Thief

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor built on the Zen 3 architecture, using the Cezanne codename on a 7 nm TSMC process. Its base clock is 3.60 GHz, with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. The chip has a 16 MB L3 cache, with 512 KB of L2 per core and 64 KB of L1 per core. This is a desktop part with a 65 W TDP, fitting the AMD Socket AM4 platform with DDR4 dual-channel memory support and a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. It connects via PCIe Gen 3.

In the context of Thief, a stealth title from 2014, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic. The Ryzen 5 5500's multi-threaded capabilities are modest by modern standards but more than adequate for a game of this era. Its benchmark scores reflect a mid-range positioning: the Cinebench R23 multicore score is 16429, while the single-core score is 2319. The Geekbench multicore score is 7976, and single-core is 1730. The 3DMark tests show scaling from 836 in single-thread to 5411 in max-threads, indicating decent thread scaling from 2 threads (1645) to 4 threads (3151) to 8 threads (4593).

The percentileVsAllCpus field places this CPU at the 73rd percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly three-quarters of all tested CPUs. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 (score 19617, delta -0.1%), the Intel Core i5-12500 (score 19668, delta -0.4%), and the Intel Core i7-10700F (score 19499, delta 0.5%). The Intel Core i5-11600KF is also close, with a score of 19723 and a delta of -0.7%. These deltas are all within one percent, meaning the Ryzen 5 5500 sits in a very tightly contested performance band. For Thief, this CPU performance is unlikely to be the limiting factor at any resolution, as the game's engine is not known for heavy multi-threaded workloads. The data supports this: even at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 150 FPS, which is well above typical display refresh rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combo in Thief at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 136 FPS, with a minimum of 115 FPS and a maximum of 156 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500 compare to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500 has an average benchmark score of 19593, while the Intel Core i5-12500 scores 19668. This represents a delta of -0.4%, meaning the Ryzen 5 5500 is marginally slower in overall CPU benchmarks, but the difference is negligible for practical purposes.

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

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

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 82. This is above the 60 FPS threshold typically considered playable, though it is the lowest average recorded in the dataset.

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

A: The combo ranks 941 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the top 25% of all combos for this game.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 102, with an average of 120 and a maximum of 138.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Thief with this combo provides clear guidance on which preset delivers the best experience. Looking at the 1080p results, which represent the most CPU-bound scenario, the Low preset yields an average of 150 FPS, Medium yields 136 FPS, High yields 123 FPS, and Ultra yields 121 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 14 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs only 2 FPS. This suggests that Ultra is a very efficient step up from High at this resolution.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts slightly. Low gives 132 FPS, Medium gives 120 FPS, High gives 108 FPS, and Ultra gives 107 FPS. Here, the difference between High and Ultra is just 1 FPS, making Ultra the obvious choice if the GPU can handle it, which it clearly can. At 4K, Low gives 111 FPS, Medium gives 100 FPS, High gives 86 FPS, and Ultra gives 82 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows further to 4 FPS.

The data shows that Ultra settings are the best choice across all resolutions for this combo. The performance cost from High to Ultra is minimal—2 FPS at 1080p, 1 FPS at 1440p, and 4 FPS at 4K—while the visual fidelity gain is typically significant in a game like Thief, which relies on atmospheric lighting and shadow detail. The average FPS at 4K Ultra is 82, which is still well above the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. For users with high-refresh-rate displays at 1080p or 1440p, the Ultra preset offers average FPS of 121 and 107 respectively, which should satisfy most gaming scenarios. The Medium preset is only recommended if the user prioritizes maximum frame rates above all else, as it offers a 15 FPS improvement over Ultra at 1080p, but the visual compromise is likely not worth it given the already high Ultra performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 941 out of 3720 tested combinations in Thief. This places it in the 25th percentile of all combos, meaning about 75% of tested combinations perform better in this specific game. This ranking is notable given the individual components' standings: the CPU sits at the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. The discrepancy suggests that Thief is not heavily GPU-bound for this pairing, or that the CPU is holding back the GPU's potential in some scenarios.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores are the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (score 79605, delta 0.3%), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (score 79396, delta 0.6%), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (score 78940, delta 1.1%), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (score 80959, delta -1.4%). These are all within 1.4% of the RTX 5090's average benchmark score of 79842, which is a tight grouping. However, the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are far beyond what these rivals offer, so the benchmark similarity likely reflects synthetic test limitations rather than real-world gaming equivalence.

The combo rank of 941 suggests that other combinations with stronger CPUs or more balanced pairings achieve higher frame rates in Thief. This is consistent with the observation that the Ryzen 5 5500, while capable, is not a top-tier CPU for this game's engine. The 73rd percentile CPU ranking means there are many CPUs that could push higher frame rates in CPU-limited scenarios, such as at 1080p Low where the combo hits 150 FPS. The fact that the combo still ranks in the top 25% overall indicates that the RTX 5090's raw power compensates for the CPU's limitations in most settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how the combo scales across resolutions. At 1080p, the average FPS across all settings is approximately 132.5 (averaging 150, 136, 123, and 121). At 1440p, the average drops to approximately 116.75 (averaging 132, 120, 108, and 107). At 4K, the average falls to approximately 94.75 (averaging 111, 100, 86, and 82). This represents a drop of about 12% from 1080p to 1440p, and a further drop of about 19% from 1440p to 4K, for an overall drop of about 28% from 1080p to 4K.

