Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with Intel Core i7-13700K + AMD Radeon RX 580

The pairing of Intel's 16-core Core i7-13700K with AMD's Radeon RX 580 creates a stark imbalance in Hitman 2, where the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck at nearly every resolution and settings combination. The measured data shows a system that can deliver playable frame rates at 1080p with reduced settings, but quickly falls behind as resolution increases, ultimately producing single-digit to low-twenties averages at 4K. The RX 580, a Polaris 20 part built on a 14 nm process with 5,700 million transistors, is the limiting factor here, while the 13700K's substantial compute resources remain largely underutilized in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and reveals a GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 74.9 at 1920x1080 to 51 at 2560x1440, then plummets to 26.8 at 3840x2160. That represents a 64.2% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The scaling is even more dramatic at Ultra settings, where 33.5 FPS at 1080p drops to 19 at 1440p (a 43.3% loss) and then to 11.3 at 4K (a 66.3% loss from 1080p). This steep decline indicates that the RX 580's 256-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are simply insufficient for the higher pixel counts, as the GPU's fillrate and shading resources become overwhelmed.

At 1440p, the data shows a similar pattern: High settings yield 30 FPS, Medium 34.8, and Low 51, while Ultra drops to 19. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 32 FPS, which is proportionally larger than the 41.4 FPS gap at 1080p (74.9 vs 33.5). This widening spread suggests that as resolution increases, the additional shading work from Ultra settings (likely ambient occlusion, shadow quality, and texture filtering) compounds the GPU's workload, pushing it further from playable thresholds. At 4K, even Low settings cannot maintain 30 FPS, with the 26.8 average falling below the 30 FPS minimum for smooth gameplay, while Ultra at 11.3 FPS is effectively a slideshow.

The limiting component is clearly the graphics card. The CPU's role is minimal in this scaling analysis, as the 13700K's 16 cores and 24 threads are far more than Hitman 2 requires, and the FPS differences across resolutions track almost entirely with the GPU's rendering workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K brings a Raptor Lake-S architecture with 16 cores, 24 threads, a base clock of 3.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. It also features 30 MB of shared L3 cache, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 80 KB of L1 per core. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU posts a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000 and a single-core score of 5505, with a Geekbench multicore of 17731 and single-core of 2850. Its Passmark multithread score is 45887, and its percentile vs all CPUs is 93, indicating it sits well above the vast majority of processors.

However, in Hitman 2, the measured data suggests the CPU is not the constraint. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 74.9 FPS, but this is still far below what the 13700K could theoretically support in a less GPU-limited scenario. The game's stealth genre and 2018 release date (November 12, 2018) mean it was designed for CPUs of that era, so the 13700K's modern architecture provides ample headroom. The CPU's Passmark physics score of 2716 and data compression score of 595292 indicate strong general compute, but these do not translate into higher frame rates here because the RX 580's 6.175 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate are the bottlenecks.

The nearest CPU rivals show the 13700K is positioned among high-end parts: the i7-13700KF scores 47334 (0.1% higher), the AMD EPYC 4364P scores 47131 (0.3% lower), and the i9-12900F scores 47081 (0.4% lower). This means the CPU's performance headroom is substantial, yet the game's frame rates remain pinned by the GPU, confirming that any CPU-related analysis must account for the fact that the RX 580 cannot drive the 13700K to its limits in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Core i7-13700K and Radeon RX 580 ranks 1672 out of 1795 tested combinations in Hitman 2, placing it in the bottom 6.9% of all combos. This low ranking is driven entirely by the GPU's age and performance tier, as the RX 580's percentile vs all GPUs is 53, meaning it outperforms only about half of all graphics cards ever benchmarked. The GPU's average benchmark score is 13559, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564, 0% delta) and GTX 950 (13549, 0.1% delta), indicating the RX 580 is functionally equivalent to those older cards in synthetic tests.

