Hitman 2

Hitman 2 with the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a decisive performance profile: it is a high-refresh-rate machine at 1080p and 1440p, but it capitulates at 4K Ultra settings. The data shows a combo that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, while the processor provides enough headroom to push frame rates past 260 FPS at lower settings. This pairing ranks in the 81st percentile of all tested combinations, placing it well ahead of the field for a game that is now several years old.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake Refresh architecture, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. For a title like Hitman 2, which was released in 2018 and does not scale heavily beyond a handful of threads, this CPU is effectively overkill. The benchmark results confirm this: at 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 265.2 FPS, a figure that is almost certainly bounded by the game engine's simulation and draw-call overhead rather than the CPU's raw compute limits.

The processor's single-threaded performance is exceptional, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5003 and Geekbench single-core score of 2711. In a stealth game where AI routines and NPC counts can spike, this strong single-core throughput ensures that frame pacing remains consistent even in crowded levels. The multi-core scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core: 35443; Geekbench multi-core: 16571) are less relevant to Hitman 2's actual gameplay, but they indicate that the i7-14700F will not bottleneck the GPU in any scenario, including when the RTX 4070 SUPER is running at full tilt.

What matters most for this game is that the CPU's 5.40 GHz boost clock is high enough to feed the GPU at 1080p. The data shows a 39.1% drop in average FPS from Low to Medium settings at 1080p (265.2 to 199.7), which is a GPU-side effect, not a CPU limitation. The CPU's L3 cache of 33 MB (shared) and 2 MB L2 per core also help with level streaming, but the measurable impact is that the processor never appears as the limiting factor in any of the 12 measured scenarios.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For players aiming for a locked 60 FPS experience, the data shows that High settings at 4K is the only 4K preset that delivers playable performance, at 49.6 FPS. However, this falls short of a smooth 60 FPS target. At 1440p, the Medium preset (124.8 FPS) and High preset (98.3 FPS) both provide excellent headroom, but Ultra (67.9 FPS) is the most visually demanding option that still clears the 60 FPS threshold.

The best experience per the measured rows is at 1440p with High settings. This preset delivers 98.3 FPS, which is 44.8% faster than the 4K High result and only 19.5% slower than the 1440p Medium result. The visual uplift from Medium to High is substantial in Hitman 2, particularly for shadow quality and texture filtering, while the frame rate remains well above the 90 FPS mark. At 1080p, High settings (152.2 FPS) are the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate displays, as Ultra (108.6 FPS) taxes the GPU unnecessarily without a proportional visual gain.

The data strongly suggests avoiding Ultra presets at 4K entirely, as the 35.9 FPS average is below the playability threshold for most users. Conversely, running at Low settings is only advisable for competitive or speedrun scenarios, where the 265.2 FPS at 1080p provides maximum responsiveness at the cost of visual fidelity.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling data reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra settings drops the average FPS from 108.6 to 67.9, a 37.5% reduction. Scaling further to 4K Ultra yields 35.9 FPS, which is a 67.0% drop from the 1080p Ultra result. These are steep declines that point squarely at the RTX 4070 SUPER's pixel-pushing capabilities, not the CPU.

At Low settings, the story is similar but less severe: 1080p Low runs at 265.2 FPS, 1440p Low at 170.5 FPS (35.7% drop), and 4K Low at 88.8 FPS (66.5% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings—roughly a third from 1080p to 1440p, and another third from 1440p to 4K—is a hallmark of a GPU that is fully saturated at every resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the 1080p results to show less scaling, but the data indicates that even at 1080p the GPU is the limiting component at all but the lowest settings.

The 4K High result of 49.6 FPS versus the 1440p High result of 98.3 FPS further confirms this: the 49.5% performance drop is disproportionate to the pixel count increase (2.25x), suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s and 12 GB of GDDR6X VRAM are being stressed at higher resolutions. This is a GPU-bound pairing, and the CPU's role is purely to stay out of the way.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 335th out of 1795 tested combos for Hitman 2. That places it in the 81.3rd percentile of all configurations, which is a strong showing for a mid-range-to-high-end pairing. The rank reflects the fact that Hitman 2 is not particularly demanding by modern standards, and the GPU's 84th percentile ranking (among all GPUs) is the primary driver of this result.

