fully overcome the demands of the Ultra preset at 4K, where the 38.2 FPS average falls short of the 60 FPS target that many players consider essential.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the GPU-bound nature of this configuration. At High settings, the system delivers 159.4 FPS at 1080p, 102 FPS at 1440p, and 54.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 47% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern indicates that the CPU, with its 14 cores and 20 threads, has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as pixel count increases.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with 275.7 FPS at 1080p dropping to 179.3 FPS at 1440p and 96.4 FPS at 4K. This 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K highlights how much of the GPU's processing power is consumed by pixel throughput rather than visual effects. Conversely, the Ultra preset shows a more moderate relative drop—114 FPS at 1080p to 74.8 FPS at 1440p to 38.2 FPS at 4K—because the GPU is already heavily loaded by the graphical features at every resolution.

At 1080p, even the Ultra preset achieves 114 FPS, suggesting that the CPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. The i5-14600KF's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4643, ensures that Hitman 2's AI and physics calculations do not bottleneck the frame rate. The data shows that players with 1080p monitors can enjoy the full Ultra experience, while 1440p users should stick to High for optimal performance, and 4K users must accept either Medium settings at 71.3 FPS or High settings at 54.3 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates excellent performance across all settings. The Low preset reaches 275.7 FPS, Medium achieves 209.9 FPS, High delivers 159.4 FPS, and Ultra maintains 114 FPS. These numbers indicate that the RTX 4070 Ti has ample performance headroom at this resolution, and the CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain consistent frame pacing. The 61.7 FPS difference between Medium and High at 1080p shows that the High preset introduces meaningful visual improvements that justify the performance cost.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain highly playable but show the expected decline. Low settings produce 179.3 FPS, Medium reaches 135.9 FPS, High achieves 102 FPS, and Ultra drops to 74.8 FPS. The 1440p results are particularly notable because they show that the High preset still provides a frame rate above 100 FPS, making it an excellent choice for users with 144 Hz monitors. The Ultra preset at 74.8 FPS remains playable but may exhibit minor stutters in dense crowd scenes.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings yield 96.4 FPS, which is still smooth, but Medium drops to 71.3 FPS, High falls to 54.3 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 38.2 FPS. The 16.1 FPS gap between High and Ultra at 4K is the largest relative drop across all resolutions, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects—likely enhanced shadows, reflections, and ambient occlusion—are disproportionately expensive at this pixel count. Players with 4K displays should prioritize the Medium preset at 71.3 FPS for a balanced experience, or accept the High preset's 54.3 FPS if visual fidelity is paramount.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti ranks 219th out of 1795 tested combos for Hitman 2, placing it in the 87.8th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects the system's strong overall performance, though it is not among the absolute top-tier setups for this title. The CPU's average benchmark score of 49367, with a percentile of 93 among all CPUs, and the GPU's 44900 average score with an 85th percentile ranking, indicate that both components are above average but not class-leading.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i5-14600K with an average score of 49166, a mere 0.4% difference, and the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X at 49062, which is 0.6% behind. This tight grouping suggests that the i5-14600KF's performance in Hitman 2 is representative of its class, and any differences in game frame rates are more likely attributable to the GPU than the CPU. The AMD EPYC 4345P scores 49595, 0.5% higher, while the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H lags by 1.4%, but none of these rivals would substantially change the gaming experience.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 Ti's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile at 45152 (0.6% higher) and the Intel Arc A730M at 45592 (1.5% higher). The AMD Radeon Pro 580 scores 44195, 1.6% lower, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT reaches 45642, 1.6% higher. These deltas are minimal, indicating that the RTX 4070 Ti performs as expected for its tier. The combo's 219th rank out of 1795 suggests that while this system delivers strong frame rates in Hitman 2, there are many higher-end configurations that achieve better results, particularly at 4K Ultra where the 38.2 FPS result is below the average for top-tier systems.