Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with Intel Core i7-12700K + AMD Radeon RX 570

The pairing of Intel's 12-core Core i7-12700K with AMD's Polaris-based Radeon RX 570 produces one of the lowest-ranked combinations in the Hitman 2 benchmark database, sitting at rank 1747 out of 1795 tested combos. This is a stark mismatch: the CPU is a top-tier processor with an average benchmark score of 35684 and an 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs, while the GPU, with an average score of 30158 and a 74th percentile, is drastically underpowered for the game's demands. The data reveals a system where the processor's potential is almost entirely wasted, as the graphics card becomes the definitive bottleneck across all tested resolutions and settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best framerate this combo achieves in Hitman 2?

A: The highest average framerate recorded is 71.6 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At the same resolution with Ultra settings, the average drops to 26.4 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 570 compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The RX 570's average benchmark score is 30158. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, scores 30109, which is a delta of 0.2%, meaning the RX 570 is essentially tied with it. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT scores 30097 (0.2% delta), and the NVIDIA Tesla M60 scores 29969 (0.6% delta).

Q: What is the best settings preset to use at 2560x1440?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields an average of 43.1 FPS, which is the only playable option. Medium drops to 31.6 FPS, High to 24.7 FPS, and Ultra to 16.5 FPS.

Q: Is the Core i7-12700K a high-performing CPU?

A: Yes, the Core i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35684, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 29241 and single-core score is 4128.

Q: What is the memory configuration of the RX 570?

A: The RX 570 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a memory clock of 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) and a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s.

Q: How much faster is the combo at 1080p Low compared to 4K Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the average framerate is 71.6 FPS, while at 3840x2160 Low, it is 26.3 FPS. This represents a 172% increase in framerate when dropping from 4K to 1080p at Low settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1747 out of 1795 places this configuration in the bottom 3% of all tested systems for Hitman 2. This ranking is not surprising given the extreme disparity between the components. The CPU's percentile rank of 89 indicates a processor that outperforms the vast majority of installed CPUs, yet the system still lands near the very bottom of the game's performance leaderboard. This is a clear indication that the RX 570 is the sole limiting factor. The GPU's 74th percentile ranking, while not terrible on its own, is insufficient for a game like Hitman 2 that demands significant graphics processing power. The data suggests that even a modest GPU upgrade would catapult this system hundreds of places up the ranking, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed a more capable graphics card. The delta between the combo's rank and the CPU's percentile proves that the processor is not the constraint; the GPU is.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570, built on the Polaris 20 chip with a 14nm process, has a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, running at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's compute capabilities include 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, resulting in a pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s. In Hitman 2, these specifications translate to severe performance limitations. The 4 GB VRAM is likely a critical bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the game's textures and geometry can exceed this capacity, causing stuttering or reduced framerates. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 8.9, which is unplayable. The GPU's FP32 performance of 5.095 TFLOPS is simply not enough to handle the game's rendering load at high settings, and the benchmark results confirm this, with even 1080p High averaging only 42.6 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the only settings preset that provides a consistently playable experience is Low, and only at 1080p. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 71.6 FPS average, which is smooth. Moving to Medium at 1080p drops the average to 49.5 FPS, which is still playable but below the 60 FPS threshold. High at 1080p averages 42.6 FPS, and Ultra is a slideshow at 26.4 FPS. At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only viable option, with 43.1 FPS average. Medium at 1440p yields 31.6 FPS, and anything higher is not recommended. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only produce 26.3 FPS average, which is not smooth. The recommendation is clear: for a playable experience, users should stick to 1080p with Low or possibly Medium settings. For competitive play where framerate is paramount, 1080p Low is the only sensible choice. The gap between Low and Medium at 1080p is 22.1 FPS, indicating that the Medium preset imposes a significant performance cost that may not be worth the visual upgrade.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the framerate scales predictably with settings. Low averages 71.6 FPS, Medium 49.5 FPS, High 42.6 FPS, and Ultra 26.4 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 22.1 FPS, from Medium to High is 6.9 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 16.2 FPS. This pattern suggests that the Medium preset strikes the worst balance, as it loses significant performance over Low without delivering the visual fidelity of High. Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers decrease substantially. Low averages 43.1 FPS, Medium 31.6 FPS, High 24.7 FPS, and Ultra 16.5 FPS. The resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings results in a 28.5 FPS drop, which is a 39.8% reduction. At 3840x2160, the performance is mostly unplayable. Low averages 26.3 FPS, Medium 17.7 FPS, High 14 FPS, and Ultra 8.9 FPS. The difference between 1440p Low and 4K Low is 16.8 FPS, showing that the GPU is severely overburdened at 4K. The data shows a consistent pattern: the RX 570's performance degrades rapidly as resolution increases, with the 4K results being unusable for any serious gaming.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It has a 25 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its benchmark scores are impressive: Cinebench R23 multicore of 29241, single-core of 4128, and Geekbench multicore of 13892. In the context of Hitman 2, this CPU is massively overqualified. The game is not heavily multithreaded, and the i7-12700K's single-core performance, as evidenced by its Passmark single-thread score of 4013, is more than sufficient to feed the RX 570. The CPU's percentile rank of 89 and its average score of 35684, which is nearly equal to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35802, -0.3% delta), indicate that the processor is performing as expected. The bottleneck is unequivocally the GPU. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and max-thread score of 9979 show that the CPU has plenty of compute headroom, but none of it can be utilized because the GPU cannot keep up with the game's rendering demands.

Resolution Scaling

The framerate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the classic signature of a GPU-bound system. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 71.6 at 1080p to 43.1 at 1440p (a 39.8% drop) and then to 26.3 at 4K (a 39% drop from 1440p). This consistent proportional decline is indicative of the GPU being the limiting factor, as increasing resolution directly increases the pixel count and thus the GPU's workload. The CPU's role is unchanged across resolutions, so the scaling pattern is entirely attributable to the graphics card. At Medium settings, the drops are from 49.5 to 31.6 to 17.7, showing a similar pattern. The 4K results are particularly telling: the 8.9 FPS at Ultra shows that the GPU is completely overwhelmed, rendering the game in near-slideshow fashion. The data implies that any attempt to play Hitman 2 at 4K with this GPU is futile, regardless of settings. The limiting component is unambiguously the RX 570, as the i7-12700K's performance is constant and its capabilities far exceed what the game requires. The resolution scaling data serves as a clear directive: this combo is only viable at 1080p, and even then, only with Low or Medium settings.