Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with Intel Core i7-13700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060

This combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a mid-tier experience in Hitman 2, a stealth title that responds well to both CPU and GPU headroom. The combo ranks 2936 out of 3711 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This ranking reflects the RTX 2060's modest performance ceiling relative to the CPU's substantial compute capability. The i7-13700K is a high-end processor that sits in the 89th percentile against all CPUs, while the RTX 2060 rests at the 58th percentile against all GPUs, creating a notable imbalance where the graphics card becomes the primary constraint in most scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The 2936th position out of 3711 combos indicates that this pairing sits in the bottom 21% of all tested configurations for Hitman 2. This rank is largely determined by the GPU's performance class rather than the CPU's capability. The RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 15290 places it just 0.2% below the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, 0.1% below the AMD Radeon 680M, and 0.6% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM. Interestingly, the GTX 580, a much older architecture, posts a nearly identical average score, suggesting the RTX 2060's Turing-based feature set does not translate into raw benchmark superiority in this comparison.

The CPU side tells a different story. The i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 46881, which is essentially neck-and-neck with its nearest rivals: it sits 0.2% below the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, 0.3% below the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375, and 0.5% above both the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535. This tight clustering suggests the i7-13700K is performing exactly as expected for a 16-core, 24-thread Raptor Lake processor. In Hitman 2, this CPU headroom means the processor is rarely the limiting factor; the RTX 2060's 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus dictate the playable settings and resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for playable settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 132 FPS average, which is far above the threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset drops to 99 FPS, still very fluid, while High yields 75 FPS and Ultra falls to 55 FPS. For competitive or high-refresh-rate play, Medium at 1080p offers the best balance, providing 99 FPS with 84 FPS minimums and 114 FPS maximums, which keeps frame pacing consistent. The 55 FPS at Ultra is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440, the story changes. Low delivers 84 FPS, which remains solid, but Medium drops to 63 FPS with a minimum of 54 FPS. High falls to 48 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 35 FPS. For 1440p, the Low preset is the only option that consistently stays above 60 FPS, while Medium offers a playable 63 FPS average but may dip below 60 in intense moments. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p is the highest quality setting that maintains acceptable performance.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 2060 struggles. Low delivers 45 FPS, Medium drops to 34 FPS with 29 FPS minimums, High falls to 25 FPS, and Ultra is unplayable at 19 FPS. For 4K, only the Low preset approaches playability, and even then, it falls short of 60 FPS. The recommendation is clear: prioritize 1080p Medium or 1440p Low for the best experience, as higher settings at higher resolutions result in frame rates that compromise the stealth gameplay's responsiveness.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound configuration. At High settings, performance drops from 75 FPS at 1920x1080 to 48 FPS at 2560x1440, a 36% reduction, and then to 25 FPS at 3840x2160, a 67% reduction from 1080p. This steep decline indicates the RTX 2060's pixel-pushing capability is severely taxed as resolution increases. The pattern is consistent across all settings: Low goes from 132 to 84 to 45 FPS, Medium from 99 to 63 to 34 FPS, and Ultra from 55 to 35 to 19 FPS.

The scaling factor between 1440p and 4K is particularly telling. At Medium settings, the drop from 63 to 34 FPS represents a 46% loss, while the 1080p to 1440p drop at the same preset is only 36%. This accelerating degradation points directly to the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading throughput being overwhelmed at 4K. The RTX 2060's 336.0 GB/s bandwidth and 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are simply insufficient for 2160p rendering in Hitman 2. The CPU, with its 30 MB of L3 cache and 24 threads, has ample headroom to feed frames at any resolution; the bottleneck is unequivocally the graphics card.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range is usable. Low produces 132 FPS average, Medium 99 FPS (84 minimum, 114 maximum), High 75 FPS, and Ultra 55 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 77 FPS, demonstrating how much headroom the RTX 2060 has at this resolution. The gap between Medium and High is 24 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 20 FPS, showing diminishing returns as settings climb.

