Thief

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination delivers a remarkably strong experience in Thief, with benchmark data showing that the most balanced and playable experience is achieved at 2560x1440 with High settings, where the average frame rate reaches 112 FPS while maintaining high visual fidelity. This pairing demonstrates that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary driver of performance across all tested resolutions, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom to ensure the graphics card is the limiting factor.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combination in Thief offers clear guidance on the optimal settings preset for each resolution, balancing visual quality with sustained frame rates. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the best choice, delivering an average of 156 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate monitors. The Low preset at this resolution reaches a much higher 230 FPS, but the visual compromise is unnecessary given the strong performance of the Ultra preset. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 208 FPS average, which is also excellent, but the gap to Ultra is only a 52 FPS difference, making the higher quality setting the better overall experience for the vast majority of users. At this resolution, the data shows the GPU is not a bottleneck, so choosing the highest visual quality available is the right call.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the recommended starting point, delivering an average of 112 FPS. This offers a perfect balance for 1440p gaming, as it provides a high frame rate that is fluid and responsive while still offering the detail that showcases the game’s graphical features. The Ultra preset at this resolution averages 107 FPS, which is still very playable and only a 5 FPS reduction from High, suggesting that users with G-SYNC or FreeSync displays could also consider Ultra for the maximum visual fidelity with a very minor performance penalty. The Medium preset runs at 147 FPS, which is excellent for esports-style play, but the visual trade-off from High is noticeable in a stealth title where lighting and shadow detail are core to the atmosphere. The data shows that the High preset represents the sweet spot at 1440p, providing a 5% performance advantage over Ultra while delivering nearly identical visual quality.

The 3840x2160 resolution presents the most demanding scenario for the GPU. Here, the High preset is the clear recommendation, as it achieves an average of 66 FPS, which is right at the threshold for smooth gameplay on 60Hz displays. The Medium preset at 4K yields an average of 87 FPS, but the visual downgrade from High is significant, and the performance gain of 21 FPS is not worth the compromise in a title where resolution and detail are paramount. The Low preset at 4K hits 114 FPS, but this drops the visual quality considerably. The Ultra preset at 4K is the most demanding, with an average of 63 FPS, which is below the preferred 60 FPS threshold for many players and represents only a 3 FPS increase over High, making Ultra less desirable. The data indicates that High is the optimal choice for 4K, delivering a frame rate that is consistently above 60 FPS, with the Medium preset providing a very capable fallback for those seeking a bit more performance headroom.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary performance driver in this combination for Thief, and its memory configuration and clock speeds are directly reflected in the measured frame rates. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, which is more than sufficient for the graphical demands of a game from 2014, ensuring that texture detail and assets do not exceed the memory capacity at any of the tested resolutions. The memory bus width is 192 bit, and the memory bandwidth is 504.2 GB/s, which is a high figure that allows for the rapid transfer of texture data and other graphical elements. This is particularly relevant at 3840x2160, where the pixel throughput demands a substantial amount of memory bandwidth to sustain the frame rates observed.

The GPU’s base clock is 1980 MHz, with a boost clock of 2475 MHz, and the measured performance in Thief shows that the 4070 SUPER can hold high frame rates across all settings. The data shows a clear scaling of performance with resolution and settings: at 1920x1080 Ultra, the average FPS is 156, while at 3840x2160 Ultra, it drops to 63 FPS. This scaling is typical for a GPU with high bandwidth but also indicates that the 4070 SUPER is the limiting factor at 4K Ultra settings. The GPU’s 12 GB of VRAM is ample for this title, as it is not a VRAM-heavy game, and the performance drop from 1080p to 4K is more attributable to the raw rendering load than to a memory capacity issue. The benchmark results for the RTX 4070 SUPER itself show a PassMark G3D score of 29995, and this strong performance is visible in the frame rates that this combo achieves.

The GPU is also well-supported in terms of its feature set, with support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and other APIs, but for a game from 2014, the standard DirectX 11 path is likely the primary rendering API. The GPU’s 7168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs are all working in concert to produce the measured FPS in this title. The GPU’s pixel rate is 198.0 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 554.4 GTexel/s, which are high figures that allow it to handle the game’s geometry and pixel filling requirements. The GPU is a dual-slot, 267 mm long, and has a power connector of 1x 16-pin, with a recommended PSU of 550 W, but these are physical attributes, not performance metrics, and the data shows that the GPU's performance is the primary factor in the frame rates.

CPU

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X?

A: The launch MSRP of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is $499.

Q: What is the average FPS at 1920x1080 with the Low preset?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with the Low preset is 230 FPS. This is the highest recorded average of any setting across all resolutions, indicating that the combination is heavily GPU-bound at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the Ultra setting at 2560x1440 compare to the High setting at the same resolution?

A: The Ultra setting at 2560x1440 has an average of 107 FPS, while the High setting is 112 FPS. The difference is only 5 FPS, or about 4.5% slower, so the Ultra setting is a viable option for users with high refresh rate displays.

Q: What is the average FPS at 3840x2160 with the Medium settings?

A: The average FPS at 3840x2160 with the Medium settings is 87 FPS, with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS. This is the only 4K setting where min and max values are provided.

*Q: What is the rank of this CPU and GPU combination among all tested combos in Thief?*

A: This combination is ranked 282 out of 3720 tested combos in Thief, putting it in the top 7.6% of all tested hardware configurations.

