Thief

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Thief with the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo produces 68.9 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops that to 44.9 FPS, a reduction of roughly 35%. At 4K (3840x2160) Ultra, the average falls further to 29.7 FPS. This scaling behavior indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises, since the CPU's compute headroom is not being taxed proportionally.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically at higher resolutions. At 1080p, Low delivers 119.3 FPS while Ultra produces 68.9 FPS — a difference of 50.4 FPS. At 1440p, that spread shrinks to 38.3 FPS (83.2 vs. 44.9). At 4K, the spread compresses further to 18.7 FPS (48.4 vs. 29.7). This compression suggests that at 4K, the GPU is saturated regardless of quality preset, and the incremental cost of higher settings becomes relatively smaller in absolute terms. The data shows that 4K Ultra performance at 29.7 FPS is essentially unplayable for smooth action, while 4K Low at 48.4 FPS is marginally playable but still below the 60 FPS threshold.

The 1080p to 1440p transition at Medium settings illustrates a 32% performance drop (91.7 to 62.2 FPS). Moving from 1440p to 4K at Medium yields a 37% drop (62.2 to 39.0 FPS). These consistent reductions indicate the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading throughput are the decisive factors. The GTX 1660 SUPER's 336.0 GB/s bandwidth and 5.027 TFLOPS FP32 performance are adequate for 1080p but become increasingly strained at higher resolutions. Interestingly, the 4K High result (29.9 FPS) is nearly identical to 4K Ultra (29.7 FPS), suggesting that the highest settings tier adds little overhead beyond High in this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a TU116 chip manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a key specification for understanding Thief's performance profile. The GPU's base clock runs at 1530 MHz with a boost up to 1785 MHz. These clocks, combined with 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, yield a pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 157.1 GTexel/s.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 55th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14286. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (average score 14314, deltaPct -0.2), Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (14315, -0.2), AMD Radeon Vega 11 (14352, -0.5), and AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14389, -0.7). These deltas are all within 0.7% of the GTX 1660 SUPER, indicating that the card sits in a tightly contested performance bracket. The DirectX 11 benchmark score of 104 is notably higher than the DirectX 12 score of 50, which is relevant since Thief is a DirectX 11-era title from 2014.

The 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Thief's needs even at 4K, as the game's textures from 2014 do not demand high memory allocations. However, the GPU's compute capabilities — 5.027 TFLOPS FP32 and 10.05 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1) — determine how quickly the renderer can process the game's stealth-lighting and shadow calculations. The PassMark G3D score of 12699 and GPU compute score of 5076 provide context: the card is a mid-range performer that excels at 1080p but struggles to maintain 60 FPS at higher resolutions. The data confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck in this pairing, as the i7-13700K's CPU headroom far exceeds what Thief requires.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for maintaining 60 FPS with this combo?

A: At 1920x1080, all four settings presets exceed 60 FPS: Low at 119.3, Medium at 91.7, High at 71.0, and Ultra at 68.9. At 2560x1440, only Low (83.2 FPS) and Medium (62.2 FPS) break 60 FPS. No 4K preset reaches 60 FPS.

Q: How much performance difference exists between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: The gap is 50.4 FPS, with Low at 119.3 FPS and Ultra at 68.9 FPS. This represents a 73% improvement in frame rate when dropping from Ultra to Low.

Q: Is the GTX 1660 SUPER's 6 GB VRAM sufficient for Thief at 4K?

A: The measured data shows playable frame rates at 4K Low (48.4 FPS) and 4K Medium (39.0 FPS), indicating VRAM capacity is not the limiting factor. The GPU's compute and bandwidth constraints are more significant.

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

A: The combination ranks 1437 out of 1642 total combos tested, placing it in the lower percentile of tested systems for this game.

Q: What is the difference between High and Ultra settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, High produces 71.0 FPS and Ultra produces 68.9 FPS, a 2.1 FPS difference. At 1440p, the difference is 0.7 FPS (45.6 vs. 44.9). At 4K, the difference is 0.2 FPS (29.9 vs. 29.7). Ultra offers minimal gains over High.

Q: Does the GPU's DirectX 11 performance correlate with Thief's results?

