Hitman 2

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination delivers a surprisingly robust experience in Hitman 2, though the data clearly shows where its limits lie. At 1080p, this pairing is exceptionally strong, but the 8 GB VRAM and GPU compute ceiling become evident as resolution scales to 4K. The benchmark results indicate a system that is CPU-capable at lower resolutions but becomes firmly GPU-bound at higher ones, making settings management crucial for maintaining smooth gameplay.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hitman 2?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the sweet spot, with average FPS ranging from 81 at Ultra settings to 194 at Low. At 2560x1440, performance drops to between 52 and 124 FPS, while 3840x2160 only manages 28 to 66 FPS, making 1080p the only resolution where all presets remain comfortably playable.

Q: How does the Core Ultra 5 245 compare to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 5 245 sits in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 48995 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196, -0.4% delta) and AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228, -0.5% delta). It is 0.6% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and 0.8% ahead of the Intel Core i5-14600K.

Q: What is the GPU's standing relative to other graphics cards?

A: The RTX 3070 ranks in the 61st percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 17208. It is nearly tied with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17083, 0.7% delta) and sits 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, while trailing the NVIDIA Tesla K40c by 1.5%.

Q: Which settings preset provides the most balanced experience at 1080p?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 offers the best balance, delivering an average of 146 FPS with a minimum of 124 FPS and maximum of 168 FPS. This provides a significant margin above High's 110 FPS average while maintaining a consistent frame time experience, as indicated by the recorded min/max spread.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 194 FPS, showing headroom. The performance drop from 194 FPS at 1080p to 124 FPS at 1440p Low is a 36% decrease, and the further drop to 66 FPS at 4K Low indicates the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution increases.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for Hitman 2?

A: This pairing ranks 1266th out of 3001 tested combos for Hitman 2, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database. This ranking reflects its strong 1080p performance but weaker 4K showing relative to higher-end GPU pairings.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data points to the Medium preset at 1920x1080 as the optimal configuration. This setting delivers an average of 146 FPS, which is 36 FPS higher than High and 65 FPS higher than Ultra. The min FPS of 124 ensures the frame rate never dips below the 120 Hz threshold that many displays target, while the max of 168 FPS shows there is still headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again provides the most balanced experience with an average of 93 FPS and a minimum of 79 FPS. This is a 23 FPS improvement over High's 70 FPS average, and it keeps the minimum above the 60 FPS baseline for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 1440p is also viable, but the tighter margins make Medium the safer recommendation for consistent performance.

The High preset at 1080p is a strong alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity, offering 110 FPS on average. However, the jump from Medium (146 FPS) to High (110 FPS) represents a 24.7% performance loss for what Hitman 2's High preset typically offers in improved shadows and textures. The Ultra preset at 1080p, at 81 FPS, is best reserved for users with 75 Hz or 85 Hz monitors who want maximum detail.

For 4K, the data shows that only the Low preset (66 FPS) approaches playability. The Medium preset at 4K averages 50 FPS with a minimum of 42 FPS, which is borderline for action sequences. Users with 4K displays should strongly consider running at 1440p Medium (93 FPS) or High (70 FPS) instead, as the visual uplift from resolution scaling is often less impactful than the stability gained.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound. At Low settings, performance drops from 194 FPS at 1080p to 124 FPS at 1440p (a 36.1% decrease), then to 66 FPS at 4K (a 46.8% decrease from 1440p). This pattern is consistent with a GPU that has sufficient compute for lower resolutions but runs out of memory bandwidth and pixel throughput at higher ones.

The High preset shows a steeper scaling curve: 110 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p (a 36.4% drop), and 38 FPS at 4K (a 45.7% drop from 1440p). The 4K High result of 38 FPS is particularly telling—it suggests the RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM is likely insufficient for Hitman 2's high-resolution texture sets, forcing the GPU to manage memory more aggressively.

The Medium preset provides the most complete data with min/max values. At 1080p, it averages 146 FPS with a 124-168 FPS range. At 1440p, the average falls to 93 FPS with a 79-107 FPS range. At 4K, the average drops to 50 FPS with a 42-57 FPS range. The consistent ratio of average-to-min FPS (roughly 85% across all resolutions) indicates stable frame pacing that does not degrade with resolution.

