Thief

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers a commanding performance in Thief, with benchmark results showing that even the most demanding settings remain comfortably playable. This combination of an 8-core, 16-thread Zen 4 processor with 96 MB of shared L3 cache and NVIDIA’s flagship Ada Lovelace GPU creates a system where frame rates are consistently high across all tested configurations.

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

The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a desktop processor built on the Zen 4 architecture, code-named Raphael, and fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This CPU’s defining characteristic is its large 96 MB shared L3 cache, which provides a significant advantage in games that benefit from high-capacity, low-latency data access. The processor’s TDP is 120 W, and it supports DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s.

In terms of synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29149 and a single-core score of 4115, indicating strong all-around performance. Its Geekbench multicore score is 15101, with a single-core score of 2725. These numbers place the CPU in the 87th percentile compared to all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 31580. The nearest rivals are the Intel Core i7-12700F (average score 31543, deltaPct 0.1), AMD Ryzen 9 5980HX (31495, deltaPct 0.3), AMD Ryzen 7 8700G (31407, deltaPct 0.6), and AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX (31402, deltaPct 0.6). The Ryzen 7 7800X3D holds a marginal lead over these alternatives, ranging from 0.1% to 0.6% in average score.

For Thief, a 2014 stealth title, the CPU’s role is primarily to maintain high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios, such as complex AI routines and physics calculations. The benchmark data shows that at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system reaches 181.3 FPS average, while at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, it drops to 78.7 FPS. The spread between the lowest and highest settings at 1080p is 29.6 FPS (from 181.3 to 151.8), suggesting that the CPU can keep up with the GPU’s output even at lower resolutions where the graphics card is less stressed. The 3DMark single-thread score of 959 and multi-thread scores ranging from 1887 (2 threads) to 7980 (16 threads) show that the processor scales well with thread count, though Thief’s engine likely does not utilize all 16 threads effectively.

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

The measured FPS data across three resolutions and four quality presets provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience. At 3840x2160, the High preset delivers 86.3 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 78.7 FPS. The Medium preset offers 109 FPS, and Low reaches 137.4 FPS. Given that High is only 7.6 FPS below Medium, the jump from Medium to High is relatively small compared to the visual uplift, making High the most balanced choice at 4K for those prioritizing image quality without sacrificing smoothness.

At 2560x1440, the performance delta between presets narrows considerably. High yields 134 FPS, Medium 146.5 FPS, Low 161.4 FPS, and Ultra 132.9 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is just 1.1 FPS, which is negligible in practice, so Ultra is the recommended preset at this resolution since it provides the maximum visual fidelity with essentially no frame rate penalty. The data shows that at 1440p, the GPU has enough headroom to run the heaviest settings while staying well above 130 FPS.

At 1920x1080, all presets exceed 149 FPS, with Low at 181.3 FPS, Medium at 168.5 FPS, High at 149.7 FPS, and Ultra at 151.8 FPS. Interestingly, High is slightly slower than Ultra (149.7 vs 151.8 FPS), which may indicate that the High preset has an unusual configuration or that the differences are within measurement variance. Regardless, Ultra is the recommended preset at 1080p because it delivers the best visuals with a 151.8 FPS average, which is more than sufficient for a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors. The overall pattern suggests that for this combination, the Ultra preset is viable at all resolutions, with the only caveat being the 78.7 FPS result at 4K, which is still playable for a stealth game.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K Ultra settings for this CPU/GPU combo?

A: The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 78.7. This is the lowest result across all tested configurations, but it remains above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 7800X3D compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 7800X3D has an average benchmark score of 31580, placing it in the 87th percentile. It outperforms the Intel Core i7-12700F by 0.1%, the AMD Ryzen 9 5980HX by 0.3%, and the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G and AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX each by 0.6%.

Q: Does increasing resolution from 1080p to 4K significantly impact performance?

A: Yes, the data shows a substantial drop. At Ultra settings, the average FPS goes from 151.8 at 1920x1080 to 132.9 at 2560x1440, and finally to 78.7 at 3840x2160. This represents a 73.1 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K Ultra.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking compared to all tested graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks in the 91st percentile with an average benchmark score of 66473. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (deltaPct -0.4), NVIDIA Tesla P40 (deltaPct 0.5), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (deltaPct -0.9), and NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (deltaPct -1.3).

Q: Is the Low preset at 1440p faster than the High preset at 1080p?

A: Yes, the Low preset at 2560x1440 achieves 161.4 FPS average, which is 11.7 FPS higher than the High preset at 1920x1080 (149.7 FPS). This indicates that the GPU is strong enough to handle a higher resolution with lower settings more effectively than a lower resolution with higher settings.

Q: What is the combined rank of this CPU/GPU combo in Thief?

A: This combination ranks 108th out of 1642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the top 6.6% of all tested systems.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination achieves a rank of 108 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the top 6.6% of all systems. This high ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows that the system can handle even the most demanding preset at 4K with an average of 78.7 FPS. The combo’s performance is particularly strong at lower resolutions, where it exceeds 130 FPS at 1440p Ultra and 151 FPS at 1080p Ultra.

The CPU’s contribution to this ranking is evidenced by its 87th percentile standing among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 31580. Its 96 MB L3 cache likely provides a tangible benefit in Thief, which involves navigating dense environments with numerous interactive objects. The GPU’s 91st percentile ranking, with an average score of 66473, further solidifies the combo’s position. The GPU’s 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth ensure that no texture or geometry data becomes a bottleneck, even at 4K resolution.

When compared to other combos in the database, this system’s 108th rank out of 1642 indicates that while there are 107 faster combinations, the vast majority of systems (93.4%) fall below this performance level. The gap between this combo and the top-ranked systems is likely due to factors such as CPU overclocking or alternative GPU configurations, but the data shows that the 7800X3D and RTX 4090 form a highly capable pairing for Thief. The consistency of frame rates across presets—from 78.7 FPS at 4K Ultra to 181.3 FPS at 1080p Low—demonstrates that this combo offers a wide performance envelope suitable for various display configurations.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the flagship of the GeForce 40-series, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with memory clocked at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). Its massive 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die enable 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, along with 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores. The card’s FP32 performance is rated at 82.58 TFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s.

In Thief, the GPU’s role is to handle the game’s lighting, shadows, and texture rendering, which are critical for a stealth title. The measured FPS data shows that the RTX 4090 scales predictably with resolution: at High settings, the average FPS drops from 149.7 at 1080p to 134 at 1440p and 86.3 at 4K. The 24 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Thief’s textures, even at 4K Ultra, where the game’s memory footprint is unlikely to exceed 8 GB. The GPU’s benchmark scores reinforce its dominance: it achieves a Passmark G3D score of 38194 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 317684, placing it in the 91st percentile overall.

The GPU’s nearest rivals, based on average benchmark score, are the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66733, deltaPct -0.4), NVIDIA Tesla P40 (66127, deltaPct 0.5), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67097, deltaPct -0.9), and NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (67320, deltaPct -1.3). The RTX 4090’s average score of 66473 sits between these professional-grade cards, but its gaming-oriented features, such as DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4, make it better suited for Thief. The benchmark results indicate that the GPU is not the limiting factor in this combo; even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains 78.7 FPS, which is well above the playable threshold. The combination of high VRAM bandwidth and a large memory pool ensures that the GPU can handle any texture streaming demands without stutter, contributing to the smooth frame times observed across all settings.