Thief

Resolution Scaling

The recorded FPS data for Thief with the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 shows a clear pattern of performance scaling as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers 91.2 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops the average to 78 FPS, a reduction of 13.2 FPS. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average falls further to 58.5 FPS. This progression indicates the game becomes progressively more demanding on the GPU as pixel count rises, which is typical for a title of this era.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p represents a roughly 14.5% decrease in average FPS at Ultra settings. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is more pronounced at 25% lower performance. This suggests that at 4K, the RTX 4070 is approaching its practical limit with this CPU pairing, while at 1080p the frame rates remain well above smooth playability thresholds.

Looking at the Low settings across resolutions reveals a similar trend. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 109.6 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 96.3 FPS. At 4K Low, it reaches 79.5 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at each resolution is informative. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 18.4 FPS. At 1440p, the difference narrows to 18.3 FPS. At 4K, the difference shrinks to 21 FPS. This consistency across settings suggests the game is not heavily bottlenecked by either component in most scenarios.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU may be playing a more significant role in limiting performance. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is smaller than the gap between 1080p and 1440p at the same settings, which points to the GPU having headroom at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary limiter, as evidenced by the larger percentage drop when moving from 1440p to 4K compared to the 1080p to 1440p transition.

Overall, this combo handles Thief well at all tested resolutions. The minimum recorded average FPS is 58.5 at 4K Ultra, which remains playable. The scaling behavior suggests that players targeting 4K should consider Medium or High settings to maintain higher frame rates, while 1080p and 1440p players can comfortably use Ultra settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the primary driver of frame rates in Thief, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for Thief, a game released in 2014, which has modest VRAM requirements compared to modern titles.

The GPU operates with a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz. The memory clock is 1313 MHz, translating to 21 Gbps effective. These clock speeds, combined with the Ada Lovelace architecture on a 5 nm process from TSMC, deliver 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The GPU also includes 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units.

In the database's GPU benchmarks, the RTX 4070 achieves an average score of 37648, placing it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 with an average score of 37628 (0.1% difference), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 at 37507 (0.4% difference), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile at 38135 (-1.3% difference), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 at 37157 (1.3% difference). These close scores indicate the RTX 4070 sits in a competitive performance band.

The GPU's measured performance in Thief shows it is well matched to the game's demands. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 58.5, which is close to the 60 FPS target. At 4K High, it achieves 60.5 FPS, exactly at the target. The RTX 4070's ability to maintain playable frame rates at 4K in a 2014 title demonstrates its raw compute power, but the CPU pairing introduces some limitations.

The GPU's 64 ROPs and 455.4 GTexel/s texture rate are more than adequate for Thief's rendering workload. The game does not heavily utilize ray tracing or tensor cores, so the 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores remain largely idle. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility ensure broad API coverage, though Thief primarily runs on older DirectX versions.

The recorded data shows the GPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p, where even Ultra settings produce 91.2 FPS. The GPU's performance headroom at lower resolutions allows the CPU to become the bottleneck. At 4K, the GPU's workload increases substantially, and the frame rates drop to levels where the GPU is clearly the primary constraint.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 provides the processing foundation for this combo. This CPU features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. It uses the Zen architecture on a 12 nm process from GlobalFoundries, with 4,800 million transistors on a 213 mm² die. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration, providing 46.9 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 2600 achieves a Cinebench R15 multi-core score of 1248 and a single-core score of 157.3. Geekbench results show 5648 multi-core and 1154 single-core. PassMark tests reveal a multi-thread score of 13160, a single-thread score of 2239, and a physics score of 673. The CPU's average benchmark score is 21484, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs.

The nearest rivals for this CPU include the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V with an average score of 21440 (0.2% difference), the Intel Core i9-11900H at 21367 (0.5% difference), the Intel Xeon D-1746TER at 21635 (-0.7% difference), and the AMD EPYC 9454 at 21223 (1.2% difference). These scores indicate the Ryzen 5 2600 performs similarly to these processors in general workloads.

In Thief, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the frame rate differences between resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 109.6 FPS. At 1080p Ultra, it achieves 91.2 FPS. The relatively small difference between these settings suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately at this resolution. However, the CPU's single-thread performance, as indicated by the Cinebench R15 single-core score of 157.3, may limit peak frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

The 6-core, 12-thread configuration provides sufficient parallel processing for Thief's game logic and physics. The PassMark physics score of 673 indicates moderate physics processing capability. The CPU's 16 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for game performance.

At 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The frame rate drop from 4K High (60.5 FPS) to 4K Ultra (58.5 FPS) is only 2 FPS, indicating the GPU is saturated. The CPU is not preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential at 4K, as evidenced by the smooth scaling from Low to Ultra settings.

The data shows the Ryzen 5 2600 is a capable partner for the RTX 4070 in Thief. While newer CPUs would offer higher single-thread performance, this 2018 processor maintains adequate frame rates across all tested settings and resolutions. The combo's performance is limited more by the GPU at high resolutions and more by the CPU at low resolutions, but neither component severely hampers the overall experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 2228 out of 3720 tested combos in Thief. This places the combo in the 40th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning approximately 60% of tested combos deliver higher average frame rates in this game.

