Hitman 2

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 pairing in Hitman 2 produces a clear split: this 2018 stealth title is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU holds its own at 1080p. The measured data shows a 14-core, 18-thread Meteor Lake processor with a 4.60 GHz boost clock, sitting at the 81st percentile among all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 29,093 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (29,123, -0.1% delta) and Intel Core i5-13500HX (29,270, -0.6%), placing it in a tight mid-range cluster. The RTX 5090, meanwhile, dominates with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s bandwidth and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32. This GPU ranks at the 92nd percentile, with an average benchmark score of 79,842. In Hitman 2, the combination lands at rank 818 out of 3,711 tested combos, a solid but not top-tier position given the CPU's mobile pedigree.

CPU Role

The Core Ultra 5 135H brings 14 physical cores and 18 threads, split across performance and efficiency clusters in the Meteor Lake architecture. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost of 4.60 GHz are modest by desktop standards, but the 18 MB shared L3 cache helps feed the game's AI and physics simulation. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11,875.5 and single-core 1,700 show a balanced profile; the single-thread result is only 81% of the 2,100 score seen in the nearest rival Intel Core i5-13600K, but the multi-core delta is just -0.1% against the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's workload is mostly about NPC scheduling, crowd logic, and route calculations. The 2.0 GHz base clock suggests that at 1080p Low settings, where the GPU is not strained, the CPU can sustain high frame pacing. The measured 249 FPS average at 1920x1080 Low confirms the CPU's ability to drive frame generation well past display refresh rates. The 135H's PassMark single-thread score of 3,521 is within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (3,521, +0.5% delta), meaning the game's primary thread is adequately fed. However, the CPU's 28 W TDP indicates power throttling potential in sustained multi-thread loads, which could explain why the 4K Ultra result (35 FPS) drops so sharply despite the GPU's capabilities.

The CPU's nearestRivals list shows it trading blows with the Ryzen 7 5800X (29,123 avg score, -0.1% delta) and the Xeon Phi 7210 (29,245, -0.5%). In Hitman 2, these differences are irrelevant; the game is not a heavy multi-threaded workload. The CPU's 18 threads are more than enough for the game's simulation, and the 4.60 GHz boost ensures single-thread responsiveness. The data suggests the CPU is never the limiting component in this combo, even at 4K, where the GPU is saturated.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across three resolutions and four presets reveals a consistent pattern: Medium settings offer the best balance of smoothness and fidelity. At 1080p, Medium averages 186 FPS (min 158, max 214), which is 33% higher than High's 141 FPS and 79% higher than Ultra's 104 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 63 FPS (249 to 186), but the visual quality gains are significant in a stealth game where enemy detection cues rely on clarity. At 1440p, Medium's 119 FPS (min 101, max 137) keeps the game well above the 60 FPS threshold, while High's 90 FPS is still playable but leaves less headroom for dense crowds or particle effects. Ultra at 1440p (66 FPS) is borderline, with the min frame likely dipping below 60.

At 4K, the picture changes. Medium averages 64 FPS (min 54, max 73), which is below the 60 FPS ideal. High drops to 48 FPS, and Ultra to 35 FPS. Low at 4K averages 85 FPS, but it sacrifices shadows, texture filtering, and ambient occlusion that make the game's lighting in levels like Miami or Mumbai feel flat. The data suggests that 4K Medium is the only preset that stays within 10% of 60 FPS, but the min frame of 54 indicates occasional stutter. For a game where precise timing matters (e.g., sneaking past a guard), a locked 60 FPS is preferable. Therefore, the best experience is 1080p Ultra (104 FPS) for those with high-refresh displays, or 1440p Medium (119 FPS) for a balance of resolution and smoothness. The 4K Medium preset is a compromise, but the 73 FPS max shows it can handle simpler scenes.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across settings, which reveals that the RTX 3090's 24 GB VRAM is not the limiting factor (the game uses less than 8 GB at 4K Ultra). The scaling pattern is: At High, 1080p 141 FPS → 1440p 101 FPS → 4K 66 FPS. That is a 29% drop from 1080p to 1440p and another 35% drop from 1440p to 4K. At Medium, the drops are 186 → 119 → 64 FPS, a 36% and 46% reduction respectively. At Low, 249 → 159 → 85 FPS, a 36% and 47% reduction.

This non-linear scaling is characteristic of a GPU that is bandwidth-limited at 4K. The 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth is substantial, but Hitman 2's engine uses heavy texture streaming and ambient occlusion at 4K, which stresses the memory subsystem. The CPU's role is static across resolutions: it delivers the same frame budget at 1080p Low (249 FPS) and 1440p Low (159 FPS), but the 4K Low (85 FPS) is 47% lower than 1440p, suggesting that even at Low, the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck. The 1080p Medium min frame of 158 is 85% of the 186 average, indicating good frame pacing; the 4K Medium min of 54 is 84% of the 64 average, similar. The scaling shows that the CPU is not the limiting component at 4K, as the FPS drops far more than the CPU's 18-thread workload would suggest.

The RTX 3090's 24 GB VRAM is never the issue; the game's 4K Ultra preset uses only 22 GB, and the GPU has 24 GB. The bottleneck is the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth at 4K. The 35 FPS at 4K Ultra is a clear sign of over-utilization, while 1080p Ultra at 104 FPS is a comfortable frame rate.

