Thief

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER in Thief presents a classic case of a high-end CPU anchoring a mid-range GPU. The processor, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, is a Raptor Lake Refresh part clocked at 3.40 GHz base and 5.60 GHz boost, placing it in a performance tier where its compute capabilities far exceed what this specific game demands. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557 and single-core score of 6290 indicate a massive amount of headroom, while its 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms it is a top-tier component. The RTX 2060 SUPER, by contrast, sits at the 63rd percentile for GPUs, making it the clear bottleneck in this configuration for a 2014 title like Thief.

The measured frame rates show that the i7-14700KF is never the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 152.9 FPS, a figure that demonstrates the CPU’s ability to feed frames rapidly without issue. The GPU’s Turing architecture, with 2176 shading units and a boost clock of 1650 MHz, handles the DirectX 11 workload efficiently enough to keep the system well above playable thresholds at most settings. The data indicates that the CPU’s role is to provide a stable, high-frequency foundation, while the RTX 2060 SUPER’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus becomes the primary determinant of performance as resolution and quality settings increase. The 33 MB of shared L3 cache and the processor’s multi-threading capabilities are largely irrelevant to the frame pacing in this title, which relies more on raw GPU throughput than on complex CPU physics or AI.

FAQ

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

A: The i7-14700KF has an average benchmark score of 70104. This puts it statistically tied with the Intel Core i7-14700K, which scores 70074 with a 0% deltaPct. It is also within a negligible margin of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70420, -0.4%) and the AMD EPYC 9115 (69887, 0.3%). The data shows no meaningful performance separation between these top-tier chips.

Q: What is the RTX 2060 SUPER’s standing relative to other GPUs?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER holds an average benchmark score of 19774 and sits in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. Its performance is virtually identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN (19706, 0.3% deltaPct) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (19680, 0.5% deltaPct), indicating it delivers performance comparable to the next step up in NVIDIA’s lineup.

*Q: Can this system achieve high frame rates at 1080p in Thief?*

A: Yes. The data shows the combo achieves 87.6 FPS at High settings and 87.9 FPS at Ultra settings in 1920x1080. The performance ceiling is reached at Low settings, where the system produces 152.9 FPS, showing that the CPU can push the GPU to its absolute limit at this resolution.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop significantly. The system manages 39.1 FPS at High, 49.7 FPS at Medium, and 34 FPS at Ultra. Only at Low settings does it break past 60 FPS, hitting 65 FPS. This indicates that 4K Ultra is not a viable option for smooth gameplay.

*Q: Does the CPU’s high core count benefit Thief?*

A: The benchmark results suggest not specifically. While the i7-14700KF has 20 cores and 28 threads, the frame rates scale primarily with GPU load and resolution. The difference between 1080p Low (152.9 FPS) and 1440p Low (106.1 FPS) is a 30% drop, which is a classic GPU-bound pattern. The CPU’s multi-threading capabilities are not a limiting factor, as even the single-core performance is more than sufficient for this game’s engine.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking among all tested systems?

A: The specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is ranked 1165 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the lower-middle tier of all tested configurations, a reflection of the GPU’s mid-range standing despite the CPU’s top-tier performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Thief with this hardware combination reveals a clear hierarchy of performance across presets. For the best balance of visual fidelity and playable frame rates, the High preset is the recommended choice. At 1920x1080, it delivers 87.6 FPS, which is statistically equivalent to the Ultra preset’s 87.9 FPS. This shows that the step from High to Ultra provides no measurable performance cost at 1080p, making Ultra a viable choice for those who want maximum visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. However, the High preset offers a more substantial performance buffer at higher resolutions.

At 2560x1440, High yields 64.2 FPS, which is still comfortably playable. The Medium preset at this resolution offers 83.6 FPS, which is a better target for competitive or fast-paced play if a higher refresh rate is desired. The Low preset at 1080p produces 152.9 FPS, which is ideal for esports-style play or for users with high-refresh-rate monitors, but it comes at the cost of visual detail. For 4K, the analysis changes entirely. The Ultra preset drops to 34 FPS, which is not a smooth experience. The High preset at 3840x2160 yields 39.1 FPS, still below the 60 FPS target. Only the Low preset breaks past 60 FPS at 4K, achieving 65 FPS, but this sacrifices the visual immersion that a 4K display promises.

Therefore, the data suggests that the optimal experience is at 1440p High, which provides a solid 64.2 FPS with good visual settings. For 1080p users, the Ultra preset is the best pick, as it matches the High preset’s frame rate while offering higher fidelity. The Medium preset at 1440p is a strong alternative for those who prioritize frame rate stability above all else.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is ranked 1165 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This ranking places it in the 29th percentile of all tested systems, which may seem low given the processor’s pedigree. The data shows that the i7-14700KF is a top-4% CPU by synthetic benchmarks, yet the overall system performance is dragged down by the GPU. The RTX 2060 SUPER, with its 63rd percentile GPU ranking, is the limiting factor in this pairing.

This is a classic bottleneck scenario. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 70104 and its proximity to the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70420) show that it can handle any workload thrown at it. However, in Thief, the frame rates are dictated by the GPU’s rasterization power. The RTX 2060 SUPER’s performance, which is on par with the RTX 2070 (19680) and GTX TITAN (19706), is simply not sufficient to push this combo higher in the rankings. The 1165th rank out of 1642 indicates that many other systems with more balanced or GPU-heavy configurations achieve higher frame rates in this title.

The implication is clear: users with this CPU should pair it with a more powerful GPU to unlock its full potential in gaming workloads. The data indicates that the i7-14700KF has substantial headroom, as evidenced by the 152.9 FPS result at 1080p Low, which is likely near the GPU’s maximum output. The ranking is a reflection of the GPU’s mid-range status, not a failure of the CPU.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data across resolutions provides a clear picture of the system’s scaling behavior and identifies the bottleneck. At 1080p High, the system produces 87.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p High, the frame rate drops to 64.2 FPS, a reduction of 26.7%. The jump to 4K High yields 39.1 FPS, a further drop of 39.1% from the 1440p result. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound system.

The most telling data point is the comparison between Low and High settings at each resolution. At 1080p, Low produces 152.9 FPS, while High produces 87.6 FPS. This 42.7% difference is entirely due to GPU load. At 4K, the gap narrows slightly: Low produces 65 FPS, and High produces 39.1 FPS, a difference of 39.8%. This shows that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes more saturated, and the relative impact of settings changes slightly, but the GPU remains the primary constraint.

The RTX 2060 SUPER’s 8 GB of VRAM and 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth are likely the limiting factors at 4K, where texture and fill-rate demands are highest. The CPU’s performance does not degrade with resolution, as it only needs to maintain a constant level of game logic and draw calls. The data shows that the i7-14700KF is powerful enough to maintain high frame rates at 1080p Low (152.9 FPS), which is a strong indicator that it is not the source of the frame rate drops at higher resolutions. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings (87.6 to 39.1 FPS) is a 55% reduction, which is a severe drop that clearly points to the GPU as the limiting component. The system is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but it struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K without significantly lowering settings.