Thief

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

The measured FPS data for Thief with the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti shows a clear pattern of scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 203 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 179 FPS, a reduction of 24 FPS. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 120 FPS. This progression from 203 to 179 to 120 FPS across the three resolutions represents a 41% decrease from 1080p to 4K at Low settings.

The scaling story becomes more pronounced at higher settings. At High settings, the averages are 166 FPS at 1080p, 118 FPS at 1440p, and 70 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K at High is 96 FPS, or roughly 58% lower. At Ultra settings, the numbers are 163 FPS at 1080p, 113 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. Again, the 4K figure sits about 60% below the 1080p figure.

These scaling patterns indicate that at 1080p, the system is likely not fully GPU-limited. The gap between Low (203 FPS) and Ultra (163 FPS) at 1080p is only 40 FPS, suggesting the CPU or some other bottleneck prevents the GPU from stretching further. At 4K, the gap between Low (120 FPS) and Ultra (66 FPS) widens to 54 FPS, showing that the GPU becomes the dominant limiter as pixel count increases. The data supports a shift from a more balanced workload at 1080p to a clearly GPU-bound scenario at 4K.

Medium settings provide the only rows with min and max FPS data. At 1080p Medium, the range is 156 to 211 FPS with an average of 183. At 1440p Medium, the range narrows to 132 to 179 FPS with an average of 155. At 4K Medium, the range is 78 to 105 FPS with an average of 91. The narrowing of the min-max spread at higher resolutions reinforces the interpretation that the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K, smoothing out frametime variance relative to the CPU-bound lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Thief?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 203, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 66, while at 1080p Ultra it is 163 FPS. The 4K result is 97 FPS lower, representing a roughly 60% reduction.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 Ti's 12 GB VRAM appear sufficient for Thief at 4K?

A: The data shows playable averages at all 4K settings, including 66 FPS at Ultra and 70 FPS at High. Since no VRAM-related stutters or failures are recorded in the measured rows, the 12 GB capacity appears adequate for this game at these settings.

Q: What is the only setting tier that includes minimum and maximum FPS readings?

A: Medium settings are the only ones with min and max FPS data across all three resolutions. At 1080p the range is 156-211, at 1440p it is 132-179, and at 4K it is 78-105.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations for Thief?

A: The combo ranks 315 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the top 8.5% of all tested combos for this game.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Low averages 179 FPS while Ultra averages 113 FPS, a difference of 66 FPS.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. Its base clock is 2310 MHz and the boost clock reaches 2610 MHz. The GPU has 7680 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. For Thief, a 2014 stealth title, the GPU's raw throughput capabilities are far beyond what the game requires at lower resolutions, which explains why 1080p results cluster in the 160-200 FPS range regardless of settings.

The memory subsystem consists of 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed. For a game released in 2014, this bandwidth is substantial, and the measured data shows no indication of memory bandwidth constraints even at 4K Ultra where the average stays at 66 FPS. The 12 GB capacity is more than sufficient for Thief's texture requirements at any of the tested settings.

The RTX 4070 Ti's FP32 performance is rated at 40.09 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 208.8 GPixel/s with a texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s. These specifications align with the observed scaling: at 4K, the GPU's pixel and texture throughput become the limiting factors, as evidenced by the larger FPS deltas between settings at that resolution. The GPU's percentile ranking versus all GPUs is 84, and its average benchmark score is 44795. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, scores 45152, a delta of -0.8%, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT scores 45384, a delta of -1.3%.

In Thief specifically, the GPU's role shifts from being partially idle at 1080p to fully engaged at 4K. The data shows that at 1080p, even lowering settings from Ultra to Low only gains 40 FPS, suggesting the GPU is not the sole bottleneck. At 4K, the same settings change yields 54 FPS, indicating the GPU now dominates the performance equation. The RTX 4070 Ti's TDP is 285 W with a suggested PSU of 600 W, and it uses a single 16-pin power connector.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the full set of measured averages is as follows: Low produces 203 FPS, Medium produces 183 FPS (with a min of 156 and max of 211), High produces 166 FPS, and Ultra produces 163 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 40 FPS. The Medium row's min-max range of 156-211 FPS shows that even within a single settings tier, frametimes vary considerably, likely due to CPU involvement at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 179 FPS, Medium at 155 FPS (min 132, max 179), High at 118 FPS, and Ultra at 113 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread grows to 66 FPS, a larger gap than at 1080p. The Medium min-max range narrows slightly to 132-179 FPS. The High and Ultra figures at 1440p are both above 110 FPS, indicating that this combo delivers smooth gameplay at this resolution across all settings.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop significantly: Low at 120 FPS, Medium at 91 FPS (min 78, max 105), High at 70 FPS, and Ultra at 66 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 54 FPS. The Medium range of 78-105 FPS is the tightest of any resolution, and the absolute values are notably lower. At 4K, Ultra and High both fall below 72 FPS, which may be a consideration for players seeking very high refresh rates, though the averages remain above 60 FPS.

