Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers a formidable Hitman 2 experience, with the data showing this combo ranks 255th out of 3711 tested configurations. The measured frame rates across four presets and three resolutions reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher settings, while the CPU's substantial resources come into play primarily at lower resolutions and settings. This analysis breaks down how the resolution scaling, GPU characteristics, and CPU capabilities each contribute to the observed performance envelope, providing a comprehensive picture of what players can expect from this specific hardware pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for this combo shows a clear and predictable progression as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 172 FPS at 1080p to 110 FPS at 1440p, then further to 58 FPS at 4K. This represents a 66% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count, which is typical for a game like Hitman 2 that emphasizes detailed environments and complex geometry.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more dramatic. The system produces 302 FPS at 1080p, 193 FPS at 1440p, and 103 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 4K drop here is 66%, nearly identical to High settings, which suggests that even at minimal graphical fidelity, the resolution itself remains the dominant factor limiting performance. This is a strong indicator that the GPU is the primary constraint across the board, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames at all tested resolutions.

The Medium preset shows a slightly different pattern, with average FPS of 227 at 1080p, 145 at 1440p, and 77 at 4K. The 1080p to 4K reduction here is 66% as well, reinforcing the consistency of resolution scaling regardless of preset. Interestingly, the Medium preset at 4K also includes measured minimum and maximum values of 66 and 89 FPS respectively, which provides a range of 23 FPS. This variance suggests that while the average is solid, certain scenes or moments can push the system harder, though the minimum of 66 FPS remains comfortably playable.

Ultra settings exhibit the steepest absolute drops, with 126 FPS at 1080p falling to 81 FPS at 1440p and 43 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 4K reduction here is 66%, matching the other presets. The fact that all four presets show nearly identical percentage drops from 1080p to 4K strongly suggests that the limiting component at 4K is the GPU, not the CPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller percentage drops at lower settings where the GPU has less work to do, but the data does not support that scenario.

Looking at the 1440p to 4K transition specifically, High settings drop from 110 to 58 FPS (a 47% reduction), Low from 193 to 103 FPS (a 47% reduction), Medium from 145 to 77 FPS (a 47% reduction), and Ultra from 81 to 43 FPS (a 47% reduction). This uniform scaling across presets is a textbook sign of GPU limitation, as the pixel throughput demands scale identically regardless of the graphical complexity being rendered.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, based on the Ada Lovelace architecture and built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, brings substantial resources to Hitman 2. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, the card offers 716.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for the game's asset streaming and texture requirements at all tested resolutions. The memory clock runs at 1400 MHz, translating to 22.4 Gbps effective, and the base clock of 2205 MHz boosts up to 2505 MHz under load.

The card's compute capabilities are equally impressive on paper, with 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units. The 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores are present but are unlikely to be heavily utilized in Hitman 2, which launched in 2018 and does not feature ray tracing as a core technology. The FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s provide ample raw throughput for the game's rendering pipeline.

In benchmark terms, the RTX 4080 scores 34457 in Passmark G3D, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 54247 is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores 54209 and is only 0.1% ahead. The data shows the RTX 4080 is also within 2.7% of the AMD Radeon 8060S and Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, though those cards trail in this comparison.

The measured FPS data confirms the GPU's role as the primary performance limiter at 4K. At Ultra settings, the system manages only 43 FPS at 3840x2160, which indicates the card is being pushed to its limits. Even at High settings, the 58 FPS at 4K suggests that the RTX 4080 is working hard to maintain playable frame rates. The fact that dropping from Ultra to High at 4K yields a 15 FPS improvement (from 43 to 58) shows that the GPU's performance scales significantly with graphical settings, further confirming its bottleneck status.

At 1440p, the RTX 4080 demonstrates more comfortable headroom, with High settings producing 110 FPS and Medium reaching 145 FPS. The GPU's 16 GB VRAM capacity is unlikely to be a limiting factor in Hitman 2, as the game's textures and geometry can be comfortably accommodated even at 4K Ultra, which is reflected in the fact that the card maintains a playable 43 FPS rather than experiencing a catastrophic drop due to memory exhaustion.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus serves as the computational backbone of this system, featuring 24 cores and 24 threads with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. Built on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture using a 3 nm process at TSMC, this processor offers substantial multi-threaded and single-threaded performance that is more than adequate for Hitman 2's requirements.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 44253 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2439 in single-core, demonstrating strong performance in both heavily threaded and lightly threaded workloads. The Passmark multi-thread score of 68574 and single-thread score of 5068 further underscore its capabilities. The processor's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample fast memory for game logic and AI calculations.

