Thief

Resolution Scaling

Thief's performance scaling across resolutions reveals a system that is firmly GPU-limited at higher settings. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile delivers an average of 164 FPS. Scaling to 1440p drops that figure to 113 FPS, a reduction of roughly 31%, and at 4K the average falls to 66 FPS, which is about 60% lower than the 1080p Low result. This steep decline as pixel count rises is characteristic of a scenario where the GPU's rendering throughput becomes the bottleneck; the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions, but the RTX 4060 Mobile's 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit memory interface cannot sustain the same frame rates as the resolution increases.

The pattern holds across other settings as well. With Medium settings, the 1080p average is 125 FPS, which declines to 86 FPS at 1440p and further to 50 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is substantial, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is even more pronounced, suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth per pixel becomes increasingly strained at 4K. For High settings, the averages are 95 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 38 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings show the same trend: 90 FPS at 1080p, 62 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K.

A key observation is that the spread between settings widens at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 74 FPS (164 vs. 90), while at 4K that same gap narrows to 30 FPS (66 vs. 36). This compression at higher resolutions is a classic sign of GPU saturation: when the GPU is already near its limit at 4K, changing quality settings has less impact on absolute frame rates because the renderer is constrained by fill rate and memory bandwidth rather than shader complexity. Conversely, at 1080p, where the GPU is less stressed, the additional workload from higher settings manifests as a larger absolute FPS penalty.

The data also shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor in Thief. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 164 FPS, which is well above typical display refresh rates and indicates that the Ryzen AI Max+ 395's 16 cores and 32 threads are more than sufficient to handle the game's simulation and draw-call overhead. The fact that 1080p Medium (125 FPS) is still far above 4K Low (66 FPS) reinforces that resolution, not CPU performance, is the dominant variable in this pairing.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile is the primary driver of these frame rates. Its architecture is Ada Lovelace on a 5 nm process from TSMC, with a die size of 159 mm² and 18,900 million transistors. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1545 MHz and a boost clock of 1890 MHz, which are modest figures for a mobile part, but the card's 3072 shading units and 96 texture mapping units provide enough compute for a game like Thief. The pixel rate is 90.72 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 181.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 11.61 TFLOPS.

Memory configuration plays a critical role in Thief's performance at high resolutions. The RTX 4060 Mobile comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. This is identical to the CPU's memory bandwidth figure, but for the GPU it is the sole path to its frame buffer. At 4K with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 36, which is below the 38 FPS recorded at 4K High. The minimal difference between High and Ultra at 4K (38 vs. 36 FPS) suggests that the GPU is not only filling its pixel pipeline but also approaching the limits of its memory subsystem; additional quality settings do not translate into proportional FPS gains because the bottleneck has shifted from compute to bandwidth.

The GPU's closest rivals in benchmark averages are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (delta of -0.7%), the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (delta of 0.8%), the Intel Arc B580 (delta of -1.3%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (delta of 1.3%). In Thief, the 4060 Mobile's performance at 1440p High (65 FPS) and 4K High (38 FPS) aligns with its percentile ranking of 67 among all GPUs, indicating it is a mid-range part that can handle 1080p and 1440p gaming well but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K with higher presets.

The RTX 4060 Mobile's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility are relevant for Thief, a 2014 title that predates these APIs but can still benefit from modern driver optimizations. The GPU's 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores are largely unused in this game, as Thief does not feature ray-traced effects, but they contribute to the card's overall compute capability. The 48 ROPs are a limiting factor at 4K, where pixel fill rate becomes critical; this is reflected in the 4K Ultra result of 36 FPS, which is barely playable.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combination in Thief?

A: The highest average FPS is 164, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Does the system maintain playable frame rates at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 36, which is below the 38 FPS at High settings and far from the 66 FPS at Low settings. This indicates that Ultra is not a viable preset at 4K for this GPU.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 Mobile compare to the RTX 2080 in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 4060 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 22729, while the RTX 2080 scores 22895. This represents a delta of -0.7%, meaning the RTX 2080 is slightly faster on average, but the difference is negligible.

Q: What is the performance gap between 1080p and 1440p at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the average FPS is 125 at 1080p and 86 at 1440p, a difference of 39 FPS (approximately 31% lower at 1440p).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Thief?

A: The data shows the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 164 FPS, which is far above typical refresh rates, and performance drops significantly as resolution increases, indicating the RTX 4060 Mobile's rendering capacity is the constraint.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS values recorded at 4K with Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 50, with a minimum of 43 and a maximum of 58.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 3720 tested combinations in Thief, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile ranks 2242nd. This places it in the 40th percentile of all tested combos, meaning roughly 60% of configurations achieve higher frame rates in this game. The combination's rank is influenced more by the GPU than the CPU, as the RTX 4060 Mobile's percentile of 67 among all GPUs is lower than the Ryzen AI Max+ 395's percentile of 95 among all CPUs.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX (delta of 1.6%), the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P (delta of 1.6%), the Intel Core i9-14900K (delta of -1.7%), and the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX (delta of 2%). The Ryzen AI Max+ 395's average benchmark score of 77740 is competitive with these desktop and server parts, but in Thief, the GPU's mid-range standing drags the overall combo rank down.

