Hitman 2

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and Intel Arc B580 combination delivers a performance profile in Hitman 2 that is heavily dictated by resolution and settings, with the data showing a clear transition from CPU-bound behavior at lower resolutions to GPU-bound behavior at 4K. This pairing, ranked 2262 out of 3001 tested combos in this game, offers a playable experience at 1080p and 1440p with the right settings, but struggles to maintain acceptable frame rates at 4K beyond the Low preset. The measured FPS data reveals a system that is capable at mainstream resolutions but quickly runs out of headroom when pixel count increases, making settings management crucial for a smooth experience.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 140 FPS at 1920x1080 to 89 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 51 FPS, and then drops further to 48 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 65.7% decrease from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the Arc B580 is increasingly stressed as resolution climbs. However, the scaling is not linear, and the gap between 1440p and 4K (41 FPS difference) is larger than the gap between 1080p and 1440p (51 FPS difference), suggesting that at 4K the GPU is severely limiting performance.

At Medium settings, the pattern intensifies. The average FPS goes from 105 at 1080p to 67 at 1440p, a 38 FPS drop, and then to 36 at 4K, another 31 FPS drop. The 4K Medium result of 36 FPS is barely above the 30 FPS minimum recorded at that resolution, and the min FPS of 30 at 4K Medium indicates that the system can dip to unplayable levels during demanding scenes. This suggests that the Arc B580's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus, while sufficient for lower resolutions, cannot sustain the bandwidth required for 4K rendering with medium complexity.

High settings show a similar trajectory: 79 FPS at 1080p, 51 FPS at 1440p, and 27 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result is the first sub-30 average in the dataset, confirming that this resolution is beyond the practical capability of this combo for smooth gameplay. Ultra settings are even more punishing, with 58 FPS at 1080p dropping to 37 FPS at 1440p and then to 20 FPS at 4K. The delta between 1440p Ultra (37 FPS) and 4K Ultra (20 FPS) is a 45.9% reduction, underscoring that higher settings amplify the resolution penalty.

The scaling behavior reveals that at 1080p, the CPU plays a more significant role, as evidenced by the relatively high frame rates across all settings. At 1440p, the balance shifts toward the GPU, and at 4K, the Arc B580 is clearly the limiting component. The data shows that users targeting 4K must use Low settings to achieve 48 FPS average, which is playable but visually compromised. The lack of min FPS data for most 4K rows means the consistency of these results is uncertain, but the available min FPS of 30 at 4K Medium suggests that even the average figures may hide significant stuttering.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 2262 out of 3001 tested combinations, this pairing sits in the lower third of all tested systems for Hitman 2. This rank indicates that while the combo is functional, it does not compete with higher-tier configurations that pair more powerful CPUs and GPUs. The Core Ultra 5 245 alone holds a 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs, which is strong, but the Arc B580's 68th percentile among GPUs pulls the overall gaming performance down. The data suggests that the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing, especially at higher resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its overall capability. The Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995, which is within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196) and 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228). It also outperforms the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H by 0.6% and the Intel Core i5-14600K by 0.8%. These narrow deltas suggest that the CPU is competitive with mid-range and even some high-end processors from both AMD and Intel, meaning it is not the primary cause of the low combo rank.

For the GPU, the Arc B580's average benchmark score of 23021 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (23061, delta -0.2%) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895, delta 0.6%). It trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 by 0.7% and the NVIDIA P106-100 by 1%. These comparisons place the Arc B580 in a strange position: it trades blows with older high-end cards like the RTX 2080 but falls short of newer mid-range options. In Hitman 2 specifically, this translates to the measured FPS figures, which are respectable at 1080p but falter at 4K.

The rank of 2262 out of 3001 means that 739 combos performed worse, but more importantly, it means the majority of tested combos outperformed this pairing. This is likely due to the fact that many tested systems include more powerful GPUs, which are essential for a game like Hitman 2 that scales significantly with resolution and settings. The CPU's strong benchmark scores do not compensate for the GPU's limitations in this title, as the game's rendering demands favor GPU throughput over CPU headroom.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the Medium preset offers the best balance, delivering an average of 105 FPS with a minimum of 89 FPS and a maximum of 121 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and provides a comfortable margin for demanding scenes. High settings at 1080p drop to 79 FPS average, which is still playable but leaves less headroom, while Ultra at 58 FPS is borderline and may dip below 60 in busy areas.

For 1440p, the Medium preset is again the recommended choice, with an average of 67 FPS and a minimum of 57 FPS. The 57 FPS minimum suggests occasional dips below 60, but the experience remains largely smooth. Low settings at 1440p push the average to 89 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play, but the visual quality reduction may not be worth it for a stealth game where immersion matters. High settings at 1440p produce 51 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS target, and Ultra drops to 37 FPS, which is too low for a comfortable experience.

At 4K, the options are severely limited. Low settings yield 48 FPS average, which is the only preset that approaches playability, but it still falls short of 60 FPS. Medium at 4K averages 36 FPS with a minimum of 30 FPS, which is stutter-prone and not recommended. High and Ultra at 4K are effectively unplayable at 27 and 20 FPS respectively. For users who insist on 4K, the Low preset is the only viable choice, but even then, the experience will be less smooth than at lower resolutions.

