Hitman 2

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a highly capable Hitman 2 experience, but the data reveals a clear performance hierarchy that depends heavily on your target resolution and quality settings. This combination ranks 840th out of 3001 tested combos, placing it in the upper third of systems, with the RTX 3080 acting as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions while the CPU proves more than sufficient at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable and steep decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, but the magnitude of that drop tells a compelling story about where the performance ceiling lies. At High settings, the system delivers 128 FPS at 1080p, drops to 82 FPS at 1440p, and falls to 44 FPS at 4K. That represents a 36% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 46% reduction from 1440p to 4K, resulting in a 66% total loss from the lowest to highest tested resolution.

The scaling pattern becomes even more pronounced at Ultra settings, where the frame rate collapses from 95 FPS at 1080p to 61 FPS at 1440p and finally to 32 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS is barely playable, and the gap between 1080p and 1440p Ultra (95 to 61 FPS) is a 36% drop, while the 1440p to 4K transition (61 to 32 FPS) is a 48% reduction. This accelerating decline at higher resolutions strongly indicates that the RTX 3080’s 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are being saturated, particularly at 4K where pixel count quadruples the workload compared to 1080p.

At Low settings, the resolution scaling is less punishing but still substantial: 227 FPS at 1080p, 145 FPS at 1440p, and 77 FPS at 4K. The 1080p Low result of 227 FPS suggests the CPU can push very high frame rates when the GPU load is minimal, but the 66% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings still points to the GPU being the limiting factor even when graphical complexity is reduced. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern with 170 FPS at 1080p, 109 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS at 4K, with the 4K Medium result including a minimum of 49 FPS and maximum of 67 FPS, indicating some frame pacing variance at that resolution.

The data suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combination, where High settings achieve 82 FPS and even Ultra maintains 61 FPS, both comfortably playable. At 1080p, the system is largely CPU-bound at lower settings, with the 227 FPS Low result exceeding what most displays can show, while at 4K, the GPU struggles to maintain smooth frame rates even at Medium settings, where the 58 FPS average is borderline for competitive play.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip fabricated on Samsung’s 8 nm process, containing 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die. Its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 19 Gbps effective across a 320-bit bus, delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial but becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra where the 32 FPS average indicates the memory subsystem and compute units are overwhelmed.

Clock speeds see the GPU boost to 1710 MHz from a 1440 MHz base, and the card’s 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs provide the raw throughput for Hitman 2’s stealth-heavy environments. The 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are present but less relevant for a 2018 title that doesn’t heavily leverage ray tracing, so the traditional rasterization performance of 29.77 TFLOPS FP32 is what drives the measured results. The card’s 465.1 GTexel/s texture rate and 164.2 GPixel/s pixel rate suggest it can handle high-resolution textures, but the 4K results show that fill rate alone doesn’t guarantee smooth performance at maximum settings.

The benchmark results place the RTX 3080 at the 68th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23172. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA P106-100 with a delta of -0.3%, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 at -0.3%, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M at -0.4%, and the AMD Radeon R9 M290X at -0.4%, indicating that the 3080 is clustered with these cards in overall synthetic performance despite their very different architectures and market positions. The GPU’s 68th percentile ranking is notably lower than the CPU’s 89th percentile, reinforcing that the graphics card is the weaker link in this pairing for Hitman 2.

The 4K Medium result, which averages 58 FPS with a minimum of 49 FPS, demonstrates that the RTX 3080 can still deliver playable performance at 4K when settings are moderated, but the 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS shows that even this high-end card cannot handle maximum settings at that resolution. The 10 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for Hitman 2’s texture requirements at most settings, but the 4K Ultra results suggest that memory bandwidth and capacity are being stretched thin.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the Hitman 2 experience with this hardware. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 95 FPS, which is smooth and visually impressive, making it the recommended choice for most players using a 1080p display. The High preset at 128 FPS offers a meaningful boost for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual difference between High and Ultra may not justify the 26% frame rate penalty for competitive play.

At 1440p, the High preset at 82 FPS is the best balance of visual quality and performance, providing a smooth experience on standard 144Hz displays. The Medium preset at 109 FPS is preferable for players with 144Hz or higher refresh monitors who prioritize frame rate over graphical fidelity, while Ultra at 61 FPS is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The Low preset at 145 FPS is excessive for most 1440p displays and sacrifices too much visual quality for marginal gains.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 58 FPS is the only viable option for consistent playability, with a minimum of 49 FPS that stays above the 30 FPS threshold for acceptable performance. The High preset at 44 FPS is borderline, and Ultra at 32 FPS is not recommended for anything beyond static screenshots. Players targeting 4K should accept Medium settings or consider reducing resolution to 1440p for a better experience with this RTX 3080 configuration.

