Thief

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across the three resolutions reveal a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling, but with an interesting twist at the highest settings. At 1080p, the average frame rate ranges from 123.9 FPS at Ultra to 147.9 FPS at Low. Moving to 1440p, those figures drop to a range of 107.7 FPS (Ultra) to 134.9 FPS (Low). The jump to 4K is where the most significant impact occurs, with the Ultra preset falling to 73.3 FPS and the High preset settling at 76.4 FPS.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a moderate performance penalty, with the High preset dropping from 124.2 FPS to 110.1 FPS—a roughly 11% reduction in frame rate. However, the transition from 1440p to 4K is far more dramatic, as the High preset falls from 110.1 FPS to 76.4 FPS, which represents a much steeper decline of about 31%. This disproportionate drop when moving to 4K strongly indicates that the rendering workload is overwhelming the GPU's raw throughput, even for a card as powerful as the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER.

Interestingly, the gap between the Low and Ultra presets narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (147.9 FPS) and Ultra (123.9 FPS) is 24 FPS. At 1440p, that gap shrinks to 27.2 FPS (134.9 vs 107.7). But at 4K, the spread expands again, with Low hitting 111.1 FPS and Ultra dropping to 73.3 FPS—a 37.8 FPS difference. This widening at 4K suggests that while the CPU can keep up with the lower settings, the Ultra preset's additional graphical features push the GPU to its limits, creating a scenario where the silicon's compute resources become the definitive bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the clear workhorse in this configuration, and its specifications align well with the observed performance. The GPU boasts 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. For a 2014 title like Thief, this memory capacity is far beyond what the game could possibly require, meaning VRAM is not a limiting factor in any of the measured scenarios. The 23 Gbps effective memory clock and 2550 MHz boost clock provide ample headroom for the game's engine.

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial, with 10,240 shading units and a texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s. The card's FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS is indicative of its ability to handle the pixel and shader workloads that Thief presents at high resolutions. The data suggests that the RTX 4080 SUPER is never struggling with memory capacity or bandwidth, as the frame rates at 4K Ultra (73.3 FPS) remain playable, though they show the card's limits when pushed with maximum settings.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 88 among all tested GPUs places it in the upper echelon of performance. Its average benchmark score of 53,610 is 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, which is its closest rival according to the data. This marginal lead in synthetic benchmarks translates to the real-world performance seen in Thief, where the card maintains respectable frame rates even at 4K. The fact that the GPU is marked as End-of-life in production status suggests that its capabilities represent the pinnacle of its generation, which is reflected in the measured results.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 provides the processing foundation for this combo, and its specifications indicate it is more than capable of keeping the GPU fed in Thief. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, the CPU operates at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and can boost up to 4.20 GHz. The 16 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth are sufficient for a game of this era, which rarely demands more than a few threads.

The CPU's benchmark scores paint a picture of solid mid-range performance. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16,429 and single-core score of 2,319 suggest that it can handle both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads with ease. The PassMark single-thread score of 3,058 is particularly relevant for gaming, as many game engines still rely heavily on single-thread performance. The CPU's percentile ranking of 79 among all CPUs places it comfortably above average, and its average benchmark score of 20,875 is essentially tied with the Intel Core i5-12500, which shows a deltaPct of only -0.1%.

In the context of Thief, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 1440p is relatively modest, which suggests that the CPU is not creating a bottleneck at these resolutions. Even at 1080p Low settings, where the GPU has less work to do, the CPU manages to deliver 147.9 FPS, indicating that its 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for the game's logic and physics. The architecture's 7 nm process node from TSMC helps keep power consumption at 65 W TDP, which is efficient for a desktop processor.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 134.6 FPS, which is only 13.3 FPS lower than the Low preset but offers significantly better visual fidelity. The High preset at 124.2 FPS is also viable, but the jump from Medium to High yields diminishing returns when considering the 10.4 FPS loss. The Ultra preset at 123.9 FPS is nearly identical to High, suggesting that the extra settings in Ultra do not tax the system much at this resolution.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again proves to be the sweet spot, delivering 119.8 FPS. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and leaves headroom for demanding scenes. The High preset at 110.1 FPS is also acceptable, but the Medium preset's performance advantage of nearly 10 FPS makes it the recommended choice for most users. The Ultra preset at 107.7 FPS offers only marginal visual improvements over High while sacrificing 2.4 FPS, making it less appealing.

