Hitman 2

The pairing of Intel’s flagship Core i9-14900K with AMD’s aging Radeon RX 580 produces one of the most lopsided configurations in the Hitman 2 benchmark database. The CPU is a 24-core, 32-thread powerhouse that sits in the 95th percentile of all tested processors, while the GPU is a 2017-era Polaris part that now lands in the 53rd percentile. The measured frame rates confirm what the hardware profiles suggest: this is a system where the graphics card is the overwhelming bottleneck, and the CPU’s immense compute headroom goes almost entirely unused in this stealth title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate collapse from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about which component is doing the heavy lifting. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo averages 77 FPS. Dropping to 1440p Low reduces that to 49 FPS, a 36% decline. Moving to 4K Low yields just 26 FPS, which is a 66% drop from the 1080p figure. This steep scaling curve is textbook GPU-bound behavior—the RX 580’s pixel throughput cannot keep pace with the increasing resolution demands.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. With High settings, the system goes from 44 FPS at 1080p to 28 FPS at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and then to 15 FPS at 4K (a 66% reduction from 1080p). The Medium preset shows 58 FPS at 1080p, 37 FPS at 1440p, and 20 FPS at 4K. Even the Ultra preset, which starts at a playable 32 FPS at 1080p, falls to 21 FPS at 1440p and a slideshow-like 11 FPS at 4K.

The consistency of these percentage drops across presets is revealing. Whether the game is running at Low or Ultra, the relative performance penalty from increasing resolution is nearly identical. This indicates that the RX 580 is saturated at every quality level, and the i9-14900K is never the limiting factor. If the CPU were constraining performance, we would expect the resolution scaling to flatten out at lower resolutions—that is, the 1080p to 1440p delta should be smaller than the 1440p to 4K delta. Instead, the scaling remains proportional throughout, which points to a GPU that is fully utilized even at 1080p.

The practical takeaway is stark: this configuration is not viable at 4K for any settings preset. Even the best-case 4K result, 26 FPS at Low, falls well below the threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1440p, only the Low preset (49 FPS) approaches playability, while Medium (37 FPS) and High (28 FPS) are marginal. The system’s realistic home is 1080p, where Low (77 FPS) and Medium (58 FPS) deliver acceptable performance, though the GPU’s age shows even there.

How This Combo Ranks

The database ranks this CPU-GPU pairing at 3388 out of 3711 tested combinations for Hitman 2. That places it in the bottom 9% of all configs, a poor showing that is entirely attributable to the graphics card. The i9-14900K is a top-tier processor—its average benchmark score of 79097 puts it at 95th percentile among all CPUs, and it trails the Core i9-14900KF by just 0.3% and the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus by 0.6%. It actually beats the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 by 1.7% and the AMD EPYC 7413 by 1.2% in aggregate CPU benchmarks.

The RX 580, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 12928, which lands it at the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (0.1% faster), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (0.4% faster), the AMD Radeon 740M (0.5% slower), and the AMD FirePro W5100 (0.6% slower). This places the RX 580 in the mid-range of the GPU performance distribution, a far cry from the CPU’s near-elite standing.

The combo rank of 3388 out of 3711 reflects this mismatch. In Hitman 2 specifically, the game’s engine is not particularly demanding on the CPU, so the i9-14900K’s multi-core muscle (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5, PassMark multi-thread score of 58674) provides no benefit. The game’s frame rate is dictated almost entirely by the GPU’s fill rate and shader throughput. Consequently, this pairing performs like a mid-range GPU system, not a flagship one. The data suggests that pairing this same GPU with a much weaker CPU would produce nearly identical results in Hitman 2, while pairing this CPU with a modern high-end GPU would vault the combo into the top percentile.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is built on the Polaris 20 chip using a 14nm process from GlobalFoundries. It packs 5,700 million transistors into a 232 mm² die, with 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1257 MHz and a boost clock of 1340 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus. This yields 256.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is a critical spec for Hitman 2’s open environments that stream large texture sets.

The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory is adequate for 1080p and 1440p at most settings, but the card’s raw compute limits are the real constraint. The FP32 throughput is 6.175 TFLOPS, and the texture rate is 193.0 GTexel/s. The pixel rate is 42.88 GPixel/s. These figures are modest by modern standards, and the measured frame rates reflect that. At 4K, the card is simply overwhelmed—the 15 FPS average at High settings and 11 FPS at Ultra indicate that the GPU cannot fill the screen fast enough.

The RX 580’s API support includes DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. Hitman 2 supports DirectX 12, and the benchmark results suggest the card is utilizing that path effectively, but its GCN 4.0 architecture lacks the dedicated hardware features found in newer GPUs. The card’s PassMark scores tell a similar story: G3D score of 8813, DirectX 12 score of 43, and DirectX 11 score of 60. These are mid-range results that align with the 53rd percentile ranking.