The CPU's benchmark profile places it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 93785. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6520P, scores 93786 with a 0% delta, while the AMD EPYC 4564P scores 95183, putting the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus 1.5% behind. The AMD EPYC 9175F and EPYC 4565P are 1.9% and 2.1% ahead respectively, indicating this processor sits in a highly competitive performance tier.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role becomes most apparent at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is not the limiting factor. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 302 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the CPU can feed frames at a very high rate. Similarly, at 1080p Medium, the 227 FPS average with a minimum of 193 FPS shows the processor maintains consistent performance even when the GPU is less stressed.

The CPU's 24 cores and 24 threads are likely overkill for Hitman 2, which is not known for heavy multi-threading. However, the high boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensures excellent single-threaded performance, which is more relevant for game logic and physics calculations. The processor's 115.2 GB/s memory bandwidth on a dual-channel DDR5 interface provides sufficient data throughput for the game's needs.

The fact that the system maintains 172 FPS at 1080p High settings indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck even when the GPU is moderately loaded. The data suggests that the CPU's contribution to overall performance is primarily in enabling high frame rates at lower resolutions, while at 4K the GPU dominates the performance picture.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Hitman 2?

A: The highest measured average is 302 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At Medium settings, the system achieves 227 FPS at 1080p, and at High settings it reaches 172 FPS at the same resolution.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: The system produces an average of 43 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the lowest measured performance in the dataset, indicating that 4K Ultra is demanding for this hardware combination.

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

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is nearly identical across all presets (66%), which is a strong indicator of GPU limitation. The CPU has ample headroom, as evidenced by 302 FPS at 1080p Low.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The only measured minimum FPS values are for Medium settings: 193 FPS at 1080p, 123 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. Other presets do not have recorded minimum FPS values in the dataset.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080 scores 54247 on average, while the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54209, putting the SUPER only 0.1% ahead. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828, which is 1.1% ahead of the RTX 4080.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested configurations?

A: This Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and RTX 4080 combination ranks 255th out of 3711 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the top 7% of all tested configurations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 255 out of 3711 tested configurations places this system in the upper echelon of Hitman 2 performance. This ranking reflects the combined capabilities of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, which together deliver frame rates that are competitive with the vast majority of tested systems.

The CPU's 96th percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU's 86th percentile ranking among all graphics cards suggest that this combo is well-balanced, with neither component significantly dragging down the other. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all enterprise-class processors (Intel Xeon 6520P, AMD EPYC 4564P, EPYC 9175F, and EPYC 4565P), which indicates the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is performing at a level typically reserved for server-grade hardware.

The fact that this combo achieves 172 FPS at 1080p High settings and 110 FPS at 1440p High settings demonstrates that it is more than capable of high-refresh-rate gaming at mainstream resolutions. The 4K performance, while not hitting 60 FPS at Ultra settings, is still respectable at 43 FPS, and dropping to High settings brings it to a playable 58 FPS.

Given that this combo ranks 255th out of 3711, it sits comfortably in the top 7% of tested configurations, which is consistent with the high-end nature of both components. The ranking reflects that while there are faster systems, this pairing offers a strong balance of CPU and GPU performance that handles Hitman 2's requirements effectively across all tested settings and resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, all presets produce playable frame rates, with even Ultra settings achieving 126 FPS on average. For players seeking maximum visual fidelity at 1080p, Ultra settings are recommended as the 126 FPS average provides a smooth experience that exceeds the 120 FPS threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 1440p, the data shows that High settings deliver 110 FPS, while Ultra drops to 81 FPS. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays, High settings are the better choice, as the 110 FPS average is nearly 36% higher than Ultra while still offering strong visual quality. Medium settings at 1440p produce 145 FPS, which is excellent for esports-style play, but the visual compromise may not be worth the extra 35 FPS over High.

At 4K, the situation is more nuanced. Ultra settings produce only 43 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many players consider essential for smooth gameplay. High settings at 4K achieve 58 FPS, which is closer to playable but still slightly short. Medium settings at 4K deliver 77 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS, making this the best option for 4K gaming with this combo. The Medium preset at 4K offers a 34 FPS improvement over High settings while maintaining a minimum frame rate that never drops below 66 FPS, ensuring a consistently smooth experience.

For players who prioritize frame rate above all else, Low settings at 1080p deliver 302 FPS, which is suitable for extremely high-refresh-rate displays. However, the visual quality sacrifice is significant, and most players will find the Medium or High presets to offer a better balance. The data clearly indicates that Medium settings at 4K provide the best combination of visual fidelity and performance for this combo, while High settings at 1440p are ideal for players who want a balance of quality and speed.