Thief

# Thief with AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

This combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 places at rank 387 out of 2,851 tested combos in Thief, putting it in the top 13.6% of all systems evaluated. The pairing leverages a 12-core, 24-thread Zen 5 processor with a 128 MB L3 cache alongside an Ada Lovelace GPU with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, producing frame rates that range from a playable 56 FPS at 4K Ultra to a fluid 228 FPS at 1080p Low. The data shows a system that is consistently capable across the entire resolution and settings spectrum, though the performance curve reveals distinct bottlenecks depending on where you look.

How This Combo Ranks

The rank of 387 out of 2,851 combos means this system outperforms roughly 86% of all tested configurations in Thief. This is a strong result for a stealth title from 2014, which tends to favor raw single-thread performance and high memory bandwidth over massive multi-core scaling. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D sits in the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54,762, while the RTX 4070 lands in the 81st percentile among GPUs with an average score of 37,648.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the data shows a tight cluster at the top. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF scores 55,093, a mere 0.6% higher than the 9900X3D, while the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K trails by 1.3% with a score of 54,053. The Intel Xeon 6505P and Intel Core i7-14700F are 2% and 2.1% behind respectively, with scores of 53,701 and 53,620. This suggests that in CPU-bound scenarios, the 9900X3D is effectively trading blows with the best mid-range Intel offerings, with differences so small they would be imperceptible in real-world gameplay.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070's average score of 37,648 places it in a similar tight race. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 scores 37,628 (0.1% behind), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37,507 (0.4% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38,135 (1.3% ahead). The AMD Radeon PRO W6400 trails by 1.3% at 37,157. This indicates that the RTX 4070 is positioned at a performance tier where small architectural differences, not raw specifications, separate the contenders.

The combination's overall rank is bolstered by the fact that Thief's engine responds well to both high clock speeds and substantial cache. The 9900X3D's 5.50 GHz boost clock and 128 MB L3 cache provide the kind of low-latency access that stealth gameplay with numerous AI actors and dynamic light sources demands. The RTX 4070's 5 nm process and 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute ensure that even at 4K, the GPU rarely becomes a hard bottleneck until Ultra settings are enabled.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of running Thief at 4K with high settings?

A: Yes, the measured data shows an average of 59 FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings. This is just below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered the minimum for smooth gameplay, but it is playable. Dropping to Medium settings at 4K raises the average to 78 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS, which provides a more comfortable margin.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 9900X3D compare to its nearest CPU rivals in overall benchmark performance?

A: The 9900X3D's average benchmark score is 54,762, placing it 0.6% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55,093) and 1.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54,053). It also leads the Intel Xeon 6505P by 2% and the Intel Core i7-14700F by 2.1%.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: At 2560x1440, both High and Ultra presets deliver excellent results. High averages 101 FPS, while Ultra averages 96 FPS. The difference of only 5 FPS between these presets suggests that Ultra is the better choice for 1440p, as it provides the visual enhancements without a meaningful performance penalty.

Q: Does this system hit 144 Hz at 1080p?

A: Yes, at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 228, and with Medium settings it is 193. Even at High settings, the average of 147 FPS exceeds 144 Hz, making this combo suitable for high-refresh-rate 1080p displays. Ultra settings drop the average to 140 FPS, which is still close to the 144 Hz threshold.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 4070 have, and is it sufficient for Thief?

A: The RTX 4070 has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. Given that Thief was released in 2014, 12 GB is far more than sufficient, even at 4K Ultra. The bottleneck at 4K Ultra (56 FPS) is more likely compute-related than memory-related.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-threaded performance profile?

A: The 9900X3D scores 47,737 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 20,049 in Cinebench R20 multi-core. In 3DMark's 16-thread test it scores 12,490, and at max threads it scores 13,795. Single-thread performance is also strong, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 1,269 and a Geekbench single-core score of 3,041.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals a clear hierarchy of presets across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the jump from Low (228 FPS) to Medium (193 FPS) costs 35 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High (147 FPS) costs 46 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra (140 FPS) costs only 7 FPS, making Ultra the most efficient upgrade at this resolution. The 140 FPS average at 1080p Ultra is still extremely fluid, and the small gap between High and Ultra suggests that the settings are not heavily taxing the GPU at this resolution.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts slightly. Low averages 174 FPS, Medium drops to 132 FPS, High to 101 FPS, and Ultra to 96 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 5 FPS, which is within the margin of run-to-run variance. This means that at 1440p, the Ultra preset is effectively free in performance terms, and users should select it for the best visual experience. The 96 FPS average at Ultra is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides smooth gameplay on most 1440p displays.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. Low averages 103 FPS, Medium drops to 78 FPS, High to 59 FPS, and Ultra to 56 FPS. The 22 FPS gap between Low and Medium is significant, and the 19 FPS gap between Medium and High is also substantial. However, the gap between High and Ultra is only 3 FPS, indicating that the GPU is nearing its limit and additional settings have diminishing returns. For 4K, Medium is the recommended preset, as it maintains a 78 FPS average with a minimum of 66 FPS, providing a smooth experience without the visual compromises of Low.

The best overall experience depends on the display. For 1080p users, Ultra is the clear choice. For 1440p users, Ultra is also recommended given the negligible performance difference from High. For 4K users, Medium offers the best balance of visual quality and smoothness, with High being a viable option for those who prioritize image quality over frame rate stability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range is measured. Low settings produce an average of 228 FPS, which is a very high frame rate that would satisfy even the most demanding competitive players. Medium settings drop to 193 FPS on average, with a minimum of 164 FPS and a maximum of 222 FPS, showing a tight frame time distribution. High settings average 147 FPS, and Ultra settings average 140 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra spans 88 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between Medium and High.

