Hitman 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Hitman 2 with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and Intel Arc B580 shows a steep performance curve as resolution increases. At 1080p High settings, the combo averages 79 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops that to 51 FPS, a 35% reduction. At 4K High, the average falls to 27 FPS, which is 66% below the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern is steep and indicates that the GPU is the dominant limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically with resolution. At 1080p, Low produces 140 FPS while Ultra produces 58 FPS—a 82 FPS spread. At 1440p, that spread narrows to 52 FPS (89 vs 37). At 4K, the spread shrinks further to 28 FPS (48 vs 20). This compression at higher resolutions is classic GPU-bound behavior: when pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck, settings-based differences in shading work matter less relative to the raw fill rate demand.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded min and max FPS values. At 4K Medium, the frame time range spans 30 to 41 FPS, which is a tight band around the 36 FPS average. At 1440p Medium, the range is 57 to 77 FPS around a 67 FPS average. At 1080p Medium, it's 89 to 121 FPS around a 105 FPS average. These ranges suggest that the combo maintains reasonably consistent frame pacing at Medium settings across all resolutions, with the widest relative variance appearing at 4K.

The 4K Ultra result of 20 FPS is essentially unplayable for a stealth game that rewards precise timing. The 4K High result of 27 FPS is marginal at best. The data clearly shows that 4K is only viable with Low or Medium settings, and even then, the experience is compromised. The 1440p results are more encouraging: High at 51 FPS is playable, Medium at 67 FPS is comfortable, and Low at 89 FPS is smooth. The 1080p results are the strongest, with High at 79 FPS and Medium at 105 FPS both providing good experiences.

The scaling behavior suggests that the Arc B580's 192-bit memory bus and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed heavily at 4K. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is not the issue at these settings—the bandwidth and pixel throughput are. The GPU's 213.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 performance are simply not sufficient for 4K Ultra in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2262 out of 3001 tested combinations in Hitman 2. That places it in the 25th percentile of all combos, meaning roughly three-quarters of tested configurations deliver higher average FPS in this game. This is a modest result for a pairing that includes a 20-core CPU and a GPU with 12 GB of VRAM.

The CPU itself sits in the 93rd percentile against all CPUs in general benchmark terms. Its average benchmark score of 64640 places it just below the AMD EPYC 4464P (64823, -0.3% delta) and just above the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (64438, +0.3% delta). The gap between the 265 and its nearest rivals is tiny—less than one percent in all cases. This tells us the CPU is not the limiting factor in this game combo; it has ample headroom for the workload.

The GPU's percentile ranking is 68th against all GPUs, which is a solid mid-pack position. Its average benchmark score of 23021 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (23061, -0.2% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895, +0.6% delta). Interestingly, the RTX 3080 scores 23172 on average, which is only 0.7% higher than the B580. This suggests that in general compute workloads, the B580 trades blows with much older and much more expensive cards.

For Hitman 2 specifically, the combo's rank of 2262 out of 3001 is below what the individual component percentiles would suggest. The CPU is in the top 7% of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the top 32% of all GPUs, yet the combo lands in the bottom 25% of tested combos. This indicates that Hitman 2 is not particularly friendly to this specific pairing. The game's engine may not be leveraging the Arc B580's architecture efficiently, or the CPU's performance characteristics don't translate to this workload as well as they do in synthetic benchmarks.

The rank position matters for context: 2262 out of 3001 means this combo is in the lower third of results. For a CPU that costs $394 at launch MSRP and a GPU that costs $249 at launch MSRP, the combined hardware investment is substantial, yet the game performance ranking is underwhelming.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It packs 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die, with 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. The GPU has 20 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory runs on a 192-bit bus with 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is generous for this class of card.

The clock behavior is unusual: the base and boost clocks are both listed at 2670 MHz, meaning the card runs at a flat frequency rather than boosting dynamically. This is a fixed-clock design, which simplifies power delivery but means there's no headroom for the GPU to push higher under light loads. The memory runs at 2375 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed. The FP32 throughput is 13.67 TFLOPS, and the pixel rate is 213.6 GPixel/s.

In Hitman 2, the GPU's role is clearly the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low, the combo only reaches 140 FPS—a solid number, but not exceptional for a game from 2018. The GPU's 68th percentile ranking against all GPUs is respectable, but the game's performance ranking suggests the B580's architecture doesn't excel in this title specifically.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is more than sufficient for this game, which released in 2018. The memory bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s is the more relevant constraint. At 4K, the 192-bit bus has to move a lot of pixel data, and the measured results show the card struggling to maintain playable frame rates at High and Ultra settings. The 4K Medium result of 36 FPS with a 30-41 FPS range suggests the card is working hard but managing to keep frame times relatively stable.

The GPU's passmark scores tell a story of mixed performance: DirectX 12 score of 76, DirectX 11 score of 128, and DirectX 9 score of 183. The higher score on the older API suggests the B580's driver or architecture favors legacy rendering paths. Hitman 2 uses DirectX 12 and Vulkan, so the lower DirectX 12 score may partly explain why the game performance doesn't match the GPU's general compute potential.

Settings Recommendations

For this combo in Hitman 2, the Medium preset provides the best balance of playability and visual quality. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 105 FPS average with a 89-121 FPS range. That's a strong experience for a stealth game where smooth camera movement and quick reflex shots matter. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 67 FPS with a 57-77 FPS range, which is still very playable and looks noticeably sharper than 1080p.

The High preset is the next option, but the trade-off is significant. At 1080p High, the average drops to 79 FPS—26 FPS below Medium. At 1440p High, it's 51 FPS, which is playable but with less headroom for busy scenes. The visual uplift from Medium to High in Hitman 2 is modest—mostly shadow quality, texture filtering, and ambient occlusion improvements—so the FPS cost is hard to justify.

