Hitman 2

The pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 in Hitman 2 presents a fascinating study in bottleneck dynamics. The data shows a system where the GPU’s immense raw power is frequently constrained by the CPU’s older architecture, yet the combination still delivers playable results across most settings. The measured FPS reveals a clear narrative: at lower resolutions, the CPU dominates the performance ceiling, while at higher resolutions, the GPU takes over, but not without significant performance penalties that expose the limits of this specific hardware pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 on High settings shows a dramatic drop in average FPS from 128 to 44, a reduction of 65.6%. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 3080 is being pushed to its absolute limits at 4K, where its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are heavily taxed. At 1080p, the system achieves 128 FPS on High, but this number is likely capped by the i5-9400’s six cores and six threads, as the GPU has significant headroom left. The 1440p High result of 82 FPS sits almost exactly midway between the two extremes, suggesting a balanced workload where neither component is fully saturated.

When comparing the Low preset, the resolution scaling pattern becomes even more telling. The 1080p Low average of 214 FPS is exceptionally high, and the drop to 145 FPS at 1440p Low (a 32.2% decrease) is less severe than the High preset’s 35.9% drop between those same resolutions. However, the 4K Low result of 77 FPS represents a 46.9% decrease from 1440p Low, which is substantially steeper than the High preset’s 46.3% drop from 1440p to 4K. This suggests that at Low settings, the GPU becomes the limiting factor much sooner, as the CPU is no longer the primary bottleneck, allowing the RTX 3080’s rendering workload to scale more directly with pixel count.

The Medium preset data reinforces this analysis, with 1080p hitting 170 FPS, 1440p at 109 FPS, and 4K at 58 FPS. The Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling, dropping from 95 FPS at 1080p to 61 FPS at 1440p and finally to 32 FPS at 4K. This 66.3% reduction from 1080p to 4K on Ultra indicates that the combination of high-resolution rendering and maximum graphical features overwhelms the system, likely due to both GPU compute limitations and the CPU’s inability to feed the GPU efficiently at lower resolutions where the Ultra preset’s additional draw calls and physics calculations become CPU-bound.

GPU Role

The RTX 3080’s specifications paint a picture of a high-end graphics card that is somewhat mismatched with a mid-range 2018-era CPU. Its base clock of 1440 MHz and boost clock of 1710 MHz, combined with 8704 shading units, provide massive compute capabilities, evidenced by its 29.77 TFLOPS FP32 performance. The 10 GB of GDDR6X memory running at 19 Gbps effective across a 320-bit bus yields 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for 4K textures. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the system only manages 32 FPS, suggesting that even this substantial bandwidth is insufficient for the game’s highest fidelity settings at that resolution.

Interestingly, the GPU’s benchmark percentile of 68 versus all GPUs places it in the upper tier, yet its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA P106-100 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, which have similar average benchmark scores. This is a statistical anomaly, as those cards are vastly different in real-world performance, but the data shows the RTX 3080’s avgBenchmarkScore of 23172 is only 0.3% lower than the P106-100’s 23249. In Hitman 2 specifically, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced at 4K, where the 44 FPS High result shows the card is working hard, but the 4K Low result of 77 FPS demonstrates that when the CPU bottleneck is removed, the GPU can still deliver respectable frame rates.

The VRAM usage is another critical factor. With 10 GB available, the game at 4K Ultra likely approaches or exceeds this limit, causing potential stuttering or texture swapping, which explains the 32 FPS average. The 4K Medium result of 58 FPS with a minimum of 49 FPS shows more stability, suggesting that Medium settings keep VRAM usage within comfortable bounds. The GPU’s 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores contribute to its modern feature set, but Hitman 2, released in 2018, likely does not leverage these advanced features heavily, meaning the card’s raw rasterization power is what drives these results.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its architecture, Coffee Lake, dates to 2018, and its benchmark data shows it sits at the 47th percentile versus all CPUs. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 6629 and single-core score of 935 indicate moderate performance, with the avgBenchmarkScore of 2254 placing it nearly identical to rivals like the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, -0.2% delta) and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, 0.4% delta). This CPU is clearly not a high-end part, and its six threads without hyper-threading limit its ability to handle heavily threaded workloads.

In Hitman 2, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p. The 214 FPS Low result is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame output, as the GPU could theoretically render many more frames at this low settings preset. The 128 FPS High result at 1080p shows a significant drop from Low, indicating that the increased graphical settings add CPU overhead that further constrains performance. The 95 FPS Ultra result at 1080p reinforces this, as the additional draw calls and AI calculations for stealth gameplay tax the six cores heavily. The 4.10 GHz boost clock helps with single-threaded performance, which is crucial for Hitman 2’s game logic, but the lack of additional threads means that background tasks or complex scenes can cause frame drops.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR4 in dual-channel configuration with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth is adequate but not exceptional. The 9 MB of shared L3 cache is a modest amount, and the 64 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 cache per core are typical for this generation. The data suggests that at 1440p, the CPU workload decreases relative to the GPU, as the 145 FPS Low result shows the CPU is still capable of high frame rates, but the 82 FPS High result indicates that the GPU is now becoming more limiting. The 4K results show the CPU is largely irrelevant, as the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, with even the Low preset only achieving 77 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank in game is 1115 out of 3711 tested combinations, placing it in the 70th percentile of all system pairings. This is a solid ranking, indicating that this CPU-GPU pairing performs better than most tested configurations, despite the obvious bottleneck at lower resolutions. The RTX 3080’s high-end nature boosts the overall ranking, even though the i5-9400 holds it back in CPU-bound scenarios. The ranking suggests that for a 1080p or 1440p gamer, this combo is overkill in the GPU department but still delivers excellent results, while for 4K gaming, the pairing is more sensible, as the GPU becomes the primary determinant of performance.

