Thief

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER delivers a robust performance profile in Thief, a 2014 stealth title that remains demanding at higher resolutions. The measured data shows a clear progression of frame rates across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, with the scaling patterns revealing where the system’s bottleneck shifts. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 195.9 FPS, which drops to 163.6 FPS at High settings and 161.5 FPS at Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages fall to 172.5 FPS (Low), 157.2 FPS (Medium), 122.1 FPS (High), and 111.5 FPS (Ultra). At 3840x2160, the frame rates compress further: 118.4 FPS (Low), 89.9 FPS (Medium), 70.1 FPS (High), and 70.0 FPS (Ultra). This data indicates a system that is heavily GPU-limited at 4K, while the CPU retains headroom at lower resolutions, making the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER the primary driver of performance in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic pattern of increasing GPU load with diminishing returns for the CPU. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS of 195.9 represents the ceiling for this combo, with the i7-12700K’s 12 cores and 20 threads providing ample processing power to feed the GPU. The drop to 163.6 FPS at High settings (a 16.5% reduction) and 161.5 FPS at Ultra (a 17.6% reduction) shows that even at 1080p, graphical settings begin to tax the graphics card, though the CPU is not yet the limiting factor. When resolution moves to 2560x1440, the scaling becomes more pronounced: Low settings yield 172.5 FPS (an 11.9% drop from 1080p Low), while Ultra drops to 111.5 FPS (a 31% drop from 1080p Ultra). This suggests the GPU is starting to saturate, as the pixel count increase of 78% from 1080p to 1440p does not translate to a proportional FPS loss, indicating the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 672.3 GB/s bandwidth are being utilized effectively.

The most telling data comes at 3840x2160. Here, the average FPS at Low settings is 118.4, which is only 39.6% lower than the 1080p Low figure, while the jump from 1440p Low to 4K Low represents a 31.4% reduction. High and Ultra settings at 4K produce nearly identical results—70.1 FPS and 70.0 FPS, respectively—which is a strong indicator of a hard GPU bottleneck. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is a 40.8% FPS drop, whereas at 1080p, that same settings gap is only 17.6%. This compression of frame rates at higher settings and resolutions confirms that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the limiting component at 4K, with the CPU’s role diminishing as pixel throughput demands more from the graphics card’s 8448 shading units and 96 ROPs. The data shows that for gamers targeting 1440p, this combo offers a smooth experience above 110 FPS even at Ultra, but 4K Ultra becomes a 70 FPS proposition, right at the edge of high-refresh displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER serves as the dominant performance driver in Thief, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. The GPU’s specifications—16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 672.3 GB/s—are directly relevant to the measured results. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 70.0 suggests the memory subsystem is being taxed, as the larger frame buffers required at 3840x2160 consume more bandwidth. The GPU’s base clock of 2340 MHz and boost clock of 2610 MHz, paired with a pixel rate of 250.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 689.0 GTexel/s, provide the raw compute to handle Thief’s DirectX 11-era rendering. The benchmark data shows a PassMark G3D score of 31811, placing this GPU in the 86th percentile against all GPUs, which aligns with its ability to maintain high frame rates in this title.

The GPU’s role becomes clearer when comparing settings at the same resolution. At 1440p, the spread from Low (172.5 FPS) to Ultra (111.5 FPS) is 35.3%, indicating that the GPU’s shading units and texture units are the primary differentiators. Conversely, at 1080p, the same spread is only 17.6%, suggesting that at lower resolutions, the CPU’s 3.60 GHz base and 5.00 GHz boost clocks are sufficient to keep the GPU fed, but the GPU still sets the upper bound. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER’s 44.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is more than adequate for a 2014 title, yet the data shows that 4K Ultra still results in sub-100 FPS averages. This is not a reflection of the GPU’s absolute capability but rather the game’s engine limitations and the sheer pixel count. The memory clock of 1313 MHz, translating to 21 Gbps effective, provides the bandwidth needed to avoid stuttering, but the frame rate ceiling at 4K is a function of the GPU’s fill rate and ROP throughput, which are capped at 250.6 GPixel/s and 96 ROPs, respectively.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER produce an average of 161.5 FPS. This is only 2.6% lower than the High settings average of 163.6 FPS, indicating that the GPU is not fully saturated at this resolution.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K compared to 1440p?

