Thief

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 produces a clear and instructive performance curve in Thief, with the GPU acting as the dominant constraint at higher resolutions. The measured frame rates show a predictable scaling pattern that shifts from GPU-bound at 4K to increasingly CPU-capable at 1080p, though the GTX 1070 still governs the top end. This combination ranks 1392 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database, a position that reflects the age of the graphics card relative to the modern processor.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that the GTX 1070 is the limiting component in this pairing. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 72.6 at 1920x1080 to 51.7 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 20.9 FPS, and then to 29.6 at 3840x2160, a further drop of 22.1 FPS. The 4K result is barely playable, sitting just below the 30 FPS threshold, while the 1440p result is comfortably playable.

The scaling pattern is nearly identical for Medium settings: 97.4 FPS at 1080p, 67.6 FPS at 1440p, and 40.7 FPS at 4K. Low settings show the same trend with 128.1, 86.8, and 53.1 FPS respectively. Ultra settings produce 72.6 FPS at 1080p, 47.1 FPS at 1440p, and 27.6 FPS at 4K. The consistency of the percentage drops across settings indicates that resolution scaling is independent of the quality preset, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario.

The gap between 1080p and 1440p is roughly 30% across all settings, while the gap between 1440p and 4K is roughly 40-45%. This non-linear scaling reflects the quadratic increase in pixel count as resolution rises. The data shows that 4K is only viable at Low settings, where 53.1 FPS is achieved, but even that result is modest. The 1080p to 4K ratio at High settings is 72.6 divided by 29.6, meaning the 4K result is approximately 59% lower, which is consistent with the raw pixel workload increase.

GPU Role

The GTX 1070 is a Pascal-architecture card with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s. Its base clock is 1506 MHz with a boost of 1683 MHz, and it offers 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The card's pixel rate is 107.7 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 202.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 6.463 TFLOPS.

In Thief, the 8 GB VRAM capacity is not stressed at any resolution tested, as the game's asset requirements are well within this limit. The memory bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results suggest that bandwidth and raw compute become insufficient. The card's 16 nm process node and 7,200 million transistors produce a die size of 314 mm², and the transistor density of 22.9M per mm² reflects the mid-2010s design.

The benchmark results place this GPU in the 51st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12331. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 at 12241 (0.7% lower), the GTX 880M at 12490 (1.3% higher), the GTX 1650 SUPER at 12504 (1.4% higher), and the Tesla K20Xm at 12547 (1.7% higher). The GTX 1070's scores in DirectX tests vary widely: 197 in DirectX 9, 100 in DirectX 11, and 48 in DirectX 12, while its Passmark G3D score is 13498 and G2D is 846. The compute score of 6102 shows the card's general-purpose capability.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that Medium settings provide the best balance for most playable scenarios. At 1080p, Medium delivers 97.4 FPS, which is 24.8 FPS higher than High and 30.7 FPS lower than Low. The jump from Medium to High costs 24.8 FPS at 1080p, while the jump from Low to Medium gains 30.7 FPS. This suggests that Medium captures most of the visual improvement over Low without the steep performance penalty of High.

At 1440p, Medium produces 67.6 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS and 15.9 FPS higher than High. The 1440p Medium result is the highest setting that maintains a smooth 60+ FPS experience. At 4K, no setting except Low reaches 60 FPS, with Low achieving 53.1 FPS and Medium falling to 40.7 FPS. For 4K users, Low is the only reasonable choice, while 1440p users should select Medium and 1080p users can choose between Medium and High depending on preference for visual fidelity versus headroom.

Ultra settings are problematic: at 1080p, Ultra produces 72.6 FPS, which is identical to High, suggesting that the Ultra preset does not add measurable performance cost at this resolution. However, at 1440p, Ultra drops to 47.1 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 27.6 FPS. The 1080p parity between High and Ultra is notable, as it implies the game's Ultra settings are not more demanding at lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings yields the following average FPS: Low at 128.1, Medium at 97.4, High at 72.6, and Ultra at 72.6. The identical High and Ultra results suggest a possible engine limitation or that the Ultra preset does not activate additional effects at this resolution. The spread from Low to High is 55.5 FPS, or roughly 43% of the Low value.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 86.8, Medium at 67.6, High at 51.7, and Ultra at 47.1. The differences between consecutive settings are 19.2 FPS from Low to Medium, 15.9 FPS from Medium to High, and 4.6 FPS from High to Ultra. The diminishing returns from Medium to Ultra are clear, with the Ultra preset only costing 4.6 FPS over High at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 53.1, Medium at 40.7, High at 29.6, and Ultra at 27.6. The Low to Medium gap is 12.4 FPS, Medium to High is 11.1 FPS, and High to Ultra is only 2.0 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 27.6 FPS is the lowest measured value across the entire dataset, and even Low at 4K barely exceeds 50 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination run Thief at 4K smoothly?

A: Only at Low settings, which produce 53.1 FPS at 3840x2160. Medium drops to 40.7 FPS, High to 29.6 FPS, and Ultra to 27.6 FPS, so 4K requires Low for playable frame rates.

Q: What is the difference between High and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: There is no difference in measured performance: both produce 72.6 FPS at 1920x1080. At 1440p, Ultra is 4.6 FPS slower than High, and at 4K the difference is 2.0 FPS.

Q: Why does the 1080p Ultra result match High instead of being slower?

A: The data shows identical average FPS for High and Ultra at 1920x1080, which may indicate that the Ultra preset does not add additional GPU workload at this resolution, or that the CPU is not the bottleneck.

Q: Is the GTX 1070 a bottleneck for the i9-14900K in Thief?

A: Yes, the resolution scaling confirms this. The frame rate drops by roughly 40-45% from 1440p to 4K, which is far more than the CPU's capability would suggest, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: What is the best setting for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 deliver 67.6 FPS, which is the highest setting that maintains a 60+ FPS average. High drops to 51.7 FPS and Ultra to 47.1 FPS.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1070 has an average benchmark score of 12331, which is 0.7% higher than the Quadro K4200, 1.3% lower than the GTX 880M, 1.4% lower than the GTX 1650 SUPER, and 1.7% lower than the Tesla K20Xm.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock is 3.20 GHz with a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, and it has a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus, and it uses PCIe Gen 5 with 16 CPU lanes.

In Thief, the CPU's role is largely secondary to the GPU, given the game's age and the resolution scaling data. The processor's benchmark scores are exceptional: Cinebench R23 multicore at 49872, single-core at 7040, and Geekbench multicore at 20370 with a single-core of 3064. Its Passmark multithread score is 58674 and single thread is 4697. The CPU ranks in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79824.

The nearest rivals for the i9-14900K are the AMD EPYC 7413 at 80041 (0.3% higher), the i9-14900KF at 79245 (0.7% lower), the Core Ultra 7 265KF at 79240 (0.7% lower), and the Core Ultra 7 265K at 79102 (0.9% lower). These rivalries show that the i9-14900K is within 1% of several high-end processors, making it a top-tier CPU by any metric.

The fact that Thief's frame rates at 1080p Low reach 128.1 FPS indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU well beyond the GTX 1070's limits. The 1080p High and Ultra parity at 72.6 FPS suggests the GPU is saturated at that point, not the CPU. At 4K, the CPU is almost certainly idle, as the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the sole constraint. The i9-14900K's 24 cores and 32 threads are far more than Thief requires, but the high boost clock of 6.00 GHz ensures single-threaded performance is never a limiting factor in this game.