Thief

The 2014 stealth title Thief presents a distinctive scaling challenge: pairing AMD's six-core Ryzen 5 5600G with the top-tier NVIDIA RTX 4080 yields a dataset that shows both a powerful CPU and a very fast GPU. The measured FPS numbers, captured across four graphics presets and three resolutions, reveal that the RTX 4080 handles most of the computational load, while the Ryzen 5 5600G can deliver high frame rates without becoming the limiting factor.

Resolution Scaling

The most direct way to read the frame rate data is to follow a single preset as resolution rises. At the High preset, average frame rates at 1920×1080 are 172 FPS, at 2560×1440 they fall to 110 FPS, and at 3840×2160 they drop to 58 FPS. At Medium settings the same pattern appears: 227 FPS at 1080p, 145 FPS at 1440p, and 77 FPS at 4K. Low settings show the largest headroom, with 281 FPS at 1080p, 193 FPS at 1440p, and 103 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset yields 126 FPS at 1080p, 81 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K.

This scaling pattern is typical of a game that quickly saturates the GPU at higher pixel counts. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 35–45 FPS across settings, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is even larger. For example, High falls from 162 to 110 to 58: the 1440p‑to‑4K step costs more than the 1080p‑to‑1440p step. That stronger decline at 4K indicates the RTX 4080 becomes more heavily resource‑bound. The engine, released in 2014, does not have a particularly modern rendering pipeline; its reliance on fixed‑function shadow and lighting effects puts the pressure on the GPU rather than the CPU, making the GPU the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The measured Medium row at 4K shows a minimum of 66 FPS and a maximum of 89 FPS, reminding us that even at 4K the data is not entirely smooth—a ninth of the frame time can exceed the refresh rate of many monitors.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G belongs to the 5000 series, based on the Zen 3 architecture (Cezanne codename) and built on TSMC’s 7nm node. It has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 65 W TDP fits a standard desktop socket AM4. The chip contains 16 MB of L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 per core alongside 64 KB L1 per core. Its integrated Radeon Vega 7 graphics are far less capable than the dedicated GPU in this test, but the CPU itself is capable in its own right.

Synthetic benchmarks for the 5600G place it at the 74th percentile of all CPUs, with a Cinebench R23 multi‑core score of 10,551 and a single‑core score of 1,409. The nearest rivals, based on average benchmark score, are the Intel Core i3-1220P, which it beats by 0.1%, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V, which is 0.1% faster. This tight grouping indicates that the Ryzen 5 5600G is roughly on par with many modern mobile and mid‑range processors, albeit behind by only a fraction.

In Thief, a game that launched in 2014 and generally relies on two to four threads, the 5600G’s 6‑core design is more than sufficient. With a 3DMARK‑8‑thread score of 4,694 and a PassMark multi‑thread score of 19,717, the processor keeps up with the GPU’s demands. At 1080p, where the GPU is under less load, the CPU manages to feed enough data to sustain an average frame rate of 281 FPS at Low settings. Even at 4K Ultra, the CPU still produces a playable 43 FPS. The CPU’s single‑thread performance, as indicated by Geekbench 1,801 and Cinebench R23 single‑core 1,409, is sufficient to avoid providing a governor at any measured settings. The compute‑style benchmarks (PassMark integer math 67,344, floating point 37,800) also show that the CPU can handle the physics and AI work in Thief, which is not thread‑hungry.

Because the 5600G delivers such high frame rates—time to the point where the GPU becomes the bottleneck—there is little CPU‑caused stutter. The 3DMark single‑thread score of 872 and multiple‑thread scores (8‑thread 4,694, max 5,455) indicate the chip can feed the RTX 4080 well at all tested quality settings. An emerging question would be whether a slower CPU could cause frame drops at 1080p, but the 5600G’s PassMark single‑thread score of 3,177 and 74th percentile rank suggest it would remain far from the switch.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a Ada Lovelace‑architecture GPU with 16 GB GDDR6X memory on a 256‑bit bus, providing 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. It has 9,728 shading units, 304 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 76 RT cores, and 304 Tensor cores. The memory clock is 1,400 MHz effective at 22.4 Gbps, and the GPU boosts to 2,505 MHz. Its TDP is 320 W, and it draws from a single 16‑pin connector.

GPU benchmarks put it at the 86th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 54,247 places it just 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. The nearest competitor on that side is a desktop card, the AMD Radeon W5700, 1.1% lower, while lower next step is the AMD RX 6750 GRE 12GB at 2.6% behind.

In Thief, the RTX 4080 massively overdelivers. At 4K Ultra, it averages 43 FPS, which is low for a high-refresh experience, but at 4K High it hits 58 FPS, and at 4K Medium it sits at 77 FPS. At 1440p and 1080p, the GPU is barely stretched; it delivers 281 FPS at 1080p Low and 172 FPS at 1080p High. The GPU’s memory capacity and bandwidth are overkill for a title with 2014 graphics. The heavy GPU saturation comes from the engine’s lighting and occlusion algorithms, which are highly pixel‑dependent.

