Thief

Resolution Scaling

The recorded data for Thief shows a clear and expected progression of frame rates as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average FPS moves from 113 at 1080p to 78 at 1440p, then drops to 46 at 4K. That is a 31% reduction moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 41% reduction moving from 1440p to 4K. The total loss from 1080p to 4K is approximately 59% of the original frame rate.

The scaling pattern across all four settings presets is consistent. Low settings show 162 FPS at 1080p, 134 FPS at 1440p, and 79 FPS at 4K. Medium settings show 146 FPS, 102 FPS, and 60 FPS respectively. Ultra settings show 108 FPS, 74 FPS, and 43 FPS. The relative drops are similar in magnitude across presets, which suggests the rendering workload scales with resolution in a fairly uniform way regardless of the quality level.

The interpretation of this scaling data points toward the GPU as the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The frame rate halves when pixel count roughly doubles from 1080p to 4K, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p, the frame rates are high enough across all settings (108 to 162 FPS) that the CPU, an AMD Ryzen 7 5700 with 8 cores and 16 threads, has ample headroom to feed the graphics card. At 4K, the GPU throughput becomes the bottleneck, and the measured FPS values compress into a tighter range between presets.

The delta between Low and Ultra settings grows as resolution decreases. At 4K, Low delivers 79 FPS while Ultra delivers 43 FPS, a spread of 36 FPS. At 1440p, the spread is 60 FPS (134 versus 74). At 1080p, the spread is 54 FPS (162 versus 108). The narrowing spread at 4K is further evidence that the GPU's raw pixel throughput is the binding constraint at that resolution, leaving less room for quality settings to influence the outcome.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT uses the Navi 22 chip on the RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding 432.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The base clock is 2150 MHz, the game clock is 2495 MHz, and the boost clock reaches 2600 MHz. The shading units number 2560, with 160 texture units and 64 render output units.

For a 2014 stealth title like Thief, the RX 6750 XT's specifications are far beyond what the game's engine would have been designed around. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is particularly relevant. Thief at 4K with Ultra settings still only requires enough memory to store geometry, textures, and shadow maps for a single scene, and the measured frame rates suggest the GPU is not running out of memory. The 43 FPS at 4K Ultra is a performance constraint, not a capacity constraint.

The memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s is ample for the data transfer demands of a game from this era. The 192-bit bus width combined with 18 Gbps effective memory speed provides sufficient throughput for the pixel fill rates required at 4K. The pixel rate of 166.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 416.0 GTexel/s are both strong figures that align with the measured 4K performance.

The GPU's benchmark position in the database shows a percentile ranking of 71 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26011. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 M395X at 25891 (0.5% behind), the AMD FirePro W7100 at 25856 (0.6% behind), the AMD FirePro D700 at 25842 (0.7% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile at 25740 (1.1% behind). These are all older or mobile parts, which indicates the RX 6750 XT sits comfortably above them in raw compute capability. The measured FPS in Thief aligns with this positioning: the GPU delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p across all settings, while 4K requires dropping to Medium or Low to maintain fluid motion.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combination in Thief?

A: The highest average FPS is 162, recorded at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Does the combination support 4K gaming in Thief?

A: Yes, but only at reduced settings. At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 60 with a minimum of 51, while 4K Low delivers 79 FPS. At 4K High and Ultra, the averages drop to 46 and 43 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in the database?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 has an average benchmark score of 25517. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon D-2752TER, scores 25530, which is 0.1% higher. The AMD Ryzen 5 7640U scores 25485 (0.1% lower), and the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H scores 25550 (0.1% higher). The AMD Ryzen 7 5825U scores 25446 (0.3% lower).

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 87, with a maximum of 117 and an average of 102.

Q: How does the GPU rank against its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The RX 6750 XT has an average benchmark score of 26011. The AMD Radeon R9 M395X scores 25891 (0.5% lower), the AMD FirePro W7100 scores 25856 (0.6% lower), the AMD FirePro D700 scores 25842 (0.7% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile scores 25740 (1.1% lower).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 113 at 1920x1080 to 46 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 67 FPS or approximately 59%.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 162 FPS. Medium settings average 146 FPS with a minimum of 124 and a maximum of 168. High settings average 113 FPS. Ultra settings average 108 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 54 FPS, and even the lowest recorded average at 1080p remains well above the 100 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but drops consistently. Low settings average 134 FPS. Medium settings average 102 FPS with a minimum of 87 and a maximum of 117. High settings average 78 FPS. Ultra settings average 74 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 60 FPS, the widest of any resolution tier. The minimum at Medium settings, 87 FPS, is still comfortably smooth for a stealth game.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to strain. Low settings average 79 FPS. Medium settings average 60 FPS with a minimum of 51 and a maximum of 69. High settings average 46 FPS. Ultra settings average 43 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra narrows to 36 FPS, confirming that resolution, not settings quality, is the dominant factor at this tier. The Medium preset is the only setting at 4K that maintains an average above 60 FPS while also providing a recorded minimum above 50 FPS.