A: The PassMark DirectX 11 score of 104 is more than double the DirectX 12 score of 50. Since Thief was released in 2014 and uses DirectX 11, the card's stronger DX11 performance aligns with the playable frame rates observed at lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the GTX 1660 SUPER delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 119.3 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate across all configurations. Medium settings yield 91.7 FPS, High settings yield 71.0 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 68.9 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline, with the largest single-step drop occurring between Low and Medium (27.6 FPS). The step from Medium to High costs 20.7 FPS, while High to Ultra costs only 2.1 FPS. This last small delta suggests diminishing returns for the highest preset tier.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates drop noticeably. Low settings average 83.2 FPS, which is still comfortably above 60. Medium settings average 62.2 FPS, just over the 60 FPS mark. High settings fall to 45.6 FPS, and Ultra settings settle at 44.9 FPS. The pattern of diminishing returns between High and Ultra persists, with only a 0.7 FPS difference. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings costs 36.1 FPS, while the same resolution change at Ultra costs 24.0 FPS. This indicates that higher settings compress the resolution penalty because the GPU is already working near its limits.

At 3840x2160, the results are the most constrained. Low settings achieve 48.4 FPS, Medium settings reach 39.0 FPS, High settings drop to 29.9 FPS, and Ultra settings bottom out at 29.7 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is negligible at 0.2 FPS, reinforcing that the Ultra preset adds no meaningful visual benefit at this resolution given the GPU's throughput. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 18.7 FPS, much smaller than the 50.4 FPS spread at 1080p. This compression demonstrates that the GPU is the bottleneck across all settings at 4K, and the game's renderer cannot leverage additional quality settings without a more powerful GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 2 MB L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. These specifications place it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 47282. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13700KF (average score 47334, deltaPct -0.1), AMD EPYC 4364P (47131, 0.3), Intel Core i9-12900F (47081, 0.4), and AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 5945 (47527, -0.5). The deltas are all within 0.5%, showing that the i7-13700K sits at the top of its performance tier.

For Thief, a game released in 2014, the CPU's capabilities are vastly over-provisioned. The game's engine was designed for CPUs with far fewer cores and lower clock speeds. The i7-13700K's single-thread performance, measured by a 3dmark_single_thread score of 1136 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5505, ensures that the game's main thread is never starved. The multi-thread scores, such as Cinebench R23 multicore at 39000 and Geekbench multicore at 17731, indicate that even if Thief were to utilize multiple threads, the CPU would handle it effortlessly.

The benchmark data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 119.3 FPS, which is likely near the game's engine ceiling for frame rate. The CPU's 16 cores and 24 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks and any additional game logic. The L3 cache of 30 MB shared across cores reduces memory latency, which is beneficial for the game's level streaming. The i7-13700K's DDR4 and DDR5 memory support, along with dual-channel memory bus, ensures sufficient memory bandwidth for the game's assets. In summary, the CPU contribution to Thief's performance is essentially neutral — it neither helps nor hinders, as the GPU dominates the frame rate equation.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal preset for this combo depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings provide 68.9 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold and offers the best visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. The difference between High and Ultra is only 2.1 FPS, so Ultra is the clear choice for 1080p users who want maximum fidelity. For players who prioritize higher frame rates, Medium at 91.7 FPS or Low at 119.3 FPS are viable options, but the visual downgrade may not be worth the extra frames given that Ultra already clears 60.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts to Medium settings, which produce 62.2 FPS. This is the only preset at 1440p that exceeds 60 FPS besides Low (83.2 FPS). High at 45.6 FPS and Ultra at 44.9 FPS both fall below the 60 FPS mark, which can cause noticeable stutter in a stealth game where precise timing matters. Medium settings offer the best balance between visual quality and playability at 1440p. Players with 144 Hz monitors might prefer Low settings to maximize frame rate, but the jump from Medium to Low costs 21.0 FPS while reducing visual fidelity significantly.

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS. The best option is Low settings at 48.4 FPS, which is the only 4K preset above 45 FPS. Medium at 39.0 FPS and High at 29.9 FPS are below the playable threshold for most users, and Ultra at 29.7 FPS is effectively identical to High. For 4K gaming with this GPU, the data suggests that Low settings are the only viable choice, and even then, the frame rate is below 50. Users with 4K displays should consider lowering the resolution to 1440p and using Medium settings for a better experience, or accepting the lower frame rates at 4K Low. The measured data shows that this GPU is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can run all presets above 60 FPS, with 1440p Medium as a secondary option for higher-resolution displays.