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Hitman Notebook Benchmarks

Debut of DirectX 12. Windows 10 launched with full DX12 support and Hitman - as one of the first titles released for the PC platform - supports it. Instead of improving the gaming experience, the new interface seems to be the source of frustration on quite a few systems. Here's our report, complete with the benchmark results.

For the original German article, see here.

Graphics

For the new edition of their assassin-series Hitman, Danish developer IO Interactive elevated their in-house Glacier 2 Engine to the next (technical) level. The most significant change is - as we mentioned in our introduction - the support for Microsoft's DirectX 12 API, which is supposed to improve processor utilization and thus performance. Especially lower-end processors should benefit from the technology. AMD's counterpart "Mantle", which has been on the market for a while, is based on a similar concept - though Windows 10 puts an end to it.

At this time, Hitman's DirectX 12 support seems fairly marginal - at least from an Nvidia standpoint. When we ran our benchmarks, we frequently got the impression that the developers focused on optimizing the game for AMD - not really a surprise: Hitman, after all, is part of AMD's "Gaming Evolved" program. During a test with two GeForce GPUs we found that the title ran actually better with DriectX 11, which also has to do with the fact that DirectX 12 often automatically activates v-sync. According to checks conducted by PC Games Hardware, GameStar and ComputerBase, the 60 fps threshold can be circumnavigated using a secondary display with 120/144 Hz or the tool MSI Afterburner. Those solutions are less than ideal though - particularly since they also increase the risk of crashes.

1920 x 1080 Ultra 1920 x 1080 High 1920 x 1080 Medium 1366 x 768 Medium 1280 x 720 Low

Nvidia GTX 950 @DX11

26 fps (min 19) 29 fps (min 21) 54 fps (min 43) 76 fps (min 59) 79 fps (min 63)

Nvidia GTX 950 @DX12

23 fps (min 16) 25 fps (min 18) 46 fps (min 36) 57 fps (min 46) 58 fps (min 52)

Nvidia GTX 880M @DX11

24 fps (min 13) 26 fps (min 18) 46 fps (min 33) 57 fps (min 40) 62 fps (min 51)

Nvidia GTX 880M @DX12

23 fps (min 16) 25 fps (min 17) 44 fps (min 34) 55 fps (min 37) 56 fps (min 46)

We also don't care for how restrictive Hitman is at times: depending on the GPU and video RAM, menu options might be available - or they might be not. Graphics processors with two GByte of VRAM an only make use of low texture quality (high starts at 4 GB); some resolutions and "super sampling" are grayed out as well. Theoretically it is possible to edit the file "GFXSettings" (under Steam/steamapps/common/Hitman) with a text editor and enforce certain settings that way. These settings only impact the external options menu, however - within the game, the settings are suddenly restricted again.

There are several other bugs, problems, and discrepancies - here is an overview:

  • The game often crashes or freezes during the start and while loading. Sometimes, the display turns black.
  • When changing from fullscreen to window mode or when tabbing out, the resolution sometimes changes.
  • Nvidia systems are - even outside of the DirecX mode - disadvantaged as far as performance is concerned. Future patches and driver updates might change that, but it already seems clear that AMD has some advantages in the realm of DirextX 12 features (keyword: asynchronous shaders).
  • Minimum details can result in lower frame rates than medium settings.
  • Like many competing games, Hitman comes with a built-in activation limit, which only allows a certain number of installs on per day. It will be a while before we'll be able to deliver DirectX 12 results for AMD-equipped systems and the remaining notebooks in our arsenal.
  • Hitman seems to run less smoothly under DirectX 12 than DirectX 11 at times - regardless of the performance.
  • Users who save games in Steam's online mode also have to be online when starting the game (and vice versa).
  • Regardless of the setting, the game stutters slightly on dual-core CPUs. It is not for nothing that the quad-core CPUs are recommended.
  • Load times are very long when the title has been installed on an HDD.
  • Fraps doesn't show any fps numbers when running in DirectX 12 mode, although the results were still recorded.

The configuration options are decent enough for a PC title, but don't compare to the game Division. The graphic menu only contains a handful of options, which allow the user to tune the visual appearance. Unfortunately, there are no presets to adjust the overall quality. Changing the DirectX path requires exiting the game and running the launcher for the external settings menu. Apart from that, changes don't require a restart.    

