Hitman 2

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why the measured frame rates sit where they do. The card carries 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. For a 2018 stealth title like Hitman 2, that memory subsystem is far beyond what the game can stress—the title's asset streaming and texture workloads are nowhere near the capacity or bandwidth limits of this GPU. The data confirms this: even at 4K Ultra, the average frame rate stays at a playable level, and at lower settings the card is clearly not memory-bound.

Clock behavior matters more here. The RTX 4090's base clock is 2235 MHz with a boost of 2520 MHz. Those are high absolute numbers, and they scale directly with the measured results. Hitman 2 is not a title that leverages the full Ada Lovelace feature set—there is no heavy ray tracing workload in the measured rows, and the game's DirectX 12 path predates the card's 12 Ultimate feature level. What the game does use is raw rasterization throughput, and the RTX 4090 has that in abundance: 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines. The 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is overkill for a stealth game from 2018, but it manifests as high frame rates at every resolution tested.

The measured results show a clear pattern. At 1080p, the GPU is so far ahead of the game's demands that even the Ultra preset averages 140 FPS, and Low pushes to 334 FPS. Those numbers are not limited by the card's rendering capacity—they are limited by the CPU and the game's engine overhead. At 4K, the GPU starts to feel the load: High averages 65 FPS, Medium 85 FPS, and Ultra drops to 48 FPS. This is a game that scales with resolution, and the RTX 4090's 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate is what keeps 4K playable. The card's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores exist but are largely idle in this title; Hitman 2's measured settings do not push those units hard.

For context in the broader GPU landscape, the RTX 4090 sits at the 88th percentile among all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmark score include the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% ahead), though those comparisons are based on synthetic averages, not this game's real-world frames. In Hitman 2 specifically, the card's performance is what the measured FPS rows show—and those rows are consistently high.

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

The measured data offers four presets per resolution, and the choice hinges on what you prioritize: maximum visual fidelity or maximum frame rate headroom. At 1080p, the gap between presets is enormous. Low averages 334 FPS, Medium 251 FPS, High 190 FPS, and Ultra 140 FPS. For a stealth game where precise timing matters, any of these are smooth, but the jump from Medium to High costs 61 FPS on average—that is a 24% drop for one step up in quality. From High to Ultra, the drop is 50 FPS, or 26%. If you have a 144 Hz monitor, High is the sweet spot: 190 FPS leaves enough headroom to avoid dips, and the visual upgrade over Medium is likely noticeable in Hitman 2's detailed environments. Ultra at 140 FPS is still fine for 144 Hz, but the margin is thinner.

At 1440p, the same hierarchy holds. Low averages 214 FPS, Medium 160 FPS, High 121 FPS, and Ultra 89 FPS. The Medium preset shows a min FPS of 136 and a max of 184, indicating some variance, but those numbers are all well above refresh-rate thresholds for most displays. High at 121 FPS is the practical recommendation here—it clears 120 Hz panels with a hair of room, and the quality jump from Medium is worth the 39 FPS cost. Ultra at 89 FPS is playable but begins to feel less fluid, especially if you are used to higher frame rates.

At 4K, the calculus shifts. Low averages 114 FPS, Medium 85 FPS, High 65 FPS, and Ultra 48 FPS. Here, the GPU is finally working hard. Ultra at 48 FPS is borderline for a stealth game—playable, but not ideal for quick reactions. High at 65 FPS is the best balance: it keeps the visual detail that 4K resolution demands while maintaining a frame rate that stays above 60 FPS on average. Medium at 85 FPS is the safer choice if you want headroom, especially since the Medium preset shows a min FPS of 73 and a max of 98, meaning it does dip below 60 in heavy scenes. Low at 114 FPS is there if you want esports-level smoothness, but it sacrifices too much visual quality for a game that looks good at high settings.

The recommendation across all resolutions is High. It delivers the best combination of visual fidelity and frame rate stability. At 1080p and 1440p, High is comfortably above 120 FPS; at 4K, it sits just above 60 FPS. If you have a high-refresh display and prioritize smoothness over eye candy, step down to Medium—the measured data shows that preset holds its minimums better at 4K.

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 from the Raptor Lake-R family, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost of 5.40 GHz. Those specs are far beyond what Hitman 2 needs. The game is from 2018, and its engine was built for 8-thread processors at most. The 14700F's 33 MB of shared L3 cache is ample, and its dual-channel memory support (DDR4 or DDR5) means bandwidth is not a bottleneck in this title.

The benchmark data shows a CPU that is strong in both single-thread and multi-thread workloads. In Cinebench R23, it scores 4,958 single-core and 35,122 multi-core. In Geekbench, it hits 2,429 single-core and 19,620 multi-core. The PassMark single-thread score is 4,257, and the multi-thread score is 41,317. These numbers place the CPU at the 91st percentile among all CPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (0.6% higher aggregate score) and the AMD EPYC 7313P (0.8% higher), which tells you this chip is in the top tier of desktop processors.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU and handle the game's simulation and AI logic. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 334—that is likely near the engine's internal cap or the CPU's limit for draw-call processing. The fact that the 14700F can push a 2018 stealth game to over 300 FPS at low settings shows its single-thread performance is more than sufficient. At higher settings, the GPU takes over the bottleneck, and the CPU's 20 cores are largely idle. The measured frames at 4K Ultra (48 FPS) are a GPU limit, not a CPU one.

