Thief

The performance data for Thief, a 2014 stealth title, shows a system built around the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 that can deliver high frame rates at every tested resolution, though the exact outcome depends heavily on the preset. The combo ranks 644 out of 3,720 tested combinations, placing it well ahead of the typical paired hardware. At 1080p, the system is rarely limited by anything, hitting 140–203 FPS depending on settings. Moving to 4K cuts those numbers dramatically, but even the demanding Ultra preset remains at 56–59 FPS, indicating a mostly GPU-driven bottleneck as pixel count escalates. This article breaks down how each component influences Thief's frame rate, examines the exact measured values, and recommends presets based purely on the observed results.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking pattern in the data is the consistent, steep drop in average frame rate as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average FPS goes from 147 at 1080p to 101 at 1440p and then to 59 at 4K. That is a reduction of 46 frames between 1080p and 1440p, and a further 42 frames when stepping up to 4K. The same shape appears across all presets: Low at 1080p runs 203 FPS, then 174 at 1440p, then 103 at 4K; Medium runs 183–132–78; Ultra runs 140–96–56. The scaling is not perfectly linear, but the direction is unambiguous: Thief is heavily resolution-bound at these settings. The drop from 1080p to 1440p reduces the frame rate by about 42% on High, and the 1440p to 4K step adds roughly another 41% reduction. This amplitude indicates that, for this old title, the critical factor is the GPU's pixel throughput rather than CPU or memory bandwidth, because the frame rate declines in step with the pixel count that the RTX 4070 must fill.

Even at 4K, the gap between presets is large and instructive. Low and Medium at 4K go from 103 FPS to 78 FPS, a 25 FPS difference, while Medium to High is only 19 FPS, and High to Ultra is only 3 FPS. The close spacing between High and Ultra at 4K (59 vs 56) suggests that Ultra is adding very minor quality features that cost little on this GPU. The most interesting number is the minimum FPS recorded: Medium at 4K has a min of 66 and max of 89, with an average of 78. Ultra at 4K has no min/max values, but the average of 56 already sits below the 60 FPS threshold that many users would prefer. The 4K preset hierarchy on this harness runs from a fast, fluid 103–110 FPS at Low down to a still playable, but not perfect, 56 FPS at Ultra. In practical terms, the resolution scaling for this combination makes the difference between a 60-Hz monitor being acceptable and a 120-Hz screen being irrelevant.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is equipped with 6 cores and 12 threads, which is a modern mid-range desktop configuration. The base clock is 4.70 GHz and the boost reaches 5.30 GHz, numbers that are far higher than what a 2014-era game expected when it was titled. Thief, being released in 2014, has a threading model that rarely benefits from more than a few cores. The 6-core/12-thread design running at those high clocks should be more than sufficient for the game’s main loop, and the data confirms that the CPU is not the binding constraint at most tested settings. For example, at 1080p Low, the system still reaches 203 FPS average. That value is far beyond a typical 60 Hz display and demonstrates that the Ryzen 5 can compute the game’s simulation, AI, and physics processes at a high rate. The fact that the CPU is rated at button/79% of all processors place it in the upper range of tested CPUs, but the relevant point is that Thief is not a CPU‑stress game relative to this chip.

The cache hierarchy from the fact pack helps explain the chip’s agility: it has 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. A game like Thief with moderate scene complexity can fit a good portion of its hot data in the 32 MB L3, reducing the need for constant system memory calls. The CPU’s dual-channel DDR5 interface, capped at 83.2 GB/s, is also ample for a 2014 title. What stands out more is the benchmark evidence: the CPU scores 30th percentile or 79 in the all-CPU percentile, and its closest rivals like the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and Intel Core i5‑12600K are within a 0.2% average score difference. Virtually all the tested CPU arithmetic, from Cinebench R23 multi‑core at 15,202 points to single-thread at 1,965 points, indicates a very capable processor for the era. Yet when we look at Thief’s measured frames, the CPU never appears as the gated factor: the FPS at 1080p Low is 203, and at 1080p Ultra it is 156. The gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution is noticeably smaller than the gap between 1080p and 1440p, reinforcing that the core engine is GPU-certain rather than CPU-na.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 brings the Ada Lovelace architecture and a full AD104 chip. It has 5,888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. The boost clock goes to 2475 MHz, with a memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) over a 192‑bit bus. That bus yields a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s, which is generous for a game that hasn’t yet been upgraded to ultra-high-bandwidth textures. The GPU also sits at the 81st percentile in the all-AGPU list, a strong standing among all tested graphics cards. And it is exactly the GPU that decides the outcome when the resolution is raised. For instance, the RTX 4070’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is enough for Thief’s texture sizes, and the data shows that the card can maintain a 100+ FPS average at 4K on Low (103). That is a direct consequence of the GPU’s fill rate being pushed to high pixel throughput.

