Hitman 2

Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER form a pairing that is sharply defined by its components’ generational contrast. The CPU is a current-generation, 20-core Arrow Lake-S desktop part built on a 3 nm TSMC process, while the GPU is an end-of-life Turing architecture card on a 12 nm node. This asymmetry directly shapes Hitman 2’s measured performance, where the processor’s high single-thread throughput and the graphics card’s mid-range rasterization ceiling interact in predictable ways across resolutions and settings.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K provides 20 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. Its 30 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support contribute to a PassMark single-thread score of 4904 and a multi-thread score of 58838. In Cinebench R23, the CPU reaches 7060 single-core and 50009 multi-core points. These figures place the processor at the 97th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79102. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF (delta -0.2%), Intel Core i9-14900KF (delta -0.2%), and Intel Core i9-14900K (delta -0.9%), showing the 265K sits within roughly one percent of those parts in aggregate compute performance.

For Hitman 2, a stealth title that relies on AI routines, crowd simulations, and physics interactions, the CPU’s strong single-core performance is critical. The game’s engine is not heavily threaded, so the 265K’s 5.50 GHz boost capability and high IPC from the Arrow Lake architecture ensure that the CPU rarely becomes a bottleneck in the measured scenarios. The PassMark physics score of 3826 further indicates robust real-time simulation throughput, which matters for the game’s dynamic sandbox elements.

However, the CPU’s 20 cores are largely underutilized here. The measured FPS data shows that performance scales more with resolution and settings than with core count, implying that the GPU is the limiting factor in most cases. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 142 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it drops to 21.1 FPS. This pattern suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, but the RTX 2060 SUPER’s compute resources are exhausted as pixel count and graphical fidelity increase.

The RTX 2060 SUPER itself has 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with a boost clock of 1650 MHz. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 16462 in PassMark G3D and 2011 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN (delta 0.3%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (delta 0.5%), and NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (delta 0.8%), indicating that the 2060 SUPER is marginally ahead of a much older flagship and slightly behind a higher-tier Turing card.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K compare to its closest CPU rivals in aggregate performance?

A: The 265K’s average benchmark score of 79102 is 0.2% lower than both the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF (79240) and Intel Core i9-14900KF (79245), and 0.9% lower than the Intel Core i9-14900K (79824). It is also 1.2% lower than the AMD EPYC 7413 (80041), showing that it trails the top consumer and server parts by a narrow margin.

Q: What is the best-case FPS scenario for this combo in Hitman 2?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 142 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 108.6 FPS at the same resolution with Medium settings, followed by 93.4 FPS at 2560x1440 Low. The worst-case scenario is 21.1 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER perform relative to the RTX 2070 in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 19774, which is 0.5% higher than the RTX 2070’s 19680. This means the 2060 SUPER is slightly faster in the aggregate benchmark suite, despite being a lower-tier product in the same generation.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo exceed 60 FPS consistently?

A: The combo exceeds 60 FPS at 1920x1080 across all settings except Ultra (60.8 FPS, which still meets the threshold). At 2560x1440, it only exceeds 60 FPS with Low settings (93.4 FPS) and Medium settings (68.4 FPS). At 3840x2160, no settings configuration reaches 60 FPS.

Q: What does the combo’s rank of 1324 out of 1795 combos indicate?

A: The combo ranks in the 26th percentile among all tested CPU-GPU combinations in Hitman 2, meaning roughly 74% of tested combos deliver higher average FPS. This is consistent with the GPU’s 63rd percentile standing among all GPUs, indicating the graphics card holds the combo back relative to the CPU’s capability.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck in this pairing?

A: The data shows the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the CPU pushes 142 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it falls to 21.1 FPS, a 85% drop. The RTX 2060 SUPER’s 8 GB VRAM and 7.181 TFLOPS FP32 throughput are insufficient for high-fidelity 4K, while the 265K’s single-thread performance remains ample for the game’s CPU demands.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1324th out of 1795 tested combos in Hitman 2. This position places it in the lower-mid tier of the database, which is a direct consequence of the GPU’s modest standing. The CPU alone sits at the 97th percentile among all CPUs, but the GPU is at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs. When paired, the lower-performing component dominates the FPS outcome, dragging the combo’s rank down to roughly the 26th percentile of all tested systems.