The data shows no anomalies or irregular spikes. The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution is monotonic, meaning higher quality settings consistently produce lower frame rates. The minimum and maximum values recorded for Medium settings at each resolution show a reasonable variance range, with the 1080p Medium spread (124 to 168) being the widest and the 4K Medium spread (51 to 69) being the narrowest.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT holds a rank of 1714 out of 3720 tested combos in the database for Thief. This places the pairing in the upper half of all tested configurations, specifically in the 46th percentile of combos. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's 78th percentile position among all CPUs and the GPU's 71st percentile position among all GPUs.

The rank of 1714 suggests that while this combo is capable, there are 1713 other combinations that achieve higher frame rates in Thief. Given that the game is from 2014 and the hardware is from a much later generation, the rank is likely constrained by the game's engine limitations and the fact that many newer GPUs can push far higher frame rates at lower resolutions. The combo's position in the middle of the distribution indicates that it does not represent the top tier of Thief performance, but it is far from the bottom.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database, the Intel Xeon D-2752TER, AMD Ryzen 5 7640U, AMD Ryzen 5 6600H, and AMD Ryzen 7 5825U, all have average benchmark scores within 0.3% of the Ryzen 7 5700. This tight clustering means the CPU is unlikely to be the differentiator in the combo's rank. The GPU's nearest rivals, including the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile, are all within 1.1% of the RX 6750 XT's average score. The combination's rank of 1714 likely derives from the specific interaction of this GPU with this CPU in Thief's rendering pipeline, rather than from any single component being unusually weak.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for each resolution. At 1920x1080, all settings are playable, but Ultra delivers 108 FPS average, which is sufficient for smooth gameplay. The jump from High to Ultra costs only 5 FPS (113 to 108), making Ultra the reasonable choice for maximum visual fidelity at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, High settings deliver 78 FPS average, while Ultra delivers 74 FPS. The difference is small, and both are playable. Medium settings deliver 102 FPS, which offers a significant margin above the 60 FPS threshold. For players prioritizing frame rate stability, Medium at 1440p provides the best combination of visual quality and performance headroom, with a recorded minimum of 87 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the choices are more constrained. Ultra averages 43 FPS and High averages 46 FPS, both of which risk visible stutter in a stealth game where smooth camera movement matters. Medium averages 60 FPS with a minimum of 51 FPS, which is the best option for maintaining playability at 4K. Low averages 79 FPS but sacrifices most visual features. The Medium preset at 4K represents the optimal balance, as the recorded minimum of 51 FPS stays above the common 50 FPS playability threshold.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently shows the largest gap between its average and the minimum FPS, indicating that this setting has the most variable frame times. At 1080p Medium, the average is 146 with a minimum of 124. At 1440p Medium, the average is 102 with a minimum of 87. At 4K Medium, the average is 60 with a minimum of 51. The moderate settings allow the GPU to work within its comfort zone, and the measured data supports Medium as the most reliable preset for consistent frame delivery.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 is a 5000 series processor built on the Zen 3 architecture with the Cezanne codename. It has 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. The TDP is 65 watts. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 16 MB of L3. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

For Thief, a game released in 2014, the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads are far more than the game's engine can utilize. The benchmark data shows strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 20655, Passmark multithread scores 24303, and 3DMark 16-thread scores 6628. Single-thread performance is also solid, with Cinebench R23 singlecore at 2916 and 3DMark single-thread at 901. The Passmark single-thread score of 3296 indicates that even the lightly threaded workloads typical of a stealth game's AI and physics systems will not bottleneck this CPU.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 78 among all CPUs places it well above the GPU's 71st percentile ranking. This disparity suggests that in Thief, the CPU is less likely to be the limiting component than the GPU. The measured frame rates support this conclusion: at 1080p, the CPU can feed the GPU enough data to reach 162 FPS at Low settings, which is a very high frame rate for any game. At 4K, the CPU's headroom is irrelevant because the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the binding constraint.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database are all within a 0.3% delta in average benchmark score, which means the Ryzen 7 5700 is neither notably ahead nor behind its direct competition in general compute tasks. In Thief specifically, the measured FPS values are consistent with a CPU that has ample single-thread performance for the game's logic and enough multi-thread capacity to handle background tasks without interfering with frame delivery. The data indicates that upgrading the CPU would not yield meaningful FPS gains in this game, as the GPU is the component determining the frame rate at all tested resolutions and settings.