Thief

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a solid 1080p and 1440p experience in Thief, but the data shows that 4K Ultra is a step too far for this combination. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU has enough headroom to keep up at lower settings.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all quality presets, confirming that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 87.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 69.1 FPS at 2560x1440, then drops sharply to 37.6 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a roughly 57% loss in performance from 1080p to 4K, which is a typical pattern for a mid-to-high-range graphics card being pushed beyond its comfortable zone.

The scaling pattern is similar on the other presets. At Low settings, the system goes from 111 FPS at 1080p to 97.4 FPS at 1440p and 68.3 FPS at 4K. At Medium, the numbers are 98.3, 90.6, and 54.3 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic falloff: 85.5 FPS at 1080p, 66.3 FPS at 1440p, and just 36.1 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K is consistently larger than the gap between 1080p and 1440p, which indicates that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are being saturated as resolution increases.

What this tells a builder is that the RTX 2070 SUPER is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Thief, but 4K should only be considered with reduced settings. The data shows that even at Low settings, 4K only reaches 68.3 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a smooth experience on a high-refresh-rate panel. At 4K High and Ultra, the frame rates fall below 40 FPS, which would result in noticeable stuttering and input lag in a stealth game where precision matters.

GPU Role

The RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU runs at a base clock of 1605 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and it has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s, which are the raw numbers that determine how quickly the card can fill frames at high resolutions.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Thief, which is a 2014 title and not particularly demanding on memory. The data shows that the card’s performance is more limited by its raw compute power than by memory capacity. The FP32 throughput of 9.062 TFLOPS is the key figure here, and it explains why the card struggles at 4K Ultra: the shader workload simply exceeds what the GPU can process in real time at that resolution and quality level.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 22206. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA RTX A400, which scores 22307 and is 0.5% faster, while the GeForce GTX TITAN Z is 0.9% slower at 22006. This puts the RTX 2070 SUPER in a competitive position against other cards from its generation, but the data clearly shows that it is not a 4K Ultra card for Thief. The measured frame rates at 4K Ultra (36.1 FPS) are below the 60 FPS threshold that most builders would consider acceptable for smooth gameplay.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 provides 6 cores and 12 threads, running at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. It has 16 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s. The CPU’s benchmark scores show a strong multi-threaded performance: 1127 in Cinebench R15 multi-core, 4698 in R20, and 11186 in R23. Single-thread scores are more modest at 159, 663, and 1579 respectively, reflecting the older Zen architecture.

In Thief, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but it still matters at 1080p. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 111 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. This suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions and settings, as the GPU can push frames faster than the processor can feed it. However, the gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings is only about 14 FPS (from 111 to 97.4), which indicates that the CPU is starting to become more relevant as the frame rate increases.

The Ryzen 5 2600 sits in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19616. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-1345U (19691, 0.4% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (19508, 0.6% slower). The 12 threads provide good headroom for background tasks while gaming, but the single-thread performance is not exceptional. For Thief, which is a 2014 game that likely does not use many cores, the CPU’s 6-core/12-thread configuration is more than sufficient. The data shows that at 1080p Ultra, the system still manages 85.5 FPS, which is a playable frame rate and indicates the CPU is not causing a significant frame drop.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset to choose based on your resolution. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 87.5 FPS, while Ultra is only slightly slower at 85.5 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal (2 FPS), so Ultra is the better choice for maximum visual quality without sacrificing playability. Medium runs at 98.3 FPS and Low at 111 FPS, but the visual downgrade from High to Low is not worth the extra 23 FPS.

At 1440p, the High preset is the sweet spot at 69.1 FPS. Ultra drops to 66.3 FPS, which is still playable, but the 2.8 FPS difference may not justify the additional GPU load. Medium runs at 90.6 FPS and Low at 97.4 FPS, both of which are smoother but come with reduced visual fidelity. For a stealth game where noticing enemy movements is critical, the extra detail from High or Ultra is worth the frame rate cost.

At 4K, the situation is different. Ultra runs at 36.1 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most gamers. High is marginally better at 37.6 FPS, but still not smooth. Medium reaches 54.3 FPS, which is acceptable for a slower-paced stealth game, and Low runs at 68.3 FPS, which is the only preset that feels truly responsive at this resolution. For 4K, the recommendation is to use Medium if you want a balance of visual quality and performance, or Low if you prioritize smoothness above all else.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Ryzen 5 2600 and RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1283 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. That places it in the lower-middle tier of all possible pairings, which is lower than the individual component percentiles might suggest. The CPU is in the 77th percentile and the GPU is in the 65th percentile, but the combo ranking indicates that other system configurations perform better in this specific game.

The low ranking is likely due to the age of the CPU, which is from the 2000 series and uses the older Zen architecture. While the RTX 2070 SUPER is a capable GPU, the CPU’s single-thread performance is not strong enough to push frame rates higher in a game that may be more dependent on CPU performance at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p, the system does not exceed 111 FPS even at Low settings, which suggests a ceiling imposed by the CPU.

However, the combo ranking should not be interpreted as a failure. The system is still capable of playing Thief at playable frame rates across all resolutions and settings, with the exception of 4K Ultra. For a 2018 CPU paired with a 2019 GPU, this is a reasonable result. The ranking of 1283 out of 1642 means that about 78% of tested combos perform better, but many of those will feature newer CPUs with higher single-thread performance.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Thief at 4K?*

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. The measured data shows 68.3 FPS at 4K Low, 54.3 FPS at 4K Medium, and 37.6 FPS at 4K High. Ultra drops to 36.1 FPS, which is not smooth.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: High is the best choice, delivering 69.1 FPS. Ultra is close at 66.3 FPS, but the extra visual fidelity may not be worth the 2.8 FPS loss.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, as the frame rate drops significantly from 1440p to 4K. At 1080p, the CPU begins to matter more, as the system peaks at 111 FPS even at Low settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 2600 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU scores 19616 on average, which is 0.4% slower than the Intel Core i5-1345U (19691) and 0.6% faster than the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (19508).

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all graphics cards?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER is in the 65th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 22206. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A400, is 0.5% faster.

Q: Should I play at 1080p Ultra or 1440p High?

A: The data shows 1080p Ultra at 85.5 FPS and 1440p High at 69.1 FPS. If you prefer higher resolution, 1440p High is playable; if you prefer smoother motion, 1080p Ultra is the better choice.