Thief

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT delivers a robust performance profile in Thief, a 2014 stealth title. The benchmark data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but retains significant headroom for high refresh rate gaming at 1080p. Across the measured settings, the combination demonstrates that the RX 6750 XT is the primary bottleneck as pixel count rises, while the 16-core processor provides ample bandwidth to avoid limiting frame rates. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to identify scaling trends, component roles, and optimal settings for this specific hardware pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and predictable degradation in average frame rates as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, highlighting the GPU’s growing role as the limiting factor. At 1080p with Low settings, the system delivers an average of 171 FPS, which is more than sufficient for high refresh rate displays. Scaling to the Medium preset at the same resolution drops performance to 148 FPS, a reduction that demonstrates the initial hit of increased graphical load. At 1440p, the Low setting yields 134 FPS, while at 4K, the same Low preset drops to 79 FPS. This reveals that the RX 6750 XT’s performance degrades sharply when pixel fill rate demands quadruple from 1080p to 4K.

The transition from 1440p to 4K is particularly demanding. For the High preset, the frame rate falls from 78 FPS at 2560x1440 to 46 FPS at 3840x2160, a drop of approximately 41%. This indicates that the GPU is reaching its raw throughput limits, as the number of pixels at 4K is roughly 2.25 times that of 1440p. Similarly, the Ultra preset at 1440p achieves 74 FPS, but at 4K it plummets to 43 FPS. The data suggests that at 4K, the GPU is the limiting factor; the CPU’s massive 16-core count and high boost clock are not the bottleneck, as the frame rates drop steeply with each resolution increase.

Interestingly, the Medium preset shows the most balanced scaling. At 1080p, it averages 148 FPS with a minimum of 126 and maximum of 171. At 1440p, it drops to 102 FPS with a 87-117 range. At 4K, it averages 60 FPS with a 51-69 range. This preset provides the most consistent frame time behavior across all resolutions, suggesting that the visual workload is better distributed. The gap between Low and Medium settings is significant at 4K (79 vs 60 FPS), but the gap narrows at 1080p (171 vs 148 FPS). This indicates that the GPU’s pixel processing capacity is the primary constraint as resolution climbs.

The overall trend demonstrates that the configuration retains playable frame rates up to 1440p across all presets, but at 4K only the Low and Medium settings meet the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset at 4K is rendered nearly unplayable at 43 FPS, making it the most demanding combination. This aligns with the RX 6750 XT’s positioning as a card that excels at 1440p, rather than a 4K powerhouse.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. In the context of Thief, a game released in 2014, the CPU is far from a bottleneck. The benchmark results show that the processor has an average benchmark score of 51,947, placing it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX and Intel Core i9-13900F, score within 0.4% of each other, indicating that the 5950X is at the top tier of processing power.

In this game, the CPU’s high core count and clock speed ensure that even at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom, the frame rates are not artificially capped. For instance, at 1080p Low, the system reaches 171 FPS, which is likely near the game’s engine or the renderer’s limit. The CPU’s single-threaded performance, as seen in Cinebench R23 Single Core score of 1,614, ensures that Thief’s main game logic thread is well-fed. The multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 Multi Core score of 26,017, is more than capable of handling any background processes while gaming.

The 5950X’s 64 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth also contribute to smooth data flow, but the game’s requirements are modest compared to the CPU’s capabilities. The benchmark data shows that as resolution increases, the CPU’s influence on frame rates diminishes. At 4K, the frame rates are primarily determined by the GPU’s pixel throughput, not the CPU’s processing power. This is a clear indication that the Ryzen 9 5950X is overkill for Thief, but it does ensure that the system is future-proof for more demanding titles.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1440p with the High preset?

A: The average FPS at 2560x1440 with the High preset is 78 FPS.

Q: Which preset at 4K provides the highest average FPS?

A: The Low preset at 3840x2160 achieves the highest average FPS at 79 FPS. This is followed by the Medium preset at 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 6750 XT compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The RX 6750 XT has an average benchmark score of 26,011, which is slightly higher than its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon R9 M395X, by 0.5%. Other rivals like the AMD FirePro W7100 and AMD FirePro D700 are 0.6% and 0.7% slower, respectively.

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

A: The minimum FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 126 FPS, while the maximum is 171 FPS.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5950X a bottleneck for the RX 6750 XT in this game?

A: No, the data does not show the CPU as a limiting factor. The 5950X3 has a high average score of 51,947 and is in the 91st percentile, which is more than sufficient for Thief. The frame rates scale with resolution and GPU load, not CPU limitations.

