Thief

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 delivers a compelling 1080p and 1440p experience in Thief, with 4K proving to be the only resolution where the GPU begins to feel the strain. The measured frames per second (FPS) data reveals a clear tiering: at 1920x1080, this combo is effortlessly fast, while 3840x2160 demands careful settings choices to stay smooth. The data includes average FPS for all tested settings, and minimum and maximum figures only for Medium settings, which provides a partial but informative view of frame pacing. Across all four resolutions, the trend is consistent: higher settings reduce FPS, but the magnitude of that reduction tells the story of where the bottleneck lies. The RTX 5070 has a boost clock of 2512 MHz and 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is plenty for this 2014 title. The Ryzen 7 9700X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads boosting to 5.50 GHz, appears more than sufficient to keep up in every scenario tested.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

When moving from 1080p to 4K, the FPS drop is significant but not catastrophic, especially at the lower settings. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 228 at 1920x1080 to 186 at 2560x1440, a drop of 42 FPS, and then to 110 at 3840x2160. That is a 118 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at Low, indicating that resolution scaling is substantial. At Medium settings, the frame rate goes from 206 at 1080p to 141 at 1440p, and down to 83 at 4K, with minimums of 175, 120, and 71 respectively. The maximum at Medium is 237 at 1080p, 163 at 1440p, and 96 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is about 65 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 58 FPS, showing a consistent scaling penalty.

At High settings, the numbers are 157 at 1080p, 108 at 1440p, and 63 at 4K. The difference between 1080p and 1440p is 49 FPS, and between 1440p and 4K is 45 FPS. For Ultra, the figures are 149 at 1080p, 103 at 1440p, and 60 at 4K. Here, the difference between 1080p and 1440p is 46 FPS, and between 1440p and 4K is 43 FPS. Interestingly, the delta between 1440p and 4K is slightly smaller than between 1080p and 1440p for High and Ultra, suggesting that the scaling is not linear. This could indicate that at Ultra, the GPU is already the limiting factor at 1440p, and the additional resolution at 4K does not double the GPU load, but rather the game becomes more CPU-bound at lower resolutions.

The data reveals that the biggest FPS gains are at 1080p, where the CPU and GPU are both relatively idle. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the primary limiter, as the frame rates drop to 60-63 FPS at the highest settings. The 83 FPS average at 4K Medium shows that the RTX 5070 can handle 4K in this game, but only if the user is willing to lower settings. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 71, which is still smooth, but the maximum of 96 is not far above the average, indicating a relatively stable frame rate. The low settings at 4K produce 110 FPS, which is excellent for a 4K resolution, but it means the visual fidelity is sacrificed.

The data suggests that for a 60 FPS target, 4K is achievable but only just, with Ultra and High both landing at 60-63 FPS. For 1440p, all settings are above 100 FPS, with Low hitting 186 and Medium 141, making it the sweet spot for high refresh rate monitors. At 1080p, even Ultra is 149 FPS, which is well above 144Hz, and Low reaches 228 FPS, which is beyond the refresh rates of most monitors.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combos, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 in Thief holds a rank of 369 out of 3720 total combinations. This is in the top 10% of all tested combos, which is a strong showing for a game released in 2014. The rank indicates that this setup performs better than the majority of other CPU/GPU pairs tested in this game. The data shows that the RTX 5070, with a percentile of 82 vs all GPUs, and the CPU at 86 percentile vs all CPUs, this is a balanced combo. The GPU's average benchmark score is 40377, and the CPU's average is 37943, both above average, but the combo rank of 369 out of 3720 suggests that the game is well optimized for this hardware.

The nearest rivals for the CPU, based on average scores, are the Intel Core i9-14901E with a delta of 0.1%, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 also at 0.1%, the Intel Core 5 211E at 0.3%, and the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 at 0.4%. These rivals are all within 0.5% of the 9700X in synthetic benchmarks, meaning that the CPU performance is similar to these others. For the GPU, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon Pro 580 with a delta of 0.1%, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 at 0.8%, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile at 2%. These rivals are all within 2% of the RTX 5070's average score, but it's important to note that these are average scores across all benchmarks, not just Thief. The 369 rank is based on the actual measured FPS in this game, so it's a more direct measure.

The rank of 369 out of 3720 means that this combo outperforms about 3351 other combos, so in the top 10% of the database. This is likely due to the combination of a fast, 8-core CPU and a high-end GPU. The 1080p performance of 149-228 FPS is far above average, and even at 4K, it can reach 110 FPS on Low settings, which is not typical for most combos. The database includes many weaker GPUs, so this rank is where the RTX 5070's power is fully expressed.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is a Zen 5 architecture processor, codenamed Granite Ridge, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The L3 cache is 32 MB shared among the cores, and each core has 80 KB of L1 and 1 MB of L2. The CPU supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with a memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, and ECC memory is supported. The TDP is 65 W, which is modest for an 8-core processor.

In Thief, the CPU is not likely to be the bottleneck, as the game is more GPU-intensive. The 3DMark benchmarks show the CPU's performance: 9824 in 16 threads, 2525 in 2 threads, 4869 in 4 threads, 8184 in 8 threads, 9771 in max threads, and 1280 in single thread. The Cinebench R23 scores are 20485 multi-core and 2211 single-core. Geekbench scores are 17906 multi and 3023 single. These numbers indicate that the CPU has strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. In a game like Thief, the single-thread performance is more important, and the 1280 score in 3DMark single-thread shows a strong core. The 5.50 GHz boost clock is high, which helps with the game's main thread.