Comparing to other combos in the database, this system’s rank of 1115 means it outperforms roughly 70% of all tested pairings. This is likely due to the RTX 3080’s sheer power, which can compensate for the CPU’s limitations in most scenarios. However, the data shows that the combo’s performance in Hitman 2 is not uniformly strong. At 1080p Ultra, 95 FPS is respectable but not exceptional for a card of this caliber, while at 4K Ultra, 32 FPS is barely playable, indicating that even this high-end GPU cannot overcome the game’s demands at maximum settings. The ranking reflects a balance: the combo is powerful enough to rank high, but the CPU’s age prevents it from being a top-tier performer.

The nearest rivals to the CPU in synthetic benchmarks, such as the Intel Core i7-10710U with a 0.3% higher avgScore, suggest that the i5-9400 is roughly equivalent to a low-power mobile chip in terms of overall CPU capability. This is telling, as the 10710U has 6 cores and 12 threads but lower clocks, while the i5-9400 has fewer threads but higher clocks. In a game like Hitman 2, which may not scale perfectly with threads, the i5-9400’s higher clock speed could be an advantage, but the data shows that the CPU still becomes a bottleneck at 1080p, limiting the RTX 3080’s potential.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, achieving an average of 109 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS. This ensures smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes, and the 1440p resolution provides a significant visual upgrade over 1080p without the steep performance cost of 4K. For players with 1080p monitors, the High preset at 128 FPS is an excellent choice, as it provides good visuals while maintaining high frame rates that are well above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 1080p, yielding 95 FPS, is also viable, but the performance gain from High to Ultra may not justify the 25.8% drop in frame rate.

For 4K displays, the Low preset at 77 FPS is the only truly playable option, as the Medium preset drops to 58 FPS and High to 44 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced stealth gameplay but could feel less responsive. The 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS is not recommended for any serious play, as the minimum frame rate would likely dip below 30 FPS in action sequences. The data suggests that the optimal experience for this combo is 1440p Medium or High, as the system can maintain high frame rates while the GPU is sufficiently utilized. The 1080p Low result of 214 FPS is only useful for competitive play or benchmarking, as the visual quality is significantly reduced.

The Medium preset’s minimum FPS data across all resolutions (144 at 1080p, 92 at 1440p, 49 at 4K) shows that this setting provides the most consistent frame pacing, which is crucial for a stealth game where precise timing is important. The Low and High presets lack minimum FPS data, but the Medium preset’s stability makes it the safest recommendation for a smooth experience. Ultimately, the best settings depend on the player’s resolution and refresh rate, but the data clearly indicates that Medium at 1440p is the sweet spot for this hardware combination.

FAQ

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

A: At 4K, the system can achieve 77 FPS on Low settings, but this drops to 58 FPS on Medium and 44 FPS on High. The Ultra preset only manages 32 FPS, so smooth 4K gameplay requires Low or Medium settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary limiter. The Low preset achieves 214 FPS, but the High preset drops to 128 FPS, indicating that the i5-9400 cannot feed the RTX 3080 enough frames at higher settings.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 1440p offers the best balance, with 145 FPS on Low, 109 FPS on Medium, 82 FPS on High, and 61 FPS on Ultra. This resolution provides high frame rates while allowing the GPU to work effectively.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested systems?

A: It ranks 1115 out of 3711 total combos, placing it in the 70th percentile. This indicates it performs better than most tested pairings, despite the CPU being relatively old.

Q: Is the RTX 3080’s 10 GB VRAM sufficient for Hitman 2?

A: The 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS suggests that VRAM may be a limiting factor at maximum settings, but the 4K Medium result of 58 FPS indicates that 10 GB is adequate for Medium settings at 4K.

Q: What settings provide the most stable frame rate?

A: The Medium preset shows the most consistent performance, with minimum FPS of 144 at 1080p, 92 at 1440p, and 49 at 4K. This preset avoids the severe frame drops that might occur at Ultra settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data for this combo is detailed across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 214 FPS, which is the highest of any configuration tested. The Medium preset averages 170 FPS with a minimum of 144 and maximum of 195, providing a wide performance range. High settings yield 128 FPS, while Ultra drops to 95 FPS. These results show that at 1080p, the system is capable of very high frame rates, but the CPU limits the upper ceiling.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 145 FPS, a significant 32.2% decrease from 1080p Low. The Medium preset averages 109 FPS with a minimum of 92 and maximum of 125, which is still highly playable. High settings achieve 82 FPS, and Ultra drops to 61 FPS. The 1440p results demonstrate a more balanced workload, with the GPU becoming more involved in the rendering process.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops are substantial. The Low preset averages 77 FPS, which is playable but far from the 214 FPS seen at 1080p. Medium averages 58 FPS with a minimum of 49 and maximum of 67, showing the first signs of significant frame inconsistency. High settings drop to 44 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 32 FPS. The 4K data clearly shows that the RTX 3080 is the limiting factor at this resolution, and the system cannot maintain high frame rates at maximum settings. The minimum FPS data for Medium across all resolutions (144, 92, 49) provides the most complete picture of frame pacing, showing that the system becomes less stable as resolution increases.