Hitman 2

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination sits at rank 835 out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. The CPU holds an 89th percentile ranking against all processors, while the GPU sits at the 72nd percentile against all graphics cards. This gap suggests the platform's overall game ranking is constrained more by the graphics card than the processor.

In raw compute terms, the RTX 3070's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, which trails by 0.9% in average benchmark score. The NVIDIA card also edges out the aging GeForce GTX 980 Ti by 1%, while the AMD FirePro S7150 leads by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X leads by 1.1%. These are tight margins; the RTX 3070 is essentially at parity with a cluster of mid-range cards, none of which separate themselves by more than a single percentage point.

On the CPU side, the i7-12700K's average benchmark score of 35684 puts it within 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, which scores 35802. The Intel Core i5-14500HX leads by 0.7%, while the Intel Core i7-13700T and Intel Core i7-13800H trail by 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively. The processor's 12 cores and 20 threads, combined with a 5.00 GHz boost clock, deliver strong multi-threaded headroom, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29241.

The measured FPS data confirms the rank. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 80.1 FPS, which is playable but not exceptional for a stealth title that rewards smooth camera panning. The combo's rank of 835 suggests many other pairings deliver higher frame rates at this settings level. However, the data indicates that this specific pairing is well-balanced for 1440p High, where it hits 70.1 FPS — a figure that aligns with the GPU's mid-tier positioning.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows point to High settings at 1440p as the sweet spot for this combo. At 2560x1440 High, the system delivers 70.1 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay in a stealth title where precision timing matters. The jump from High to Ultra at this resolution costs 20.3 FPS, dropping to 49.8 FPS — a significant penalty that undermines the fluidity needed for careful aiming and movement.

At 1080p, High settings yield 111 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. The data shows that Low settings at 1080p push the frame rate to 193.4 FPS, but the visual compromise is unnecessary when High already provides more than double the 60 FPS baseline. The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 147.4 FPS, which is also strong, but High adds visual fidelity without sacrificing playability.

For 4K users, the story changes dramatically. At 3840x2160 High, the combo manages only 38.6 FPS — below the 60 FPS threshold. Dropping to Medium at 4K improves this to 49.7 FPS, still short of smooth. Low settings at 4K reach 69.1 FPS, which is playable but represents a substantial visual downgrade. The data suggests that 4K is only viable on Low settings for this pairing, and even then, the frame rate is only marginally above the playable threshold.

The verdict is clear: for the best balance of visual quality and performance, 1440p High is the recommended configuration. It delivers 70.1 FPS, which is 40.7% faster than the 4K High result and only 9.9 FPS slower than the 1440p Medium result of 95.9 FPS — a small price to pay for the increased detail.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the combo produces 111 FPS at 1080p, 70.1 FPS at 1440p, and 38.6 FPS at 4K. This represents a 36.8% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 44.9% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern is steep and consistent, indicating that the RTX 3070 is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced. The 1080p Low result of 193.4 FPS drops to 124.1 FPS at 1440p (a 35.8% decrease) and then to 69.1 FPS at 4K (a 44.3% decrease from 1440p). The fact that Low settings at 4K cannot reach 70 FPS, while Low at 1080p approaches 200 FPS, points squarely at the GPU's pixel throughput limits rather than CPU constraints.

The CPU's role becomes evident when examining the 1080p Low result. At 193.4 FPS, the i7-12700K's 12 cores and 20 threads are sufficient to keep the GPU fed. The processor's 3DMark max threads score of 9979 and single-thread score of 1043 indicate strong per-core performance that avoids becoming a bottleneck even at high frame rates. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see the 1080p Low result plateau, but the data shows it scaling well above 1440p and 4K results.

The resolution scaling data confirms that Hitman 2 is heavily GPU-bound on this platform. The RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 1080p and 1440p but struggle to maintain frame rates at 4K, particularly at higher quality presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 193.4 FPS, Medium reaches 147.4 FPS, High hits 111 FPS, and Ultra drops to 80.1 FPS. The step from Medium to High costs 36.4 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra costs 30.9 FPS. All four presets are playable, with even the most demanding Ultra preset remaining well above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but the Ultra preset begins to struggle. Low settings deliver 124.1 FPS, Medium achieves 95.9 FPS, High reaches 70.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 49.8 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is 20.3 FPS, making Ultra the first preset to drop below 60 FPS at this resolution. Medium and Low both provide excellent headroom for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes substantially. Low settings produce 69.1 FPS, Medium delivers 49.7 FPS, High reaches 38.6 FPS, and Ultra manages only 27.6 FPS. Only the Low preset crosses the 60 FPS threshold, and even it does so by a slim margin of 9.1 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is nearly unplayable, delivering less than half the frame rate of the same preset at 1080p.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each resolution step halves the number of viable presets. At 1080p, all four presets are smooth. At 1440p, three of four are smooth. At 4K, only Low is smooth. This progressive degradation is characteristic of a GPU that is well-suited for mainstream resolutions but lacks the raw throughput for 4K gaming at high quality.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at all quality presets, but the 4K results suggest memory capacity or bandwidth constraints. At 4K Ultra, the card produces 27.6 FPS, which is a 65.6% reduction from the 1080p Ultra result of 80.1 FPS. This steep drop indicates that the GPU's pixel fill rate and memory subsystem are overwhelmed at higher resolutions.

