Thief

Resolution Scaling

Thief's measured performance across the three tested resolutions — 3840x2160, 2560x1440, and 1920x1080 — reveals two distinct phases of behavior. At 1080p, the system is clearly able to push high frame rates, with the Low preset averaging 165 FPS and even the Ultra preset hitting 108. Moving to 1440p, the averages drop by a solid margin: Low falls to 134, Medium to 102, and High to 77. That 1440p row still feels responsive, but the gap from 1080p is not immense.

The real cliff appears when the resolution jumps to 4K. At 2160p, Low averages 79 FPS, Medium 60, High 46, and Ultra 43. The decline from 1440p to 4K is particularly sharp for the higher presets — Medium drops from 102 to 60, High from 77 to 46, and Ultra from 74 to 43. This pattern signals that the rendering workload at 4K overwhelms the GPU’s compute and memory bandwidth, while at 1080p the processor and memory have more headroom to push frames closer to the display maximum.

Interestingly, the scaling between Low and Ultra at each resolution isn't uniform. At 1080p, the spread between Low and Ultra is 165 to 108, a difference of only 57 FPS. At 1440p, the same spread is 134 to 74, a 60 FPS gap. At 4K, that spread is 79 to 43 — almost identical to the 1080p delta. So while the absolute frame rates drop, the relative impact of the graphics preset remains consistent. However, the presence of minimum frame data for the Medium preset in each resolution (51 min at 4K, 86 min at 1440p, 126 min at 1080p) suggests that frame timing consistency also gets tighter as resolution rises.

The additional weight of 4K Ultra, which yields only 43 FPS, makes it clear that the system is not designed to run Thief at maxed-out settings on a 4K display without compromising on preset or accepting a lower target. The 60 FPS barrier is hit exactly at Medium 4K (60 FPS) — but that exact number with a 51 FPS minimum makes it a borderline call for consistent smoothness.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 carries 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 624.6 GB/s. Its base clock is 1900 MHz, with a game clock of 2041 MHz and a boost up to 2459 MHz. That memory size and bandwidth are substantial for a 2014 title, yet the measured FPS at 4K suggests the GPU is still the primary bottleneck in this pairing. At 4K, even the Low preset averages 79 FPS, while the High preset yields only 46 — a drop of 33 FPS just due to preset changes. This large divergence indicates that texture quality, shadow resolution, or other GPU-dependent effects are heavily influencing the frame rate at that pixel count.

On the synthetic side, the GPU has a Passmark G3D score of 20974 and a G-mode 20974, but the GPU percentile of 58 versus all GPUs places it in the upper half, though not at the top. Its nearest competitors according to the database are the Radeon R9 370X (delta -0.1%), Radeon RX 9060 (delta -1%), Radeon Pro W5500 (delta +1.1%), and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (delta -1.7%). These small deltas mean that the RX 7700's performance profile is within about two percent of its closest rivals, so its its raw compute is adequate for this title, but the absolute frame rates still depend on the settings and resolution.

The GPU also comprises a 5 nm process (TSMC) with 28,100 million transistors, but that doesn't explain the game-specific results. In Thief, the GPU is clearly the limiting component at 4K and to a lesser extent at 1440p. At 1080p, the GPU does manage to hit over 100 FPS on Medium and above, but the remaining performance headroom beyond 165 FPS on Low is unused — that limitation is more likely to be the CPU or simply the engine's frame rate cap.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all measured CPU+GPU combinations in the Thief benchmark runs, this pairing holds rank 1701 out of 3720 tested combos. That places it in the upper half of tested systems, but not near the top end. The CPU itself has a percentile of 75 among all CPUs in the database, while the GPU sits at 58% among all GPUs. This discrepancy is telling: the processor is well into the high performance tier, but the GPU ranks noticeably lower. When combined in Thief, the result is a system that can sustain high refresh at 1080p and dip into the 60–80 FPS range at 1440p, but struggles at 4K.

