Thief

FAQ

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

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 83.7. This is the lowest of the four settings presets at that resolution, with Low delivering 153.2, Medium 120.9, and High 91.8.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5600X compare to its closest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600X has an average benchmark score of 20680. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT, scores 20740, which is a delta of -0.3%, meaning the 5600X trails by just 0.3%. The Intel Core i7-10700 also posts 20746, another -0.3% delta.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The memory clock is 1750 MHz, translating to 14 Gbps effective.

Q: What percentile does the GPU rank in among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti sits in the 69th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 25120, with nearest rivals like the AMD Radeon RX 6700M scoring 25180 (-0.2% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 scoring 25235 (-0.5% delta).

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

A: This combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ranks 1150 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. That places it in the lower-middle portion of the field, suggesting the game's engine is not fully utilizing this hardware's strengths.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU appear to be the limiting factor at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the FPS drops dramatically compared to 1080p across all settings. The data suggests the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at 4K, as the CPU's single-thread performance (3dmark_single_thread score of 917) remains constant while the GPU work scales with resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip on an 8 nm process from Samsung. It packs 4864 shading units, 152 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines. The boost clock runs at 1665 MHz, with a base clock of 1410 MHz. This hardware configuration delivers 16.20 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture rate of 253.1 GTexel/s.

The GPU's memory subsystem is critical for Thief's rendering demands. The 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo only achieves 36.9 FPS, while dropping to Low settings at the same resolution yields 64.6 FPS — a 75% improvement. This wide gap between settings at 4K indicates the GPU's shading and memory bandwidth are heavily taxed by higher-quality effects.

The RTX 3060 Ti's pixel rate of 133.2 GPixel/s and ROPS count of 80 directly influence fill-rate-bound scenarios. In Thief, which relies on complex lighting and shadow effects, these specifications matter. The data shows that at 2560x1440, High settings deliver 62 FPS, while Ultra drops to 58.2 FPS — a modest 6% penalty. This suggests that at 1440p, the GPU still has headroom for Ultra settings without catastrophic performance loss.

Interestingly, the GPU's passmark DirectX 11 score of 163 and DirectX 12 score of 78 reveal that Thief, a 2014 title, likely uses an older DirectX path that does not fully leverage the Ampere architecture. The RTX 3060 Ti ranks in the 69th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25120. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6700M, scores 25180 (-0.2%), while the Radeon RX 6600 posts 25235 (-0.5%). This places the 3060 Ti in a tight competitive cluster where small architectural differences determine performance.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X brings 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer codename) on a 7 nm TSMC process. Its base clock runs at 3.70 GHz with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, and it supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel interface delivering 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache.

For Thief, the CPU's single-core performance is particularly relevant. The 3dmark_single_thread score of 917 and Cinebench R20 single-core score of 1101 indicate strong per-thread throughput. The boost clock of 4.60 GHz helps in scenarios where the game's logic and physics threads are not well-parallelized. The passmark single-thread score of 3364 further confirms this capability.

The 5600X's multithreaded performance shows in the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 18578 and 3dmark_16_threads score of 5582. Thief, being a 2014 game, likely does not scale efficiently across all 12 threads, so the CPU's single-core strength is more indicative of real-world performance. The CPU ranks in the 78th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 20680. Its nearest rival, the Ryzen 5 5600GT, scores 20740 (-0.3%), while the Intel Core i7-10700 posts 20746 (-0.3%). This tight grouping means the 5600X is not leaving performance on the table relative to peers.

The CPU's TDP of 65 W and PCIe Gen 4 support with 20 lanes (CPU only) ensure it does not bottleneck the RTX 3060 Ti's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 153.2 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently at lower resolutions where GPU load is reduced. The data implies the CPU is not the limiting factor until frame rates exceed roughly 150 FPS in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Ryzen 5 5600X and RTX 3060 Ti ranks 1150 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the 70th percentile of all tested combinations, meaning roughly 30% of configurations perform better. Given that the CPU sits in the 78th percentile and the GPU in the 69th percentile individually, the combo's ranking suggests Thief's engine does not fully exploit either component's strengths.

