Thief

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 produces a clear performance curve in Thief. This combination sits at rank 1380 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in an upper-mid position of the benchmark database. The data shows a system that scales predictably with resolution, though the game’s age means even a mid-range modern GPU can push high frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep, predictable drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p Ultra, the system delivers 115 FPS. Moving to 1440p Ultra reduces that to 79 FPS, a 31% decrease. At 4K Ultra, the average falls to 46 FPS, which is 60% below the 1080p figure. This pattern indicates that at 1080p the workload is not fully saturating the GPU; the frame rates are high, but the scaling from 1080p to 1440p is not proportional to the pixel count increase (2.25x more pixels yields only a 31% FPS drop). The limiting component at 1080p is not the GPU, as the RTX 3070 has headroom. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with the frame rate dropping to a level that suggests the pixel throughput is now the primary constraint.

The Medium preset data provides the most complete picture, as it is the only setting with min and max FPS recorded. At 1080 Medium, the average is 159 FPS, with a min of 135 and max of 182. At 1440p Medium, the average is 109 FPS (min 92, max 125). At 4K Medium, the average is 64 FPS (min 54, max 74). The gap between min and max FPS widens slightly at higher resolutions—47 FPS at 1080p, 33 at 1440p, and 20 at 4K—indicating the frame pacing becomes more consistent as the GPU load increases. The overall trend shows the system is GPU-limited at 4K, but at 1080p and even 1440p, the CPU and memory subsystem may still be contributing to the frame rate results.

FAQ

Q1: What is the average FPS at 4K with Ultra settings?

A1: The average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 46 FPS. This is the lowest measured average across all tested configurations, and it is below the 60 FPS threshold usually considered smooth for action games.

Q2: How does the Low preset at 1080p compare to High at 4K?

A2: At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 188. At 4K High, the average is 49 FPS. This represents a 139 FPS difference, or a 74% reduction in frame rate, demonstrating the massive impact of resolution scaling in this game.

Q3: What is the best average FPS recorded for this combo?

A3: The highest average FPS recorded is 188, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that reaches near 200 FPS, and it is 29 FPS higher than the next best result.

Q4: Is the 4K Medium preset playable?

A4: The 4K Medium preset shows an average of 64 FPS, with a minimum of 54 and maximum of 74 FPS. This is the only 4K preset with min/max data, and the 54 FPS minimum suggests occasional dips, but the average is above 60 FPS.

Q5: Which resolution and settings produce the most stable frame times, based on min and max data?

A5: The Medium preset is the only setting with min and max FPS data. At 1080p, the spread is 47 FPS (135 to 182); at 1440p, the spread is 32 FPS (92 to 125); at 4K, the spread is 20 FPS (54 to 74). The 4K result shows the tightest range, meaning the frame times are most consistent when the GPU is heavily loaded.

Q6: How does the 1440p High average of 83 FPS compare to the 4K Medium average?

A6: The 1440p High preset averages 83 FPS, which is 19 FPS higher than the 4K Medium average of 64 FPS. The resolution drop from 4K to 1440p yields a 30% increase in frame rate, while moving from Medium to High settings at 1440p costs 26 FPS compared to the Medium preset.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070 is the primary driver of frame rates in Thief. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, running at 14 Gbps effective, provides a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s across a 256-bit bus. The GPU has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz. The 5888 shading units and 96 ROPs process the game’s geometry and effects. The GPU’s compute performance, measured at 20.31 TFLOPS FP32, is sufficient for a 2014 title like Thief, which does not demand the kind of ray tracing or high-precision compute that modern games do.

The GPU’s memory capacity is not a limiting factor in this game. Even at 4K Ultra, the average frame rate is 46 FPS, which is not indicative of a memory bottleneck, as Thief’s textures and geometry are modest by modern standards. The bus width and bandwidth are more than adequate. The benchmarks indicate the GPU performs well relative to its peers: the passmark_g3d score is 22214, and the 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score is 3162. The GPU’s percentile is 61, meaning it beats 61% of other GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (0.7% higher score) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (1% higher), are all within 1.5% of its average score, showing the RTX 3070 sits at a competitive performance tier.

The GPU’s clock behavior is steady, but the data does not provide direct in-game clock measurements. The boost clock of 1725 MHz is likely sustained during gaming, given the GPU’s 220W TDP and dual-slot cooling design. The game is not heavily loaded with modern effects, so the GPU can run at its maximum boost for most of the time. At 1440p and 1080p, the GPU is not the sole limiter, as the CPU can keep up, and the frame rates exceed 100 FPS, indicating the GPU is not at full utilization. At 4K, the GPU is the primary limiter, with the frame rates dropping to 46-84 FPS depending on settings, which aligns with the GPU’s compute and memory throughput limits.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data is provided for three resolutions and four settings: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. The Medium setting is the only one with min and max data, which provides additional insight.

