Hitman 2

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a commanding performance profile in Hitman 2, a stealth title from 2018. The benchmark data shows this combination is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, with the CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads providing ample headroom to push frame rates to extreme levels at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across resolutions and settings to guide practical configuration choices.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, confirming that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary limiting factor at 4K. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 168.6 FPS at 1920x1080 to 110.0 FPS at 2560x1440, then falls further to 56.9 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 34.7% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 48.3% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, indicating that pixel throughput becomes increasingly dominant at higher resolutions.

At Low settings, the resolution scaling is even more dramatic. The system produces 303.1 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 194.0 FPS at 1440p (a 36% decline), and then to 104.3 FPS at 4K (a 46.2% decline from 1440p). The fact that 4K Low still nearly doubles the 4K High result shows that the rendering workload, not the CPU, is the bottleneck at this resolution. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient, but the sheer pixel count of 3840x2160 overwhelms the GPU's shading units when quality settings rise.

Ultra settings exacerbate the issue. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS plummets to 43.7, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. This is a 65.7% drop from 1080p Ultra's 127.6 FPS. The data suggests that Hitman 2 at 4K with this combo is best approached with Medium or High settings, as the gap between Medium (77.2 FPS) and High (56.9 FPS) at 4K is substantial, while the jump from High to Ultra costs another 23.2% performance.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target at 3840x2160, High settings are the borderline choice, delivering 56.9 FPS average. To ensure a stable experience above 60 FPS, Medium settings at 4K are the safer pick, yielding 77.2 FPS. Low settings at 4K push performance to 104.3 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely unnecessary given the GPU's capabilities.

At 2560x1440, the picture is much brighter. High settings deliver 110.0 FPS, which is excellent for a 144Hz monitor. Medium settings reach 147.9 FPS, and Low hits 194.0 FPS. Ultra at 1440p produces 80.7 FPS, which is still playable but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. The sweet spot for 1440p is High, as it balances the 110 FPS result with the visual fidelity that the RTX 4080 SUPER can comfortably handle.

At 1920x1080, the CPU's strength becomes evident. High settings produce 168.6 FPS, Medium hits 223.8 FPS, and Low reaches 303.1 FPS. Even Ultra at 1080p maintains a healthy 127.6 FPS. For competitive or high-refresh play, Medium or Low at 1080p will exploit the full potential of the i7-14700KF, but High is the recommended preset for most users since it stays well above 144 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the defining component in this combo for 4K performance. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Hitman 2's textures at any resolution. The GPU's 10240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs are tasked with the heavy lifting, and the data shows they are the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS falls to 43.7.

The boost clock of 2550 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz allow the Ada Lovelace architecture to scale well with resolution, but the 52.22 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is still insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra. The GPU's 80 RT cores are present, but Hitman 2 does not heavily utilize ray tracing in these benchmark rows, so the focus is on traditional rasterization performance.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 34245 in Passmark G3D and 246994 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, has an average score 0.2% lower, indicating parity in raw compute. However, the measured FPS in Hitman 2 shows that the RTX 4080 SUPER's real-world performance is strong, particularly at 1080p and 1440p, where it can push well beyond 100 FPS on High settings.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 119th out of 1795 combos in Hitman 2. This places it in the top 6.6% of all tested systems, which is impressive given the game's age and the diversity of hardware configurations in the database. The rank reflects the balance between a high-end CPU and a high-end GPU, although the 4K Ultra result drags the overall score down compared to lower-resolution-focused combos.

The CPU itself ranks in the 96th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 70104. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700K, scores 70074, a delta of 0%, meaning the KF variant offers identical performance without integrated graphics. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X scores 70420, which is 0.4% higher, while the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 leads with 71056, a 1.3% advantage. This CPU is clearly not the bottleneck in Hitman 2; the combo's rank is more heavily influenced by the GPU's performance at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF's specifications are formidable: 20 cores, 28 threads, a base clock of 3.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 per core provide ample fast memory for game logic and physics. In Hitman 2, which is not heavily threaded, the CPU's single-thread performance is crucial. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6290 and Geekbench single-core score of 2972 indicate strong per-core throughput, which allows the CPU to feed the GPU efficiently at lower resolutions.

The measured FPS at 1080p Low (303.1 FPS) and 1080p Medium (223.8 FPS) demonstrates that the CPU can drive frame rates far beyond typical monitor refresh rates. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 127.6 FPS result shows no significant CPU limitation. The Passmark multithread score of 52425 and the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 44557 confirm that the CPU has massive headroom for other tasks, but in Hitman 2, it is the GPU that determines the ceiling.

The 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier make this CPU a flexible choice for overclocking, though the stock boost clock of 5.60 GHz is already high. The 10 nm process node and Raptor Lake architecture deliver efficiency that prevents the CPU from being a heat or power concern in this title. For Hitman 2, the CPU's role is to ensure that frame times remain consistent, which the data supports, as there are no signs of stutter or bottleneck-induced drops at any resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60 FPS?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 110.0 FPS average, which is well above 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, the High preset produces 56.9 FPS, barely below the 60 FPS target, so Medium at 4K (77.2 FPS) is safer for a consistent experience.

Q: How much faster is this combo at 1080p compared to 4K on High settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 High is 168.6, while at 3840x2160 High it is 56.9. This represents a 196.4% increase in performance at 1080p, showing that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the i7-14700KF bottleneck the RTX 4080 SUPER in this game?

A: No. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 303.1 FPS, which indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck. The 20-core processor's single-thread score of 6290 in Cinebench R23 ensures it can keep up with the GPU's output.

Q: Is Ultra settings playable at 1440p with this hardware?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 2560x1440 yields 80.7 FPS average, which is playable on a 60Hz or 75Hz monitor, though it is noticeably lower than the High preset's 110.0 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 53610, while the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT scores 53489, a 0.2% difference. The NVIDIA card is also in the 88th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the combo's global ranking in Hitman 2?

A: This specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 119th out of 1795 tested combos, placing it in the top 6.6% of all systems in the database for this game.