Thief

The data for Thief with the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER shows a combination that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, with a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as settings are lowered. The measured frames per second (FPS) across three resolutions and four quality presets reveal a system capable of high refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K remains demanding on the graphics card.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is significant, but the magnitude depends heavily on the quality preset. At Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 168.4 at 1920x1080 to 121.1 at 2560x1440, and finally to 70.1 at 3840x2160. This represents a 58.4% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases. The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly steep, with a 42.1% drop, suggesting that the GPU’s rendering workload at 4K Ultra is substantial.

At Low settings, the scaling pattern changes. The average FPS at 1080p is 210.3, dropping to 187.5 at 1440p and 130.0 at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 4K is 38.2%, which is less severe than at Ultra. This smaller percentage drop indicates that at Low settings, the CPU begins to play a more significant role, especially at 1080p where the frame rate is high enough to expose processor limitations. The difference between 1080p and 1440p at Low is only 10.8%, while the jump to 4K costs 30.7%, showing that the GPU still dominates at the highest resolution even with reduced graphical load.

Medium settings show a middle ground. At 1080p, the average is 188.8 FPS, dropping to 167.9 at 1440p and 101.6 at 4K. The overall scaling from 1080p to 4K is 46.2%, placing it between Low and Ultra. This pattern reinforces that the RTX 4080 SUPER’s compute and memory bandwidth are the decisive factors for resolution scaling, while the CPU’s 14 cores and 20 threads provide sufficient headroom to avoid becoming the main bottleneck until frame rates exceed roughly 200 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process and features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. The GPU’s boost clock is 2550 MHz, and it contains 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units. These specifications translate into a pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s, which are critical for handling the detailed environments and lighting effects in Thief.

The GPU’s performance in this game is consistent with its benchmark standing. It scores 34245 in Passmark G3D and 19822 in Passmark GPU Compute, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. Compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 4080 SUPER is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M in average benchmark score. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is ample for Thief, which was released in 2014, and the measured FPS data shows no signs of memory capacity limiting performance, even at 4K Ultra where the average dips to 70.1 FPS.

The data suggests that the GPU’s role is most pronounced at 4K. At Ultra settings, the RTX 4080 SUPER’s raw compute power is taxed, but it still maintains a playable average of 70.1 FPS. At Low settings and 1080p, the GPU is underutilized, as evidenced by the 210.3 FPS average, which is more than three times the 4K Ultra result. This indicates that the GPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings, and the system’s performance is instead constrained by other components.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It has 24 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 or DDR5 memory. The CPU’s benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32889 and a single-core score of 4643, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs.

In Thief, the CPU’s influence is observable at 1080p with Low settings, where the average FPS reaches 210.3. This is the highest measured frame rate in the dataset, and it suggests that the processor can keep up with the GPU’s output at this resolution. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 41.9 FPS (210.3 vs 168.4), which is smaller than the gap at 4K (59.9 FPS between Low and Ultra). This narrower gap at 1080p implies that the CPU is starting to become a secondary constraint when the GPU has less work to do.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Core i5-14600K, which is 0.4% ahead, and the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, which is 0.6% behind. The i5-14600KF’s 20 threads provide adequate parallelism for Thief, a game that benefits from multiple cores but is not exceptionally demanding in this regard. The measured data indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1440p or 4K, where the FPS is primarily dictated by the GPU’s rendering capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 59th out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the top 3.6% of all combinations, indicating that it is a high-performing pairing for this game. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU’s strong single-thread and multi-thread scores and the GPU’s high percentile standing among all graphics cards.

Relative to other combos, this setup excels in scenarios where the GPU is fully utilized, such as 4K Ultra. The 70.1 FPS average at that setting is well above the playable threshold, and the 4K Low result of 130.0 FPS shows that there is considerable headroom for users who prefer higher frame rates over visual fidelity. The combo’s rank is also supported by the CPU’s performance, which is within 0.5% of the AMD EPYC 4345P and 1.4% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H in average benchmark score.

The data shows that this combo is more than sufficient for Thief at any resolution and settings combination. The only potential limitation is at 1080p Low, where the 210.3 FPS average approaches the CPU’s maximum output, but this is not a practical concern for most users. The combination’s rank of 59 out of 1642 underscores its capability, with only a small fraction of tested systems outperforming it.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 70.1.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49367, which is 0.4% lower than the Intel Core i5-14600K and 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X.

Q: What is the highest measured FPS in the dataset?

A: The highest average FPS is 210.3, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER has a memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s.

Q: How does the GPU rank among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER is in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53610.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 168.4 at 1920x1080 to 79.1 at 3840x2160, a difference of 89.3 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 210.3 at Low settings to 168.4 at both High and Ultra settings. Medium settings produce an average of 188.8 FPS. The consistency between High and Ultra at this resolution suggests that the CPU is providing a stable foundation, with the GPU handling the increased graphical load without significant frame rate loss.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 187.5 for Low, 167.9 for Medium, 129.9 for High, and 121.1 for Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is 66.4 FPS, which is more pronounced than at 1080p, indicating the GPU’s growing workload as pixel count increases. The 1440p results show a clear hierarchy, with each step up in quality reducing the average FPS by a meaningful margin.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 130.0 for Low, 101.6 for Medium, 79.1 for High, and 70.1 for Ultra. This resolution shows the largest spread, with a 59.9 FPS difference between Low and Ultra. The 4K data confirms that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the limiting component, as even at Low settings, the average FPS is substantially lower than at lower resolutions. The minimum and maximum FPS values are not provided in the dataset, so the analysis focuses solely on average performance across all tested configurations.