It doesn't really matter if the details are set to low or high: the graphics engine simply never offers compelling performance. True, Hitman impresses with a plethora of characters and fancy lighting, but other action games (for example Rise of the Tomb Raider) are visually more appealing. Our screenshots show next to no difference between the settings. Subjectively and from a performance standpoint, the differences are also not extensive.

Contentwise, Hitman is pretty captivating. The scope might feel a little limited due to the episodic release format (the first installment required 12 GB of space), but fans of the series will love the very typical gameplay. While other stealth games focus on sneaking around and hiding, Hitman makes planning, disguising, misleading, and experimenting the priorities. The tutorial, control and the menus are very fitting and cleverly designed.

Low
Low
Medium
Medium
High
High
Ultra
Ultra
Low
Low
Medium
Medium
High
High
Ultra
Ultra

Benchmark

In addition to DirectX 12, the integrated benchmark also appears somewhat unfinished. At a first glance, it looks like the developers did a decent job (similar to Hitman Absolution): varied and sophisticated-looking scenes coupled with interesting camera work - that's what we like to see. Unfortunately, as it stands right now, the benchmark is hardly usable. The first reason: after the benchmark, the results are not displayed directly, but rather saved in a file called "profiledata" somewhere in the user's windows folder. Why the results sometimes have the "CPU" in their title and other times "GPU", we couldn't say. The third issue are the very low minimum fps numbers. It could be that the benchmark starts recording too early.   

Considering the above, we've decided to not use the integrated test, but picked an in-game benchmark from the Paris mission "The Showstopper" instead. For 40 seconds, the alter ego embarks on a predetermined route and runs through a park, a reception hall, a fashion show, a bar, and an outdoor buffet with many different characters (see video). Since Nvidia GPUs have issues with both stability and performance when it comes to DirectX 12, we conducted our tests with DirectX 11. The GPU drivers are the newest ones we could find (ForceWare 364.51).  

Results

For entry into the world of assassins, the notebook in question should be equipped with an upper middle-class GPU. 1280 x 720 pixels and minimum details necessitate at least a GeForce GTX 850M. Entry-level and allrounder-GPUs like the HD Graphics 4600 or even up to the GeForce GT 750M are not powerful enough to prevent stuttering. For medium details and a resolution of 1366 x 768, a pretty powerful multimedia notebook - equipped with a GTX 850M or better - is required.

Low Settings
Low Settings
Medium Settings
Medium Settings
High Settings
High Settings
Ultra Settings
Ultra Settings
4K Settings
4K Settings

Full-fledged gaming notebooks are required to play the game at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Medium settings are usable if the notebooks is at least equipped with a GTX 960M; for high settings, a GTX 970M is required. For maximum details, we recommend the high-end GPUs GTX 980M and GTX 980. Increasing the pixel density to 4K - so a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels - pushes even extremely powerful desktop GPUs to their limit. A GTX 980 for example, only managed 26 fps on high.  

The processor plays a fairly crucial role as well. With a potent graphics card installed, the CPU can bottleneck up to a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and normal details. In our opinion, Hitman is a little too demanding on the resources. Some other action games are more frugal despite their better visual appearance.

