Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 — Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The benchmark data for Hitman 2 with this Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination shows a system that ranks first overall among 3,001 tested combos in this game, with measured frame rates ranging from 365 FPS at 1080p Low down to 52 FPS at 4K Ultra. This pairing of a 10-core Arrow Lake processor with a 32 GB Blackwell 2.0 GPU produces results that are consistently strong across all tested settings, though the scaling patterns reveal where each component's contribution begins to fade.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable drop as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 365 FPS at 1920x1080 to 234 FPS at 2560x1440 — a reduction of 36% — and then to 124 FPS at 3840x2160, which is another 47% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline at Low settings indicates that the CPU is the primary limiting factor at 1080p, since the GPU has ample headroom to render frames far faster than the processor can feed it. The 141 FPS gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings is substantial, but the 110 FPS gap between 1440p and 4K at the same preset is nearly as large, suggesting that even at 4K Low, the GPU is not fully saturated.

At Medium settings, the scaling pattern shifts. The average FPS drops from 274 at 1080p to 175 at 1440p — a 36% reduction — and then to 93 at 4K, another 47% decline. Interestingly, the percentage drops at Medium are nearly identical to those at Low, which suggests that the rendering workload scales uniformly with resolution regardless of the preset. However, the absolute frame rates at Medium are lower across the board, indicating that the additional graphical effects at this preset consume GPU resources without fundamentally changing which component is the bottleneck.

High settings show a different character. At 1080p, the average is 207 FPS, which drops to 132 at 1440p — a 36% reduction — and then to 71 at 4K, a 46% decline. The consistency of these percentage drops across Low, Medium, and High is striking: each resolution step costs roughly one-third of the frame rate, and the 4K step costs nearly half. This uniform scaling behavior is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the RTX 5090 D's compute resources are the limiting factor.

Ultra settings produce the most dramatic scaling. The average FPS is 153 at 1080p, 98 at 1440p — a 36% drop — and 52 at 4K, a 47% reduction from 1440p. The fact that even at 1080p Ultra the frame rate is only 153 FPS, compared to 365 FPS at Low, indicates that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy GPU workload that dominates the performance equation. At 4K Ultra, the 52 FPS average is the lowest measured result in the entire dataset, yet it remains playable, and the 71 FPS at 4K High shows that dropping one settings tier recovers nearly 37% of the frame rate.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average is 365 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the dataset that exceeds 300 FPS, with the next closest being 274 FPS at 1080p Medium.

Q: How does the frame rate at 4K Ultra compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 52, while at 1080p Ultra it is 153. This represents a 66% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same Ultra preset, showing that the resolution increase imposes a massive rendering cost.

Q: Which settings preset at 1440p provides the highest minimum frame rate?

A: The only preset at 1440p with a recorded minimum FPS is Medium, which shows a minimum of 149 FPS and a maximum of 201 FPS. Other presets at this resolution have null minimum values in the data.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D the top-ranked GPU in this game's benchmark database?

A: The data shows this specific combo ranks first among 3,001 tested combinations in Hitman 2. However, the GPU's percentileVsAllGpus is 92, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at 1.1% higher average score, meaning the GPU alone is not the absolute highest performer in general benchmarks.

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

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 207, while at 1440p High it is 132. This is a 75 FPS difference, or a 36% reduction, which aligns with the typical scaling pattern seen across other presets.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K with any settings preset?

A: Yes, all four tested presets at 4K produce average frame rates above 50 FPS. The lowest is 52 FPS at Ultra, and the highest is 124 FPS at Low, so even the most demanding configuration remains above common playability thresholds.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, featuring 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. Its memory subsystem is substantial: 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The GPU's base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and it carries 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, along with 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores. These specifications translate to peak rates of 423.6 GPixel/s pixel fill and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture fill, with FP32 compute at 104.8 TFLOPS.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings rise. At 4K Ultra, the measured 52 FPS average suggests the GPU is heavily loaded, given that the same CPU at 1080p Low produces 365 FPS. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what Hitman 2 requires, even at 4K with Ultra settings, so memory capacity is unlikely to be a limiting factor in any tested configuration. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, however, is more relevant: the game's texture streaming at 4K Ultra can stress memory bandwidth, and the measured scaling from 1080p to 4K indicates that the GPU's compute and memory subsystems are the primary determinants of frame rate at higher resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark scores contextualize its performance. Its passmark_g3d score is 44,065, and its 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score is 14,326. The geekbench_vulkan score of 376,915 is notably higher than the opencl score of 310,674, which suggests the GPU is particularly well-suited to Vulkan workloads. However, in the nearestRivals comparison, the RTX 5090 D's average benchmark score of 77,712 is just 1.1% above the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT's 76,904, and it trails the RX 6850M XT by 1.6% and the Tesla P100 variants by 2.1-2.4%. This indicates that while the GPU is very strong, its general benchmark position is not as dominant as its first-place game-specific ranking might suggest.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 365 FPS, which is the single highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 274 FPS, with a minimum of 233 FPS and a maximum of 315 FPS. High settings drop to 207 FPS average, and Ultra settings produce 153 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 212 FPS, indicating that the settings preset has a massive impact on performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected reduction. Low settings average 234 FPS, Medium averages 175 FPS with a minimum of 149 FPS and maximum of 201 FPS, High averages 132 FPS, and Ultra averages 98 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 136 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p but still substantial. The Medium preset's minimum of 149 FPS is noteworthy because it is the only preset at this resolution with non-null min/max data, providing a concrete floor for frame time consistency.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop considerably. Low settings average 124 FPS, Medium averages 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS and maximum of 107 FPS, High averages 71 FPS, and Ultra averages 52 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 72 FPS, which is the smallest absolute spread across all resolutions. This compression suggests that at 4K, the GPU is becoming the limiting factor regardless of settings, since even Low settings cannot exceed 124 FPS average. The Medium preset at 4K shows a 79 FPS minimum, which is the lowest minimum recorded in the dataset but still above the 52 FPS Ultra average.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame data places this Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + RTX 5090 D combination at rank 1 out of 3,001 tested combos in Hitman 2. This top ranking is significant because it indicates that the specific pairing of this CPU and GPU produces the highest measured performance in the game's benchmark database, out of thousands of possible combinations. The fact that the CPU has a percentileVsAllCpus of 85 and the GPU has a percentileVsAllGpus of 92 suggests that neither component is the absolute best in its class, yet their combination yields the best game-specific result.