The data indicates that the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K, so players should prioritize reducing settings that impact GPU load, such as shadows and reflections, rather than CPU-intensive settings. The 4K Low result of 77 FPS shows that even minimal settings cannot fully compensate for the pixel count at 4K, so resolution scaling is the most effective lever for improving performance on this system.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 ranks 840th out of 3001 tested combos, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all configurations tested. This ranking reflects the balance between a strong modern CPU and a previous-generation high-end GPU, with the overall position driven more by the GPU’s 68th percentile standing than the CPU’s 89th percentile.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 with a delta of 0.1%, the Intel Core i9-13900HX with a delta of -0.1%, the AMD EPYC 4364P with a delta of 0.2%, and the AMD EPYC 7303 with a delta of 0.2%. These tiny deltas indicate that the Core Ultra 5 235 is positioned in a densely packed performance tier, where the 46062 average benchmark score is nearly indistinguishable from its closest competitors. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 89 places it well above the GPU’s 68th percentile, suggesting that in most gaming scenarios, the RTX 3080 will be the limiting factor.

The GPU’s nearest rivals show deltas of -0.3% for the NVIDIA P106-100, -0.3% for the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, -0.4% for the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, and -0.4% for the AMD Radeon R9 M290X, indicating that the RTX 3080’s 23172 average score is slightly below those cards in aggregate benchmarks. This clustering is surprising given the architectural differences, but it reflects the synthetic benchmark methodology rather than real-world gaming performance. The combo rank of 840 out of 3001 demonstrates that while this system is above average, there are 839 other combinations that outperform it in Hitman 2, likely featuring newer GPUs or more balanced pairings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, built on the Arrow Lake architecture with a 3 nm process from TSMC. It operates at a 3.40 GHz base clock and boosts to 5.00 GHz, with a 65 W TDP that keeps thermals manageable in most desktop configurations. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache, which provides sufficient on-die storage for Hitman 2’s level data and AI routines.

In Hitman 2, the CPU’s role is primarily to handle game logic, AI pathfinding, and draw call submission, which are not heavily multithreaded in this 2018 title. The processor’s 14 cores are more than sufficient, and the measured results show that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 227 FPS, indicating that the CPU can feed the GPU far beyond what is needed for typical displays. The single-thread performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085, is strong enough to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 3080 in most scenarios, but the data at 1080p Low suggests that the CPU is still capable of higher frame rates than the GPU can render at higher settings.

The CPU’s benchmark results include a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14769 and a Passmark multithread score of 37816, which place it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 with a delta of 0.1%, the Intel Core i9-13900HX with a delta of -0.1%, the AMD EPYC 4364P with a delta of 0.2%, and the AMD EPYC 7303 with a delta of 0.2%, showing that it performs on par with these mobile and server processors in aggregate workloads. The CPU’s 46062 average benchmark score reflects strong overall compute capability, but Hitman 2’s single-threaded nature means that the 5.00 GHz boost clock and high IPC are more important than the multicore throughput.

The lack of a multiplier unlock and the 65 W TDP suggest this is a mainstream desktop part, but the measured FPS data shows no indication of CPU bottlenecking at any resolution or settings combination. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU load is minimal, the 227 FPS result suggests the CPU has additional headroom, and the 4K results are clearly GPU-limited. For Hitman 2 specifically, the CPU’s performance is more than adequate, and the data indicates that any frame rate limitations are attributable to the RTX 3080 rather than the Core Ultra 5 235.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS values provides a detailed picture of this system’s performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 227 FPS, the Medium preset averages 170 FPS with a minimum of 144 and maximum of 195, the High preset averages 128 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 95 FPS. The 1080p results show a clear progression from low to ultra, with each step up in settings costing approximately 25-30% of the frame rate, and the Medium preset’s minimum of 144 FPS ensures smooth performance even in demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 145 FPS, Medium averages 109 FPS with a minimum of 92 and maximum of 125, High averages 82 FPS, and Ultra averages 61 FPS. The 1440p results demonstrate that this resolution is well-suited to the RTX 3080, with even the Ultra preset maintaining playable frame rates above 60 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 92 FPS is particularly strong, suggesting that 1440p Medium would provide a consistent experience for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 77 FPS, Medium averages 58 FPS with a minimum of 49 and maximum of 67, High averages 44 FPS, and Ultra averages 32 FPS. The 4K results highlight the GPU’s limitations at this resolution, with only the Low and Medium presets providing acceptable performance. The Medium preset’s minimum of 49 FPS is above the 30 FPS playability threshold, but the High and Ultra results fall below what most players would consider smooth. The 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS is the weakest measured performance, reflecting the GPU’s inability to handle maximum settings at this pixel count. The complete dataset shows that this system is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p, where it delivers excellent performance across all settings, while 4K requires careful settings management to achieve playable frame rates.