The derivative results also illuminate how the GPU behaves with more shading work. At Ultra settings, Thief appears to increase draw distances and shader effects, and the frame rate on RTX 4070 falls from Average 59 at 4K Ultra to 56 at 4K Ultra. The difference is only 3 FPS, meaning Ultra is not costly. Instead, the pixel count scale constitutes the main pressure. This is visible precisely in the Medium preset’s min/max values, which show a relatively stable frame rhythm (e.g., 156–211 min‑max at 1080p), suggesting the GPU is mostly output shaped by resolution. The RTX 4070’s 5888 shading units are the workhorse; for a 2014 game, even the more expensive texture and ambient occlusion passes are easily handled by 5,880 units. In effect, the measured FPS chart for this GPU shows a modern middle‑range card that can smash a 2014 title as long as the resolution matches its capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 644 out of the 3,720 tested combinations, this pairing performs well above the middle. That places the Ryzen 5 7600X + RTX 4070 at the 644th fastest combination for Thief. In a small number of 3,720, the top 17% of all configurations beat it, but it is still ahead of the rest of the group. The fact pack also includes the GPU’s baseline rank of 81 and CPU rank of 79, so the combined rank being 644/3,720 is consistent with a high‑end pairing: CPU and GPU are both near the top of their individual categories, and the combination inherits that level of performance. When compared against the nearest CPU rivals, the Ryzen 5 7600X has a score that is within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X, and within 0.2% of the Intel Core i5‑12600K. None of those chips would likely have a very different frame rate in Thief—the difference is dominated by the GPU—but the overall combo ranking still reflects the strong underlying hardware. The 6‑7% advantage in attributes from the CPU alone cannot fix an older engine’s dependency on raw CPU power, but with a modern six‑core CPU, the CPU is not an obstacle.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The captured data covers every combination of three resolutions at four quality presets. For each row, the measured average FPS is provided, and for the Medium preset at all resolutions, the minimum/maximum FPS are explicitly recorded. The entire set is provided below:

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

| 3840x2160 | High | 59 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 103 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 78 | 66 | 89 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 56 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | High | 101 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 174 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 132 | 113 | 152 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 96 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | High | 147 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 203 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 183 | 156 | 211 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 140 | - | - |

The medium preset at 1080p has the highest minimum FPS (156) and a maximum of 211, giving an average of 183. At 1440p, Medium shows 113–152 with a 132 average, and at 4K, Medium runs 66 at the low end and 89 at the high end, averaging 78. These min/max data are valuable for assessing frame pacing: a 66 FPS floor at 4K Medium means the system is very likely to stay above 60 FPS overall, while 1080p Medium’s 186 minimum ensures no stutter. In contrast, the Ultra preset at 1080p is 140 average, but no min/max information is listed for that setting, so we cannot draw a solid minimum FPS conclusion. Likewise, the High preset at 4K is 59, just below 60, and the Low preset at 1080p hits 203, which is about fastest. For the 3840x2160 High, the average of 59 is well below the 78 at Medium, meaning the qualitative difference between Medium and High at 4K is noticeable not only in visuals but also in raw speed. The data also shows that the game scales nearly linearly with pixel count; 1080p has roughly 2.3x the pixels of 1440p, and that corresponds to a 1440 adv drop from 174 to 101 at Low, a 203 to 173 at Low—the scaling is consistent with the GPU being the primary bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

If the target is a smooth experience on this hardware, the recommended preset is Medium. At 4K, Medium averages 78 FPS,which is above the 60 FPS block, and the variance (66–89) indicates that most dips stay in the playable range. In the other resolutions, Medium produces high numbers: 183 at 1080p, 132 at 1440p. Those are comfortable for 100+ Hz m&ons. The Low preset gives even higher reliability — at 4K it can hit 103, which can be far above a 60 Hz Medium's typical needs, but Low will sacrifice visual polish in shadows and lighting. If the user insists on maximum visual quality, Ultra at 1080p still gives an average of 140, which is great. Ultra at 1440p also reaches an average of 96, above the 60 threshold. However, Ultra at 4K is risky. The measured average is 59 FPS, which is exactly the edge of the 60 FPS limit; without a locked frame cap or variable refresh rate, a user may occasionally feel dips. Given that Medium at 4K is already 78 and delivers close to visual fidelity at Medium, the clear recommendation is to use Medium if the display is 4K or 1440p and to use Utility at 1080p if partial, or Medium for higher frame smoothness. The presence of Low and Medium presets at 4K (103 and 78 FPS) show that turning settings down aggressively unlocks high refresh, so the most effective wise cooperation according to the measured rows is to target the 60–70 FPS margin.

FAQ

Q: What is the best v-bit setting for 4K gaming with this combination?

A: Medium delivers an average of 78 FPS with a minimum of 66, which keeps the frame rate above the 60 FPS typical target. Ultra at 4K only reaches 56-59 average, so Medium offers a noticeable higher stability with only a small decrease in settings.

Q: How far does medium‑range setting allow 4K to go?

**A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 103 FPS, Medium averages 78 FPS, High averages 59 FPS, and Ultra averages 56 FPS. Only Low and Medium provide an average above 60 FPS among all presets.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck in Thief with the 5600 7600X?

**A: The CPU does not appear to be a limitation. Even at 1080p High, the average FPS is 147, and at 1080p Low it is 203, showing the system can reach very high framerates. The heavy 4K FPS drops correspond to the GPU workload, not the processor.

Q: At what resolution does the RTX 4070 still maintains 100 FPS average?

**A: At 1920x1080, the Low, Medium, and High presets all break the 100 FPS mark, with averages of 203, 147, and 140 (High/Ultra respectively). At 2560x1440, only the Low preset (174) and Medium (132) exceed 100; the Ultra preset averages 96.

Q: What is the difference between the High and Ultra presets in the measured data?

**A: The data shows that at the same resolution, Ultra is not significantly slower than High in Thief. At 4K, High averages 59 FPS and Ultra 56 FPS; at 1440p, High averages 101 and Ultra 96; at 1080p, High averages 147 and Ultra 140. The difference is only between 3 and 17 FPS, making it a relatively safe option when the GPU has headroom.

Q: How does this combo rank relative to other tested combinations?

A: The combination ranks 644th out of 3,720 tested combos in Thief. That placed its above the majority of possible pairings, and the combination of a high-percentile CPU (79th percentile) and high-percentile GPU (81st percentile) explains the strong showing.