Thief

Thief, a 2014 stealth title, is analyzed here with the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080. The measured data reveals a combination that is heavily influenced by resolution, with the GPU becoming the primary constraint at higher settings. The benchmark results show a clear scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K, while the CPU's 8-core, 16-thread configuration provides ample headroom for the game's engine.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across the three tested resolutions shows a pronounced drop as pixel count increases, which is the expected behavior for a game of this era running on modern hardware. At 1080p with High settings, the combination produces 168 FPS. Moving to 1440p reduces this to 129 FPS, a decrease of 39 FPS. At 4K, the High preset yields 76 FPS, which is 92 FPS lower than the 1080p result. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 4080's rendering workload is the limiting factor, as the CPU is capable of feeding frames at a much higher rate at lower resolutions.

The scaling from Low to Ultra settings at each resolution further confirms the GPU-bound nature of the test. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 40 FPS (205 vs 165). At 1440p, that gap widens to 58 FPS (181 vs 123). At 4K, the gap becomes 59 FPS (131 vs 72). The increasing gap at higher resolutions suggests that the game's visual effects, which scale with the Ultra preset, place a heavier load on the GPU as pixel count rises. The data shows that the 4K Ultra result of 72 FPS is the lowest measured average, indicating that even a high-end GPU like the RTX 4080 is taxed by the combination of maximum settings and 4K resolution.

Interestingly, the scaling from 1080p to 4K is not perfectly linear. For High settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 39 FPS, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 53 FPS. This non-linear scaling suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput become more significant at 4K, where the 716.8 GB/s bandwidth of the RTX 4080 is utilized more heavily. The 4K Medium result of 100 FPS, with a minimum of 85 FPS, shows that reducing settings can restore playable frame rates, but the CPU's role remains constant across all resolution tests.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS for the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X with the RTX 4080 at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 165 FPS. This is the highest resolution/settings combination tested at 1080p, and it shows that the GPU is still able to deliver a high frame rate.

Q: How does the 4K High result compare to the 1440p High result?

A: At 4K with High settings, the average FPS is 76, while at 1440p with High settings, it is 129 FPS. This represents a 53 FPS drop when moving from 1440p to 4K, which is a 41% reduction in performance, highlighting the significant load that 4K resolution places on the GPU.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The benchmark data indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor. The FPS scales significantly with resolution, dropping from 205 FPS at 1080p Low to 72 FPS at 4K Ultra. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would remain more consistent across different resolutions, but the data shows a clear GPU-bound trend.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the entire test set?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 85 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. This is the only row in the measured data that includes a minimum FPS value, and it suggests that even at this lower preset, the frame pacing remains stable.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested hardware combinations?

A: The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 217th out of 3720 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the top 6% of all tested configurations, indicating that it is a high-performing setup for this game.

Q: What is the difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 205 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 165 FPS. This is a difference of 40 FPS, which shows that the Ultra preset's additional visual effects cost a significant amount of performance, though the overall frame rate remains high.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 4.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. In Thief, a game released in 2014, the CPU's role is to maintain a high enough frame rate to avoid bottlenecking the GPU. The data suggests that it succeeds in this role, as the FPS scales consistently with resolution, implying that the CPU is not the primary constraint.

The processor's cache configuration includes 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. This large L3 cache is beneficial for game workloads that require frequent data access. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19088 and a single-core score of 1987. In a game like Thief, which is not heavily threaded, the single-core performance is often more relevant. The single-thread score of 4190 in Passmark indicates that the 7700X has strong per-core performance, which helps ensure that the game's main thread can be processed quickly.