For 4K gaming, the choice becomes more critical. The Ultra preset drops to 73.3 FPS, which is playable but leaves little margin for frame rate dips. The High preset at 76.4 FPS offers a slight improvement, but the Medium preset at 100.2 FPS is the clear winner for a consistent experience. This represents a 26.9 FPS advantage over Ultra while still providing good visual quality. The Low preset at 111.1 FPS is available for those seeking maximum frame rates, but the visual compromise is substantial. Based on the measured rows, Medium settings at 4K provide the best experience, balancing visual fidelity with performance headroom.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 448th out of 1,642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the top 27% of all configurations. This ranking reflects a strong pairing, though not an elite one, as the CPU's mid-range positioning tempers the GPU's high-end capabilities. The RTX 4080 SUPER's percentile rank of 88 among GPUs is higher than the CPU's 79, indicating that the graphics card is the stronger component in this pairing.

The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, has an average benchmark score of 20,897, which is 0.1% higher than the Ryzen 5 5500's 20,875. This near-identical performance suggests that swapping in the Intel chip would produce virtually the same results in Thief. Similarly, the GPU's closest competitor, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores 53,489, which is 0.2% lower than the RTX 4080 SUPER's 53,610. This indicates that the NVIDIA card holds a slight edge in raw compute, which could translate to a few extra frames in demanding scenarios.

The combo's rank of 448 out of 1,642 suggests that there are many configurations that outperform it, primarily those pairing higher-end CPUs with similarly powerful GPUs. However, the ranking also indicates that this combo sits comfortably above the median, offering a substantial performance margin over lower-tier pairings. The data implies that the CPU is the limiting factor in this duo, as the GPU's high percentile ranking is not fully leveraged by the 6-core processor in all scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low preset delivers 147.9 FPS, Medium delivers 134.6 FPS, High delivers 124.2 FPS, and Ultra delivers 123.9 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a total performance drop of 24 FPS, with the most significant single-step decline occurring between Medium and High (10.4 FPS). The difference between High and Ultra is negligible at only 0.3 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects are not heavily taxing at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates are: Low at 134.9 FPS, Medium at 119.8 FPS, High at 110.1 FPS, and Ultra at 107.7 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 27.2 FPS, with the largest single-step decline again occurring between Medium and High (9.7 FPS). The gap between High and Ultra narrows to 2.4 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset's impact is relatively consistent across resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the performance landscape changes more dramatically: Low delivers 111.1 FPS, Medium delivers 100.2 FPS, High delivers 76.4 FPS, and Ultra delivers 73.3 FPS. The most striking observation is the 23.8 FPS drop from Medium to High, which is significantly larger than the corresponding drops at lower resolutions. This suggests that the High preset introduces effects that are disproportionately expensive at 4K, likely related to pixel-heavy shading or post-processing. The Ultra preset's 3.1 FPS penalty over High is modest, continuing the trend seen at other resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB VRAM sufficient for Thief?

A: Yes, the 16 GB of GDDR6X memory is far more than Thief requires. The game was released in 2014, and even at 4K Ultra settings, the memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s provides ample headroom, as evidenced by the playable 73.3 FPS average at those settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500 perform relative to its closest rival?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500 has an average benchmark score of 20,875, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i5-12500's score of 20,897. This negligible difference means the two CPUs should deliver nearly identical performance in Thief.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming?

A: The Medium preset at 4K delivers 100.2 FPS, which is 26.9 FPS higher than Ultra (73.3 FPS) and 23.8 FPS higher than High (76.4 FPS). This makes Medium the recommended choice for a smooth 4K experience.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this combo?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, particularly at 4K where the High preset drops to 76.4 FPS. At 1080p, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient, as shown by the 147.9 FPS on Low settings.

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

A: It ranks 448th out of 1,642 combos, placing it in the top 27% of all tested configurations. The GPU's percentile rank of 88 is higher than the CPU's 79, suggesting the GPU is the stronger component.

Q: Does the Ultra preset offer significant gains over High?

A: No, the difference between High and Ultra is minimal across all resolutions: 0.3 FPS at 1080p, 2.4 FPS at 1440p, and 3.1 FPS at 4K. The visual improvements are not justified by the performance cost for most users.