Thief

The Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT combination delivers a commanding performance in Thief, a 2014 stealth title. The benchmark data shows this pairing is capable of obliterating standard refresh rates at 1080p, maintaining high frame rates at 1440p, and even providing a playable 4K experience. The following analysis breaks down the numbers, scaling behavior, and relative standing of this hardware pairing against the broader database.

FAQ

*Q: What is the overall performance rank of this CPU/GPU combo in Thief?*

A: The combination ranks 152nd out of 1,642 tested combos, placing it in the top 10% of all configurations in the database for this specific game.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K has an average benchmark score of 70,074. Its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700KF, scores 70,104, a negligible 0% difference. It is also effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, which scores 70,420, a delta of -0.5%.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all other graphics cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT sits in the 82nd percentile for all GPUs, indicating it outperforms the vast majority of graphics cards in the database. Its average benchmark score is 38,358.

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achieved in this benchmark set?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 218.2, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This shows the combo's immense headroom for high-refresh-rate gaming at the lowest graphical preset.

Q: What is the lowest average frame rate recorded, and at what settings?

A: The lowest average FPS is 61.5, recorded at 3840x2160 (4K) resolution with Ultra settings. This is still a playable frame rate, confirming the GPU's capability at the highest resolution.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have, and what is its memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is equipped with 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, providing a substantial memory bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the dominant force in this pairing for Thief. Its specifications are substantial: a Navi 31 chip built on a 5 nm process, 5,376 shading units, and a 192 ROP count. The GPU's role is defined by its high pixel throughput, rated at 459.6 GPixel/s, which directly impacts how fast the scene can be rendered at higher resolutions.

The card's clock speeds are also a key factor. It operates with a base clock of 1387 MHz and a boost clock of 2394 MHz, with a "game" clock of 2025 MHz that represents typical sustained performance during gameplay. This boost capability allows the GPU to push frame rates higher when thermal and power headroom permit. The 20 GB VRAM buffer is a critical asset, especially at 3840x2160. Even on a 2014 title like Thief, having this large memory pool prevents any potential stuttering or texture pop-in due to memory capacity limits, allowing the card to focus on raw compute. This is a scenario where the GPU is almost certainly the primary bottleneck, as the CPU is powerful enough to feed it frames at all tested settings.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a predictable and steep performance cost as resolution increases, which is a classic indicator of a GPU-limited scenario. The most significant drop occurs when moving from 1440p to 4K, while the jump from 1080p to 1440p is less severe.

At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 158.4 FPS at 1080p to 106.6 FPS at 1440p, a decline of roughly 33%. Moving further to 4K at High settings, the frame rate drops to 63.8 FPS, a substantial 40% reduction from the 1440p figure. This pattern is consistent across all settings. For instance, at Low settings, performance scales from 218.2 FPS at 1080p down to 185.3 FPS at 1440p and finally to 110.3 FPS at 4K. This demonstrates that the RX 7900 XT's workload increases dramatically with pixel count, confirming that it is the limiting component. The CPU has enough headroom to maintain high frame rates even at 1080p, so the onus of performance is entirely on the GPU's rendering capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of the combo's capabilities across nine distinct configurations.

1920x1080: At this resolution, the system is exceptionally fast. With Low settings, the average FPS is 218.2. Moving to Medium settings yields 198.5 FPS, and High settings still delivers a very high 158.4 FPS. Even at the most demanding Ultra preset, the average frame rate remains at 154.1 FPS. All results at this resolution are well above 144 Hz, making this ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors.

2560x1440: Performance remains very strong at 1440p. The Low preset produces an average of 185.3 FPS, while Medium drops to 143.6 FPS. High settings are still excellent, with an average of 106.6 FPS. The Ultra preset is the only one to dip below the 120 FPS threshold, but it still maintains a very smooth 105.1 FPS average. This resolution is the sweet spot for balancing high visual fidelity with high frame rates.

3840x2160: 4K performance is surprisingly capable for this title. The Low preset achieves a fluent 110.3 FPS. Medium settings are also very playable at 85.2 FPS. High settings deliver an average of 63.8 FPS, which is right at the cusp of smooth 60 FPS gaming. The Ultra preset is the most demanding configuration tested, producing an average of 61.5 FPS. This shows that the combo is fully capable of a 4K experience, even if it cannot maintain extremely high refresh rates at the highest settings.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of hardware combinations tested with Thief, this pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT secures the 152nd position out of 1,642 total combos. This places it in the top 9.3% of all systems tested, a strong showing that underscores the high-end nature of both components.

This ranking confirms the balance of the pairing. The CPU, which holds the 96th percentile among all processors, ensures that it is never a limiting factor. Its strong multi-core and single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44,534 and a single-core score of 6,287, provides ample headroom. The GPU, ranking in the 82nd percentile, handles the graphical heavy lifting. The result is a system that avoids bottlenecks, allowing the GPU to perform to its full potential. The rank of 152 indicates that while there are 151 other combos that are faster, this setup is positioned firmly in the high-performance tier, capable of delivering an excellent experience in this game across all resolutions and settings.