Thief

Thief, a 2014 stealth title, remains a demanding benchmark even on modern hardware. The combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Radeon RX 9070 produces a compelling dataset that reveals how this decade-old title scales with contemporary components. The measured results show a system capable of high refresh rates at mainstream resolutions, but one that begins to show its limits when pushed to 4K with maximum settings, indicating a complex interplay between the CPU, GPU, and the game's engine.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a predictable but steep performance decline as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves a formidable 228.8 FPS average. Moving to 1440p at the same Low preset, the average drops to 164.5 FPS, a reduction of roughly 28%. Pushing further to 4K, the average falls to 98.7 FPS, which is another 40% drop from the 1440p figure. This scaling pattern suggests that at lower resolutions, the game is heavily CPU-bound, allowing the Radeon RX 9070 to stretch its legs.

The curve steepens when more graphical features are enabled. With Ultra settings, the performance drops from 130.7 FPS at 1080p to 92.8 FPS at 1440p, and then to a noticeably less fluid 55.2 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 4K at Ultra settings is a 57.8% reduction in average FPS. This indicates that at higher settings and resolutions, the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor. The RX 9070, with its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth, is clearly being taxed by the game's engine at 4K Ultra, a workload that exceeds the capabilities of the 56 RT cores and 3584 shading units.

The data implies that 1080p and 1440p are the sweet spots for this title, where the combination of a high-boost 6.00 GHz CPU and the GPU can deliver well above the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K results, however, tell a different story. While the 57.3 FPS average at High settings is playable, the 55.2 FPS at Ultra is right on the edge of what many would consider a smooth experience. The scaling suggests that the game's engine, originally designed for an era of 4-core CPUs and much simpler GPUs, does not efficiently utilize the full potential of a 24-core processor when the resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance for optimizing the experience. For players targeting 4K, the choice between High and Ultra settings is critical. The Ultra preset delivers a 57.3 FPS average, which is barely above the 60 FPS target, while the High preset provides a more comfortable 57.3 FPS at the same resolution. Wait, the data shows High at 4K is 57.3 FPS and Ultra is 55.2 FPS, so the difference is minimal. This suggests that the Ultra preset at 4K offers almost no performance advantage over High, making High the more sensible choice for a smoother experience.

At 1440p, the medium preset provides a 125.1 FPS average, which is a significant jump from the 92.8 FPS of Ultra. The difference between High and Medium is also notable, with High delivering 96.7 FPS. For a competitive or high-refresh-rate display, the Low preset at 1440p, with its 164.5 FPS average, is the only way to fully utilize a 144Hz or higher monitor. However, for a balance of visual fidelity and performance, Medium at 1440p appears to be the optimal setting, offering a 34.8% performance increase over Ultra while presumably retaining most visual quality.

The data suggests that the Low preset is the best option for maximizing frame rates, especially at 1080p where it hits 228.8 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p is 48.2 FPS, which is substantial, but the jump from Medium to High is only 43 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p, while delivering 130.7 FPS, is the most demanding and offers only a marginal benefit over High. For most users, the High preset at 1080p, with its 137.6 FPS average, provides the best experience, balancing visual quality with a frame rate that far exceeds the refresh rate of most standard monitors.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070's role in this pairing is clearly defined by the data. Its 16 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for this 2014 title, even at 4K Ultra, where memory capacity is rarely a bottleneck. The performance differences between settings are more attributable to the GPU's compute capabilities than its memory pool. The 36.13 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and the 322.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are the likely culprits in the scaling between Medium and Ultra.

