Thief

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers a commanding performance profile in Thief, with measured frame rates that consistently exceed 80 FPS at every tested setting and resolution combination. The data shows a configuration that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet still demonstrates sufficient CPU headroom to push well past 200 FPS at lower settings, making it a top-tier option for this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data presents a clear hierarchy across the four available presets. At 1080p, the Ultra preset achieves an average of 169.8 FPS, while the High preset delivers 173.5 FPS, and Medium reaches 191.1 FPS. The Low preset tops the chart at 206.5 FPS. This pattern persists at 1440p, where Ultra averages 136.9 FPS, High records 144.6 FPS, Medium hits 168.5 FPS, and Low leads again at 183.1 FPS. At 4K, the gap narrows considerably: Ultra and High produce 80 FPS and 83.5 FPS respectively, while Medium improves to 109.4 FPS, and Low reaches 146.8 FPS.

For the best experience per the measured rows, the High preset at 1440p stands out as the sweet spot. It delivers 144.6 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay, while providing a substantial visual uplift over the Low preset. The difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is only 7.7 FPS (144.6 vs. 136.9), which does not justify the potential visual cost of the highest settings. At 4K, the High preset’s 83.5 FPS is playable, but the Low preset’s 146.8 FPS offers a far more comfortable margin for high-refresh-rate displays. Given that the RTX 4090 is capable of driving High settings at 4K, players prioritizing visual fidelity should opt for High, while those seeking maximum frame rates should select Low.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications align closely with the observed results. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. Its boost clock of 2520 MHz and base clock of 2235 MHz provide the raw compute throughput necessary for high-resolution rendering. The card’s 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are reflected in its ability to maintain high frame rates even at 4K.

The GPU’s memory capacity is particularly relevant for Thief, as the game’s texture-heavy environments benefit from the 24 GB frame buffer. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 80, indicating that the GPU is nearing its limits with the highest settings, yet it still delivers a playable experience. The RTX 4090’s percentile ranking of 91 among all GPUs underscores its elite status, and its average benchmark score of 66473 places it within 1.3% of its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro P6000. The data shows that this GPU is not the bottleneck in most scenarios, as the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K follows a predictable pattern tied to rendering resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the system’s performance scales with resolution, highlighting the shift in bottleneck behavior. At 1080p High, the average FPS is 173.5. Moving to 1440p High, the frame rate drops to 144.6, a reduction of 28.9 FPS. At 4K High, the average falls to 83.5, a substantial 61.1 FPS decrease from 1440p. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, while the CPU has ample headroom at lower resolutions.

The Low preset shows a similar but more pronounced trend. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 206.5 FPS, which drops to 183.1 at 1440p and 146.8 at 4K. The relatively modest decline from 1080p to 1440p (23.4 FPS) suggests that the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU at these settings. However, the 36.3 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K demonstrates the GPU’s increasing workload. In contrast, the Ultra preset shows a steeper decline: 169.8 FPS at 1080p, 136.9 at 1440p, and 80 at 4K. The 56.9 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K Ultra indicates that the GPU is fully saturated at this resolution and settings combination.

The data clearly shows that at 1080p, the configuration is partially CPU-limited, as even the Ultra preset achieves 169.8 FPS, leaving performance on the table. At 4K, the GPU is the definitive limiter, with the gap between Low and Ultra presets narrowing to 66.8 FPS, compared to a 36.7 FPS gap at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS recorded for this configuration in Thief?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 206.5, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform compared to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 136.9 FPS, while the High preset achieves 144.6 FPS, a difference of 7.7 FPS in favor of High.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 the limiting component at 4K?

A: Yes, the data shows a significant FPS drop from 1440p to 4K across all settings, with the High preset falling from 144.6 FPS to 83.5 FPS, indicating the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 206.5 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 169.8 FPS, representing a 36.7 FPS advantage for Low.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 rank among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4090 holds a percentile ranking of 91 out of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473.

Q: What is the FPS at 4K with Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with the Medium preset, the configuration achieves an average of 109.4 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K provides the processing foundation for this configuration, and its specifications are well-suited to Thief’s demands. The CPU features 14 cores and 20 threads, operating at a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It has a 24 MB shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 cache per core, along with 80 KB of L1 cache per core. This core and cache configuration ensures that the CPU can handle the game’s AI and physics calculations without becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions.

The CPU’s benchmark results support its capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 32881 in multi-core and 4642 in single-core. Its Passmark multithread score is 38682, and its single-thread score is 4270. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 93 among all CPUs places it just 0.2% above the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X in average benchmark score, demonstrating its competitive standing. In the context of Thief, the CPU’s strong single-core performance is critical, as the game’s engine relies heavily on single-threaded tasks.

The measured FPS data confirms that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p. At this resolution, the system achieves 206.5 FPS on Low settings, which reflects the CPU’s ability to feed the GPU with rendering instructions. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 169.8 FPS average indicates that the CPU has sufficient headroom. However, as resolution increases, the GPU’s workload grows, and the CPU’s role diminishes. At 4K, the CPU’s influence is minimal, as the GPU is clearly the primary determinant of frame rates, with the High preset dropping to 83.5 FPS. The data suggests that this CPU-GPU pairing is well-balanced for Thief, with the CPU providing ample performance for high-refresh-rate gaming at lower resolutions while the GPU dominates at 4K.