Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 — Intel Core i9-14900K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080

The benchmark data for Hitman 2 with this combination shows a system that delivers playable frame rates across most settings, but the scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K reveals a configuration that becomes progressively GPU-bound as resolution climbs. The Intel Core i9-14900K, with its 24 cores and 32 threads, provides substantial headroom, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 with 10 GB of GDDR6X memory becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions and quality presets. The combo ranks 569th out of 1795 tested combinations, placing it in the upper third of all tested systems for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly depending on the quality preset. At Low settings, the system delivers 229.4 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 146.7 FPS at 1440p (a 36% reduction), and further to 75.4 FPS at 4K (a 67% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is the primary constraint once resolution rises, since the CPU has ample headroom with 32 threads available.

At Ultra settings, the scaling pattern shifts. The system achieves 92.6 FPS at 1080p, falls to 63.1 FPS at 1440p (a 32% drop), and reaches 32.4 FPS at 4K (a 65% drop from 1080p). The fact that the percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is nearly identical between Low and Ultra settings—67% versus 65%—suggests that resolution, not quality preset, is the dominant factor in performance degradation. This is characteristic of a scenario where the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are the limiting resources, regardless of how much shading work is being performed.

The intermediate presets reinforce this pattern. Medium settings produce 172.8 FPS at 1080p, 110.4 FPS at 1440p, and 55.3 FPS at 4K, while High settings yield 128 FPS at 1080p, 84.3 FPS at 1440p, and 42.8 FPS at 4K. In every case, the 1440p result sits roughly between 60% and 66% of the 1080p figure, and the 4K result lands between 32% and 36% of the 1080p figure. This consistent geometric scaling indicates a well-behaved rendering pipeline where resolution scaling follows predictable curves, with no sudden bottlenecks appearing at specific resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 plays the decisive role in these results, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus provides 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial but not unlimited. At 4K Ultra, the system drops to 32.4 FPS, suggesting that memory capacity and bandwidth are being taxed heavily by the combination of high resolution and maximum quality settings. The GPU's boost clock of 1710 MHz and base clock of 1440 MHz are relevant context, as Hitman 2's engine appears to scale with sustained GPU clocks under load.

The GPU's compute resources—8704 shading units, 272 TMUs, and 96 ROPs—are clearly sufficient to produce 92.6 FPS at 1080p Ultra, but the 4K Ultra result of 32.4 FPS shows that the rendering workload at that resolution exceeds what the memory subsystem can sustain. The pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s are theoretical maximums; the measured data suggests that real-world throughput at 4K is limited by memory bandwidth rather than raw compute.

Interestingly, the RTX 3080's 10 GB VRAM capacity appears to be a factor at 4K Ultra. The gap between 4K Medium (55.3 FPS) and 4K High (42.8 FPS) is 22%, while the gap between 4K High and 4K Ultra (32.4 FPS) is 24%. This relatively even spacing across presets suggests that the GPU is not hitting a hard memory capacity wall, but rather experiencing steadily increasing memory pressure as quality settings rise. The 28,300 million transistors on the GA102 chip, built on Samsung's 8 nm process, deliver 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is ample for this 2018 title, but the data shows that memory bandwidth becomes the constraining factor at 4K.

FAQ

Q: Why does performance drop so much from 1080p to 4K at Low settings?

A: At Low settings, the system delivers 229.4 FPS at 1080p but only 75.4 FPS at 4K, a 67% reduction. This indicates that even with minimal shading work, the GPU's memory bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s is insufficient to sustain high frame rates at 4K resolution, as the pixel throughput requirements scale directly with resolution.

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K the bottleneck at any resolution?

A: The data does not show CPU-limited behavior. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 229.4 FPS, which is close to what the GPU can output. The CPU's 24 cores and 32 threads, with a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, provide enough headroom that the GPU is the limiting component across all tested resolutions and settings.

Q: How does the RTX 3080's 10 GB VRAM affect 4K performance?

