Thief

# Thief Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 7 9700F + AMD Radeon RX 7600

The measured frame rates for this AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 in Thief show a system that scales predictably across resolutions and settings, with the GPU emerging as the primary constraint at higher resolutions while the CPU's strong single-thread performance keeps 1080p frame rates high. The combination sits at rank 1978 out of 2851 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database, which is consistent with the GPU's 57th percentile standing among all GPUs and the CPU's far stronger 94th percentile among all CPUs. The data reveals a system where the graphics card limits performance at 4K, but at 1080p the processor's capabilities allow the GPU to stretch toward its full potential, producing frame rates that range from 86 FPS at Ultra to 156 FPS at Low settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At Low settings, performance falls from 156 FPS at 1920x1080 to 107 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 63 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 31% reduction moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another 41% reduction moving from 1440p to 4K. The total scaling from 1080p Low to 4K Low shows the frame rate dropping to roughly 40% of its starting value, which is a clear indication that the RX 7600's rendering throughput becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

At Medium settings, the pattern holds with 118 FPS at 1080p, 81 FPS at 1440p, and 48 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 31% and 41% respectively, nearly identical to the Low settings scaling. This consistency suggests the GPU is operating in a similar performance regime regardless of the modest settings change between Low and Medium. The High settings row shows 90 FPS at 1080p, 62 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K, with drops of 31% and 42%. Ultra settings produce 86 FPS at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K, with drops of 31% and 41%.

The uniformity of these scaling ratios across all four settings presets is notable. Whether the game runs at 156 FPS or 35 FPS, the relative drop from 1080p to 1440p hovers around 31%, and from 1440p to 4K around 41%. This pattern indicates that the RX 7600's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput scale linearly with resolution demands, and that the Ryzen 7 9700F is not introducing any CPU-side limitations that would flatten the curve at higher resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller percentage drops at 1080p where frame rates are highest, but instead the scaling remains consistent, pointing squarely at the GPU as the limiting component across the resolution range.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Thief?

A: The highest measured average is 156 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 118 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 107 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, only the Low preset achieves an average above 60 FPS, hitting 63 FPS. Medium averages 48 FPS, High averages 36 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS, so 60 FPS at 4K requires the Low preset.

Q: How large is the performance gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low averages 156 FPS while Ultra averages 86 FPS, a difference of 70 FPS. Medium sits at 118 FPS and High at 90 FPS, showing that the largest settings jump occurs between Low and Medium.

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures for Medium settings across resolutions?

A: The measured minimums for Medium are 101 FPS at 1920x1080, 69 FPS at 2560x1440, and 41 FPS at 3840x2160. These minimums correspond to average FPS values of 118, 81, and 48 respectively.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals in raw benchmark scores?

A: The RX 7600 has an average benchmark score of 15171, sitting 0.2% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM at 15199, and 0.7% below the AMD Radeon 680M at 15270. It outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro 560X by 0.6% and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti by 0.7%.

Q: What does the combo rank tell us about overall performance?

A: This CPU-GPU combination ranks 1978 out of 2851 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the 69th percentile of tested systems. The CPU ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 57th percentile, indicating the graphics card holds the combo back.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is built on the Navi 33 chip using RDNA 3.0 architecture with a 6 nm process from TSMC. It packs 13,300 million transistors across a 204 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 65.2 million per square millimeter. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1720 MHz, a game clock of 2250 MHz, and a boost clock of 2655 MHz. Memory runs at 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective speed across an 8 GB GDDR6 interface with a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Thief, the 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the resolution and settings tested, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate scaling without any sudden drops that would indicate memory swapping. The 128-bit memory bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth appear to be the throughput limiter at 4K, where the pixel fill requirements stress the memory subsystem. The GPU's 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s, and the 128 TMUs provide a texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute rated at 21.75 TFLOPS.

