Hitman 2

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 achieves a combo rank of 480 out of 1795 tested combinations in Hitman 2. This places the pairing in the top 26.7% of all tested combos, indicating a strong but not elite performance tier for this stealth title. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's substantial multi-threaded capabilities and the GPU's mid-to-high-range positioning within the database's tested hardware pool.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 brings 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 5888 shading units operate at a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). These specifications position the card with an average benchmark score of 37283, placing it in the 81st percentile among all GPUs tested. The card's 35,800 million transistors on a 5 nm TSMC process with 184 TMUs and 64 ROPs provide the raw throughput needed for Hitman 2's detailed environments, though the 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are less critical for this particular title's rendering demands.

In the context of nearest rivals, the RTX 4070 sits remarkably close to the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, with the latter scoring 37507 on average, a delta of -0.6% relative to the RTX 4070's baseline. The NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A trails by 1.9% with a score of 38008, while the RTX 4080 Mobile is 2.2% behind at 38135. Interestingly, the AMD Radeon RX 5300M actually surpasses the RTX 4070 by 2.5% with a score of 36371, though this falls within the margin of benchmark variance. These tight deltas suggest that in Hitman 2, the RTX 4070's performance is closely matched by several disparate GPUs, indicating that the game's workload does not disproportionately favor any particular architecture.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This Raptor Lake-R architecture processor, built on Intel's 10 nm process with a 125 W TDP, provides substantial computational headroom for Hitman 2's AI-driven stealth mechanics and crowd simulations. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache, enabling efficient data reuse during gameplay.

With an average benchmark score of 70104, the i7-14700KF ranks in the 96th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals show remarkable clustering: the Intel Core i7-14700K scores 70074 with a delta of 0%, the AMD EPYC 9115 reaches 69887 (0.3% ahead), the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hits 70420 (-0.4%), and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 achieves 71056 (-1.3%). This tight grouping indicates the i7-14700KF is operating at the upper echelon of CPU performance, though its advantage over similarly priced competitors is marginal in synthetic benchmarks. For Hitman 2 specifically, the CPU's strong single-thread performance — evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2972 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6290 — ensures that the game's primary simulation thread remains unconstrained.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers playable to exceptionally smooth frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 237.8 FPS, Medium drops to 175.7 FPS, and High settles at 136 FPS. Ultra settings still maintain a robust 101.2 FPS average, comfortably exceeding the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay on standard refresh rate displays.

Moving to 2560x1440, the scaling is consistent yet demanding. Low settings yield 148.9 FPS, Medium reaches 115.6 FPS, and High achieves 85.6 FPS. Ultra settings at this resolution produce 60.6 FPS, which aligns closely with the 4K High result, suggesting a performance ceiling is being approached. The 1440p Ultra result matches the 4K Medium result exactly at 60.6 FPS, an interesting data point indicating similar workload characteristics between these configurations.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. Medium settings average 60.6 FPS, High drops to 48.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 32.1 FPS. Low settings at 4K reach 80.1 FPS, demonstrating that the game's lower-quality presets dramatically reduce GPU load. The progression from 1080p Low to 4K Low shows a 66.3% reduction in frame rate, while the same comparison at Ultra settings shows a 68.3% reduction, indicating consistent scaling behavior across quality presets.

# Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal the limiting component at each resolution. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p (237.8 FPS) to 1440p (148.9 FPS) represents a 37.4% decrease, and from 1440p to 4K (80.1 FPS) another 46.2% decrease. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 66.3%. At Medium settings, the drops are 34.2% from 1080p to 1440p (175.7 to 115.6) and 47.6% from 1440p to 4K (115.6 to 60.6), totaling a 65.5% reduction.

High settings show a 37.1% decrease from 1080p to 1440p (136 to 85.6) and a 43.1% decrease from 1440p to 4K (85.6 to 48.7), totaling 64.2%. Ultra settings exhibit the most dramatic scaling: 40.1% from 1080p to 1440p (101.2 to 60.6) and 47% from 1440p to 4K (60.6 to 32.1), totaling 68.3%. The consistent pattern of 34-48% drops per resolution step indicates that the RTX 4070's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth scale predictably with pixel count, while the i7-14700KF's processing power remains sufficient to feed the GPU across all tested configurations.

The narrowing gap between resolutions at higher settings suggests the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck as pixel counts increase. At 1080p Low, the CPU likely provides a slight constraint given the 237.8 FPS ceiling, but at 4K Ultra, the GPU's 32.1 FPS clearly dominates the performance equation. The 4K Medium and 1440p Ultra both hitting exactly 60.6 FPS reinforces this interpretation, as both configurations stress the GPU similarly despite different pixel counts and quality settings.

# FAQ

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested CPU-GPU pairs in Hitman 2?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 480 out of 1795 tested combinations, placing it in the top 26.7% of the database.

Q: What is the best frame rate this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches an average of 237.8 FPS. The highest quality preset at 1080p, Ultra, still delivers 101.2 FPS.

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

A: At 3840x2160, the combo provides 80.1 FPS on Low, 60.6 FPS on Medium, 48.7 FPS on High, and 32.1 FPS on Ultra. Medium settings are the highest that maintain a 60 FPS average.

Q: Which component limits performance at 1440p Ultra?

A: The 1440p Ultra result of 60.6 FPS exactly matches the 4K Medium result, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking and strong single-thread scores suggest it has ample headroom.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4070's average score of 37283 is 0.6% ahead of the RX Vega 56, 1.9% ahead of the MX570 A, 2.2% ahead of the RTX 4080 Mobile, but 2.5% behind the RX 5300M.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile relative to all tested processors?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF ranks in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70104, placing it near the top of the performance hierarchy.