Q: What is the CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X has an average benchmark score of 57498. It is within 1.4% of its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M, which scores 58323, and is 0.2% faster than the AMD EPYC 7313, which scores 57399.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks at position 282 out of 3720 tested combo in Thief, which places it in the 92nd percentile of all tested configurations. This high ranking confirms the strength of both components, but the data indicates that the GPU is the primary driver of the high rank. The CPU, with a percentile rank of 92 compared to all CPUs, has an average benchmark score of 57498, which is a very high score. The GPU, with a percentile rank of 83, has an average score of 43223, which is also high. The combination of these two high-performing components yields a result that is better than 92.4% of all other tested combos in this database. The nearest rivals to the CPU in terms of overall score are the AMD EPYC 9015 at 57555 (0.1% faster), the Intel Core i9-14900 at 58115 (1.1% faster), and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M at 58323 (1.4% faster). The CPU’s performance in this combo is also strong in multi-threaded tasks, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32172, which indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck for the GPU in this game.

The ranking is a strong indicator of the overall capability of this system for Thief, but the specific frame rates are the best way to assess the experience. The data shows that the system is capable of 4K60 on High settings, 2K144 at High settings, and 1080p155 at Ultra settings. The rank of 282 out of 3720 is a top-tier result, but it is also a reflection of the fact that Thief is a few years old and is not a heavily demanding title for modern hardware. The system is able to deliver a high frame rate at all resolutions, and the rank reflects that this is a very capable system for this game. It also indicates that for a player with a 60Hz 4K monitor, this is a very good system, and for a player with a 144Hz 1440p monitor, the system is also a great fit.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The CPU has 64 MB of L3 cache, which is a large pool of memory for frequently accessed data. The CPU’s performance is very high, with a Geekbench single-core score of 3010 and a multi-core score of 22174. In the context of Thief, this CPU is more than capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to avoid a CPU bottleneck. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p, the Low setting yields 230 FPS, which is a very high frame rate that is likely near the limit of what a CPU can produce in this game, but the CPU is not the primary constraint. The CPU’s performance is so high that the GPU is the primary factor at all resolutions, as demonstrated by the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K.

The CPU’s multi-threaded performance is not a significant factor in this game, as Thief is not a heavily threaded title. However, the CPU’s single-thread performance is critical for the game’s main loop and physics, and the Ryzen 9 9900X has a single-thread score of 1286 in 3DMark’s single-thread test, which is a high score. The CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads are more than enough for the game, and the low thread utilization means that the CPU is not the bottleneck. The data shows that the CPU provides an excellent foundation for the GPU to perform to its full potential. The CPU’s memory support for DDR5 and its dual-channel memory bus with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s also contribute to the system’s overall performance, but the game’s performance is more sensitive to the GPU’s memory bandwidth.

In comparison to its nearest rivals, the CPU is within 1% of the Intel Core i9-14900, which indicates that the CPU is not a weak point in the system. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 57498 is higher than the average of all CPUs, and it is in the 92nd percentile. The CPU’s performance in a game like Thief is not the primary factor in the frame rate, and the data shows that the GPU is the component that determines the FPS scores. The CPU is a top-tier processor, and it is more than capable of handling the game’s demands without any issues.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for the AMD Ryzen 9 9900K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the system is heavily GPU-bound, and the data shows a strong scaling of FPS with settings. The Low preset yields an average of 230 FPS, which is the highest of any configuration tested. The Medium preset delivers an average of 208 FPS, with the minimum and maximum FPS of 176 and 239, respectively. The High preset at 1920x1080 achieves an average of 164 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p has an average of 156 FPS, which is a 34% reduction from the Low preset. This indicates that the GPU can still deliver high FPS at 1080p even with the most demanding settings, and the CPU is not a limiting factor at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the data shows a typical reduction in FPS as the resolution increases. The Low preset at 1440p averages 194 FPS, which is still a very high frame rate. The Medium preset at 1440p has an average of 147 FPS, with a minimum of 125 and a maximum of 169 FPS. The High preset at 1440p averages 112 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 107 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is only 5 FPS, as mentioned earlier. The data shows that the GPU can handle 1440p with high settings very well, and the frame rates are high enough for any gaming monitor. The average FPS at 1440p Ultra is 107, which is a smooth experience, and the system can also handle 1440p High at 112 FPS, which is an excellent result.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is pushed to its limits. The Low preset at 4K yields an average of 114 FPS, which is surprisingly high and shows that the GPU is still very capable at 4K with lower settings. The Medium preset at 4K has an average of 87 FPS, with a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 100 FPS. The High preset at 4K averages 66 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 4K averages 63 FPS, which is the lowest average FPS in the entire data set. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 3 FPS, which is a negligible difference, so the Ultra preset is only slightly more demanding than High at this resolution. The data shows that the RTX 4070 SUPER can provide a playable experience at 4K with the High and Medium presets, but the frame rates are close to the 60 FPS target for Ultra and High.

The overall data indicates that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary performance driver, with the CPU playing a supporting role. The FPS numbers are strong across all tested resolutions, and the system is most balanced for 1440p gaming, where the High preset hits 111 FPS, which is a great experience for any player. The system is also capable of 4K60 at High settings, which is a solid result for a GPU of this class. The data is consistent and shows no anomalies, indicating that the system is stable and the components are well matched. The numbers provide a comprehensive view of what a player can expect from this combination in Thief, and the overall performance is high.