Thief

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is a formidable combination for Thief, a 2014 stealth title that remains surprisingly demanding at high resolutions. The measured FPS data reveals a system that can obliterate the game at 1080p and 1440p, while still providing a playable, high-refresh-rate experience at 4K. The data shows a classic balance: the CPU provides a massive headroom ceiling, while the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution and settings increase. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, component roles, and scaling characteristics of this specific combo.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for this combo at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 66.2 frames per second. This is the lowest average recorded across all tested configurations and indicates the GPU is being heavily taxed.

Q: How much faster is the CPU compared to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14400?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35355, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i5-14400's score of 35336. The performance difference is effectively negligible in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: What is the best average FPS achieved by this combo at 1440p?

A: The highest average FPS at 2560x1440 is 174.3, achieved with Low settings. Even at Ultra settings, the combo maintains a high average of 113.7 FPS.

Q: Does the GPU outperform its closest rival in benchmark scores?

A: Yes, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's average benchmark score is 48704, which is 1.6% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A2000's score of 47915. It also leads the Intel Arc A550M by 2.1%.

Q: At which resolution does the FPS drop below 70 FPS on High settings?

A: Only at 4K (3840x2160) does the average FPS on High settings drop below 70, hitting 68.5 FPS. At 1440p and 1080p, High settings average over 122 FPS.

*Q: What is the combo's ranking out of all tested configurations for Thief?*

A: The combo ranks 139th out of 1642 tested combos. This places it in the top 8.5% of all configurations in the database for this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the workhorse of this combination, especially at higher resolutions. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 672.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for feeding the high-resolution textures and geometry in Thief. The data shows that as resolution climbs, the average FPS drops consistently, a clear sign of the GPU becoming the limiting factor. The GPU's boost clock of 2610 MHz and base clock of 2340 MHz allow it to push substantial pixel rates, but the workload at 4K is immense.

The benchmark results for the GPU show a PassMark G3D score of 31811, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA CMP 50HX, has a higher average score by 0.7%, but the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER counters with a 1.6% lead over the RTX A2000. In Thief, the GPU's performance ceiling is most visible in the 4K Ultra result of 66.2 FPS. This is the only configuration where the average dips below the 70 FPS threshold, suggesting that while the card is powerful, the most demanding settings at 4K will test its limits.

The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is steep: 119.9 FPS down to 66.2 FPS. This wide gap indicates that the GPU is sensitive to the graphical workload. The transition from Medium (92 FPS) to High (68.5 FPS) is particularly sharp, a 23.5 FPS drop, suggesting that High settings introduce a significant increase in shader or texture complexity that taxes the GPU's 44.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power. The card's Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process, handles DirectX 12 Ultimate, but Thief is a 2014 title, so its performance here is more dependent on raw rasterization throughput than on newer features like ray tracing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF provides a powerful foundation for this gaming system. With 12 cores (a mix of performance and efficiency cores) and 20 threads, it offers substantial multi-threaded capability, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28979. Its boost clock of 5.00 GHz and single-core Cinebench R23 score of 4091 ensure that it can handle the primary game logic and physics calculations in Thief without bottlenecking the GPU. The CPU's 25 MB of shared L3 cache is also beneficial for game data access.

In the context of Thief, the CPU's performance is more than sufficient. The evidence for this is in the FPS scaling at 1080p. At this resolution, the GPU has less work to do per frame, yet the average FPS does not scale linearly with the GPU's raw power. For instance, at 1080p, the FPS difference between Low (196.8) and Ultra (159) is 37.8 FPS, a significant but not massive gap. Had the CPU been a bottleneck, we would expect the Ultra and High settings to produce nearly identical FPS, as the CPU would be maxed out. Instead, the data suggests the GPU is still the primary limiter, even at 1080p.