A: At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS is 70.1, which is 42.6% lower than the 1440p High average of 122.1 FPS. This substantial drop highlights the GPU’s role as the bottleneck at 4K, as the pixel count increase of 2.25x from 1440p to 4K exceeds the FPS reduction, showing the GPU’s scaling is not linear.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiting factor at resolutions above 1080p. At 1080p Low, the FPS is 195.9, and at 4K Low, it drops to 118.4, a 39.6% reduction. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29241 places it in the 89th percentile, suggesting it has headroom, while the GPU’s 86th percentile ranking shows it is the constraining component at higher settings.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield 172.5 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 111.5 FPS, a difference of 35.3%. This gap is larger than the 17.6% difference seen at 1080p, confirming that the GPU’s workload increases more steeply with settings at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K?

A: Yes, at 4K with High settings, the average FPS is 70.1, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Even at Ultra, the average is 70.0 FPS, showing that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER’s 16 GB memory and 672.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for this title, though not for high-refresh 4K displays.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 132nd out of 1642 tested combinations in Thief, placing it in the top 8% of all systems. This ranking reflects the strong performance of the i7-12700K and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, with the CPU’s nearest rival being the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 at a 0.3% delta, and the GPU’s nearest rival being the NVIDIA CMP 50HX at a -0.7% delta.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested configurations for Thief, the Intel Core i7-12700K plus NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER combination achieves a rank of 132 out of 1642 total combos. This places it in the top 8.0% of all systems benchmarked, a notable position given the game’s age and the variety of hardware tested. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 35684 places it in the 89th percentile against all CPUs, while its nearest rivals—the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (avg score 35802, delta -0.3%) and Intel Core i7-13700T (avg score 35468, delta 0.6%)—show that the i7-12700K sits in a tightly contested performance band. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 48704 puts it in the 86th percentile, with the NVIDIA CMP 50HX (avg score 49071, delta -0.7%) and NVIDIA RTX A2000 (avg score 47915, delta 1.6%) as its closest competitors.

This ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data. At 1080p, the combo delivers averages above 160 FPS across all settings, which is sufficient for high-refresh gaming, while at 1440p, it maintains above 110 FPS even at Ultra. The 4K results, hovering around 70 FPS, are respectable but not class-leading, reflecting the GPU’s position in the 86th percentile. The rank of 132 suggests that while this is a high-performance pairing, there are 131 other combos that outperform it in Thief, likely featuring more recent GPUs or higher-end CPUs. However, the data shows that the i7-12700K’s 12 cores and 20 threads, combined with the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER’s 16 GB memory, provide a balanced platform that rarely leaves performance on the table, with the GPU becoming the bottleneck only at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its highest averages: Low settings produce 195.9 FPS, Medium 180.8 FPS, High 163.6 FPS, and Ultra 161.5 FPS. The small gap between High and Ultra (1.3%) suggests that the graphical enhancements of Ultra do not significantly impact frame rates at this resolution, likely due to the CPU’s ability to maintain a high instruction throughput. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 172.5 FPS (Low), 157.2 FPS (Medium), 122.1 FPS (High), and 111.5 FPS (Ultra). The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 35.3%, indicating that the GPU’s shading units become more utilized as pixel count increases. At 3840x2160, the averages are 118.4 FPS (Low), 89.9 FPS (Medium), 70.1 FPS (High), and 70.0 FPS (Ultra). The near-identical High and Ultra results at 4K (70.1 vs 70.0 FPS) are a striking finding, implying that the GPU hits a hard performance ceiling regardless of settings beyond High, likely due to memory bandwidth or ROP limitations.

Comparing resolutions at the same settings reveals the scaling behavior. For Low settings, the FPS drops from 195.9 (1080p) to 172.5 (1440p) to 118.4 (4K), representing a 39.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K. For High settings, the progression is 163.6 → 122.1 → 70.1, a 57.1% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This steeper decline at higher settings underscores the GPU’s role as the limiting factor, as the increased per-pixel work amplifies the resolution penalty. The Medium settings show a pattern similar to High, with 180.8 FPS at 1080p, 157.2 FPS at 1440p, and 89.9 FPS at 4K, a 50.3% drop. Ultra settings follow High closely, with 161.5 FPS, 111.5 FPS, and 70.0 FPS, a 56.7% drop. The data consistently shows that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER provides playable frame rates at all settings and resolutions, but the jump from 1440p to 4K is the most punishing, with average FPS reductions ranging from 31.4% (Low) to 37.2% (High). This breakdown confirms that for Thief, the sweet spot for this combo is 1440p, where it delivers a high-refresh experience even at Ultra, while 4K is best reserved for High settings to maintain a stable 70 FPS average.