Thief

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combination ranks 585th out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places the pairing in the 64th percentile of all tested configurations, a solidly above-average result. The data indicates that while the GPU is a high-end part, the overall combo ranking is tempered by the CPU's more modest position in the hierarchy. The system delivers playable performance at all tested resolutions, though the relationship between the two components shifts as resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 585 out of 1642 combos places it in the upper-middle tier of all tested systems for Thief. This positioning is notable because the RX 9070 XT alone sits in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 5500 sits in the 79th percentile of all CPUs. The combined rank is lower than either individual component percentile might suggest, indicating that Thief's performance characteristics do not allow the full potential of both parts to be realized simultaneously.

The measured FPS data supports this interpretation. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 119.3 FPS, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 56.1 FPS. The scaling between these extremes shows a 53% performance reduction, which is typical for a GPU-bound title at higher resolutions. However, the CPU's capabilities come into play at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 150 FPS, suggesting the processor is capable of feeding the GPU adequately.

Benchmark results indicate the Ryzen 5 5500 achieves an average benchmark score of 20875, placing it within 0.1% of the Intel Core i5-12500 and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE. This near-tie in synthetic benchmarks translates to consistent gaming performance, as Thief does not appear to be heavily dependent on the specific architectural advantages that might separate these CPUs in other workloads.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 150.4 FPS, but the Ultra preset still achieves 119.3 FPS. Given the High preset produces 126.2 FPS, the data suggests players can comfortably use Ultra settings while maintaining frame rates well above 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset yields 56.1 FPS, while High produces 60.3 FPS. The Medium preset reaches 76.8 FPS, and Low achieves 102 FPS. For strict 60 FPS gameplay, the High preset is the highest quality option that meets this threshold.

Q: Is the RX 9070 XT the limiting factor at 1440p?

A: The data shows 1440p Ultra produces 94.7 FPS, while 1080p Ultra produces 119.3 FPS. This 20.6% drop when moving from 1080p to 1440p indicates the GPU is becoming the primary constraint, as the CPU has headroom to push higher frame rates at the lower resolution.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500 compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500 has an average benchmark score of 20875, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i5-12500 and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE, and 0.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 7J13. These differences are negligible in real-world gaming scenarios.

Q: What is the CPU's single-threaded performance relative to its multi-threaded score?

A: In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 2319 in single-core and 16429 in multi-core. The multi-core score is 7.1 times higher, which reflects the 6-core, 12-thread configuration's ability to scale across all available threads.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable performance across all tested settings?

A: Yes. Even at 4K Ultra, the combo produces 56.1 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS target. All other settings at all resolutions exceed 60 FPS, with the minimum being 94.7 FPS at 1440p Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At the Low preset, performance drops from 150.4 FPS at 1080p to 130.1 FPS at 1440p, a 13.5% reduction, and then to 102 FPS at 4K, a further 21.6% reduction. This shows that even at the lowest settings, the GPU becomes more dominant as pixel count rises.

The Ultra preset shows a steeper scaling curve: 119.3 FPS at 1080p, 94.7 FPS at 1440p (a 20.6% drop), and 56.1 FPS at 4K (a 40.8% drop from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration that falls below 60 FPS, suggesting that this resolution and settings combination pushes the RX 9070 XT to its limits in Thief.

The Medium preset follows a similar trajectory: 134.3 FPS at 1080p, 121.6 FPS at 1440p, and 76.8 FPS at 4K. The High preset shows 126.2 FPS, 102.4 FPS, and 60.3 FPS respectively. The consistent pattern across all settings indicates that the limiting component shifts from the CPU at 1080p to the GPU at 4K, with the crossover occurring somewhere between 1440p and 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset produces 150.4 FPS, Medium reaches 134.3 FPS, High achieves 126.2 FPS, and Ultra maintains 119.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 31.1 FPS, or 20.7%, indicating that Thief's settings have a moderate impact on performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear reduction. Low drops to 130.1 FPS, Medium to 121.6 FPS, High to 102.4 FPS, and Ultra to 94.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 35.4 FPS, or 27.2%, as the GPU begins to handle a larger pixel workload.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope narrows and drops significantly. Low produces 102 FPS, Medium 76.8 FPS, High 60.3 FPS, and Ultra 56.1 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 45.9 FPS, or 45%, showing that settings have a greater relative impact at 4K. Notably, the High preset at 4K produces 60.3 FPS, just barely crossing the 60 FPS threshold.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is well-suited for Thief's 4K workloads, as evidenced by the 102 FPS result at 4K Low settings. The GPU's 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs contribute to a pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s, which supports the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions.

The GPU's boost clock of 2970 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz indicate a high-frequency design. The 48.66 TFLOPS FP32 compute performance provides ample raw processing power for Thief's rendering tasks. The GPU's average benchmark score of 39647 places it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, and its closest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 575, scores 39703, a 0.1% difference.

The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is the primary limiter, producing 56.1 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, the GPU still appears to be the main constraint at 94.7 FPS, but the CPU has more headroom to push higher frame rates at 1080p. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is never stressed in Thief, as even the highest settings at 4K do not appear to cause memory-related performance drops.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 offers 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. This configuration provides a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16429 and a single-core score of 2319. The CPU's 16 MB L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are standard for this class of processor.

The CPU's role in Thief becomes apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 150.4 FPS, which is the highest frame rate across all tested configurations. This suggests the CPU can sustain frame rates above 150 FPS in this scenario. However, at 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 130.1 FPS, indicating that the GPU is starting to limit performance even at low settings.

The Ryzen 5 5500's average benchmark score of 20875 places it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, scores 20897, a 0.1% difference. This close competition means the CPU is unlikely to be a major differentiator in Thief, as the game's performance is more heavily influenced by the GPU at higher resolutions. The 3DMark 8-thread score of 4593 and max-thread score of 5411 show how the CPU scales with thread count, which is relevant for a game that can utilize multiple cores.