Despite the CPU's strong ranking (93rd percentile), the combo rank shows that the pairing is severely handicapped by the GPU. The 1672nd position out of 1795 means that 93% of other CPU-GPU combinations tested in this game produce higher average frame rates. This is expected given that the RX 580's nearest rivals include the GTX 950, a card from 2015, and the AMD Radeon Pro 455 (13416, 1.1% higher). The data indicates that while the 13700K is a top-tier processor, it cannot compensate for the RX 580's limitations in a GPU-bound title like Hitman 2.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured averages are: Low 74.9 FPS, Medium 60.6, High 45.5, and Ultra 33.5. This represents a full playable range, with Low easily exceeding 60 FPS and Ultra still above 30 FPS for acceptable gameplay. The step from Low to Medium is a 14.3 FPS drop (19.1% reduction), while Medium to High drops 15.1 FPS (24.9%), and High to Ultra drops 12 FPS (26.4%). These consistent reductions suggest each settings tier adds a similar workload, likely from increasing shadow resolution, texture quality, and post-processing effects.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 51, Medium 34.8, High 30, and Ultra 19. The drop from Low to Medium is 16.2 FPS (31.8%), which is steeper than at 1080p, indicating that the extra pixels amplify the cost of each settings increase. High at 30 FPS is borderline, while Ultra at 19 is not playable. The 1440p data shows that only Low settings can maintain a comfortable frame rate, with Medium barely crossing 30 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 26.8, Medium 18.5, High 13.1, and Ultra 11.3. No settings tier reaches 30 FPS, and even Low falls short by 3.2 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 15.5 FPS, but the relative differences are smaller percentage-wise (57.8% reduction from Low to Ultra) because the GPU is already so heavily overloaded that additional settings have diminishing absolute impacts. The 4K results are uniformly unplayable, confirming that this combo is not viable at that resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is a GCN 4.0 architecture part on a 14 nm process, with 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. It has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. Its base clock is 1257 MHz with a boost of 1340 MHz, and memory runs at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The GPU's pixel rate is 42.88 GPixel/s, texture rate is 193.0 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 6.175 TFLOPS. These specifications place it in the mid-range of 2017-era GPUs, with a 53rd percentile vs all GPUs.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's role is decisive. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s becomes a bottleneck at 4K where the pixel throughput demand exceeds what the 32 ROPs can deliver. The 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate is the key limitation at higher resolutions, explaining why 4K Ultra drops to 11.3 FPS. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 8813 and DirectX 12 score of 43 are modest, and its nearest rivals include the GTX 570 and GTX 950, both of which are older architectures. The GPU's TDP of 185 W and suggested PSU of 450 W are consistent with its mid-range positioning, but these do not affect performance metrics.

The data shows that the RX 580's compute capabilities (6.175 TFLOPS) are not the limiting factor in Hitman 2, as the game is not compute-heavy. Instead, the fillrate and memory bandwidth constraints dominate, particularly at 1440p and 4K. At 1080p Low, the GPU can push 74.9 FPS, but this is still below what a modern mid-range card would achieve, highlighting the RX 580's age relative to the 13700K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings and resolution combination for this CPU-GPU pairing in Hitman 2?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 74.9 FPS, which is the highest measured average. Medium at 1080p yields 60.6 FPS, which is also smooth. At 2560x1440, only Low (51 FPS) and Medium (34.8 FPS) are playable, while High (30 FPS) is borderline and Ultra (19 FPS) is not.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 580's average benchmark score is 13559, which is 0% different from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564), 0.1% higher than the GTX 950 (13549), and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 455 (13416). The NVIDIA P106-090 scores 13716, which is 1.1% higher than the RX 580.

Q: Does the Core i7-13700K bottleneck the Radeon RX 580 in this game?

A: No. The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck at all resolutions. The 13700K's 16 cores and 24 threads, with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, provide far more compute than Hitman 2 requires, as evidenced by the CPU's 93rd percentile ranking. The FPS drops across resolutions are consistent with GPU limitations, not CPU constraints.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The measured average at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 11.3 FPS, which is unplayable. Even at 4K Low, the average is 26.8 FPS, which falls below the 30 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This resolution is not viable with this combo.

Q: How does this combo rank overall in Hitman 2?

A: The combo ranks 1672 out of 1795 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 6.9%. This low ranking is attributable to the RX 580's 53rd percentile GPU score, while the 13700K's high CPU percentile (93) cannot overcome the GPU's limitations in this GPU-bound title.

Q: Is the RX 580's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory is not the primary limitation in Hitman 2. The GPU's 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate are the constraints, as the game's performance drops more steeply with resolution increases than would be expected from VRAM capacity alone. At 4K, the bandwidth and fillrate limits cause the low frame rates, not VRAM exhaustion.