Comparing across resolutions at each settings tier: Low goes from 203 to 179 to 120 FPS as resolution increases. Medium goes from 183 to 155 to 91. High goes from 166 to 118 to 70. Ultra goes from 163 to 113 to 66. The largest relative drop occurs between 1440p and 4K for the High and Ultra tiers, where FPS falls by roughly 40-42%. The smallest relative drop is at Low settings, where 4K still retains 60% of the 1080p performance.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti combination ranks 315 out of 3720 tested combos in Thief. This places the combo in the top 8.5% of all tested configurations for this game. The rank reflects the overall performance across the measured matrix, which includes all resolutions and settings tiers.

To contextualize this rank, consider the individual component standings. The CPU's average benchmark score is 27636, and it sits at the 79th percentile versus all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and Intel Core i5-12600K, both scoring 27578 with a delta of 0.2%, and the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE scoring 27712 with a delta of -0.3%. The GPU's average benchmark score is 44795, placing it at the 84th percentile versus all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, scores 45152 with a delta of -0.8%.

The combo rank of 315 out of 3720 is strong, but it is not at the very top. The data suggests that while both components are individually high-percentile performers, the combination yields a result that is good but not exceptional within the full test pool. The gap between this combo's rank and the top configurations likely stems from the fact that Thief is an older title, and newer GPUs or CPUs with higher single-thread performance may achieve higher FPS at lower resolutions where the CPU matters more.

At 1080p, where CPU load is relatively higher, the Ryzen 5 7600X's single-thread score of 1060 in 3dmark and 1965 in Cinebench R23 single-core contribute to the 200+ FPS results. The CPU's multithreaded scores, such as 15236 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 28390 in Passmark multithread, are less relevant for a game like Thief that likely does not scale across all 12 threads. The combo's rank reflects a balanced pairing where the GPU's 84th percentile standing and the CPU's 79th percentile standing combine for a top-9% overall result.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Examining the measured rows, the Medium preset stands out as the most consistent performer across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the average is 183 FPS with a range of 156-211. At 1440p Medium, the average is 155 FPS with a range of 132-179. At 4K Medium, the average is 91 FPS with a range of 78-105. The Medium tier is the only one that provides min and max data, suggesting it was the focus of the measurement methodology, but it also offers a strong balance between visual quality and framerate stability.

For players targeting 1080p, the Ultra preset at 163 FPS is nearly as fast as Medium's 183 FPS, and the gap to High at 166 FPS is minimal. The data shows that at 1080p, there is little reason to drop below High unless maximum framerates are desired, as the difference between High and Ultra is only 3 FPS. The Low preset at 203 FPS offers the highest headroom for very high refresh rate displays, but the visual trade-off is significant for a stealth game where lighting and shadows matter.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 155 FPS is the clear sweet spot for smooth gameplay on high refresh rate monitors. High at 118 FPS and Ultra at 113 FPS remain above 110 FPS, which is still smooth for most displays. The Low preset at 179 FPS is only 24 FPS faster than Medium, so the visual upgrade from Medium is likely worth the minor FPS cost. For 1440p, Medium or High would be the recommended settings based on the measured data.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 91 FPS is the only tier that exceeds 90 FPS, making it the best option for maintaining high framerates at this resolution. High at 70 FPS and Ultra at 66 FPS both stay above 60 FPS, which is playable, but the jump from Medium to High costs 21 FPS. The Low preset at 120 FPS is the only 4K option that clears 100 FPS, but again the visual compromise is substantial. For 4K, Medium provides the best balance of performance and quality per the measured rows.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 architecture with the Raphael codename. It uses a 5 nm process from TSMC, and its base clock is 4.70 GHz with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The CPU has a TDP of 105 W and supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth. Its L3 cache is 32 MB shared, with 64 KB of L1 and 1 MB of L2 per core.

For Thief, a game released in 2014, the CPU's single-thread performance is likely the most relevant factor. The Cinebench R23 single-core score is 1965, and the 3dmark single-thread score is 1060. These figures indicate strong per-core performance, which is critical for older game engines that may not utilize many threads efficiently. The CPU's boost clock of 5.30 GHz provides the high-frequency headroom that such engines benefit from.

The multithreaded scores, including 15236 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 13858 in Geekbench multicore, show that the 6-core/12-thread configuration is capable, but Thief's engine likely does not scale perfectly across all threads. The Passmark multithread score of 28390 and the 3dmark max threads score of 6845 confirm solid multi-threaded performance, yet the game's FPS results at 1080p suggest that single-thread performance is the more significant contributor.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 79 versus all CPUs and its average benchmark score of 27636 place it slightly below its nearest rivals in raw average score. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and Intel Core i5-12600K both score 27578 with a delta of 0.2%, while the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE scores 27712 with a delta of -0.3%. These small deltas indicate that the 7600X sits in a very tight performance band with its competitors, and for Thief specifically, the 5.30 GHz boost clock likely gives it a slight advantage in lightly-threaded scenarios.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel architecture and 83.2 GB/s bandwidth is another factor. Thief's data suggests that at 1080p, where the GPU is less stressed, the CPU and memory subsystem have a greater influence on the FPS ceiling. The 203 FPS at Low settings and 166 FPS at High at 1080p indicate that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU sufficiently, but the relatively small deltas between settings at this resolution point to some form of bottleneck, likely CPU or memory latency, that prevents the RTX 4070 Ti from reaching even higher framerates.