Hitman 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Hitman 2 across three resolutions—1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160—reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling at higher settings, while the CPU’s headroom becomes apparent at lower presets. At 1080p with Low settings, the system delivers 332.8 FPS, which drops to 215.7 FPS at 1440p and further to 118.2 FPS at 4K. That represents a 35.2% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 64.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is steep, indicating that even at Low settings, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is being pushed hard by the pixel count.

Moving to Medium settings, the pattern holds: 251.3 FPS at 1080p, 158.8 FPS at 1440p, and 85.6 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36.8%, and from 1080p to 4K it is 65.9%. The High preset shows 189.4 FPS at 1080p, 124.5 FPS at 1440p, and 64.3 FPS at 4K. Here, the 4K result is just 34% of the 1080p figure, underscoring how resolution scaling becomes more punishing as visual fidelity increases. At Ultra, the numbers are 139.2 FPS at 1080p, 88.6 FPS at 1440p, and 48.8 FPS at 4K—the latter being barely a third of the 1080p result.

The data suggests that Hitman 2 is heavily GPU-limited at 4K regardless of preset. Even at Low, the 4K frame rate of 118.2 FPS is less than half the 1080p Low result, which points to the RTX 4090’s rendering pipeline being saturated by pixel throughput rather than any CPU constraint. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the 332.8 FPS figure is exceptionally high, and the gap between Low and Medium (251.3 FPS) indicates that the CPU—an Intel Core i5-14600KF—still has ample headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The 14-core processor with 20 threads and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz is clearly not the bottleneck in this scenario.

The percentile data reinforces this: the CPU ranks in the 93rd percentile among all processors, while the GPU sits in the 91st percentile. Both are top-tier parts, but the game’s engine scales resolution in a way that transfers the load almost entirely to the GPU. At 1440p, the frame rates remain highly playable across all presets, with Ultra still hitting 88.6 FPS—a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 48.8 FPS is the only sub-60 FPS figure in the entire dataset, suggesting that 4K Ultra is the threshold where this combination begins to struggle.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in these benchmark runs, and its specifications explain why. The GPU boasts 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. For Hitman 2, a stealth game from 2018, this memory configuration is overkill in capacity but beneficial for high-resolution textures. The 4K Ultra result of 48.8 FPS, while low, is not a memory bandwidth issue—the 1.01 TB/s figure is more than sufficient. Instead, the bottleneck lies in the raw compute load of the Ultra preset.

The RTX 4090’s clock speeds are notably high: a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz. These clocks, combined with 16,384 shading units and 512 TMUs, allow for massive parallel throughput. The FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS is the key metric here. At 4K Ultra, the game is demanding more than 82.58 TFLOPS of sustained work, which is why the frame rate dips below 60 FPS. Lowering to High at 4K (64.3 FPS) reduces the load enough to stay above 60, while Medium (85.6 FPS) and Low (118.2 FPS) show progressively more headroom.

The GPU’s 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are largely irrelevant for Hitman 2, which does not rely on ray tracing or DLSS in these measurements. The game’s rendering is traditional rasterization, so the 176 ROPs (producing a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s) are the critical units for fill-rate-limited scenes. At 4K, the pixel rate becomes a limiting factor at Ultra settings, explaining why the frame rate scales so poorly with resolution. The texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s is ample for the game’s environments, but the pixel throughput at 4K Ultra is what drags the average down.

Comparing to the GPU’s nearest rivals in the database, the RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 66,473, which is 0.4% behind the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733) and 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (66,127). These deltas are within noise, but they contextualize the 4090’s position. The game-specific data shows that the RTX 4090 is capable of 332.8 FPS at 1080p Low, which confirms its raw speed. The 24 GB VRAM is never a constraint in Hitman 2, even at 4K Ultra, since the game’s memory footprint is modest by modern standards. The GPU’s role is purely computational, and the results show it is the deciding factor in frame rates above 1440p.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest measured average FPS for this combination in Hitman 2?

