Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with Intel Core i7-13700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D delivers an extraordinary Hitman 2 experience, earning the top spot among 3,001 tested combinations. This pairing of a 16-core, 24-thread Raptor Lake processor with NVIDIA's flagship Blackwell 2.0 GPU produces frame rates that range from a playable 52 FPS at 4K Ultra to a blistering 365 FPS at 1080p Low, demonstrating that this combo has enough headroom to saturate virtually any display configuration. The measured data reveals a system that is GPU-bound at higher resolutions but capable of exposing CPU limits at 1080p, making it a versatile choice for both competitive and cinematic play styles.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boosts up to 5.40 GHz, backed by 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per core of L2 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 30,745 and a single-core score of 2,116, while Geekbench reports 19,429 multicore and 2,529 single-core results. The processor's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates strong overall performance, though its average benchmark score of 46,881 places it nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, which trails by just 0.2 percent with a score of 46,971.

For Hitman 2, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining frame rates at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 365 FPS average, while 1440p Low reaches 234 FPS and 4K Low manages 124 FPS. The scaling from 4K to 1440p at Low settings shows a 110 FPS jump (from 124 to 234 FPS), a 1.9x improvement, while the jump from 1440p to 1080p adds another 131 FPS (from 234 to 365 FPS), a 1.6x improvement. This non-linear scaling suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU's single-thread performance, reflected in its 3DMark single-thread score of 1,136 and PassMark single-thread score of 4,333, becomes a more significant factor. The i7-13700K's high boost clock of 5.40 GHz and robust single-core capabilities help sustain these extreme frame rates, but the diminishing returns between 1440p and 1080p indicate that the GPU is still the primary driver of performance in this title.

The CPU's 16 cores and 24 threads provide ample parallel processing headroom for Hitman 2's stealth simulation and AI routines, though the game's age means it likely does not fully utilize all available threads. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 10,717 and max-thread score of 12,412 show strong multi-threaded scaling, which benefits background tasks and system responsiveness during gameplay. With a launch MSRP of $409, this processor offers substantial compute resources, but its real strength in Hitman 2 lies in its ability to feed the RTX 5090 D with minimal bottlenecking, particularly at higher resolutions where GPU load dominates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a massive GPU built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. It comes equipped with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's boost clock reaches 2,407 MHz, and it packs 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operation pipelines. Its FP32 compute throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s place it among the most powerful consumer GPUs ever produced, with a 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's dominance is clear when examining the resolution scaling of frame rates. At 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 52 FPS average, while 4K High reaches 71 FPS, 4K Medium hits 93 FPS, and 4K Low reaches 124 FPS. The step from 4K Ultra to 4K High yields a 19 FPS improvement (36.5 percent), while High to Medium adds 22 FPS (31 percent), and Medium to Low adds 31 FPS (33.3 percent). This consistent scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, as each settings reduction provides proportional performance gains. The GPU's 32 GB of VRAM is far beyond what Hitman 2 requires, even at 4K Ultra, so memory capacity is not a constraint in any tested configuration.

The RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, which scores 76,904 (1.1 percent lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, which scores 78,940 (1.6 percent higher). These comparisons highlight the RTX 5090 D's position at the apex of GPU performance, though its PassMark G3D score of 44,065 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326 demonstrate its capability across different workloads. The GPU's 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for advanced rendering features, though Hitman 2's age means these capabilities are not fully exercised by the game's rendering pipeline.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the Hitman 2 experience with this hardware combination. At 4K resolution, the Medium preset delivers the best balance of visual quality and performance, with an average of 93 FPS and a minimum of 79 FPS. The High preset at 4K drops to 71 FPS, which is still smooth but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes, while the Ultra preset falls to 52 FPS, which may dip below ideal levels during intense action sequences. The Low preset at 4K reaches 124 FPS, but this sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a game that rewards environmental awareness and detail.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again proves optimal, with an average of 175 FPS and a minimum of 149 FPS, providing a wide margin above the 60 FPS threshold for competitive play. The High preset at 1440p achieves 132 FPS, which is still excellent, but the Medium preset's 43 FPS advantage makes it the recommended choice for players who prioritize frame rate consistency. The Ultra preset at 1440p hits 98 FPS, which is playable but represents a significant 77 FPS drop from Medium, making it less appealing for this resolution.

At 1080p, the data suggests that the Medium preset at 274 FPS average (233 FPS minimum) is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors, as it provides nearly 2.4x the frame rate of the Ultra preset's 153 FPS. The Low preset at 365 FPS is only useful for extreme competitive scenarios where every frame matters, but the visual degradation is substantial. The High preset at 207 FPS offers a reasonable middle ground, though the Medium preset's higher minimum frame rate of 233 FPS makes it the safer choice for maintaining consistent performance. Overall, the Medium preset across all resolutions emerges as the sweet spot, balancing visual detail with frame rate headroom.