At 2560x1440, the measured values show a similar pattern but with lower absolute numbers. Low settings average 174 FPS, Medium averages 132 FPS with a minimum of 113 FPS and a maximum of 152 FPS, High averages 101 FPS, and Ultra averages 96 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is the smallest of any resolution, at only 5 FPS. The total range from Low to Ultra is 78 FPS, slightly less than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low settings average 103 FPS, which is still above 100 FPS and represents a playable experience even at 4K. Medium settings average 78 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS and a maximum of 89 FPS, providing a consistent experience above 60 FPS. High settings drop to 59 FPS on average, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra settings average 56 FPS. The range from Low to Ultra is 47 FPS, less than half the range seen at 1080p.

The min and max FPS data for Medium settings across all resolutions provides insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p, the 164-222 FPS range represents a 35% spread from min to max. At 1440p, the 113-152 FPS range represents a 35% spread. At 4K, the 66-89 FPS range represents a 35% spread. This consistent relative variance suggests that the game's frame time distribution scales proportionally with resolution, indicating a balanced workload between CPU and GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows how frame rates scale as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 228 at 1080p to 174 at 1440p (a 23.7% reduction) and then to 103 at 4K (a 55.3% reduction from 1440p, or 40.8% from 1080p). At Medium settings, the progression is 193 to 132 to 78, representing reductions of 31.6% and 40.9% respectively. At High settings, the progression is 147 to 101 to 59, with reductions of 31.3% and 41.6%. At Ultra settings, the progression is 140 to 96 to 56, with reductions of 31.4% and 41.7%.

The consistency of these scaling patterns is notable. Regardless of the settings preset, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistently around 31-32% for Medium through Ultra, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is consistently around 41-42%. The Low preset shows slightly different scaling, with a smaller drop from 1080p to 1440p (23.7%) and a larger drop from 1440p to 4K (40.8%).

This scaling behavior reveals that the system is not purely GPU-bound at any resolution. If the GPU were the sole bottleneck, the scaling from 1080p to 4K would be closer to the theoretical pixel count increase of 4x. Instead, the frame rate drops by roughly 60-75% of the pixel scaling, indicating that the CPU is contributing to the performance ceiling, particularly at lower resolutions. The 9900X3D's strong single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1,269) helps maintain high frame rates at 1080p, but the 2014 game engine likely has threading limitations that prevent full utilization of the 12 cores.

The fact that Ultra and High settings scale nearly identically from 1440p to 4K (41.7% vs. 41.6%) suggests that the additional settings above High do not significantly increase the GPU workload. This is consistent with the small FPS differences between High and Ultra at each resolution. The limiting factor at 4K Ultra (56 FPS) appears to be a combination of GPU compute throughput and the game engine's ability to feed the GPU at high resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a TDP of 120 W. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and a substantial 128 MB of L3 cache. This large L3 cache is particularly relevant for gaming, as it allows frequently accessed data to remain on-die, reducing memory latency.

In Thief, the CPU's role is evident in the performance scaling across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 228 FPS, which is a very high frame rate that requires strong single-thread performance. The 9900X3D's 3DMark single-thread score of 1,269 and Geekbench single-core score of 3,041 indicate excellent single-thread capability. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6,739 further confirms this, placing it in the upper echelon of desktop processors.

The multi-threaded performance is also strong, with Cinebench R23 multi-core scoring 47,737 and Geekbench multi-core scoring 22,884. However, Thief, being a 2014 title, is unlikely to fully utilize 24 threads. The 3DMark scores show a progression from 2,512 at 2 threads to 4,885 at 4 threads, 9,002 at 8 threads, 12,490 at 16 threads, and 13,795 at max threads. This scaling pattern indicates that the CPU gains performance up to 16 threads but shows diminishing returns beyond that point. In a game like Thief, the practical benefit likely tops out around 8 threads.

The 128 MB L3 cache and 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth provide the memory subsystem with ample headroom for game data. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support ensures that the CPU can feed data to the GPU without becoming a bottleneck, particularly at lower resolutions where frame rates are high. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54,762, places it just behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55,093) and ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54,053).

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is based on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD104 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, with 5,888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. The GPU features 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores, with a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 29.15 TFLOPS, with FP16 at the same rate (1:1).

The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at an effective speed of 21 Gbps on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. This memory configuration is well-suited for Thief, which does not require massive VRAM allocations even at 4K. The GPU's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37,648, places it in a tight cluster with the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37,628), AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37,507), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38,135), and AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (37,157).

In Thief, the GPU's role becomes increasingly important as resolution increases. At 1080p, the GPU is rarely the limiting factor, as evidenced by the small FPS difference between High (147 FPS) and Ultra (140 FPS). The CPU's strong single-thread performance keeps frame rates high, and the GPU has ample headroom. At 1440p, the GPU begins to assert its influence, with the gap between High and Ultra shrinking to 5 FPS. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the primary bottleneck, with High settings dropping to 59 FPS and Ultra to 56 FPS.

The RTX 4070's boost clock of 2475 MHz and 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are sufficient for Thief's DirectX 11-era rendering, which includes dynamic lighting and shadow effects that are characteristic of the stealth genre. The 46 ray tracing cores are not likely to be utilized by this 2014 title, but they do not hinder performance. The GPU's 504.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming at 4K Ultra does not cause stuttering, as evidenced by the relatively stable frame rates even at the highest settings.

The GPU's end-of-life production status and its position among rivals suggest that it is a mature product with well-established driver support. The benchmark data shows that it delivers consistent performance across the tested resolutions, with the 4K Ultra result of 56 FPS being the only preset that falls below the 60 FPS threshold. For users targeting 4K, the Medium preset's 78 FPS average and 66 FPS minimum provide a better experience than High or Ultra, confirming that the GPU's sweet spot is at 1440p and below.