A: The highest measured average is 332.8 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Does the system maintain 60 FPS at 4K across all presets?

A: No. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 48.8, which is below 60. The High preset at 4K achieves 64.3 FPS, while Medium and Low reach 85.6 and 118.2 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the CPU’s benchmark performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49,367, which is 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600K (49,166) and 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (49,062).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p at High settings?

A: At High settings, the 1080p average is 189.4 FPS, while the 1440p average is 124.5 FPS, representing a 34.3% reduction.

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

A: The GPU is the bottleneck. The RTX 4090’s 4K Ultra result of 48.8 FPS is limited by its compute throughput, while the CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking suggests it has ample headroom.

Q: How does the RTX 4090’s average benchmark score compare to the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56?

A: The RTX 4090’s average score is 66,473, which is 0.9% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56’s 67,097.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and frame rate preference. For 4K gaming, the High preset is the sweet spot: it delivers 64.3 FPS, just above the 60 FPS threshold, while providing significantly better visual fidelity than Medium (85.6 FPS) or Low (118.2 FPS). The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 48.8 FPS, which is a 24.1% reduction from High and likely too low for smooth gameplay on most displays. Therefore, 4K High is recommended for a balance of quality and performance.

At 1440p, the High preset yields 124.5 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset offers 158.8 FPS, and Low reaches 215.7 FPS, but the visual trade-off is substantial. Ultra at 1440p hits 88.6 FPS, still well above 60, making it a viable choice for those who prioritize image quality over raw frame rates. The data suggests that Ultra at 1440p is the best option for a premium experience, as the 88.6 FPS figure is smooth while the preset’s effects are fully realized.

At 1080p, all presets exceed 139 FPS, with Ultra at 139.2 FPS and Low at 332.8 FPS. The High preset (189.4 FPS) is a strong middle ground, but for competitive play or maximum smoothness, Low is unmatched. However, the CPU’s performance—ranked in the 93rd percentile—ensures that even Ultra at 1080p is fluid. The recommendation is to favor Ultra at 1080p for the best visual experience, as the 139.2 FPS average is more than sufficient for most displays. Across all resolutions, the High preset offers the most consistent experience relative to the measured data, as it never dips below 64.3 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for Hitman 2 with the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is as follows. At 3840x2160 (4K), the High preset averages 64.3 FPS, Low averages 118.2 FPS, Medium averages 85.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 48.8 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 69.4 FPS, indicating a wide performance range across presets. The 4K Ultra figure is the single lowest result in the entire dataset, while 4K Low is higher than 1440p Ultra (88.6 FPS), showing that resolution has a greater impact than preset at these extremes.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the High preset averages 124.5 FPS, Low averages 215.7 FPS, Medium averages 158.8 FPS, and Ultra averages 88.6 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra here is 127.1 FPS, a larger absolute difference than at 4K due to the higher baseline frame rates. The 1440p Ultra result of 88.6 FPS is remarkably close to the 4K Medium result of 85.6 FPS, suggesting that the visual load of 1440p Ultra is similar to 4K Medium in terms of GPU stress.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the High preset averages 189.4 FPS, Low averages 332.8 FPS, Medium averages 251.3 FPS, and Ultra averages 139.2 FPS. The 1080p Low result is the highest measured in the dataset, while 1080p Ultra is higher than 1440p High (124.5 FPS) but lower than 1440p Medium (158.8 FPS). The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at the same preset—for example, High dropping from 189.4 to 124.5 FPS (a 34.3% reduction)—is consistent across Medium and Low, while Ultra drops by 36.4% (from 139.2 to 88.6 FPS). The 4K transition is more punishing: High drops by 48.4% from 1440p, Medium by 46.1%, Low by 45.2%, and Ultra by 44.9%. These percentages illustrate that the GPU’s performance degrades predictably with pixel count, reinforcing the conclusion that Hitman 2’s engine is rasterization-bound and that the RTX 4090’s compute limits are reached at 4K Ultra.