Thief

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT combination delivers a strong performance profile in Thief, with the data showing a clear shift in system bottleneck behavior as resolution increases. At 1080p, the pairing achieves an average of 149 FPS on Low settings, indicating that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately, while the transition to 4K reveals the expected GPU-bound scaling. The overall ranking places this combo at 697 out of 1642 tested configurations, a solid mid-upper tier result for a 2014 stealth title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for this combo shows a predictable and steep decline as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with High settings, the average frame rate is 122.6 FPS, which drops to 84.3 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 50.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 59% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K on High settings, indicating that the rendering load is scaling almost entirely with pixel count.

The pattern across all settings reveals the nature of the limiting component. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 149 FPS, while at 4K Low it manages 86.8 FPS. The differential between Low and Ultra settings is relatively modest at each resolution: at 1080p, the gap between Low (149 FPS) and Ultra (120 FPS) is 29 FPS, whereas at 4K, the gap between Low (86.8 FPS) and Ultra (47.1 FPS) expands to 39.7 FPS. This widening gap suggests that while the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions, the CPU still has headroom at 1080p to push frame rates higher if the GPU were not the limiting factor.

The 4K Ultra result of 47.1 FPS is the lowest measured value across the entire dataset, sitting just below the 50.3 FPS achieved at 4K High. The fact that Ultra settings at 4K dip below 60 FPS indicates that this combo is not ideal for maximum fidelity at that resolution, but the 1440p results tell a more favorable story. At 2560x1440 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 77.7, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The data shows that 1440p is the sweet spot for this pairing, offering a balance between visual quality and frame rate that 4K cannot match.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 120.0 at 1080p Ultra, which is the highest Ultra-setting result across all resolutions tested.

Q: How does the 1440p Medium result compare to the 1080p Medium result?

A: At 2560x1440 Medium, the average FPS is 110.7, while at 1920x1080 Medium, it is 138.2. The 1440p result is 27.5 FPS lower, representing a 19.9% reduction.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS is 47.1, measured at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the only configuration in the dataset that falls below 50 FPS.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60+ FPS at 4K across all settings?

A: No. At 4K High, the average is 50.3 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 47.1 FPS. Only 4K Low (86.8 FPS) and 4K Medium (67.7 FPS) exceed 60 FPS.

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achieved in any configuration?

A: The maximum average FPS is 149.0, measured at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only result above 140 FPS in the entire dataset.

Q: How large is the performance gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low produces 130.9 FPS while Ultra produces 77.7 FPS, a difference of 53.2 FPS. This represents a 40.6% reduction in average FPS when moving from Low to Ultra.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is the dominant component in determining frame rates at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the scaling patterns observed. The GPU’s 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the texture and geometry loads of Thief at 4K, where the High setting still yields 50.3 FPS. The memory clock runs at 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective speed, and the boost clock reaches 2544 MHz, with a game clock of 2171 MHz.

Benchmark data for the GPU shows a passmark G3D score of 22547, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, scores 30109 on average with a deltaPct of 0, indicating near-identical overall performance. The RX 7700 XT’s FP32 compute of 35.17 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s are key specifications that explain its ability to push 86.8 FPS at 4K Low, where shading and pixel throughput are less demanding.

The GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, are able to keep the GPU fed, as evidenced by the 149 FPS Low result. However, at 4K, the GPU’s raw compute and memory bandwidth become the bottleneck, with the 4K Ultra result (47.1 FPS) being less than half of the 1080p Low result (149 FPS). This indicates that the RX 7700 XT, while a capable 1440p performer, is not fully optimized for 4K Ultra in this particular title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates a tight performance band across settings. Low settings produce 149.0 FPS, Medium 138.2 FPS, High 122.6 FPS, and Ultra 120.0 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 2.6 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns from the highest settings at this resolution. The 1080p results all exceed 120 FPS, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show more separation. Low yields 130.9 FPS, Medium 110.7 FPS, High 84.3 FPS, and Ultra 77.7 FPS. The jump from Medium to High represents the largest single-setting drop at this resolution, a 26.4 FPS reduction. The 1440p Ultra result is 77.7 FPS, which is 42.3 FPS lower than the 1080p Ultra result, highlighting the resolution’s impact on GPU load.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low produces 86.8 FPS, Medium 67.7 FPS, High 50.3 FPS, and Ultra 47.1 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 17.4 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra narrows to 3.2 FPS. The 4K results show that only Low settings approach the 60 FPS threshold comfortably, with Medium barely exceeding it at 67.7 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 47.1 FPS is the lowest average across all 12 measured configurations, indicating that this combo is not suited for maximum 4K fidelity.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 697th out of 1642 tested combinations in Thief, placing it in the 57.5th percentile of all tested pairings. This rank reflects the overall balance of the Ryzen 5 5500 and RX 7700 XT, which together provide a capable 1440p experience but fall short of top-tier 4K performance.

The CPU component, the AMD Ryzen 5 5500, has an average benchmark score of 20875 and sits in the 79th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, scores 20897 with a deltaPct of -0.1, indicating the two are statistically equivalent in average performance. The Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE also matches with a 20900 score and -0.1 deltaPct. This CPU’s 3dmark single-thread score of 836 and cinebench R23 multicore score of 16429 demonstrate its capability in both lightly-threaded and fully-threaded workloads, which is relevant for a game like Thief that may not scale perfectly across all 12 threads.

The GPU component, the RX 7700 XT, has an average benchmark score of 30097 and a 73rd percentile ranking. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, scores 30109 with a 0 deltaPct, showing they are effectively tied in synthetic benchmarks. The RX 7700 XT’s passmark G3D score of 22547 and 3dmark Steel Nomad score of 3316 are consistent with its position in the GPU hierarchy.

The combo’s rank of 697 out of 1642 suggests that while the individual components are strong (79th and 73rd percentiles respectively), the pairing in Thief does not boost to the top tier due to the game’s engine characteristics and the GPU’s 4K limitations. The measured FPS data confirms this: the combo excels at 1080p and 1440p but struggles at 4K Ultra. The rank is a holistic measure that accounts for all tested resolutions and settings, and the 697th position reflects a system that is well-above average but not elite for this specific title.