A: The 4K results show a steady decline from Medium (55.3 FPS) to High (42.8 FPS) to Ultra (32.4 FPS). The 10 GB of GDDR6X memory appears sufficient to avoid hard stutters, but the progressive frame rate drops suggest that memory bandwidth and capacity are increasingly strained at higher quality settings.

Q: What is the best setting for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: At 1440p, Ultra settings produce 63.1 FPS, which is playable, while High settings yield 84.3 FPS and Medium reaches 110.4 FPS. For a smooth experience, High or Medium settings provide a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, while Ultra is borderline.

Q: Is this combo better suited to 1080p or 1440p?

A: At 1080p, all settings exceed 92 FPS, with Low reaching 229.4 FPS and High hitting 128 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (146.7 FPS), Medium (110.4 FPS), and High (84.3 FPS) exceed 60 FPS. For maximum quality, 1080p Ultra at 92.6 FPS is a strong choice, while 1440p requires dropping to High or Medium for comfort.

Q: How does this system compare to other tested combos?

A: The combo ranks 569th out of 1795 tested combinations for Hitman 2, placing it in the upper third. This ranking reflects the balance between the i9-14900K's high CPU performance and the RTX 3080's solid but not top-tier GPU capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce 229.4 FPS, Medium reaches 172.8 FPS, High achieves 128 FPS, and Ultra drops to 92.6 FPS. The spacing between presets is roughly consistent, with each step up in quality costing approximately 20-25% performance. The 1080p results indicate that the GPU is not severely constrained at this resolution, as even Ultra settings maintain nearly 93 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance envelope shrinks noticeably. Low settings yield 146.7 FPS, Medium produces 110.4 FPS, High achieves 84.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 63.1 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result is particularly notable, as it sits just above the 60 FPS threshold, making it playable but with limited headroom. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at each preset is consistent, ranging from 32% at Ultra to 36% at Low.

At 3840x2160, the system's limitations become apparent. Low settings produce 75.4 FPS, which is playable, but Medium drops to 55.3 FPS, High falls to 42.8 FPS, and Ultra reaches only 32.4 FPS. The 4K results show that only Low settings maintain a frame rate above 60 FPS, and even that is marginal. The gap between 4K Low and 4K Medium is 20.1 FPS, while the gap between 4K High and 4K Ultra is 10.4 FPS, indicating that the performance cost of each quality tier is not uniform at this resolution.

The complete dataset shows a system that is well-matched for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but struggles at 4K with anything above Low settings. The measured FPS values across all 12 resolution-settings combinations provide a clear picture of the GPU's capabilities and limitations for this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame of 569 out of 1795 places this configuration in the 68th percentile of all tested combinations for Hitman 2. This ranking reflects the balance between the Intel Core i9-14900K, which sits in the 97th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 79824, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, which ranks in the 80th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 35787.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its performance tier. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80041, which is 0.3% higher than the i9-14900K, while the Intel Core i9-14900KF scores 79245, 0.7% lower. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF and 265K score 79240 and 79102 respectively, both 0.7-0.9% lower. These margins are negligible in real-world gaming, confirming that the CPU is not a differentiator in Hitman 2's performance.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are similarly close. The AMD Radeon Pro Duo scores 35860, 0.2% higher than the RTX 3080, while the AMD Radeon 880M scores 35646, 0.4% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE scores 36101, 0.9% higher, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile scores 35435, 1% lower. These tight margins indicate that the RTX 3080 sits at a performance level where many comparable GPUs deliver nearly identical average scores.

The rank of 569 suggests that while this combo is not at the top tier, it outperforms the majority of tested systems. The combination of a high-end CPU and a mid-to-high-end GPU places it in a strong position, but the 4K Ultra result of 32.4 FPS shows that the GPU's limitations prevent it from competing with top-tier combinations at maximum settings. For Hitman 2 specifically, the data indicates that this system is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p, where it delivers excellent performance across all quality presets.