Hitman 2016
    3840x2160 High / On AA:FX AF:8x     1920x1080 Ultra / On AA:SM AF:16x     1920x1080 High / On AA:FX AF:8x     1920x1080 Medium / Off AF:4x     1366x768 Medium / Off AF:4x     1280x720 Low / Off AF:Trilinear
AMD Radeon R9 Fury, 4790K
XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro
38.9 (26min) fps ∼46%
37.7 (26min) fps ∼45%
61 (45min) fps ∼50%
59.2 (48min) fps ∼49%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, 6700K
Desktop PC
26.2 (19min) fps ∼31%
57.8 (41min) fps ∼47%
60.9 (44min) fps ∼63%
83.1 (65min) fps ∼100%
83.7 (67min) fps ∼62%
85.2 (67min) fps ∼74%
AMD Radeon R9 290X, 4790K
Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Tri-X OC
32.5 (26min) fps ∼39%
58 (43min) fps ∼48%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
18.4 (15min) fps ∼22%
40.4 (28min) fps ∼33%
42.4 (30min) fps ∼44%
54.9 (44min) fps ∼66%
55.2 (45min) fps ∼41%
59.8 (49min) fps ∼52%
AMD Radeon R9 280X, 4790K
Asus Z97 Deluxe Desktop i7-4790K, R9 280X
41 (27min) fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
14.4 (11min) fps ∼17%
31.9 (23min) fps ∼26%
33.8 (24min) fps ∼35%
55 (43min) fps ∼66%
57.4 (45min) fps ∼43%
61.4 (49min) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ
MSI GE72 965M Ti
26 (18min) fps ∼21%
30 (22min) fps ∼31%
58.8 (46min) fps ∼44%
62.1 (51min) fps ∼54%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950, 6700K
Desktop PC
25.6 (19min) fps ∼21%
29.3 (21min) fps ∼31%
54.4 (43min) fps ∼65%
76 (59min) fps ∼56%
79.1 (63min) fps ∼69%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
11.5 (7min) fps ∼14%
24.2 (13min) fps ∼20%
25.9 (18min) fps ∼27%
45.7 (33min) fps ∼55%
57.4 (40min) fps ∼43%
62.4 (51min) fps ∼54%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
9.7 (5min) fps ∼12%
20.3 (13min) fps ∼17%
21.8 (14min) fps ∼23%
38.7 (27min) fps ∼47%
52.3 (36min) fps ∼39%
60.8 (48min) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, 4720HQ
Schenker XMG A505
18.1 (12min) fps ∼15%
19.6 (14min) fps ∼20%
36.4 (28min) fps ∼44%
50.4 (37min) fps ∼37%
58 (47min) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
7.4 (3min) fps ∼9%
16 (8min) fps ∼13%
16.9 (11min) fps ∼18%
30.5 (22min) fps ∼37%
43.7 (30min) fps ∼32%
55.3 (38min) fps ∼48%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M, 6700HQ
MSI PE60 2QD
14.9 (10min) fps ∼12%
16.3 (11min) fps ∼17%
30.2 (24min) fps ∼36%
44.8 (35min) fps ∼33%
55.5 (41min) fps ∼48%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M, 4340M
Schenker M504
14.9 (11min) fps ∼12%
16.6 (12min) fps ∼17%
29.1 (22min) fps ∼35%
38.1 (23min) fps ∼28%
42.4 (33min) fps ∼37%
NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, 6700HQ
MSI CX72 6QD
9.6 (5min) fps ∼10%
24.7 (20min) fps ∼18%
32.2 (24min) fps ∼28%
NVIDIA GeForce 940M, 5700HQ
MSI GP62 2QD
9.8 (6min) fps ∼10%
26.4 (20min) fps ∼20%
35.2 (27min) fps ∼31%
AMD Radeon R9 M280X, FX-7600P
Asus N551ZU-CN007H
16.3 (13min) fps ∼14%
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M, 4702MQ
Schenker M503
7.2 (4min) fps ∼8%
13 (10min) fps ∼16%
19 (14min) fps ∼14%
25.3 (17min) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce 920M, 2970M
MSI CX61 2QC 2970M MS-16GD
15.7 (10min) fps ∼12%
19.8 (9min) fps ∼17%
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M, 4200M
HP Envy 15-j011sg
6 (1min) fps ∼7%
15.4 (12min) fps ∼11%
14.6 (11min) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M, 4200M
MSI CX61-i572M
10.4 fps ∼8%
13.8 fps ∼12%
Intel HD Graphics 4600, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
10.4 (8min) fps ∼8%
9.7 (6min) fps ∼8%

