Thief

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate for this combo in Thief at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The recorded average is 121 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings. This is one of the highest averages measured for this combination, with only the Low preset (150 FPS) and Medium preset (136 FPS) scoring higher.

Q: Does the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 bottleneck the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT in Thief?

A: The benchmark data does not indicate a bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 150 FPS, and at 1440p Low it hits 132 FPS. The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, are sufficient to feed the GPU in this game, as frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings.

Q: What is the largest frame rate drop when moving from 1080p to 1440p on High settings?

A: The average drops from 123 FPS at 1920x1080 High to 91 FPS at 2560x1440 High, a reduction of 32 FPS. This indicates a 26% performance loss when increasing resolution, which is typical for a GPU-bound title like Thief.

Q: Are there any measured minimum frame rate values for this combo in Thief?

A: Yes, only for Medium settings. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum is 60 FPS; at 2560x1440 Medium, it is 102 FPS; and at 1920x1080 Medium, it is 115 FPS. No minimum values are recorded for Low, High, or Ultra presets.

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

A: It ranks 1419 out of 3720 tested combos. This places it in the top 38% of all configurations, showing solid but not exceptional performance for this game.

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

A: The highest average is 150 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 136 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 132 FPS at 1440p Low.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 5000 series, built on the Zen 3 architecture with the Cezanne codename. It operates on a 7 nm process at TSMC, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. The CPU has a 16 MB L3 cache, with 64 KB L1 and 512 KB L2 per core. It supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The processor uses PCIe Gen 3, which is a generation behind the GPU’s PCIe 4.0 interface, but the data shows this does not materially affect Thief’s frame rates.

In Thief, the CPU’s role is to handle game logic, AI, and physics simulation. The game was released in 2014, and its threading model is not heavily parallelized. Benchmark results indicate that the Ryzen 5 5500’s single-thread performance is adequate for this title, with a 3dmark single-thread score of 836 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2319. The multi-threaded scores, such as 16,429 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 19,330 in PassMark multithread, show that the processor has headroom for other workloads, but Thief does not appear to stress all 12 threads equally.

The CPU’s average benchmark score is 19,593, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs tested. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 (average score 19,617, delta -0.1%), Intel Core i5-12500 (19,668, delta -0.4%), Intel Core i7-10700F (19,499, delta +0.5%), and Intel Core i5-11600KF (19,723, delta -0.7%). These deltas are all within 1%, meaning the Ryzen 5 5500 performs statistically on par with these alternatives in synthetic benchmarks. In Thief, the frame rate data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor, as even at 1080p Low the combo achieves 150 FPS, which is well above typical display refresh rates.

The CPU’s boost clock of 4.20 GHz is sufficient for Thief’s single-threaded sections, and its 6 physical cores provide enough parallelism for the game’s background tasks. The data shows no signs of CPU-induced frame pacing issues, as the minimum FPS values recorded (for Medium settings) are relatively close to the averages. For example, at 1440p Medium, the average is 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 FPS, a variance of 15%. This suggests stable frame delivery without CPU bottlenecks.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is a high-end graphics card from the Radeon RX 7000 series, based on the Navi 32 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture. It is manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die. The GPU has a base clock of 1295 MHz, a boost clock of 2430 MHz, and a game clock of 2124 MHz. Memory runs at 2438 MHz, effective 19.5 Gbps. The card features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. It has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, 96 ROPs, and 60 ray tracing cores. The FP32 performance is 37.32 TFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s.

In Thief, the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rates, especially at higher resolutions and settings. The game is not ray tracing intensive, but it does use DirectX 12 (the GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate), and the 16 GB VRAM ensures no memory capacity issues at any tested resolution, including 4K. The GPU’s average benchmark score is 11,627, placing it in the 51st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (average score 11,680, delta -0.5%), AMD Radeon Pro 5500M (11,528, delta +0.9%), NVIDIA Tesla K20c (11,479, delta +1.3%), and AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT (11,842, delta -1.8%). These deltas are small, but the RX 7800 XT’s real-world performance in Thief is far ahead of these older or lower-tier cards due to its modern architecture and high memory bandwidth.

The GPU’s boost clock of 2430 MHz is high, and the data shows that Thief scales well with GPU load. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 51, while at 4K High it is 54 FPS, indicating that the GPU is nearing its limits at this resolution with maximum settings. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 150 FPS, which is likely close to the game’s engine limit or the CPU’s ability to feed frames. The GPU’s 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Thief’s textures, which were designed for 2014 hardware, so memory bandwidth (624.1 GB/s) is the more relevant factor. The measured FPS differences between settings presets show that the GPU handles increased graphical load predictably, with a 26% drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p (150 to 121 FPS).