At 2560x1440, performance compresses. Low delivers 84 FPS, Medium 63 FPS (54 minimum, 73 maximum), High 48 FPS, and Ultra 35 FPS. The spread narrows to 49 FPS between Low and Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 54 FPS indicates occasional dips below 60, which could be noticeable in crowded scenes. High at 48 FPS is borderline for a stealth game where precision timing matters.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 2060 is out of its depth. Low yields 45 FPS, Medium 34 FPS (29 minimum, 39 maximum), High 25 FPS, and Ultra 19 FPS. The 29 FPS minimum at Medium highlights severe frame pacing issues. No preset at 4K achieves a consistent 60 FPS, and even the 45 FPS at Low feels sluggish for a game that rewards quick, precise movements. The 19 FPS at Ultra is a slideshow by any standard.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 1080p?

A: Yes, at 1080p the Low preset delivers 132 FPS, Medium 99 FPS, and High 75 FPS, all above 60. Ultra at 55 FPS falls just short of the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combination?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 as the only resolution where all settings except Ultra exceed 60 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (84 FPS) and Medium (63 FPS) break 60, while at 4K even Low (45 FPS) fails to reach 60.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals?

A: The i7-13700K's average benchmark score of 46881 is within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375, AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX, and Intel Xeon w3-2535, making it statistically tied with all of them.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest competitors?

A: The RTX 2060's average score of 15290 is effectively identical to the GTX 580 (0% delta), AMD Radeon 680M (0.1% faster), RTX 3050 OEM (0.6% faster), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 (0.8% faster).

Q: What settings should be avoided?

A: Ultra at any resolution above 1080p produces sub-40 FPS results (35 at 1440p, 19 at 4K). At 4K, all presets fail to reach 60 FPS, and even Medium at 4K drops to 34 FPS with 29 FPS minimums.

Q: Does the bottleneck lie with the CPU or GPU?

A: Benchmark percentile data shows the CPU at the 89th percentile versus the GPU at the 58th percentile. The GPU's lower standing, combined with severe FPS drops at higher resolutions, indicates the RTX 2060 is the limiting component.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K brings 16 cores and 24 threads from the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz boosts up to 5.40 GHz, providing substantial single-thread performance that Hitman 2 can leverage. The 3DMark scores illustrate this: 1136 in single-thread, 2262 in 2-thread, 4469 in 4-thread, 8193 in 8-thread, 10717 in 16-thread, and 12412 in max-thread tests. The scaling from 2 to 4 to 8 threads shows strong multi-threading efficiency, while the max-thread score of 12412 is only 16% higher than the 16-thread score, suggesting diminishing returns beyond 16 threads for typical workloads.

Cinebench results reinforce this picture: R15 multicore scores 4507.5, R20 multicore 16292, and R23 multicore 30745, with single-core scores of 303, 2299, and 2116 respectively. The Geekbench multicore score of 19429 and single-core of 2529 further confirm the CPU's balanced capability. In Hitman 2, this processor has more than enough throughput to handle game logic, AI, and physics, even at 4K where the GPU is struggling. The Passmark multithread score of 45887 and single-thread of 4333 show that even in bursty, single-threaded scenarios, the i7-13700K performs at a high levelcars. The CPU's 30 MB of shared L3 cache reduces memory latency, which helps maintain consistent frame delivery, but this advantage is masked by the GPU's inability to keep pace at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, built on the Turing architecture using TSMC's 12 nm process, has a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a limiting factor at 4K where texture data demands exceed what this memory subsystem can supply. The 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s. With 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, the card supports ray tracing and DLSS, though Hitman 2's measured results here do not account for these features.

The FP32 throughput of 6.451 TFLOPS places the RTX 2060 in a performance class that struggles with 4K rendering, as the measured FPS data confirms. The Passmark G3D score of 14111 and GPU compute score of 5488 indicate modest compute capability. In direct comparisons, the RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 15290 puts it within 0.8% of the AMD Radeon RX 7600, a more modern card, but the 6 GB VRAM capacity becomes a bottleneck in Hitman 2 at high settings, particularly at 1440p and above where texture memory requirements grow. The card's 160 W TDP and dual-slot design keep it manageable, but its end-of-life production status means no further driver optimizations are expected to close the gap with newer architectures.