The rank data implies that many other systems with different hardware outperform this pairing. For context, the CPU's nearest rivals in the average benchmark scores are the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H (0.1% higher), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U (-0.5%), Intel Core i7-11700 (-0.5%), and AMD EPYC 9554P (-0.6%). The GPU's nearest rivals are slightly off in opposite directions. That balance — a strong CPU with a mid-pack GPU — fits the slowdown we've observed at high resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The table below lists the average frame times and, for some presets, the minimum and maximum recorded values.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min | Max |

|---|---|---|---|---|

| 3840x2160 | High | 46 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 79 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 60 | 51 | 69 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 43 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | High | 77 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 134 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 102 | 86 | 117 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 74 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | High | 113 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 165 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 148 | 126 | 171 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 108 | — | — |

Key observations from the raw rows: the Ultra preset at 4Kp produces the lowest average 43 FPS, while the Low preset at 1080p is the fastest at 165 FPS. The only rows that include min/max frame times are the Medium settings, and they show a consistent pattern: at 4K the min is 51 FPS and the max 69, at 1440p the range is 86–117, and at 1080p the range is 126–171. That min-to-max spread widens at lower resolutions, likely reflecting more variable scenes, while at 4K the frame times stay tighter because the GPU is already submitted.

The absence of min and max values for the other presets in the source data prevents a full frame-time analysis, but the averages alone indicate that 1080p is the only resolution where every preset exceeds 100 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Where is the best place to set the graphics options based on the measured rows?

At 1920x1080, the user can easily choose Ultra and the system still averages 108 FPS. The difference between Ultra and High is only 5 FPS (113 vs 108), so running Ultra gives basically the same frame, with the extra eye candy at no meaningful penalty. The Medium row yields 148 FPS with a low of 126 and max of 171, which is smoother than Ultra but the 1080p High/Ultra are already above 100, so the difference in feel is negligible. The Low world dives at 165 FPS, but it would likely be too bare visually.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset yields 74 FPS, High 77, and Medium 102 (with an instrument 86–117). The jump from High to Ultra costs 3 FPS on average, so that's a free throw. If a stable 100+ FPS are desired, the Medium at 1440p is the best choice, but even at 77 FPS on High, the game is quite responsive.

At 4K, the choice is more constrained. The only preset that rings the classic 60 FPS average is Medium at exactly 60, but its min is 51 — so it will frequently dip below 60. At High, the average is 50 frames, and at Ultra it drops to 43. The Low preset is at 79, which is well above 60, but the visual sharpness at low quality is a steep compromise. Given the sampled data, the Medium 4K setting offers the best combination of "just over 60 average" and the only min/max data available, but 51 FPS min may be a matter of tolerance. Alternatively, obtaining 79 FPS on Low could be useful for smoothness on less demanding panels.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. It uses 32 MB of L3 cache, part of the 5000 series, and its 7nm Tesla. In Thief, at 1080p, the system develops an average of 165 FPS on Low and 148 on Medium. The game is not heavily multi-threaded (it's from 2014), so the CPU's strong single-core performance is more relevant. Scores for single-thread benchmark in the pack include a 3DMark Single Thread of 917 and a Geekbench single core of 1989. Those are above typical for its release period, supporting the idea that the CPU can keep up with the GPU at moderate resolutions.

The CPU's peak boost is rated at 4.60 GHz, and its number of cores and threads — 6C/12T — is adequate for a decade-old title. But at 4K, the frame rate drops disproportionately with the GPU, so the CPU is not the main limitation. At 1080p, when the GPU runs more idle at high FPS, the CPU's ability to issue draw calls becomes the only reasonable bottleneck, but there's no separate CPU frame rate measurement in the pack. The data does allow up to 165 FPS on Low, which would be a high refresh for any display from 2001.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 21771, with a percentile of 75 among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals show just a 0.1% or 0.5% difference in score, confirming it's a solid mid-range CPU, but not an elite model. This CPU is released in 2020, with a disclosed launch MSRP of $299, and its refresh rate of the game is clearly sufficient at 1080p and 1440p resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for the 4K Ultra preset in Thief?

A: The measured frame rate is 43 FPS for the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 resolution.

Q: At which resolution and setting does this combo exceed 600 FPS?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the system shows an average of 148 FPS. The only 60+ average at 4K is the 79 FPS on Low.

Q: Are there min/max frame times reported for any of the measured sets?

A: Yes, the Medium preset at each resolution includes min and max data. At 4KMedium min is 51, max 39, at 1440p min 86, max 117, and at 1080p min 126, max 171.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: In the average benchmark scores, the Ryzen 5 5600X is within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H, within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U, within 0.5% of the Intel Core i7-11700, and within 0.6% of the AMD EPYC 9554P. Its overall percentile is 75 among all CPUs.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 7700 is within 0.1% of the Radeon R9 370X, within 1% of the Radeon RX 9060, within 1.1% of the Radeon Pro W5500, and within 1.7% of the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in average benchmark score. Its percentile is 58.

Q: What is the job rank of this combo in Thief?

A: The custom rank is 1070 out of 3720 tested combos, continuously placing it in the upper-middle tier.