Hitman 2

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination delivers a remarkably consistent experience in Hitman 2, with the data showing a clear tiered performance structure that scales predictably across resolutions. The measured frames per second place this pairing in the 499th position out of 3001 tested combos, a strong showing that puts it in the top 17 percent of all configurations. What stands out immediately is how the GPU becomes the decisive factor at higher resolutions, while the CPU's capabilities emerge at 1080p, creating a nuanced performance profile that rewards careful settings selection.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data across all three resolutions reveals that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience, but the optimal choice depends heavily on your target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset produces an average of 197 FPS with a minimum of 168 FPS and maximum of 227 FPS, which comfortably exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors while maintaining smooth frame pacing. The High preset at the same resolution delivers 149 FPS average, still excellent, but the 48 FPS gap between Medium and High suggests diminishing returns for the additional graphical workload.

For 2560x1440, Medium again emerges as the sweet spot with 126 FPS average, a 107 FPS minimum, and 145 FPS maximum. This keeps gameplay well above the 100 FPS threshold that competitive players often target, while the High preset's 95 FPS average still provides a solid experience but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 70 FPS average, which is playable but represents a significant 56 FPS sacrifice compared to Medium—a trade-off that seems unjustified for the visual gains in a stealth game where clarity matters more than extreme detail.

At 3840x2160, the situation inverts. Medium produces 67 FPS average with a 57 FPS minimum and 77 FPS maximum, which is the only 4K preset that maintains consistent playability above 60 FPS. The High preset at 4K averages 51 FPS, dipping below the smoothness threshold, while Ultra drops to 37 FPS average—too low for a game that rewards precise timing. The data suggests that for 4K displays, Medium is the only viable choice, while 1440p users can choose between Medium for maximum smoothness or High for enhanced visuals without sacrificing playability.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for Hitman 2's requirements across all tested settings and resolutions. The GPU's architecture, built on Ada Lovelace with 7168 shading units and 224 texture mapping units, demonstrates its capability through the Passmark G3D score of 29995, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. The boost clock of 2475 MHz, up from a 1980 MHz base, allows the card to maintain high throughput during extended gaming sessions.

The measured data reveals a clear GPU bottleneck emerging at higher resolutions. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra settings spans from 90 FPS to 37 FPS, a 53 FPS spread that shows the GPU's rendering load becoming the primary constraint. The 4K Medium result of 67 FPS average, with a 57 FPS minimum, indicates that the 12 GB VRAM capacity is not the limiting factor—rather, it is the raw compute throughput at 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 that struggles with the increased pixel count. The GPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB at a -0.1 percent delta and the GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile at -0.1 percent, shows it sits in a competitive position within its class.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K follows a predictable pattern that highlights the system's balanced architecture. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 197 at 1080p to 126 at 1440p, a 36 percent reduction, then further to 67 at 4K, representing an additional 47 percent drop from the 1440p figure. This scaling suggests that the GPU becomes progressively more dominant as the resolution increases, with the CPU's influence waning at higher pixel counts.

The Low preset tells a similar story: 263 FPS at 1080p drops to 168 FPS at 1440p, then to 90 FPS at 4K. The 1080p Low result of 263 FPS approaches what might be a CPU-limited ceiling, given that the Core Ultra 5 225's 10 cores and 10 threads with a 4.90 GHz boost clock can only generate so many draw calls. The Ultra preset shows the steepest scaling curve, with 110 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p, and just 37 FPS at 4K—a 66 percent reduction from 1080p to 4K that underscores how the most demanding settings amplify the GPU's workload.

The fact that 1080p High produces 149 FPS while 4K Low produces 90 FPS reveals an interesting crossover point. The data implies that resolution scaling has a more significant impact on performance than settings adjustments at lower resolutions, but at 4K, settings become the dominant variable. This suggests that users with 1440p monitors can afford to increase settings substantially without sacrificing frame rates, while 4K users must carefully manage settings to maintain playability.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 499 out of 3001 tested configurations places it in the top 16.6 percent of all CPU-GPU pairings tested in Hitman 2. This positioning reflects the synergy between the Core Ultra 5 225 and the RTX 4070 SUPER, where neither component consistently bottlenecks the other across the tested spectrum. The CPU's average benchmark score of 36938 places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU's average score of 43223 places it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs—both components perform near their respective class ceilings.

