Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with Intel Core i7-14700F + AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

This combo pairs a 20-core Intel Core i7-14700F with an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, producing measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets in Hitman 2. The data shows a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions but reveals interesting CPU headroom at 1080p. Benchmark results indicate the RX 9070 XT, with its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth, drives most of the performance variance, while the i7-14700F's 28 threads provide a strong foundation that never appears to bottleneck the GPU in this stealth title.

Resolution Scaling

Frame rates scale predictably as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop reveals where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the system produces 237.5 FPS at 1920x1080, which falls to 153.8 FPS at 2560x1440 — a 35.2% reduction — and then to 83.1 FPS at 3840x2160, another 46.0% drop from 1440p. This steep decline from 1440p to 4K indicates the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher pixel counts, as the RX 9070 XT must render nearly four times the pixels at 4K compared to 1080p.

The scaling pattern shifts with Ultra settings. At Ultra, the system achieves 99.9 FPS at 1080p, 64.6 FPS at 1440p (a 35.3% drop), and 31.6 FPS at 4K (a 51.1% drop from 1440p). The proportional loss from 1440p to 4K is larger at Ultra than at Low, suggesting that the combination of high pixel count and demanding graphical features pushes the GPU's 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs to their limits. At 1080p Ultra, the 99.9 FPS result compared to 237.5 FPS at Low shows a 57.9% performance penalty purely from quality settings, indicating the GPU's compute resources are the binding constraint even at the lowest resolution tested.

Intermediate settings confirm this trend: Medium at 1080p yields 179.1 FPS, dropping to 112.7 FPS at 1440p (37.1% lower) and 58.6 FPS at 4K (48.0% lower than 1440p). High settings follow a similar arc, with 131.9 FPS at 1080p, 88.1 FPS at 1440p (33.2% lower), and 47.7 FPS at 4K (45.9% lower). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets reinforces that resolution scaling is dominated by GPU throughput rather than CPU limitations, since the i7-14700F's boost clock of 5.40 GHz and 33 MB of shared L3 cache provide ample headroom for game logic at any resolution.

GPU Role

The RX 9070 XT is the decisive component in this configuration. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which appears sufficient for Hitman 2's level streaming and texture demands at 4K Ultra, where the system still manages 31.6 FPS. The GPU's boost clock of 2970 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz drive its 48.66 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, and the benchmark data shows this raw throughput is what scales with resolution and settings changes.

The GPU's 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, based on an average benchmark score of 39647, places it in the upper tier, though its nearest rivals in synthetic tests are the AMD Radeon Pro 575 (39703, -0.1% delta), NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile (39568, +0.2% delta), AMD Radeon Pro 575X (39836, -0.5% delta), and AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (39879, -0.6% delta). These near-parity scores in general benchmarks contrast with the measured game performance, where the RX 9070 XT's RDNA 4.0 architecture and 64 RT cores likely contribute to the specific workload efficiency seen in Hitman 2's rendering paths.

The memory configuration deserves attention: 16 GB of VRAM is never fully taxed in these measurements, as even the lowest average FPS (31.6 at 4K Ultra) does not suggest memory swapping or capacity-related stutters. The GDDR6 memory running at 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective) provides the bandwidth headroom needed for the large framebuffer at 4K, and the 256-bit bus width ensures the 644.6 GB/s figure scales with resolution. The GPU's 304 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a high-power part, and the 700 W suggested PSU reflects the sustained load it places on the system, though these are not directly measured in the FPS data.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all tested CPU-GPU combinations in the database, this pairing of the i7-14700F and RX 9070 XT ranks 447th out of 1795 combos in Hitman 2. This places it in the top 24.9% of all configurations tested, a strong showing that reflects the GPU's high percentile (82nd) combined with the CPU's 94th percentile among all processors. The rank is driven primarily by the GPU's 4K and 1440p performance, where the RX 9070 XT's strength in pixel throughput is most evident.