The CPU's 5.40 GHz boost clock is the key spec for this game. Hitman 2's frame rate at high refresh rates depends heavily on single-thread performance, and the 14700F's high boost clock ensures that the game's main thread is not the limiting factor until you approach 300+ FPS territory. The 2.10 GHz base clock is irrelevant in practice—the processor will boost to near maximum under gaming load, and the 65 W TDP (with a 257 mm² die) means cooling is manageable even in an air-cooled build.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Core i7-14700F and the RTX 4090 ranks 129th out of 3,711 tested combos in Hitman 2. That is the top 3.5% of all pairings in the database—a strong showing, but not the absolute best. The ranking reflects that this is a high-end CPU paired with the fastest consumer GPU, yet there are 128 combos ahead of it. Those likely include newer CPUs (like the 14th-gen K-series with higher clocks) or perhaps more optimized pairings for this specific title.

The rank is interesting because the RTX 4090 is end-of-life and the CPU is current-gen. In a game like Hitman 2, which is not GPU-heavy at lower resolutions, a slightly faster CPU could push the combo higher. The 14700F's 91st percentile CPU score and the RTX 4090's 88th percentile GPU score combine to a top-tier result, but the data shows there is headroom for improvement—likely from a CPU with an unlocked multiplier or higher boost clock.

What this rank means in practice: if you have this combo, you are getting a frame rate experience that outperforms 96.5% of all tested systems in this game. The only systems ahead of you are likely using even newer or higher-binned parts. For a game from 2018, this is overkill in the best way—you will not be CPU-limited at any reasonable resolution, and you will only be GPU-limited at 4K Ultra.

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

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern that identifies the bottleneck at each resolution. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 190 at 1080p to 121 at 1440p (a 36% drop) to 65 at 4K (a 46% drop from 1440p). At Low settings, the progression is 334 FPS at 1080p, 214 at 1440p (a 36% drop), and 114 at 4K (a 47% drop). These are not linear drops—the scaling is roughly proportional to the pixel count increase, which indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

At 1080p, the GPU is not the bottleneck. The fact that Low settings hit 334 FPS while High settings hit 190 FPS shows that the game's rendering load is still small enough for the CPU to be the limiting component at low quality. At 1080p Ultra, 140 FPS is likely GPU-bound, but at Low, the CPU is holding things back. The 14700F's single-thread performance caps out around 334 FPS in this title's low-settings mode.

At 1440p, the GPU starts to take over. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings (about 36% drop), which suggests the GPU is now the primary limiter, but the CPU still has headroom—the 1440p Low average of 214 FPS is still very high. At 4K, the GPU is fully the bottleneck. The 4K Low average of 114 FPS versus the 1080p Low average of 334 FPS is a 66% reduction, which aligns with the pixel count increase from 2.07 million to 8.29 million (a 4x increase). The GPU's rendering throughput simply cannot keep up with 4K pixel counts at the same rate as 1080p.

The conclusion from this scaling: at 1080p and 1440p, the RTX 4090 is overkill for Hitman 2, and the CPU matters. At 4K, the GPU is the sole limiter, and no CPU upgrade would help. This is typical for a high-end GPU pairing with a strong CPU in an older title—the scaling curve is steep at first, then flattens as the GPU saturates.

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

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 334 FPS average
• Medium: 251 FPS average, with a min of 213 and max of 288
• High: 190 FPS average
• Ultra: 140 FPS average

At 1080p, the game is running far beyond display refresh rates for most monitors. The Medium preset shows the only min/max data in this resolution, with a 213 FPS floor that still exceeds 144 Hz. The gap between Low and Ultra is 194 FPS, or a 58% reduction—this shows that even at Ultra, the GPU is not stressed at this resolution.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 214 FPS average
• Medium: 160 FPS average, with a min of 136 and max of 184
• High: 121 FPS average
• Ultra: 89 FPS average

At 1440p, the frame rates remain high but begin to approach typical monitor limits. The Medium preset's min of 136 FPS and max of 184 FPS shows a 48 FPS spread, indicating some scene-to-scene variance, but every preset stays above 60 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 125 FPS, or a 58% reduction—the same percentage as 1080p, which suggests the GPU is scaling uniformly with settings at this resolution.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 114 FPS average
• Medium: 85 FPS average, with a min of 73 and max of 98
• High: 65 FPS average
• Ultra: 48 FPS average

At 4K, the GPU finally hits its limits. The Low preset is still very playable at 114 FPS, but Ultra drops to 48 FPS—below 60, which is the threshold many players consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset's min of 73 FPS and max of 98 FPS shows a 25 FPS spread, tighter than at lower resolutions, which indicates the GPU is consistently loaded. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 58% reduction, mirroring the other resolutions—this is a linear relationship between settings and frame rate, independent of resolution.

The data across all resolutions shows a consistent pattern: the RTX 4090 delivers high frame rates in Hitman 2, with the CPU only mattering at 1080p low settings. The 4K Ultra average of 48 FPS is the only measured result below 60 FPS, making that the single combination to avoid if you want a locked 60 FPS experience. Everything else in the measured rows clears that bar comfortably.