Thief

The Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT combination delivers a strong, high-refresh-rate experience in Thief, with the data showing a clear shift in system bottleneck depending on resolution. At 1080p, the processor’s substantial single-threaded and multi-threaded power drives frame rates well above 130 FPS at all settings, while at 4K, the GPU’s capabilities become the defining factor, pulling average frame rates down to a range that hovers near the 60 FPS threshold for demanding presets. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, the role of each component, and how this pairing ranks among other tested configurations.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and can boost up to 5.40 GHz. The chip features a substantial 30 MB of shared L3 cache, with 2 MB of L2 cache per core and 80 KB of L1 cache per core. Its memory controller supports both DDR4 and DDR5 in a dual-channel configuration, and the CPU includes 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes. The processor’s average benchmark score of 47282 places it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs tested, indicating it is a high-end part. In synthetic tests, it scores 1136 in 3dmark single-thread and 12412 in max-threads, while Cinebench R23 results show 5505 points in single-core and 39000 in multi-core.

For Thief, a 2014 stealth title, the CPU’s strong per-core performance is critical for maintaining high frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is less burdened. The data reflects this: at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 213.5 FPS, a figure that relies heavily on the processor’s ability to feed the GPU quickly. The 3dmark 2-thread score of 2262 suggests that the game, which is not heavily multi-threaded, benefits from the high boost clocks on the performance cores. The CPU’s 30 MB L3 cache helps with game logic and asset streaming, reducing potential stutters. Compared to its nearest rivals, the Core i7-13700K is virtually tied with the Core i7-13700KF (deltaPct of -0.1) and the AMD EPYC 4364P (deltaPct of 0.3), while sitting slightly ahead of the Ryzen 9 PRO 5945 by 0.5%. This indicates that for CPU-bound scenarios in Thief, the processor’s performance is on par with the best alternatives in its class.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 21 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 1825 MHz, with a boost clock of 2250 MHz and a game clock of 2015 MHz. The card has 4608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs, alongside 72 ray-tracing cores. Its compute power is rated at 20.74 TFLOPS for FP32 operations. The GPU’s average benchmark score is 49982, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. In synthetic tests, it scores 24980 in Passmark G3D and 152200 in Geekbench Vulkan.

In Thief, the GPU’s role becomes dominant as resolution increases. The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this title’s textures, even at Ultra settings, but the raw pixel throughput dictates performance at 4K. At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops to 52 at Ultra and 58 at High, suggesting that the GPU is nearing its limits. The card’s memory bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s is a key factor here, as higher resolutions demand more data transfer. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (deltaPct of 2.6), which scores slightly lower on average, and the NVIDIA RTX A1000 (deltaPct of -1.7), which scores higher. This indicates the RX 6800 XT is competitively positioned, though its performance in Thief at 4K Ultra shows it cannot maintain 60 FPS, a pattern that reflects its raw compute limits rather than any memory constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves in Thief?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 213.5 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with the highest settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 52, which is below the 60 FPS target typically desired for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU more of a limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the CPU’s strong single-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5505) allows frame rates to scale from 131.9 FPS at Ultra to 213.5 FPS at Low, indicating the GPU is not the primary bottleneck at this resolution.

Q: How does the RX 6800 XT compare to its closest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The RX 6800 XT’s average benchmark score of 49982 is 2.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, which has a deltaPct of 2.6.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 160.3 at Low settings to 89.7 at Ultra settings, a reduction of 70.6 FPS.

Q: Does the combo achieve 60 FPS at 4K High settings?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS is 58, which is close to but just under the 60 FPS mark.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is ranked 385 out of 1642 tested combos for Thief. This places the pairing in the top 23.4% of all configurations tested, indicating a strong overall performance level. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU’s high percentile (93rd) and the GPU’s slightly lower percentile (87th). The data suggests that while the CPU is exceptional, the GPU is the component that holds the combo back from a higher ranking, particularly in scenarios where the game is not CPU-bound. For comparison, the CPU’s nearest rival, the Core i7-13700KF, would likely produce nearly identical results, given its deltaPct of -0.1. The GPU’s position relative to the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (deltaPct of 2.6) means that swapping in that card would likely yield a modest improvement in GPU-bound scenarios at 4K, potentially pushing the combo higher in the rankings. However, the current rank of 385 demonstrates that this is a well-matched, high-performing pair for a game like Thief, which benefits from both strong single-threaded CPU power and solid rasterization performance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic scaling pattern that highlights the transition from a CPU-bound to a GPU-bound workload. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates range from 131.9 FPS at Ultra to 213.5 FPS at Low. Moving to 2560x1440, these figures drop to 89.7 FPS at Ultra and 160.3 FPS at Low. The most significant drop occurs when moving to 3840x2160, where Ultra settings yield 52 FPS and Low settings yield 92.4 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is steepest at Ultra settings: the 131.9 FPS at 1080p falls by 60.6% to 52 FPS at 4K. In contrast, at Low settings, the drop from 213.5 FPS to 92.4 FPS represents a 56.7% reduction.

This scaling behavior indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary limiter; the GPU has enough headroom to render frames faster than the CPU can issue draw calls. The high frame rates at 1080p Low (213.5 FPS) are unsustainable at higher resolutions, as the GPU’s pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become the bottleneck. The 4K results, particularly the 52 FPS at Ultra, show that the RX 6800 XT is working near its maximum capacity. The gradual decline from Low to Ultra at each resolution also confirms that the game’s settings have a direct impact on GPU load, with the CPU’s influence waning as resolution increases. The data suggests that for this combo, 1440p is the sweet spot for high refresh-rate gaming, as it maintains an average of 89.7 FPS at Ultra, which is above the threshold for smooth gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact average frame rates recorded for this configuration, organized by resolution and settings.

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS |

| :--------- | :------- | ----------: |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 213.5 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 181.8 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 137.7 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 131.9 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 160.3 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 121.7 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 93.7 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 89.7 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 92.4 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 73.2 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 58.0 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 52.0 |

At 1080p, the performance is exceptionally high, with even Ultra settings exceeding 130 FPS. The step from High to Ultra at this resolution is minimal (a 5.8 FPS drop), indicating that the CPU is the limiting factor. At 1440p, the frame rates remain highly playable, with Ultra still above 85 FPS. The largest relative drop from 1080p to 1440p occurs at High settings, where the frame rate falls from 137.7 FPS to 93.7 FPS, a 32% decrease, as the GPU begins to take on more work. At 4K, the performance is more constrained, with only Low settings exceeding 90 FPS. The gap between Medium (73.2 FPS) and High (58.0 FPS) at 4K is notable, suggesting that High settings introduce a significant increase in GPU load. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that falls below 55 FPS, confirming that this setting is too demanding for the RX 6800 XT at this resolution. The data overall shows a smooth, predictable scaling curve, with the CPU’s influence diminishing and the GPU’s dominance increasing as resolution rises.