Hitman 2

The Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 pairing in Hitman 2 shows a clear story of GPU-bound scaling as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers an average of 159 FPS, but that number falls steadily as the pixel count increases, reaching 102 FPS at 2560x1440 and 54 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 66% drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low, which indicates the Radeon RX 9060 is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The pattern holds across all settings presets, with the gap between 1080p and 4K widening as graphical fidelity increases. For instance, at High settings, the frame rate drops from 90 FPS at 1080p to 58 FPS at 1440p, then to 31 FPS at 4K — a 66% reduction from 1080p to 4K, identical to the Low preset's relative scaling. This consistency suggests the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU even at lower resolutions, but the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth constraints become increasingly apparent as resolution demands grow.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for this combo reveals how resolution directly impacts performance in Hitman 2. At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the average frame rate is 119 FPS, with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 137 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same Medium preset, the average drops to 76 FPS, with a minimum of 65 FPS and a maximum of 88 FPS. That is a 36% reduction in average performance. At 3840x2160 Medium, the average falls further to 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS, representing another 46% drop from 1440p. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Medium is a 66% decrease, which closely mirrors the scaling seen at Low and High settings.

The 4K Ultra preset is the most demanding configuration tested, yielding an average of just 23 FPS. This is the only setting where the frame rate dips below the generally accepted playable threshold, and it shows that the Radeon RX 9060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient for maxed-out 4K rendering in this title. In contrast, the 1080p Ultra preset produces 66 FPS, which is fully playable. The data indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K, as the frame rate scales almost linearly with the number of pixels being rendered, while the CPU's six cores and six threads appear to keep up with the game's engine demands at all tested resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hitman 2 if aiming for 60+ FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, all four tested presets achieve averages above 60 FPS, with Low hitting 159 FPS, Medium at 119 FPS, High at 90 FPS, and Ultra at 66 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (102 FPS) and Medium (76 FPS) maintain averages above 60 FPS; High drops to 58 FPS. At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS, with Low being the highest at 54 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Radeon RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014, which is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti's 16129. It is 1% higher than both the AMD Radeon R9 370X and the AMD Radeon RX 7700, which score 15862 and 15852 respectively, and 2.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 at 15679.

Q: Is the Core i5-9400 a bottleneck in Hitman 2?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary limiting factor in this game. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 159 FPS, which indicates the processor can feed the GPU effectively at lower resolutions. The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and single-core score of 935, place it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. The frame rate drops observed when increasing resolution align with GPU load rather than CPU limitations.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values for the Medium preset across resolutions?

A: For the Medium preset, the minimum FPS values are 101 at 1920x1080, 65 at 2560x1440, and 35 at 3840x2160. These minimums represent the frame rate floors during demanding scenes, and the gap between minimum and average widens as resolution increases, suggesting more pronounced frame time spikes at higher pixel counts.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks 2189 out of 3711 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the lower half of the field. This ranking reflects the mid-range positioning of both components, with the CPU in the 47th percentile and the GPU in the 59th percentile of their respective categories.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 102 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 43 FPS. This represents a 59 FPS difference, meaning the Ultra preset delivers 58% lower performance than Low. The same comparison at 1080p shows a 93 FPS difference (159 vs 66), and at 4K a 31 FPS difference (54 vs 23).

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 brings six cores and six threads to the pairing, running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It is built on the Coffee Lake architecture using a 14 nm process, with 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 256 KB of L2 cache per core. The processor supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, and its 65W TDP classifies it as a mainstream desktop part. In synthetic workloads, it scores 668 in Cinebench R15 multi-core, 2784 in Cinebench R20 multi-core, and 6629 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, with corresponding single-core scores of 94, 392, and 935 across those same tests.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the consistent scaling patterns across resolutions. The processor sits in the 47th percentile of all CPUs based on average benchmark score, with an average score of 2254. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 at 2259 (0.2% higher), the Intel Core i7-10710U at 2248 (0.3% lower), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 at 2246 (0.4% lower), and the Intel Core i3-10305 at 2264 (0.4% higher). These close margins indicate the i5-9400 performs in line with other mid-range processors from its era.

