Thief

This analysis covers the benchmark results for the combination of an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X processor and an AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics card while playing Thief (released on 2014-02-24). The CPU carries a launch MSRP of $549, and the GPU carries a launch MSRP of 269 USD. Measured frame rates were captured at three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four quality presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). The data shows a system that is strongly CPU-limited at lower settings and resolutions, while the GPU becomes the primary constraint when moving to 1440p and 4K. The combination ranks 2561 out of 3720 tested combos in this game.

Resolution Scaling

The measured average frame rates decline consistently with increasing resolution. At the High preset, the 1080p result is 90 FPS, dropping to 62 FPS at 1440p and 36 FPS at 4K. The scale is similar across other settings: for Low, the progression is 156 → 107 → 63; for Medium, it is 118 → 81 → 48; for Ultra, it is 86 → 59 → 35.

The steepest drop occurs from 1080p to 1440p, where the High preset loses 28 FPS, and then the 1440p to 4K transition loses 26 FPS. This puts the average performance below 60 FPS at 4K for every preset except Low, and below 60 FPS at 1440p for the Ultra preset (59 FPS). The data indicates a classic GPU-bound behavior at high pixel counts – the CPU headroom is not engaged, and the average frame rate falls in near-step with the pixel count.

When comparing the Low preset at 4K (63 FPS) to the High preset at 1440p (62 FPS), they are essentially equal, reinforcing that at such resolutions each pixel is more demanding, and the GPU has the discretion to deliver around the same output despite lowered quality. Within the Medium preset, we have extra information: the minimum and maximum frame rates are 101 and 136 at 1080p, 69 and 93 at 1440p, and 41 and 55 at 4K. This distribution shows that even if the 4K Medium preset averages 48 FPS, it never exceeds 55 FPS, so a player would experience a wobbly percentile relative to the target refresh rate.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12‑core, 24‑thread processor based on TSMC’s 5 nm process (Zen 4 architecture). It runs with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, has 64 MB of L3 cache (plus 8 MB of combined L2 and L1), and supports DDR5 memory with a dual‑channel interface. The processor’s raw compute capability is demonstrated in CPU benchmarks: Cinebench R15 multi‑core scores 4820.5, Cinebench R23 multi‑core 29300, single‑core 2016.5, and Geekbench multi‑core 19267. In Thief, a title from 2014, these heavy multi‑threading skills are largely unused. The performance at 1080p Low is telling: the average 156 FPS is the highest measured in the entire dataset, showing that the CPU can push the frame well into the super‑high territory when the GPU is not the limiter at all.

The CPU percentile ranking of 91 across all processors puts it within the top 10% of all tested model – indeed, it holds a score of 53288 against a close pack of rivals: the AMD EPYC 7313P (0.2% higher), Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (0.3% lower), Intel Xeon 634 (0.6% higher), and Intel Core i7‑14700F (0.6% lower). Because Thief likely uses only a few threads, the CPU delivers nearly constant performance across the resolution ladder until the GPU hits its limits; the fact that the drop from 1080p High to 1440p High is similar to the drop from 1440p to 4K points to a GPU‑bound workload at all but the lowest resolution.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 7600 is built on RDNA 3.0 (Navi 33) and uses TSMC 6 nm process. It comes with 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 32 ray‑tracing cores. It operates at a base of 1720 MHz, a boost of 2655 MHz, and a game clock of 2250 MHz. The memory subsystem is an 8 GB GDDR6 with a 128‑bit interface providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU is specified with a TDP of 165 W.

In the overhead of the entire benchmark suite, the GPU percentile is 57, meaning it sits in the mid‑range when compared to all graphics cards. Its closest rivals in the overall benchmark corner are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (−0.2%), the AMD Radeon Pro 560X (0.6% lower), AMD Radeon 680M (−0.7%), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti (0.7% higher). In Thief, the frame rates at 1080p High and Ultra (90 and 86 FPS, respectively) suggest that the 224×794 pixel area is not a significant problem for the GPU. However, moving to 1440p, the High preset falls to 62 FPS and Ultra to 59 FPS, bringing 4K to the low 30s. The 8 GB VRAM is fully exercised at higher resolutions, and the 6–8 GB of this buffer is enough to hold the entire texture pool at this level of detail; the memory bus width is not a direct indicator in the data, but the frame pacing tightens at 1440p where the minimum at Medium is 42 FPS lower than the 1080p medium’s minimum (69 vs 101).

FAQ

Q: What frame rate can this combo achieve at 1920x1080 with the highest quality preset?

