Thief

# Thief Performance Analysis: Intel Core i7-12700KF + AMD Radeon RX 9070

The data for Thief with this combination reveals a system that scales predictably across resolutions and settings, with the measured frames per second indicating a strong pairing for this 2014 stealth title. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 196.8 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 132.5 FPS on Ultra — a clear sign that the GPU is the primary scaling factor as visual fidelity increases. The combo ranks 389th out of 1642 tested combinations, placing it in the top 24% of all systems tested for this game, which is respectable given the game's age and the hardware's modern architecture.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear hierarchy across the four settings presets at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low (196.8 FPS) to Medium (177 FPS) costs only 19.8 FPS (about 10%), while the jump from Medium to High (140.5 FPS) costs 36.5 FPS (about 21%). The Ultra preset (132.5 FPS) is only 8 FPS below High, suggesting diminishing returns at the top end. For players with 1080p displays, the Medium preset offers the best balance, retaining 90% of Low's performance while presumably adding substantial visual quality improvements.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low delivers 161.5 FPS, Medium 127.5 FPS, High 96.1 FPS, and Ultra 92.8 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to just 3.3 FPS, making High the sensible choice for 1440p — it sits 34.7 FPS above Ultra while costing only 6.6 FPS versus the jump from Medium to High. For 4K (3840x2160), the data becomes more constrained: Low hits 98.8 FPS, Medium 74.5 FPS, High 54.5 FPS, and Ultra 51.7 FPS. Here, Medium is the recommended preset, as it maintains playable frame rates while the step to High costs 20 FPS (27%) for what is likely a modest visual gain. The Ultra preset at 4K, at 51.7 FPS, is just barely above the 50 FPS threshold and offers only 2.8 FPS more than High — not worth the settings jump.

FAQ

Q: Does this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K with any settings preset?

A: Yes, but only with the Low preset, which achieves 98.8 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 74.5 FPS, while High (54.5 FPS) and Ultra (51.7 FPS) both fall below 60 FPS at 3840x2160.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings?

A: At Ultra settings, the drop is from 132.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 92.8 FPS at 2560x1440, a loss of 39.7 FPS (30%). At Low settings, the drop is 35.3 FPS (from 196.8 to 161.5 FPS), representing an 18% reduction.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as FPS drops proportionally more from 1440p to 4K (e.g., High settings: 96.1 to 54.5 FPS, a 43% drop) compared to the 1080p to 1440p transition (140.5 to 96.1 FPS, a 32% drop).

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144Hz monitor at 1440p?

A: None of the measured presets reach 144 FPS at 2560x1440. The Low preset comes closest at 161.5 FPS, but Medium drops to 127.5 FPS. Players would need to use Low settings to fully utilize a 144Hz display at this resolution.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of frame rate cost?

A: The cost varies by resolution. At 1080p, Ultra is 8 FPS below High (132.5 vs 140.5). At 1440p, the gap narrows to 3.3 FPS (92.8 vs 96.1). At 4K, Ultra is 2.8 FPS below High (51.7 vs 54.5).

Q: Is this combo ranked among the top performers for Thief?

A: The combo ranks 389th out of 1642 tested combinations, placing it in the upper 24% of all systems. This indicates solid performance, though it is not among the elite configurations for this specific game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF brings 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its benchmark scores show strong single-thread performance — a 3dmark single-thread score of 1043 and a cinebench R23 single-core score of 4091 — which is relevant for Thief's engine. The CPU's 3dmark 16-thread score of 9282 and max-thread score of 9983 indicate good multi-threaded headroom, but the game's performance scaling with resolution suggests the GPU is doing most of the heavy lifting at higher settings.

