Hitman 2

Hitman 2, a stealth title from 2018, responds predictably but revealingly to resolution changes when paired with the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070. The measured frames per second (FPS) show a clear progression from 1080p to 4K, with the most dramatic drop occurring at the highest settings. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 258 FPS, which falls to 105.5 FPS at Ultra, a reduction of 152.5 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the Low setting yields 163.3 FPS, while Ultra drops to 69.3 FPS. At 4K, the strain is most evident: Low produces 86 FPS, but Ultra plummets to 34.6 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates that at lower resolutions and settings, the system has ample headroom, but at 4K Ultra, the GPU is the limiting factor, as the frame rate drops below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider playable.

The transition from 1080p to 1440p at High settings shows a decrease from 146.8 FPS to 91 FPS, a 55.8 FPS drop. The jump from 1440p to 4K at High settings is even steeper, falling from 91 FPS to 51.3 FPS, a reduction of 39.7 FPS. This pattern suggests that the game becomes increasingly GPU-bound as resolution increases, with the CPU's role diminishing. The data indicates that for smooth 4K gameplay, users will need to compromise on settings, as even Medium settings at 4K only reach 68.3 FPS. The gap between Medium and High at 4K is 17 FPS, while the gap between Low and Medium is 17.7 FPS, showing a non-linear relationship where each setting tier has a significant impact on performance at this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination ranks 358th out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the top 20% of all systems tested. This percentile position reflects a strong overall performance, but it is not at the absolute top tier. The rank of 358 out of 1795 means that roughly 1437 other combinations performed better, indicating that while this setup is capable, there are more powerful configurations available. The combo's ranking is likely influenced by the game's age and its optimization for older hardware, as well as the specific strengths and weaknesses of the CPU and GPU in this title.

The CPU itself, the Intel Core i7-14700F, holds a percentile rank of 94 against all CPUs, meaning it outperforms 94% of processors. Its average benchmark score is 54097, which is 0.6% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, its closest rival. In contrast, the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, holds a percentile rank of 83 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687. This is 0.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, its nearest rival. The discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile (94) and the GPU's lower percentile (83) suggests that in Hitman 2, the GPU may be the bottleneck, preventing the combo from ranking higher than 358th.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 2325 MHz with a boost clock of 2512 MHz, and it has a TDP of 250 W. The GPU's architecture is Blackwell 2.0, built on a 5 nm process by TSMC, with 31,100 million transistors. In Hitman 2, the GPU's performance is directly tied to the resolution and settings, as evidenced by the measured FPS data. At 1080p Low, the GPU is not fully utilized, as the frame rate of 258 FPS suggests the CPU is the limiting factor. However, at 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, with the frame rate dropping to 34.6 FPS, which is below the playable threshold.

The GPU's 12 GB of VRAM is sufficient for Hitman 2, as the game's highest settings at 4K do not appear to exceed this capacity, based on the measured performance. The boost clock of 2512 MHz allows for consistent performance across different scenes, but the data shows that the GPU's compute capabilities are strained at higher resolutions. The GPU's benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 29137 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077, indicate strong raw performance, but in Hitman 2, the frame rates at 4K Ultra suggest that the game's rendering demands are high. The GPU's role is to handle the graphical load, and the data shows that it performs admirably at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1080p, the Low setting achieves 258 FPS, Medium reaches 194 FPS, High delivers 146.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 105.5 FPS. This represents a spread of 152.5 FPS between the lowest and highest settings, indicating that the system has significant headroom at this resolution. The transition from Low to Medium is a 64 FPS drop, while Medium to High is a 47.2 FPS drop, and High to Ultra is a 41.3 FPS drop, showing that each setting tier has a substantial impact on performance.

At 1440p, the Low setting yields 163.3 FPS, Medium reaches 125.5 FPS, High delivers 91 FPS, and Ultra drops to 69.3 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 94 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor. The drop from Low to Medium is 37.8 FPS, Medium to High is 34.5 FPS, and High to Ultra is 21.7 FPS, showing that the performance penalty for each setting tier is decreasing. At 4K, the Low setting achieves 86 FPS, Medium reaches 68.3 FPS, High delivers 51.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 34.6 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 51.4 FPS, which is the narrowest of all resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. It has 33 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. The CPU's TDP is 65 W, and it is built on a 10 nm process by Intel. In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings, where the frame rates are high enough to expose any CPU limitations. At 1080p Low, the 258 FPS result suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to achieve very high frame rates, but the game's engine may not be fully utilizing all 20 cores.

The CPU's benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35443 and a single-core score of 5003, indicate strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. Its Passmark multi-thread score of 41765 and single-thread score of 4261 further confirm its capabilities. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, has an average score of 54450, which is 0.6% higher, showing that the i7-14700F is competitive with top-tier processors. In Hitman 2, the CPU's high single-core performance is likely beneficial, as the game's AI and physics calculations may rely on single-threaded performance. However, the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 34.6 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor, not the CPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this CPU and GPU in Hitman 2?

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1440p with High settings is a strong choice, as it achieves 91 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. At 1080p, even Ultra settings deliver 105.5 FPS, making it fully playable at the highest quality. For 4K, Medium settings are recommended, as they yield 68.3 FPS, while High drops to 51.3 FPS and Ultra to 34.6 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-14700F compare to its nearest rival in benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F has an average benchmark score of 54097, which is 0.6% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X's score of 54450. It also trails the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D by 1.1%, whose score is 54681, but it leads the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 1.2% and the AMD EPYC 7313P by 1.7%.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile rank and its closest rival?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 holds a percentile rank of 83 against all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 41687, which is 0.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090's score of 41441. It also leads the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 by 0.2% but trails the NVIDIA Tesla M40 by 0.5%.

Q: At which resolution does the GPU become the clear bottleneck?

A: At 4K resolution, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as the frame rates drop significantly. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 34.6, which is below the playable threshold, while at 1440p Ultra, the average FPS is 69.3, indicating a more balanced workload. The data shows that the gap between settings narrows as resolution increases, confirming the GPU's limiting role at 4K.

Q: What is the frame rate at 1080p Low, and what does it indicate?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 258 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate. This indicates that the CPU has sufficient headroom to drive the GPU to very high frame rates, but the game's engine may not be fully utilizing the CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads, as the frame rate is not limited by the CPU at this setting.

Q: How does the combo rank in Hitman 2 compared to all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 358th out of 1795 tested combinations, placing it in the top 20% of all systems tested. This rank reflects a strong overall performance, but the GPU's lower percentile rank of 83, compared to the CPU's 94, suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in preventing a higher ranking.