Hitman 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Hitman 2 across three resolutions paint a clear picture of how this Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination behaves under increasing pixel load. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 333.6 FPS, which is a very high ceiling that demonstrates the hardware is not being held back by the CPU at this entry-level preset. Moving to Medium at 1080p drops the average to 251.3 FPS, while High settings produce 188.5 FPS; these are substantial reductions of roughly 25% and 44% from the Low baseline, showing that even at 1080p, graphical settings have a measurable impact on the frame rate.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p reinforces the GPU-bound nature of the workload at higher settings. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 188.5 FPS at 1080p to 119.9 FPS at 1440p, a 36% reduction. The Low preset at 1440p still delivers 212.9 FPS, which is a strong result but indicates that the GPU is beginning to take on more responsibility. Medium at 1440p yields 163.2 FPS, again showing a clear step down from Low. The Ultra preset at 1440p produces 87.6 FPS, which is less than half the 1080p Low result, underscoring that the most demanding settings at this resolution start to stress the graphics pipeline significantly.

At 4K, the trend becomes more pronounced. High settings at 3840x2160 deliver an average of 62.6 FPS, which is a 47% drop from the 1440p High result. Low at 4K manages 115 FPS, while Medium reaches 87 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K falls to 49.1 FPS, which is a playable but not smooth experience for a stealth title where precise timing matters. The data shows that the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is over 66% (from 188.5 down to 62.6), meaning the GPU is clearly the limiting component at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the high frame rate suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately, but as resolution increases, pixel throughput becomes the dominant constraint.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, and its specifications directly explain the measured results. The GPU has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. This large memory pool is more than sufficient for Hitman 2, a game released in 2018 that does not require massive VRAM allocations at any tested preset. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz, with an effective data rate of 21 Gbps, which contributes to the high bandwidth figure. The base clock is 2235 MHz with a boost clock of 2520 MHz, and the GPU contains 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The pixel rate is 443.5 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 1,290.2 GTexel/s.

Given these numbers, the RTX 4090 has ample raw compute for Hitman 2. The FP32 performance is 82.58 TFLOPS, which is far beyond what this game requires at any resolution. The fact that the Ultra preset at 4K only reaches 49.1 FPS is not due to a lack of GPU horsepower but rather the game's engine and the specific settings overhead. The data shows a clear hierarchy: at 1080p Ultra, the GPU delivers 143.2 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 49.1 FPS. This indicates that the RTX 4090 is still capable at 4K, but the Ultra preset pushes the rendering pipeline hard enough to cut the frame rate by more than half compared to 1080p. The GPU's percentile ranking of 91 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473, places it firmly in the high-end tier. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 with a 0.4% lower score and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 with a 1.3% lower score, but in real gaming workloads, the RTX 4090's advantage is more substantial due to its architecture.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor from the Core 14th Gen series, based on Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557 and a single-core score of 6290, which are strong results. Its percentile ranking against all CPUs is 96, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of processors in the database.

For Hitman 2, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combination reaches 333.6 FPS, which is a very high frame rate that suggests the CPU is feeding frames efficiently. The 20 cores and 28 threads provide ample parallelism for the game's simulation and AI logic, even though Hitman 2 is not known for being exceptionally CPU-intensive in modern terms. The boost clock of 5.60 GHz is particularly relevant for single-threaded tasks, and the single-core Cinebench R23 score of 6290 indicates strong per-thread performance. The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-14700K with a 0% delta, the AMD EPYC 9115 with a 0.3% higher score, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X with a 0.4% lower score. These differences are negligible in real gaming, so the CPU is not a limiting factor in this combo.

At 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes further. The frame rate drop from 1440p High to 4K High is 48%, from 119.9 to 62.6 FPS, which is almost entirely due to GPU workload. The data indicates that the i7-14700KF is more than capable of keeping up with the RTX 4090 at any resolution, as the bottleneck shifts to the GPU as pixel count rises. The CPU's high multi-threaded performance also means that any background tasks or game engine processes will not starve the GPU of data.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 47th out of 1795 combos for Hitman 2. This places it in the top 2.6% of all tested systems, which is a very strong showing. The rank reflects the combination's ability to deliver high frame rates across all settings and resolutions, with the weakest result being 49.1 FPS at 4K Ultra. Given that the GPU is ranked 91st percentile and the CPU is ranked 96th percentile individually, the combo's 47th place is consistent with both components being high-end.

The fact that the combo ranks 47th rather than higher is likely due to other systems with even more recent or specialized hardware. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 333.6 FPS, which is close to the practical limit for many displays. At 1440p High, it delivers 119.9 FPS, which is smooth for most gaming monitors. The rank of 47 out of 1795 means that 46 other combos outperform it, but the margin is likely small given the hardware's capabilities. The GPU's synthetic benchmark score of 66473 is close to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4 at 66733, which is a 0.4% difference, but in gaming, the RTX 4090's dedicated gaming features give it an edge. The CPU's average benchmark score of 70104 is also close to its rivals, with the Intel Core i7-14700K at 70074 and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X at 70420, but these differences do not translate into meaningful frame rate gaps in Hitman 2.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Hitman 2?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 333.6 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 the bottleneck at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, the data shows that at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops to 49.1 FPS, which is significantly lower than the 143.2 FPS at 1080p Ultra, indicating GPU-limited performance.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance affect the results?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF has a boost clock of 5.60 GHz and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6290, which supports high frame rates at lower resolutions, such as the 333.6 FPS seen at 1080p Low.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems for this game?

A: The combo ranks 47th out of 1795 tested combinations, placing it in the top 2.6% of all systems.

Q: Does the GPU's 24 GB of VRAM matter for Hitman 2?

A: The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory is far more than needed for Hitman 2, which is a game from 2018, so the VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor in any of the measured results.

Q: What is the difference between 1440p High and 1080p High?

A: At 1440p High, the average frame rate is 119.9 FPS, while at 1080p High it is 188.5 FPS, representing a 36% reduction when moving to the higher resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the best experience depends on the target resolution and desired smoothness. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 188.5 FPS, which is far above the refresh rate of most monitors and provides a very fluid experience. The Ultra preset at 1080p still achieves 143.2 FPS, which is also excellent and offers better visual fidelity. For players with a 144Hz monitor, the High preset is sufficient, while Ultra is recommended if the display supports higher refresh rates or if visual quality is prioritized.

At 1440p, the High preset produces 119.9 FPS, which is ideal for a 120Hz display. The Medium preset at 163.2 FPS is also an option for higher refresh rates, but the visual difference between Medium and High is noticeable in a stealth game where shadows and lighting matter. The Ultra preset at 1440p yields 87.6 FPS, which is still playable but not as smooth as High. For a balanced experience at 1440p, High is the recommended preset, as it maintains frame rates above 100 FPS while preserving visual quality.

At 4K, the choices are more constrained. The High preset delivers 62.6 FPS, which is acceptable for a single-player stealth game but not ideal for fast-paced action. The Medium preset at 87 FPS offers a better balance, while Low at 115 FPS is the smoothest option but sacrifices significant visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 49.1 FPS is not recommended for most players, as the frame rate drops below 50 FPS. The data suggests that for 4K, the Medium preset is the best compromise, providing a frame rate of 87 FPS that is smooth enough while retaining more visual detail than Low. For the absolute best balance of frame rate and quality across all resolutions, the High preset is the most consistent, offering 188.5 FPS at 1080p, 119.9 FPS at 1440p, and 62.6 FPS at 4K.