Hitman 2

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a robust, high-refresh-rate experience in Hitman 2, but the data reveals a clear shift in system bottleneck as resolution climbs. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 217.5 FPS, indicating that the CPU and GPU are both operating with significant headroom. Moving to 1440p Low drops the average to 138.6 FPS, a substantial reduction that still leaves plenty of performance for competitive play. At 4K Low, the frame rate falls to 73 FPS, which is a steep decline from the 1080p figure, showcasing how the pixel fill rate begins to dominate the workload.

The scaling pattern becomes more pronounced when examining the High preset. At 1080p, the average is 127.9 FPS, which drops to 81.8 FPS at 1440p and further to 42.6 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 36%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is about 48%. This accelerating decline indicates that the RX 6800 XT is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the GPU's shader and memory throughput are being saturated. The Ultra preset tells a similar story, with 93.7 FPS at 1080p falling to 58.6 FPS at 1440p and 32.4 FPS at 4K. These results confirm that while the i7-12700K is strong enough to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, the RX 6800 XT cannot maintain playable 4K Ultra performance in this title, as the 32.4 FPS average falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows that Hitman 2 scales predictably with resolution, but the rate of decline is steeper than what a purely GPU-bound scenario would suggest. From 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the average FPS drops from 217.5 to 138.6, a reduction of approximately 36%. From 1440p Low to 4K Low, the average drops to 73 FPS, a further reduction of roughly 47%. This pattern indicates that the RX 6800 XT's compute resources—specifically its 4608 shading units and 128 ROPs—are being tasked heavily as the pixel count increases.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens at higher resolutions, which is typical for a GPU-limited scenario. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 123.8 FPS (217.5 vs. 93.7), while at 4K the difference narrows to 40.6 FPS (73 vs. 32.4). This compression suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so constrained by fill rate that even reducing settings to Low cannot fully compensate for the resolution overhead. The data implies that for a smooth 60 FPS experience at 4K, the user would need to select the Medium preset, which yields 56.3 FPS, or accept the Low preset's 73 FPS. At 1440p, the High preset at 81.8 FPS is the sweet spot for balanced visuals and performance, while 1080p users can comfortably enable Ultra for 93.7 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a chip designated as Navi 21, manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. The GPU features 4608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 128 render output units, which are critical for Hitman 2's crowd and lighting effects. The core clocks are rated at 1825 MHz base and 2250 MHz boost, with a game clock of 2015 MHz, and the memory runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory provides a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s, which is ample for the game's textures at 4K, but the fill rate appears to be the limiting factor in the Ultra preset.

The GPU's benchmark scores show it ranks in the 87th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49982. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A550M (avg score 49737, delta 0.5%) and the NVIDIA RTX A1000 (avg score 50826, delta -1.7%). In Hitman 2, the GPU's performance at 1080p High (127.9 FPS) demonstrates that it is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions, as the CPU can easily feed it. However, the 4K Ultra average of 32.4 FPS is a clear indication that the 512.0 GB/s bandwidth and 288.0 GPixel/s pixel rate are insufficient for the highest settings at 4K. The data suggests that the RX 6800 XT's 16 GB frame buffer is not the issue; rather, the raw compute throughput is being exhausted.

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 features 25 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. The CPU's benchmark results are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241 and a single-core score of 4128, placing it in the 89th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (avg score 35802, delta -0.3%) and the Intel Core i7-13700T (avg score 35468, delta 0.6%).

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is evident at lower resolutions where the frame rates are high. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 217.5 FPS, which is a result of the i7-12700K's high single-thread performance, as the game is not heavily multi-threaded. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and passmark single-thread score of 4013 confirm that the CPU can process game logic quickly. However, the data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution, as the FPS drops consistently with resolution increases. The 12 cores and 20 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks, but Hitman 2 does not appear to utilize more than a few threads effectively, given the linear scaling of FPS with resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks 654th out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places it in the upper third of all configurations, which is a strong showing given the age of the game and the hardware. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's high single-thread performance and the GPU's substantial compute capabilities. The i7-12700K's average benchmark score of 35684 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, which scores 35802 (delta -0.3%), indicating that the CPU is not a differentiator in this pairing.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 49982 is slightly below the NVIDIA RTX A1000's 50826 (delta -1.7%), but the RX 6800 XT's performance in Hitman 2 is more dependent on the game's specific rendering paths. The combo's rank of 654 suggests that there are many faster configurations, but also many slower ones, and the data shows that the system is well-matched for 1440p gaming. At 1440p High, the 81.8 FPS average is above the 60 FPS threshold, and at 1080p Ultra, the 93.7 FPS average is smooth. The rank does not account for the fact that the game is from 2018, and newer titles may shift the balance, but within Hitman 2, this combo is a solid mid-upper tier performer.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The combo produces an average of 127.9 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K Ultra settings in Hitman 2?

A: No, the average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is only 32.4 FPS, which is not smooth for most players. The Medium preset yields 56.3 FPS, and the Low preset yields 73 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance?

A: The i7-12700K scores 4128 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 29241 in multi-core, showing a strong single-thread result that is critical for Hitman 2's game logic.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RX 6800 XT ranks in the 87th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 49982, placing it above most GPUs in the database.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1440p High settings?

A: At 1440p High, the average FPS is 81.8, which is lower than the 1080p High result of 127.9 FPS. The drop indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as resolution increases.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 654th out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the upper third of all configurations.