Hitman 2

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT lands at rank 627 out of 1795 tested combos for Hitman 2. That places this configuration in the 65th percentile of all measured systems, which is a solid mid-upper tier position. The data suggests this combo sits comfortably ahead of the majority of tested hardware, yet it is not among the elite performers at the very top of the chart.

What makes this rank particularly interesting is the asymmetry between the two components. The CPU holds a percentile rank of 94 among all processors, while the GPU sits at percentile 87 among all graphics cards. When combined, the system performs slightly below what either component's individual percentile might suggest. This implies that neither part is being fully saturated across all settings, or that the game's engine imposes a ceiling that prevents the pair from reaching their theoretical combined potential.

The benchmark results indicate a configuration that is well-balanced for this title, but the rank leaves room for interpretation. With 1795 total combos tracked, being in the 627th position means roughly 1168 other combinations performed worse. The gap to the top is substantial, likely dominated by newer flagship GPUs and high-end CPUs that push frame rates considerably higher in this stealth title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT brings 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed. These specifications matter for Hitman 2 because the game's dense environments and crowd simulations can consume significant video memory at higher resolutions.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base of 1825 MHz, a game clock of 2015 MHz, and a boost clock reaching 2250 MHz. The boost clock is what the card sustains under load, and the data reflects this in the measured frame rates. The RDNA 2.0 architecture with 4608 shading units and 72 ray accelerators handles the game's lighting calculations, though Hitman 2 is not particularly ray-tracing heavy compared to newer titles.

The 128 ROPs and 288 texture mapping units provide the raw pixel and texture throughput needed for the game's detailed environments. The pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s are strong figures. In practical terms, the GPU's 20.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute gives it ample headroom for the DirectX 12 rendering path that Hitman 2 uses.

Comparing to nearest rivals, the RX 6800 XT sits 0.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A550M and 2.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER in average benchmark scores. It trails the NVIDIA RTX A1000 by 1.7%. These small deltas indicate that the GPU is competitive with a range of cards across different price tiers and architectures.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 127.4 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 79.7 FPS, a 37% reduction. At 4K, the frame rate falls further to 43.7 FPS, which represents a 66% drop from the 1080p figure. This steep decline indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises.

The scaling behavior shifts dramatically when examining Low settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 219.3 FPS. At 1440p Low, it manages 142.2 FPS, and at 4K Low, it holds 74.9 FPS. The percentage drops are smaller in relative terms at lower settings, suggesting that CPU limitations begin to surface at high frame rates. The 1080p Low result of 219.3 FPS is remarkably high, and the fact that it does not scale linearly to 4K suggests the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Medium settings tell a similar story: 164.1 FPS at 1080p, 106.4 FPS at 1440p, and 58.3 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic falloff, from 89.1 FPS at 1080p down to 31.2 FPS at 4K. This 65% reduction at Ultra settings versus the 66% reduction at High settings indicates that the GPU workload scales consistently with resolution regardless of quality preset. The limiting component shifts from CPU-bound at 1080p Low to firmly GPU-bound at 4K Ultra.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo better suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming in Hitman 2?

A: The data shows both resolutions deliver playable frame rates. At 1440p High, the system achieves 79.7 FPS, while 1080p Ultra hits 89.1 FPS. For competitive smoothness, 1080p offers higher headroom, but 1440p remains above the 60 FPS threshold at High settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in raw performance?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F has an average benchmark score of 54097, which is 0.6% below the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and 1.1% below the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D. It outperforms the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 1.2% and the AMD EPYC 7313P by 1.7%.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming?

A: At 3840x2160, the Medium preset delivers 58.3 FPS, which is the highest playable frame rate above 60 FPS cannot be achieved. High settings drop to 43.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 31.2 FPS. Medium is the recommended choice for 4K.

Q: Does the GPU outperform its closest competitor?

A: The RX 6800 XT scores 0.5% higher than the Intel Arc A550M and 2.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER in average benchmarks. It trails the NVIDIA RTX A1000 by 1.7% and the NVIDIA CMP 50HX by 1.9%.

Q: How much performance is lost from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The frame rate drops from 127.4 FPS at 1920x1080 to 43.7 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a 66% reduction. This indicates the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU's single-thread performance sufficient for this game?

A: The processor achieves a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5003 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2711. These figures, combined with a 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs, indicate strong single-thread capability that supports high frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gameplay, the Ultra preset at 89.1 FPS provides the best visual quality while maintaining smooth performance. Players seeking maximum frame rates can drop to Low at 219.3 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial. Medium at 164.1 FPS offers a balanced middle ground.

At 1440p, the High preset at 79.7 FPS is the optimal choice. It stays comfortably above 60 FPS while providing better visual fidelity than Medium's 106.4 FPS or Low's 142.2 FPS. The Ultra preset at 59.7 FPS barely misses the 60 FPS threshold, making High the better recommendation for consistent smoothness.

For 4K gaming, Medium at 58.3 FPS is the only preset that approaches playable frame rates. High drops to 43.7 FPS, and Ultra falls below 31.2 FPS. The data clearly indicates that 4K Ultra is not viable for this combo, and even High requires compromises. Medium provides the best visual-to-performance tradeoff at this resolution.

The measured rows suggest that the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. For competitive play, 1080p Low delivers the highest frame rates. For visual quality with acceptable performance, 1440p High is the sweet spot. For 4K, Medium is the only reasonable option.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. This Raptor Lake Refresh processor uses the Intel Socket 1700 platform and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. The 65W TDP is notably modest for a 20-core part, suggesting efficient power management.

The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. This substantial L3 cache helps with Hitman 2's level streaming and NPC AI calculations. The processor's benchmark scores are impressive: Cinebench R23 multicore at 35443, Geekbench multicore at 16571, and Passmark multithread at 41765.

The CPU's nearest rivals show it within 1.7% of the AMD EPYC 7313P and 1.2% of the Intel Xeon Phi 7290. It trails the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X by 0.6% and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D by 1.1%. These small deltas indicate that the i7-14700F performs competitively with much higher-tier workstation processors.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role becomes evident at 1080p Low settings, where the system achieves 219.3 FPS. This high frame rate suggests the processor can feed the GPU efficiently at lower resolutions. However, the 66% performance drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its highest frame rates. Low settings average 219.3 FPS, Medium averages 164.1 FPS, High averages 127.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 89.1 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 130.2 FPS, showing a wide range of performance depending on quality preset.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down significantly. Low averages 142.2 FPS, Medium averages 106.4 FPS, High averages 79.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 59.7 FPS. The spread narrows to 82.5 FPS, indicating that the GPU workload becomes more uniform across settings at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops further. Low averages 74.9 FPS, Medium averages 58.3 FPS, High averages 43.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 31.2 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 43.7 FPS, which is the narrowest range of any resolution, confirming that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at 4K.

The data reveals consistent scaling patterns. From 1080p to 1440p, the average frame rate reduction across all settings is approximately 38%. From 1440p to 4K, the reduction is approximately 45%. These figures suggest that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are increasingly challenged as resolution grows, with the 16 GB VRAM and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth proving sufficient but not excessive for 4K workloads.