Thief

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 presents a peculiar mismatch for Thief. The data shows a system where the CPU, a 6-core 12-thread part from the 5000 series with a 3.90 GHz base and 4.40 GHz boost clock, is expected to hold back a flagship GPU. The benchmark results, however, reveal that this combination still delivers playable frame rates across all tested settings, though the scaling patterns clearly expose the bottleneck dynamics at play.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the pattern is not uniform across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 157.8 at 1920x1080 to 113.7 at 3840x2160, a reduction of roughly 28%. At Ultra settings, the drop is more severe: from 124.6 at 1080p down to 77.6 at 4K, a 38% decrease. This divergence is a classic symptom of a CPU-limited scenario at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the CPU is likely the primary constraint, as the GPU has plenty of headroom to render frames quickly, capping out at 157.8 FPS. When the resolution increases to 4K, the GPU workload becomes more demanding, allowing the RTX 4090 to flex its muscles, but the frame rate still drops significantly.

The intermediate resolutions show a smoother transition. At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 114.6 FPS, which sits between the 1080p High result of 126.7 FPS and the 4K High result of 83.6 FPS. This linear progression suggests that at 1440p, the balance between CPU and GPU load is more even, but the system is still not fully GPU-bound. The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens with resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 33.2 FPS. At 4K, that gap shrinks to 36.1 FPS, but the relative performance loss from Low to Ultra is greater at higher resolutions. This indicates that the CPU is less of a limiting factor at 4K, allowing the GPU's performance characteristics to have a more pronounced effect on the final frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset is the clear winner, delivering 157.8 FPS at 1080p and 140.2 FPS at 1440p. These numbers suggest a responsive, fluid experience that is ideal for fast-paced stealth action. However, the visual compromise may not be worth it for a game like Thief, where atmosphere and lighting play a significant role in gameplay. The Medium preset offers a better balance: 138.6 FPS at 1080p and 125.7 FPS at 1440p. This represents a modest 12% performance hit compared to Low at 1080p, while presumably offering noticeably better visual fidelity.

The High preset is the sweet spot for most users. At 1080p, it still achieves 126.7 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1440p, it delivers 114.6 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Ultra preset, while offering the best visual quality, drops to 124.6 FPS at 1080p and 109.5 FPS at 1440p. The performance cost of Ultra over High is relatively small — about 1.7% at 1080p and 4.5% at 1440p — but the gap widens at 4K, where Ultra delivers 77.6 FPS compared to High's 83.6 FPS. Given that the 4K Ultra result is the only one below 80 FPS, and the visual difference between High and Ultra is often subtle, the High preset is the recommended choice for a consistent experience across all resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 5600G and RTX 4090 ranks 371 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the top 22.6% of all configurations tested, which is a solid result. The ranking is notable because the CPU is a mid-range part, while the GPU is a flagship. The data suggests that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting, but the CPU is not completely holding the system back. The Ryzen 5 5600G has a percentile of 78 among all CPUs, indicating it is better than most processors available. The RTX 4090 has a percentile of 91 among all GPUs. The combination of a slightly-above-average CPU and a top-tier GPU results in a strong overall ranking for this specific game.

The rank of 371 out of 1642 confirms the RTX 4090's ability to overcome CPU limitations in Thief. In more CPU-intensive scenarios, this combo would likely rank lower. However, for this game, the 6-core, 12-thread CPU with its 16 MB of L3 cache appears sufficient to feed the GPU at most settings. The only scenario where the CPU might be a clear bottleneck is at 1080p Low, where the 157.8 FPS result is likely near the CPU's maximum output.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full dataset provides a clear picture of performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 157.8 at Low to 124.6 at Ultra. The Medium setting lands at 138.6 FPS, and High achieves 126.7 FPS. At 2560x1440, the results are 140.2 FPS at Low, 125.7 FPS at Medium, 114.6 FPS at High, and 109.5 FPS at Ultra. Moving to 3840x2160, the frame rates drop to 113.7 FPS at Low, 104.1 FPS at Medium, 83.6 FPS at High, and 77.6 FPS at Ultra.

These numbers reveal a few key trends. First, the performance difference between Medium and High is surprisingly small at higher resolutions. At 4K, the gap is 20.5 FPS, but at 1080p, it is 11.9 FPS. This suggests that the High preset is not significantly more demanding than Medium, making it a better choice for visual quality. Second, the Ultra preset offers only a marginal improvement over High at 1080p and 1440p, but the cost is more pronounced at 4K. Third, the Low preset provides a significant FPS boost at all resolutions, but the visual compromise is substantial. The data indicates that the system is capable of maintaining over 100 FPS at 1440p on any preset, and over 77 FPS at 4K on any preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a 5 nm part with a 2235 MHz base clock and a 2520 MHz boost clock. It features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. These specifications are far beyond what Thief requires, and the benchmark results confirm that the GPU is rarely the limiting factor. The only scenario where the GPU might be stressed is at 4K Ultra, where the 77.6 FPS result suggests a heavy load. At 4K Low, the 113.7 FPS figure indicates that the GPU is still not fully saturated.

The GPU's 16,384 shading units and 128 RT cores are overkill for a 2014 stealth game, but they ensure that the system can handle any future titles. The 24 GB VRAM is also far more than needed, as Thief is unlikely to use more than a few gigabytes. The GPU's transistor count of 76,300 million and die size of 609 mm² highlight its massive compute capability, but in this game, the CPU is the primary bottleneck. The data shows that the RTX 4090 is capable of delivering high frame rates at 4K, but the Ryzen 5 5600G limits the maximum achievable FPS at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G is a Zen 3 architecture part with 6 cores and 12 threads. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65W TDP. The CPU's cache configuration includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a 16 MB L3 cache. These specs are modest by modern standards, and the benchmark results show that the CPU is the limiting factor in several scenarios.

At 1080p Low, the 157.8 FPS result is likely close to the CPU's practical limit for this game. The fact that the frame rate only increases by 17.6 FPS when moving from 1080p Low to 1440p Low suggests that the CPU is holding the system back at lower resolutions. However, the CPU's performance is still respectable. Its 3DMark single-thread score of 872 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2365 indicate a capable processor for gaming. The multi-threaded results, such as the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16758, show that the CPU can handle multi-threaded workloads, but Thief is not heavily threaded.

The CPU's 78th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it ahead of many older parts, but it is clearly outclassed by the GPU. The data suggests that the Ryzen 5 5600G is the weak link in this combination, but it is not a severe bottleneck. At 4K, the CPU's influence is reduced, allowing the GPU to deliver 83.6 FPS at High settings. This is a playable result, but the system would benefit from a more powerful CPU to fully utilize the RTX 4090's capabilities.