Hitman 2

# Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + Intel Arc B390 in Hitman 2: A Severely GPU-Limited Combination

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces playable frame rates only at 1080p with Low settings in Hitman 2, and even then the 80 FPS average is the single bright spot in an otherwise constrained dataset. The combo ranks 2662nd out of 3001 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of all systems evaluated for this game. The Arc B390, an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, is the clear bottleneck at every resolution and settings level, while the 14-core Arrow Lake CPU sits largely underutilized. Benchmark results indicate that this configuration is suitable only for low-resolution, low-detail play, with the GPU's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs underscoring its fundamental performance ceiling.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings/resolution combination for this system in Hitman 2?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers an average of 80 FPS, the highest measured result. Medium settings at the same resolution drops to 60 FPS average, while High settings yields 46 FPS. At 1440p, only Low settings breaks 50 FPS (51 FPS average), and at 4K, no settings level reaches 30 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390's average benchmark score is 1482, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% higher than the GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% higher than the GT 710 (1443). It ranks in the 9th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 a strong CPU for gaming?

A: The CPU ranks in the 89th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 46062. It sits within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030), Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098), AMD EPYC 4364P (45970), and AMD EPYC 7303 (45960). However, in Hitman 2, the GPU limits performance far below what this CPU can deliver.

Q: What memory configuration does this system use?

A: The Arc B390 uses System Shared memory, meaning its VRAM and bandwidth are system-dependent. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The GPU's memory type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent."

Q: Can this system run Hitman 2 at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the best result is 27 FPS average with Low settings. Medium settings produce 21 FPS average (with min/max of 17/24), High settings yield 16 FPS, and Ultra drops to 11 FPS. None of these results approach a smooth 30 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its rivals?

A: In Cinebench R23 multi-core, the Ultra 5 235 scores 14769 points. Its overall average benchmark score of 46062 is essentially tied with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030, 0.1% delta), the Core i9-13900HX (46098, -0.1% delta), and the EPYC 4364P (45970, 0.2% delta). This indicates performance parity within statistical noise.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2662nd out of 3001 tested combos for Hitman 2, placing it in the bottom 11.3% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the GPU's severe limitation rather than any CPU deficiency. The Arc B390 sits in the 9th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU sits in the 89th percentile — a 80-percentage-point gap that clearly identifies the graphics subsystem as the performance ceiling.

The data shows a pattern consistent with integrated graphics: the system's ranking is driven almost entirely by GPU capability. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places the Arc B390 in the company of legacy discrete GPUs like the GeForce GT 520MX and GT 710, both of which are over a decade old. In Hitman 2, a stealth game that stresses draw calls and geometry, this GPU-level performance translates to sub-30 FPS at 4K across all settings and sub-50 FPS at 1440p for anything above Low.

The CPU's nearest rivals — the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, Core i9-13900HX, EPYC 4364P, and EPYC 7303 — all have average benchmark scores within 0.2% of the Ultra 5 235. Yet none of these processor-level differences matter in this pairing because the GPU cannot translate CPU headroom into frame rate. The ranking reflects a system where the graphics processor is the sole determinant of gaming capability.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor built on the Xe3-LPG architecture (Panther Lake chip) using a 3 nm process from Intel. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output pipelines, along with 12 ray tracing cores. Its compute capabilities include 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 15.36 TFLOPS of FP16 (2:1 ratio). Pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s.

The most critical limitation is memory: the Arc B390 uses System Shared memory, with type, bus width, and bandwidth all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent." This means the GPU draws from the same DDR5 pool as the CPU, constrained by the CPU's 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth. In Hitman 2, where texture streaming and memory bandwidth are significant factors, this shared-memory architecture creates a bottleneck that manifests as steep frame rate drops when resolution increases.

The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it at the 9th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all NVIDIA integrated or entry-level discrete parts: the GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% faster), GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% faster), GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% faster), and GT 710 (1443, 2.7% faster). These deltas are negligible in real-world terms — the Arc B390 is essentially performance-equivalent to those parts, all of which are unsuitable for modern gaming at high resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its only playable results. Low settings produce an average of 80 FPS, Medium settings drop to 60 FPS average (with a min of 51 and max of 69), High settings yield 46 FPS, and Ultra falls to 34 FPS. The 80 FPS Low result is the only measurement that clears the 60 FPS threshold, and the 60 FPS Medium result sits exactly at it.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance degrades significantly. Low settings average 51 FPS, Medium averages 39 FPS (min 33, max 44), High averages 29 FPS, and Ultra averages 21 FPS. Only the Low settings result approaches playability, and it does so barely. The drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low represents a 36.3% reduction in average frame rate (80 to 51 FPS).