The rank of 2242 out of 3720 suggests that while this is not a top-tier gaming configuration, it is not a weak one either. The system's ability to hit 90 FPS at 1080p Ultra and 65 FPS at 1440p High demonstrates that it can handle the game at mainstream resolutions with high quality settings. The 4K performance, however, is below 60 FPS for all settings except Low, which aligns with the GPU's 67th percentile ranking and its 8 GB memory capacity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4060 Mobile delivers its strongest results. With Low settings, the average FPS is 164. Medium settings yield an average of 125 FPS, with a minimum of 106 and a maximum of 143. High settings produce 95 FPS on average, and Ultra settings dip slightly to 90 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 74 FPS, indicating that at 1080p, the GPU has sufficient headroom to accommodate quality increases without collapsing frame rates.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are lower but still playable. Low settings achieve 113 FPS, Medium settings drop to 86 FPS (min 73, max 98), High settings settle at 65 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 62 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 51 FPS, reflecting the increased pixel load. The Medium setting's minimum of 73 FPS is still comfortably above 60 FPS, making 1440p Medium a viable option for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes marginal for most presets. Low settings average 66 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a game like Thief that benefits from higher quality textures. Medium settings average 50 FPS, with a minimum of 43 and a maximum of 58, putting it below the 60 FPS threshold. High settings average 38 FPS, and Ultra settings average 36 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 2 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects are nearly free in terms of performance cost but still leave the game below 40 FPS.

The data also reveals that the 4K Low result of 66 FPS is nearly identical to the 1440p High result of 65 FPS. This is an interesting crossover point: the GPU can achieve roughly the same frame rate by either reducing resolution to 1440p with High settings or staying at 4K with Low settings. For users who prioritize visual fidelity, 1440p High offers a better experience because the higher quality textures and effects are more impactful than the resolution bump to 4K with reduced settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this hardware depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the High preset (95 FPS) is the best balance of quality and performance, as it delivers nearly double the frame rate of the 60 FPS baseline while retaining most visual features. The Ultra preset (90 FPS) offers only a 5 FPS penalty over High, so users with a 144 Hz display may prefer Ultra if they want maximum quality, but the difference in visual fidelity between High and Ultra is typically minor in Thief. The Medium preset (125 FPS) is the best choice for high-refresh-rate displays, as it provides a significant FPS boost over High while still offering acceptable visual quality.

At 1440p, the Medium preset (86 FPS) is the recommended starting point, as it stays above 60 FPS and provides a smooth experience. The High preset (65 FPS) is also viable for users who prioritize quality over frame rate, but the minimum FPS for Medium (73) is well above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the safer choice for consistent performance. The Ultra preset (62 FPS) is borderline, and the data shows that the gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is only 3 FPS (65 vs. 62), so Ultra is not worth the additional GPU load unless the user has a variable refresh rate monitor.

At 4K, the only playable preset is Low, which averages 66 FPS. The Medium preset (50 FPS) is below 60 FPS and may be acceptable for users who do not require high refresh rates, but the minimum of 43 FPS could lead to noticeable stuttering in action scenes. High (38 FPS) and Ultra (36 FPS) are not recommended for 4K gaming, as they fall below the 40 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. For the best overall experience at 4K, users should either accept the reduced visual quality of the Low preset or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p with Medium or High settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is a high-end mobile processor with 16 cores and 32 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture on a 4 nm process from TSMC. Its base clock is 3.00 GHz with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, and it features 64 MB of shared L3 cache along with 1 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU's memory support includes LPDDR5X with a quad-channel bus, providing 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is identical to the GPU's memory bandwidth, which is notable because it means the CPU is not starved for data in a game like Thief.

In Thief, the CPU's role is largely to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The benchmark results show that the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is more than capable of this task. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 35314 and single-core score of 2044 place it well above the needs of a 2014 game, and its Geekbench multicore score of 20992 with a single-core score of 2464 further confirms its strength. The Passmark multithread score of 54934 and single-thread score of 4147 are also high, indicating that the CPU can handle both the game's simulation threads and any background tasks without impacting frame rates.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Core i9-14900K, which has a delta of -1.7%, meaning the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is slightly faster. The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is 2% slower, while the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX and AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P are both 1.6% slower. These comparisons show that the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is a top-tier CPU, and its 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs underscores this.

The absence of CPU bottlenecks in Thief is evident from the FPS data. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 164 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would expose CPU limitations if they existed. The fact that frame rates scale linearly with resolution (e.g., 164 FPS at 1080p Low vs. 66 FPS at 4K Low) confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's 16 cores and 32 threads are also well-suited for Thief's engine, which can utilize multiple threads for physics, AI, and rendering tasks, but the game does not appear to be heavily multithreaded based on the performance scaling. The CPU's high single-thread performance (2044 in Cinebench R23) is likely the more important metric for this title, as older games often have a primary thread that limits overall frame rates. With a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 provides ample single-thread performance to keep that primary thread well above the GPU's output.