The CPU's nearest rivals in general benchmarks are the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at an average score of 36,945 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D at 37,018 (-0.2% delta), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 at 37,093 (-0.4% delta), and the Intel Core i9-12900T at 37,112 (-0.5% delta). These deltas are all within 0.5%, meaning the Core Ultra 5 225 is essentially tied with these CPUs in average benchmark score. For the GPU, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at 76,904 (1.1% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78,940 (-1.6% delta), and two NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants at 79,396 and 79,605 (-2.1% and -2.4% deltas). The GPU's closest competitor is 1.1% ahead, but the next three are all behind by more than 1.5%.

That this combo ranks first despite neither component being the absolute top performer in general benchmarks highlights the synergy between the 10-core Arrow Lake CPU and the Blackwell GPU in Hitman 2's specific workload. The game appears to favor this pairing's balance of single-thread performance and raw GPU throughput, resulting in measured FPS that exceed all other tested combinations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, built on Arrow Lake architecture at TSMC's 3 nm process node. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is dual-channel DDR5 with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth. The CPU's integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 16EU is present but irrelevant for this discrete GPU configuration.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the 365 FPS average far exceeds what the GPU would be capable of if it were the sole bottleneck, indicating that the CPU is driving frame generation as fast as the game's engine allows. The 10 cores and 10 threads provide sufficient parallelism for the game's stealth AI and physics calculations, and the 4.90 GHz boost clock delivers strong single-thread performance for the main game loop. The CPU's cinebench_r23 single-core score of 3,655 and multi-core score of 25,891 show balanced performance that supports both single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads.

The CPU's benchmark position, with an average score of 36,938 and a percentileVsAllCpus of 85, places it above the majority of CPUs but not at the very top. Its nearest rivals are within 0.5% in average score, which means the Core Ultra 5 225 is effectively in a dead heat with several other mid-range to high-end processors. In Hitman 2 specifically, the CPU's contribution is most visible in the scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings: the 131 FPS drop (from 365 to 234) suggests the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU at 1440p Low, but the GPU is starting to become more involved. By 4K Low, the 124 FPS average is likely GPU-limited, as the CPU would have more headroom at this resolution.

The CPU's passmark_single_thread score of 4,412 and passmark_multithread score of 30,459 provide additional context. The single-thread score is strong, which matters for Hitman 2's core game logic, while the multithread score supports background tasks. The 20 MB L3 cache is ample for the game's working set, and the dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s is sufficient to avoid memory bottlenecks at the tested frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, every preset delivers an average above 150 FPS, so users can choose based on visual quality preferences. Ultra at 1080p produces 153 FPS average, which is still very high, making it the recommended choice for users who prioritize image quality at this resolution. The 365 FPS at Low is excessive for most displays, so the extra visual fidelity of Ultra is essentially free in terms of playability.

At 2560x1440, the trade-off becomes more pronounced. Ultra averages 98 FPS, which is smooth for most gaming scenarios, while High averages 132 FPS and Medium averages 175 FPS. For users with 144 Hz or higher refresh rate monitors, Medium provides ample headroom with a 175 FPS average and a 149 FPS minimum, ensuring consistent frame delivery. High at 132 FPS is also viable for high-refresh displays, while Ultra at 98 FPS remains above 60 FPS and offers the best image quality.

At 3840x2160, the recommendations shift toward balancing quality and frame rate. Ultra averages 52 FPS, which is playable but may feel less responsive on high-refresh displays. High at 71 FPS provides a significant improvement over Ultra while retaining most visual quality, making it the recommended preset for 4K gaming. Medium at 93 FPS is the best choice for users who prioritize frame rate over maximum quality, and Low at 124 FPS is available for those seeking the highest possible frame rates at 4K. The Medium preset's minimum of 79 FPS at 4K is the lowest recorded minimum in the dataset, but it remains above common 60 FPS thresholds, so Medium at 4K is a solid all-around choice for competitive play.