Hitman 2

# FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank for this hardware configuration in Hitman 2?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves rank 1232 out of 3711 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the top third of all configurations tested.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in overall benchmark performance?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H sits within 0.7% of its nearest rivals. It trails the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X by 0.7%, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 by 0.4%, and the Intel Core 7 250H by 0.2%, while essentially matching the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 with a 0.1% difference.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all tested graphics cards?

A: The RTX 4080 ranks in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247. Its closest competitor, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54209, a mere 0.1% difference.

Q: What is the best average FPS recorded across all tested settings and resolutions?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 217, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest average is 31 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, showing a wide performance envelope.

Q: At which resolution does the configuration maintain 60+ FPS across all settings?

A: At 1920x1080, all settings including Ultra (91 FPS average) remain above 60 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra drops to 58 FPS average, making 1080p the only resolution where every preset stays above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have, and what type of memory does it use?

A: The RTX 4080 features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 716.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is substantial for this stealth title's texture-heavy environments.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications explain why Hitman 2's frame rates scale so dramatically with resolution. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory with 716.8 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and high-resolution assets are not bottlenecks, even at 4K. The Ada Lovelace architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process with 45,900 million transistors, delivers a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, providing the raw compute headroom required for this game's complex lighting and shadow calculations.

The GPU's 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output pipelines translate to a pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s. These specifications are directly relevant to Hitman 2's crowd rendering and environmental detail, which stress both fill-rate and texture throughput. The 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores are present, though Hitman 2's rasterization-focused engine primarily leverages the traditional shader pipeline. The FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS indicates the GPU has significant compute reserve, which is evident in the 4K Ultra result of 31 FPS average—a scenario where the GPU is clearly the limiting factor.

Comparing to its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, the delta is only 0.1% in average benchmark score (54247 vs 54209), meaning in Hitman 2 the two cards should perform nearly identically. The RTX 4080's 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it well above the median, and its PassMark G3D score of 34457 confirms strong DirectX 11 and 12 performance, which are the primary APIs used by Hitman 2. The GPU's 320 W TDP and triple-slot cooler suggest it is designed for sustained high-frequency operation, which is necessary for maintaining consistent frame rates during long stealth sequences with multiple NPCs on screen.

# Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling from 1080p to 4K, with the RTX 4080's load increasing proportionally with pixel count. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average FPS is 163, which drops to 104 at 2560x1440 (a 36% reduction), and further to 55 at 3840x2160 (a 66% reduction from 1080p). This scaling is consistent with a GPU-limited scenario, where doubling the resolution approximately halves the frame rate due to the fourfold increase in pixel workload.

The Low settings preset shows a similar trend: 217 FPS at 1080p, 139 FPS at 1440p (36% drop), and 74 FPS at 4K (66% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings indicates that the GPU's shading and memory subsystems are the primary constraint, rather than CPU or memory bandwidth. At 1080p Low, the 217 FPS average suggests the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently, but even at this resolution, the ultra-high frame rates demonstrate that the RTX 4080 is not the bottleneck—the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H's 16 cores and 22 threads are sufficient to keep the GPU saturated.

The Ultra preset scaling is equally telling: 91 FPS at 1080p, 58 FPS at 1440p (36% drop), and 31 FPS at 4K (66% drop). The linear relationship between resolution and frame rate across all settings confirms that this game is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions. The data indicates that at 1080p, the system is approaching CPU limits at lower settings, as the 217 FPS Low result is closer to what the CPU can deliver than what the GPU is capable of producing. At 4K, the GPU is unequivocally the limiting component, with the 31 FPS Ultra result reflecting the RTX 4080's absolute ceiling in this title under maximum load.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration delivers its strongest performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 217 FPS, which represents the ceiling for this resolution. Medium settings yield 163 FPS average with a minimum of 138 and maximum of 187, providing a smooth experience with headroom for dips. High settings average 123 FPS, while Ultra drops to 91 FPS average. All 1080p results exceed the 60 FPS threshold, and even the Ultra preset maintains a comfortable margin above refresh rates typical of high-end monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected scaling penalty. Low settings average 139 FPS, a 36% reduction from 1080p. Medium settings produce 104 FPS average with a range of 89 to 120 FPS, indicating some variance but generally stable frame pacing. High settings average 79 FPS, which is still smooth for most displays. Ultra settings fall to 58 FPS average, which is just below the 60 FPS target and may be noticeable on high-refresh-rate displays, though the absence of minimum FPS data suggests the frame time variance is not extreme.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4080's limitations become apparent. Low settings average 74 FPS, which is playable but represents a significant drop from lower resolutions. Medium settings yield 55 FPS average with a minimum of 47 and maximum of 64, showing that frame rates can dip below 50 FPS during demanding scenes. High settings average 42 FPS, which is marginal for smooth gameplay. Ultra settings produce just 31 FPS average, making this preset essentially unplayable for a stealth game where precise timing is critical. The 4K results clearly indicate that this configuration is better suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming in Hitman 2, with 4K requiring significant settings compromises to achieve acceptable performance.

