Hitman 2

Hitman 2, a stealth title from 2018, presents an interesting test for this pairing of a six-core Intel Core i5-9400 with the high-end NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. The benchmark data places this specific combination at rank 321 out of 1795 tested combos, positioning it in the top 18% of all systems evaluated. This is a strong showing, but the ranking reveals a system where the GPU is clearly the dominant force, with the CPU often lagging behind in the measured results. The data suggests that while the graphics card is capable of delivering very high frame rates, the overall experience is frequently capped by the processor, particularly at lower resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 321 out of 1795 tested systems places this configuration firmly in the upper echelon of gaming performance. While it is not at the very top, this percentile indicates that the pairing delivers a level of performance that surpasses the vast majority of tested combinations. The data implies that this system is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming, though the specific bottleneck shifts depending on the resolution. The high rank is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's raw power. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER sits in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, a figure that reflects its position as a top-tier part. In contrast, the i5-9400 sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, squarely in the middle of the pack. This disparity in relative performance is the defining characteristic of this combo, suggesting that the processor is the limiting factor in many scenarios, even if the overall rank remains high.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the powerhouse of this configuration. Its specifications are formidable, featuring 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, which provides a memory bandwidth of 672.3 GB/s. This large memory pool and high bandwidth are crucial for handling the detailed environments of Hitman 2 at higher resolutions without stuttering. The GPU's clock speeds are also notable, with a base clock of 2340 MHz and a boost clock of 2610 MHz. This Ada Lovelace architecture part is built on a 5 nm process at TSMC and contains 45,900 million transistors. In the context of this game, the GPU's capability is evident in the measured frame rates. Even at 4K with High settings, it manages an average of 56.5 FPS, and at 1440p with High settings, it pushes well past 60 FPS to 99.3. The data clearly shows that the GPU is more than capable of handling the game's graphical load, providing a smooth experience at most settings. The GPU's average benchmark score is 48704, and it holds the 86th percentile among all GPUs, confirming its high-end status.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution. For 4K, the High preset offers the best balance, delivering an average of 56.5 FPS, which is playable and visually rich. The Medium preset at 4K drops to 70.7 FPS, but the visual quality loss might not be worth the 25% performance gain. The Ultra preset at 4K is the most demanding, yielding an average of 40.9 FPS, which is below the smooth threshold for most players. At 1440p, the High preset is the clear winner, achieving 99.3 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 132.6 FPS is also viable, but High offers a substantial visual upgrade for a relatively small performance cost. The Ultra preset at 1440p delivers 77 FPS, which is still very playable. For 1080p, the Medium preset at 193.4 FPS and the High preset at 156.9 FPS both provide incredibly smooth experiences. The data suggests that High is the recommended target across all resolutions, as it consistently provides a high frame rate while maintaining visual fidelity. The Low preset, while offering the highest frame rates, is typically unnecessary given the performance headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of performance scaling. At 1080p, the frame rates are exceptionally high, with the Low preset reaching 214 FPS, Medium at 193.4 FPS, High at 156.9 FPS, and Ultra at 115.9 FPS. Moving to 1440p, we see a significant drop, but performance remains strong: Low at 180.5 FPS, Medium at 132.6 FPS, High at 99.3 FPS, and Ultra at 77 FPS. At 4K, the demands on the GPU become much more apparent. The Low preset still manages a respectable 95.4 FPS, but the Medium preset drops to 70.7 FPS, and High falls to 56.5 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the most demanding, with an average of 40.9 FPS. This progression shows a clear pattern: the gap between the Low and Ultra presets widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 98.1 FPS, while at 4K, that difference is 54.5 FPS. This indicates that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while at 1080p, the CPU is more likely to limit the maximum achievable frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K reveals important insights about the system's bottleneck. At the Low preset, moving from 1080p (214 FPS) to 1440p (180.5 FPS) is a 15.7% decrease, and then to 4K (95.4 FPS) is a 47.1% decrease from 1440p. This steep drop at 4K indicates that the GPU is being heavily taxed. However, at the High preset, the scaling is different. The drop from 1080p (156.9 FPS) to 1440p (99.3 FPS) is 36.7%, and from 1440p to 4K (56.5 FPS) is 43.1%. The smaller relative drop from 1440p to 4K at High settings, compared to Low, suggests that the CPU is starting to become a limiting factor at 1440p High. The i5-9400, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, is likely struggling to feed the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER enough data at these frame rates. This is a classic sign of a CPU bottleneck: at lower resolutions, the GPU is waiting on the CPU, but at higher resolutions, the GPU's workload becomes so heavy that it becomes the primary limiting factor.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with 9 MB of shared L3 cache. Its performance in synthetic benchmarks shows it to be a mid-range part, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125. Its average benchmark score is 2305, which places it at the 50th percentile. In the context of Hitman 2, the CPU's role is significant, but it is clearly the weaker link in this pairing. The data from the measured FPS suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is limiting performance. For example, the jump from Medium (193.4 FPS) to Low (214 FPS) is only 20.6 FPS, which is a smaller gain than what the GPU is capable of delivering. This indicates that the CPU is hitting its ceiling around the 200 FPS mark. The i5-9400's lack of multi-threading (6 cores, 6 threads) may also contribute to this, as Hitman 2 can utilize more threads. The CPU's average benchmark score is 2305, putting it just 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i3-10305 and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Xeon E-2134, but 0.6% behind the Intel Core i7-8809G. This places it in a tight competitive group but far below the performance level of the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. Consequently, the CPU is the primary constraint on maximum frame rates, particularly at 1080p, while the GPU takes over as the limiting factor at 4K.