Hitman 2

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti delivers a strong Hitman 2 experience, with the measured data showing that the Medium preset offers the best balance of fluidity and fidelity across all tested resolutions. This combination ranks in the 89th percentile of all tested combos, placing it firmly in the upper tier for this stealth title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows reveal a clear hierarchy among the four tested settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 214 FPS, which is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate displays while maintaining a respectable minimum of 182 FPS. The High preset at this resolution produces 162 FPS, still excellent but a noticeable step down. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 119 FPS, which dips below the 120 FPS threshold that many competitive players target.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Medium preset again appears as the sweet spot, averaging 137 FPS with a minimum of 116 FPS. The High preset at 1440p produces 103 FPS, which remains smooth for most displays, but the gap between Medium and High widens compared to 1080p. At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more demanding. Medium averages 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. High at 4K drops to 55 FPS, while Ultra falls to 41 FPS.

The data strongly indicates that Medium is the optimal preset for this combo. It consistently provides the highest average FPS that still retains a playable minimum across all resolutions. The jump from Low to Medium is substantial—from 285 to 214 FPS at 1080p, and from 97 to 73 FPS at 4K—suggesting that Medium captures most of the visual improvements without the steep performance cost seen in High and Ultra. The Ultra preset offers diminishing returns, with average FPS dropping by roughly half compared to Medium at every resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti brings substantial hardware to Hitman 2. Its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than adequate for the game's texture streaming needs at all tested resolutions. The GPU's 8960 shading units and 70 RT cores are backed by a boost clock of 2452 MHz and a base clock of 2295 MHz. The measured data shows that the GPU is not the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions, but its role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases.

At 1920x1080, the FPS differences between settings presets are large—from 285 FPS at Low to 119 FPS at Ultra—which suggests the GPU is still heavily engaged even at this resolution. However, the fact that Low at 1080p reaches 285 FPS indicates the GPU has headroom that the CPU can feed. The RTX 5070 Ti's FP32 throughput of 43.94 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 235.4 GPixel/s provide ample compute for Hitman 2's rendering workload. The GPU's 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49957, places it as a high-end part. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores 50951, which is 2% higher, while the RX 6800 XT scores 48477, which is 3.1% lower.

The 4K Ultra result of 41 FPS shows the GPU's limits in this game. The drop from Medium to Ultra at 4K is steep—from 73 to 41 FPS—indicating that the Ultra preset's additional effects place a heavy load on the GPU. The 16 GB VRAM is never a limiting factor in these measurements, as even the most demanding preset at 4K does not appear to encounter memory capacity issues based on the FPS behavior.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals how the balance between CPU and GPU shifts. At Medium settings, the progression from 1080p to 1440p to 4K is 214, 137, and 73 FPS respectively. This represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 47% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear—the 4K result is disproportionately lower—which points to the GPU becoming the dominant limiting component at higher resolutions.

At Low settings, the same progression is 285, 182, and 97 FPS. The percentage drops are similar: 36% from 1080p to 1440p, then 47% from 1440p to 4K. This consistency across presets suggests that the resolution scaling pattern is driven primarily by pixel count and GPU fill rate rather than specific settings. The RTX 5070 Ti's pixel rate of 235.4 GPixel/s becomes the relevant metric at 4K, where the GPU must process over 8 million pixels per frame.

At High settings, the numbers are 162, 103, and 55 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36%, and from 1440p to 4K is 47%. The Ultra preset follows the same pattern: 119, 76, and 41 FPS. This consistent scaling behavior indicates that the CPU is providing sufficient frame data at all resolutions, and the FPS decline is almost entirely attributable to GPU rendering load. The fact that Low at 4K (97 FPS) is lower than Low at 1080p (285 FPS) by a factor of 2.9 confirms that pixel throughput, not CPU physics or draw calls, is the limiting factor at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 401st out of 3711 tested combinations in Hitman 2. This places it in the top 10.8% of all combos, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The rank reflects the overall performance across all tested settings and resolutions, not just peak FPS.