A: At 1080p with Ultra, the average is 86 FPS. Lower presets deliver 156 (Low), 118 (Medium), and 90 (High).

Q: Which preset is playable at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, only Low reaches a 60 FPS average (63 FPS). Medium gives 48 FPS, High 36 FPS, and Ultra 35 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 7900X compare to its closest rivals?

A: It outperforms the AMD EPYC 7313P by 0.2% and the Intel Xeon 634 by 0.6%, while it lags the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 0.3% and the Intel Core i7‑14700F by 0.6% in the CPU benchmark suite.

Q: Is the GPU bottlenecked at 4K?

A: The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K (63 vs 35 FPS) is the same as between 1440p High and 4K Ultra (62 vs 35 FPS). The resolution scaling heavily weighs, and the GPU's mid‑range position (57th percentile) does not leave enough headroom for high settings at 4K.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate on the Medium preset?

A: For Medium, the reported minimum is 101 at 1080p, 69 at 1440p, and 41 at 4K. The maximum is 136, 93, and 55 respectively.

Q: Where does this combo rank in the overall Thief results?

A: It ranks 2561 out of 3720 tested combinations. Given the CPU is in the 91st percentile and the GPU is in the 57th percentile, the combo’s position is set by the GPU component.

Measured FPS Breakdown

| Resolution | Preset | Average FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

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

| 1920x1080 | Low | 156 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 118 | 101 | 136 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 90 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 86 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 107 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 81 | 69 | 93 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 62 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 59 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 63 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 48 | 41 | 55 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 36 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 35 | — | — |

The table includes in the dataset. Stats for preset that include both a minimum and a maximum is available only on Medium in all three resolutions, giving an inside look at frame pacing.

Settings Recommendations

Based strictly on the measured rows, at 1080p any preset is smooth, but the Medium preset offers the highest average above 100 FPS (118) while still forcing a 101‑FPS floor. That makes it the safest choice for a high‑refresh monitor. The High preset is only slightly lower (90 average), and Ultra (86 average) does not provide any evident benefit over Medium when frame stability is at stake. Therefore, the most balanced choice at 1080p is Medium.

At 1440p, the Medium preset holds a sturdy 81 FPS with a minimum of 69, which is above the 60‑FPS threshold. High at 62 and Ultra at 59 are both hover around 60; Ultra dips slightly below 60 (59 average), so it is not as consistent. So the clearest playable setting is 1440p Medium, with the alternative of High if the user accepts a slightly tighter margin.

At 4K, only the Low preset reaches an average of 63 FPS, preventing it from dropping below 60. Medium scores 48 (minimum 41), which is behind a proper 60 Hz display, but still relevant for a variable rate screen. High and Ultra are in the mid‑30s and low‑30s (36 and 35), so they are arguably be limited to intensive visuals without competing. The pragmatic selection for 4K is therefore the Low preset.

A general observation: lowering the setting from High to Medium provides a solid frame‑time uplift across all resolutions (2560×1440 goes from 62 to 81 FPS; 1080p from 92 to 118 FPS; 4K from 36 to 48 FPS). The performance cost of the Ultra tier is particularly high: at every resolution it lies just a few FPS below High, with no corresponding increase in quality that offset the slight numeric loss.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and AMD Radeon RX 7600 rank 2561 out of 3720 systems that have been measured in Thief. This is in the upper 69 percentile of the tested pool, yet it is not a task bath at the high end of the crowd. The CPU on its own is in the top 9th percentile globally (91 out of 100 possible), while the GPU is in the 57th, so the score is sharply set by the graphics card. When compared to the close CPU rivals, the processor performance is effectively at parity – it leads the EPYC 7313P and Xeon 634 by under a percent, and trails the Core i7‑14700F by the same amount. Similarly, the GPU 720 is within 0.7% of a set of graphics cards that score between 15,063 and 15,199 in standard GPU benchmarks. For Thief, the player receives the best be delivered from the CPU and a mid‑range GPU, with the resolution and preset scales controlling whether to reach a 60 FPS target at 1080p/1440p, or to settle for medium settings at 4K.

The measured results show a system that is capable of hitting high frame rates at 1080p, offering playable performance at 1440p with preset tweaks, and why at 4K it is only viable on the absolute of the Low preset. The main conclusion is that the CPU – being a 12-core 9th generation Zen 4 with 24 threads and high clocks – is never the hard limiter, and all bottlenecks in this game are found in the RX 7600 Fury, especially when resolution is increased.