Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with Intel Core i7-14700K + AMD Radeon RX 9060

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers playable performance at 1080p and 1440p in Hitman 2, but the combination struggles to maintain fluid frame rates at 4K, particularly at higher quality presets. The combo ranks 1739th out of 3001 tested configurations, placing it in the lower-middle segment of the database, a position driven primarily by the GPU's mid-tier standing rather than the CPU's strong compute capabilities. Benchmark results indicate a system where the graphics card becomes the decisive bottleneck as resolution increases, with the processor's ample headroom never being fully utilized at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and revealing. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 90 FPS at 1920x1080 to 58 FPS at 2560x1440, then plummets to 31 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 35.6% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 46.6% further reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern indicates the GPU is the limiting component from 1440p upward, as the RX 9060's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus width become increasingly taxed at higher pixel counts.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more dramatic. The RX 9060 delivers 159 FPS at 1080p, drops to 102 FPS at 1440p, and falls to 54 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-4K reduction of 66% shows that even at the lowest quality preset, the GPU cannot maintain high frame rates at 4K. This contrasts with the Medium preset, where the 4K average of 41 FPS is only 34.4% below the 1440p figure of 76 FPS, suggesting that the game's medium-quality settings create a more balanced workload across the GPU's compute units.

The Ultra preset reveals the most severe scaling, with 66 FPS at 1080p, 43 FPS at 1440p, and just 23 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is nearly unplayable for a stealth title requiring precise timing, and the 65% reduction from 1080p underscores that the RX 9060's 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs are insufficient for ultra-quality rendering at high resolutions. The data strongly suggests that 1440p High is the practical ceiling for this combination, with 4K reserved for Low or Medium settings if playability is prioritized.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 1739 out of 3001 tested combinations, this system sits in the 58th percentile of all configurations in the database. This placement is notable because the CPU alone commands a 94th percentile ranking among all processors, while the GPU sits at just 59th percentile. The disparity between these two percentiles explains why the combo rank is middling: the i7-14700K is far more capable than what the RX 9060 can utilize in Hitman 2, a game that scales heavily with GPU throughput rather than CPU core count.

The combo's rank suggests that many configurations with weaker processors but stronger graphics cards would outperform it in this specific title. For context, the CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD EPYC 9115 (0.1% ahead), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.2% behind), AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.7% behind), and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (0.9% behind). None of these processors would meaningfully change the Hitman 2 results, as the GPU is the binding constraint at all resolutions above 1080p Low.

The data indicates that this combo is positioned for 1080p gaming as its primary strength, with 1440p High delivering an acceptable 58 FPS average. At 4K, the system falls outside the playable range for most settings, and even at Low settings the 54 FPS average is marginal for a game where frame pacing matters. The rank of 1739 reflects a system that is competent but not exceptional for this title, and users seeking higher resolutions would need to consider a more powerful GPU.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 44 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 4 nm process with 29,700 million transistors on a 199 mm² die. Its boost clock of 2990 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz are high for the segment, but the 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides only 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is the primary limitation in Hitman 2, as the game's detailed environments and crowds require substantial texture bandwidth at higher resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark scores contextualize its standing. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 3322, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 88183 and 39476, respectively. Passmark G3D shows 17631, with a GPU compute score of 9919. These figures place the RX 9060 in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rivals being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (0.7% ahead), AMD Radeon R9 370X (1% behind), AMD Radeon RX 7700 (1% behind), and AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (2.1% behind). The similarity to the RTX 3060 Ti in average benchmark score suggests comparable rasterization performance, though the RX 9060's memory limitations become more apparent in 4K scenarios.