The combo's rank relative to its component parts is informative. The i7-14700F's average benchmark score of 54097 places it just below the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X (54450, -0.6% delta) and Ryzen 9 9900X3D (54681, -1.1% delta), while slightly above the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (53469, +1.2% delta) and AMD EPYC 7313P (53206, +1.7% delta). The GPU's average score of 39647, by contrast, sits within 0.6% of several rivals but has a lower percentile (82nd vs. 94th). The 447th rank out of 1795 suggests that the combination's game-specific performance exceeds what the synthetic averages alone would predict, likely due to Hitman 2's preference for high single-thread performance (the i7-14700F scores 5003 in Cinebench R23 single-core) combined with substantial GPU compute.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers playable frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce 237.5 FPS, Medium 179.1 FPS, High 131.9 FPS, and Ultra 99.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 58.4 FPS, while the gap from Medium to High is 47.2 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 32.0 FPS — a diminishing marginal cost as settings increase, which is typical for quality presets that layer increasingly expensive effects.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 153.8 FPS (Low), 112.7 FPS (Medium), 88.1 FPS (High), and 64.6 FPS (Ultra). The 1440p Ultra result of 64.6 FPS is notably above the 60 FPS threshold, making high-refresh 1440p gaming viable at maximum quality. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, averaging around 35%, which aligns with the pixel count increase of 78% — the less-than-proportional FPS loss indicates the GPU still has some headroom at 1440p that it lacks at 4K.

At 3840x2160, the results are 83.1 FPS (Low), 58.6 FPS (Medium), 47.7 FPS (High), and 31.6 FPS (Ultra). The 4K Ultra figure of 31.6 FPS is below the typically desired 60 FPS for smooth gameplay, suggesting that players targeting 4K would need to select High or Medium settings. At 4K Medium, the 58.6 FPS result is close to playable, while High at 47.7 FPS offers a visual compromise. The 4K Low result of 83.1 FPS shows the GPU can handle 4K at reduced quality with significant headroom.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F contributes 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its Raptor Lake-R architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, includes 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. These specifications yield a 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54097. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 35443 multi-core and 5003 single-core, while Geekbench shows 16571 multi-core and 2711 single-core — figures that indicate strong performance in both threaded and lightly-threaded workloads.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is supportive rather than limiting. The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecks: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 237.5 FPS, which is far above typical display refresh rates and suggests the CPU can feed the GPU with frames faster than the GPU can render them. The single-core performance (5003 in Cinebench R23, 4261 in Passmark single-thread) is particularly relevant for a game like Hitman 2, which relies heavily on AI, physics, and game logic that often run on a few primary threads. The 28 threads ensure that background tasks, asset streaming, and the game's simulation never starve the rendering pipeline.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the Ryzen 9 9900X at -0.6% delta and Ryzen 9 9900X3D at -1.1% delta — are marginally faster on average, but the i7-14700F's 5.40 GHz boost clock gives it an edge in lightly-threaded scenarios that Hitman 2 likely exercises. The 65 W TDP, despite the high core count, indicates efficient power management, and the CPU's support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory (dual-channel) provides flexibility for system builders, though memory bandwidth is not directly measured in the FPS data.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hitman 2?

A: At 2560x1440 Ultra, the system averages 64.6 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. At 1920x1080, all settings exceed 99 FPS, with Low reaching 237.5 FPS. At 3840x2160, only Low (83.1 FPS) and Medium (58.6 FPS) approach playable frame rates.

Q: How does the RX 9070 XT's memory configuration affect 4K performance?

A: The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s bandwidth. At 4K Ultra, the system achieves 31.6 FPS, and the absence of stutter indicators in the data suggests memory capacity is sufficient even at the highest quality setting.

Q: Is the i7-14700F a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: No. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 237.5 FPS, and even at 1080p Ultra it maintains 99.9 FPS. These figures indicate the CPU's 5.40 GHz boost clock and 28 threads are more than adequate to keep the GPU fed at 1080p.

Q: What quality setting should a 4K user choose?

A: For smooth gameplay at 3840x2160, Medium settings yield 58.6 FPS, which is near the 60 FPS target. High settings drop to 47.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 31.6 FPS. Users prioritizing frame rate should select Medium, while those accepting lower FPS can use High.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The i7-14700F + RX 9070 XT combo ranks 447th out of 1795 combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the top 24.9% of all tested CPU-GPU pairs.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance and why does it matter?

A: The i7-14700F scores 5003 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 4261 in Passmark single-thread. Hitman 2's game logic and AI typically rely on a few threads, so this strong single-core performance helps maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed.