Hitman 2

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a solid 1080p and 1440p experience in Hitman 2, but the data shows that 4K Ultra is the only setting that pushes this combo out of comfortable playability. The benchmark results indicate that the RX 9070 has plenty of headroom at lower resolutions, with the CPU providing ample throughput to keep frame rates high. For most users, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, delivering an average of 109.9 FPS, which is more than enough for smooth stealth gameplay. At 1920x1080, the Low preset reaches 222.8 FPS, but the jump to Medium at 165.8 FPS is still well above refresh-rate thresholds for most monitors, making it the recommended starting point for competitive play.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows show a clear pattern: the jump from Low to Medium costs roughly 25-30% performance, while the jump from Medium to High is another 25-30% drop, and High to Ultra is a similar step down. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset still manages 95.2 FPS, which is playable, but the data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for this combo. The 165.8 FPS at 1080p Medium is 71 FPS higher than Ultra, and the visual difference between Medium and Ultra in Hitman 2 is often subtle in the crowded environments typical of the game. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset drops to 109.9 FPS, still comfortably above 60, while High falls to 81.2 FPS. The recommendation for 1440p is High if you have a 144Hz panel, but Medium is safer for those with 165Hz or higher refresh rates.

For 4K, the data shows a different story. The High preset at 3840x2160 yields 46.2 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target many players prefer. The Medium preset at 4K yields 56.6 FPS, which is borderline, but the Low preset at 73.7 FPS is the only 4K option that clears the 60 FPS threshold comfortably. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 33.5 FPS, which is not recommended for playable stealth action. Given that Hitman 2 is a game where precision timing matters, the recommendation is to prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity at 4K, using the Low preset if you must run at that resolution, or dropping to 1440p Medium/High for a much better experience.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The memory clock is 2518 MHz, with an effective data rate of 20.1 Gbps. The GPU has 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2520 MHz and a game clock of 2070 MHz. The FP32 performance is 36.13 TFLOPS. In Hitman 2, the GPU is the primary limiting factor at 4K, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops when moving from Low to Ultra at that resolution. The 4K Ultra result of 33.5 FPS versus the 4K Low result of 73.7 FPS shows a 40 FPS swing, which is entirely GPU-bound.

The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Hitman 2, which was released in 2018 and does not have extreme VRAM demands at the tested settings. The data does not show any VRAM-related stutters or min FPS anomalies, suggesting the card never runs out of memory. The GPU's performance at 1440p and 1080p is strong, with the High preset achieving 81.2 FPS at 1440p and 124.9 FPS at 1080p. The architecture is RDNA 4.0 on a 4 nm process from TSMC, with 53,900 million transistors. The card's passmark G3D score is 25381, with a percentile of 79 versus all GPUs. The nearest rival in terms of average benchmark score is the NVIDIA A2, which is 0.2% faster, and the AMD Radeon HD 7970, which is 0.7% slower, indicating the RX 9070 sits in a very close performance band in synthetic tests.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this specific CPU and GPU pairing in Hitman 2 is 593 out of 1795 tested combinations. This places it in the 67th percentile of all tested combos, which is a solid mid-to-upper tier result. The data shows that this pairing performs well, but there are many faster combinations. The CPU alone has a percentile of 93 versus all CPUs, while the GPU has a percentile of 79 versus all GPUs, which suggests the combo rank is slightly held back by the GPU relative to the CPU's strength. The Intel Core i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 47282, with its nearest rival being the Intel Core i7-13700KF, which is 0.1% faster, and the AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 5945, which is 0.5% faster. This indicates the CPU is at the top of its class in synthetic tests.

