Thief

# Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data for Thief reveals a pronounced resolution scaling curve that tells a clear story about where this system's bottleneck shifts. At 1080p with Low settings, the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination delivers 180 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 135 FPS — a 25% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 79 FPS, which is a 56% drop from the 1080p figure. This steep decline across Low settings suggests the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises.

The pattern intensifies when examining higher quality presets. At High settings, the progression goes 114 FPS at 1080p, 78 FPS at 1440p, and 46 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result represents a 60% reduction from 1080p High. Similarly, Ultra settings show 108 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K — again a 59% drop from the lowest tested resolution. These consistent percentage declines across all settings presets indicate that resolution scaling is the dominant factor, with the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth being the likely constraints.

What's particularly telling is the Medium preset data, which includes minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 149 FPS with a range of 127 to 172. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 102 FPS with a range of 87 to 118. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 60 FPS with a range of 51 to 69. The minimum FPS values scale proportionally to the averages, which suggests no sudden frame-time spikes or stuttering at any resolution — the system degrades gracefully rather than collapsing.

The 4K Ultra result of 44 FPS average is worth examining closely. This is the only sub-45 FPS result in the entire dataset, and it indicates that the RTX 5060, with its 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 128-bit bus width providing 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, is being pushed to its absolute limit. The 4K High result at 46 FPS is nearly identical, which implies that beyond a certain threshold, additional pixel workload yields diminishing returns in frame rate — the GPU is saturated.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU may still be playing a meaningful role in frame delivery, particularly at Low settings where 180 FPS is achieved. The Ryzen 5 7400F's 6 cores and 12 threads, boosting to 4.70 GHz, are sufficient to feed the GPU at this level. However, the smooth scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K at every settings preset indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant constraint as resolution increases. There is no plateau or inversion point in the data that would suggest a CPU limitation at higher resolutions.

# FAQ

Q: What is the best FPS result achievable with this combo in Thief?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 180 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 149 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 135 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: How does the RTX 5060's memory configuration affect 4K performance?

A: The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. At 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 44 FPS average, and at 4K High it reaches 46 FPS. These are the two lowest results in the dataset, suggesting the memory subsystem is heavily taxed at this resolution.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7400F holding back the RTX 5060 at any resolution?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 180 FPS, which is the highest result across all tested configurations. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads with a 4.70 GHz boost clock appear sufficient to avoid bottlenecking at lower resolutions. The data shows no evidence of CPU limitation at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested combinations for Thief?

A: The combo ranks 1611 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the 57th percentile of all tested systems for this game.

Q: Which settings preset delivers the highest minimum FPS at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 shows a minimum FPS of 87 and a maximum of 118, with an average of 102. This is the only 1440p preset with reported minimum and maximum values.

Q: How much FPS is lost going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, 1080p yields 114 FPS while 4K yields 46 FPS — a reduction of 68 FPS, or approximately 60% lower performance at 4K.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is the clear performance driver in this combination, particularly at higher resolutions. Its specifications include a base clock of 2280 MHz and boost clock of 2497 MHz, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB206 chip. The GPU contains 3840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, along with 30 ray tracing cores and 120 tensor cores.

The memory configuration is notably compact: 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus, generating 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a modest memory subsystem for a card targeting 4K gaming, and the data reflects this limitation. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 44, and at 4K High it's 46 — barely above the threshold commonly considered playable. The gap between 4K Low at 79 FPS and 4K High at 46 FPS shows a 42% performance penalty for increasing quality settings at the highest resolution.

Interestingly, the RTX 5060's benchmark scores suggest strong raw compute capability. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3628, and its Passmark G3D score is 20891. The GPU's percentile ranking against all GPUs is 72, placing it above the majority of graphics cards. Yet in Thief at 4K, the 8 GB memory capacity appears to be a limiting factor, as the game's texture requirements at Ultra settings likely exceed what the memory bus can efficiently feed.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 19.18 TFLOPS and texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s are substantial, but these metrics don't translate into high 4K frame rates in Thief. The pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K (3840x2160, approximately 8.3 million pixels), the fill rate requirements become demanding. The data shows that the RTX 5060 handles 1440p exceptionally well — with 135 FPS at Low and 78 FPS at High — but 4K remains a challenge.

The card's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the AMD Radeon 860M, NVIDIA GeForce MX550, and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary, all within 0.8% of its average score. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is 1.2% behind. This competitive positioning suggests the RTX 5060 is a mid-range performer, which aligns with its measured Thief results showing strong 1080p and 1440p performance but limited 4K capability.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides 12 measured FPS points across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the results are: Low at 180 FPS average, Medium at 149 FPS average with a range of 127 to 172, High at 114 FPS average, and Ultra at 108 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 40% reduction in frame rate, from 180 to 108 FPS. This is a relatively modest penalty for increasing quality settings, indicating the GPU has ample headroom at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the results show: Low at 135 FPS average, Medium at 102 FPS average with a range of 87 to 118, High at 78 FPS average, and Ultra at 74 FPS average. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 45%, from 135 to 74 FPS. Notably, the difference between High (78) and Ultra (74) at 1440p is only 4 FPS, while the difference between Medium (102) and High (78) is 24 FPS. This suggests diminishing returns at the highest quality preset.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 79 FPS average, Medium at 60 FPS average with a range of 51 to 69, High at 46 FPS average, and Ultra at 44 FPS average. The Low to Ultra drop is 44%, from 79 to 44 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 4K is just 2 FPS, while the gap between Low and Medium is 19 FPS. This compression at the high end indicates the GPU is approaching its performance ceiling.