How This Combo Ranks

This Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks first overall among 3,001 tested configurations in Hitman 2, placing it at the absolute top of the performance hierarchy. This ranking is particularly notable given that the individual components do not always top their respective charts; the CPU sits at the 89th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 92nd percentile among all graphics cards. The combination's success in Hitman 2 suggests that the game's engine responds exceptionally well to this pairing, benefiting from the CPU's high boost clock and the GPU's massive compute resources.

The CPU's nearest rivals show how close the competition is at the top. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900 scores 46,971, just 0.2 percent higher than the i7-13700K's 46,881, while the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 scores 47,022, 0.3 percent higher. The AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535 both score 46,654, 0.5 percent lower. These marginal differences in average benchmark scores suggest that CPU choice has minimal impact on Hitman 2 performance when paired with a top-tier GPU, as the game appears to scale primarily with GPU capability.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at 76,904 (1.1 percent lower), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78,940 (1.6 percent higher), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe variants at 79,396 and 79,605 (2.1 and 2.4 percent higher). While these synthetic benchmark differences are modest, the RTX 5090 D's combination of 32 GB VRAM, 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance provides real-world advantages in Hitman 2 that the benchmark scores may not fully capture. The combo's first-place ranking confirms that these specifications translate into measurable gameplay advantages.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important insights about which component limits performance at each resolution. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 207 at 1080p to 132 at 1440p (a 36.2 percent reduction) and then to 71 at 4K (a 46.2 percent reduction from 1440p). At Low settings, the progression goes from 365 FPS at 1080p to 234 FPS at 1440p (35.9 percent reduction) to 124 FPS at 4K (47.0 percent reduction). Medium settings show a similar pattern: 274 FPS at 1080p, 175 FPS at 1440p (36.1 percent reduction), and 93 FPS at 4K (46.9 percent reduction). Ultra settings follow the trend with 153 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p (35.9 percent reduction), and 52 FPS at 4K (46.9 percent reduction).

The consistency of these percentage reductions across all settings presets is striking. The nearly uniform 36 percent drop from 1080p to 1440p and 47 percent drop from 1440p to 4K indicates that the GPU is the primary performance limiter throughout the resolution range. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the scaling would show smaller percentage drops at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do. The fact that even at 1080p Low, where the frame rate reaches 365 FPS, the scaling pattern remains consistent suggests that the RTX 5090 D's compute resources are being fully utilized, while the i7-13700K's high clock speed prevents it from becoming a constraint.

This resolution scaling analysis points to the GPU as the limiting component in Hitman 2 for this combo. The RTX 5090 D's performance at 4K Ultra (52 FPS) demonstrates that even the most powerful consumer GPU struggles with maximum settings at 4K in this title, while the CPU's ample headroom ensures that it is never the bottleneck, even at extreme frame rates above 300 FPS. Players seeking higher 4K performance should consider reducing settings to Medium, which nearly doubles the frame rate to 93 FPS, rather than upgrading the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1080p (1920x1080): At Low settings, the combo achieves 365 FPS average, representing the highest frame rate in the entire measurement set. Medium settings deliver 274 FPS average with a minimum of 233 FPS and maximum of 315 FPS, providing a comfortable margin for 240 Hz displays. High settings reach 207 FPS average, still sufficient for 144 Hz monitors with headroom. Ultra settings drop to 153 FPS average, which remains playable but represents a 41.6 percent reduction from Low settings. The progression from Low to Ultra shows diminishing returns in visual quality relative to the frame rate cost, with each settings tier reducing FPS by roughly 60-90 FPS.

1440p (2560x1440): Low settings produce 234 FPS average, maintaining high refresh rate performance. Medium settings achieve 175 FPS average with a minimum of 149 FPS and maximum of 201 FPS, ideal for 165 Hz monitors. High settings reach 132 FPS average, suitable for 120 Hz displays. Ultra settings drop to 98 FPS average, which is still smooth for 60 Hz or 90 Hz monitors but shows a 58.1 percent reduction from Low. The 1440p measurements demonstrate that this combo can handle competitive gaming at high frame rates while providing visual quality options for more immersive play.

4K (3840x2160): Low settings reach 124 FPS average, making high refresh rate 4K gaming possible. Medium settings achieve 93 FPS average with a minimum of 79 FPS and maximum of 107 FPS, providing a solid 60 FPS experience with headroom. High settings drop to 71 FPS average, still above the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra settings fall to 52 FPS average, which is below ideal smoothness but playable for slower-paced stealth gameplay. The 4K results show that Medium is the recommended preset for maintaining consistent performance, as it offers 79 percent higher frame rates than Ultra while delivering most of the visual benefits.