The CPU's percentile of 86 vs all CPUs means it's in the top 14% of all CPUs, but its nearest rivals are all within 0.4% of its average score. This suggests that the 9700X is not dramatically faster than its nearest competition, but it is still a very capable processor. For Thief, the 8 cores may be overkill, as the game is optimized for fewer cores, but the high frequency per core is what helps. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2211 is strong, but the game is from 2014, so it may not use more than 4 cores. The data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo, as the FPS scales with resolution and settings, indicating a GPU bottleneck at high resolutions.

FAQ

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

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 206, with a minimum of 175 and a maximum of 237.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 perform at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 60, which is exactly the threshold for a smooth 60 FPS experience.

Q: What is the best resolution for high refresh monitors?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 141, with minimum and maximum of 120 and 163, respectively, which is suitable for 144Hz displays.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data shows that the FPS at 1080p is very high, such as 228 FPS at Low and 149 at Ultra, so the CPU is not limiting, as the GPU is still able to render frames quickly.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 4K Medium?

A: The minimum FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings is 71, which ensures a smooth experience without significant drops.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40377, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 580 and 0.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100, but 1.2% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 and 2% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is part of the GeForce 50-series, based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and the GB205 chip manufactured on a 5nm process at TSMC. It has 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs. The boost clock is 2512 MHz, and the memory is 12 GB of GDDR7 on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. The TDP is 250 W, and it uses a 16-pin power connector. The card's FP32 performance is 30.87 TFLOPS, and it has 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores.

In Thief, the GPU is the dominant factor, especially at 4K. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the limiting component at 4K, with the FPS dropping from 110 at Low to 60 at Ultra. The 12 GB of VRAM is more than enough for this game, which was released in 2014 and has modest VRAM requirements. The high bandwidth of 672 GB/s ensures that the game's textures load quickly, but the game's visuals are not demanding enough to stress the memory.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 40377, and its percentile is 82 vs all GPUs, ranking it in the top 18% of all GPUs. The nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon Pro 580 with a score of 40318 (0.1% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 at 40063 (0.8% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 at 40870 (-1.2% delta), and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile at 39568 (2% delta). This shows that the RTX 5070 is in a tight cluster with these workstation GPUs, but in Thief, the performance is far better due to driver optimizations and the game's API.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target at 4K, the Ultra settings provide 60 FPS, and High provides 63 FPS, so both are viable. However, the Medium settings yield 83 FPS, which is a much safer margin. The data shows that the difference between Ultra and Medium is 23 FPS, which is significant. For a smoother 4K experience, Medium is recommended, as it provides 83 FPS average with a minimum of 71, ensuring no frame drops below 60. The Low settings at 4K produce 110 FPS, which is excellent, but the visual quality may be too low for some. At 1440p, the Ultra settings are 103 FPS, which is above 60, but the Medium at 141 would be better for a high refresh monitor. At 1080p, all settings are above 149 FPS except Ultra, so the user can play at Ultra with 149 FPS, but the Medium at 206 might be better for a 165Hz monitor.

The most balanced setting for overall is Medium, as it provides a good frame rate at all resolutions without sacrificing too much visual quality. At 4K, it's not the highest average, but the minimum of 71 ensures it's always smooth. The High settings are only 63 FPS at 4K, which is borderline for some users. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot, as it delivers 83 FPS at 4K, 141 at 1440p, and 206 at 1080p, all with minimums above 60.

Measured FPS Breakdown

3840x2160: At Low, the average FPS is 110. At Medium, the average is 83, with a minimum of 71 and a maximum of 96. At High, the average is 63. At Ultra, the average is 60.

2560x1440: At Low, the average is 186. At Medium, the average is 141, with a minimum of 120 and a maximum of 163. At High, the average is 108. At Ultra, the average is 103.

1920x1080: At Low, the average is 228. At Medium, the average is 206, with a minimum of 175 and a maximum of 237. At High, the average is 157. At Ultra, the average is 149.

The 1080p Medium figure of 206 average FPS is the highest of any setting and resolution except for Low at 1080p (228). The 4K Medium has a minimum of 71, while the 1440p Medium has a minimum of 120, showing that the frame pacing is better at lower resolutions. The maximum FPS at 1080p Medium is 237, which is near the 240Hz refresh rate. The data indicates that the combo is very capable, with the ability to hit high frame rates at all resolutions, but 4K requires a settings to stay above 60 FPS.

The average FPS values are the core of the analysis: the 1440p Ultra is 103, which is a good result for a game from 2014. The 1080p Ultra is 149, which is above 144Hz, making it a great choice for gamers. The 4K Ultra is 60, which is the minimum for a smooth experience. The 4K Low is 110, which is impressive but requires a drop in visual quality. The measured data shows that the combo is a high-end performer in Thief, with the GPU being the limiting factor at 4K, and the CPU being more than enough.

The data also shows that the High settings are not much better than Ultra in some cases. At 4K, High is 63, Ultra is 60, a difference of 3 FPS. At 1440p, High 108, Ultra 103, a 5 FPS difference. At 1080p, High 157, Ultra 149, an 8 FPS difference. This suggests that the step from High to Ultra is not a huge performance hit, so the user can enable Ultra with a minimal frame rate loss. However, the step from Medium to High is larger: at 4K, Medium 83 to High 63 is a 20 FPS drop, at 1440p 141 to 108 is a 33 FPS drop, and at 1080p 206 to 157 is a 49 FPS drop. This indicates that the Medium to High is the most significant performance gain, while the High to Ultra is minor. This is important for settings recommendations, as the Medium setting offers the best balance of frame rate and quality.