The processor's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample data locality for game logic, and its 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms it is a high-performing chip. However, the measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low (196.8 FPS), the system is likely CPU-bound at that extreme frame rate, since dropping to 4K Low (98.8 FPS) halves the output — a pattern consistent with GPU limits taking over. The i7-12700KF's nearest rivals — the Core i5-14400 (0.1% ahead), Core i7-13800H (0.2% behind), Core i9-12900HX (0.2% behind), and Core i5-13600T (0.3% ahead) — all have nearly identical average benchmark scores, suggesting that this CPU tier is well-matched to the RX 9070 for Thief.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 389 out of 1642 tested systems, this configuration sits comfortably in the top quartile for Thief performance. This ranking reflects the synergy between the i7-12700KF's strong single-thread capabilities and the RX 9070's substantial rendering power. The percentile position — roughly the 76th percentile — means that 76% of all tested combos perform worse in this game. Given that Thief is a 2014 title, the fact that this modern hardware combo does not crack the top 100 suggests either the game is highly optimized for older architectures or that other modern combos with even higher-end GPUs extract more performance. The rank indicates there is headroom in the game's engine that this particular CPU-GPU pairing does not fully exploit, likely due to the GPU's driver overhead or the CPU's architecture not being perfectly optimized for this specific workload.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression across resolutions reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At Low settings, the system produces 196.8 FPS at 1080p, 161.5 FPS at 1440p (an 18% drop), and 98.8 FPS at 4K (a 39% drop from 1440p). At Ultra settings, the numbers are 132.5 FPS at 1080p, 92.8 FPS at 1440p (a 30% drop), and 51.7 FPS at 4K (a 44% drop from 1440p). The consistent pattern — larger percentage drops when moving from 1440p to 4K compared to 1080p to 1440p — strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions.

At 1080p, the CPU likely provides sufficient headroom, as evidenced by the 196.8 FPS at Low settings. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 64.3 FPS (196.8 vs 132.5), which is a 33% reduction. At 4K, the same settings gap is 47.1 FPS (98.8 vs 51.7), a 48% reduction. This widening percentage gap at 4K reinforces that the RX 9070's rendering workload dominates at higher resolutions, while the CPU's role diminishes. For players targeting 1440p, the system offers a sweet spot: even Ultra settings maintain 92.8 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold and close to 90 FPS for smoother gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are: Low 196.8 FPS, Medium 177 FPS, High 140.5 FPS, and Ultra 132.5 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 19.8 FPS, Medium to High costs 36.5 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 8 FPS. This creates a clear performance cliff between Medium and High, suggesting that the High preset enables more demanding graphical features that disproportionately impact frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 161.5 FPS, Medium 127.5 FPS, High 96.1 FPS, and Ultra 92.8 FPS. The Medium-to-High drop is 31.4 FPS, while the High-to-Ultra drop is only 3.3 FPS. This compression at the top end suggests Ultra adds little beyond High in terms of rendering cost. At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 98.8 FPS, Medium 74.5 FPS, High 54.5 FPS, and Ultra 51.7 FPS. The Medium-to-High drop is 20 FPS, the largest single-settings penalty across any resolution, while High-to-Ultra is again minimal at 2.8 FPS. Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset consistently delivers only marginal gains over High, making High the more efficient choice when frame rate is prioritized.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 48 chip, featuring 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 render output units. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Thief's textures even at 4K. The GPU's boost clock of 2520 MHz and game clock of 2070 MHz drive its 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 performance, and its 79th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms it as a high-tier card.

The measured FPS data shows the GPU's scaling behavior: at 4K Medium (74.5 FPS), the card is clearly the limiting factor, as lowering to Low (98.8 FPS) yields a 24.3 FPS improvement, while raising to High (54.5 FPS) costs 20 FPS. The GPU's 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6290 and PassMark G3D score of 25381 indicate strong DirectX 12 performance, though Thief's 2014 engine likely uses older API paths. The RX 9070's nearest rivals — the NVIDIA A2 (0.2% ahead), Quadro GV100 (0.3% behind), HD 7970 (0.7% behind), and PRO W6400 (0.8% behind) — have nearly identical average benchmark scores, yet the RX 9070's real-world game performance at 4K Ultra (51.7 FPS) demonstrates that synthetic benchmarks may not fully capture gaming efficiency. The 128 ROPs and 564.5 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for Thief's rendering demands, but the data shows the GPU becomes the bottleneck at 4K High and Ultra, where frame rates dip below 55 FPS.