The CPU's overall strength is reflected in its 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs. It trades blows with its nearest rivals; it is 0.2% slower than the Intel Core i7-13800H but 0.3% faster than the Intel Core i5-13600T. This places it in a performance tier where it is unlikely to be the cause of any frame rate dips in a game like Thief. The 125 W TDP is a measure of its power draw, but for this analysis, the key takeaway is the immense headroom it provides, ensuring the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER can operate at its full potential.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional performance. The average FPS starts at 196.8 on Low, drops to 175.6 on Medium, 162.8 on High, and 159 on Ultra. This is a tight grouping at the top end, with all settings delivering a highly playable experience.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains excellent but shows a wider spread. Low settings yield 174.3 FPS, Medium drops to 155.4, High to 122, and Ultra to 113.7. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p represents a 33.4 FPS drop, which is the largest single-step decrease at this resolution, highlighting the increased load of High settings. At 4K (3840x2160), the data reveals the GPU's workload. Low settings produce 119.9 FPS, Medium 92, High 68.5, and Ultra 66.2. The 4K results show a clear hierarchy, with the gap between Low and Medium being 27.9 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra being a narrow 2.3 FPS, suggesting that Ultra offers diminishing returns over High at this resolution.

The data indicates that the combo is most comfortable at 1440p, where it can maintain an average above 113 FPS even at the highest settings. At 1080p, the performance is so high that the results are likely more indicative of CPU and driver overhead limits than pure GPU capability. At 4K, the system is firmly in GPU-bound territory, and users will need to make a choice between visual fidelity and frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K provides insight into the system's bottleneck dynamics. At High settings, the average FPS at 1080p is 162.8. This drops to 122 at 1440p, a 25% decrease, and then to 68.5 at 4K, a 58% decrease from the 1440p figure. This steep decline is the signature of a GPU-bound system. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is being tasked with rendering an increasing number of pixels, and its performance scales accordingly.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings. For instance, at Low settings, the FPS goes from 196.8 at 1080p to 174.3 at 1440p (an 11.4% drop) and then to 119.9 at 4K (a 39% drop from 1440p). The percentage drops are less severe at Low settings because the GPU's fill rate is less of a constraint when the shader complexity is lower. However, the overall trend is clear: as the resolution increases, the GPU becomes the unequivocal limiting factor.

The 4K results, in particular, suggest that the Intel Core i7-12700KF has ample headroom. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS at 4K would not drop as dramatically, as the CPU's workload (draw calls, physics) remains relatively constant regardless of resolution. The fact that the FPS falls so steeply at 4K confirms that the GPU is the limiting component in this configuration for Thief. This is typical for a high-end CPU paired with a powerful GPU in a game from 2014, where the engine's threading model is not as demanding as modern titles.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the optimal settings depend on the user's target resolution and frame rate preference. For a 4K display, the data shows that High settings (68.5 FPS) offer a better experience than Ultra (66.2 FPS), as the performance difference is minimal (2.3 FPS) and likely imperceptible, while the rendering load is slightly reduced. For users prioritizing a locked 60 FPS at 4K, Medium settings (92 FPS) provide significant headroom and are a safer choice.

At 1440p, the decision is easier. Ultra settings deliver an average of 113.7 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and suitable for high-refresh-rate displays. There is no need to compromise on settings here, as the GPU has enough power to handle the maximum preset. At 1080p, all settings are playable, but the data shows that the jump from High (162.8) to Ultra (159) only costs 3.8 FPS, so there is little reason not to use Ultra if image quality is the priority.

The "best experience" per the measured rows is arguably at 1440p with Ultra settings. This configuration achieves a high average FPS that balances visual fidelity with smoothness. At 4K, the recommendation is to stick with High settings to maintain a frame rate above 60 FPS, as the performance gain from Medium to High is worth the visual upgrade, and the cost of going to Ultra is not justified by the tiny FPS difference.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER achieves a rank of 139 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the top 8.5% of all configurations in the database, indicating a very high level of performance. The rank is a composite measure of how well this specific CPU and GPU work together for this particular game.

This ranking confirms the balance of the components. The CPU's strong single-thread and multi-thread scores provide the necessary foundation, while the GPU's raw power allows for high frame rates at demanding resolutions. The rank also reflects the game's age; Thief is from 2014, and modern high-end components like these are likely to dominate the performance charts. The 1642 combos tested include many older or lower-end systems, which this setup easily outperforms.

The data suggests that this combo is not just a collection of powerful parts, but a synergistic pairing that excels in this specific title. The rank of 139 implies that only 138 other combinations tested were faster, and those likely feature even more powerful GPUs, such as the RTX 4090 or similar. For the vast majority of users, this combo represents a top-tier experience in Thief, capable of delivering high frame rates at high resolutions without significant compromise.