The 64 ROPs and 112 TMUs deliver a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s. These figures are adequate for 1080p and 1440p rendering but insufficient for 4K with high-quality settings. The FP32 throughput of 21.43 TFLOPS is respectable, yet Hitman 2's visual fidelity demands more from the memory subsystem than the compute units at ultra resolutions. The 132 W TDP and single 8-pin power connector indicate a power-efficient design, but efficiency does not compensate for the bandwidth constraint at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RX 9060 delivers strong results across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 159 FPS, ensuring maximum refresh rate compatibility for most displays. Medium settings reduce this to 119 FPS, with a minimum of 101 FPS and maximum of 137 FPS, indicating smooth frame delivery. High settings yield 90 FPS, which is excellent for a stealth game requiring precise aiming. Ultra settings drop to 66 FPS, still comfortably playable and above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains respectable but shows the GPU's limits. Low settings achieve 102 FPS, which is excellent for 1440p. Medium settings average 76 FPS, with a minimum of 65 FPS and maximum of 88 FPS, providing a solid experience. High settings deliver 58 FPS, which is playable but approaching the threshold where frame drops become noticeable. Ultra settings fall to 43 FPS, which is suboptimal for a game requiring stealth-based timing and quick reactions.

At 3840x2160, the RX 9060 struggles significantly. Low settings average 54 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. Medium settings drop to 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and maximum of 47 FPS, indicating noticeable stutter in demanding scenes. High settings produce only 31 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 23 FPS. These 4K results are below the playable threshold for most gamers, and the data suggests that 4K gaming is not viable with this combination except at the lowest settings.

The frame time consistency, where available, shows tighter variance at Medium settings across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the 101-137 FPS range represents a 30% spread, while at 1440p Medium, the 65-88 FPS range shows a similar 35% spread. At 4K Medium, the 35-47 FPS range indicates a 34% spread, suggesting that the GPU maintains consistent frame pacing relative to its average performance, even at the highest resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 257 mm². Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, which is critical for Hitman 2's game logic and AI systems. The 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache reduce memory latency, benefiting the game's complex level streaming.

The CPU's benchmark results are exceptional. Cinebench R23 multi-core and single-core scores are 33440.5 and 2160, respectively, while Geekbench multi-core and single-core scores are 20767 and 2569. Passmark multi-thread and single-thread scores are 52392 and 4472. These figures place the i7-14700K in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rivals being tightly clustered: the AMD EPYC 9115 (0.1% ahead), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.2% behind), AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.7% behind), and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (0.9% behind). This clustering indicates that the i7-14700K is at the top of the consumer CPU hierarchy.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage game state. The data shows that the i7-14700K is never the bottleneck in this configuration. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU delivers 159 FPS, the CPU has ample headroom to maintain that frame rate. The Passmark physics score of 2964 and data encryption score of 40091 suggest the CPU can handle the game's physics calculations and background tasks without impacting frame delivery.

The 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory give users flexibility in system configuration, but the CPU's performance is not the limiting factor in this combo. The data indicates that upgrading the GPU would yield significant performance gains in Hitman 2, while upgrading the CPU would provide minimal benefit. The i7-14700K's 94th percentile ranking versus the RX 9060's 59th percentile clearly demonstrates the imbalance in this pairing.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p High is the optimal balance, delivering 58 FPS average. For higher frame rates, 1080p High provides 90 FPS, while 1440p Medium offers 76 FPS with a minimum of 65 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Hitman 2?

A: Only at Low settings, where it achieves 54 FPS average. Medium settings drop to 41 FPS, High to 31 FPS, and Ultra to 23 FPS, making most 4K presets unplayable for a stealth game requiring precise timing.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest rival in benchmark scores?

A: The RX 9060's average benchmark score of 16014 is 0.7% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129) and 1% above both the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862) and AMD Radeon RX 7700 (15852).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this configuration?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck. The i7-14700K ranks in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, while the RX 9060 ranks in the 59th percentile of all GPUs. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K confirms GPU-bound behavior across all settings.

Q: What is the CPU's performance relative to other top processors?

A: The i7-14700K's average benchmark score of 69355 is 0.1% below the AMD EPYC 9115 (69288), 0.2% above the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515), 0.7% above the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875), and 0.9% above the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (69996).

Q: How much performance drops when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 90 at 1080p to 58 at 1440p and 31 at 4K. This represents a 65.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K, illustrating the GPU's memory bandwidth constraints at higher resolutions.