The game's stealth genre typically involves complex AI and crowd simulations, which can stress CPU performance, but the measured FPS data does not show abrupt frame rate collapses that would indicate a CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 159 FPS, which is well above what the GPU can sustain at higher resolutions. This suggests the six-core, six-thread configuration provides adequate processing power for Hitman 2's engine, allowing the GPU to become the limiting factor as resolution increases.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a comprehensive view of performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 159 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 119 FPS average, with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 137 FPS. High settings at 1080p produce 90 FPS average, and Ultra drops to 66 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 93 FPS, showing that the game's quality settings have a substantial impact on performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 102 FPS, which is the only preset at this resolution to exceed 100 FPS. Medium averages 76 FPS, with a minimum of 65 FPS and a maximum of 88 FPS. High drops to 58 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 43 FPS average. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 59 FPS, a narrower gap than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more constrained as resolution increases. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 54 FPS, Medium averages 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS, High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 23 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread at 4K is 31 FPS, the smallest of all resolutions, confirming that the GPU is heavily loaded even at the lowest settings.

The Medium preset is the only configuration with minimum and maximum FPS values recorded across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the minimum is 101 FPS and the maximum is 137 FPS, giving a range of 36 FPS. At 1440p, the minimum is 65 FPS and the maximum is 88 FPS, a range of 23 FPS. At 4K, the minimum is 35 FPS and the maximum is 47 FPS, a range of 12 FPS. This narrowing range as resolution increases suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently loaded, reducing the variance between frames.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination ranks 2189 out of 3711 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places the pairing in the lower 41% of all configurations tested, reflecting the mid-range positioning of both components. The CPU's percentile ranking of 47 among all CPUs and the GPU's percentile ranking of 59 among all GPUs provide context for this overall ranking. The GPU is the stronger component in this pairing, with a higher relative standing, which aligns with the performance data showing the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU's average score of 16014 places it close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which scores 16129, a difference of only 0.7%. The CPU's average score of 2254 places it near the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 at 2259 and the Intel Core i7-10710U at 2248, with differences of 0.2% and 0.3% respectively. These close synthetic scores suggest that the combo's mid-pack ranking in Hitman 2 is not due to any single component being particularly weak, but rather the combination of two mid-range parts that do not excel in this specific game's requirements.

The rank of 2189 out of 3711 indicates that the majority of tested combos outperform this pairing in Hitman 2. This is consistent with the game's release date of November 2018, which means it was designed for hardware of that era. The i5-9400, released in October 2018, and the RX 9060, released in August 2025, represent different generations of hardware, with the GPU being significantly newer. However, the game's engine appears to favor other combinations, as evidenced by the combo's lower-half ranking.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 is the recommended starting point. It delivers an average of 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even during demanding scenes. The High preset at 1080p also provides a solid experience at 90 FPS average, with a meaningful improvement in visual fidelity over Medium. For players prioritizing frame rate, the Low preset at 1080p offers 159 FPS average, which is nearly double the High preset's performance and provides the smoothest possible experience for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the only configuration that maintains an average above 60 FPS, achieving 76 FPS with a minimum of 65 FPS. This makes it the recommended choice for 1440p gaming, as it stays comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 1440p averages 58 FPS, which is close to playable but may experience noticeable dips in demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 43 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for smooth gameplay.

For 4K resolution, no preset achieves a playable frame rate. The Low preset averages 54 FPS, which is the highest at this resolution, but the Medium preset's minimum of 35 FPS indicates potential stuttering. The Ultra preset at 4K averages 23 FPS, which is not recommended for any gameplay scenario. Based on the data, players should either stick to 1440p with Medium settings or 1080p with High or Ultra settings, depending on their preference for visual quality versus frame rate. The Ultra preset at 1080p, averaging 66 FPS, provides the highest visual fidelity while maintaining a respectable frame rate.