Thief

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 is a lopsided combination for Thief. The CPU is a high-end 12-core Zen 4 part, but the GPU is a 2017 Polaris card with 4GB of VRAM. In this game, the combo ranks 1574th out of 1642 tested configurations, placing it in the bottom 4% of results. The data shows a clear GPU bottleneck: even at 1080p Low, the average FPS is 76.3, but at 4K Ultra it falls to 18.9.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1574 out of 1642 means it outperforms only 68 other combinations. This is a very low standing, driven almost entirely by the GPU. The CPU itself is strong: it sits in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 50,556. Its nearest rivals are all within 1%: the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 scores 50,598 (0.1% higher), the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT scores 50,738 (0.4% higher), the Intel Core i7-13850HX scores 50,827 (0.5% higher), and the Intel Core i9-13980HX scores 50,944 (0.8% higher). So the CPU is essentially on par with those. The GPU, however, is only in the 74th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 30,158. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (30,109, 0.2% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30,097, 0.2% lower), the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (29,969, 0.6% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile (29,928, 0.8% lower). So the GPU is slightly above those in synthetic tests, but that does not translate to Thief performance. The game’s measured FPS shows that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU’s high core count and boost clock of 5.6 GHz are not utilized fully.

Settings Recommendations

For a smooth 60 FPS experience, the only preset that delivers is 1080p Low, which averages 76.3 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 54.6 FPS, which is playable but not consistently smooth. High and Ultra at 1080p are 41.4 and 39.6 FPS respectively, both below 60. At 1440p, Low is the only setting that stays above 50 FPS (52.3), while Medium, High, and Ultra fall to 38.9, 29.1, and 28.2. At 4K, all settings are below 30 FPS, with Low at 30.1, Medium at 24.2, High at 20.7, and Ultra at 18.9. Given these numbers, the best experience is 1080p Low for a locked 60+ FPS, or 1080p Medium if you can tolerate occasional dips. The difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is only 1.8 FPS, so there is little reason to choose Ultra over High. The same pattern holds at 1440p, where High and Ultra are separated by just 0.9 FPS. For players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, 1080p High offers a 41.4 FPS average, which is still playable for a stealth game, but the GPU’s 4GB frame buffer will likely cause stutter in more demanding scenes.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p to 4K is steep and consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. For Low settings, the average FPS goes from 76.3 at 1080p to 52.3 at 1440p (a 31% reduction) and then to 30.1 at 4K (a 42% reduction from 1440p). For High settings, the progression is 41.4 to 29.1 (30% drop) to 20.7 (29% drop). The pixel count increases by 1.78x from 1080p to 1440p and 2.25x from 1440p to 4K, and the FPS scales roughly inversely, confirming that the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU, with 12 cores and 24 threads, is far more capable than this game requires; its 3DMark single-thread score of 1,093 and multi-thread score of 12,536 indicate ample headroom. The limiting factor is the RX 570’s 4GB of GDDR5 memory and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth, which cannot keep up with higher resolutions. Even at 1080p, the GPU is already near its limit, as evidenced by the fact that dropping from Low to Medium costs 21.7 FPS, while the CPU’s performance is essentially constant across resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table lists all measured average FPS values for Thief with this combo.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 20.7 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 30.1 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 24.2 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 18.9 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 29.1 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 52.3 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 38.9 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 28.2 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 41.4 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 76.3 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 54.6 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 39.6 |

At 1080p, the spread from Low to Ultra is 36.7 FPS, with Low being the only preset above 60. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 24.1 FPS, and at 4K it is 11.2 FPS. This compression at higher resolutions is typical of a GPU that is already saturated; the CPU cannot compensate because the GPU is the limiting factor. The data also shows that the difference between High and Ultra is consistently small: 1.8 FPS at 1080p, 0.9 FPS at 1440p, and 1.8 FPS at 4K. This suggests that Ultra settings offer no meaningful benefit over High for this GPU, and the extra load may cause more frequent frame drops.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is a Polaris 20 chip built on a 14nm process, with 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Its base clock is 1,168 MHz and boost clock is 1,244 MHz, with memory running at 1,750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, yielding 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The 4GB GDDR5 frame buffer is modest by modern standards, but for a 2014 game like Thief it may be sufficient at 1080p. However, the measured FPS shows that even at 1080p Low, the GPU is not able to push beyond 76.3 FPS, and at 4K it falls below 30. The GPU’s synthetic benchmark average is 30,158, placing it in the 74th percentile. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests are the RTX 5060 (0.2% lower), RX 7700 XT (0.2% lower), Tesla M60 (0.6% lower), and RTX 5070 Mobile (0.8% lower). Despite being slightly ahead of those in average scores, the RX 570’s real-world performance in Thief is limited by its memory bandwidth and capacity. The GPU is end-of-life, and its 150W TDP and PCIe 3.0 x16 interface are further constraints. The pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are respectable for its class, but they are not enough to maintain high frame rates at 1440p or 4K. For this game, the GPU is the clear bottleneck; the CPU’s 5.6 GHz boost clock and 64MB L3 cache are not the limiting factor.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 60 FPS at 1080p?

A: Only Low achieves 60+ FPS, with an average of 76.3. Medium is 54.6, High 41.4, and Ultra 39.6.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combos in Thief?

A: It ranks 1574 out of 1642, placing it in the bottom 4% of configurations.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU is in the 93rd percentile, while the GPU is in the 74th. The FPS scaling with resolution confirms GPU limitation.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the CPU?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X has a launch MSRP of $549.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the GPU?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 570 has a launch MSRP of $169.

Q: Can this combo run Thief at 4K?

A: No. All 4K settings are below 30 FPS, with Ultra at 18.9 and Low at 30.1.