The CPU's percentile rank of 94th among all CPUs is higher than the GPU's 84th, which means the processor is relatively stronger than the graphics card in this pairing. However, for this specific game, the GPU is the performance limiter, as seen in the resolution scaling data. The combo's average benchmark score (54097 for the CPU, 42576 for the GPU) does not directly translate to game FPS, but it does indicate that neither component is a weak link. The nearest rival CPU, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, scores 54450 in average benchmarks, a 0.6% difference, which would not produce a measurable FPS difference in Hitman 2 given the GPU-bound nature of the workload.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Hitman 2 at 4K with a smooth 60 FPS?

A: No. The highest 4K preset that comes close is High, which averages 49.6 FPS. Ultra at 4K drops to 35.9 FPS, and even Low at 4K only reaches 88.8 FPS. For a locked 60 FPS at 4K, you would need to lower settings to below High or reduce the resolution.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 1440p, the High preset delivers 98.3 FPS, which is below 144 FPS. To hit 144 FPS at 1440p, you would need the Medium preset (124.8 FPS) or Low preset (170.5 FPS). At 1080p, the High preset (152.2 FPS) and Medium preset (199.7 FPS) both exceed 144 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this pairing?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck in nearly all scenarios. The evidence is the consistent FPS drop scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K, which shows a roughly 35% reduction at each step. The CPU's strong single-core performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5003) ensures it is not limiting the frame rate.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 335th out of 1795 combos, putting it in the top 19% of all tested systems. This is a strong result, but the rank is more reflective of the GPU's capabilities than the CPU's, given the game's light CPU load.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB VRAM sufficient for Hitman 2?

A: The data shows no VRAM-related issues, as the highest VRAM usage scenario (4K Ultra) still produced a playable 35.9 FPS. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 192-bit bus is more than enough for a 2018 title, even at maximum settings.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average is 108.6 FPS. This is comfortably above 60 FPS and suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming, though it is 40.1% slower than the 1080p High preset (152.2 FPS) due to the extra graphical effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets:

• 1920x1080 (1080p): Low settings produce the highest frame rate at 265.2 FPS. Medium settings drop to 199.7 FPS, High settings to 152.2 FPS, and Ultra settings to 108.6 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 59.0% reduction in average FPS.

• 2560x1440 (1440p): Low settings average 170.5 FPS. Medium settings average 124.8 FPS, High settings average 98.3 FPS, and Ultra settings average 67.9 FPS. The Ultra preset is the only one that falls below 90 FPS, but it remains above the 60 FPS threshold.

• 3840x2160 (4K): Low settings average 88.8 FPS, which is the only 4K preset that exceeds 60 FPS. Medium settings drop to 67.3 FPS, High settings to 49.6 FPS, and Ultra settings to 35.9 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is only 13.5% of the 1080p Low result, highlighting the extreme GPU load.

The data also shows that the gap between Medium and High settings is consistent across resolutions: 23.5% at 1080p (199.7 vs 152.2), 21.2% at 1440p (124.8 vs 98.3), and 26.3% at 4K (67.3 vs 49.6). This consistency suggests that the game's rendering pipeline handles these settings transitions uniformly, with no unexpected bottlenecks or optimizations.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary driver of this combo's performance in Hitman 2. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, a 192-bit bus, and 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, the GPU has ample resources for a 2018 title. The boost clock of 2475 MHz and 7168 shading units provide the raw compute power, but the actual limiting factor at 4K is the memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate (198.0 GPixel/s).

The GPU's TDP of 220 W and 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are ample for this game, but the data shows that even at 4K Low settings (88.8 FPS), the GPU is still the bottleneck. The 4K Ultra result of 35.9 FPS is a clear indication that the RTX 4070 SUPER cannot sustain the combination of high-resolution rendering and maximum graphical effects in this title.

The GPU's benchmark scores support its mid-to-high-end positioning: the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 4627, and the PassMark G3D score is 29995, placing it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A6000, scores 42653 in average benchmarks, a delta of -0.2%, meaning the RTX 4070 SUPER is statistically tied with a professional-grade card in synthetic benchmarks. For Hitman 2 specifically, the GPU's strong DirectX 12 performance (3DMark Steel Nomad is a DX12 test) translates to the solid frame rates seen at 1080p and 1440p.

The GPU's 12 GB VRAM is never stressed in this game, even at 4K Ultra, as the game's textures are not large enough to exceed this capacity. The 21 Gbps effective memory speed and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to feed the 80 ROPs and 224 TMUs, but the 4K results show that the GPU simply runs out of compute headroom before memory becomes a factor.