Hitman 2

The pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 presents a stark generational and performance-class contrast. The data for Hitman 2 shows a system where the GPU is clearly the dominant force, yet the older six-core processor still manages to hold the experience together at higher resolutions. This analysis explores how the CPU's dated architecture interacts with a flagship Blackwell GPU to produce the measured frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a Coffee Lake Refresh part, a 14nm design that was end-of-life by the time the RTX 5080 launched. It brings 6 cores and 6 threads to the table, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. In the context of Hitman 2, a game that can utilize multiple threads for AI, physics, and scene management, this configuration is functional but not expansive. The lack of hyper-threading means the CPU relies on its physical cores alone, and its 9 MB of shared L3 cache is modest by modern standards. The benchmark data shows a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935, placing the chip in the 47th percentile of all CPUs.

This percentile ranking is crucial. It suggests that in a pure compute scenario, the i5-9400 is an average performer, sitting right in the middle of the pack. Its nearest rivals in the database, such as the Intel Core i7-10710U (0.3% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% faster), are within a hair's breadth of its average benchmark score of 2254. This tells us that while the CPU is not a bottleneck in the traditional sense of being a weak point, it is also not a source of strength. It provides just enough processing power to feed the RTX 5080 without becoming the primary limiter at the highest resolutions, but its age is a factor.

The question the data raises is how much the CPU is holding back the GPU at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU has to work harder to prepare frames for the GPU. The measured FPS at 1080p Ultra is 131, which is high, but not as high as the GPU's raw potential might suggest. This points to the i5-9400's six threads being a ceiling for Hitman 2's engine when the GPU is not the limiting factor. The architecture's lack of modern instruction set optimizations and its lower memory bandwidth (42.7 GB/s) compared to newer platforms could be contributing to this plateau. The data implies the CPU is sufficient for a smooth experience at 1440p and 4K, where the GPU workload is much heavier, but it caps the absolute maximum frame rate at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-9400 compare to its closest rivals in the benchmark database?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, scores 2259, which is 0.2% higher. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, which is 0.4% lower. This puts the i5-9400 in a very tight performance cluster with these chips.

Q: What is the RTX 5080's performance percentile, and what does that signify?

A: The RTX 5080 is in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 56083. This places it significantly above the median, indicating it is a high-end part. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE, is 2.2% faster, while the AMD Radeon 8060S is 0.6% slower.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the system achieve its highest average FPS?

A: The highest average FPS recorded in the measured data is 214, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is followed closely by 192 at 1080p Medium and 184 at 2560x1440 with Low settings.

Q: What is the most demanding configuration tested for this combo?

A: The most demanding configuration is 3840x2160 (4K) with Ultra settings, which yields an average FPS of 45. This is the lowest average frame rate in the dataset and is a significant drop from the 61 FPS seen at 4K High.

Q: How does the system rank against all other tested combos in this game?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 424th out of 3711 total tested combinations in Hitman 2. This places it in the top 12% of all systems tested for this title.

Q: What are the key architectural details of the RTX 5080 that influence its performance?

A: The RTX 5080 is built on a 5nm process at TSMC and features the GB203 chip with a transistor count of 45,600 million. It has 10752 shading units and 84 RT cores, with a boost clock of 2617 MHz and a memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s across a 256-bit bus.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable pattern of scaling as resolution increases. The system's performance drops consistently from 1080p to 4K across all settings, but the rate of that drop is telling. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 174 at 1080p to 114 at 1440p, a 34.5% decrease. Moving from 1440p to 4K High, the FPS drops from 114 to 61, a 46.5% decrease. This steepening curve indicates that the GPU is becoming increasingly dominant as the pixel count rises.

This scaling behavior suggests that at 1080p, the system is partially limited by the CPU. The jump from 1080p to 1440p at High settings is substantial because the GPU has to render more pixels, but the CPU's frame preparation time remains relatively constant. At 4K, the GPU is fully saturated, and the CPU's influence wanes. The difference between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings is from 214 to 184 FPS, a 14% drop, while the drop from 1440p Low to 4K Low is from 184 to 107, a 41.8% drop.

The data implies that the RTX 5080 is the limiting component at 4K, and the i5-9400 is the limiting component at 1080p. The sweet spot for this pairing appears to be 1440p, where the GPU is working hard enough to take the lead role but the CPU is not creating a significant bottleneck. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, dropping from 131 FPS at 1080p to 84 at 1440p and finally to 45 at 4Kcars. This highlights the massive workload increase that the highest settings impose on the GPU, which is the system's primary performance driver at that resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system is remarkably fast. Low settings produce an average of 214 FPS, Medium 192 FPS, High 174 FPS, and Ultra 131 FPS. The Medium preset has a min FPS of 164 and a max of 221, showing a wide variance but a consistently high floor. This resolution is where the CPU's six threads are likely working at their limit, as the GPU is never fully stressed.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance is still excellent. Low settings average 184 FPS, Medium 150 FPS, High 114 FPS, and Ultra 84 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a min of 128 FPS and a max of 173 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 34 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 30 FPS. This indicates that the Ultra preset is significantly more demanding than High, likely due to increased draw distances and shadow quality.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 107 FPS, which is still very playable. Medium settings drop to 80 FPS with a min of 68 and a max of 92. High settings average 61 FPS, which is the threshold for smooth 60 Hz gameplay. Ultra settings drop to 45 FPS, which is below the ideal for a smooth experience on a high-refresh-rate display. The scaling from High to Ultra at 4K is a 26.2% performance loss, which is a significant cost for the visual fidelity gains.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the i5-9400 and RTX 5080 ranks 424th out of 3711 tested combos in Hitman 2. This is a strong showing, placing the system in the top 11.4% of all configurations tested for this game. The rank reflects the raw power of the RTX 5080, which dominates the performance output. The CPU's lower percentile rank (47th) is offset by the GPU's high percentile (87th), resulting in a combined ranking that is higher than the CPU would achieve on its own.

This ranking suggests that while the CPU is not a top-tier part, it is not holding the system back enough to prevent a high overall placement. The data shows that the combo outperforms the vast majority of systems, which likely include older or less powerful GPUs. The rank implies that for a game like Hitman 2, the GPU is the primary driver of the system's overall performance class. The CPU is sufficient to enable the GPU to perform near its potential at higher resolutions, where the system's ranking is likely determined. The 424th rank out of 3711 confirms the GPU's capability, but it also leaves room for improvement; a newer, faster CPU would likely push this combo higher in the rankings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for the best experience. For a target of 60 FPS or higher, the Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it averages 131 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 84 FPS, which is still smooth for most displays. At 4K, Ultra averages 45 FPS, which is not ideal for a consistent 60 FPS experience.

The High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1080p, it averages 174 FPS, at 1440p it averages 114 FPS, and at 4K it averages 61 FPS. This makes High the recommended preset for 4K gaming, as it is the only setting that consistently stays above the 60 FPS threshold at that resolution. The Medium preset is a good fallback for 4K, offering an average of 80 FPS and a min of 68 FPS, which provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

For players with high-refresh-rate monitors at 1440p, the Medium preset (150 FPS average) or High preset (114 FPS average) are both excellent choices. The data suggests that the Ultra preset's visual gains over High are not worth the substantial performance cost, particularly at 1440p and 4K. The Low preset is only recommended for players seeking the absolute maximum frame rate, such as in competitive scenarios, where it delivers 214 FPS at 1080p and 184 FPS at 1440p. The best overall experience is the High preset at 1440p, which balances a high frame rate with high visual fidelity.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the undisputed performance leader in this pairing. It is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU built on a 5nm process at TSMC. The chip, designated GB203, contains 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die. It features 10752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs. The GPU is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a massive 960.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Its boost clock is 2617 MHz, and it has a TDP of 360 W.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's role is to render the detailed environments and lighting effects. The data shows that the RTX 5080 is the primary limiting factor at 4K resolution. The difference between 4K High and 4K Ultra is 16 FPS (61 to 45), which is a direct result of the GPU's workload increasing with the higher preset. The GPU's high memory bandwidth is particularly beneficial for streaming textures in a game like Hitman 2, which features large, detailed levels.

The GPU's benchmark scores are impressive, with a Passmark G3D score of 36565 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 255450. Its 87th percentile ranking confirms its high-end status. The data indicates that the RTX 5080 is more than capable of handling Hitman 2 at high settings, and its performance is only truly challenged at 4K Ultra. The GPU's 16 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, even at 4K, which means the bottleneck at that resolution is purely computational, not memory-related. The RTX 5080 is the star of this combo, providing the vast majority of the system's gaming prowess.