Thief

Thief, a 2014 stealth title, rewards fast mid-range hardware, and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER pairing proves comfortably playable through most of the resolution ladder. The data shows 171 FPS at 1080p Low but only 38 FPS at 4K Ultra, which points squarely at the GPU as the limiting component at high resolutions while the CPU handles the low-setting load easily. The measured frame-times, benchmark percentile, and rival deltas combine to make this a well-balanced 1080p to 1440p machine that loses steam before 4K Ultra with the RTX 2070 SUPER.

Resolution Scaling

Thief's resolution scaling is severe with this combo, and the numbers make the cause obvious. At 1080p Low the average FPS is 171, while 2560×1440 Low still delivers 118 and 3840×2160 Low only 69. Medium settings see 130 at 1920×1080, 89 at 2560×1440, and 52 at 3840×2160. The High preset goes from 99 at 1080p to 68 at 1440p and then to 40 at 4K. Ultra is the most punishing: 94 FPS at 1080p, 65 at 1440p, and just 38 at 4K. The climb from 1080p to 1440p cuts frame counts by roughly a third across the board, and the next climb to 4K cuts them almost in half again, generally consistent with the extra pixel fill rate needed rather than any CPU stall.

The steep drop from 1440p to 4K on every preset — going from solid mid-range numbers to sub-50 territory — is a classic GPU-limitation signature. A CPU bound would show more resilient FPS when increasing resolution, but the nearest recorded frame counts (69 FPS to 40 FPS on High, 52 to 38 on Ultra) indicate the RTX 2070 SUPER simply cannot maintain the same throughput at 3840×2160. Resolution scaling in Thief therefore behaves as a predictable GPU pressure test: present at 1080p and 1440p, then sharply punishing at 4K.

For players prioritizing smoothness, the 1440p class is clearly the sweet spot for this combination. At High settings the average is 68 FPS, at Medium 89, and even Ultra stays at 56, which is perfectly playable. The 1080p data supports even higher headroom, with a 130 FPS average on Medium and 94 on Ultra. The observed 4K data indicates a different story: the GPU runs out of arithmetic headroom once the pixel count reaches 3840×2160, and only the Low preset (around 70 FPS) remains responsive.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER in this pairing is based on the TU104 chip with 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, and it carries 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus reaching 448.0 GB/s. The core clocks are 1605 MHz base and 1770 MHz boost, while the memory operates at 1750 MHz (listed at 14 Gbps effective), and the GPU has a TDP of 215 W. It scores a 18169 in PassMark G3D and a 7557 in PassMark GPU Compute, sitting in the 65th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The launch MSRP for this card is 499 USD.

Looking at the measured frame distribution, the GPU becomes the general limiting factor precisely where the resolution rise pushes it past its stay. In 4K Medium, average clocks only 57, yet low-end sustained frames are recorded at 45 with a peak of 60; in 4K High, the average falls to 40; and in 4K Ultra average is now 38. These lower-40 to 38 results show the chip at its limit given a 9.06 TFLOPS FP32 rating and a 113.3 GP/s pixel raw. The 448 GB/s of bandwidth is likely confirmable in turn, but the frame collapse reveals that performance is not starving on CPU.

Comparing to its nearest rivals in this database, the relative place is tight. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s average benchmark of synthetic scores is 20282, while the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480, with deltaPct -1, the RTX 3070 Mobile is 20534 with deltaPct -1.2, Intel Arc B570 is 20556 with deltaPct -1.7, and Intel Arc A750 is 20582 with deltaPct -1.5. These negative deltaPct numbers indicate the listed rivals score under 2% higher, so because of upfront overhead, among the expected lastmost ~100 GPUs, this TU104 chip sits only marginally behind its near-segment neighbors. Given that none of these rivals in general outperform it consistently, Thief does not appear to uncover any major memory-related disadvantage with 8 GB VRAM. The GPU’s own gallery of OpenCL 83358 points emit a heavy compute capability; still, in Thief at 4K, more GRAM or rays would not change the: the bottleneck is the card-proportional raw fill plus shader throughput.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is a Zen 5 (Granite Ridge) desktop part with 8 cores and 16 threads, base clock 3.80 GHz, boost 5.50 GHz, a 65 W TDP, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. It operates on a default dual-channel DDR5 memory bus at a rated bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, using PCIe Gen 5 lanes, and on this pairing it is an 86th percentile CPU. Its average benchmark score is 37943, and it posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20485 and a single-core 2244, plus a Geekbench single-core of 3023 and multi-core 17906. Within its own nearest rival set, the Intel Core i9-14901E scores 37911 (deltaPct 0.1), AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 scores 37904 (0.1), Intel Core 5 211E scores 378 You refleteel Z -3.06E has 0.3, and the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 at 37804 has deltaPct 0.4, meaning the Ryzen 9700X is marginally on the better side of all four.

In Thief, the CPU’s role is most visible at low and moderate resolutions. The 1080p Low measurement hits 171 FPS; it suggests the game does not require the deepest thread presence. The Ryzen’s 8-core, 16-thread configuration offers enough raw throughput that the CPU does not depress the FPS at 1080p High (99 FPS) or Ultra (94 FPS). Stealth games like Thief often only use two to four threads, but the CPU’s strong single-thread performance, evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single of 2211 and Geekbench single of 3023, keeps this combo fully forward for 1440p and offers the engine no headroom to attention among the higher-IPP count.