The scaling pattern strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting component at 1440p and above. The CPU, with its 14 cores and 14 threads, is not the bottleneck even at 1080p Low's 194 FPS. The Core Ultra 5 245's single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648, provides ample headroom for Hitman 2's game logic and AI at all tested resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranking of 1266 out of 3001 places this system in the 57.8th percentile of all tested configurations for Hitman 2. This is a respectable position, particularly given the RTX 3070's 61st percentile ranking among all GPUs. The ranking suggests that this pairing performs slightly better in this specific title than its overall GPU percentile would predict, likely due to Hitman 2's optimization for NVIDIA hardware.

The ranking also reflects the CPU's contribution. The Core Ultra 5 245's 90th percentile standing among all CPUs helps push this combo's in-game performance above what the GPU alone might suggest. The 14-core, 14-thread configuration provides strong multi-threaded performance, as shown by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924, which ensures the GPU is not starved of data in complex scenes.

Compared to the CPU's nearest rivals, this combo's ranking is consistent with expectations. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (0.5% faster in CPU benchmarks) would likely produce marginally higher FPS in CPU-bound scenarios, while the Intel Core i5-14600K (0.8% slower) might show slightly lower scores. However, the deltaPct values of under 1% suggest these differences are negligible in real-world gaming.

For the GPU's nearest rivals, the RX 7600 XT (0.7% faster) would be expected to perform nearly identically, while the GTX 690 (1% slower) would show a minor FPS deficit. The Tesla K40c, despite being 1.5% faster in synthetic benchmarks, is a compute-oriented card that would likely underperform in gaming scenarios due to its architecture.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Hitman 2, this proves sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes a constraint at 4K. The 4K High preset's 38 FPS average, compared to 1440p High's 70 FPS, represents a 45.7% drop that is steeper than the pixel count increase would suggest, indicating memory capacity or bandwidth limits.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base of 1500 MHz and boost of 1725 MHz. The boost clock is typical for the Ampere architecture and allows the card to maintain consistent performance across the settings range. The 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units provide substantial compute throughput, as evidenced by the 20.31 TFLOPS FP32 performance.

The 46 ray tracing cores are present but Hitman 2's implementation is limited, so they do not significantly impact the measured FPS. The 184 tensor cores similarly have minimal influence in this title, as DLSS is not a factor in the measured data. The 96 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s, which becomes the limiting factor at 4K where the card must fill four times as many pixels as at 1080p.

The 220 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest the card maintains boost clocks consistently under load. The 12-pin power connector and 550 W suggested PSU indicate this is a power-hungry card, but the measured FPS data shows no signs of thermal throttling or power limiting, as the performance scaling follows expected GPU-bound patterns.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. The Low preset achieves an average of 194 FPS, the highest in the dataset. Medium averages 146 FPS with a minimum of 124 FPS and maximum of 168 FPS. High averages 110 FPS, and Ultra averages 81 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium (48 FPS) is larger than the gap between Medium and High (36 FPS), suggesting diminishing returns at higher presets.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the GPU's workload increasing. Low averages 124 FPS, a 36.1% drop from 1080p. Medium averages 93 FPS with a 79-107 FPS range. High averages 70 FPS, and Ultra drops to 52 FPS. The Medium preset's 93 FPS average makes it the clear choice for 1440p gaming, as it stays above the 90 FPS threshold that many gamers consider ideal.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become pronounced. Low averages 66 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. Medium averages 50 FPS with a minimum of 42 FPS and maximum of 57 FPS. High drops to 38 FPS, and Ultra falls to 28 FPS. The 28 FPS Ultra result is effectively unplayable for a stealth-action game where precision timing matters, and the 38 FPS High result is borderline.

The min/max data for Medium settings across all resolutions provides insight into frame pacing. At 1080p, the 124-168 FPS range (44 FPS spread) shows the GPU maintains consistent performance. At 1440p, the 79-107 FPS range (28 FPS spread) is tighter in absolute terms but similar in relative terms. At 4K, the 42-57 FPS range (15 FPS spread) shows reduced variance but the lower absolute values make any drops more noticeable.

The Ultra preset shows the steepest scaling curve, dropping from 81 FPS at 1080p to 52 FPS at 1440p (35.8% drop) and 28 FPS at 4K (46.2% drop from 1440p). This consistent pattern across all presets confirms that the RTX 3070's compute and memory resources scale predictably with resolution, making the 1080p Medium preset the most efficient configuration for this particular CPU-GPU combination.