Hitman 2

Hitman 2, a stealth classic from 2018, remains a demanding title for modern hardware, and the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 produces a wide spread of performance depending on how you configure it. The measured data reveals a system that is exceptionally capable at high refresh rates in 1080p, but which requires careful settings management to achieve a smooth experience at 4K. The benchmark results show that this pairing offers a broad range of playability, from extremly high-speed competitive play to visually rich, slower-paced stealth, contingent entirely on the resolution and quality preset chosen.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across the three resolutions provides a clear picture of which settings preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. At 1920x1080, even the most demanding "Ultra" preset achieves an average of 105 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay, while the "High" preset reaches 143 FPS and "Low" pushes to 253 FPS. For players with high-refresh-rate monitors, the "Low" preset at 1080p unlocks the highest frame rates, but the "High" preset is the recommended choice, delivering a significant visual upgrade over "Low" while still maintaining an average well over 140 FPS, ensuring a responsive and fluid experience.

Moving to 2560x1440, the "High" preset delivers an average of 92 FPS, which is still comfortably playable and represents the sweet spot for this resolution. The "Ultra" preset drops to 67 FPS, which is playable but shows the increasing load on the GPU. The "Medium" preset, with an average of 121 FPS and a minimum of 103 FPS, offers a strong alternative for those prioritizing frame rate stability over the maximum visual details. The data suggests that at 1440p, "High" is the optimal choice, as it provides a substantial improvement over "Medium" while maintaining an average frame rate that is nearly double that of the "Ultra" preset's minimum.

At 3840x2160, the performance landscape changes dramatically. The "Ultra" preset is effectively unplayable for a smooth experience, with an average of just 36 FPS. The "High" preset, at 49 FPS, is also below the 60 FPS target that many players consider the baseline for a good experience. The "Medium" preset, however, achieves an average of 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS, making it the only 4K preset in the measured data that provides a consistently playable frame rate. Therefore, for a 4K experience, the "Medium" preset is the recommended choice, as it is the only one that consistently stays above the 60 FPS mark, offering a stable and fluid experience where "High" and "Ultra" fall short.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the primary driver of frame rates in this pairing, especially at higher resolutions. The GPU's specifications, including 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, provide a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s, which is crucial for feeding the rendering pipeline at 4K. The benchmark results show that the RTX 5070's performance is the limiting factor when the resolution increases, as the average FPS drops significantly from 1080p to 2160p, even at the same settings. For instance, at "High" settings, the average FPS falls from 143 at 1080p to 92 at 1440p, and then to 49 at 4K, a clear indicator of the GPU's workload scaling with pixel count.

The GPU's architecture, Blackwell 2.0, features 6144 shading units and a boost clock of 2512 MHz, which contributes to its raw compute power. The data shows the RTX 5070 is quite capable at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, its limits become apparent. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's demands at the tested settings, as the game does not appear to be exceeding this limit based on the observed frame times. The performance at 4K "Medium" (65 FPS average) compared to 4K "High" (49 FPS average) suggests that the game is heavily reliant on GPU compute and memory bandwidth, and that reducing the settings that stress these aspects yields the most significant performance gains.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent trend of diminishing frame rates as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound workload. At "Low" settings, the average FPS scales from 253 at 1080p to 162 at 1440p and 86 at 4K. This represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 47% drop from 1440p to 4K. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 5070 is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU has more than enough headroom to feed the GPU. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265, with its high multi-core performance, is not the limiting factor here.

The pattern is even more pronounced at "Ultra" settings. The average FPS drops from 105 at 1080p to 67 at 1440p (a 36% drop) and then to 36 at 4K (a further 46% drop). This demonstrates that the GPU is fully saturated at 4K with "Ultra" settings. The fact that the frame rate nearly doubles when going from 4K "Ultra" (36 FPS) to 4K "Medium" (65 FPS) reinforces the idea that the GPU's compute and memory resources are the limiting factor. The CPU's role is to process game logic and draw calls, but the data suggests that even at lower resolutions, the CPU is not a bottleneck, as the FPS at 1080p "Low" reaches exceptionally high levels, indicating the GPU can render frames as fast as the CPU can submit them.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a smooth 60 FPS experience at 4K?

A: Based on the measured data, the "Medium" preset is the only one that achieves a consistently playable frame rate at 3840x2160, with an average of 65 FPS and a minimum of 55 FPS. The "High" preset (49 FPS) and "Ultra" preset (36 FPS) both fall below the 60 FPS target.

Q: Can this system take full advantage of a 240Hz monitor at 1080p?

A: Only with the "Low" preset, which achieves an average of 253 FPS. The "Medium" preset (189 FPS) and "High" preset (143 FPS) are below the 240Hz threshold for average frame rates, though they may still be suitable for lower refresh rate displays.

Q: How much of a performance hit is the "Ultra" preset compared to "High" at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the "Ultra" preset has an average of 67 FPS, while the "High" preset has an average of 92 FPS. This represents a 27% reduction in average frame rate when moving from "High" to "Ultra".

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU more likely to be the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops significantly with resolution increases, and the CPU's high multi-core score of 42216 in Cinebench R23 suggests it has ample headroom.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the "Medium" preset at 1080p?

A: The minimum FPS recorded for the "Medium" preset at 1920x1080 is 161 FPS, with an average of 189 FPS and a maximum of 218 FPS.

Q: How does the average FPS at 4K "High" compare to the average FPS at 1080p "Ultra"?

A: The average FPS at 4K "High" is 49, which is significantly lower than the 105 FPS average at 1080p "Ultra". This shows the substantial performance cost of rendering at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. While its 30 MB of shared L3 cache and high boost clock are beneficial for gaming, the benchmark results in Hitman 2 indicate that the CPU is not the primary constraint on performance. The system's frame rates scale dramatically with resolution, which is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see more consistent frame rates across different resolutions, as the CPU's workload would not change with pixel count.

The CPU's robust performance is evident in its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42216, which places it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. This high level of multi-threaded performance ensures that the CPU can easily handle the game's simulation and AI tasks, allowing the RTX 5070 to work as the main performance arbiter. The data suggests that even in the most CPU-intensive moments, the Core Ultra 7 265 would not be a bottleneck, as the frame rates are consistently higher at lower resolutions where the CPU's workload is relatively unchanged. This makes the CPU a solid foundation for this GPU, ensuring that the graphics card is the primary factor in determining the final frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a detailed breakdown of the measured FPS data for the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 in Hitman 2.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers high frame rates across all settings:

• Low: Average FPS of 253.
• Medium: Average FPS of 189, with a minimum of 161 and a maximum of 218.
• High: Average FPS of 143.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 105.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong, but the impact of the higher resolution is clear:

• Low: Average FPS of 162.
• Medium: Average FPS of 121, with a minimum of 103 and a maximum of 139.
• High: Average FPS of 92.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 67.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the significant bottleneck, and settings must be lowered for smooth gameplay:

• Low: Average FPS of 86.
• Medium: Average FPS of 65, with a minimum of 55 and a maximum of 74.
• High: Average FPS of 49.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 36.

The data shows a very clear performance hierarchy. For competitive play or maximum frame rates, 1080p with "Low" settings is the only way to exceed 240 FPS. For a balanced experience, 1440p with "High" settings provides excellent visual quality and an average FPS of 92. For 4K gaming, the "Medium" preset is the only viable option for maintaining a frame rate above 60 FPS. The system's overall rank in this game is 604 out of 3001 tested combinations, placing it in the top 20% of all tested hardware pairs.