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT ranks 1419 out of 3720 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the top 38% of all configurations, meaning it outperforms the majority of systems in the database. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU: the Ryzen 5 5500 is a mid-range processor (73rd percentile), while the RX 7800 XT is a high-end GPU (51st percentile). The combo’s rank is influenced by the game’s age and its moderate CPU requirements, which allow the GPU to dominate frame production.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing delivers strong performance at 1080p and 1440p, with averages exceeding 87 FPS on all settings at those resolutions. At 4K, the combo falls below 60 FPS for High and Ultra settings, which affects its overall rank. The data shows that the combo is better suited for 1440p gaming, where it achieves 91 FPS on High and 87 FPS on Ultra, both above the 60 FPS threshold. At 1080p, all settings produce averages above 120 FPS, making this combo highly capable for high refresh rate displays.

The rank of 1419 out of 3720 suggests that while the GPU is powerful, the CPU’s mid-range status may slightly hold back performance in CPU-light games like Thief. However, the measured FPS data shows no obvious bottleneck, as the combo’s performance at 1080p Low (150 FPS) is likely near the game’s engine cap. The combo’s position in the database is solid, and it would be competitive with systems using faster CPUs, as the GPU is the primary driver of frame rates in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. With Low settings, the average is 150 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 136 FPS, with a minimum of 115 and maximum of 156 FPS. High settings average 123 FPS, and Ultra settings average 121 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is minimal, only 2 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset is not significantly more demanding than High. The minimum FPS recorded for Medium (115) is still very high, suggesting stable performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are lower but still strong. Low settings deliver 132 FPS. Medium settings average 120 FPS, with a minimum of 102 and maximum of 138 FPS. High settings average 91 FPS, and Ultra settings average 87 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 45 FPS, a 34% reduction, which is a typical scaling curve. The minimum FPS for Medium (102) remains above 100, showing that the combo handles 1440p well even in demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the combo starts to struggle with higher settings. Low settings average 93 FPS, which is still playable. Medium settings average 70 FPS, with a minimum of 60 and maximum of 81 FPS. High settings drop to 54 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 51 FPS. The 4K Ultra average of 51 FPS is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay, and even High settings (54 FPS) are marginal. The minimum FPS for Medium (60) is exactly at the playability threshold, indicating that 4K Medium is the highest preset that maintains a playable frame rate.

The data shows that the combo’s performance scales predictably with resolution. At 1080p, all presets are above 120 FPS, ideal for competitive play. At 1440p, all presets are above 87 FPS, suitable for most gaming scenarios. At 4K, only Low and Medium presets exceed 60 FPS, making the combo’s 4K capabilities limited to lower settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution.

At 1920x1080, any preset is viable. The Ultra preset provides 121 FPS, which is only 2 FPS lower than High (123 FPS). Since the minimum FPS is not recorded for these presets, but Medium shows a minimum of 115 FPS, it is reasonable to assume that Ultra maintains high frame rates. For the best visual quality without sacrificing performance, the Ultra preset is recommended, as it delivers 121 FPS, well above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 87 FPS, which is above 60 FPS but not as high as lower presets. The High preset averages 91 FPS, a marginal improvement. The Medium preset offers 120 FPS, a significant jump, with a minimum of 102 FPS. If visual fidelity is a priority, High is a good choice, as it is only 4 FPS slower than Ultra. However, for smoother gameplay, Medium provides a 29 FPS advantage over High and is recommended for players who prefer higher frame rates over maximum detail.

At 3840x2160, the choices are constrained. The Ultra preset averages 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playability threshold. High averages 54 FPS, still below 60 FPS. Medium averages 70 FPS, with a minimum of 60 FPS, making it the highest setting that reliably stays at or above 60 FPS. Low averages 93 FPS, offering a comfortable margin. For 4K, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, as it balances visual quality with playable frame rates. The Low preset is available for players who prioritize frame rate over resolution fidelity, but Medium provides the best experience per the recorded data.

The data indicates that the combo is most effective at 1440p, where it can run High or Ultra settings above 87 FPS. At 1080p, the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation. At 4K, the Medium preset is the ceiling for smooth performance. These recommendations are based solely on the measured averages and minimums, ensuring that the chosen settings maintain an acceptable frame rate in all recorded scenarios.