Thief

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers a measured average frame rate in Thief that places this combo at rank 941 out of 3720 tested combinations. The data set is measured directly, not estimated. The CPU provides 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost of 5.60 GHz; the GPU carries 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256‑bit bus, with a boost clock of 2430 MHz. The measured FPS range from 219 at 1080p Low to 51 at 4K Ultra. These numbers indicate a wide performance envelope across resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 941 out of 3720 places this system in the top quarter of all measured combinations in Thief. Because the data is measured rather than simulated, this ranking reflects real-world performance in the game. The CPU alone holds a 94th percentile rank among all tested processors, and the GPU holds a 51st percentile rank. The gap between those two percentile positions suggests that the GPU is placed more centrally than the CPU in overall benchmark performance. When combined, the system still lands well above average for Thief, but the ranking variance highlights that the GPU is the component more likely to set a ceiling in this title.

The nearest rivals for the CPU in the full benchmark database are the AMD EPYC 9115 (0.1% faster in average score), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.2% faster), the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.7% slower), and the AMD Ryzen 7 B5X (0.9% slower). On the GPU side, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (0.5% faster), the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M (0.9% slower), the NVIDIA Tesla K20C (1.3% slower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT (1.8% slower). These delta percentages place the RX 7800 XT in a performance band where small differences separate it from older and lower‑tier cards.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT uses 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256‑bit bus, with a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. Its base clock is 1295 MHz, the game clock is 2124 MHz, and the boost clock reaches 2430 MHz. The GPU's 16 GB frame buffer is far beyond the demand of Thief, as the game launched in 2014 and does not present a large memory footprint; the extra capacity does not affect the measured FPS but provides headroom for other applications. The memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s is substantial for a card in this class and is more than sufficient to feed the graphics architecture at all tested resolutions.

The measured FPS show a clear correlation with GPU load. At 1080p Low, the card produces 219 average FPS, at 1440p Low it drops to 158, and at 4K Low it still manages 93. On the High preset, the drop is steeper: 133 at 1080p, 91 at 1440p, and 54 at 4K. This pattern indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as resolution increases, because the CPU does not change with resolution. The fact that the 4K Medium preset keeps a minimum of 60 FPS shows that the card can sustain a smooth experience at 4K when settings are not pushed to Maximum.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, each resolution has a preset that offers an efficient blend of visually quality and frame rate. At 1920×1080, the Low preset delivers 219 average FPS, Medium 174, High 133, and Ultra 126. For competitive play, Low and Medium are both well above any typical refresh target. At 2560×1440, Medium records 120 average FPS, High 91, and Ultra 87. That puts Medium at the sweet spot for a 60‑Hz or a 120‑Hz display without compromising image quality. At 4K, Ultra runs at 51 average FPS, High at 54, and Medium at 70 with a minimum of 60. At 4K, Medium is the only preset that guarantees a minimum of 60 FPS in the data; Low also exceeds 60 at 93, but with significant quality loss. Therefore, for 4K the Medium preset provides the most stable and playable experience as measured, while 1440p and 1080p prefer Medium for high FPS retention.

Measured FPS Breakdown

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

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

| 3840x2160 | High | 54 | | |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 93 | | |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 70 | 60 | 81 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 51 | | |

| 2560x1440 | High | 91 | | |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 158 | | |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 120 | 102 | 138 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 87 | | |

| 1920x1080 | High | 133 | | |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 219 | | |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 174 | 148 | 201 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 126 | | |

All frames are in frames per second. The measured set includes only entries with an average FPS; minimum and maximum are only available for medium settings at all three resolutions. The data shows a consistent ordering: Low > Medium > High > Ultra at every resolution. The gap is most pronounced at lower resolutions, where the CPU is not a bottleneck, and becomes narrower at higher resolutions, where the GPU limits the overall output.

Resolution Scaling

Scaling across resolutions behaved predictably for the four given presets. For the High preset, average FPS are 133 at 1080p, 91 at 1440p, and 54 at 4K. For Medium, they are 174, 120, and 70, respectively. For Low, they are 219, 158, and 93. For Ultra, they are 126, 87, and 51. In each case, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is approximately a third, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is again roughly a third. This consistent fraction pattern indicates that the GPU raster work is scaling linearly with pixel count, which is expected for a rendering pipeline that is not CPU‑limited. The 4K Medium row includes a minimum of 60, meaning that the render time never exceeds 16.7 ms for that preset; low‑standard deviation is not shown for other presets, but the min/ain for Medium alone provides a stability check.

The scaling also reveals that at 1080p, even Low settings produce a high frame rate of 219, which far exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors. The GPU is the primary driver of these scaling properties; the CPU with its 20 cores and 28 threads does not exhibit any signs of being a bottleneck in the data, because FPS changes correlate with resolution changes, not with CPU‑intensity changes.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve in Thief?

A: The highest measured average FPS are 219, obtained at 1080p with the Low preset.

Q: Can this combo, produce a smooth 60 FPS experience at 4K?

A: Yes. At 4K with Medium settings, the average FPS is 70, with a minimum of 60, so the system can sustain 60 FPS without frame drops into the sub-60 range, per the logged min.

Q: Which preset is recommended for a 1440p display with a 120 Hz refresh?

A: The Medium preset records 120 average FPS at 2560×1440, which matches a 120 Hz target. The High preset at 91 FPS is below 120, and Ultra at 87 is lower still.

Q: Does the CPU or the GPU restrict Thief gameplay?**

A: The data implies the GPU is the limit, not the CPU. At low and medium settings, FPS are very high at 1080p, but they drop markedly at 4K, which is a GPU‑intensive scaling pattern, and the CPU’s 20 cores cannot affect frame rate by resolution. The CPU is ranked at the 94th percentile of all processors, so it is unlikely to be a restraint.

Q: Are there measured min/imum FPS values for all presets?**

A: Only the Medium preset has minimum and maximum values in the set: at 1080p, 148/201; at 1440p, 102/138; at 4K, 60/81. The other presets do not have min/max columns filled, so only averages are available.

Q: What is the launch MSRP for each component?**

A: The CPU has a launch MSRP of $409, and the GPU has a launch MSRP of 499 USD.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K uses 20 cores across 28 threads in its Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost of 5.60 GHz. The on‑core L1 cache is 80 KB per core, L2 is 2 MB per core, and L3 is 33 MB shared. In Thief, which launched on 2014‑02‑24, the CPU’s substantial multi‑threading capabilities are not heavily exercised because the game does not scale to many cores. However, the CPU’s high single‑core performance—as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single‑core score of 2160 and a Passmark single‑thread score of 4472—ensures that the game’s primary rendering thread will be fed without stalling.

The measured FPS in Thief demonstrates that the CPU can maintain very high frame counts, especially at 1080p Low where the average is 219; this indicates that the CPU is not holding the GPU back. For context, the CPU’s multi‑core scores are also strong, with a Passmark multithread score of 52392 and a Cinebench R20 multithread score of 18544. In this specific title, the CPU and GPU collaborate nicely: the CPU stays far ahead of the GPU’s rendering capacity in all settings except perhaps the lowest resolution, where the GPU is still able to approach 220 FPS.

The CPU’s 125 TDP and the motherboard select are not discussed because the benchmark results are the empirical basis. The CPU’s percentile of 94 indicates that it is among the strongest processors for general compute, but Thief’s older engine benefits less from core counts and more from per‑core celerity. The boost clock of 5.60 GHz provides extra headroom, but the gameplay performance is almost entirely set by the graphics card at high resolutions. No settings or resolution combinations in the measured data rely on the CPU beyond what its 20 cores already deliver.