Thief

# Thief: Intel Core i7-14700F + AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Thief, a 2014 stealth title. The combination ranks 2625th out of 3720 tested combos, placing it in the lower third of the database, yet the measured frame rates show that this hardware can handle the game’s demands at most settings below 4K. The data reveals a system where the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s substantial multi-threaded capacity ensures that even the most demanding scenes remain fluid at 1080p and 1440p.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate measured for this combo in Thief?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 155, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the best-case scenario for the Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination, showing the game’s older engine can produce very high frame rates when visual fidelity is minimized.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers an average of 62 FPS, while Ultra drops to 59 FPS. The difference is a modest 3 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset’s additional visual effects have limited performance impact at this resolution, though the 59 FPS average remains below the 60 FPS threshold many consider ideal.

Q: What minimum FPS is recorded at 4K Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 40, with an average of 48 and maximum of 55. This is the only resolution/settings combination with a recorded min FPS value, indicating that 4K Medium is the most demanding configuration where frame time consistency was measured.

Q: How does the GPU’s benchmark percentile compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT sits at the 70th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24442. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630, scores 24277, a delta of 0.7%—meaning the RX 6600 XT is only marginally ahead of that card, while the Intel Arc A350M trails by 0.8% with a score of 24647.

Q: What is the CPU’s single-core performance score in Cinebench R23?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F achieves a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4958 and a multi-core score of 35122. The single-core result is particularly relevant for Thief, as the game’s 2014 engine often relies on fewer threads for gameplay logic, making strong single-thread performance beneficial.

Q: Is the combo’s rank in Thief near the bottom of the database?

A: With a rank of 2625 out of 3720 combos, the system sits in the 29th percentile overall. This means roughly 71% of tested combinations perform better in Thief, though the measured FPS data shows that the actual gameplay experience remains acceptable at most settings below 4K Ultra.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture using the Navi 23 chip, fabricated on a 7 nm process by TSMC with 11,060 million transistors. Its memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 across a 128-bit bus, providing 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1968 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a boost clock of 2589 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). These specifications place the card in the mid-range tier of the RX 6000 series, and its 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs define its raw throughput capabilities.

In Thief, the GPU’s role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the RX 6600 XT delivers frame rates between 85 and 155 FPS depending on settings, indicating that the card can easily handle the game’s geometry and texture workloads at this resolution. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for Thief’s 2014-era assets, and the 256.0 GB/s bandwidth proves adequate for streaming textures even at 4K, where the Memory clock’s effective 16 Gbps helps maintain consistent throughput. However, the GPU’s 160 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest it is not a high-end part, and the benchmark percentile of 70 confirms it sits below the top 30% of GPUs.

The relationship between the GPU’s clock speeds and Thief’s performance is evident in the scaling from Low to Ultra settings. At 1920x1080, Low settings yield 155 FPS, while Ultra drops to 85 FPS—a 70 FPS reduction that reflects the increased shading, texture filtering, and post-processing demands. The boost clock of 2589 MHz helps mitigate these costs, but the card’s 10.60 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is finite. At 4K, the pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s become limiting factors, with Ultra settings producing only 34 FPS. The data indicates that the RX 6600 XT is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Thief, where its memory bandwidth and compute resources align with the game’s requirements.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 155 FPS at 1080p to 107 FPS at 1440p, then to 63 FPS at 4K. This represents a 31% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 41% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 59%, which aligns with the fourfold increase in pixel count that the GPU must process.

The High settings curve follows a similar pattern: 90 FPS at 1080p, 62 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 31%, identical to the Low settings reduction, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 42%. This consistency suggests that the GPU’s pixel throughput is the primary bottleneck, as the relative performance loss scales almost exactly with the increase in rendered pixels. The Ultra settings demonstrate the most severe degradation: 85 FPS at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K—a 60% total reduction.

The fact that 4K Ultra produces only 34 FPS while 4K Low produces 63 FPS indicates that the GPU is heavily taxed at this resolution regardless of settings. The 4K Medium configuration, with an average of 48 FPS and a minimum of 40 FPS, shows that even mid-range settings cannot maintain a consistent 60 FPS at 2160p. This pattern strongly suggests the RX 6600 XT’s 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 165.7 GPixel/s pixel rate are the limiting factors at 4K, rather than the CPU or game engine. At 1080p and 1440p, however, the GPU has sufficient headroom to deliver playable frame rates across all settings, with the CPU’s strong performance ensuring that no CPU-side bottleneck emerges.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings configuration for this combo depends on the target resolution and the user’s preference for visual fidelity versus frame rate smoothness. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 90 FPS on average, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold and only 5 FPS shy of the 85 FPS Ultra result. Given that Ultra provides a marginal visual improvement for a 5 FPS cost, High is the recommended preset at 1080p for users who prioritize frame rate stability, while Ultra remains viable for those who want maximum detail and can tolerate the slightly lower average.

At 2560x1440, the choice narrows. High settings produce 62 FPS, while Ultra produces 59 FPS. Both are near the 60 FPS target, but High offers a small buffer that helps avoid drops below the refresh rate threshold. The Medium preset at 1440p yields 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 FPS, making it the best choice for users who value smoothness over visual quality. The data shows that Medium at 1440p provides a 31% improvement over High, with a minimum FPS that stays above 60, whereas High’s minimum is not recorded but its average sits only 2 FPS above the 60 FPS mark.