# How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves rank 1232 out of 3711 tested combos in Hitman 2, placing it in the 67th percentile of all configurations tested. This ranking reflects a balanced pairing where the CPU's 85th percentile performance (average benchmark score 35670) complements the GPU's 86th percentile ranking, though the game's GPU-bound nature means the graphics card contributes more to the final result.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its contribution: the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 (0.1% faster), Intel Core 7 250H (0.2% faster), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (0.4% faster), and AMD Ryzen 7 7700X (0.7% faster) all sit within a narrow band of performance. This indicates that any of these CPUs paired with the same GPU would produce nearly identical frame rates in Hitman 2, given the game's reliance on GPU throughput at higher resolutions. The combo rank of 1232 suggests that while this configuration is competitive, there are many combinations with faster GPUs that outperform it in this specific title.

The GPU's nearest rival comparison further contextualizes the rank: the RTX 4080 SUPER is 0.1% faster on average, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% slower and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.6% slower. These small deltas mean that swapping the GPU for a slightly faster model would improve the combo rank marginally, but the primary differentiator in Hitman 2 is the GPU tier rather than the specific model within a tier. The rank of 1232 out of 3711 indicates that roughly two-thirds of tested combos achieve higher frame rates in this game, which is expected given the RTX 4080's position as a high-end but not flagship GPU.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, the High preset (123 FPS average) offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, providing a substantial improvement over Medium (163 FPS) while maintaining frame rates well above any display refresh rate. Ultra at 1080p (91 FPS) is also viable for users prioritizing image quality, but the margin over High is not worth the 26% performance cost for most players.

At 2560x1440, the High preset (79 FPS average) is the recommended choice for 60 Hz displays, as it maintains a comfortable margin above the refresh rate. Medium (104 FPS average) is preferable for 100 Hz or 120 Hz displays, offering higher frame rates with a moderate reduction in visual fidelity. Ultra at 1440p (58 FPS) is only recommended for users with VRR displays who prioritize visual quality over frame rate consistency, as the sub-60 FPS average may introduce stutter on fixed-refresh displays.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves a stable 60 FPS average. Low (74 FPS) is the only playable option for 60 Hz displays, while Medium (55 FPS) is borderline and may be acceptable for users with VRR. High (42 FPS) and Ultra (31 FPS) are not recommended for this game, as the stealth gameplay requires responsive controls and consistent frame pacing. For 4K users, the data suggests either accepting Low settings or reducing resolution to 1440p with High settings (79 FPS) for a significantly better experience.

The Medium preset at 1440p (104 FPS average, 89 min) provides the best overall experience for users with 120 Hz displays, offering high frame rates with acceptable visual quality. For users prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate, the High preset at 1440p (79 FPS) is the sweet spot, as it delivers a 34% improvement over Ultra while maintaining smoothness on 60 Hz displays.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H plays a supporting role in Hitman 2, as the game's engine is primarily GPU-bound at the resolutions tested. The CPU's 16 cores and 22 threads, based on the Meteor Lake architecture, provide ample parallel processing capability for the game's AI simulation and physics calculations. The base clock of 3.90 GHz and boost clock of 5.10 GHz ensure strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for the game's main game logic thread. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain low latency access to frequently used data, while the 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth supports the dual-channel DDR5 configuration.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 scores of 17984.5 multi-core and 1810.5 single-core, along with a Geekbench multi-core score of 11657, indicate strong performance for a mobile processor. The PassMark multi-thread score of 29376 and single-thread score of 3697 further confirm that the CPU is not a bottleneck in this configuration. At 1080p Low settings, the 217 FPS average approaches the CPU's practical limit for frame generation, as the GPU is capable of rendering more frames but the CPU cannot maintain the game logic at higher rates. This is evidenced by the diminishing returns when comparing Low (217 FPS) to Medium (163 FPS) at 1080p—the 25% reduction in settings only yields a 25% frame rate increase, suggesting the CPU is nearing its ceiling.

The CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35670, places it above the vast majority of processors. Its nearest rivals—the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350, Intel Core 7 250H, AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, and AMD Ryzen 7 7700X—all perform within 0.7% of the Core Ultra 9 185H, indicating that CPU choice has minimal impact on Hitman 2's frame rates at 1440p and 4K. At 1080p, the CPU-bound scenario at Low settings means that a faster CPU could potentially push frame rates higher, but the 217 FPS result is already sufficient for any practical display. The processor's 45 W TDP reflects its mobile design, yet it delivers desktop-class performance in synthetic benchmarks, ensuring that Hitman 2's CPU demands are easily met in all tested scenarios.