Hitman 2

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Hitman 2 with the Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT shows a clear progression across four quality presets. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 254.9 FPS average, while Medium drops to 189.9 FPS, High to 147.2 FPS, and Ultra to 104.4 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 65 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra costs 42.8 FPS. This pattern holds at 1440p, where the same preset ladder produces 163.1, 119.8, 92.1, and 67 FPS respectively. At 4K, the numbers compress further: 86 FPS on Low, 64.2 on Medium, 51.5 on High, and 35.3 on Ultra.

The data suggests that High is the optimal preset for most scenarios. At 1080p, High produces 147.2 FPS, which is well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate displays, while still maintaining substantial visual quality over Medium. At 1440p, High's 92.1 FPS remains comfortably playable, and even at 4K, High's 51.5 FPS is acceptable for a stealth title where precise timing matters more than twitch reflexes. Ultra, by contrast, shows diminishing returns: the jump from High to Ultra reduces performance by roughly 30% at every resolution (35.3 vs 51.5 at 4K, 67 vs 92.1 at 1440p, 104.4 vs 147.2 at 1080p). For users prioritizing frame rate stability, Medium at 1440p (119.8 FPS) or 1080p (189.9 FPS) offers a strong balance, but High remains the recommended choice for the best experience per the measured rows.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT brings substantial graphics resources to Hitman 2. The card features 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, with memory clocked at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective) and bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s. The GPU's boost clock reaches 2394 MHz, with a game clock of 2025 MHz and base clock of 1387 MHz. Its RDNA 3.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process, includes 5376 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. The card also carries 84 ray accelerators, though Hitman 2's release predates widespread ray tracing adoption.

The GPU's memory capacity proves relevant at higher resolutions. At 4K, the card delivers 51.5 FPS on High settings, which indicates that the 20 GB frame buffer is not a limiting factor in this title. The data shows a consistent relationship between GPU load and settings: at 4K Ultra, performance drops to 35.3 FPS, suggesting that the card's compute resources, rather than memory capacity, are the constraint. The 800.0 GB/s bandwidth supports the 64.2 FPS result at 4K Medium, where memory throughput becomes less critical than raw shading performance. The GPU's 51.48 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 459.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are reflected in the 1080p results, where the card sustains over 100 FPS even at Ultra settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals the balance between CPU and GPU influence. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 254.9 FPS, but this drops to 163.1 FPS at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and 86 FPS at 4K (a 66% reduction from 1080p). The scaling pattern changes with settings. On High, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 55.1 FPS (147.2 to 92.1), and from 1440p to 4K is 40.6 FPS (92.1 to 51.5). This non-linear scaling suggests that at lower settings and resolutions, the CPU becomes more relevant, while at higher settings and resolutions, the GPU dominates.

The data indicates that at 1080p Low, the system is likely CPU-bound, given the extremely high frame rate. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the limiting component, as performance falls to 35.3 FPS. The intermediate points show a gradual transition. For instance, at 1440p Medium (119.8 FPS), the system still has headroom, but at 4K Medium (64.2 FPS), the GPU load increases significantly. The 4K results across all settings (86, 64.2, 51.5, 35.3) show that resolution scaling has a more pronounced effect than settings scaling at this resolution, which is typical for a GPU-intensive workload like Hitman 2's crowds and reflections.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-13700K with AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT combination ranks 420 out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places the system in roughly the 77th percentile of all combinations tested for this game, indicating a strong but not top-tier configuration. The CPU itself sits at the 93rd percentile among all processors, while the GPU is at the 82nd percentile among all graphics cards. The gap between the two percentile rankings suggests that the GPU is more of a limiting factor in this title than the CPU.

The combo's rank of 420 out of 1795 means that roughly 1375 tested combinations perform better in Hitman 2, which is a competitive field. The CPU's benchmark profile shows an average score of 47282, with its nearest rival being the Intel Core i7-13700KF at 47334 (a delta of -0.1%), and the AMD EPYC 4364P at 47131 (a delta of 0.3%). The GPU's average benchmark score is 38358, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile at 38349 (a delta of 0%), and the NVIDIA CMP 70HX at 38225 (a delta of 0.3%). These close deltas indicate that the combo's rank is not due to an outlier component but rather the balanced performance of both parts working together.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K provides 16 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process, includes 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. Its benchmark scores include a Cinebench R23 multicore result of 39000 and single-core result of 5505, with a Geekbench multicore score of 17731 and single-core score of 2850.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p with lower settings. The 254.9 FPS result at 1080p Low suggests that the 16-core, 24-thread configuration prevents CPU bottlenecks even at very high frame rates. The single-thread performance, reflected in the 3DMark single-thread score of 1136 and Cinebench R15 single-core score of 554, is sufficient for the game's AI and physics calculations. The CPU's 125 W TDP and boost clock of 5.40 GHz allow sustained performance without thermal throttling, which is important for maintaining consistent frame rates during extended play sessions. The data shows that at 1080p Ultra (104.4 FPS), the CPU still has headroom, as the frame rate is more likely constrained by the GPU's shading workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low at 254.9, Medium at 189.9, High at 147.2, and Ultra at 104.4. The spread from Low to Ultra is 150.5 FPS, showing that settings have a massive impact at this resolution. The 1080p Low result is the highest measured across all settings and resolutions, indicating that the CPU and GPU combination can deliver extremely high frame rates when visual fidelity is reduced.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 163.1, Medium at 119.8, High at 92.1, and Ultra at 67. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, averaging about 65 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result of 67 FPS is still above 60, making it playable, while 1440p High at 92.1 FPS offers a smoother experience.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 86, Medium at 64.2, High at 51.5, and Ultra at 35.3. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest measured and falls below 60 FPS, which may be problematic for some users. The 4K Medium result of 64.2 FPS is the highest 4K result that maintains above 60 FPS, while 4K High at 51.5 FPS is borderline. The progression from 1080p to 4K at each setting shows a consistent reduction: Low drops from 254.9 to 86, Medium from 189.9 to 64.2, High from 147.2 to 51.5, and Ultra from 104.4 to 35.3. These numbers indicate that for 4K play, users should select Medium or High settings, while 1440p users can comfortably use High or Ultra, and 1080p users can use Ultra without sacrificing frame rate.