Overview

Show Restrictions
PosModel< PrevNext >Hitman 2016
 Hitman 2016 (2016)
low
1280x720
Low / Off
TrilinearAF
med.
1366x768
Medium / Off
4xAF
high
1920x1080
High / On
8xAF FXAA
ultra
1920x1080
Ultra / On
16xAF SMAA
4K
3840x2160
High / On
8xAF FXAA
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop)
95
71n2
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal
79.7
80.5
68.6
66
62.4
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop)
78n3
47n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile
71.9
71.95n2
45.7
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop)
75.35n2
37.7n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q
105.3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile
82
80.9
62.4n2
61.65n2
34.25n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti
77
70
32.6
AMD Radeon R9 Fury
60.1n2
38.3n2
AMD Radeon R9 Nano
70
34.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
85.2
83.7
60.9
57.8
26.2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop)
100.3
93.7
64.5
61.3
28.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop)
94.8
89.1
58.4
54.85n2
25.5n2
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop)
64.9
60.1n2
28.6n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile
72.35n2
71.05n2
58.15n4
51n7
23
AMD Radeon RX 580 (Laptop)
56.2
54.4
49.8
47.7
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
68.3
67.2
54.5
52.15n2
23
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop)
55.6
26.7
AMD Radeon R9 290X
58
32.5
PosModel< PrevNext >Hitman 2016
low med. high ultra 4K
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
66.1n3
62.4n3
42.4n3
40.4n3
17.8n2
AMD Radeon R9 280X
41
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
73.3
71.6
37.1
36
18.7
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
40.2n2
38.8n2
16.3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop)
88
34.5
32.7
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
61.5n4
58n4
37.15n4
36.15n4
14.4
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
75.1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop)
44.7
21.6
18.9
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile
58.4
57.3
38.15n2
32.55n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M
62.4
57.4
25.9
24.2
11.5
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950
79.1
76
29.3
25.6
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop)
30.9
29.6
13.4
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M
66.15n4
63.65n4
27.1n4
25.5n4
12.2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M
60.8
52.3
21.8
20.3
9.7
AMD Radeon HD 8970M
52.4
47.8
31.4
27.3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
46.5n3
46n3
19.6n3
18.1n3
AMD Radeon Pro 455
75
20.4
NVIDIA GeForce MX150
45.2
45.5
25.9
24.5
AMD Radeon RX 540
53
47
20
19
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M
55.3
43.7
16.9
16
7.4
PosModel< PrevNext >Hitman 2016
low med. high ultra 4K
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
38.2n3
34.6n3
16.3n3
17.3n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M
42.4
38.1
16.6
14.9
AMD Radeon R9 M280X
16.3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
25.3
19
7.2
NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
27.75n4
24.05n4
9.6n3
14.7
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000)
25.4
26.7
17.9
NVIDIA GeForce 940M
32.75n2
24.95n2
9.8
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
14.6
15.4
NVIDIA GeForce 930M
23
23.9
Intel Iris Graphics 550
18.2
18
6.7
NVIDIA GeForce 920MX
23.7
17.7
Intel Iris Graphics 540
15.6n2
13.8
7.6
AMD Radeon R7 (Kaveri)
10.9n2
AMD Radeon R7 M460
28
20.6
10.6
AMD Radeon R7 M360
16.65n2
14.4n2
10.2
9.7
NVIDIA GeForce 920M
19.8
15.7
Intel HD Graphics 630
16
AMD Radeon R5 (Bristol Ridge)
9.4
6.1
Intel UHD Graphics 620
13.4
Intel HD Graphics 620
14.5
19.7
11.7
PosModel< PrevNext >Hitman 2016
low med. high ultra 4K
AMD Radeon R6 (Carrizo)
6.1
3.9
NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M
12.1
AMD Radeon R5 M330
15.35n2
10.1n2
AMD Radeon R5 M255
15.2
16.2
Intel HD Graphics 520
15.95n2
13.65n2
NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M
13.8
10.4
AMD Radeon R5 (Stoney Ridge)
4
2
Intel HD Graphics 4600
9.2n2
8.25n2
Intel HD Graphics 515
10.1
9.2
Intel HD Graphics 4400
8.5
5.9
Intel HD Graphics 5300
4.7
2.1
AMD Radeon R5 (Beema/Carrizo-L)
7.2
4.1
Intel HD Graphics (Haswell)
6
(-) * Smaller values are better. / n123 Number of benchmarks for this median value / * Approximate position

 

Legend
5Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.