At 1080p, the GPU is not the primary constraint. The 130.7 FPS at Ultra and 228.8 FPS at Low demonstrate that the CPU can feed the GPU enough data to keep it busy, but the GPU's architecture is not the limiting factor. However, as the resolution increases to 4K, the pixel fill rate and shading complexity begin to dominate. The 55.2 FPS at 4K Ultra, compared to the 130.7 FPS at 1080p Ultra, shows a 57.8% performance drop, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's rendering workload scaling with pixel count.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a boost of 2520 MHz and a game clock of 2070 MHz, are indicative of a high-performance part. The benchmark results from the fact pack show the RX 9070 achieving a Passmark G3D score of 25381, placing it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. This percentile is lower than the CPU's 97th percentile, suggesting that the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing for this specific game. The 4K results, in particular, highlight that the GPU is working hard, and the FPS drops are a direct result of its rendering capabilities being saturated.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested configurations, this combination ranks 318th out of 1642 combos for Thief. This places it in the top 19.4% of all combinations, which is a strong showing. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU, where the i9-14900K's immense processing power is paired with a GPU that, while capable, is not in the top tier of performance. The CPU's percentile rank of 97 against all other CPUs is exceptionally high, while the GPU's rank of 79 is respectable but lower.

The deltaPct values from the nearest rivals provide context for the CPU's performance. The Intel Core i9-14900K has an average benchmark score of 79824, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 7413's score of 80041. It is also 0.7% higher than the Intel Core i9-14900KF and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF. These are negligible differences, indicating that the CPU is performing exactly as expected for its class. The GPU's rivals, such as the NVIDIA A2 with a deltaPct of -0.2%, show a similar pattern of near-identical average scores.

The 318th rank out of 1642 combos implies that there are many configurations that achieve higher frame rates in Thief. This is likely due to the fact that the game is relatively old and may not scale perfectly with the latest hardware architectures. The combination's rank, while not in the top 10%, is still very respectable, and the measured FPS data supports the idea that this is a high-performance system for most gaming scenarios. The ranking suggests that the CPU is not holding back the GPU at lower resolutions, but at higher resolutions, the GPU's performance cap becomes more apparent.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 137.6.

Q: Does the system achieve 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: No, the average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 55.2, which is below the 60 FPS target.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: The average FPS drops from 164.5 at Low settings to 92.8 at Ultra settings, a difference of 71.7 FPS.

Q: Which setting provides the highest frame rate at 4K?

A: The Low preset provides the highest average FPS at 4K, with a value of 98.7.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is less of a bottleneck at 1080p, as the GPU is capable of producing very high frame rates (228.8 FPS at Low), indicating the CPU is feeding it well.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 318th out of 1642 tested combinations for Thief.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact average FPS measurements for each resolution and settings preset.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

| :--------- | :------- | :------ |

| 3840x2160 | High | 57.3 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 98.7 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 75.3 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 55.2 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 96.7 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 164.5 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 125.1 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 92.8 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 137.6 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 228.8 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 180.6 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 130.7 |

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K's role is primarily to ensure that the GPU is never starved of data. With 24 cores and 32 threads, the CPU has an immense amount of parallel processing power. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and single-core score of 7040 are exceptional, placing it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs. In Thief, a game from 2014, the engine may not be able to utilize all 24 cores effectively, but the high single-core performance is crucial.

The CPU's boost clock of 6.00 GHz is the key metric here. The game's logic and draw call processing are largely single-threaded, and this high clock speed ensures that the primary thread is processed quickly. The base clock of 3.20 GHz is less relevant for gaming, but the ability to boost to 6.00 GHz under load is what allows the system to hit the 228.8 FPS at 1080p Low. The 36 MB of shared L3 cache also helps by reducing memory latency for frequently accessed data.

Comparing the CPU to its nearest rivals, its average benchmark score of 79824 is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7413's 80041 score, with a deltaPct of -0.3%. This indicates that for raw processing power, the i9-14900K is on par with enterprise-grade server chips. The 0.7% deltaPct versus the Intel Core i9-14900KF and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF shows that the performance difference between these top-tier consumer CPUs is negligible. In Thief, the CPU's performance is sufficient to drive the GPU to its limits at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results are more dependent on the GPU's rendering capabilities, where the CPU's role diminishes.