Thief

Thief, a 2014 stealth title, remains a demanding benchmark for modern hardware due to its aggressive use of ambient occlusion, volumetrics, and high-resolution textures. The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT processor and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics card produces a distinctive performance profile that shifts from GPU-bound at 4K to a more balanced state at 1080p. The data indicates that while the RTX 0 Ti provides a strong baseline, the Ryzen 7 4X's capabilities are enough to keep frame rates high at lower resolutions, though the game's older engine shows clear limits. Benchmark results show this combo ranks within the top tier of tested systems, placing it in a strong position for both high-refresh-rate gaming and ultra-high-resolution play.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rate data clearly shows how the performance burden shifts as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 173 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 153 FPS, and 4K Low is 124 FPS. This progression shows a scaling pattern where each higher resolution reduces the frame rate by about 11% to 19%, which confirms that at lower resolutions, the game is largely limited by the CPU's single-thread performance and the game engine's own logic. At 1080p Low, the average of 173 FPS indicates the CPU is nearing its limits, as the GPU is not fully utilized. The step from 1080p to 1440p is a 20 FPS drop, and from 1440p to 4K is a further 29 FPS. This is a substantial scaling that points to the GPU becoming more relevant at 4K, but the 124 FPS at 4K Low still shows that the CPU is a significant contributor.

The picture changes when settings are increased. At the High preset, the average FPS at 1080p is 142, at 1440p it is 121, and at 4K it is 71. The relative drop from 1080p to 1440p is 21 FPS (about a 15% reduction), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 50 FPS (a 41% reduction). This indicates that at 4K High, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, pulling the frame rate down from the CPU's potential. The 4K High result of 71 FPS is 50% slower than the 1080p High result, showing a more pronounced scaling penalty than at Low settings. This means that the RTX 0, which has 8960 shading units and a 256-bit memory interface, is heavily loaded by the 4K resolution and the higher settings' shader complexity.

The Ultra preset confirms this trend. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 140, just 2 FPS below the High preset. At 1440p Ultra, it is 116 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it is 68 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is a 21% drop, while from 1440p to 4K is a 41% drop. The 4K Ultra result of 68 FPS is just below the 70 FPS common target for smooth gameplay, but it is a playable average. This scaling suggests that the game's Ultra preset adds effects that are particularly demanding at higher resolutions. The GPU's 16 GB of memory and 896.0 GB/s bandwidth are not the limiting factor here, as the game is from 2014 and likely does not need more than 8 GB even at 4K. Instead, the 43.94 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is what is being stretched.

The CPU's role in this resolution scaling is evident when looking at the High settings, which are likely more CPU-intensive due to AI and physics. At 4K High, the 71 FPS is 51% lower than the 1080p High. However, the 4K Low result of 124 FPS is only 28% lower than the 1080p Low result of 173 FPS. This indicates that at Low settings, the CPU continues to be the bottleneck, and the GPU still has headroom, but at High settings, the GPU's workload is the main limiting factor at 4K. The RTX 0 Ti's boost clock of 2452 MHz and 280 texture mapping units are being fully used at 4K High, and the 235.4 GPixel/s pixel rate is also a key figure.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this CPU and GPU pair in Thief is 570 out of 3,720 tested combinations. This places it in the top 15.3% of all combos, which is a strong result for a game released in 2014. The rank of 570 out of 3720 indicates that the RTX 0 Ti, which is a high-end GPU, is held back by the CPU in some scenarios, but not to a large degree. The RTX 0 Ti's percentile vs all GPUs is 86, meaning it outperforms 86% of all GPUs. The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 81, meaning it outperforms 81% of all CPUs. When combined, their performance in this game is better than most, but not the absolute top.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 4H with an average score of 29868 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 7 5HS and 7HS with average scores of 29955 (both -0.3% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 5 5X with an average score of 29713 (0.6% delta). This shows that the Ryzen 7 4X is closely matched to these chips, with a performance difference of less than 1% against some of them. The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 with an average score of 50001 (delta -0.1%), the Intel Arc A550M with an average score of 49737 (delta 0.4%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT with an average score of 50951 (delta -2%). This shows that the RTX 0 Ti is within 2% of the RX 6900 XT, which is a notable point, as the 6900 XT is a previous generation high-end card.

In this game, the combo's rank of 570 out of 3720 means that it is faster than about % of the tested combos. This is a strong result for a game that is not necessarily optimized for modern hardware. The 4K Ultra result of 68 FPS and the 1440p Ultra result of 116 FPS are both above the 60 FPS threshold, which is a common target for smooth play. The 1080p Ultra result of 140 FPS is exceptionally high, showing that this combination can push the game to very high frame rates at lower resolutions. The data shows that this combo is not limited by the CPU in most cases, but the GPU is the primary factor at 4K Ultra.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 4X has 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. It is based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed "Vermeer", and uses a 7 nm process from TSMC. The CPU has 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and a 32 MB shared L3 cache. The memory support is DDR4, dual-channel, with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The CPU's performance in Thief is largely governed by its single-thread and multi-thread abilities. In the 3DMark tests, the CPU scores 959 in the single-thread test, 1879 in the 2-thread test, 3603 in the 4-thread test, 6141 in the 8-thread test, and 7680 in the max threads test. The single-thread score of 959 is high, which is important for Thief, as the game's main thread can be a bottleneck.