Ultra settings are not recommended for this combo. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 58 FPS, which is technically playable but with no margin. At 1440p Ultra, it's 37 FPS, which is borderline. At 4K Ultra, it's 20 FPS, which is unplayable. The Ultra preset in Hitman 2 adds heavy post-processing and volumetric effects that tax the B580 disproportionately.

For 4K, the data shows that Low at 48 FPS is the only truly playable option. Medium at 36 FPS is marginal—it works for slow, methodical play but will struggle in crowded scenes. High at 27 FPS and Ultra at 20 FPS are not viable. If you own a 4K display, the recommendation is to play at 1440p with Medium settings instead, as the sharpness gain from native 4K Medium doesn't compensate for the 31 FPS drop from 4K Medium to 1440p Medium.

The measured FPS values for Medium are the only ones with min/max data, which is useful for assessing consistency. The 89-121 FPS range at 1080p Medium shows a tight spread that indicates stable frame pacing. The 57-77 FPS range at 1440p Medium is similarly consistent. This consistency is important for a stealth game where unpredictable frame hitches can ruin a perfect run.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the full settings ladder is available. Low produces 140 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium produces 105 FPS with a 89-121 FPS range. High produces 79 FPS. Ultra produces 58 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra is: 140, 105, 79, 58. The step from Low to Medium is a 35 FPS drop, from Medium to High is a 26 FPS drop, and from High to Ultra is a 21 FPS drop. The decreasing deltas suggest diminishing returns in terms of FPS cost as settings climb—each preset tier costs less FPS than the previous one, but the visual quality gains also diminish.

At 1440p, the ladder is: Low at 89 FPS, Medium at 67 FPS with a 57-77 FPS range, High at 51 FPS, and Ultra at 37 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 22 FPS, from Medium to High is 16 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 14 FPS. The pattern of decreasing deltas holds, but the absolute numbers are lower than at 1080p. The 1440p High result of 51 FPS is nearly identical to the 1080p Ultra result of 58 FPS, suggesting that resolution and settings interact in a predictable way: upgrading from 1080p Ultra to 1440p High costs roughly 7 FPS.

At 4K, the ladder is: Low at 48 FPS, Medium at 36 FPS with a 30-41 FPS range, High at 27 FPS, and Ultra at 20 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 12 FPS, from Medium to High is 9 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 7 FPS. The pattern continues, but the absolute values are now in unplayable territory for High and Ultra. The 4K Low result of 48 FPS is the only 4K setting that clears the 30 FPS minimum for playability, and it barely does so at 48 FPS.

Comparing across resolutions at the same settings: Low goes 140 to 89 to 48, which is a 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 46% drop from 1440p to 4K. Medium goes 105 to 67 to 36, which is a 36% drop and then a 46% drop. High goes 79 to 51 to 27, which is a 35% drop and then a 47% drop. Ultra goes 58 to 37 to 20, which is a 36% drop and then a 46% drop. The consistent ~35% drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~46% drop from 1440p to 4K across all settings indicates that the scaling is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven, reinforcing the GPU-bound analysis.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm TSMC process. It has a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth. It uses the Intel Socket 1851 and has a 65 W TDP, which is efficient for a 20-core part.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU at all measured settings. The evidence is in the resolution scaling: if the CPU were the bottleneck, we'd see similar FPS across resolutions at the same settings. Instead, the FPS drops consistently by 35-47% with each resolution step, which is the signature of a GPU-limited system. The CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU at 1080p Low (140 FPS) and 1080p Medium (105 FPS), and the fact that FPS scales down with resolution confirms the CPU is not holding back performance.

The CPU's benchmark results are strong. It scores 42216 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5960 in single-core. The PassMark multi-thread score is 49682, and single-thread is 4689. The data compression score of 522983 and encryption score of 40456 show strong integer performance. The floating point math score of 172776 and integer math score of 134773 are both solid. These numbers place the CPU in the 93rd percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 64640.

The nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks are all server-class parts: the AMD EPYC 4464P, EPYC 7343, and EPYC 9124, plus the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F. The deltas are all within ±0.7%, meaning the 265 performs essentially identically to these parts in general workloads. For gaming, this means the CPU has no trouble keeping up with any modern GPU, including the Arc B580.

The 20-core/20-thread configuration is interesting for a game like Hitman 2, which is not heavily multithreaded. The game likely uses 4-8 threads effectively, and the 265's single-core boost of 5.30 GHz provides excellent per-thread performance. The L3 cache of 30 MB is generous and should help with game data locality. The 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth is adequate for feeding 20 cores, and the dual-channel DDR5 configuration is standard for a desktop platform.

The CPU's production status is Active, with a launch MSRP of $394. Its boost clock of 5.30 GHz is among the highest available, and the 65 W TDP means it runs cool enough for a capable air cooler. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 32EU is present but irrelevant for gaming with a discrete B580 installed. The PCIe Gen 5 support with 20 CPU lanes provides ample bandwidth for the GPU, though the B580 uses PCIe 4.0 x8, which is more than sufficient.

In the context of this combo, the CPU is a non-factor in limiting Hitman 2 performance. The data shows a GPU-bound system at every resolution and settings combination tested. If you were to pair this CPU with a faster GPU, the FPS would scale accordingly, as the CPU's benchmark scores suggest it can drive much higher frame rates than the B580 delivers in this game. The combo's rank of 2262 out of 3001 is due to the GPU, not the CPU, and upgrading the GPU would be the logical next step for better Hitman 2 performance.