The CPU's 16 threads are more than sufficient for Thief, which was designed for systems with fewer cores. This means that the CPU is likely to be idle while the GPU is fully utilized. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combination achieves 205 FPS, which is a high frame rate that could potentially be limited by the CPU's ability to issue draw calls. However, the fact that the FPS drops to 131 at 4K Low suggests that the GPU's workload is the dominant factor, not the CPU. The Ryzen 7 7700X's memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s and support for DDR5 memory also contribute to its ability to feed the GPU with data, though the game's age means that memory bandwidth is less critical than in modern titles.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields 205 FPS, Medium yields 186 FPS with a minimum of 158 FPS, High yields 168 FPS, and Ultra yields 165 FPS. The frame rates are all above 165 FPS, which means that this combination is capable of driving high-refresh-rate monitors at 1080p with any settings. The gap between Low and Ultra is 40 FPS, which is notable but does not make the game unplayable at any setting.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops but remains solid. The Low preset achieves 181 FPS, Medium achieves 164 FPS with a minimum of 139 FPS, High achieves 129 FPS, and Ultra achieves 123 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is 58 FPS, which is a larger gap than at 1080p. This indicates that the GPU's workload increases more significantly with settings at 1440p. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 139 is still well above the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that this is a smooth experience.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more variable. The Low preset achieves 131 FPS, which is still high, but the Medium preset drops to 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 FPS. The High preset achieves 76 FPS, and the Ultra preset achieves 72 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 59 FPS, which is the largest gap across all resolutions. This shows that the Ultra preset at 4K places a significant load on the RTX 4080. The 4K Ultra result of 72 FPS is the lowest average in the dataset, but it is still above the 60 FPS threshold, making it playable on a standard 60Hz monitor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 217th out of 3720 tested combos in Thief. This means that it performs better than 3503 other combinations in the database, placing it in the top 5.8% of all tested systems. This high ranking is consistent with the hardware's specifications, as both components are high-end parts from their respective generations.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 35909 places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rivals being the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, which scores 35802, and the Intel Core 7 250H, which scores 35728. The 7700X leads these rivals by 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively. This indicates that the CPU's performance is competitive with other top-tier processors. The GPU's average benchmark score of 54247 places it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores 54209, a delta of 0.1%. This shows that the RTX 4080 is nearly identical in performance to its SUPER variant, with the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scoring 54828, 1.1% higher.

The high combo rank in Thief is a result of both components performing well in their respective roles. The CPU's strong single-threaded performance ensures that it does not bottleneck the GPU, while the GPU's high pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s allow it to handle the game's graphics workload efficiently. The rank of 217 out of 3720 suggests that there are only a few combinations that can deliver higher frame rates in this game, likely those with newer or more powerful GPUs.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 165 FPS, which is ideal for a 144Hz or 165Hz monitor. The High preset at 168 FPS is nearly identical, and the Medium preset at 186 FPS offers a slight improvement with a minimum of 158 FPS. For users with a 240Hz monitor, the Low preset at 205 FPS would be the best choice, though the visual quality loss may not be worth the 40 FPS gain over Ultra.

At 1440p, the High preset at 129 FPS is a good balance for a 144Hz monitor, as it is close to the refresh rate limit. The Ultra preset at 123 FPS is also viable, with a difference of only 6 FPS. The Medium preset at 164 FPS is the best option for a 165Hz monitor, as it exceeds the refresh rate with a minimum of 139 FPS. The Low preset at 181 FPS is unnecessary unless the user has a 240Hz monitor, as the visual quality reduction is significant.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 100 FPS is the recommended choice for a 100Hz or 120Hz monitor, as it provides a smooth experience with a minimum of 85 FPS. The High preset at 76 FPS is suitable for a 60Hz monitor, and the Ultra preset at 72 FPS is also playable but leaves little headroom for dips. The Low preset at 131 FPS is the only option that can drive a 120Hz monitor at 4K, but it does so at the cost of visual fidelity. The data shows that the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance at 4K, as it is the only preset that provides a minimum FPS above 60 while maintaining a high average.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a high-end graphics card based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. In Thief, the GPU's role is to render the game's scenes at various resolutions and settings. The data shows that the GPU is the primary performance limiter, as the FPS scales with resolution and settings in a manner consistent with GPU-bound workloads.

The GPU's clock speeds are 2205 MHz base and 2505 MHz boost, which are high for a graphics card. The RTX 4080 has 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster operations units. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s. In Thief, which was released in 2014, these capabilities are more than sufficient to handle the game's graphics, which are not as demanding as modern titles. The GPU's FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS is also high, though the game's engine is unlikely to utilize this fully.

The 16 GB of VRAM is more than enough for Thief, even at 4K with Ultra settings. The game's texture sizes are limited by its 2014 release date, so the GPU's memory capacity is not a limiting factor. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s is also sufficient for the game's data transfer needs. The RTX 4080's performance in Thief is demonstrated by the 4K Ultra result of 72 FPS, which is a playable frame rate. The GPU's benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 34457 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 6567, confirm that it is a high-performance card. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, has a similar average score of 54209, a delta of only 0.1%, which shows that the 4080 is at the top of its performance tier.