Examining the CPU's nearest rivals provides context for its contribution to this ranking. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F scores 36945, a negligible 0 percent delta from the Core Ultra 5 225, while the Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37018 with a -0.2 percent delta, and the Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093 at -0.4 percent. This clustering indicates that the Ultra 5 225 performs essentially identically to its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks, meaning the combo's rank is largely determined by the GPU's capabilities. On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 SUPER's nearest rival, the Quadro M6000 24 GB, scores 43262 with a -0.1 percent delta, showing that this card sits at the top of its immediate performance tier.

The 499th rank out of 3001 is particularly notable because Hitman 2 is a game that benefits from both strong single-core performance for AI and physics simulations, as well as robust GPU throughput for rendering. The Core Ultra 5 225's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655 and multi-core score of 25891 demonstrate it handles both aspects competently, though the game's age means it likely does not leverage all 10 cores efficiently, making the high boost clock more important than raw thread count.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 brings 10 cores and 10 threads based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC with 17,800 million transistors. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample memory hierarchy for game workloads, while the dual-channel DDR5 memory support delivers 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.90 GHz allow the processor to scale its performance dynamically, though the 65 W TDP suggests power efficiency is prioritized over raw sustained output.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role becomes most apparent at 1080p with Low settings, where the 263 FPS average suggests the processor is nearing its limit for frame generation. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and single-core score of 3655 indicate strong overall capability, but the game's 2018 release date means it likely relies more heavily on single-threaded performance for its stealth AI and level streaming. The Passmark single-thread score of 4412 reinforces this, placing the processor well above average but not exceptional for modern standards.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks—the Ryzen 5 5600F, Ryzen 5 5500X3D, and Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450—all score within 0.4 percent of the Ultra 5 225, suggesting that any of these processors would produce nearly identical results in Hitman 2 when paired with the same GPU. This means the combo's 499th rank is likely more attributable to the GPU than the CPU, as the processor's performance headroom at higher resolutions becomes increasingly irrelevant. The data shows that at 4K, even the Low preset's 90 FPS average is well below what the CPU could theoretically support, confirming that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary driver of the system's limitations at high resolutions.

FAQ

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

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers 126 FPS average with a 107 FPS minimum and 145 FPS maximum, making it the optimal choice for maintaining smooth gameplay above 100 FPS while retaining reasonable visual quality. The High preset at 95 FPS average is also viable but provides 31 fewer frames per second.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Hitman 2?

A: Yes, but only with the Medium preset, which produces 67 FPS average with a 57 FPS minimum. The High preset drops to 51 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS, both of which may feel less responsive for a stealth game requiring precise timing.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system reaches 263 FPS average, which likely approaches the CPU's frame generation limit. The Core Ultra 5 225's 4.90 GHz boost clock and 10 cores provide sufficient single-threaded performance for the game, but the 1080p results show the processor becomes a more significant factor at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 averages 95 FPS, while Ultra averages 70 FPS, representing a 25 FPS reduction for the highest settings. This trade-off of 26 percent performance for enhanced visual fidelity may not be worthwhile given the modest graphical improvements in Hitman 2.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: Yes, the 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is more than adequate for Hitman 2, as evidenced by the stable performance across all settings and resolutions. The game's 2018 release and relatively modest texture requirements mean VRAM is not a limiting factor.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: This CPU-GPU pairing ranks 499th out of 3001 tested combos, placing it in the top 17 percent of all configurations tested in Hitman 2. The CPU and GPU both score in the 83rd to 85th percentile of their respective categories, indicating a well-matched pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured data shows a clear progression across settings. Low settings produce an average of 263 FPS, Medium yields 197 FPS with a minimum of 168 FPS and maximum of 227 FPS, High delivers 149 FPS average, and Ultra drops to 110 FPS average. This represents a 153 FPS spread between the lowest and highest settings, showing that at 1080p, settings have a dramatic impact on performance.

The 2560x1440 results demonstrate a similar pattern with compressed margins. Low settings average 168 FPS, Medium produces 126 FPS with a 107 FPS minimum and 145 FPS maximum, High reaches 95 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 70 FPS. The 98 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p indicates that the GPU's workload is increasing, but settings still have substantial influence.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope narrows significantly. Low settings average 90 FPS, Medium produces 67 FPS with a 57 FPS minimum and 77 FPS maximum, High delivers 51 FPS average, and Ultra bottoms out at 37 FPS. The 53 FPS spread at 4K is the smallest across all resolutions, confirming that the GPU becomes the dominant constraint and settings adjustments yield diminishing returns as resolution increases. The Medium preset's 57 FPS minimum at 4K is particularly notable, as it represents the only configuration at this resolution that maintains consistent frame rates above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the recommended choice for 4K displays.