Comparing to the CPU’s nearest rivals reinforces this imbalance. The 265K performs within 0.9% of the i9-14900K in aggregate benchmarks, yet swapping the GPU would yield far larger FPS gains than swapping the CPU. The measured FPS spread across settings—from 142 FPS at 1080p Low to 21.1 FPS at 4K Ultra—shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER’s rasterization limits are the binding constraint. In a game like Hitman 2, which is not notoriously CPU-intensive, the 265K’s 20 cores provide headroom that the GPU cannot exploit at higher resolutions.

The rank of 1324 also implies that most better-performing combos either feature a stronger GPU with a similar CPU or a more balanced pairing. The RTX 2060 SUPER’s nearest GPU rival, the RTX 2070, is only 0.5% slower in synthetic tests, meaning a combo with that card would rank nearly identically. Conversely, pairing the 265K with a higher-tier GPU would likely move the combo into the top quartile, given the CPU’s strong synthetic scores.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 142 FPS, which is the highest measured figure in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 108.6 FPS, while High settings drop to 82.9 FPS. Ultra settings bring the average down to 60.8 FPS. This resolution shows a clear progression where each settings tier costs roughly 20-25% performance, but even the heaviest preset maintains a playable frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops become more pronounced. Low settings average 93.4 FPS, which is a 34% reduction from 1080p Low. Medium settings average 68.4 FPS, a 37% drop from 1080p Medium. High settings fall to 51.5 FPS, a 38% reduction, and Ultra settings drop to 36.5 FPS, a 40% decline from 1080p Ultra. The scaling factor increases slightly with settings, indicating that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading resources are being stressed more at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results show a steep cliff. Low settings average 47 FPS, which is a 67% drop from 1080p Low. Medium settings average 40 FPS, a 63% reduction from 1080p Medium. High settings average 30.6 FPS, a 63% decline, and Ultra settings average 21.1 FPS, a 65% drop from 1080p Ultra. The 4K results are uniformly below 60 FPS, with even Low settings failing to reach playable smoothness on high-refresh displays.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 represents a 4x increase in pixel count, and the FPS scaling reflects a nearly inverse behavior. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 142 to 47, a 67% reduction. At Medium settings, it falls from 108.6 to 40, a 63% drop. High settings decline from 82.9 to 30.6, a 63% reduction, and Ultra settings drop from 60.8 to 21.1, a 65% decline. These percentages are remarkably consistent across settings, ranging from 63% to 67%, which indicates that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck at all resolutions.

If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect the FPS drop to be much smaller at 4K, because the CPU workload remains largely constant regardless of resolution. Instead, the near-uniform percentage decline across settings suggests that the RTX 2060 SUPER’s compute units and memory subsystem are saturated. The GPU’s 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 7.181 TFLOPS FP32 throughput are insufficient for 4K rendering in Hitman 2, even at Low settings.

The 1080p results confirm this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 142 FPS, which is close to the CPU’s potential frame delivery limit. However, at 1080p Ultra, the FPS falls to 60.8, a 57% reduction from Low. This settings-based drop at a fixed resolution is purely a GPU workload increase, as the CPU’s instructions per frame do not change significantly with graphical fidelity. The RTX 2060 SUPER’s 2176 shading units and 64 ROPs are the constraining resources, and the 265K’s 5.50 GHz boost clock is never the primary limiter in any measured configuration.

The data also shows that the combo is only suitable for 1080p gaming at high refresh rates or 1440p at medium quality. At 4K, the best-case average of 47 FPS at Low settings is below the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra settings at 21.1 FPS are effectively unplayable for smooth action. This resolution scaling pattern is typical of a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU, where the processor’s headroom is wasted at higher resolutions.