Hitman 2

Hitman 2, a 2018 stealth title, presents an interesting benchmark scenario when paired with the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. The performance data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the CPU at lower resolutions, with the GPU only beginning to assert its dominance as the pixel count climbs. This combination yields a specific set of trade-offs that are critical for understanding its gameplay potential across different settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a classic pattern of scaling, but the rate of decline is unusually steep, pointing directly at a major bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 249 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 159 FPS, a reduction of approximately 36%. This substantial fall suggests that the game is still largely bound by the CPU at 1440p, as a GPU-bound scenario would typically see a smaller performance penalty at this increment.

The transition to 4K is where the GPU limitation becomes starkly apparent. At 4K Low, the average FPS falls to 85, a 47% decrease from the 1440p figure. This is a significant drop, indicating that the rendering load has finally overwhelmed the CPU's ability to feed the GPU, and the RTX 5090 is now the limiting factor. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is much more aggressive than from 1080p to 1440p, which is the signature of a system moving from a CPU-bound state to a GPU-bound state.

This pattern is consistent across all settings presets. For instance, at High settings, the averages are 141 FPS at 1080p, 90 FPS at 1440p, and 48 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 47%. The data confirms that the CPU is the primary constraint for this pairing until the resolution is pushed to 4K, where the GPU's workload becomes the dominant factor. The Ultra preset shows the same trend, with 104 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K, highlighting that the game's engine struggles to maintain high frame rates at this quality level even with top-tier hardware.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a flagship part, but in this specific pairing, its role is heavily dependent on the resolution. Its immense processing power, evidenced by its FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS and 21,760 shading units, is largely untapped at 1080p and 1440p. The data shows that the CPU cannot feed the GPU fast enough at these resolutions, leaving significant performance on the table.

The RTX 5090's memory subsystem is a defining feature. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, it has a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. This colossal bandwidth is a clear asset at 4K, where the game's textures and scene data demand massive data throughput. The fact that the 4K results, while lower than lower resolutions, are still playable in the Medium and High presets demonstrates that the GPU can handle the data load when the CPU is not the limiting factor.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 2017 MHz and a boost of 2407 MHz, are high, but they are insufficient to compensate for the CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions. In a GPU-bound scenario, these clocks would directly translate to higher FPS. However, the benchmark results indicate that the RTX 5090 is waiting for data from the CPU for a significant portion of the time at 1080p and 1440p. The GPU only becomes the primary performance driver at 4K, where its raw compute and memory bandwidth are finally put to work.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance for this combo. The Ultra preset is demanding, yielding a 4K average of just 35 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1440p, the Ultra preset achieves 66 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. The High preset offers a much better balance, with 48 FPS at 4K and 90 FPS at 1440p, showing a significant performance uplift over Ultra.

For the best experience based on the data, the Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot. At 1440p, it delivers an average of 119 FPS, with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 137 FPS. This provides a smooth, high-frame-rate experience that is well-suited for most gaming scenarios. At 4K, the Medium preset still holds up, producing an average of 64 FPS, which is very playable.

The Low preset offers the highest frame rates but at a visual cost. At 1080p, it achieves 249 FPS, and at 1440p, it still manages 159 FPS. This is the choice for competitive play or for users with very high refresh rate monitors. However, the difference between Low and Medium at 1440p is 40 FPS, suggesting that the visual upgrade to Medium is substantial enough to warrant the performance trade-off for most users. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p provides the most balanced experience, offering high frame rates without sacrificing the visual quality that medium settings typically provide over low.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a strong performer, but not the absolute best. The combo holds a rank of 619 out of 3001 tested combos, placing it in the top 21% of all configurations. This is a solid result, indicating that the system is capable of outperforming the vast majority of other setups.

The rank is a composite measure of the system's overall capability. Given that the CPU is a mobile processor, its performance is a limiting factor compared to high-end desktop CPUs that might be paired with the same GPU. The fact that it still lands in the top quarter of all combos confirms the GPU's raw power and the CPU's respectable multi-threaded performance. However, the data implies that a different, more powerful CPU paired with the RTX 5090 could achieve a much higher rank, as the current combo's performance is being held back in CPU-bound scenarios.

This ranking highlights a key consideration for potential buyers. The system is powerful, but its performance is not fully optimized due to the CPU-GPU pairing. The benchmark results show that the RTX 5090 is not being fully utilized at lower resolutions, which means the combo's rank is likely lower than what the GPU alone could achieve with a more capable CPU. This is a crucial insight for anyone looking to understand the system's true capabilities.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture. Its benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17984.5 and a single-core score of 1810.5, place it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. This indicates it is a very capable processor, but its performance is clearly the bottleneck in this system for Hitman 2.

The game appears to be sensitive to single-threaded performance, as the frame rates at 1080p and 1440p are far lower than what the GPU should be capable of. The boost clock of 5.10 GHz is high, but it is insufficient to fully drive the RTX 5090 in this engine. The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, while useful for other workloads, do not translate to higher frame rates in this game, which likely relies on a smaller number of threads for its main game logic.

The fact that the CPU is a mobile part with a TDP of 45 W is a significant factor. While its performance is strong for its class, it cannot match the sustained performance of a high-end desktop processor with a much higher power budget. The data strongly suggests that in Hitman 2, the CPU's ability to process the game's simulation and draw calls is the primary limiting factor, preventing the system from achieving frame rates that would otherwise be possible with the RTX 5090's immense power.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Hitman 2 with this hardware?

A: Based on the data, 2560x1440 is the optimal resolution. It offers a much higher frame rate than 4K while still providing a significant resolution upgrade over 1080p.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 4K, the system is GPU-bound. It achieves an average of 85 FPS on Low, 64 FPS on Medium, 48 FPS on High, and 35 FPS on Ultra, showing that playable frame rates are achievable on Medium and High settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The CPU is the main bottleneck at 1080p. The frame rates at 1080p are significantly lower than what the GPU is capable of, indicating that the processor cannot feed the graphics card fast enough.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 249 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H compare to its nearest rival?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score is 35670. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350, has an average score of 35719, which is 0.1% higher, indicating they are statistically equivalent in performance.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM provide a benefit in this game?

A: The data does not indicate a specific benefit from the 32 GB VRAM at the tested settings and resolutions. The performance is more heavily influenced by the CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions and the overall GPU compute power at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table provides the exact average frame rates measured for the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination in Hitman 2. Minimum and maximum values are only included where they were recorded.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|:--- |:--- |:--- |:--- |:--- |

| 3840x2160 (4K) | Ultra | 35 | - | - |

| | High | 48 | - | - |

| | Medium | 64 | 54 | 73 |

| | Low | 85 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 (1440p) | Ultra | 66 | - | - |

| | High | 90 | - | - |

| | Medium | 119 | 101 | 137 |

| | Low | 159 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 (1080p) | Ultra | 104 | - | - |

| | High | 141 | - | - |

| | Medium | 186 | 158 | 214 |

| | Low | 249 | - | - |