Thief

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Thief across the three tested resolutions reveal a system that scales predictably, with the GPU becoming the dominant constraint as pixel count rises. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combination delivers 107.7 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops performance to 74.9 FPS, a reduction of approximately 30% that points to increased pixel throughput demands. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average falls further to 44.5 FPS, which is roughly 41% lower than the 1440p result and about 59% below the 1080p figure.

The scaling pattern across the settings presets tells a clear story about the limiting component. At 1080p Low, the system produces 152.7 FPS, while at 1080p Ultra it produces 107.7 FPS—a spread of 45 FPS that indicates both CPU and GPU headroom exist at lower graphical loads. However, at 4K the gap between Low (81.5 FPS) and Ultra (44.5 FPS) widens to 37 FPS in absolute terms, but the relative drop is steeper. The 4K Ultra result falls to just 54.6% of the 4K Low result, while the 1080p Ultra result retains 70.5% of the 1080p Low performance.

This compression of relative performance at higher resolutions is the signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The RX 6750 XT, with its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth, is being tasked with filling progressively more pixels. The 4K High result of 45.8 FPS sits barely above the 4K Ultra result of 44.5 FPS, suggesting that the most demanding settings at this resolution are pushing the GPU to its practical limits. Meanwhile, the 1440p results—ranging from 74.9 FPS at Ultra to 129.7 FPS at Low—indicate a more comfortable operating envelope where the GPU still has enough headroom to respond to settings changes.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is the primary engine for Thief's rendering workload, and its specifications directly inform the frame rate patterns observed. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2150 MHz and a boost clock of 2600 MHz, with a game clock of 2495 MHz that represents typical sustained performance under load. These clocks, combined with 2560 shading units and 160 texture mapping units, feed a pixel rate of 166.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 416.0 GTexel/s.

The memory subsystem is a key differentiator for this card in a 2014-era title like Thief. With 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, the RX 6750 XT provides 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Thief's environments—dense with shadowed corridors, reflective surfaces, and volumetric lighting—benefit from this bandwidth when moving from 1080p to 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 44.5 FPS, while playable, shows that even 12 GB of VRAM and 432 GB/s are not sufficient to maintain high frame rates at maximum settings at that resolution.

The GPU's benchmark profile places it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35327. Its nearest rivals in aggregate scoring include the AMD Radeon RX 5600M (35264, a 0.2% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile (35435, -0.3% delta), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (35787, -1.3% delta). This positioning suggests the RX 6750 XT is a mid-to-upper-tier performer, and the Thief results align with that assessment—it can handle 1440p Ultra at 74.9 FPS, which is a solid result for a game of this era, but 4K Ultra demands compromise.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 provides the processing backbone for this configuration, and its characteristics matter most at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. The CPU features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. This Zen 3 architecture part, built on a 7 nm process, offers 16 MB of L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. Its memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR4 interface is adequate for feeding a GPU of this class.

In Thief, the CPU's role becomes evident when comparing 1080p Low (152.7 FPS) to 1080p Ultra (107.7 FPS). The 45 FPS delta at the same resolution indicates that the GPU is still the limiting factor even at 1080p, but the CPU's ability to maintain high frame rates at Low settings shows it is not holding back the system. The Ryzen 5 5500's single-thread performance, measured at 836 in 3DMark single-thread and 2319 in Cinebench R23 single-core, is sufficient for Thief's AI and physics workloads, which are not particularly demanding by modern standards.

The CPU's aggregate benchmark score of 20875 places it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i5-12500 (20897, -0.1% delta) and the AMD EPYC 7J13 (20845, 0.1% delta). This tight clustering suggests the Ryzen 5 5500 is competitive with mainstream alternatives. In Thief specifically, the CPU's 12 threads are more than enough for a game from 2014, and the data bears this out—the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K is consistent with GPU-bound behavior rather than CPU stalls.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Thief spans three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a comprehensive view of the system's capabilities.

At 1920x1080, the results are uniformly strong. Low settings produce 152.7 FPS, Medium produces 138.1 FPS, High produces 111.4 FPS, and Ultra produces 107.7 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 26.7 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is only 3.7 FPS. This compression at the top end suggests that Ultra settings add visual fidelity without a proportional performance cost at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the system still delivers smooth performance. Low settings yield 129.7 FPS, Medium yields 100.5 FPS, High yields 80.1 FPS, and Ultra yields 74.9 FPS. The Medium to High drop of 20.4 FPS is significant, indicating that the higher preset introduces more demanding effects. The High to Ultra delta of 5.2 FPS is modest, again suggesting diminishing returns at the top settings tier.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes more constrained. Low settings produce 81.5 FPS, Medium produces 62.7 FPS, High produces 45.8 FPS, and Ultra produces 44.5 FPS. The Medium to High drop of 16.9 FPS is the steepest relative decline in the entire dataset, highlighting the cost of high-quality shadows and post-processing at 4K. The High to Ultra delta of 1.3 FPS is negligible, meaning players can essentially run Ultra at 4K with minimal additional cost over High—both hover around 45 FPS.

The overall combo rank for this CPU-GPU pairing in Thief is 810 out of 1642 combinations, placing it in the upper-middle range of tested systems. This rank reflects the balanced nature of the pairing: it excels at 1080p and 1440p, but 4K Ultra is only marginally playable.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Thief at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 44.5, which is below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered ideal. At 4K High, the average is 45.8 FPS. Lowering to 4K Medium improves this to 62.7 FPS, and 4K Low reaches 81.5 FPS. For smooth 4K gameplay, Medium settings are the practical ceiling.

Q: How does the RX 6750 XT compare to its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks?

A: The RX 6750 XT has an average benchmark score of 35327, placing it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. It sits within 1.3% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (35787), 0.3% of the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile (35435), and 0.2% of the RX 5600M (35264). These are near-identical aggregate scores, though real-world game performance varies.

Q: What is the difference between 1080p Ultra and 1440p Ultra in Thief?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the system averages 107.7 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, the average is 74.9 FPS. This represents a 32.8 FPS drop, or roughly 30% lower performance, when moving to the higher resolution—a typical cost for the additional pixel count.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5500 a bottleneck for the RX 6750 XT in this game?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 152.7 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would expose CPU limitations if they existed. The consistent scaling across resolutions and the tight High-to-Ultra gaps suggest the GPU is the limiting component throughout.

Q: How much performance is gained by lowering settings from Ultra to Low at 4K?

A: At 4K, Low settings produce 81.5 FPS versus 44.5 FPS at Ultra. This is a gain of 37.0 FPS, or approximately 83% higher performance. The trade-off is visual quality, but for competitive or high-refresh gameplay, Low settings at 4K are viable.

Q: What is the system's overall ranking in Thief among tested combinations?

A: This CPU-GPU pairing ranks 810th out of 1642 tested combinations. This places it in the upper-middle tier, reflecting solid 1080p and 1440p performance with acceptable 4K results at reduced settings.