Thief

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 yields a combination that ranks 2113th out of 3720 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the benchmark database. This ranking stems from the CPU’s strong multi-threaded compute capability and the GPU’s solid but not exceptional performance in this title. The measured frame rates show a system that is well-suited to 1080p and 1440p gaming, while 4K performance struggles at higher settings, indicating a GPU-bound scenario at that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 2113 out of 3720 tested combos places it in the 56.8th percentile overall, meaning that roughly 43% of tested CPU-GPU pairings deliver higher average frame rates in Thief. This is a modest position, reflecting the GPU’s mid-range standing rather than the CPU’s high-end capabilities. The Ryzen 9 9900X sits in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs benchmarked, with an average benchmark score of 57498, trailing only slightly behind the AMD EPYC 9015 (57555, -0.1%), and ahead of the AMD EPYC 7313 (57399, 0.2%). It outperforms the Intel Core i9-14900 (58115, -1.1%) and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58323, -1.4%) in relative comparison, but these differences are within a narrow band of 0.2% to 1.4%, indicating that the CPU is not the determining factor for the combo’s rank.

On the GPU side, the Radeon RX 9060’s percentile of 59 and an average benchmark score of 16014 place it just below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129, -0.7%), and above the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862, 1%), the AMD Radeon RX 7700 (15852, 1%), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679, 2.1%). These rival deltas are small, within a range of -0.7% to 2.1%, showing that the RX 9060 is in a very tight performance cluster. Because the GPU’s relative position is weaker than the CPU’s, the 2113rd rank is driven more by the GPU’s mid-tier standing than by the CPU’s top-tier compute scores. The measured FPS data confirm this, as frame rates drop sharply when increasing resolution, which is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance, particularly at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four quality presets, with averages for all settings, and minimum and maximum values for the Medium preset only. At 1920x1080, the combination delivers 171 FPS on Low, 130 FPS on Medium, 99 FPS on High, and 94 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset provides a minimum of 110 FPS and a maximum of 149 FPS, demonstrating a smooth experience with a 39 FPS range between the minimum and maximum. The step from High to Ultra is small, dropping by 5 FPS, while the step from Medium to High is 31 FPS, showing that the High preset is a significant tier above Medium but that Ultra offers diminishing returns.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 117 FPS on Low, 89 FPS on Medium, 68 FPS on High, and 65 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset here has a min of 76 FPS and a max of 102 FPS, which is a 26 FPS spread. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a decrease of 54 FPS on Low (from 171 to 117), 41 FPS on Medium (130 to 89), 31 FPS on High (99 to 68), and 29 FPS on Ultra (94 to 65). These drops indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor as resolution increases, with the percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p being 31.6% on Low, 31.5% on Medium, 31.3% on High, and 30.9% on Ultra, showing a relatively consistent scaling pattern regardless of preset.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates fall to 69 FPS on Low, 52 FPS on Medium, 40 FPS on High, and 38 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset has a min of 45 FPS and a max of 60 FPS. From 1440p to 4K, the drops are 48 FPS on Low (117 to 69), 37 FPS on Medium (89 to 52), 28 FPS on High (68 to 40), and 27 FPS on Ultra (65 to 38). The percentage drops are 41.0% on Low, 41.6% on Medium, 41.2% on High, and 41.5% on Ultra. This shows that the GPU’s performance scales down nearly proportionally with pixel count, as the 4K resolution has 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p, and the frame rates are roughly 40% lower, which tracks with the rendering load increase.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings?

A: The average FPS is 68, with no minimum or maximum values recorded for this preset.

Q: How does the combo rank in Thief compared to other tested combinations?

A: The combination ranks 2113 out of 3720 measured combos, meaning it outperforms approximately 56.8% of tested CPU-GPU pairings.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The highest average FPS is 171, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Which settings at 3840x2160 yield the lowest average FPS?

A: The Ultra preset at 3840x2160, with an average FPS of 38.

Q: What are the CPU and GPU percentiles relative to their respective component benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X is in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs, while the Radeon RX 9060 is in the 59th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: Is the Medium preset at 1920x1080 more consistent than at 4K?

A: At 1920x1080, the Medium preset has a min of 110 and a max of 149 (range 39 FPS), while at 3840x2160, the same preset has a min of 45 and max of 60 (range 15 FPS), so the 1080p range is larger but the frame rate is higher.

Resolution Scaling

The data show a clear trend of frame rate reduction as resolution increases, which is expected given the GPU’s role in rendering pixel counts. At 1920x1080, the average FPS across all settings is 171, 130, 99, and 94 for Low, Medium, High, and Ultra, respectively. Moving to 2560x1440, these averages drop to 117, 89, 68, and 65. The average drop from 1080p to 1440p across these presets is approximately 40 FPS, or about 31% when expressed as a percentage of the 1080p value. This scaling is fairly uniform, with the lowest preset (Low) losing 54 FPS, the medium losing 41 FPS, and High and Ultra losing 31 and 29 FPS, respectively.

From 1440p to 4K, the decrease is more pronounced. The average FPS for Low, Medium, High, and Ultra at 4K are 69, 52, 40, and 38, respectively. The drops are 48, 37, 28, and 27 FPS, which translate to percentage drops of 41.0%, 41.6%, 41.2%, and 41.5%. This indicates that the GPU’s performance is scaling roughly linearly with the rendering resolution, as the 2.25x pixel increase from 1440p to 4K leads to a 41% reduction in frame rate. This behavior is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the CPU is not the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The CPU’s high single-core and multi-core scores—such as a geekbench single core of 3010 and a passmark single thread of 4672—ensure that it is not limiting frame rates, even at 4K with Ultra settings, where the average is 38 FPS.