Test Systems

Desktop PCs Custom Nvidia Custom AMD

Mainboard

Asus Z170-A Asus Z97-Deluxe

Processor

Intel Core i7-6700K (Skylake) Intel Core i7-4790K (Haswell)

GPU

Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 (4 GB GDDR5), PNY GeForce GTX 950 (2 GB GDDR5) XFX Radeon R9 Fury (4 GB HBM), Sapphire Radeon R9 290X (4 GB GDDR5), Sapphire Radeon R9 280X (3 GB GDDR5), MSI Radeon R7 370 (2 GB GDDR5)

RAM

2x 8 GB DDR4-2133 2x 4 GB DDR3-1600

HDD 1

Crucial MX100 SSD (256 GB) Intel SSD 530 (240 GB)

HDD2

Crucial M500 SSD (480 GB) OCZ Trion 100 SSD (480 GB)

HDD3

OCZ Trion 100 SSD (480 GB) -

HDD4

OCZ Trion 150 SSD (960 GB) -

Operating system

Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Windows 10 Home 64 Bit

Schenker Notebooks Schenker W504 Schenker XMG A505 Schenker M504 Schenker M503 Schenker S413

Mainboard

Intel HM87 Intel HM87 Intel HM86 Intel HM86 Intel HM87

Processor

Intel Core i7-4700MQ (Haswell) Intel Core i7-4720HQ (Haswell) Intel Core i5-4340M (Haswell) Intel Core i7-4702MQ (Haswell) Intel Core i7-4750HQ (Haswell)

GPU

Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M (8 GB GDDR5), GTX 970M (6 GB GDDR5), GTX 880M (8 GB GDDR5), GTX 870M (6 GB GDDR5), GTX 860M Kepler (4 GB GDDR5) Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M (2 GB GDDR5) Nvidia GeForce GTX 850M (2 GB DDR3) Nvidia GeForce GT 750M (2 GB DDR3) Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200

RAM

2x 4 GB DDR3-1600 2x 4 GB DDR3-1600 2x 4 GB DDR3-1600 2x 4 GB DDR3-1600 2x 8 GB DDR3-1600

HDD1

Samsung SSD 840 EVO (250 GB) Micron M600 SSD (128 GB) Intel SSD 520 (240 GB) Intel SSD 520 (240 GB) Intel SSD

HDD2

Seagate Laptop Thin SSHD (500 GB) HGST Travelstar 7K1000 HDD (1.000 GB) - - -

Operating system

Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Windows 10 Home 64 Bit Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit Windows 10 Home 64 Bit

MSI Notebooks MSI GE72 MSI PE60 MSI GP62 MSI CX61 MSI CX61

Mainboard

Intel HM170 Intel HM170 Intel HM86 Intel HM86 Intel HM86

Processor

Intel Core i7-6700HQ (Skylake) Intel Core i7-6700HQ (Skylake) Intel Core i7-5700HQ (Broadwell) Intel Celeron 2970M (Haswell) Intel Core i5-4200M (Haswell)

GPU

Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M 2016 (2 GB GDDR5) Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M (2 GB GDDR5) Nvidia GeForce 940M (2 GB DDR3) Nvidia GeForce 920M (2 GB DDR3) Nvidia GeForce GT 720M (2 GB DDR3)

RAM

1x 8 GB DDR4-2133 2x 4 GB DDR4-2133 1x 8 GB DDR3-1600 1x 8 GB DDR3-1600 1x 8 GB DDR3-1600

HDD 1

Toshiba THNSNJ128G8NU SSD (128 GB) Toshiba MQ01ABF050 HDD (500 GB) WDC Scorpio Blue HDD (1.000 GB)

HDD 2

WDC WD10JPVX HDD (1.000 GB) / OCZ Trion 100 SSD (480 GB) - - - -

Operating system

Windows 10 Home 64 Bit Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit

other Notebooks HP Envy 15 Asus N551ZU

Mainboard

Intel HM87 AMD K15.1

Processor
Intel Core i5-4200M (Haswell) AMD FX-7600P (Kaveri)

GPU

Nvidia GeForce GT 740M (2 GB DDR3) AMD Radeon R9 M280X (4 GB GDDR5)

RAM

1x 8 GB DDR3-1600 2x 4 GB DDR3-1600

HDD1

Samsung SSD 830 (256 GB) Samsung SSD 830 256 GB

Operating system

Windows 10 Home 64 Bit Windows 10 64 Bit

4K Monitor Nvidia driver AMD driver Intel driver

2 x Asus PB287Q
ForceWare 364.51 Crimson 16.3 15.40.10.64.4300

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Florian Glaser, 2016-03-19 (Update: 2016-03-19)