This ranking reflects the age of the CPU relative to the GPU. The RTX 4070 is a modern GPU with an 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 2600 sits at the 75th percentile among all CPUs. The combination of a 75th percentile CPU with an 81st percentile GPU produces a combo that ranks lower than either component individually, suggesting the CPU constrains the GPU's potential in Thief.

The combo's ranking of 2228 out of 3720 indicates that many newer CPU and GPU pairings outperform this configuration. However, the ranking does not account for the specific games tested or the settings used. In Thief, the combo delivers playable frame rates at all tested settings and resolutions, which is a positive outcome for a CPU released in 2018 paired with a GPU released in 2023.

The ranking disparity between the CPU and GPU percentiles highlights the importance of balanced component selection. The Ryzen 5 2600's single-thread performance, as measured by its Cinebench R15 single-core score of 157.3, may limit performance in games that rely heavily on single-threaded CPU performance. Thief, being a 2014 title, may have such characteristics.

Despite the relatively low combo ranking, the measured FPS data shows this configuration is fully playable. Even at the most demanding setting (4K Ultra), the combo maintains 58.5 FPS. The ranking of 2228 out of 3720 should be interpreted as a relative measure against other tested combos, not as an absolute indicator of poor performance. The combo delivers smooth gameplay in Thief, which is the primary consideration for practical use.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The database contains measured average FPS values for the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination in Thief across four settings levels (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) and three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160). All values represent average FPS; minimum and maximum FPS were not recorded.

At 1920x1080:

• Low: 109.6 FPS
• Medium: 99.4 FPS
• High: 88.1 FPS
• Ultra: 91.2 FPS

The 1080p results show an interesting anomaly: High settings produce lower FPS than Ultra. High averages 88.1 FPS, while Ultra averages 91.2 FPS. This 3.1 FPS difference falls within typical measurement variance and suggests the game's graphics settings do not follow a strictly linear performance curve. The Low setting at 109.6 FPS represents the highest performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 96.3 FPS
• Medium: 87.5 FPS
• High: 79.7 FPS
• Ultra: 78 FPS

The 1440p results follow a more conventional pattern, with performance decreasing as settings increase. The difference between Low and Ultra is 18.3 FPS. The High and Ultra settings are very close, differing by only 1.7 FPS, indicating diminishing returns from High to Ultra at this resolution.

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 79.5 FPS
• Medium: 71.4 FPS
• High: 60.5 FPS
• Ultra: 58.5 FPS

The 4K results show the largest performance spread, with a 21 FPS difference between Low and Ultra. The drop from High to Ultra is only 2 FPS, suggesting the Ultra preset adds minimal visual benefit relative to its performance cost at this resolution. The High setting achieves exactly 60.5 FPS, making it the optimal choice for 4K gameplay.

Across all resolutions, the Low setting consistently delivers the highest frame rates, while Ultra delivers the lowest. The scaling from Low to Ultra becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions, confirming the GPU's increasing workload at 4K. The data shows that players can expect smooth performance at 1080p and 1440p with any settings, while 4K players should prefer High settings to maintain a 60 FPS average.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this CPU and GPU in Thief?

A: The data shows that at 1920x1080, all settings deliver above 88 FPS, with Low reaching 109.6 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra delivers 78 FPS, which remains smooth. At 3840x2160, High achieves 60.5 FPS while Ultra drops to 58.5 FPS. The recommended combination is 1440p Ultra for the best balance of visual quality and performance, or 4K High for players prioritizing resolution over maximum settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37648. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA Tesla P4 with a score of 37628, a 0.1% difference. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37507 (0.4% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38135 (1.3% higher), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 scores 37157 (1.3% lower). These scores indicate the RTX 4070 performs nearly identically to these GPUs in general workloads.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 2600 holding back the RTX 4070 in Thief?

A: The data suggests the CPU has some limiting effect at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 109.6 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra it drops to 91.2 FPS. The CPU's single-thread performance, indicated by a Cinebench R15 score of 157.3, may cap peak frame rates. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary limiter, so the CPU has less impact on performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, the difference is 18.4 FPS (109.6 vs 91.2). At 1440p, the difference is 18.3 FPS (96.3 vs 78). At 4K, the difference is 21 FPS (79.5 vs 58.5). The increasing gap at 4K indicates the GPU is handling a larger workload as resolution rises.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Thief?

A: The combo ranks 2228 out of 3720 tested combinations. This places it in the lower portion of the ranking, reflecting the age of the CPU relative to newer processors. However, the measured FPS shows the combo remains fully playable in Thief at all tested settings.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking and how does it compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 is in the 75th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 21484. Its nearest rival is the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V with a score of 21440 (0.2% lower). The Intel Core i9-11900H scores 21367 (0.5% lower), the Intel Xeon D-1746TER scores 21635 (0.7% higher), and the AMD EPYC 9454 scores 21223 (1.2% lower). These close scores show the CPU performs comparably to these processors.