The CPU also shows a positive indicator when comparing to its average percentile against the frames measured: with the platform TDP 65 W, and l the frameion does not even struggle in High 1080p settings, where the GPU’s load is still moderate. The highest average measured for this configuration is 171 FPS at 1080p Low, which tells us the core schedule can keep up with card output. No CPU minus in this setup appears, and at 4K the results drop to 38–69 FPS, an unmistakable sign that the GPU rather than the processor is the fence. The 9700X’s high IP in tasks from gaming does not translate into relevant uplift at 4K in Thief, as the GPU already maxed out.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920×1080:

• Low: 171 FPS
• Medium: 130 FPS (min 111, max 150)
• High: 99 FPS
• Ultra: 94 FPS

At 2560×1400:

• Low: 118 FPS
• Medium: 89 FPS (min 76, max 103)
• High: 68 FPS
• Ultra: 65 FPS

At 3840×2160:

• Low: 69 FPS
• Medium: 52 FPS (min 45, max 60)
• High: 40 FPS
• Ultra: 38 FPS

The pattern is monotonic: within each resolution, FPS decreases as settings rise, and the difference between Low and Ultra shrinks at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the Low-to-Ultra delta spans 77 FPS (171 vs 94); at 1440p, the span is 53 FPS; at 4K, the span is only 31 FPS (69 vs 38). That narrowing further supports the idea that at higher piles, the pixel fill and shading pressure are dominated by fixed costs, so the setting reduces the impact some. The Medium curves serve as the most representative: they are the only settings within each resolution that carries min–max data (45–60 at 4K, 76–103 at 1440p, 111–150 at 1080p). Those scaffolds let every replication over time also, meaning that the measured configuration stays within a stable 30 FPS band between minimum and maximum across all three settings — an even stability because all combs are being GPU-limited more on 4K.

Each of these 12 readings comes from real measurement rather than simulation, as the dataset is marked dataIsMeasured true. That status lends confidence to the conclusion that resolution scaling, Game 4K deliver, and role split all follow the same pattern we would expect on a 2020s generous CPU and a 2019 enthusiast GPU: the processor fine at 1080, the GPU dominates at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The dataset places this combination at rank 2090 out of 3720 tested CPU+GPU pairings for Thief. That is a rank in the lower half, under the median of 1860, meaning that slightly more than half of the 3720 measured combos manage a better overall average in this game. Being below the midline might suggest disappointment, but the rank is an aggregation across all settings and resolutions; this pair’s ability to push 900 spot above 1080 with high frequencies shows why it’s placed around 9 of 17 — it is not weak in within the frame edges that matter (1080p 94–171), but it is far from the top tier when 4K is weighed in.

In the wider database context, the GPU is a 65 percentile part and the CPU an 86 percentile part. That suggests the CPU is relatively stronger than nothing on the dinner — i.e., typically the CPU does not hold back the pair; the GPU, at 65th percentile, is the lower-statistics component, and that matches well with the measured 4K collapse. Note that combos with a 2080 in 4K or higher will simply rank at 2,091 or less.

This ranking is also if you compare the sub-race: the minor rivals inside the 4K range (such as it with from nearest GPU list) do not go into the rank, but a 2091 rank of 3722 is the quantitative realistic picture of this specific si-total. It is not a first-class 4K machine, nor a runaway 1080p fits, but a typical mid-season slight majority rank if pressing GPU expectations.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to run Thief on this combo?

A: Based on the measurements, 2560×1440 gives a good balance: High averages 68 FPS and Medium 89 FPS, both comfortably smooth. Using 1080p Ultra averages 94 FPS, which is also ideal for high refresh.

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

A: Only the Low preset reaches 60+ (69 FPS). At Medium the average is 52 FPS, at High 40 FPS, and at Ultra 38 FPS, so playing above Low at 4K is not consistent.

Q: Which component limits in this game?

A: The both reveal differently: at 4K, the GPU is the clear limit (all settings ≤52 FPS with CPU still in the 86th percentile). At 1080p Low, the CPU is not a constraint at 171 FPS.

Q: What is the VRAM concern of the RTX 2070 SUPER in this game?

A: The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6, and the measured FPS do not show time that appears from missing VRAM because thresholds are lowering smoothly with settings, not a sudden collapse. The ROP rate 64 still high enough for large.

Q: How does the 9700X compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: Among its nearest rivals, the Intel Core i9-14901E (deltaPct 0.1), AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (0.1), Intel Core 5 211E (0.3), and AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P312 (0.4) are all within 0.4 delta, placing the 9700X marginally higher.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The GPU's average score is 20282; below by 1% versus Quadro M4000M (score 20480, deltaPct -1), 1.2% behind RTX 3070 Mobile (20534), 1.3% behind Intel Arc B570 (20556), 1.5% behind Intel Arc A750 (20582). Roughly equal area, not far.

Q: Is the combo ranked above or below the middle of all tested?

A: It ranks 2090 out of 3720 tested combos, placing it just below the midpoint in Thief's global leaderboard of combinations.