Thief

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a compelling 1080p and 1440p experience in Thief, though 4K Ultra remains a challenge. The data indicates a system that excels at high refresh rates in lower resolutions but hits a clear GPU-bound wall at 4K. This analysis breaks down the measured performance across all resolutions and settings, contextualizing the results against the specific hardware characteristics of this CPU-GPU combination.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is significant and reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 106 FPS at 1920x1080 to 73 FPS at 2560x1440, a decrease of 33 FPS or roughly 31%. The scaling continues to 3840x2160, where the average drops further to 43 FPS, representing a 59% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4070's rendering throughput becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The pattern is consistent across all settings presets. With Low settings, the frame rate drops from 184 FPS at 1080p to 126 FPS at 1440p, and then to 74 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset demonstrates a similar trajectory: 140 FPS at 1080p, 96 FPS at 1440p, and 56 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling penalty, starting at 101 FPS at 1080p and falling to 70 FPS at 1440p, before collapsing to 41 FPS at 4K.

The frame rate behavior across resolutions suggests that the CPU, with its 16 cores and 32 threads, is not the primary bottleneck in this title. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395's high single-thread performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2044, is more than sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p. The fact that even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is heavily loaded, the frame rates remain playable albeit low, suggests the system maintains a balanced workload distribution. The RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the textures at these resolutions, but the raw compute power of the AD104 chip is the constraining element at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of performance across the four settings presets. For players prioritizing smooth frame rates at 1080p, the Low preset delivers an exceptional 184 FPS average, which is more than double the 101 FPS achieved at Ultra. However, the Medium preset offers a more balanced experience, providing 140 FPS at 1080p—a 39% improvement over High settings (106 FPS) while presumably maintaining better visual quality than Low.

At 1440p, the Medium settings become the standout choice. The 96 FPS average is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and it represents a 31% increase over the High preset's 73 FPS. The Low preset at 1440p achieves 126 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual fidelity trade-off may not be worth the extra 30 FPS over Medium. The Ultra preset at 1440p, with its 70 FPS average, is the only other option that remains above 60 FPS, but it offers only marginal gains over Medium in frame rate while likely demanding significantly more graphical resources.

For 4K gaming, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset provides a playable 74 FPS average, making it the only 4K option that consistently exceeds 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 56 FPS is borderline, with a minimum frame rate of 48 FPS that could cause noticeable stutter in fast-paced scenes. The High and Ultra presets at 4K, yielding 43 FPS and 41 FPS respectively, are not recommended for a smooth experience, though the minimum frame rate data is unavailable for these settings to fully assess their consistency.

The optimal experience per the measured rows is Medium settings at 1440p, offering 96 FPS average with a minimum of 82 FPS, which provides both high visual quality and a comfortable performance margin. For 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option for maintaining fluid gameplay, while 1080p users can comfortably use High settings at 106 FPS without sacrificing much performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the definitive performance driver in this configuration. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which appears sufficient for Thief's texture and geometry demands at all tested resolutions. The GPU's boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1920 MHz are relatively high, and the 5888 shading units working at these frequencies deliver the 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute that dictates the frame rates observed.

The benchmark results for the RTX 4070 place it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37648. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, both scoring within 0.4% of the RTX 4070's average. This positioning indicates that the RTX 4070 is a mid-to-high-tier performer, which aligns with its measured performance in Thief—capable at 1080p and 1440p, but struggling at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's 184 TMUs and 64 ROPs contribute to its texture and pixel fill rates of 455.4 GTexel/s and 158.4 GPixel/s, respectively. These specifications explain the steep performance degradation at 4K, where the pixel fill rate becomes increasingly stressed. The 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are present but are not leveraged significantly in this 2014 title, as the game's rendering pipeline predates widespread ray tracing adoption. The GPU's 200 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU indicate a power-hungry component, but the measured frame rates show that this power is effectively translated into performance at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 1407 out of 2851 tested combinations for Thief, placing it in the 49th percentile of all tested systems. This mid-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual hardware's capabilities, but it reflects the fact that Thief is an older title where high-end modern components may not scale linearly, and the database contains many combinations with more powerful GPUs or CPUs optimized for this specific workload.

