Thief

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER produces a capable but uneven experience in Thief, with the CPU far outclassing the GPU in raw benchmark potential. The data shows that this combination is best utilized at 1080p with High settings, where it delivers a strong 90 FPS average, and remains playable at 1440p with High reaching 62 FPS, but the 4K High setting dips to just 36 FPS, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The core takeaway from the measured rows is that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the bottleneck in this pairing; the i9-14900K sits in the 95th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU trails at the 62nd percentile, and the FPS numbers reflect that division of labor across every resolution and preset. With the Medium preset at 1080p, the combo hits 118 FPS, and Low at 1080p reaches 155 FPS, showing the scaling pattern that defines this system's profile.

Settings Recommendations

The best overall experience in Thief with this hardware combination is the High preset at 1080p, which produces an average of 90 FPS. This is the sweet spot because it offers substantially better visual quality than Low, which runs at 155 FPS, while still maintaining a frame rate that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS target for most displays. Ultra at 1080p actually drops the average to 86 FPS, which is only 4 frames slower than High, so the extra visual fidelity of Ultra comes at a modest cost. The Medium preset at 1080p, averaging 118 FPS, is a good fallback if a player prioritizes responsiveness over visual detail, but High provides the best balance of smoothness and image quality among the tested rows.

At 1440p, the High preset at 62 FPS is the recommended choice for a 60 Hz monitor, as it holds a playable average without needing to drop to Medium's 81 FPS. However, players who prefer a higher frame rate ceiling could choose Medium at 1440p, which delivers 81 FPS on average, but the min FPS of 69 ensures it stays comfortably above 60. The Ultra preset at 1440p falls to 59 FPS, which is marginally below the 60 FPS threshold and thus less ideal, so High is preferable.

For 4K, the data shows no setting reaches 60 FPS; High averages 36 FPS, Medium averages 48 FPS, and Low averages 63 FPS. The Low preset is the only 4K option that clears 60 FPS, but the visual compromise is significant. If playing at 4K is a priority, the Medium preset at 48 FPS is the pragmatic choice because it provides the best visual quality while sustaining a frame rate that is still responsive, though it is not a smooth experience by the standards of the other resolutions.

The data also reveals that the Low preset is consistently the fastest in every resolution, with 155 FPS at 1080p, 107 FPS at 1440p, and 63 FPS at 4K. This trend is a clear indicator that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the component limiting frame rates, as the CPU's immense compute power is not the bottleneck in any tested configuration. The recommended settings, therefore, are High at 1080p for the best experience, with Medium at 1440p as an alternative, and Medium at 4K for those who accept the frame rate trade-off.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060 SUPER is a Turing-architecture GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs are the key resources that Thief's rendering engine draws upon. The card's boost clock of 1650 MHz and base clock of 1470 MHz are moderate, and the performance data from the game indicates that these clocks are sufficient for 1080p at High settings, but the GPU's limits become more obvious as resolution and settings rise.

The GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is not a hard constraint in the measured results, as the game's High and Ultra presets at 1080p still render 90 and 86 FPS respectively. However, the VRAM's 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is a potential factor at higher resolutions, where the frame rate drops from 90 at 1080p to 62 at 1440p and 36 at 4K with High settings. This scaling pattern suggests that the GPU's memory subsystem and compute throughput, rather than the CPU, are the primary restrictions in this game. The RTX 2060 SUPER's FP32 throughput of 7.181 TFLOPS, while not directly translatable to Thief's engine, is a lower figure than what the data shows the game demands at high resolutions.

The GPU's 62nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with the i9-14900K's 95th percentile, creates a pairing where the GPU is the clear bottleneck in Thief. The passmark G3D score of 16462 for the GPU is a general metric that aligns with its performance class. The card's PCIe 3.0 x16 interface is an older standard, but the benchmark results do not show any PCIe-related limitation, since the measured FPS at 1080p are high. The GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 256-bit bus are typical for its generation, and in this game, the results show they are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but not for 4K at higher settings.

The RTX 2060 SUPER's nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile with a deltaPct of -0.4 and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 at -0.5, all have very close average scores, so the GPU's position is not unique. The data does not show any issue with the GPU's 8 GB VRAM in Thief, as the settings scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p only drops the FPS from 155 to 86, which is a typical response to the game's settings rather than a memory overflow. The GPU's role in this combo is to provide a solid 1080p experience and a workable 1440p experience, but the i9-14900K's CPU power cannot compensate for the GPU's limits at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with High settings, the average FPS is 90. Moving to 1440p High drops the average to 62, a 31.1% decrease. At 4K High, the average falls to 36, which is 60.0% lower than the 1080p figure. This trend is consistent across all settings. Low at 1080p gives 155 FPS, 1440p Low drops to 107, and 4K Low reaches 63, representing a 30.9% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 59.3% drop from 1080p to 4K. Medium settings show the same pattern: 118 FPS at 1080p, 81 at 1440p, and 48 at 4K, with the 1440p figure being 31.3% lower than 1080p and the 4K figure 59.3% lower. Ultra settings follow suit, with 86 FPS at 1080p, 59 at 1440p, and 35 at 4K, translating to 31.4% and 59.3% declines.