The GPU’s power draw is listed at 185 W TDP, with a suggested power supply rating of 450 W. The card uses a single 8-pin power connector and occupies a dual-slot form factor at 241 mm in length. These are modest requirements, but they do not compensate for the performance gap. The RX 580 was released in April 2017 with a launch MSRP of 229 USD, and it is now end-of-life. Its successor is the Vega architecture, and its predecessor was Arctic Islands. The data shows that in Hitman 2, this older architecture is the limiting factor at every resolution above 1080p Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark data provides average FPS for 12 distinct resolution and settings combinations. The following is a complete breakdown of the measured results.

At 1920x1080, the system achieves its best performance. The Low preset averages 77 FPS. The Medium preset averages 58 FPS, with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 67 FPS. The High preset averages 44 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 32 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1080p is the only resolution where the combo can deliver consistently smooth gameplay, and only at Low or Medium settings.

At 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably. The Low preset averages 49 FPS. The Medium preset averages 37 FPS, with a minimum of 31 FPS and a maximum of 43 FPS. The High preset averages 28 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 21 FPS. The 1440p results are playable only at Low settings; Medium and High are borderline, while Ultra is not recommended for any action-heavy sequence.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles across the board. The Low preset averages 26 FPS. The Medium preset averages 20 FPS, with a minimum of 17 FPS and a maximum of 23 FPS. The High preset averages 15 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 11 FPS. None of these results reach the 30 FPS threshold typically considered the minimum for playable frame rates, making 4K effectively unusable with this GPU.

The step from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 36% of the frame rate at every settings level. The step from 1440p to 4K costs another 46% to 48% on average. This compounding effect means that the RX 580’s performance degrades faster than the pixel count increases, a sign that memory bandwidth and fill rate are both saturated. The Medium preset’s min/max data (49-67 FPS at 1080p, 31-43 FPS at 1440p, 17-23 FPS at 4K) shows that frame time variance scales with resolution as well, with lows becoming proportionally more severe at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Hitman 2 at 4K?

A: No. The best 4K result is 26 FPS at Low settings, with Medium at 20 FPS, High at 15 FPS, and Ultra at 11 FPS. All fall below playable thresholds.

Q: What is the best resolution for this configuration?

A: 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the system achieves consistently playable frame rates. At 1080p Low, it averages 77 FPS, and at Medium, it averages 58 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 580’s average benchmark score is 12928. It trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile by 0.1% and the GTX 1660 SUPER by 0.4%, while leading the AMD Radeon 740M by 0.5% and the FirePro W5100 by 0.6%.

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K the bottleneck in this system?

A: No. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 79097 places it in the 95th percentile. The resolution scaling data shows consistent FPS drops across all presets, indicating the GPU is the limiting component.

Q: What is the combo’s rank in the database for Hitman 2?

A: The combo ranks 3388 out of 3711 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 9% of all configs for this game.

Q: Does the RX 580 have enough VRAM for Hitman 2?

A: The card has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The measured results suggest VRAM capacity is not the issue; rather, the GPU’s compute throughput (6.175 TFLOPS FP32) is insufficient for higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this configuration are clear. For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 is the recommended choice. It averages 58 FPS with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 67 FPS, which provides a smooth experience for a stealth game where consistent frame pacing matters for aiming and timing.

Players prioritizing frame rate above all else should select the Low preset at 1080p, which averages 77 FPS. This is the only setting combination that approaches high-refresh-rate territory, though it sacrifices ambient occlusion, shadow quality, and texture detail.

The High preset at 1080p, averaging 44 FPS, is a reasonable compromise for players who want improved visuals without dropping to the lowest quality tier. However, the 44 FPS average leaves little headroom for demanding scenes with many NPCs or complex lighting.

At 1440p, only the Low preset (49 FPS) delivers playable performance. Medium at 1440p (37 FPS) may be acceptable for slower-paced sections, but the minimum of 31 FPS risks noticeable stutter during crowded areas. The High and Ultra presets at 1440p (28 and 21 FPS respectively) are not recommended for active gameplay.

The Ultra preset is entirely unsuitable for this configuration. Even at 1080p, it only averages 32 FPS, and the visual uplift from High to Ultra does not justify the 27% performance penalty. All 4K presets are unusable, with the highest result being 26 FPS at Low.

The data suggests that the RX 580 is best utilized at 1080p Medium for most players. This preset delivers a 58 FPS average with acceptable minimums, and it avoids the visual degradation of the Low preset while maintaining playable performance. The i9-14900K’s capabilities are irrelevant to this decision because the GPU governs the outcome at every settings level.