The combo's ranking suggests that while the individual components are strong performers—the CPU in the 95th percentile of all CPUs and the GPU in the 81st percentile—their combined performance in Thief is not exceptional relative to the broader database. The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-14900K, which scores 1.7% higher on average, and the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX, which scores 2% lower. The GPU's nearest rivals are tightly clustered, with the RTX 4080 Mobile scoring 1.3% higher and the Radeon PRO W6400 scoring 1.3% lower.

This ranking data implies that the system is well-balanced but not optimized for Thief specifically. The game's stealth genre often involves complex AI and physics calculations, which the CPU handles well given its 64 MB of shared L3 cache and high multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35314). However, the GPU's 4K performance limitations prevent the combo from achieving a higher rank, as many competing systems likely pair stronger GPUs with similar CPUs.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, with its 16 cores and 32 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, provides substantial processing headroom for Thief. Its base clock of 3.00 GHz and boost clock of 5.10 GHz, combined with a 64 MB shared L3 cache, ensure that the CPU is rarely the bottleneck in this configuration. The CPU's benchmark scores reinforce its capability: a Geekbench multi-core score of 20992 and a Passmark multithread score of 54934 place it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs.

The CPU's role in Thief is primarily to handle game logic, AI pathfinding, and physics calculations, which are typically single-threaded or lightly threaded in a 2014 title. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395's single-thread performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2044 and Passmark single-thread score of 4147, is more than adequate for these tasks. The high boost clock of 5.10 GHz ensures that the game's main thread can run at maximum frequency without thermal throttling, given the CPU's 55 W TDP.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s via quad-channel LPDDR5X support is another asset. While Thief may not be memory-bandwidth sensitive, the ample bandwidth ensures that the GPU can receive texture data without CPU-side bottlenecks. The CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals—1.6% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX and 1.7% ahead of the Intel Core i9-14900K in average benchmark scores—confirms that it is a top-tier processor that complements the RTX 4070 well across all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates span a wide range, offering options for different performance priorities. The Low preset achieves the highest average at 184 FPS, which is suitable for 165 Hz or 240 Hz monitors. The Medium preset delivers 140 FPS with a minimum of 119 FPS and a maximum of 161 FPS, providing a smooth experience with better visual quality. The High preset averages 106 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 101 FPS, with no minimum or maximum data recorded for these two settings.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. The Low preset still leads with 126 FPS average, followed by Medium at 96 FPS (minimum 82 FPS, maximum 110 FPS). The High preset averages 73 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 70 FPS. At this resolution, the Medium preset offers the best balance, staying well above 60 FPS with a minimum that does not dip below 82 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop significantly. The Low preset provides a playable 74 FPS average. The Medium preset averages 56 FPS with a minimum of 48 FPS and a maximum of 65 FPS, indicating some inconsistency. The High preset averages 43 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 41 FPS, both of which are below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The minimum and maximum values for High and Ultra at 4K are not available, but the averages clearly show that these settings are not viable for competitive play.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for a smooth experience in Thief?

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 with Medium settings provides the best balance, achieving an average of 96 FPS with a minimum of 82 FPS. This combination ensures smooth gameplay while maintaining decent visual quality.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Thief?

A: Yes, but only with lower settings. At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves an average of 74 FPS, which is playable. The Medium preset at 4K averages 56 FPS with a minimum of 48 FPS, which may cause stutter in demanding scenes.

Q: How does the RTX 4070's performance in Thief compare to its overall benchmark standing?

A: The RTX 4070's average benchmark score of 37648 places it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. In Thief, its performance is solid at 1080p and 1440p but is limited at 4K Ultra, which aligns with its mid-to-high-tier positioning.

Q: Is the CPU the bottleneck at any resolution?

A: No. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395, with its 16 cores and 5.10 GHz boost clock, provides sufficient processing power. The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent with GPU-bound scaling, indicating the CPU maintains adequate performance across all tested settings.

Q: What is the performance difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 73 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 70 FPS. This is a marginal difference of only 3 FPS, suggesting that the visual gains from Ultra may not justify the slight performance loss.

Q: How does this combo rank relative to all other tested combinations?

A: This combination ranks 1407 out of 2851 tested combos, placing it in the middle of the pack. This ranking reflects the system's balanced performance, which is strong at lower resolutions but not exceptional at 4K.