The card's boost clock of 1725 MHz and base clock of 1500 MHz are modest by current standards, but the Ampere architecture's 5888 shading units provide substantial compute throughput. The FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS is adequate for Hitman 2's lighting and shadow calculations, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at 1440p High. The 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are present, though Hitman 2's DX12 implementation does not heavily leverage ray tracing in these measurements.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 28238 positions it just behind the AMD FirePro S7150 (28409, 0.6% ahead) and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X (28541, 1.1% ahead). It leads the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27985, 0.9% behind) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956, 1% behind). These tight margins suggest that the RTX 3070 is a mid-pack performer whose game-specific results will vary based on optimization.

The 8 GB memory size is the most likely constraint at 4K. The 69.1 FPS result at 4K Low, compared to 193.4 FPS at 1080p Low, shows a 64.3% reduction that cannot be explained by pixel count alone. The memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is being saturated by the higher resolution's increased texture and geometry data.

CPU Role

The i7-12700K's 12 cores and 20 threads, running at a 3.60 GHz base clock and 5.00 GHz boost clock, provide ample processing power for Hitman 2. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29241 and single-core score of 4128 indicate strong performance across both heavily threaded and lightly threaded workloads. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 confirms that the processor can handle the game's AI and physics calculations without bottlenecking.

The CPU's L3 cache of 25 MB shared across all cores is beneficial for Hitman 2's large, detailed levels. The game's stealth mechanics require frequent pathfinding and enemy awareness calculations, which benefit from the processor's high single-thread performance. The PassMark single-thread score of 4013 and the 3DMark 2-thread score of 2065 suggest that the CPU can maintain high frame rates even when the game's logic is running on a limited number of threads.

The nearest rival data shows the i7-12700K is closely matched with several other processors. It trails the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 by 0.3% (35802 vs 35684), leads the Intel Core i7-13700T by 0.6% (35468), trails the Intel Core i5-14500HX by 0.7% (35940), and leads the Intel Core i7-13800H by 0.8% (35416). These margins are small enough to be within run-to-run variance, meaning the CPU choice is unlikely to be the deciding factor in Hitman 2 performance.

The 1080p Low result of 193.4 FPS demonstrates the CPU's ability to feed the GPU at high frame rates. Even at this extreme, the processor does not become a bottleneck. The PassMark multithread score of 34404 and the 3DMark max threads score of 9979 indicate that the CPU has substantial headroom beyond what Hitman 2 requires.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hitman 2?

A: The data shows 2560x1440 High as the optimal configuration, delivering 70.1 FPS. This provides a 40.7% improvement over 4K High (38.6 FPS) while maintaining visual quality better than Medium at the same resolution (95.9 FPS).

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

A: Only at Low settings, where it achieves 69.1 FPS. Medium drops to 49.7 FPS, High falls to 38.6 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 27.6 FPS. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory appears to be the limiting factor at 4K.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 28238 is within 1.1% of all four nearest rivals. It leads the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT by 0.9% and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti by 1%, while trailing the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X by 1.1%.

Q: Is the i7-12700K a bottleneck in this game?

A: No. The 1080p Low result of 193.4 FPS shows the CPU can feed the GPU well beyond playable frame rates. The processor's single-thread score of 1043 and multicore score of 9979 in 3DMark indicate sufficient headroom.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Ultra and High at 1440p?

A: Ultra delivers 49.8 FPS while High achieves 70.1 FPS, a difference of 20.3 FPS. This 40.8% improvement makes High the recommended preset for smooth gameplay at 1440p.

Q: How does this combo's rank of 835 out of 1795 compare to its component percentiles?

A: The CPU's 89th percentile and GPU's 72nd percentile suggest the combo underperforms relative to the CPU's standing but aligns with the GPU's mid-tier positioning. The rank reflects the GPU-limited nature of Hitman 2's rendering demands.