Thief

FAQ

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

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers an average of 111 FPS at 1920x1080 on the Ultra preset.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to the Ultra preset at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 102 FPS, which is 22 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's 80 FPS. This represents a 27.5% performance uplift when dropping from Ultra to Low.

Q: Does the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM capacity affect results in Thief?

A: The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory provides ample headroom for this title. The data shows that the GPU's memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, combined with the large frame buffer, allows the card to maintain high frame rates even at the 4K resolution with the Medium preset, which shows a minimum FPS of 78.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested systems in Thief?

A: This specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 936 out of 2851 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the upper third of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU becomes more relevant at lower resolutions. The frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p is relatively modest (e.g., 113 FPS vs. 99 FPS on High), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is more pronounced (99 to 83 FPS), indicating the GPU is still the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory runs at an effective 21 Gbps across a 384-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. This memory configuration is directly relevant to Thief's results, as the game's performance at 4K shows a clear scaling pattern tied to memory bandwidth and GPU compute.

The GPU's base clock is 2235 MHz with a boost clock of 2520 MHz. It contains 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s are substantial, and the FP32 compute throughput of 82.58 TFLOPS provides the raw processing power needed for this title's lighting and shadow effects.

In Thief, the RTX 4090 demonstrates its capability across all measured resolutions. At 4K Ultra, it averages 80 FPS, while at 4K Low it reaches 102 FPS. The GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases; the transition from 1440p High (99 FPS) to 4K High (83 FPS) shows a 16 FPS drop, which aligns with the increased pixel count requiring more memory bandwidth and shading work.

The RTX 4090's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are part of its feature set, though Thief's benchmark results do not specifically isolate ray tracing or DLSS performance. The card's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) ensures compatibility with modern rendering paths that Thief can utilize. The GPU's benchmark scores, such as the Passmark G3D score of 38194, reinforce its high-end positioning, though in-game results show that Thief's engine does not fully saturate the card's capabilities at lower settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings. At 1920x1080, all presets deliver playable frame rates: Low averages 138 FPS, Medium 124 FPS, High 113 FPS, and Ultra 111 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal (only 2 FPS), suggesting that Ultra is essentially free at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues with Low at 121 FPS, Medium at 110 FPS, High at 99 FPS, and Ultra at 98 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to just 1 FPS, making Ultra the sensible choice for users wanting maximum visual quality without measurable performance loss.

At 3840x2160, the trade-offs become more significant. Low averages 102 FPS, Medium 92 FPS, High 83 FPS, and Ultra 80 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs 3 FPS, while Medium to High costs 9 FPS. For 4K users, the Medium preset offers the best balance, with a 92 FPS average and a recorded minimum of 78 FPS, ensuring consistent smoothness. The Ultra preset at 4K still maintains an 80 FPS average, which is acceptable for most displays, but Medium provides more headroom for demanding scenes.

The data indicates that the RTX 4090 has sufficient headroom in Thief to run Ultra settings at 1080p and 1440p without significant penalties. At 4K, users should consider Medium as the optimal preset to maintain a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 936 out of 2851 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the 67th percentile of all systems tested. This ranking reflects the combination's overall performance, which is strong but not at the absolute top tier for this specific game.

The CPU's benchmark percentile is 85 among all processors, and the GPU's percentile is 88 among all graphics cards. However, the combo's in-game rank (936/2851) is lower than either component's individual percentile might suggest. This discrepancy indicates that Thief's engine does not fully utilize the strengths of this particular pairing, possibly due to the game's 2014 release date and its rendering requirements.

The RTX 4090's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Arc Pro A60 (delta 0%), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% ahead), and AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (2.5% behind). These professional-grade cards are not typical gaming alternatives, but the data shows that the RTX 4090's raw compute advantage does not translate into proportionally higher frame rates in Thief, likely because the game is not heavily GPU-bound at lower resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (0% delta) and AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (0.2% behind), show that the 5600F is well-matched in synthetic workloads. Yet in Thief, the combination's rank suggests that other system configurations with different CPU-GPU pairings achieve better frame rates, potentially due to memory latency or cache effects that are not fully captured by average benchmark scores.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer), manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a shared 32 MB L3 cache.

In Thief, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the primary bottleneck. At 1080p, the frame rates range from 111 to 138 FPS depending on settings, and the CPU's single-thread performance (Passmark single-thread score of 2872) helps maintain these high averages. The 5600F's multi-thread score of 19236 and its 12 threads provide sufficient processing power for the game's AI and physics systems.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s via dual-channel DDR4, combined with the shared 32 MB L3 cache, contributes to the data throughput needed for Thief's world streaming. The 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die indicate a dense design that offers strong per-core efficiency.

As resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes relative to the GPU. The frame rate drops from 113 to 99 FPS (1080p to 1440p at High settings) and then to 83 FPS at 4K, showing that the GPU becomes the limiting component. However, the CPU must still feed the GPU efficiently; the 5600F's boost clock of 4.00 GHz and Zen 3 architecture ensure that it does not introduce a significant bottleneck, as evidenced by the consistent scaling across resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for this combo in Thief are as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 138 FPS average
• Medium: 124 FPS average (min 106, max 143)
• High: 113 FPS average
• Ultra: 111 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 121 FPS average
• Medium: 110 FPS average (min 93, max 126)
• High: 99 FPS average
• Ultra: 98 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 102 FPS average
• Medium: 92 FPS average (min 78, max 106)
• High: 83 FPS average
• Ultra: 80 FPS average

At 1080p, the spread between Low and Ultra is 27 FPS (138 vs. 111), indicating that the GPU is not fully taxed at this resolution. The Medium preset shows a 124 FPS average with a minimum of 106 FPS, providing excellent smoothness. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 23 FPS (121 vs. 98), and the Ultra preset maintains a 98 FPS average, which is still well above 60 FPS.

At 4K, the performance envelope tightens further. Low averages 102 FPS, while Ultra drops to 80 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 78 FPS is the only recorded minimum below 93 FPS across all resolutions, suggesting that 4K with Medium settings is the most demanding configuration that still maintains consistent frame pacing. The High preset at 4K (83 FPS average) is also viable, but the margin above the 60 FPS threshold is thinner.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals how the system scales with pixel count. At High settings, the averages are 113 FPS (1080p), 99 FPS (1440p), and 83 FPS (4K). This represents a 12.4% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 16.2% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 26.5%.

At Low settings, the scaling is 138 → 121 → 102 FPS, with percentage drops of 12.3% and 15.7% respectively. The Low preset shows a total reduction of 26.1% from 1080p to 4K. At Ultra settings, the progression is 111 → 98 → 80 FPS, with drops of 11.7% and 18.4%, totaling 27.9% reduction.

The scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component at all resolutions. The frame rate drops are roughly proportional to the increase in pixel count: 1080p has 2.07 million pixels, 1440p has 3.69 million, and 4K has 8.29 million. The fact that 4K does not cause a proportionally larger drop (26-28% vs. the 75% pixel increase from 1440p to 4K) suggests that Thief's engine is not purely pixel-bound, and the RTX 4090's massive bandwidth and compute resources allow it to handle the resolution increase more gracefully than a lesser GPU would.

The CPU's role becomes less significant as resolution rises, with the frame rate gap between settings narrowing. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 27 FPS; at 4K, it shrinks to 22 FPS. This indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU's ability to feed frames is the limiting factor, while at higher resolutions, the GPU's rendering workload dominates. The data shows that this combo is well-balanced for 1440p gaming, where the CPU and GPU contributions are more evenly matched, resulting in a 23 FPS spread between Low and Ultra.