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 43 FPS, which is the lowest recorded frame rate in the measured data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Thief with the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is as follows:

At 3840x2160 (4K), the Low setting averages 79 FPS. The Medium preset averages 60 FPS, with a minimum of 51 and maximum of 69. The High setting averages 46 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 43 FPS. This shows a steep drop from Low to Medium of 19 FPS (or 24%) and a further 14 FPS (or 18%) from Medium to High. The Ultra preset is only 3 FPS slower than High, indicating a diminishing return in performance cost.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the Low preset averages 134 FPS, which is a 55 FPS advantage over the 4K Low. The Medium preset averages 102 FPS with a 87-117 range, High averages 78 FPS, and Ultra averages 74 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 24 FPS, while between High and Ultra is only 4 FPS, showing that the Ultra preset is not as demanding as the jump from Medium to High.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the Low preset peaks at 171 FPS. Medium follows at 148 FPS with a 126-171 range, High at 113 FPS, and Ultra at 108 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 23 FPS, but the difference between Medium and High is 35 FPS, and High to Ultra is only 5 FPS. This shows a clustering of performance at the higher presets, where the GPU is already saturated.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: as resolution increases, the average FPS decreases, but the relative impact of each preset changes. At 1080p, the GPU has more headroom, so the frame rate drop from Low to Ultra is 63 FPS (171 to 108). At 1440p, the drop is 60 FPS (134 to 74). At 4K, the drop is only 36 FPS (79 to 43). This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily utilized that the preset differences have less impact on the overall frame rate.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is the key component in this gaming configuration, and its capabilities are closely tied to the measured frame rates. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for Thief, which is a 2014 title with moderate VRAM requirements, but the capacity ensures smooth texture streaming at all tested resolutions. The 12 GB VRAM is more than enough for the 4K Ultra preset, which averages 43 FPS, indicating that the bottleneck is not memory capacity but raw compute power.

The GPU’s shading units (2,560) and texture mapping units (160) are responsible for the frame rate drops as resolution and settings increase. With a boost clock of 2600 MHz and a game clock of 2495 MHz, the RX 6750 XT delivers a peak FP32 performance of 13.31 TFLOPS. This compute throughput is what drives the 171 FPS at 1080p Low, but it is insufficient to sustain 60 FPS at 4K with the High preset, which averages 46 FPS. The 4K Ultra setting, with 43 FPS, shows the GPU reaching its limits, as the pixel fill rate of 166.4 GPixel/s is not enough to handle the 8.3 million pixels at 4K with ultra-quality effects.

The RX 6750 XT has a percentile rank of 71 among all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 26,011 places it above rivals like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile (which is 1.1% slower) and the AMD Radeon R9 M395X (0.5% slower). The GPU’s performance in Thief aligns with its positioning as a high-end 1440p card. The data shows that at 1440p, the GPU can deliver 74 FPS on Ultra and 102 FPS on Medium, making it an ideal choice for 1440p gaming. At 4K, the GPU struggles to maintain 60 FPS without lowering settings, which is consistent with its 192-bit memory bus and the high memory pressure of 4K textures.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings for this hardware configuration depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p, the system is capable of extreme frame rates, with the Low preset achieving 171 FPS, Medium at 148, High at 113, and Ultra at 108. The Ultra preset is only 5 FPS slower than High, so players with 144Hz displays should opt for the default High or Ultra to maximize visual quality while staying above 100 FPS. The Medium preset offers a significant visual improvement over Low with only a 23 FPS penalty, making it a good compromise for high refresh rates.

At 1440p, the recommended settings are the High or Ultra presets. The High preset averages 78 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while the Ultra preset at 74 FPS is only 4 FPS lower. The Medium preset at 102 FPS provides a noticeable boost in frame rate, but the visual fidelity of High and Ultra is well worth the trade-off for most players. The Low preset at 134 FPS is overkill at 1440p, as it sacrifices too much visual quality for frame rates that exceed most 1440p monitors’ refresh rates.

For 4K, the recommendations shift drastically. The only presets that maintain an average FPS at or above 60 are the Low and Medium presets, which average 79 and 60 FPS respectively. However, the Low preset at 4K is effectively a visual downgrade, so the Medium preset is the best balance, offering 60 FPS with a 51-69 range. The High preset at 46 FPS and the Ultra preset at 43 FPS are playable but not ideal for a smooth 60 FPS experience. For players who prioritize visual fidelity, the High preset is still viable, but the frame pacing will be less consistent. The data suggests that the RX 6750 XT is best suited for 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring a compromise on settings to achieve playable frame rates. The Ultra preset at 4K is not recommended due to its 43 FPS average, which is below the playable threshold for most gamers.