Hitman 2

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The chip carries 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 25 MB L3 cache. Its memory controller supports both DDR4 and DDR5 across a dual-channel bus, and it connects to the platform via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 CPU lanes.

In synthetic testing, the processor scores 9,282 in 3DMark's 16-thread test and 9,983 in the max-thread test, indicating strong scaling across its physical and logical cores. The single-thread score of 1,043 in 3DMark and 4,091 in Cinebench R23 single-core suggest excellent per-core performance, which matters for a game like Hitman 2 that does not always utilize every available thread. The 20-thread count provides headroom for background tasks and the game's AI simulation, but the benchmark results show that the CPU is not the primary constraint at most settings.

The processor's average benchmark score of 35,355 places it at the 89th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the Intel Core i5-14400 trails by just 0.1%, the Intel Core i9-12900HX leads by 0.2%, the Intel Core i7-13800H trails by 0.2%, and the Intel Core i5-13600T leads by 0.3%. This means the 12700KF sits in a performance band where small architectural differences among mid-range and high-end chips yield nearly identical average results; the data shows no single competitor in this group holds a meaningful advantage.

For Hitman 2 specifically, the CPU's role becomes clear when looking at frame rates across resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 174.9 FPS, which is over 80% higher than the 4K Low result of 57.3 FPS. This wide spread indicates that at lower resolutions and settings, the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than at higher resolutions, where the GPU begins to dominate the workload. The 12-core, 20-thread configuration ensures that even in crowded scenes with multiple NPCs, the game's logic threads are unlikely to starve the rendering pipeline.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured FPS data spans four quality presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — across three resolutions. At 1080p, the progression is smooth: Low delivers 174.9 FPS, Medium drops to 127.8 FPS, High falls further to 96.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 75 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs roughly 27% performance, while the step from High to Ultra costs about 22%. All four presets at 1080p remain comfortably above 60 FPS, making the choice purely a matter of visual fidelity versus refresh rate headroom.

At 1440p, the same pattern holds but with tighter margins. Low yields 109.3 FPS, Medium 85.1 FPS, High 62.7 FPS, and Ultra 46.3 FPS. Here, High is the first preset to dip near the 60 FPS threshold, while Ultra falls below it. For a stealth game where precise timing matters, the data suggests Medium at 1440p provides a balanced experience — it stays well above 60 FPS while retaining most visual quality improvements over Low. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs 22.4 FPS, a 26% reduction, which may not be worth the marginal visual gains for many users.

At 4K, the situation inverts. Low delivers 57.3 FPS, Medium 45.5 FPS, High 34.8 FPS, and Ultra 27.6 FPS. No preset at 4K reaches 60 FPS, and even Low sits below that target. The data indicates that 4K gaming with this combo requires either accepting sub-60 FPS performance or lowering the resolution. For users prioritizing smoothness, 1440p Medium or 1080p High appear to be the sweet spots — both stay above 60 FPS while offering richer visuals than their lower-tier counterparts. The measured rows show no scenario where Ultra provides a playable experience at 4K, and even at 1440p Ultra falls short of 60 FPS.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound pattern. At Low settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 65.6 FPS (from 174.9 to 109.3), and the drop from 1440p to 4K is 52.0 FPS (from 109.3 to 57.3). The total reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low is 117.6 FPS, a 67% decrease. At High settings, the same journey goes from 96.4 FPS at 1080p to 62.7 FPS at 1440p to 34.8 FPS at 4K — a cumulative loss of 61.6 FPS, or 64% of the 1080p result.

These percentages are remarkably consistent across presets, which is the signature of a GPU-limited scenario. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates at 1080p would plateau regardless of resolution increases, and the percentage drops would be much larger. Instead, the data shows a nearly linear relationship between pixel count and frame rate: 4K has roughly four times the pixels of 1080p, and the FPS at 4K is roughly one-quarter to one-third of the 1080p value depending on preset. This indicates the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is doing the heavy lifting, and its rendering throughput determines the ceiling at each resolution.