At 3840x2160, none of the presets achieve a consistent 60 FPS. Medium offers the best balance with an average of 48 FPS and a minimum of 40 FPS, while Low delivers 63 FPS on average but sacrifices significant visual quality. For users who insist on 4K, Medium is the recommended preset because it maintains a higher minimum FPS than Low (40 vs. no recorded minimum, but the Low average of 63 suggests greater variance) and provides a more stable experience than High (36 FPS) or Ultra (34 FPS). However, the data strongly suggests that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this GPU in Thief, where High settings deliver a near-perfect 60 FPS experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT produce the following average frame rates: Low settings achieve 155 FPS, Medium achieves 118 FPS with a minimum of 100 FPS and a maximum of 136 FPS, High achieves 90 FPS, and Ultra achieves 85 FPS. The Medium preset is the only 1080p configuration with recorded min/max values, showing a 36 FPS range between the lowest and highest frames. The gap between High and Ultra at this resolution is only 5 FPS, suggesting that Ultra’s additional effects—likely including higher shadow resolution and ambient occlusion—are relatively inexpensive on the RX 6600 XT at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the same settings produce averages of 107 FPS for Low, 81 FPS for Medium (with a minimum of 69 FPS and maximum of 93 FPS), 62 FPS for High, and 59 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset’s 24 FPS range between minimum and maximum indicates some frame time variance, but the 69 FPS minimum remains well above the 60 FPS threshold. The High-to-Ultra delta narrows to just 3 FPS at this resolution, making Ultra a nearly free upgrade in terms of performance cost. The Low-to-High scaling shows a 42% reduction in frame rate, which is proportionate to the increased rendering work.

At 3840x2160, the data becomes more constrained. Low settings yield 63 FPS, Medium yields 48 FPS (with a minimum of 40 FPS and maximum of 55 FPS), High yields 36 FPS, and Ultra yields 34 FPS. The Medium preset’s min/max range of 15 FPS is the narrowest of any resolution, suggesting that 4K rendering imposes a more consistent workload on the GPU. The drop from Low to Medium is 24%, while Medium to High is 25%, and High to Ultra is only 6%. This pattern indicates that the GPU’s pixel fill rate saturates at 4K, making the difference between High and Ultra negligible in terms of frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus, with ECC memory support available. Its 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 form factor make it a mainstream desktop part, and its 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs reflects strong overall performance.

In Thief, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but its capabilities ensure that no CPU bottleneck emerges at 1080p or 1440p. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122 indicates massive parallel throughput, while the single-core score of 4958 demonstrates strong per-thread performance. Thief, released in 2014, typically relies on fewer than eight threads for its gameplay logic, physics, and AI systems. The i7-14700F’s high boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensures that these single-threaded workloads are processed with minimal latency, while the 33 MB L3 cache helps keep frequently accessed data close to the cores.

The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 155 FPS, which is a frame rate that would likely stress the CPU if it were weak. The fact that the combo maintains 85 FPS at 1080p Ultra suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor even in the most demanding single-thread scenarios. The passmark single-thread score of 4257 and the Geekbench single-core score of 2429 further corroborate the CPU’s strength in lightly threaded workloads. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i7-14700F’s average benchmark score of 53620 is 0.2% behind the Intel Xeon 6505P (53701) and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (53469), while the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X trails by 0.6% with a score of 53288. These small deltas indicate that the CPU is competitive with other high-end parts, though its exact ranking in Thief is more dependent on the GPU’s performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination ranks 2625th out of 3720 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the 29th percentile. This rank reflects the fact that the RX 6600 XT, while a capable mid-range GPU, sits at the 70th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 24442. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 (0.7% behind with a score of 24277), the Intel Arc A350M (0.8% ahead with a score of 24647), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (0.8% behind with a score of 24236), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (1.1% behind with a score of 24170). These small deltas indicate that the RX 6600 XT performs within a tight band of similar GPUs, and its rank in Thief is consistent with this mid-tier positioning.

The CPU’s rank is significantly higher, with a 91st percentile placement among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 53620. This discrepancy between CPU and GPU rankings explains the combo’s overall position in Thief: the system is CPU-rich but GPU-limited. In games that are more CPU-intensive, this combination would likely rank higher, but Thief’s rendering demands at 4K Ultra (34 FPS) and even 1440p Ultra (59 FPS) are constrained by the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The measured FPS data supports this interpretation, as the frame rates at 1080p are consistently high across all settings, while 4K performance drops below 60 FPS even at Low settings.

The combo’s rank of 2625 out of 3720 means that 1095 tested combinations perform better in Thief, while 2624 perform worse. This places the system in the lower third of the database, but the actual gameplay experience is more nuanced. At 1080p, the combo delivers 90 FPS on High settings, which is a smooth and responsive experience for a stealth game where frame pacing matters for precise movement. At 1440p, the 62 FPS High result is playable, though users with 144 Hz displays would prefer the 107 FPS Low setting. The 4K results are the weakest aspect, with only the Low preset exceeding 60 FPS and the Medium preset providing a borderline 48 FPS average. Overall, the rank reflects the GPU’s mid-tier status, but the CPU’s strength ensures that the system never feels CPU-bound, making the RX 6600 XT the component to upgrade for improved Thief performance at higher resolutions.