These drops are significantly larger than what a pure CPU-bound scenario would produce, indicating that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the dominant factor at 1440p and 4K. The i9-14900K's compute power, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5 and single-core score of 2262.5, is far more than this game needs, so the CPU is not the limiting component in the tested rows. The percentage drops from 1080p to 1440p are around 31% across all settings, while the drops from 1080p to 4K are around 59%, showing a nearly uniform scaling pattern that is independent of the preset. This uniformity suggests that the pixel count, not the specific settings, is the main driver of the FPS loss, which is a classic sign of a GPU-limited scenario.

The data also shows that the gap between Low and High at the same resolution remains relatively consistent, e.g., at 1080p, Low is 155 and High is 90, a 42% difference. At 1440p, Low is 107 and High is 62, a 42% difference. At 4K, Low is 63 and High is 36, a 43% difference. This indicates that the settings have a consistent impact across resolutions, while the resolution itself is the biggest factor. The 4K Low result of 63 FPS is the only 4K row above 60 FPS, but the 1080p High result of 90 FPS is a more compelling experience for the majority of players. The scaling analysis points to the RTX 2060 SUPER as the limiting component, as the CPU's headroom is not the frame rate ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 2591 out of 3720 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the 30th percentile among all system configurations. This ranking is lower than one might expect from the CPU's strong benchmark position, which sits in the 95th percentile among all CPUs. The GPU's position at the 62nd percentile among all GPUs is the lower of the two, and that is the component that drags the combo's ranking down. The ranking reflects the game's heavy reliance on the GPU, as the data shows the frame rate scaling with the GPU's performance limits.

The rank is a direct consequence of the RTX 2060 SUPER's performance class. Its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark list are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, with a deltaPct of -0.4, the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 at -0.5, and the AMD Radeon RX 460 at -1.5, all of which are within 1.5% of the RTX 2060 SUPER's score. This shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER is a mid-range card relative to the database, and the i9-14900K is a top-tier CPU. The combo's rank of 2591 out of 3720 means that a substantial portion of tested combos outperform it, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's limits in Thief, as the game is not CPU-bound in any of the measured rows.

The data also shows that the combo's ranking is consistent with the GPU's bottleneck, since the CPU's headroom does not translate into higher FPS at 4K, where even Low settings only reach 63 FPS. The combination is a representative example of a strong CPU paired with a mid-range GPU, and in Thief, the GPU's capabilities dictate the final ranking. A system with a more balanced CPU-GPU pairing would likely rank higher, but the data only provides the single combo rank of 2591 out of 3720, with no other combo data to compare directly. The 95th percentile CPU and 62nd percentile GPU combine to produce a 43rd percentile game ranking, which is a clear indicator of the GPU's role as the limiting factor.

FAQ

Q: What is the best FPS this combo can achieve in Thief?

A: The highest average FPS in the measured data is 155 FPS, recorded at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Does the Intel Core i9-14900K bottleneck the RTX 2060 SUPER in this game?

A: No. The i9-14900K is in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, and the frame rates are limited by the RTX 2060 SUPER, which is in the 62nd percentile of GPUs. The CPU's performance is far above the needs of the game, so the GPU is the bottleneck.

Q: Is it possible to play at 4K with this setup?

A: The data shows that the High and Ultra presets at 3840x2160 average 36 and 35 FPS, respectively. The Medium preset averages 48 FPS, and only the Low preset reaches 63 FPS, so 4K is playable only with significant visual compromises.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1440p and 1080p at High settings?

A: At 1440p High the average is 62 FPS, while at 1080p High the average is 90 FPS, a difference of 28 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER's performance in Thief compare to its rivals?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 18093, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, has a deltaPct of -0.4, meaning it is 0.4% faster. The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 is 0.5% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 460 is 1.5% faster.

Q: Which preset gives the best experience at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 1440p, with an average FPS of 62, is the recommended choice, as it stays above 60 FPS while Medium averages 81 FPS and Ultra drops to 59 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces an average FPS of 155. The Medium preset produces an average of 118 FPS, with a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 136. High presets produce 90 FPS, and Ultra produce 86 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 69 FPS, with the Low preset offering the highest frame rate but the 86 FPS at Ultra still a smooth experience. The Medium preset's minimum of 100 FPS shows that the GPU does not drop below 100 FPS in the measured data at this resolution, even with the frame variations.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 107 FPS, Medium averages 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 and a maximum of 93, High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra averages 59 FPS. The Medium's minimum of 69 FPS is above the 60 FPS target, while the Ultra's average at 59 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold. The drop from Low to Ultra here is 48 FPS, from 107 to 59, which is a similar relative change to the 1080p, but the absolute values are lower.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 63 FPS, Medium averages 48 FPS with a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 55, High averages 36 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS. The Medium's minimum of 40 FPS is the lowest recorded FPS in the entire data set for this combo, while the Low preset is the only 4K row above 60 FPS. The gap between 1440p and 4K is large, with the 4K Medium average falling 33 FPS below the 1440p Medium average, and the 4K High falling 26 FPS below the 1440p High average.

These measured numbers paint a consistent picture: the combo is most effective at 1080p, where all presets exceed 85 FPS, and 1440p remains playable with the High preset, but 4K is only playable at Low settings. The data is measured, not estimated, and the min and max FPS values for Medium settings at each resolution provide a useful range for frame pacing. The i9-14900K's CPU performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5 and single-core score of 2262.5, is far above the needs of Thief, so the GPU is the sole component responsible for the FPS variations across settings and resolutions. The RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the tested presets, as the data shows no memory-related anomalies in the FPS numbers.