The scaling pattern suggests that the combo is well matched for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can achieve high frame rates, but it falls behind at 4K, especially at higher settings. The GPU’s 8GB of memory and 128-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s, likely become a limiting factor at 4K, where the larger memory footprint and bandwidth requirements are more demanding. The CPU’s high memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s and 64MB of L3 cache do not compensate for the GPU’s constraints in this scenario.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of frame rate and visual quality, the data shows that the High preset is the most reasonable option at 1080p and 1440p, offering a significant improvement over Medium while still maintaining high frame rates. At 1920x1080, the High preset averages 99 FPS, which is 29 FPS lower than Medium but 5 FPS higher than Ultra, so High provides a smooth experience without the performance hit of Ultra. At 2560x1440, High averages 68 FPS, which is playable for many users, while Medium at 89 FPS is also viable, depending on the user’s preference for quality over speed. The Ultra preset at both resolutions provides only marginal gains over High in terms of average FPS, with the difference being 5 FPS at 1080p and 3 FPS at 1440p, making Ultra a poor choice for the extra load.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. The High preset averages 40 FPS, which is below the common 60 FPS threshold, while Medium averages 52 FPS, and Low averages 69 FPS. For a 4K experience, the Low preset is the only one that provides a stable frame rate above 60, with 69 FPS, while Medium is at 52 FPS. The Ultra preset is not recommended at 4K, as it yields 38 FPS. The data suggests that for 4K, users should select the Low preset to achieve a playable frame rate, as the GPU is not able to maintain high settings at this resolution. At 1440p, the High preset at 68 FPS is a good middle ground, while at 1080p, High at 99 FPS is ideal. The Medium preset with its recorded min and max values (110-149 FPS at 1080p, 76-102 FPS at 1440p, 45-60 FPS at 4K) shows that it is the most consistent preset for frame pacing, but the average FPS is lower than High, making High the better overall choice for most users.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It is based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge, and uses a 4 nm process. In Thief, a title from 2014, the game’s engine is unlikely to utilize all 24 threads effectively, but the CPU’s strong single-core performance, as indicated by its 3rdmark single thread score of 1286 and a Geekbench single-core score of 3010, ensures that it can handle the game’s primary thread load. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32172 and its single-core score of 2253 are high, but the game’s data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution, as the FPS scaling is consistent and tied to the GPU.

The CPU’s 64 MB of L3 cache and 1 MB per-core L2 cache are more than enough for a game, and its memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s with dual-channel DDR5 support is high. The CPU’s percentile of 92 among all CPUs indicates that it is a top-tier processor, but in Thief, the benchmark results show that the system’s frame rates are limited by the GPU, not the CPU. At 1080p with Low settings, the CPU can feed the GPU enough frames to reach 171 FPS, which is far above the GPU’s capability at higher resolutions. The 3dmark single-thread score of 1286 and the passmark single-thread score of 4672 confirm that the CPU’s single-threaded performance is strong, but the game’s reliance on the GPU is evident from the resolution scaling data. The fact that the CPU’s average benchmark score 57498 is in the 92nd percentile shows that it is not a weak link, but the GPU’s percentile of 59 is lower, causing the combo’s rank to be in the bottom half.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is a GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. It has a base clock of 1700 MHz, a boost clock of 2990 MHz, and a game clock of 2400 MHz. The GPU’s compute performance is rated at 21.43 TFLOPS for FP32, and its texture rate is 334.9 GTexel/s, with a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s. In Thief, the GPU is the main determinant of frame rate, especially at higher settings. The measured FPS data show that the GPU’s performance scales with resolution in a way that matches its bandwidth and memory capacity.

At 4K, the 8 GB memory capacity and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are likely a bottleneck, as the frame rates drop to 40 FPS on High and 38 FPS on Ultra, which are below the 60 FPS target. The GPU’s 59th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 16014, places it in the mid-range, and its performance in Thief is consistent with that positioning. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which has a similar average score (16129) with a delta of -0.7%, showing that the RX 9060 is slightly slower in synthetic benchmarks, and its in-game performance at 1080p is not high enough to push the combo rank higher. The GPU’s 8 GB of memory is likely sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the game may exceed the memory capacity, causing a performance drop. The RX 9060’s boost clock of 2990 MHz is high, and its 21.43 TFLOPS of FP16/FP32 performance is substantial, but the measured FPSK shows that in Thief, the GPU’s output is limited by other factors, such as memory bandwidth and the GPU’s overall throughput. The fact that the GPU’s performance percentile is 59, compared to the CPU’s 92, explains why the combo rank is relatively low: the system is balanced but the GPU is the weaker component, and its limits become apparent at higher resolutions.

The GPU’s minimum and maximum FPS at the Medium preset show that it holds up well, but the average FPS at Medium is 130 at 1080p, 89 at 1440p, and 52 at 4K, which is a 60% drop from 1080p to 4K. This is a direct measure of the GPU’s scalability, and it is not a top-tier GPU, which is consistent with its 59th percentile. The RX 9060’s memory clock of 2250 MHz and effective 18 Gbps, along with its 128-bit bus, provides a bandwidth that is modest for 4K, and the data shows that the Low preset is the only way to achieve a frame rate above 60 FPS at 4K, with an average of 69 FPS. This indicates that the GPU’s performance limits the combo’s ability to run the game at higher settings and resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the primary component affecting the system’s rank in this benchmark.