Thief

This combo pairs the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in Thief, a 2014 stealth title. The measured frame rates reveal a configuration that is heavily influenced by the GPU at higher settings, but which also shows the CPU’s limits at lower presets. The data indicates a playable experience across most resolutions, with particular strengths at 1080p and 1440p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination sits at rank 936 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the middle of the database’s performance distribution, which is a reasonable position for a mid-range CPU paired with a capable GPU. The ranking suggests that while the RTX 3060 Ti is strong, the Ryzen 5 4600G’s older Zen 2 architecture prevents this combo from climbing higher.

Looking at the CPU’s standalone position, the Ryzen 5 4600G holds the 75th percentile among all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 17489 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE, which scores 17482. The Intel Core i5-12450H is also close at 17475, just 0.1% behind. The Intel Core i3-14100T and i3-13100F are slightly ahead, with the 14100T scoring 17636 (0.8% faster) and the 13100F scoring 17665 (1% faster). This tight grouping suggests the 4600G is competitive with those chips, but none of them are stellar performers by modern standards.

The GPU, meanwhile, sits at the 69th percentile among all GPUs with an average score of 25120. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6700M at 25180 (0.2% faster), the RX 6600 at 25235 (0.5% faster), and the Radeon 890M at 25246 (0.5% faster). The RX 580 2048SP is also near, scoring 25287 (0.7% faster). The RTX 3060 Ti’s position here is solid for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 8 GB of VRAM and mid-tier architecture limit its 4K potential.

The combo’s rank of 936 out of 1642 means it outperforms roughly 43% of tested configurations. That is not a top-tier result, but it is far from the bottom. The data implies that this pairing is best suited for 1080p gaming with high settings, where it can maintain high frame rates, rather than pushing for maximum fidelity at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data offers clear guidance on which preset to choose. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 130.2 FPS, the Medium preset drops to 115.4 FPS, and the High preset yields 105.2 FPS. The Ultra preset produces 102.4 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is a mere 2.8 FPS, which suggests that Ultra is essentially free performance-wise at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the pattern changes. Low delivers 116.9 FPS, Medium drops to 102.4 FPS, and High falls to 78.2 FPS. Ultra is only slightly behind High at 75.5 FPS. The step from Medium to High is steep, a 24.2 FPS loss, indicating that High settings put significant strain on the GPU at this resolution. The best experience at 1440p is likely Medium, which stays above 100 FPS while offering better visuals than Low.

At 3840x2160, the choices become more constrained. Low yields 79.8 FPS, which is smooth, but Medium falls to 59.5 FPS, and High drops to 42.4 FPS. Ultra is nearly identical to High at 44.4 FPS. For 4K, the only preset that guarantees fluid motion is Low. Medium is borderline, dipping below 60 FPS, while High and Ultra are not viable for fast-paced stealth gameplay.

The data indicates that the optimal preset depends on the target resolution. For 1080p, Ultra is the clear winner since it adds visual quality without a significant FPS penalty. For 1440p, Medium offers the best balance, as High’s drop below 80 FPS may be noticeable. For 4K, Low is the only sensible choice, as Medium’s sub-60 FPS average is risky for a game that requires quick reactions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound scenario at higher settings. At Ultra settings, the frame rate goes from 102.4 FPS at 1080p to 75.5 FPS at 1440p, a 26.3% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the FPS falls to 44.4, a 41.2% drop. This steep decline points to the RTX 3060 Ti becoming the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

At Low settings, the scaling is more gradual. The frame rate goes from 130.2 FPS at 1080p to 116.9 FPS at 1440p, a 10.2% decrease, and then to 79.8 FPS at 4K, a 31.7% decrease. The smaller drop at 1440p Low suggests that the CPU is still able to keep up, but the 4K Low result shows the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute limits becoming apparent.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend. From 1080p to 1440p, the FPS drops from 115.4 to 102.4, an 11.3% loss. From 1440p to 4K, it falls to 59.5, a 41.9% loss. This pattern confirms that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, regardless of the preset.

The data implies that at 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU, and the RTX 3060 Ti is the limiting factor only at the highest resolutions. The Ryzen 5 4600G, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, appears sufficient for Thief’s older engine at 1080p and 1440p, but the GPU’s 8 GB of VRAM and 256-bit memory bus are stretched by 4K workloads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 3060 Ti delivers strong results across all presets. Low produces 130.2 FPS, Medium 115.4 FPS, High 105.2 FPS, and Ultra 102.4 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal, suggesting that Ultra is the best choice for this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains playable. Low yields 116.9 FPS, Medium 102.4 FPS, High 78.2 FPS, and Ultra 75.5 FPS. The jump from Medium to High is the largest single-step drop, indicating that High settings introduce a significant rendering load.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates become marginal. Low achieves 79.8 FPS, which is smooth, but Medium drops to 59.5 FPS. High and Ultra are nearly identical at 42.4 and 44.4 FPS, respectively. These numbers suggest that 4K is only viable with Low settings, and even then, the margin above 60 FPS is slim.