The fact that even Low settings at 4K cannot reach 60 FPS further confirms the GPU-bound nature. Low settings reduce shading and texture work, which should alleviate GPU pressure, yet the 4K Low result of 57.3 FPS is still below the 60 FPS target. This suggests the GPU's raw fillrate and bandwidth — 165.2 GPixel/s pixel rate and 384.0 GB/s memory bandwidth — are the limiting factors at this resolution. The CPU's 3DMark scores remain unchanged regardless of resolution, so the performance drop is entirely attributable to the GPU's workload scaling with pixel count.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 998 out of 1,795 tested combos in Hitman 2. That places it just past the midpoint of the database, which is a notable finding given the individual components' strong benchmark positions. The CPU sits at the 89th percentile among all CPUs, and the GPU sits at the 77th percentile among all GPUs, yet their combined rank in this game is only average.

This discrepancy suggests that Hitman 2's performance characteristics do not reward the pair as highly as synthetic benchmarks would imply. The game may be sensitive to specific architectural traits — such as the GPU's 40 ray accelerators or the CPU's hybrid core layout — that do not translate directly into frame rate gains. The rank of 998 out of 1,795 means roughly 55% of tested combos outperform this pairing, and 45% perform worse. This is a middle-of-the-pack result, indicating that while neither component is weak, the combination does not unlock any special synergy in this title.

Compared to the nearest rival GPUs, the RX 6700 XT's average benchmark score of 33,721 is within 1.3% of the NVIDIA RTX A5000 and within 1% of the AMD Radeon RX 480. This tight clustering in synthetic tests does not necessarily predict in-game performance, and the combo rank reflects real-world measured FPS rather than theoretical scores. The data shows that users seeking higher ranks in Hitman 2 would need either a stronger GPU for 4K or a stronger CPU for 1080p high-refresh scenarios, though the current pairing remains viable for 1440p gaming.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 22 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process. It contains 17,200 million transistors on a 335 mm² die, with a transistor density of 51.3M per mm². The GPU operates at a base clock of 2321 MHz and a boost clock of 2581 MHz, with a game clock of 2424 MHz. Memory runs at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed across a 192-bit bus, yielding 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory, 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, 64 ROPs, and 40 ray accelerators.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 13.21 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 26.43 TFLOPS of FP16 performance (at a 2:1 ratio). Its pixel rate of 165.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 413.0 GTexel/s directly influence how quickly it can fill frames at high resolutions. In synthetic benchmarks, the card scores 19,786 in PassMark G3D and 9,336 in PassMark GPU compute, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,435. Its average benchmark score of 33,721 places it at the 77th percentile among all GPUs.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's role is clearly dominant, as evidenced by the resolution scaling analysis. The 12 GB VRAM is ample for this 2018 title, which does not require excessive memory capacity even at 4K Ultra. The card's bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s appears sufficient for 1080p and 1440p presets, but the 4K results suggest it struggles to sustain the fillrate demands. The 64 ROPs, while not exceptionally high, are adequate for the game's geometry and post-processing needs, but the 4K Ultra result of 27.6 FPS indicates that the combination of pixel rate and memory bandwidth becomes the limiting factor at maximum settings and resolution. The GPU's nearest rivals in average score — the RX 6800 at 0.7% ahead, the HD 7950 and RX 480 at 1% behind, and the RTX A5000 at 1.3% ahead — show that this card sits in a competitive but not dominant position within the database.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and preset combination for this hardware in Hitman 2?

A: Based on the measured rows, 1440p Medium delivers 85.1 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS and the highest preset that maintains smooth gameplay at that resolution. At 1080p, all presets exceed 60 FPS, with High achieving 96.4 FPS.

Q: Can this combo run Hitman 2 at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which achieves 57.3 FPS. Medium drops to 45.5 FPS, High to 34.8 FPS, and Ultra to 27.6 FPS, all below the 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Core i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35,355, which is within 0.3% of the i5-13600T (35,256), 0.2% of the i9-12900HX (35,289), and 0.1% of the i5-14400 (35,336). The i7-13800H is 0.2% ahead at 35,416.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 6700 XT has an average score of 33,721. The RX 6800 is 0.7% ahead at 33,493, while the HD 7950 and RX 480 are both 1% behind, and the RTX A5000 is 1.3% behind at 33,294.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data shows the GPU is the primary limiter. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 174.9 FPS, which is high but not extreme, and the consistent percentage drops across resolutions indicate GPU-bound scaling rather than a CPU ceiling.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested systems in Hitman 2?

A: This pairing ranks 998 out of 1,795 total tested combos, placing it just past the median of the database despite the individual components' high percentile rankings.