At 3840x2160, the system is effectively unplayable. Low settings average 27 FPS, Medium averages 21 FPS (min 17, max 24), High averages 16 FPS, and Ultra averages 11 FPS. No settings level reaches 30 FPS, and the Ultra result of 11 FPS is below the threshold of what most players would consider a slideshow. The data shows a linear degradation pattern: as resolution increases, the shared-memory GPU runs out of bandwidth and fill rate.

The Medium settings measurements are the only ones with complete min/max data. At 1080p Medium, the range is 51 to 69 FPS (a 18 FPS spread); at 1440p Medium, the range is 33 to 44 FPS (11 FPS spread); at 4K Medium, the range is 17 to 24 FPS (7 FPS spread). The narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes more consistently bottlenecked, with less headroom for variation.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals the GPU as the limiting component. Using Low settings as the cleanest comparison: 1080p averages 80 FPS, 1440p averages 51 FPS (a 36.3% drop), and 4K averages 27 FPS (a 66.3% drop from 1080p). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is fill-rate and bandwidth limited — doubling pixel count roughly halves performance, and the 4K result is slightly worse than that linear relationship would predict, suggesting additional memory bandwidth constraints.

For Medium settings, the drop is similarly steep: 60 FPS at 1080p, 39 FPS at 1440p (35% drop), and 21 FPS at 4K (65% drop). High settings show 46 FPS at 1080p, 29 FPS at 1440p (37% drop), and 16 FPS at 4K (65.2% drop). Ultra settings follow the same pattern: 34 FPS at 1080p, 21 FPS at 1440p (38.2% drop), and 11 FPS at 4K (67.6% drop).

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings levels — approximately 35-38% from 1080p to 1440p and 65-68% from 1080p to 4K — indicates a purely GPU-limited scenario. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect smaller percentage drops at higher resolutions (as the GPU becomes less stressed). Instead, the frame rate scales inversely with pixel count, confirming that the Arc B390's fill rate and memory bandwidth are exhausted at every resolution above 1080p.

The 1440p to 4K transition is particularly punishing: Low settings drop from 51 to 27 FPS (47.1% reduction), Medium from 39 to 21 FPS (46.2%), High from 29 to 16 FPS (44.8%), and Ultra from 21 to 11 FPS (47.6%). This near-50% drop for a 2.25x pixel increase suggests that the 4K resolution exceeds the GPU's memory bandwidth capabilities, causing the shared-memory architecture to thrash.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on Arrow Lake architecture (Arrow Lake-S codename) built on TSMC's 3 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and 102.4 GB/s bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance. Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 14769 points, R20 multi-core scores 6202, and R15 multi-core scores 1488. Single-thread scores are equally robust: R23 single-core at 2085, R20 at 875, and R15 at 210. PassMark results show a multi-thread score of 37816 and single-thread score of 4516. The CPU's average benchmark score of 46062 places it in the 89th percentile, with all nearest rivals within 0.2% — the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 at 46030 (0.1% delta), Core i9-13900HX at 46098 (-0.1% delta), EPYC 4364P at 45970 (0.2% delta), and EPYC 7303 at 45960 (0.2% delta).

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is almost entirely passive. The game's frame rates at 4K (11-27 FPS) are far below what this CPU can support, and even at 1080p Low (80 FPS), the CPU is likely not the limiting factor given its 5.00 GHz boost capability. The PassMark data encryption score of 29293, floating point math score of 117951, and data compression score of 390711 all indicate a processor with substantial compute headroom that the Arc B390 cannot utilize.

The 14-thread configuration (14 cores, 14 threads — no hyperthreading) is sufficient for Hitman 2's workload, which typically relies on 4-8 threads. The CPU's 24 MB L3 cache and 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth provide ample data throughput for the game's systems. However, because the GPU uses System Shared memory, the CPU's memory bandwidth is shared with the graphics processor, creating potential contention in memory-intensive scenes.

The verdict is clear: the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a high-end CPU (89th percentile) paired with a bottom-tier GPU (9th percentile). In Hitman 2, this pairing delivers playable frame rates only at 1080p Low, with a massive performance gap between what the CPU can theoretically support and what the GPU actually delivers. For players seeking higher resolutions or settings in this game, the GPU must be replaced or supplemented; the CPU will not be the constraining factor in any configuration.