Hitman 2

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 combination delivers a playable, if not always smooth, experience in Hitman 2, with performance heavily dictated by the graphics preset and resolution. The data shows a clear scaling pattern from the high-refresh-rate capable 1080p Low settings to the unplayable 4K Ultra preset, indicating a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher loads. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, contextualizes the CPU and GPU roles, and provides specific recommendations based on the provided benchmark data.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. This CPU features 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core, alongside 192 KB of L1 cache per core. Its performance in synthetic benchmarks places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46062.

In the context of Hitman 2, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage game logic. The data indicates that at lower resolutions and settings, the CPU is sufficient to push frame rates to their highest observed levels. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 145 FPS, which is the highest average FPS in the entire dataset. This suggests that the Core Ultra 5 235 is not a limiting factor when the graphical load is light, as the GPU is able to render frames quickly enough to reach this level. The processor's strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085, is likely beneficial for a game like Hitman 2, which can be sensitive to single-threaded performance.

The CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals is nearly identical. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 has an average score of 46030, which is a 0.1% delta from the Core Ultra 5 235. Similarly, the Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46098, representing a -0.1% delta. The AMD EPYC 4364P and AMD EPYC 7303 are also within a 0.2% delta, with scores of 45970 and 45960, respectively. This indicates that the Core Ultra 5 235's computational power is on par with these other high-end processors, suggesting that any performance differences in Hitman 2 would be more attributable to the GPU or other system components rather than the CPU.

The benchmark results show that the CPU is capable of handling the game's demands, as the FPS scales consistently with resolution and settings changes. When the GPU load increases at 4K Ultra, the FPS drops to 21, which is a 14 FPS decrease from the 1080p Ultra score of 61. This suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at these higher settings; instead, the GPU is struggling to keep up with the increased pixel count and graphical complexity. The 14-core configuration provides ample processing headroom for the game's AI and simulation tasks, ensuring that the GPU is the component that determines the final frame rate in most scenarios.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the user's target resolution and desired frame rate. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, the data shows that the "Medium" preset is the most consistent choice across all tested resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers an average of 109 FPS, with a minimum of 93 FPS and a maximum of 125 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, ensuring that most scenes will remain fluid. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS, which is still playable but occasionally dips below the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 37 FPS, with a minimum of 32 FPS, which is not ideal for a smooth experience.

The "High" preset offers a decent balance for users seeking better visual quality. At 1080p High, the average FPS is 82, which is still well above 60. At 1440p High, the average is 53 FPS, which is playable but requires some compromise on smoothness. The "Low" preset is the only option that allows for high refresh rate gaming, with 145 FPS at 1080p and 93 FPS at 1440p. However, this comes at the cost of visual fidelity.

The "Ultra" preset is only recommended for users who prioritize graphical quality over frame rate. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 61, which is just at the 60 FPS target. At 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 39 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 21 FPS, making it unplayable at that resolution. For the best experience per the measured rows, the "Medium" preset at 1080p offers the highest frame rate with a minimum FPS above 60, ensuring a stable and responsive experience. For 1440p, "Medium" is the recommended setting, as it maintains an average near 70 FPS, while "High" is a viable alternative for users who can tolerate occasional drops below 60 FPS.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 7600 is the limiting component in this system. Looking at the "Medium" preset, the average FPS drops from 109 at 1080p to 70 at 1440p, and then to 37 at 4K. This represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 47% drop from 1440p to 4K. This steep decline in performance as resolution increases is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario, where the graphics card's rendering capabilities are the primary constraint.

The same pattern is observed across all settings. For the "High" preset, the average FPS goes from 82 at 1080p to 53 at 1440p and 28 at 4K. The "Low" preset shows a similar trend, with 145 FPS at 1080p, 93 at 1440p, and 49 at 4K. The consistent proportional drop in FPS as resolution increases suggests that the CPU is not causing a bottleneck, as its workload does not scale with resolution in the same way the GPU's does. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see a smaller FPS difference between resolutions, as the CPU would be unable to supply more frames regardless of the GPU's load.

The data highlights the RX 7600's performance ceiling. At 4K, even on the "Low" preset, the average FPS is only 49, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. This indicates that the GPU's 8 GB of VRAM and its compute power are insufficient for 4K gaming in Hitman 2. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s and its 128-bit bus width are likely contributing factors to this limitation, as higher resolutions require more memory traffic. The performance drop is most severe on the "Ultra" preset, where the 4K average is just 21 FPS, a 66% reduction from the 1080p score of 61. This confirms that the RX 7600 is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings, and users should stick to 1080p or 1440p for a playable experience.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 ranks 2090 out of 3001 tested combos in Hitman 2. This places the combo in the lower-middle tier of all tested systems, indicating that while it can run the game, it does not deliver top-tier performance. The rank suggests that a significant portion of other CPU-GPU pairings achieve higher average frame rates in this specific title.

