Thief

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 occupies the 1343rd position out of 1642 tested combinations in Thief. This places the combo in the lower third of the database, a ranking that reflects the significant bottleneck imposed by the graphics card in this title. With the CPU sitting in the 90th percentile among all processors, the data clearly indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor for this pairing. The result is a configuration that can deliver playable frame rates at lower settings but falls behind more balanced combinations at higher graphical presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The 1343rd rank out of 1642 combos places this pairing firmly in the bottom 20% of tested configurations for Thief. This is a surprisingly low position given the strength of the processor, but the benchmark results show that the GPU's performance ceiling is the primary constraint. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D's average benchmark score of 37780 places it within 0.1% of the Intel Xeon 6353P and Intel Core Ultra 5 225, and within 0.7% of the Intel Core i5-13600KF. This indicates that the CPU is performing exactly as expected for a high-end desktop processor.

However, the RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 16074 places it just 0.5% above the AMD Radeon RX 7600S and 1.8% above the AMD Radeon Pro W5500, while sitting 1.7% below both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700. When these two components are combined in Thief, the resulting frame rates show that the GPU consistently holds back the system. The combo's rank is dragged down by the fact that at Ultra settings, the system cannot even maintain 60 FPS at 1080p, a resolution where most modern CPUs paired with mid-range GPUs would expect to excel.

The percentile data reinforces this interpretation. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking versus all CPUs suggests it is among the top 10% of processors tested. The GPU's 58th percentile ranking places it barely above the median. This disparity in component tiers is the root cause of the low combination rank, as the system's performance is dictated almost entirely by the weaker component in the pair.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory operates at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed. The GPU's base clock is 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz. These specifications are modest by modern standards, and the benchmark results in Thief reflect this.

The GPU's role in this combination is to act as the performance limiter. At 4K resolution, the frame rates drop to near-unplayable levels at higher settings, with the Ultra preset producing an average of 30.6 FPS and High producing 31.7 FPS. The GPU's 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this 2014 title, but the raw compute power is insufficient to drive high resolutions with demanding settings. The RTX 2060's FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS and its pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s are simply not enough to keep pace with the CPU's capabilities.

The GPU's DirectX 12 performance score of 53 in Passmark, compared to 110 for DirectX 11, suggests that the card handles older APIs better, which is relevant for Thief's engine. The DirectX 11 score of 110 indicates the card is well-suited to this game's API, but the absolute performance level remains the bottleneck. The GPU's 1920 shading units and 120 texture mapping units provide a baseline for texture-heavy scenes, but the 48 raster output units limit fill-rate intensive scenarios.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo at 1080p?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 yields an average of 142.3 FPS, while Medium produces 108.7 FPS and High produces 83 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 76.8 FPS, which is still playable but represents a significant performance cost for the visual gains.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 98.3 FPS and Medium achieves 72.2 FPS. The High preset drops to 56.9 FPS, just below the 60 FPS threshold, while Ultra falls to 54.1 FPS.

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

A: Benchmark data shows the CPU ranks in the 90th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 58th percentile. The frame rates across all resolutions and settings indicate the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the CPU has ample headroom.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 16074 is 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600S and 1.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500, but 1.7% lower than both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700.

Q: What is the expected frame rate at 4K with this combo?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 59.9 FPS, Medium averages 45.7 FPS, High averages 31.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 30.6 FPS. Only the Low preset approaches a stable 60 FPS experience.

Q: Does the CPU's performance justify its high benchmark scores in this context?

A: The Ryzen 7 9800X3D scores 34004 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 4800 in single-core, placing it among top-tier processors. However, these scores do not translate to proportional frame rate gains in Thief because the GPU reaches its limits first.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 142.3 FPS, providing a very smooth experience. Medium drops to 108.7 FPS, still well above typical display refresh rates. High produces 83 FPS, which remains comfortable for most gaming scenarios. Ultra falls to 76.8 FPS, showing a 46% reduction from Low but still maintaining playability.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales downward as expected. Low averages 98.3 FPS, retaining excellent fluidity. Medium achieves 72.2 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold. High drops to 56.9 FPS, crossing below the 60 FPS mark for the first time. Ultra yields 54.1 FPS, which is playable but shows the GPU struggling with the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become severe. Low averages 59.9 FPS, barely maintaining 60 FPS. Medium drops to 45.7 FPS, which is noticeably less smooth. High falls to 31.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 30.6 FPS. These results demonstrate that 4K gaming is only viable at the lowest settings with this combination.

The performance gap between 1080p and 4K is substantial. At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 76.8 FPS at 1080p to 30.6 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 60%. Even at Low settings, the drop from 142.3 FPS to 59.9 FPS represents a 58% decrease. These patterns confirm that the GPU's rendering throughput is the primary constraint.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 reduces performance from 142.3 FPS to 98.3 FPS, a 31% drop. Moving from 1440p to 4K further reduces it to 59.9 FPS, another 39% drop. The cumulative reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 58%.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is similar but with lower absolute values. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is from 76.8 FPS to 54.1 FPS, a 30% reduction. The transition from 1440p to 4K brings it down to 30.6 FPS, a 43% drop. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 60%.

The consistency of these percentage drops across different settings presets indicates that the GPU is operating at its limits regardless of the graphical load. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the scaling from 1080p to 4K would show smaller percentage drops at higher resolutions, as the GPU would have more time to render each frame. Instead, the uniform scaling pattern demonstrates that the RTX 2060's fill rate and shader throughput are saturated at all resolutions.

The data shows that this combination is well-suited for 1080p gaming at any settings preset, capable of 1440p gaming at Low or Medium settings, and only marginally playable at 4K with the Low preset. The CPU's substantial headroom means that upgrading the GPU would yield significant performance improvements across all resolutions, as the processor would have no difficulty feeding a more powerful graphics card.