The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1080p Medium or High, and 1440p Medium. Users who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity can use Low at any resolution, but the gains at 1080p (140 FPS) and 1440p (89 FPS) come at the cost of significant visual fidelity. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it produces 58 FPS, but the marginal visual improvement over High may not justify the 21 FPS average drop. Overall, the Medium preset at 1080p or 1440p provides the most consistent and responsive experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings was tested, and the results show a clear hierarchy. Low settings produce the highest average at 140 FPS, followed by Medium at 105 FPS, High at 79 FPS, and Ultra at 58 FPS. The Medium preset stands out for its consistency, with a minimum of 89 FPS and a maximum of 121 FPS, indicating that even the most demanding scenes maintain playable frame rates. High settings lack min/max data, but the 79 FPS average suggests stable performance. Ultra, at 58 FPS, is the only 1080p preset that falls below 60 FPS, making it a marginal choice for those who want maximum visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern persists but with lower overall numbers. Low settings deliver 89 FPS average, which is still excellent, while Medium averages 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS and a maximum of 77 FPS. The 57 FPS minimum is concerning, as it indicates that the system can drop below 60 FPS during heavy scenes, but the average remains acceptable. High settings at 51 FPS are playable but not ideal, and Ultra at 37 FPS is too low for a smooth experience. The data suggests that 1440p Medium is the sweet spot for this resolution, offering a balance between visual quality and performance.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low settings average 48 FPS, which is the only preset that achieves near-playable frame rates. Medium drops to 36 FPS with a minimum of 30 FPS and a maximum of 41 FPS, indicating that the system frequently dips to unplayable levels. High settings average 27 FPS, and Ultra averages 20 FPS, both of which are far below any reasonable playability threshold. The lack of min/max data for most 4K rows means that the consistency of these averages is unknown, but the available data for Medium suggests that 4K performance is unstable.

The breakdown reveals that the combo's performance is heavily dependent on both resolution and settings, with no single configuration that excels across all three resolutions. At 1080p, users have the flexibility to choose between high frame rates (Low) or better visuals (High), with Medium as a solid compromise. At 1440p, Medium is the only preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS, while at 4K, even Low falls short of 60 FPS. This makes the combo a 1080p or 1440p solution, with 4K being a stretch that requires significant compromises.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is the primary factor limiting this combo's performance in Hitman 2, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops at higher resolutions. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the bandwidth and capacity become strained, leading to the low FPS figures observed. The GPU's base and boost clocks are both 2670 MHz, which is relatively high, but the raw compute power of 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 is not enough to handle 4K rendering at high settings.

The Arc B580's 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs are modest by modern standards, and the 20 RT cores do not provide meaningful acceleration for this non-ray-traced game. The GPU's pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s are adequate for lower resolutions but become bottlenecks at 4K. The 190 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest a mid-range card, and the benchmark results confirm this positioning, with the GPU sitting at the 68th percentile among all GPUs.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's role is most apparent in the scaling from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 140 to 48, a 65.7% reduction, which is directly attributable to the GPU's inability to maintain throughput at higher pixel counts. The memory bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s is shared across the 192-bit bus, and at 4K, the demand for texture and geometry data exceeds what the card can deliver, causing the frame rate to collapse. The 12 GB memory capacity is not the issue at 4K, as the game's VRAM usage is likely below this threshold, but the bandwidth is insufficient.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in competition with older high-end cards like the RTX 2080, which has a delta of 0.6% in the Arc B580's favor. However, the RTX 2080 was a flagship card from 2018, and its performance in Hitman 2 may differ due to driver optimizations. The Arc B580's PassMark G3D score of 15748 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 3068 indicate that it is a capable 1080p and 1440p card, but not a 4K performer. The data consistently shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, where even the lowest settings produce only 48 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a strong processor that provides ample headroom for this gaming workload, particularly at lower resolutions. With 14 cores and 14 threads, the CPU has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, making it well-suited for both single-threaded and multi-threaded tasks. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce latency, and the 3 nm process node from TSMC ensures efficient power consumption with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and a single-core score of 4648, placing it in the 90th percentile among all CPUs.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p, where frame rates are high and the GPU is not fully saturated. At Low settings, the 140 FPS average at 1080p suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough frames to reach this level, and the drop to 89 FPS at 1440p Low indicates that the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor as resolution increases. The CPU's 14 threads are more than sufficient for a game like Hitman 2, which typically uses fewer than 8 threads, and the boost clock of 5.10 GHz provides strong single-thread performance that is crucial for game logic and physics.

The CPU's nearest rivals show that it is competitive with the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G and Ryzen 9 7900, both of which have average scores within 0.5% of the Core Ultra 5 245. This means that the CPU is not holding back the combo in Hitman 2; rather, the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU can deliver frame rates above 140 FPS at Low settings, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors, indicating that the CPU has spare capacity that the GPU cannot utilize at higher resolutions.

The memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, provided by dual-channel DDR5, is adequate for the CPU's needs, and the PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 lanes ensures that the GPU has sufficient bandwidth for data transfer. The CPU's integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 EU is not used in this configuration, but its presence does not detract from performance. The data suggests that the CPU is a solid foundation for this combo, and if paired with a more powerful GPU, it could deliver higher frame rates at 1440p and 4K. However, with the Arc B580, the CPU's performance is underutilized, especially at 4K where the GPU limits the system to 48 FPS at Low settings.