Hitman 2

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the Intel Arc B570 produces a specific performance profile in Hitman 2 that is heavily dictated by resolution and settings. The measured data shows a clear pattern where the graphics card becomes the primary constraint as resolution increases, while the processor’s strong multi-threaded capabilities remain largely underutilized in this 2018 stealth title. This analysis walks through the measured FPS rows, compares the combo’s standing against other tested configurations, and offers practical settings guidance based strictly on the supplied figures.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets, indicating that the Intel Arc B570 is the limiting component at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 123 FPS at 1920x1080 to 79 FPS at 2560x1440, a 36% reduction, and then further to 42 FPS at 3840x2160, which is a 66% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern points to a GPU-bound scenario where pixel throughput, not CPU capability, dictates performance.

For Medium settings, the same trend appears with the average dropping from 93 FPS at 1080p to 59 FPS at 1440p (a 37% decrease) and then to 32 FPS at 4K (a 66% decrease from 1080p). The High preset follows a similar trajectory: 70 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p (36% lower), and 24 FPS at 4K (66% lower). The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with averages of 52 FPS at 1080p, 33 FPS at 1440p, and 18 FPS at 4K, representing a 65% total drop from 1080p to 4K.

The consistency of these percentage drops—hovering around 36% for the 1080p-to-1440p step and 66% for the full 1080p-to-4K step—strongly suggests that the GPU’s pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are the bottlenecks. The Arc B570’s 380.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate are fixed hardware limits, and the measured FPS scaling aligns with the increased pixel count at each resolution. The CPU, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, is not showing signs of strain because the frame rate deltas mirror resolution demand rather than CPU load.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a high-end desktop processor with 20 cores, 28 threads, a base clock of 3.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its architecture is Raptor Lake-R, built on a 10 nm process, and it features 33 MB of shared L3 cache. In Hitman 2, a stealth game from 2018, the workload is primarily single-threaded or lightly threaded, meaning the CPU’s massive parallel throughput is not fully exercised.

The CPU’s benchmark scores confirm its strength: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44167 and a single-core score of 6235 place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. The Geekbench multi-core score of 21462 and single-core score of 2578 reinforce this profile. However, the measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p with Low settings, where the CPU would typically have the most influence, the average frame rate is 123 FPS. This is far below what the CPU could theoretically support, indicating that the Arc B570 is already the limiting factor even at the lowest resolution.

At 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 52 FPS, which is a 58% reduction from Low settings. This performance gap is entirely due to GPU workload, not CPU capability. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.60 GHz ensures that single-threaded game logic is handled without issue, but the data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking across any resolution or settings combination. The nearest rival CPU, the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, has an average benchmark score of 69996, which is only 0.2% lower than the i7-14700KF’s score of 70163, yet the game performance would likely be identical given the GPU constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2986 out of 3711 tested combos for Hitman 2. This places it in the bottom 20% of all configurations, which is a surprisingly low position given the CPU’s high percentile ranking. The discrepancy arises because the GPU, which is the primary driver of game FPS, only ranks in the 65th percentile of all GPUs.

The Arc B570’s average benchmark score is 20556, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile at 20534 (a 0.1% delta) and the Intel Arc A750 at 20582 (a -0.1% delta). This means the B570 performs almost identically to those GPUs in general benchmarks, but the measured Hitman 2 results show that this level of GPU performance is insufficient for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p or 4K. The combo rank of 2986 reflects that most other tested combos, likely featuring stronger GPUs, achieve higher average FPS in this game.

The rank is a composite measure, but the data suggests that the CPU is not the differentiator. If the same GPU were paired with a weaker CPU, the rank might be similar, assuming the CPU could still feed the GPU adequately at 1080p. Conversely, pairing the i7-14700KF with a higher-tier GPU would dramatically improve the rank, as the CPU’s 94th percentile standing would allow for much higher frame rates. The 2986 rank is therefore a clear indicator of GPU-limited performance in this specific pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 123 FPS, which is the highest recorded value in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 and a maximum of 106. High settings average 70 FPS, and Ultra drops to 52 FPS. These numbers show that 1080p is playable across all presets, but only Low and Medium approach high-refresh-rate territory.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 79 FPS, which is still smooth for most displays. Medium averages 59 FPS with a range of 50 to 68. High settings average 45 FPS, and Ultra falls to 33 FPS. The 1440p data reveals that only Low and Medium maintain an average above 60 FPS, while High and Ultra require a tolerance for lower frame rates.

