Thief

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a commanding performance profile in Thief, a 2014 stealth title that remains surprisingly demanding at high resolutions. The benchmark data shows this combination ranks 21st out of 1,642 tested configurations, placing it firmly in the top 2% of all systems evaluated. While the game is old enough to be CPU-bound at lower settings, the GPU becomes the dominant factor as resolution and graphical fidelity increase, creating a nuanced performance landscape that rewards careful settings selection.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data indicates that the High preset offers the most balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 1920x1080, High produces 188.8 FPS, which is only 17% below the Low preset’s 228.5 FPS but delivers substantially better visual quality. The jump from High to Ultra at 1080p costs 10.3 FPS (from 188.8 to 178.5), a modest penalty that some users might accept for maximum fidelity, but the Medium preset’s 210.7 FPS shows diminishing returns for the visual upgrade.

At 2560x1440, the case for High strengthens considerably. The preset achieves 130.4 FPS, which comfortably exceeds the 120 FPS threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors. Ultra drops to 121.2 FPS, still playable but leaving less headroom for demanding scenes, while Medium’s 170.1 FPS offers a substantial buffer for those prioritizing frame rate consistency over visual polish. The Low preset’s 205.1 FPS at this resolution demonstrates the CPU’s strength, but the graphical compromises are unnecessary given the GPU’s capability.

The 3840x2160 results reveal the most critical settings decision. High produces 77.4 FPS, which is ideal for 60Hz displays and provides enough overhead to avoid noticeable drops. Ultra falls to 69.4 FPS, still above 60 but with less margin, while Medium’s 101.4 FPS suggests that players with 120Hz 4K displays might prefer this middle ground. Low at 133.2 FPS shows the GPU is not the bottleneck at this setting, but the visual degradation at 4K makes this an impractical choice. The data clearly indicates High is the optimal preset for 4K, offering the best balance of visual quality and performance headroom.

GPU Role

The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves more than sufficient for Thief’s demands. The GPU’s 10,240 shading units and 112 ROPs, combined with boost clocks reaching 2550 MHz, drive the high frame rates observed in the benchmarks. The 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power handles the game’s lighting and shadow calculations efficiently, as evidenced by the smooth scaling from Low to Ultra settings.

The GPU’s 88th percentile ranking among all tested GPUs places it above the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT by 0.2% in average benchmark score, with the Radeon Pro W6600M trailing by 0.4%. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,600 and Passmark G3D score of 34,245 confirm its position as a high-end part, though its 88th percentile is notably lower than the CPU’s 97th percentile, suggesting the processor is the more exceptional component in this pairing.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU’s workload becomes evident as frame rates dip to 69.4 FPS, but the 77.4 FPS at High shows the card has sufficient headroom for the game’s most demanding settings. The 16 GB VRAM capacity ensures no texture streaming issues even at 4K, and the GDDR6X memory’s 23 Gbps effective speed prevents bandwidth limitations in this older title.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a predictable shift in bottleneck behavior. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 228.5 FPS, which drops to 205.1 FPS at 1440p (−10.2%) and then to 133.2 FPS at 4K (−41.7% from 1440p). This pattern indicates the CPU is the primary limiter at lower resolutions, as the frame rate remains exceptionally high despite the increasing pixel count.

The High preset shows more dramatic scaling: 188.8 FPS at 1080p, 130.4 FPS at 1440p (−30.9%), and 77.4 FPS at 4K (−40.6% from 1440p). This steeper decline demonstrates the GPU becoming the dominant constraint as resolution increases. The Ultra preset follows a similar trajectory with 178.5, 121.2, and 69.4 FPS respectively, showing 32.1% and 42.7% drops between successive resolution steps.

The scaling behavior confirms that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the limiting component at 4K, while the i9-14900K’s 24 cores and 32 threads provide ample processing power to avoid CPU bottlenecks even at 1080p Low. The 125W TDP processor with 6.00 GHz boost capability drives the high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the GPU’s workload at 4K Ultra (69.4 FPS) represents the system’s performance floor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low achieves 228.5 FPS, Medium produces 210.7 FPS (−7.8%), High reaches 188.8 FPS (−17.4%), and Ultra yields 178.5 FPS (−21.9%). The relatively small gap between Low and Ultra—only 50 FPS—suggests the CPU is providing consistent frame delivery regardless of graphical load.

The 2560x1440 results show greater separation between presets. Low hits 205.1 FPS, Medium reaches 170.1 FPS (−17.1%), High produces 130.4 FPS (−36.4%), and Ultra drops to 121.2 FPS (−40.9%). The widening gaps indicate the GPU is becoming more involved, with the 84 FPS difference between Low and Ultra reflecting the increased rendering demands.

At 3840x2160, the performance hierarchy becomes more pronounced. Low achieves 133.2 FPS, Medium produces 101.4 FPS (−23.9%), High reaches 77.4 FPS (−41.9%), and Ultra falls to 69.4 FPS (−47.9%). The 63.8 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 4K demonstrates the GPU’s workload scaling more steeply with settings at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The 21st place ranking out of 1,642 tested combinations places this system in the 98.7th percentile of all configurations evaluated. This exceptional standing reflects the synergy between the i9-14900K and RTX 4080 SUPER, which together produce frame rates that exceed the vast majority of tested systems. The CPU’s 97th percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU’s 88th percentile ranking among all graphics cards combine to create a top-tier gaming platform.

The CPU’s nearest rivals show how tightly contested the processor market is at this level. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 0.3% lower, while the Intel Core i9-14900KF and Core Ultra 7 265KF both trail by 0.7%. The Core Ultra 7 265K rounds out the group at 0.9% behind. These narrow margins indicate the i9-14900K is performing at the very edge of what current desktop processors can achieve.

The GPU’s competitive position is similarly tight, with the Radeon RX 6900 XT just 0.2% behind and the Radeon Pro W6600M 0.4% back. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 2.1% lead over the RX 7700S and 2.9% advantage over the RTX 5070 Ti demonstrate that this card sits comfortably in the upper echelon of graphics hardware, even as newer generations enter the market. The combination’s 21st place finish in Thief specifically suggests that the game’s engine rewards the CPU’s high single-thread performance and the GPU’s raw throughput in equal measure.