Thief

Thief, a stealth title released in 2014, presents a demanding workload for this hardware combination. The measured data for the Intel Core i7-14700F paired with an AMD Radeon RX 580 shows a system that can handle moderate settings at 1080p, but performance degrades significantly at higher resolutions. The compact set of measured FPS values across three resolutions and four presets provides a clear picture of how the RX 580 and the i7-14700F interact under this older DirectX 11 melee.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS drops consistently as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 and then to 3840x2160. At Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 46 at 1080p to 31 at 1440p and then to 18 at 4K. The same pattern holds across all presets: 1080p Low produces 83 FPS, 1440p Low yields 57, and 4K Low drops to 33. Medium presets show 63, 43, and 25 respectively, while High presets capture 48, 33, and 19 FPS.

This ratio is remarkably consistent: 4K scores are roughly 2.5x lower than 1080p scores across every quality level. Since 4K comprises four times the pixels of 1080p, an ideal pixel-bound workload would see a 4x drop, but the measured 2.5x reduction suggests the performance is not purely pixel-limited. The RX 580's memory bandwidth (256.0 GB/s) and 8 GB of GDDR5 may mitigate some of the fill-rate pressure, but the GPU is clearly the primary bottleneck. The CPU, which never drops below 31 FPS even at 1080p Low, does not appear to limit the frame rate at any resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is a 2017 Polaris 20 chip built on GCN 4.0 with a base clock of 1257 MHz and a boost of 1340 MHz. It carries 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 2304 shading units and 144 TMUs feed a 42.88 GPixel/s fill rate and 193.0 GTexel/s texture pipeline. Its FP32 compute is 6.175 TFLOPS.

These specifications place the GPU in the 53rd percentile overall, meaning it sits near the middle of the database's GPU rankings. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (deltaPct -0.1) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (deltaPct -0.4), showing that the RX 580 competes with these mid-range cards from its era.

In Thief specifically, the 8 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for the game's 1080p presets; even at 4K, the highest VRAM requirement of any preset does not appear to be a limiting factor, as the memory bandwidth (256 GB/s) is used effectively up to Medium settings. The GPU's modest compute power is the main constraint: from Low to Ultra, the FPS at 4K falls from 33 to 18, indicating that the GPU struggles with the higher shading and texture work required by Ultra settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a Raptor Lake Refresh part with 20 cores and 28 threads, base clock of 2.10 GHz and boost up to 5.40 GHz. It manages a substantial multi-core Cinebench R23 score of 35122 and a single-core score of 4958, placing it in the 91st percentile of all tested CPUs. Its nearest rivals in average overall score include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (deltaPct +0.6) and the AMD EPYC 7313P (deltaPct +0.8), so the i7-14700F is comfortably within the top tier of consumer CPUs.

Given this strong compute capacity, the CPU is not the bottleneck in Thief. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 83 FPS; even at the fastest measured frame rate, the GPU's fill rate is the limiting factor. The i7's high single-core performance ensures that game logic, physics, and draw calls are handled quickly. At higher resolutions, the GPU's load increases while the CPU's load per frame stays relatively constant, so the overall performance is governed entirely by the RX 580. The 20-core and 28-thread configuration is far beyond what this 2014 game requires, but its headroom does not increase the FPS because the graphics card is already saturated.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 3720 combos tested by the benchmark database, this combination of the i7-14700F and the RX 580 ranks 3397th. That places it in the lower 8.7% of the test pool, behind 323 combos that deliver worse results and ahead of none of the 3396 combos that rank above it. This low ranking makes sense given the GPU's mid-tier classification and its performance in Thief—a game that, while well-optimized, still demands a modern GPU to reach high frame rates at 4K.

The CPU's high percentile (91) does not lift the overall ranking because in games, the GPU is almost always the differentiator. In Thief, the GPU's performance drops disproportionately with resolution, pulling the combo's final ranking downward. Only 323 other configurations are worse, and many of those likely pair weaker CPUs with even lower-end GPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The database recorded exact average FPS for each preset at each resolution, with min and max values available for Medium presets. The full table is:

| Resolution | Preset | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|--------|--------|---------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 19 | | |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 33 | | |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 25 | 22 | 29 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 18 | | |

| 2560x1440 | High | 34 | | |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 57 | | |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 43 | 37 | 50 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 30 | | |

| 1920x1080 | High | 48 | | |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 83 | | |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 62 | 54 | 72 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 45 | | |

(Note: The Ultra values are 19, 31, and 18 for 4K, 1440, and 1080p respectively; these are included in the table above and match the measured data.)

Examining the Medium presets, which have min/max data, we see a typical spread: at 1080p Medium the FPS varies from 54 to 72, and at 1440p Medium from 37 to 50, while at 4K Medium it ranges between 22 and 29. This variance suggests the game's engine is frame pacing well, but the GPU is the limiting factor for consistent performance.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination play Thief at 1080p with vsync enabled?

A: Yes, at Ultra settings the average FPS is 45, and at Medium it reaches 63, so smooth 60 FPS is achievable only with the Medium preset. The Low preset produces 83 FPS on average.

Q: What is the best resolution to run a 1440p?

A: For a stable frame rate, 1440p Low provides an average of 57 FPS, which is very close to 60. Medium settings drop to 43 FPS, and High drops to 34, so for higher visual fidelity it is better to use Low at 1440p.

Q: Is 4K playable with this combo?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 18, which is choppy. Lowering to Low raises the average to 33 FPS, which is still below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play but remains playable for a stealth game if the user understands it's not high refresh rate.

Q: Why does the Medium preset have min/max FPS while others do not?

A: The database only records min and max FPS for the Medium preset at each resolution. The spread at 1080p Medium (54 to 72) and 1440p Medium (37 to 50) shows the GPU's limitations.

Q: Does the 8GB VRAM become a limiting factor in Thief?

A: No indication exists in the data that VRAM is the bottleneck; the memory capacity is sufficient even at 4K. The GPU's compute and fill-rate capacities are the limiting factor, as evidenced by the FPS falling with resolution.

Q: What is the ideal refresh for this combo?

A: At 1080p Medium, the 63 FPS average allows for a 60 Hz monitor. At 1440p Low, 57 FPS just misses 60Hz, so a 120Hz panel could be used only by running Low at 1080p (83 FPS).

settingsRecommendations

When targeting a smooth 60 FPS on a 1440p monitor, the user is best served by the Low preset, which shields an average of 57 FPS. At 1080p, the Medium preset (63 FPS) is the best balance between quality and frame rate, as High (48 FPS) still lags behind. For 4K, only the Low preset (33 FPS) is borderline playable; Ultra at 18 FPS is not recommended, but the game can be played if the user accepts a cinematic 20-30 FPS range. Given the GPU's mid-tier positioning, the data suggests a strict preference: 1080p Medium for most users, 1440p Low for those with a 1440p panel, and 4K only if frame rate is a secondary concern. throttled to 30 FPS via control panel, the Low preset provides a consistent 33 FPS, making it the only preset at 4K that maintains a playable frame time.