The data also shows that the gap between Low and Ultra widens with resolution. At 1080p, Ultra is 27.8 FPS slower than Low. At 1440p, the gap grows to 41.4 FPS. At 4K, Ultra is 35.4 FPS slower than Low. This widening gap indicates that the GPU’s shading units and memory bandwidth are more heavily taxed at higher resolutions, which is expected for a mid-range card.

GPU Role

The RTX 3060 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured results. It has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the memory capacity and bandwidth become limiting factors, as seen in the steep FPS drops.

The GPU’s clock speeds are 1410 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost. These clocks, combined with 4864 shading units, 152 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, deliver 16.20 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The pixel rate is 133.2 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 253.1 GTexel/s. These figures explain why High and Ultra settings at 4K produce only 42-44 FPS, as the card’s fill rate and compute power are stretched thin.

The GPU’s benchmark scores support this analysis. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2626, and its Passmark G3D score is 20349. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 109075 and Vulkan score of 107543 show strong compute performance. However, its Passmark DirectX 12 score of 78 is notably lower, which may reflect driver overhead or the benchmark’s specific workload.

The RTX 3060 Ti’s percentile of 69 among all GPUs indicates it is a capable mid-range card. Its nearest rivals, including the RX 6600 and RX 6700M, have nearly identical average scores, confirming that this GPU is well-matched to its peers. In Thief, the GPU handles 1080p and 1440p with ease, but 4K requires significant settings reductions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Thief?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Ultra settings delivers 102.4 FPS, which is smooth and visually appealing. At 2560x1440, Medium settings provide 102.4 FPS, which is also playable. 4K is only viable with Low settings, which yield 79.8 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 4600G compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The 4600G’s average benchmark score is 17489, which is 0.1% faster than the Intel Core i5-12450H (17475) and nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE (17482). It is 0.8% slower than the Intel Core i3-14100T (17636) and 1% slower than the Intel Core i3-13100F (17665).

Q: Is the RTX 3060 Ti’s 8 GB VRAM enough for Thief?

A: The measured FPS indicates that the 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, where frame rates remain high. At 4K, the GPU’s performance drops significantly, with High settings yielding only 42.4 FPS, suggesting the memory bandwidth or capacity is a limiting factor.

Q: What is the framerate difference between High and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings produce 78.2 FPS, while Ultra produces 75.5 FPS. The difference is 2.7 FPS, which is negligible. This suggests that Ultra is the better choice if visual quality is preferred, as the performance cost is minimal.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 936 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the middle of the pack, outperforming roughly 43% of configurations tested in the database.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the frame rates across presets range from 102.4 FPS at Ultra to 130.2 FPS at Low. The relatively small spread suggests that the RTX 3060 Ti is the primary bottleneck, as the Ryzen 5 4600G’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for this game’s engine at this resolution.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 4600G plays a supporting role in Thief, and its specifications reveal why it does not bottleneck the GPU at most settings. It has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. This is a Zen 2 architecture chip on a 7 nm process, with 8 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s benchmark scores indicate solid multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 13593 and a Geekbench multicore score of 6093.

The CPU’s single-thread performance is modest, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1919 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1575. Thief, being a 2014 title, may rely on fewer threads, but the data shows that the 4600G handles the game well at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 130.2 FPS, which is likely CPU-bound, as the GPU would not be stressed at those settings. The fact that frame rates do not increase dramatically from Low to Medium at 1080p (130.2 vs 115.4) suggests the CPU is delivering frames as fast as the engine allows.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 7 nm process indicate it is an efficient chip, but its performance relative to rivals is average. The 4600G’s percentile of 75 among all CPUs means it is better than many older chips, but it does not match modern high-end CPUs. In Thief, this does not matter much, as the game’s engine is older and less demanding. The data shows that at 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as the FPS drops are consistent with GPU-bound scenarios.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s and dual-channel DDR4 support are adequate for Thief. The 8 MB L3 cache is smaller than some recent chips, but the game does not appear to require extensive cache usage. Overall, the Ryzen 5 4600G provides enough processing power to keep the RTX 3060 Ti fed at 1080p and 1440p, but its mid-range standing means it cannot push beyond the GPU’s limits at higher resolutions. The combo’s rank of 936 out of 1642 reflects this balance, where the CPU is not a weak link, but it is also not a performance enhancer.