To contextualize this rank, consider the CPU's standalone performance. The i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49394, which puts it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, scores 49228, a delta of 0.3%, meaning the Intel part is essentially tied with a higher-tier AMD offering. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995, which is 0.8% lower. This tight grouping indicates that the CPU is not a differentiator in this game—any of these processors would yield similar results.

The GPU's standalone ranking is 86th percentile with an average score of 49957. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, scores 50001, a delta of -0.1%, which is a statistical tie. The Intel Arc A550M scores 49737, 0.4% lower. The RX 6900 XT scores 50951, 2% higher, and the RX 6800 XT scores 48477, 3.1% lower. The combo rank of 401 out of 3711 suggests that the pairing performs as expected given the individual component rankings—neither the CPU nor the GPU is holding back the other in a significant way.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: The Medium preset delivers 137 FPS average with a 116 FPS minimum at 2560x1440. High drops to 103 FPS, and Ultra to 76 FPS, so Medium provides the best combination of smoothness and visual quality.

Q: Can this combo run Hitman 2 at 4K smoothly?

A: At 4K, the Medium preset averages 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, which is playable. High drops to 55 FPS and Ultra to 41 FPS. For consistent 60 FPS, Medium is the highest viable preset.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to the RX 6900 XT in this context?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti has a lower average benchmark score of 49957 compared to the RX 6900 XT's 50951, a delta of -2%. This indicates the RX 6900 XT is slightly faster in synthetic tests, but the measured FPS in Hitman 2 shows the RTX 5070 Ti is not a bottleneck.

Q: Is the i5-14600KF a limiting factor at 1080p in this game?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 285 FPS, and at Medium it hits 214 FPS. These high frame rates suggest the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's output. The CPU's benchmark score of 49394, with a 90th percentile ranking, supports this conclusion.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low averages 182 FPS, Medium 137 FPS, High 103 FPS, and Ultra 76 FPS. The gap from Low to Ultra is 106 FPS, which represents a 58% reduction in performance.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM ever cause issues in Hitman 2?

A: The measured FPS data shows no anomalies that would indicate VRAM capacity problems. The 16 GB GDDR7 memory with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for all tested settings, including 4K Ultra, which achieved 41 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results are as follows: Low averages 285 FPS, Medium averages 214 FPS with a minimum of 182 FPS and a maximum of 246 FPS, High averages 162 FPS, and Ultra averages 119 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 182 FPS is higher than the Ultra preset's average, which highlights the performance cost of the highest settings.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 182 FPS, Medium averages 137 FPS with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS, High averages 103 FPS, and Ultra averages 76 FPS. The Medium minimum of 116 FPS remains above the 60 FPS threshold by a wide margin, ensuring smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 97 FPS, Medium averages 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 84 FPS, High averages 55 FPS, and Ultra averages 41 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K is the only setting that maintains an average above 70 FPS, and its minimum of 62 FPS is just above the standard 60 FPS baseline.

The data shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions: Medium provides roughly 2.2 to 2.9 times the FPS of Ultra, while High sits between them. The min and max values for Medium demonstrate stability—the spread from min to max is 64 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p, and 22 FPS at 4K. This narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates more consistent frame pacing when the GPU is under heavier load.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF features 14 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 per core provide ample data for game logic. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong single-thread performance—a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4594 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2445—which is critical for Hitman 2's AI and physics calculations.

The multi-threaded scores are also robust: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 32544, and PassMark multi-thread scores 38697. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49394, confirms it is a high-performing part. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, has an average score of 49228, which is 0.3% lower, indicating the i5-14600KF holds its own against a more expensive 12-core part.

In the context of Hitman 2, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the combo reaches 285 FPS. This high frame rate suggests the CPU can feed the GPU faster than the GPU can render at this resolution. The fact that 1080p Low (285 FPS) is nearly three times the 4K Low (97 FPS) indicates the CPU is not the bottleneck at higher resolutions—the GPU's rendering load dominates. The CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads are more than sufficient for Hitman 2's engine, which is not known for heavy multi-threading. The boost clock of 5.30 GHz provides the single-thread speed needed for the game's simulation logic, and the measured FPS at all resolutions confirms the CPU does not hold back the RTX 5070 Ti.