The rank of 2090 out of 3001 puts the combo in the 69.6th percentile, meaning it performs better than roughly 70% of all tested combinations but is outperformed by about 30% of them. This is a moderate result, reflecting the RX 7600's mid-range positioning. The GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 57, indicating that it is in the 57th percentile of all graphics cards, which aligns with its mid-range market segment. The CPU's percentile is much higher at 89, suggesting that the processor is not the limiting factor in this ranking.

The combo's ranking is likely dragged down by the GPU's performance at higher resolutions. Given that the CPU is in the 89th percentile, a more powerful GPU would likely push this combo much higher in the rankings. The data shows that the FPS is heavily dependent on the GPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling. This suggests that the combo's rank is a reflection of the GPU's capabilities, not the CPU's. For users with this combo, the ranking indicates that Hitman 2 is playable, but they should not expect to max out the game's settings at high resolutions without experiencing significant performance drops.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is a mid-range graphics card based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture, featuring the Navi 33 chip. It has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1720 MHz and a boost clock of 2655 MHz, with a game clock of 2250 MHz. It has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. The card also includes 32 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate.

The GPU's role in Hitman 2 is to handle all the rendering tasks, including geometry, textures, and lighting. The 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the data shows it struggles at 4K. The 4K results are consistently low, with the highest average being 49 FPS on the "Low" preset. This suggests that the 8 GB VRAM capacity and the memory bandwidth are not enough to handle the texture and data demands of 4K resolution in this game.

The GPU's performance metrics, such as its FP32 compute power of 21.75 TFLOPS, are indicative of its mid-range status. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (with a 0.2% higher average score of 15199), the AMD Radeon Pro 560X (0.6% lower at 15082), the AMD Radeon 680M (0.7% lower at 15270), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti (0.7% lower at 15063). This shows that the RX 7600's raw performance is closely matched with these other cards, and its actual in-game performance is likely to be similar. The measured FPS data confirms this, as the card provides playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p but falls short at 4K.

The boost clock of 2655 MHz is a key factor in the card's 1080p performance, where it achieves 145 FPS on the "Low" preset. This indicates that the GPU is capable of high frame rates when the graphical load is low. However, as the load increases, the card's limitations become apparent. The 4K Ultra result of 21 FPS is a stark contrast to the 1080p Low result, highlighting the GPU's inability to sustain performance at higher resolutions. The GPU's 165 W TDP and single 8-pin power connector suggest it is a power-efficient card, but this does not translate to high-end performance in demanding scenarios like 4K Ultra in Hitman 2.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. The following breakdown details the exact average FPS, and where available, the minimum and maximum FPS for each configuration.

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance. On the "Low" preset, the average FPS is 145. The "Medium" preset yields an average of 109 FPS, with a minimum of 93 FPS and a maximum of 125 FPS. The "High" preset achieves an average of 82 FPS. The "Ultra" preset is the most demanding, with an average of 61 FPS. This shows that at 1080p, the combo can handle all settings, with only the "Ultra" preset dropping near the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, performance drops significantly. The "Low" preset produces an average of 93 FPS. The "Medium" preset averages 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS. The "High" preset averages 53 FPS. The "Ultra" preset averages 39 FPS. At this resolution, the "Ultra" and "High" presets are not ideal for smooth gameplay, while "Medium" offers a playable experience with some drops below 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates. The "Low" preset averages 49 FPS. The "Medium" preset averages 37 FPS, with a minimum of 32 FPS and a maximum of 43 FPS. The "High" preset averages 28 FPS. The "Ultra" preset averages 21 FPS. These results clearly indicate that 4K gaming is not viable with this combo, as even the "Low" preset fails to reach 60 FPS.

The data shows a consistent pattern: for each resolution, the FPS decreases as settings increase from Low to Ultra. The gap between the "Low" and "Ultra" presets is substantial. At 1080p, the difference is 84 FPS (145 vs 61). At 1440p, the difference is 54 FPS (93 vs 39). At 4K, the difference is 28 FPS (49 vs 21). This indicates that the graphical settings have a significant impact on performance, and users should adjust them based on their resolution to achieve their target frame rate.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve in Hitman 2?

A: The highest average FPS is 145, which is achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the "Low" settings preset.

Q: Can this combo run Hitman 2 at 4K resolution with playable frame rates?

A: No, the data shows that at 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 49 on the "Low" preset, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The "Ultra" preset averages only 21 FPS.

Q: What is the recommended settings preset for a 60 FPS experience at 1440p?

A: The "Medium" preset at 2560x1440 delivers an average of 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS, making it the only preset that comes close to maintaining 60 FPS at this resolution.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235's average benchmark score is 46062, which is nearly identical to its closest rivals. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 is 0.1% higher, the Intel Core i9-13900HX is 0.1% lower, and the AMD EPYC 4364P and EPYC 7303 are 0.2% higher.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among all tested combinations in Hitman 2?

A: The combo ranks 2090 out of 3001 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle tier of performance for this game.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor for performance in this game?

A: The GPU is the clear limiting factor. The FPS drops significantly as resolution increases, indicating that the AMD Radeon RX 7600 is unable to keep up with the graphical load at higher settings, while the CPU's high percentile ranking suggests it is not a bottleneck.