Comparing across resolutions, the Medium preset provides the most complete picture with min/max data. At 1080p Medium, the average is 149 FPS with a 45 FPS spread between minimum and maximum. At 1440p Medium, the average is 102 FPS with a 31 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the average is 60 FPS with an 18 FPS spread. The narrowing spread at higher resolutions suggests that frame delivery becomes more consistent as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, with less variance in rendering times.

The Ultra preset at 1080p achieves 108 FPS average, which is higher than the 4K Low result of 79 FPS. This cross-resolution comparison reveals that quality settings have a more significant impact than resolution alone in some cases. However, at 4K Ultra (44 FPS) versus 1080p Ultra (108 FPS), the resolution penalty is far more severe — a 59% reduction.

# How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination ranks 1611 out of 3720 tested combinations for Thief. This places the combo in the upper half of all tested systems, at approximately the 57th percentile. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component is severely mismatched for the game's demands.

To contextualize this ranking, consider that the CPU's percentile ranking against all CPUs is 83, placing it in the top 17% of processors. The GPU's percentile ranking against all GPUs is 72, placing it in the top 28% of graphics cards. The combo's game-specific ranking of 1611 out of 3720 (57th percentile) is lower than either component's individual percentile, which suggests that Thief may not be fully utilizing the strengths of this hardware combination.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores are the Intel Core i5-14600T (0.1% higher), Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (0.2% higher), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (0.2% lower), and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (0.3% higher). All of these processors are within 0.3% of the Ryzen 5 7400F's average benchmark score of 32750. This tight clustering indicates that the CPU is well-positioned among its peers, and any performance differences in Thief would be minimal.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 860M (0.3% lower), NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (0.3% lower), AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (0.8% lower), and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (1.2% higher). The RTX 5060's average benchmark score of 26331 places it in a competitive middle tier, and its Thief performance aligns with this positioning.

The fact that the combo ranks 1611 out of 3720 while both individual components rank in the 72nd to 83rd percentile suggests that Thief's engine may be more sensitive to certain hardware characteristics than others. The game's 2014 release date and stealth genre likely mean it responds more to single-threaded CPU performance and raw GPU fill rate than to multi-core scaling or advanced features.

# CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture with the Raphael codename. It operates on a 5 nm process node from TSMC, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. Its memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration, providing 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21765 and single-core score of 3072. Its Passmark multi-thread score is 25645, and single-thread score is 3689. These scores indicate a capable processor for gaming workloads, particularly given its 83rd percentile ranking against all CPUs.

In the context of Thief, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, especially at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 180 FPS, which is a demanding frame rate that requires solid CPU performance to feed the GPU. The Ryzen 5 7400F's boost clock of 4.70 GHz and single-thread performance of 3072 in Cinebench R23 are likely sufficient for this task.

At 4K resolutions, the CPU's influence diminishes further. The 4K Low result of 79 FPS and 4K Medium result of 60 FPS are primarily GPU-limited, as evidenced by the consistent scaling across resolutions. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than adequate for Thief's threading model, which is unlikely to fully utilize all available threads given the game's age.

The CPU's TDP of 65 watts and 6,570 million transistors on a 71 mm² die size indicate an efficient design. Its memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s via DDR5 is sufficient for gaming workloads, and the PCIe Gen 5 support with 24 lanes ensures no bottleneck in data transfer to the GPU. The CPU's launch MSRP of $229 positions it as a mainstream part, and its benchmark scores reflect this positioning.

Interestingly, the CPU's nearest rival in benchmark scores is the Intel Core i5-14600T, which scores 32707 versus the Ryzen 5 7400F's 32750 — a 0.1% difference. This near-equivalence suggests that in CPU-bound scenarios, the choice between these processors would yield nearly identical results in Thief.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, all settings presets deliver playable frame rates, with even Ultra achieving 108 FPS average. For players seeking the smoothest experience, the Low preset at 180 FPS is the clear choice, but the Medium preset at 149 FPS offers a strong balance between visual quality and performance, with a minimum of 127 FPS ensuring no drops below commonly accepted smoothness thresholds.

At 1440p, the Medium preset stands out as the best recommendation. It delivers 102 FPS average with a minimum of 87 FPS and maximum of 118 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while maintaining reasonable visual quality. The High preset at 78 FPS is also viable, but the jump from Medium to High costs 24 FPS (a 24% reduction), which may not justify the visual improvement. The Ultra preset at 74 FPS offers only marginal gains over High for a minimal FPS difference.

At 4K, the choices become more constrained. The Low preset at 79 FPS is the only configuration that consistently exceeds 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 60 FPS average, with a minimum of 51 FPS, sits right at the edge of playability — some players may find the occasional dips below 60 FPS noticeable. The High (46 FPS) and Ultra (44 FPS) presets are below the 60 FPS threshold and may not provide a satisfactory experience for most players.

The data suggests that the Medium preset provides the best overall experience at 1080p and 1440p, offering a balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 4K, the Low preset is the most practical choice for maintaining high frame rates, while Medium is acceptable for players who prioritize visual quality over frame rate consistency.

For players targeting 1440p as a sweet spot, the Medium preset at 102 FPS average is the recommended configuration. It provides a high refresh rate experience with only a 33 FPS penalty compared to Low settings. The minimum FPS of 87 ensures that even demanding scenes remain smooth. At 1080p, the Medium preset at 149 FPS average offers an excellent experience with a minimum of 127 FPS, making it unlikely that any frame rate drops would be perceptible.

The Ultra preset, while visually superior, offers diminishing returns across all resolutions. The difference between High and Ultra is consistently small — 6 FPS at 1080p, 4 FPS at 1440p, and 2 FPS at 4K. Given these minimal gains, the Ultra preset is difficult to recommend unless visual quality is the absolute priority and frame rate is secondary.