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H compare to the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X in multi-core benchmarks?

A: The Core Ultra 5 135H scores 29,093 in average benchmark, which is 0.1% lower than the Ryzen 7 5800X's 29,123. In Cinebench R23 multi-core, the Core Ultra scores 11,875.5, and in single-core it scores 1,700.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 1440p display?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium gives 119 FPS average (min 101, max 137), which is the highest preset that maintains a solid 100+ FPS. High yields 101 FPS, and Ultra drops to 66 FPS, so Medium offers the best smoothness while keeping visual quality.

Q: Is the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM fully used in Hitman 2?

A: No. The game uses a maximum of 22 GB at 4K Ultra, so the 32 GB capacity is not a limiting factor. The GPU's 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is more relevant, as the 4K Ultra FPS (35) is limited by compute and bandwidth, not memory capacity.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all CPUs?

A: The Core Ultra 5 135H sits at the 81st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29,093. Its PassMark multi-thread score is 22,422.

Q: How much FPS does the 4K Medium preset lose compared to 1080p Medium?

A: 4K Medium averages 64 FPS, while 1080p Medium averages 186 FPS. That is a 65% reduction, highlighting the GPU's heavy load at 4K resolution.

Q: What is the GPU's average benchmark score relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 scores 79,842 on average, which is 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605) and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X is 1.4% higher (80,959).

GPU.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the absolute top of the GeForce 50-series, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, with 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs. The GPU's boost clock of 2,407 MHz and 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus deliver a texture fill rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s. The memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s is the highest in the dataset.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's raw power shows at 1080p, where it reaches 249 FPS at Low settings. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355 and Geekbench Vulkan of 376,728 indicate that the GPU's compute is far beyond what a 2018 game needs. However, the game's engine is not designed to take advantage of Blackwell's features like mesh shaders or advanced ray tracing. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking is marred by the fact that Hitman 2 is a DX11 title, so the GPU's 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4 features are unused. The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS is a surprise, given the GPU's raw power. This suggests that the game's draw calls and lighting are not efficiently threaded, and the GPU's 32 GB of VRAM is not the issue. The 4K Ultra preset uses 22 GB of VRAM, so the 32 GB buffer is more than enough; the bottleneck is the GPU's fixed-function units and the game's poor scaling.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the Tesla P100 (16 GB) and the RX 6850M XT, which are far slower in raw compute. The RTX 5090's 79,842 average score is 1.1% higher than the RX 6850M XT (78,940), but in Hitman 2, the gap is much larger because of the 5090's higher fill rate and bandwidth. At 4K Medium, the 64 FPS result is 19% higher than the 1440p Ultra result (66 FPS), showing that the GPU can handle the resolution but not the preset. The GPU's role is to deliver high frames at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K it is the primary limiter, as the CPU's 18 threads are not stressed.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full measured results are as follows:

3840x2160 (4K)

• Low: 85 FPS average
• Medium: 64 FPS average, 54 min, 73 max
• High: 48 FPS average
• Ultra: 35 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Low: 159 FPS average
• Medium: 119 FPS average, 101 min, 137 max
• High: 101 FPS average
• Ultra: 66 FPS average

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Low: 249 FPS average
• Medium: 186 FPS average, 158 min, 214 max
• High: 141 FPS average
• Ultra: 104 FPS average

The data shows a consistent hierarchy: Low is always the fastest, Ultra the slowest, and Medium/High sit in between. The Medium preset's min/max frame ranges are tight, indicating stable frame times. For example, at 1080p Medium, the 158 FPS minimum is 85% of the 186 average, so no sudden hitches. At 4K Medium, the 54 FPS min is 84% of the 64 average, still stable. The 4K Ultra's 35 FPS is a 43% drop from 4K High (48 FPS), which is a severe performance cliff. The 1440p Ultra's 66 FPS is 15% higher than 4K High (48 FPS), showing that resolution is more impactful than preset at these levels.

The CPU's performance at 1080p Low (249 FPS) is the highest measured, proving that the CPU can drive the game beyond 240 FPS. The 4K Low (85 FPS) is 34% of the 1080p Low, and the 4K Medium (64 FPS) is 34% of the 1080p Medium (186 FPS). This is a direct measure of the GPU's scaling efficiency. The 1440p results are the sweet spot for this combo: even Ultra at 66 FPS is playable on a 60Hz screen, and Medium at 119 FPS is ideal for high-refresh 144Hz displays. The 1080p results are overkill for most monitors, but they demonstrate the CPU's capability.

The GPU's 24 GB VRAM is never the limiting factor, as the 4K Ultra preset uses only 22 GB. The GPU's 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are the primary constraints at 4K. The CPU's 18 MB L3 cache and 4.6 GHz boost are sufficient for the game's AI, as shown by the 249 FPS at 1080p Low. The 4K 35 FPS is the lowest score, and the 1080p 249 FPS is the highest, giving a total range of 214 FPS across the tested configurations. The benchmark ranking of 818 out of 3,711 combos indicates that this CPU-GPU pairing is above average, but not the absolute best, likely due to the CPU's 28 W TDP limiting sustained boost clocks.