1920x1080: The Low setting averages 188 FPS, which is the highest result in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 159 FPS (min 135, max 182). High averages 121 FPS. Ultra averages 115 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 73 FPS, meaning Ultra delivers 61% of the Low preset’s frame rate. The difference between Medium and High is 38 FPS, and High to Ultra is 6 FPS, indicating diminishing returns beyond High.

2560x1440: Low preset averages 143 FPS, Medium averages 109 FPS (min 92, max 125), High averages 83 FPS, and Ultra averages 79 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 64 FPS, which is a 45% reduction. Notably, the High to Ultra step is only 4 FPS, smaller than the Medium to High step of 26 FPS. This suggests the Ultra preset adds little visual improvement over High at this resolution.

3840x2160: Low averages 84 FPS, Medium averages 64 FPS (min 54, max 74), High averages 49 FPS, and Ultra averages 46 FPS. The Low to Ultra drop is 38 FPS, a 45% reduction. The Medium to High drop is 15 FPS, and High to Ultra is 3 FPS. At 4K, the Ultra preset is only 3 FPS lower than High, making Ultra nearly indistinguishable in performance from High.

Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset provides less than a 10% FPS improvement over High, while the Medium preset offers a substantial boost. The data shows that High settings are the best balance between visual quality and frame rate, as the Ultra preset does not justify its additional GPU load.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It has 32 MB of L1 cache and a 32 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU’s single-thread performance is strong, as evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 974 and its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3218. Its multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22799, indicates it can handle multiple threads, but Thief is a game that likely does not fully utilize all 12 threads.

The CPU’s role in this game is to process game logic, AI, and physics. The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rates are high enough that the CPU may be a bottleneck in certain scenes. The 188 FPS at 1080p Low suggests the CPU can feed the GPU with enough draw calls. However, the CPU’s performance relative to its rivals is tight: the nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-11850H, has an average score that is 0.1% higher, while the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is 0.2% lower. This indicates the CPU is not a standout performer, but it is adequate for this game.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, due to its dual-channel DDR5 memory support, is sufficient to feed the GPU and the rest of the system. The CPU’s PCIe Gen 5 interface provides a high-bandwidth connection to the GPU, but the RTX 3070 uses PCIe 4.0, so the extra bandwidth is not fully utilized. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.00 GHz is high, and the single-thread performance is strong, which is important for a game like Thief that relies on a main thread for game logic. The CPU’s performance percentile is 77%, which means it is faster than 77% of all CPUs in the database. This high single-thread performance helps maintain high frame rates at 1080p, but the GPU becomes the limiter as resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset provides the most stable experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium averages 159 FPS, which is more than enough for any display. At 1440p, Medium averages 109 FPS, a high frame rate that is still smooth. At 4K, Medium averages 64 FPS, which is just above 60 FPS and provides the best balance between visual quality and smoothness.

The High settings are also viable at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p, High averages 121 FPS, and at 1440p, it averages 83 FPS. However, at 4K, High averages only 49 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra settings are not recommended for 4K, as the average drops to 46 FPS, and the performance increase over High is minimal—only 3 FPS. At 1440p and 1080p, Ultra offers a small boost over High, but the cost in frame rate is significant at 4K.

The Low preset is only recommended for maximum frame rate, but it sacrifices visual quality. At 1080p, Low reaches 188 FPS, which is 29 FPS higher than Medium, but the visual difference is noticeable. The Medium preset is the best choice for most users, as it provides a frame rate that is 20% higher than High on average across resolutions, while retaining most of the visual features. At 4K, Medium is the only preset that stays above 60 FPS, making it the top recommendation for 4K displays.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1380th out of 3720 tested combinations in Thief. This places it in the 37th percentile of all combos tested, meaning it outperforms 63% of the combinations. The rank is influenced by the fact that Thief is an older game, and the GPU’s performance is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. The combo’s performance is strong, but it is not top-tier because the RTX 3070 is not the newest GPU, and the CPU is a mid-range part.

The data shows that the combo is more competitive at 1080p and 1440p than at 4K. At 1080p, the system delivers frame rates above 115 FPS on Ultra, which is excellent for a high-refresh display. At 1440p, the system still delivers above 80 FPS on High and Ultra. At 4K, the system dips below 60 FPS on high and Ultra, which is a limitation. The combo’s rank of 1380 indicates that while it is not a top 1000 combo, it is a solid performer that will handle most games at high settings, but it is not designed for 4K gaming with maximum settings. The GPU’s nearest rivals, such as the RX 7600 XT, have similar performance within 1%, but the combo’s rank is determined by the specific combination of CPU and GPU. The CPU’s high single-thread performance helps at low resolutions, but the GPU is the dominant factor at higher resolutions. Overall, this combo is a good match for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but it falls short at 4K with demanding settings.