The rank of 1150 out of 1642 reveals that many other hardware pairings achieve higher frame rates in this specific title. This could be due to Thief's age and its reliance on older rendering techniques that favor different hardware characteristics. The GPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6600, have similar average benchmark scores (25235 vs 25120 for the 3060 Ti), yet the combo ranking in Thief may differ based on driver optimizations and architectural quirks.

The data shows that this combo is not in the top tier for Thief, but it is also far from the bottom. The 1080p Ultra result of 83.7 FPS is respectable for a game from 2014, and the 1440p High result of 62 FPS indicates playable performance at higher resolutions. The combo's mid-pack ranking suggests that users seeking higher frame rates in Thief would need to look at GPUs with better raw throughput or CPUs with higher single-thread scores.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, all settings presets deliver playable frame rates, with Low at 153.2, Medium at 120.9, High at 91.8, and Ultra at 83.7. For a smooth 60+ FPS experience with visual quality, High settings at 1080p provide a strong balance, offering 91.8 FPS without the performance hit of Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the choice becomes more nuanced. Low settings yield 106.3 FPS, Medium 84.2 FPS, High 62 FPS, and Ultra 58.2 FPS. For 60+ FPS, High settings are the maximum viable option, while Medium provides a comfortable margin at 84.2 FPS. Ultra at 1440p drops below 60 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced stealth gameplay but is not ideal for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, only Low settings achieve a playable frame rate at 64.6 FPS. Medium drops to 49.8, High to 33.9, and Ultra to 36.9. For 4K gaming, the data strongly recommends Low settings, as anything higher results in sub-60 FPS performance. The 64.6 FPS at Low is the only 4K preset that clears the 60 FPS threshold.

The best experience per the measured rows depends on the user's priority. For maximum visual fidelity at playable frame rates, 1080p Ultra at 83.7 FPS is the recommended choice. For higher resolution, 1440p High at 62 FPS offers a good compromise. The data does not support 4K gaming above Low settings for this combo.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low settings deliver 153.2 FPS, Medium 120.9 FPS, High 91.8 FPS, and Ultra 83.7 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 45% drop in performance, from 153.2 to 83.7 FPS. This indicates that Thief's Ultra preset introduces significant rendering costs that impact the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 106.3 FPS, Medium 84.2 FPS, High 62 FPS, and Ultra 58.2 FPS. The transition from Medium to High costs 26% of the frame rate (84.2 to 62 FPS), while High to Ultra only costs 6% (62 to 58.2 FPS). This suggests that the High-to-Ultra jump is relatively inexpensive, while the Medium-to-High jump is more demanding.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 64.6 FPS, Medium 49.8 FPS, High 33.9 FPS, and Ultra 36.9 FPS. The data shows an anomaly where Ultra (36.9 FPS) slightly outperforms High (33.9 FPS) at 4K. This could indicate that the High preset uses different rendering paths that are less optimized at this resolution, or it may be within measurement variance. The 4K Low to Ultra scaling shows a 43% drop, similar to the 1080p scaling.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal important insights about the limiting component. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 153.2 at 1080p to 106.3 at 1440p (a 31% decrease) and then to 64.6 at 4K (a 39% decrease from 1440p). This consistent scaling indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the CPU's workload does not change with resolution.

At Ultra settings, the FPS drops from 83.7 at 1080p to 58.2 at 1440p (a 30% decrease) and then to 36.9 at 4K (a 37% decrease from 1440p). The similar percentage drops across different settings presets suggest the resolution scaling is uniform regardless of quality level. This is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering resolution directly impacts the GPU's workload.

The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution tested. The Ryzen 5 5600X's single-thread performance (3dmark_single_thread score of 917) remains constant across resolutions, yet the FPS scales consistently with resolution. This points to the RTX 3060 Ti's rendering throughput as the constraint. At 1080p with Low settings, the 153.2 FPS result suggests the CPU can push higher frame rates, but the GPU's ability to render frames at higher resolutions is the ceiling. The 4K Low result of 64.6 FPS confirms that even at the lowest quality preset, the GPU cannot maintain the high frame rates seen at 1080p.