The GPU's benchmark results show a PassMark G3D score of 16634 and a PassMark GPU compute score of 8790. In DirectX 11, which Thief uses, the PassMark score is 172, while DirectX 12 scores 58 and DirectX 10 scores 84. The GPU's percentile standing of 57 among all GPUs places it in the middle of the performance distribution, and its average benchmark score of 15171 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with the RTX 3050 OEM just 0.2% ahead. The RX 7600's 21.75 TFLOPS FP32 performance suggests ample compute headroom, but the measured frame rates in Thief indicate that memory bandwidth and ROP throughput constrain performance at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 156 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 118 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 136 FPS, providing a smooth experience with no frame rate drops below the triple-digit threshold. High settings average 90 FPS, and Ultra settings average 86 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 1080p is only 4 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset adds effects that the GPU can handle without significant additional cost at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain playable but show clear degradation. Low settings average 107 FPS, which is still above 100 FPS and represents a 31% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings average 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 FPS and a maximum of 93 FPS, keeping the experience above 60 FPS for the majority of gameplay. High settings average 62 FPS, just barely clearing the 60 FPS threshold, while Ultra settings average 59 FPS, dipping slightly below. The High to Ultra gap at 1440p is 3 FPS, similar to the 1080p difference.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. Low settings average 63 FPS, which is the only 4K preset to exceed 60 FPS. Medium settings average 48 FPS with a minimum of 41 FPS and a maximum of 55 FPS, providing a playable but not smooth experience. High settings average 36 FPS, and Ultra settings average 35 FPS, both of which fall below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 1 FPS, indicating that the GPU is saturated and additional settings changes have minimal impact on performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that Medium settings offer the best balance of visual quality and performance across all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 118 FPS average with a 101 FPS minimum, providing a smooth experience that stays well above the 60 FPS threshold even during demanding scenes. At 1440p, Medium averages 81 FPS with a 69 FPS minimum, which maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. At 4K, Medium averages 48 FPS, which is not ideal but represents the highest quality preset that remains playable.

For users targeting 60 FPS as a minimum standard, High settings at 1440p deliver a 62 FPS average, though the lack of a measured minimum for that preset means frame dips could occasionally fall below 60. At 1080p, High settings at 90 FPS average provide ample headroom, and even Ultra at 86 FPS maintains a solid margin. At 4K, Low settings with 63 FPS average is the only option for 60 FPS gameplay, and the jump from Low to Medium at 4K costs 15 FPS, which is a significant penalty for the modest visual upgrade.

The data indicates that Medium is the sweet spot for this combination. It provides a 31% improvement over High at 1080p, a 30% improvement at 1440p, and a 33% improvement at 4K, while the visual difference between Medium and High in Thief is typically less pronounced than the performance delta suggests. For players prioritizing frame rate above all else, Low settings at 1080p deliver 156 FPS and at 1440p deliver 107 FPS, both of which are excellent for high-refresh-rate displays. Ultra settings are only recommended at 1080p, where the 86 FPS average still provides a playable experience, but the 4 FPS gain over High is minimal.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a Zen 5 architecture processor from the Granite Ridge codename family, built on TSMC's 4 nm process with 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die. It features 8 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, drawing 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth, along with PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes.

In Thief, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p where frame rates reach 156 FPS at Low settings. The PassMark single-thread score of 4691 and multithread score of 36470 indicate strong processing capability, with the CPU ranking in the 94th percentile among all CPUs. The nearest rivals in CPU benchmark scores are the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX at 69875 (0.2% difference), Intel Core i7-14700KF at 70163 (-0.2% difference), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X at 69515 (0.7% difference), and Intel Core i7-14700K at 69355 (0.9% difference). This places the 9700F in a competitive position among high-end desktop processors.

The CPU's boost clock of 5.50 GHz is critical for Thief's frame rate ceiling at 1080p. The game's engine benefits from high single-thread performance, and the 9700F's ability to maintain high clocks on one or two cores ensures that the GPU is not starved for draw calls or physics updates. However, the consistent resolution scaling pattern discussed earlier indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution tested. Even at 1080p Low with 156 FPS, the frame rate is likely GPU-limited rather than CPU-limited, as evidenced by the smooth scaling curve when resolution increases. The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads provide ample processing headroom for Thief's stealth gameplay mechanics, AI routines, and level streaming, none of which appear to create CPU-side stalls in the measured data.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 ranks 1978 out of 2851 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the CPU's strong 94th percentile standing, but it reflects the GPU's more modest 57th percentile position. The RX 7600's average benchmark score of 15171 places it in a tight cluster with the RTX 3050 OEM (15199, 0.2% higher), Radeon Pro 560X (15082, 0.6% lower), Radeon 680M (15270, 0.7% higher), and GTX 660 Ti (15063, 0.7% lower). This grouping shows that the GPU is competitive with mid-range offerings but does not have the raw performance to push the combo higher in the rankings.

The rank of 1978 out of 2851 means that roughly 69% of tested configurations outperform this pairing in Thief. Given that the CPU is clearly capable of supporting higher frame rates, as demonstrated by the 156 FPS result at 1080p Low, the GPU is the limiting factor in the combo's overall ranking. The data suggests that pairing the Ryzen 7 9700F with a more powerful GPU would yield significantly better rankings in Thief, as the CPU's 94th percentile performance would not constrain a faster graphics card at 1080p or 1440p. The current combo's ranking is driven almost entirely by the RX 7600's mid-pack GPU performance, and the measured frame rates at 4K confirm that the graphics card cannot maintain high frame rates at that resolution regardless of the CPU's capabilities.