Thief

The data for Thief with the Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT presents a clear picture of a system that excels at high refresh rates in 1080p but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K. The combination of a top-tier 14th Gen CPU and a mid-range RDNA 2 GPU creates a significant bottleneck, with the GPU being the primary constraint as resolution increases. The measured frames per second (FPS) across the four settings presets reveal a predictable scaling pattern, but the specific deltas between them offer insight into the game's engine and the hardware's limits.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combo in Thief to achieve a high refresh rate experience?

A: At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 160.1 FPS on Low settings and 94.6 FPS on High, making it the only resolution where the combo can consistently push past the 90 FPS mark. This makes 1080p the clear target for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: How does the GPU's performance at 4K compare to its performance at 1080p?

A: The data shows a stark contrast. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 37.9, which is just 44% of the 86.5 FPS seen at 1080p Ultra. Even at 4K Low, the system only manages 63 FPS, which is a significant 61% reduction from the 160.1 FPS achieved at 1080p Low.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU the limiting factor in this game at higher resolutions?

A: The evidence points to the GPU being the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 128-bit bus, which is modest for 4K workloads. As resolution scales from 1080p to 4K, the FPS drops dramatically (from 94.6 to 38.2 on High), indicating the GPU is unable to keep up with the increased pixel rendering demands.

Q: What is the combo's overall standing among all tested combinations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 1062 out of 1642 tested combinations. This places it in the lower half of the database, which is consistent with the GPU's performance percentile of 72, suggesting that many other system pairings offer better performance in this specific title.

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-14700KF compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score is 70104, which is nearly identical to its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700K, which has an average score of 70074 and a deltaPct of 0. It is also just 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9115, indicating that the i7-14700KF is positioned at the top of its performance tier.

Q: What is the FPS difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields an average of 110.6 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 58.6 FPS. This represents a 47% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest graphical settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the "High" preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, High delivers a very playable 94.6 FPS, which is only about 30 FPS less than the Low preset but provides a significant visual upgrade. At 1440p, the High preset still achieves an average of 65.1 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, making it the highest quality setting that maintains a solid frame rate at this resolution. The "Ultra" preset is only recommended for 1080p, where it still produces an average of 86.5 FPS. At 1440p, the Ultra preset's 58.6 FPS is borderline, and at 4K, both High and Ultra presets fall below the 40 FPS mark, indicating that they are not suitable for a smooth experience. For 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option, providing an average of 63 FPS, while the Medium preset offers a compromise at 51.6 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is the decisive component in this pairing. Its specifications, including 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth, are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but quickly become a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU's boost clock of 2635 MHz and game clock of 2410 MHz are high, but they cannot compensate for the memory bandwidth constraints at higher resolutions. The benchmark results for the GPU show a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1859 and a Passmark G3D score of 17166, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, has a nearly identical average benchmark score (29011 vs 29024), indicating that the 6650 XT is performing as expected for its class. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 86.5 FPS, but the same preset at 4K drops to 37.9 FPS, a clear demonstration of the GPU's struggle as the pixel count quadruples.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 160.1 FPS on Low, 124.4 FPS on Medium, 94.6 FPS on High, and 86.5 FPS on Ultra. This indicates that the CPU and GPU combo is capable of very high frame rates, with even the most demanding preset staying well above 60 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the scores drop to 110.6 FPS on Low, 84.4 FPS on Medium, 65.1 FPS on High, and 58.6 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 30-35% for each preset, which is a significant but expected decrease. At 3840x2160, the performance falls off a cliff. The Low preset manages 63 FPS, Medium drops to 51.6 FPS, and both High (38.2 FPS) and Ultra (37.9 FPS) become unplayable. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal at all resolutions, suggesting that the Ultra preset offers little visual benefit for the substantial performance cost.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT ranks 1062 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the 35th percentile of all tested systems, which is a surprisingly low ranking given the CPU's strength. The CPU itself is in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70104, putting it on par with the Intel Core i7-14700K. However, the GPU is only in the 72nd percentile, which drags the overall combo ranking down. This discrepancy highlights that the system's performance in Thief is heavily weighted by the GPU's capabilities. In a game that is not heavily CPU-bound, the powerful i7-14700KF cannot compensate for the RX 6650 XT's limitations at higher resolutions, resulting in a mid-pack ranking overall.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a powerhouse with 20 cores and 28 threads, a base clock of 3.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It features 33 MB of L3 cache and a 125W TDP. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 44557 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6290 in single-core, demonstrating its immense processing capability. However, in Thief, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU. At 1080p, the high frame rates (up to 160.1 FPS on Low) suggest the CPU is more than capable of feeding the GPU with data. Yet, the performance drop at 4K is not due to CPU limitations but rather the GPU's inability to render frames fast enough. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking and its negligible deltaPct (0%) compared to the i7-14700K indicate that it is not a bottleneck in this system. The game seems to rely more on the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth than on the CPU's core count or clock speed.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is the most telling metric in this dataset. For the High preset, the FPS drops from 94.6 at 1080p, to 65.1 at 1440p, and finally to 38.2 at 4K. This represents a 31% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 41% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is nearly linear with the pixel count increase, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would be more consistent across resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not increase as dramatically with resolution. The fact that the FPS nearly halves when moving from 1440p to 4K confirms that the RX 6650 XT is overwhelmed by the 4K pixel count. The 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface are simply insufficient for the demands of 4K rendering in Thief, even on the Low preset which only manages 63 FPS. This analysis suggests that to achieve higher frame rates at 4K, a more powerful GPU with greater memory bandwidth would be necessary.