This scaling pattern reveals which component is the limiting factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively constant across resolutions, as the CPU workload does not change significantly with resolution. The data shows a clear decline in FPS as resolution increases, which indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. However, the decline is not as steep as one might expect given the massive GPU. For example, at Low settings, the drop from 1080p (150 FPS) to 4K (111 FPS) is 26%, while at Ultra settings, the drop from 1080p (121 FPS) to 4K (82 FPS) is 32%. This suggests that at lower settings, the CPU is more involved, limiting the GPU's ability to stretch its legs, while at higher settings, the GPU workload dominates.

The fact that the combo still achieves 82 FPS at 4K Ultra reflects the RTX 5090's capabilities, but the scaling data indicates that the Ryzen 5 5500 is likely preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 150 FPS, but a stronger CPU paired with the same GPU might push that number higher, given that the GPU is only utilizing a fraction of its compute power at that resolution. This aligns with the combo's rank of 941 out of 3720, as many other combos with faster CPUs likely achieve higher frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full measured FPS dataset for this combo in Thief is as follows:

At 1920x1080:

• Low settings: average 150 FPS
• Medium settings: average 136 FPS, minimum 115 FPS, maximum 156 FPS
• High settings: average 123 FPS
• Ultra settings: average 121 FPS

At 2560x1440:

• Low settings: average 132 FPS
• Medium settings: average 120 FPS, minimum 102 FPS, maximum 138 FPS
• High settings: average 108 FPS
• Ultra settings: average 107 FPS

At 3840x2160:

• Low settings: average 111 FPS
• Medium settings: average 100 FPS, minimum 85 FPS, maximum 115 FPS
• High settings: average 86 FPS
• Ultra settings: average 82 FPS

The minimum FPS values are only recorded for Medium settings at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 115 FPS, which is still very smooth. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 102 FPS, and at 4K Medium, the minimum is 85 FPS. These minimums suggest that even in demanding scenes, the combo maintains frame rates well above the 60 FPS threshold for playability.

The data shows a consistent pattern: as settings increase from Low to Ultra, the FPS decreases, but the gap between High and Ultra is consistently small across all resolutions. At 1080p, the difference is 2 FPS (123 to 121). At 1440p, it is 1 FPS (108 to 107). At 4K, it is 4 FPS (86 to 82). This indicates that the Ultra preset is highly efficient in Thief, offering better visuals without a significant performance penalty.

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K is also consistent across settings. At Low, the drop is 39 FPS (150 to 111). At Medium, the drop is 36 FPS (136 to 100). At High, the drop is 37 FPS (123 to 86). At Ultra, the drop is 39 FPS (121 to 82). This uniformity suggests that the game's rendering workload scales linearly with pixel count, and the GPU is the dominant factor at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a flagship GPU based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, using the GB202 chip on a 5 nm TSMC process. It has 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operation units. The GPU features 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. Its base clock is 2017 MHz, with a boost clock of 2407 MHz. The memory subsystem is substantial: 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The memory clock is 1750 MHz, which translates to 28 Gbps effective.

The RTX 5090's compute capabilities are massive, with an FP32 throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS and an FP16 throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). The pixel rate is 423.6 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 1,636.8 GTexel/s. The GPU has a TDP of 575 W, requires a 950 W suggested PSU, and uses a 1x 16-pin power connector. It is a dual-slot card measuring 304 mm in length, 137 mm in height, and 40 mm in width.

In Thief, the GPU's role is significant, as evidenced by the FPS scaling with resolution. The 4K results show that the GPU is the primary driver of performance, with the combo achieving 82 FPS at 4K Ultra. The GPU's benchmark scores reflect its high-end positioning: the Passmark G3D score is 39650, and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 18355. The Geekbench OpenCL score is 334370, and the Vulkan score is 376728. The GPU sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79842.

However, the nearest rivals in benchmark scores are not consumer gaming GPUs but rather professional or mobile parts, such as the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (score 79605, delta 0.3%) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (score 78940, delta 1.1%). This indicates that the RTX 5090's benchmark score, while high, is not dramatically above these parts in synthetic tests, despite its vastly superior memory and compute specifications. This is likely because the Passmark G3D test does not fully utilize the GPU's 32 GB memory or ray tracing capabilities.

In Thief specifically, the GPU's 32 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient, as the game is from 2014 and likely uses less than 4 GB even at 4K Ultra. The GPU's high clock speeds and massive shading unit count ensure that frame rates remain high, but the data suggests that the CPU can become a bottleneck at lower resolutions and settings. The combo's rank of 941 out of 3720 in Thief, despite the GPU's top-tier status, underscores that this game is not GPU-limited at 1080p, and the Ryzen 5 5500's mid-range performance is the constraining factor.