The GPU’s architecture also includes features like 76 RT cores and 304 tensor units, but Thief is a DirectX‑9 era game that does not make use of ray tracing or DLSS. The performance therefore is driven by raw rasterisation throughput. The RTX 4080’s fill rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s are high enough such that the limiting factor at 4K is more the GPU’s compute-based lighting in certain scenes than its pure pixel output. The measured data confirms the GPU is the scaling component when resolution rises.

FAQ

Q: What is the measured average FPS at 3840×2160 with the High preset?

A: The average frame rate is 58 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded for that row. The Medium preset at 4K provides a measured minimum of 66, a maximum of 89, and an average of 77.

*Q: Does the RTX 4080 lead to a higher average across all resolutions in Thief?*

A: Yes. The highest average comes from 1080p Low at 281 FPS, with 1440p High at 110 FPS and 4K High at 58 FPS showing the trend of decreasing frame rates. The lowest recorded average is 43 FPS at 4K Ultra.

Q: Which resolution in the data yields the most consistent frame times?

A: According to the measured rows, the 2560×1440 Medium preset has a Wineter Range: minimum 123, maximum 167. At 4K Medium, the min/max range is larger (66–89), while at 1080p Medium it is 193–261.

Q: Does this CPU show a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: No. At the 1080p preset, the average frames range from 172 (High) to 281 (Low). The RTX 4080 can push frames, but the CPU keeps up; the gaps between presets are rather large, proving the GPU is the limiting factor. Legacy CPUs would likely show a much tighter gap.

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

A: The specific rank is 327 out of 3,720. That puts this configuration in the top one‑tenth of all combinations tested, according to the database.

Q: Which settings offer the highest playable FPS at 4K?

A: For 4K, the Ultra preset gives avg 43 FPS, High gives 58 FPS, Medium gives 77 FPS, and Low gives 103 FPS. The Medium setting may be the sweet spot for smooth play, while Ultra may need a lower resolution or GPU update.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo is assigned a rank of 327 out of 3,720 overall. The computed rank places the pair significantly above the median combination. The percentile for the CPU is 74%, while the RTX 4080 sits at 86% of all GPUs. A rank of 327 means this pairing provides more FPS than the vast majority of tested configs. Because the Ryzen 5 5600G is a mid‑range CPU and the RTX 4080 is upper‑end, the expected high frame rate comes primarily from the GPU. The CPU enough, but the GPU base is large. The data confirms that for Thief, the Ultrawide config beats most other combinations due to the powerful GPU and the CPU maintaining a strong single‑threaded score. Based on the measured FPS, the combo is capable of a fluid 4K experience with adjusted settings, while 1440p High reaches 107 FPS, making it a top performer for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rate array contains 12 distinct results, all recorded with no external modifications. The data is measured, not simulated.

• 1920×1080 (1080p)
• Low: 281 avg FPS
• Medium: 227 avg, min 193, max 261
• High: 172 avg FPS
• Ultra: 126 avg FPS

• 2560×1440 (1440p)
• Low: 193 avg FPS
• Medium: 145 avg, min 123, max 167
• High: 110 avg FPS
• Ultra: 81 avg FPS

• 3840×2160 (4K)
• Low: 103 avg FPS
• Medium: 77 avg, min 66, max 89
• High: 58 avg FPS
• Ultra: 43 avg FPS

At 1080p, all settings exceed 126 FPS, which is high enough for any high‑refresh monitor. At 1440p, even Ultra reaches 81 FPS, and the highest setting gives 193 FPS on Low. At 4K, Ultra drops below 60 FPS, and I record 58 FPS on high. The Medium row across all resolutions includes the only min/max data, and indicates that even an RTX 4080 cannot hold a perfectly constant frame rate at 4K: the 66–89 range shows a 23‑FPS variation.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured rows, the best settings for a 60‑class experience depends on the resolution:

• 1080p: All four presets run above 126 FPS. Ultra is max quality, and its 124 FPS average is smooth. If the monitor supports 240 Hz, Low at 280 FPS is best, but Quality helps remain high. For the best visual/performance balance, Medium (192 fps) or High (172 fps) hitting high frame with better anti‑aliasing.
• 1440p: 1440p High gives 110 FPS, which is generally excellent. Ultra at 80 FPS is still smooth but lower in the lower frame rate. For those wanting to play at 4K frame pacing, Medium at 192 or 145 FPS is best; High virtual tip.
• 4K: The target of 60+ FPS is only achieved with Medium (77 FPS) or Low (103 FPS). High averages 58 FPS, usually playable (near 60), while Ultra 43 is not fluid. Therefore, for 4K the Medium preset is the sweet spot—its min of 66 FPS means the lowest dip still stays above 60, and the average 77 FPS provides headroom. Low gives even more FPS but may overly sacrifice visual quality; in a stealth game with few moving objects, the visual quality is important, so the balance ends at Medium.

For all cases, the data points recommend Medium as the most consistent producer for a 60+ FPS experience across all three resolutions, particularly when considering min‑FPS values are only available there. At 4K, Medium yields a margin of ~1 FPS over the 60 floor, while High home falls below. In summary: 1080p High, 1440p High, 4K Medium.

This configuration’s strengths—CPU beef, GPU™ heft—are harnessed by the preselection of Medium on 4K, High on 1440, and can push to Ultra on 1080.