The CPU's boost clock of 4.80 GHz is the key factor for the high frame rates at 1080p. In Thief, the game code is not heavily multithreaded, so the 8 cores and 16 threads are not fully utilized. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 7683 is similar to the max threads score, indicating that the CPU scales well with multiple threads, but the game is not using them. The single-thread score of 959 and the 2-thread score of 1879 show that the CPU's single-thread performance is strong, which is why the 1080p Low result of 173 FPS is possible. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score is 3535, which is a high score, and the multiprocessor score is 28053.

The CPU's performance is also reflected in its Cinebench scores. In Cinebench R23, the multi-core score is 23794 and the single-core score is 3359. These scores are high, but the single-core score is what matters most for Thief. The CPU's boost clock of 4800 MHz is a 1 GHz increase over the base clock, which is a significant boost that helps in single-threaded games. The data shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor in Thief at any resolution, as the frame rates are high even at 4K. At 4K Low, the average FPS is 124, which is higher than the 4K High result of 71 FPS, showing that the CPU is not the bottleneck. The CPU's 16 threads are plenty for the game, and the 8 cores are more than enough. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s is also sufficient for the game, as the game's memory footprint is not large.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with the High preset?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with the High preset is 142 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank in Thief among all tested combos?

A: The combo ranks 570 out of 3720 tested combinations in Thief.

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with the Ultra preset?

A: The average FPS at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset is 68 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 1080p Low?

A: The data suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p Low, with an average of 173 FPS, which is the highest result across all settings and resolutions.

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

A: The minimum FPS at 2560x1440 with the Medium preset is 118 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 0 Ti's average benchmark score compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT?

A: The RTX 0 Ti's average benchmark score is 49957, while the RX 6900 XT has an average score of 50951, a delta of -2%.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 0 Ti is a high-end graphics card with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s. The card's base clock is 2295 MHz and boost clock is 2452 MHz. It has 8960 shading units, 280 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The RTX 0 Ti has a pixel rate of 235.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 686.6 GTexel/s. The card's FP32 performance is 43.94 TFLOPS. In Thief, the GPU's role is critical at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 68, which is a 5% drop from the 4K High result of 71 FPS. This shows that the Ultra preset is not much more demanding than High, but both are GPU-bound at 4K.

The GPU's 16 GB of VRAM is more than enough for Thief, even at 4K, as the game is older and does not use large textures. The 896.0 GB/s bandwidth is also adequate. The GPU's performance in Thief is limited by the engine's rendering techniques, which are not heavily optimized for modern GPUs. The GPU's 43.94 TFLOPS is a high compute throughput, but the game does not use many of the modern features such as ray tracing or DLSS. The GPU's boost clock of 2452 MHz is high, and the 8960 shading units are the main factor in the 4K performance. The 4K Low result of 124 FPS shows that the GPU has enough headroom at Low settings, and the bottleneck is the CPU. At 4K High, the GPU is the bottleneck, as the 71 FPS is only 57% of the 4K Low performance.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 49957, and it has a percentile vs all GPUs of 86. This means that the RTX 0 Ti is faster than 86% of all GPUs. The nearest rival, the RX 6900 XT, has an average score of 50951, which is 2% higher. The RTX 0 Ti is also compared to the RX 6800 XT, which has an average of 48477 (delta 3.1%), and the Intel Arc A550M, which has an average of 49737 (delta 0.4%). The GPU's performance in Thief is strong, but the game's old engine limits the GPU's ability to show its full potential, as the CPU can keep up at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the High preset at 1440p provides the best balance of visual quality and performance, with an average FPS of 121 and a minimum of 118 (measured at the Medium preset, which is similar). At 1080p, the High preset yields 142 FPS, which is very smooth, but the Ultra preset at 1080p is only 2 FPS lower at 140 FPS, making it a viable option for the highest quality. For 4K, the High preset is recommended, as it delivers 71 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 4K delivers 68 FPS, which is also above 60, but the difference is small, so High is the better choice for a more stable frame rate. The Low preset at 4K yields 124 FPS, but this is not recommended because the visual quality is too low for a game like Thief, which relies on its visual atmosphere. The Medium preset at 1440p provides 138 FPS, which is a good option for a balance of quality and speed. The data shows that the combination of the RTX 0 Ti and the Ryzen 7 4X is best utilized at 1440p, where the GPU is not the bottleneck and the CPU can keep up. At 1440p High, the average is 121 FPS, which is a very smooth experience. The best experience per the measured rows is at 1440p Medium, which has a minimum FPS of 118 and an average of 138, ensuring no stutter. At 4K Ultra, the average is 68 FPS with no minimum data, but it is likely to be above 60. The GPU's 16 GB of memory is not a concern, and the CPU's 8 cores are enough to keep the frame rates high. The recommendation is to use the High preset at 1440p for a solid 121 FPS, or the High preset at 4K for a 71 FPS experience. The Ultra preset is for players with 120 Hz monitors at 1440p, where it can reach 116 FPS. The data shows that the RTX 0 Ti is well-matched with the Ryzen 7 4X, but the game's age means that the CPU is the primary factor at 1080p, while the GPU is the primary factor at 4K. The best experience is to use a 1440p monitor and the High preset, which balances the load between the two components. The game's performance is not limited by the GPU's VRAM or bandwidth, but by the engine's single-threaded nature and the GPU's shader performance. The settings that give the best experience are those that keep the frame rate above 100 FPS at 1440p, which is possible with the High preset. The game's performance is stable, and the data shows that the combo is strong in Thief.