At 3840x2160, the results are significantly more constrained. Low settings average 42 FPS, Medium averages 32 FPS with a minimum of 27 and maximum of 36, High averages 24 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. None of the 4K presets achieve 60 FPS, and even the Low preset struggles to maintain a consistent 40+ FPS experience. The Medium preset’s minimum of 27 FPS indicates that frame pacing could be an issue during intense scenes.

The delta between Low and Ultra at each resolution is substantial: at 1080p, the difference is 71 FPS (123 to 52); at 1440p, it is 46 FPS (79 to 33); and at 4K, it is 24 FPS (42 to 18). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions underscores that the GPU’s absolute performance ceiling is the binding constraint, as raising settings has a proportionally smaller impact when the pixel count is already overwhelming the hardware.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture and the BMG-G21 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It has 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines. The GPU operates at a fixed 2500 MHz for both base and boost clocks, with memory running at 2375 MHz for 19 Gbps effective speed. The 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s.

In Hitman 2, the GPU’s role is dominant, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. The 10 GB VRAM is sufficient for this game, as none of the measured rows indicate a memory capacity issue—the game’s 2018 release date means texture sizes are modest. Instead, the limiting factor is raw compute and memory bandwidth. The GPU’s FP32 performance is 11.52 TFLOPS, and its texture rate is 360.0 GTexel/s, but these figures are not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra, where the average is 18 FPS.

The GPU’s benchmark scores paint a similar picture: the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2649, and the Passmark G3D score is 14195, placing it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, has a nearly identical average score with a 0.1% delta, suggesting that the B570 performs at a level comparable to a mid-range mobile GPU from a previous generation. This explains why the 4K Ultra preset is nearly unplayable at 18 FPS and why even 1440p High only reaches 45 FPS.

The GPU’s 18 ray tracing cores are present, but Hitman 2 does not utilize ray tracing in the measured settings, so they have no bearing on these results. The fixed 2500 MHz clock means there is no boost variation to consider, and the 150 W TDP is a power envelope that does not translate into performance advantages in this title)Skip the GPU’s role is purely about rasterization throughput, and the data shows that it is the sole limiting factor across all tested configurations.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend on the target display resolution and desired frame rate. For 1920x1080, the Medium preset provides an average of 93 FPS with a minimum of 79, which is an excellent balance of visual quality and smoothness. The Low preset at 123 FPS is better suited for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, but Medium offers a 30 FPS improvement over High (70 FPS) while only sacrificing some visual fidelity.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the best choice for a 60 FPS target, as it averages 59 FPS with a minimum of 50. This is marginally below 60 FPS but within a reasonable margin. The Low preset at 79 FPS is smoother, but Medium provides better image quality without a significant performance penalty. The High preset at 45 FPS and Ultra at 33 FPS are not recommended for 1440p unless the user prioritizes visuals over frame rate.

For 3840x2160, none of the presets achieve 60 FPS, so the recommendation is to use Low settings, which average 42 FPS. This is the only 4K preset that maintains an average above 40 FPS. The Medium preset at 32 FPS is playable for slower-paced stealth sections but may feel sluggish during action sequences. Ultra at 18 FPS is not viable for gameplay.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset offers the most consistent experience relative to its performance cost. The delta between Medium and High is smaller than the delta between Low and Medium, suggesting that Medium is a sweet spot. For users with 60 Hz displays, 1440p Medium is the highest quality setting that delivers near-60 FPS, while 1080p Medium provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where an average above 100 FPS is achievable, specifically 123 FPS at Low settings. At 2560x1440, the maximum average is 79 FPS at Low, and at 3840x2160, the highest average is 42 FPS at Low. Therefore, 1080p is the only resolution that consistently allows for high frame rates.

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

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 70 at 1920x1080 to 24 at 3840x2160, a 66% reduction. This indicates that the GPU is heavily overloaded at 4K, and the frame rate becomes borderline unplayable.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700KF the bottleneck in this pairing?

A: No, the measured data shows that the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU’s benchmark scores are in the 94th percentile, but the FPS scaling across resolutions follows the GPU’s pixel throughput limits. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would have the most influence, the average is 123 FPS, which is below what the CPU could support.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 123, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 93 FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, followed by 79 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings.

Q: How does the Arc B570 compare to its nearest rival in general benchmarks?

A: The Arc B570 has an average benchmark score of 20556, while its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, scores 20534, a 0.1% difference. The Intel Arc A750 scores 20582, which is 0.1% higher than the B570.

Q: Can this combo run Hitman 2 at 4K with any preset above 30 FPS?

A: Yes, the Low preset at 3840x2160 averages 42 FPS, which is above 30 FPS. The Medium preset averages 32 FPS, also above 30, but with a minimum of 27 FPS. High and Ultra presets fall below 30 FPS, averaging 24 and 18 FPS respectively.