The RX 9070's average benchmark score is 34780, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA A2 at 34866 (0.2% faster) and the NVIDIA Quadro GV100 at 34677 (0.3% slower). The fact that the combo ranks 593rd out of 1795 suggests that Hitman 2 is more GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but the CPU's strong single-thread performance helps at lower resolutions. The Intel Core i7-13700K's single-thread benchmark score is 5505 in Cinebench R23, and its 3DMark single-thread score is 1136, which are high values that indicate strong per-core performance. The combination of 16 cores and 24 threads with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz provides ample headroom for the game's AI and physics calculations, but the rank shows that other combos with faster GPUs or better memory configurations do better.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K a bottleneck for the AMD Radeon RX 9070 in Hitman 2?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p, as the combo achieves 222.8 FPS on Low settings, which is very high. The CPU has a 3DMark max threads score of 12412 and a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000, indicating it can feed the GPU well. At 4K, the FPS drops are more consistent with GPU limitations.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60 FPS?

A: For 60+ FPS, the 2560x1440 High preset delivers 81.2 FPS, and the 1920x1080 Ultra preset delivers 95.2 FPS. At 4K, only the Low preset (73.7 FPS) and Medium preset (56.6 FPS) are close to or above 60 FPS, but High and Ultra fall below that threshold.

Q: How does the 16 GB VRAM affect performance?

A: The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is more than sufficient for Hitman 2. The game does not appear to be VRAM-limited, as the FPS scales consistently with settings changes, and there are no reported min FPS drops that would indicate memory swapping or allocation issues.

Q: Is the combo better at 1080p or 1440p?

A: The combo is excellent at 1080p, with all presets above 95 FPS, and very good at 1440p, with Medium at 109.9 FPS and High at 81.2 FPS. The 1440p Medium setting offers the best balance of resolution and frame rate for a high-refresh monitor.

Q: How does the GPU's 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 performance translate to this game?

A: The measured data shows that the GPU's compute throughput is sufficient for high refresh rates at 1080p and good 1440p performance. The FP32 figure is a theoretical peak, and the actual game performance is better reflected in the passmark G3D score of 25381 and the measured FPS rows.

Q: Should I use the Ultra preset at 1440p?

A: The Ultra preset at 1440p yields 63.1 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. If you have a 60Hz monitor, this is acceptable, but for higher refresh rates, the High preset at 81.2 FPS is a better choice to ensure smoother motion in fast-paced scenes.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 124.9 FPS, which drops to 81.2 FPS at 1440p High (a 35% reduction), and then to 46.2 FPS at 4K High (a 43% reduction from 1440p). This scaling indicates that the GPU is becoming increasingly stressed at higher resolutions. The 1080p Low setting hits 222.8 FPS, which drops to 142.1 FPS at 1440p Low (a 36% drop) and then to 73.7 FPS at 4K Low (a 48% drop from 1440p). The fact that the performance drops are roughly proportional to the pixel count increase (1.78x for 1440p to 4K) suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at these settings.

Looking at the Ultra preset, the drop from 1080p (95.2 FPS) to 1440p (63.1 FPS) is 34%, and the drop from 1440p to 4K (33.5 FPS) is 47%. These larger percentage drops at 4K indicate that the GPU is running out of compute or memory bandwidth headroom. The 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth is likely being taxed at 4K, as the higher pixel count requires more texture fetches and shading operations. The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal, as the 13700K has enough headroom to keep up with the GPU at all resolutions, evidenced by the fact that the FPS drops are consistent with GPU-bound behavior rather than CPU stalls.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. It has 30 MB of shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In Hitman 2, the CPU's strong single-thread performance is crucial, as the game's stealth AI and crowd simulation benefit from high per-core throughput. The 3DMark single-thread score is 1136, and the Cinebench R23 single-core score is 5505, which are excellent figures that help maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions.

The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is not a bottleneck, as the GPU is able to render frames up to 222.8 FPS on Low settings. The CPU's multicore performance, with a passmark multithread score of 45887 and a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000, ensures that background tasks and game logic threads do not interfere with frame pacing. The 13700K's 125W TDP and boost clock of 5.40 GHz provide consistent performance, and the integrated UHD Graphics 770 is available but not used in this configuration. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, is only 0.1% faster in average benchmark score, indicating that the non-F version is essentially equal in performance for gaming workloads. The 13700K's 93rd percentile ranking versus all CPUs confirms it is a top-tier choice for this game, and the bottleneck analysis points to the GPU as the primary limiter at higher resolutions.