Thief

Thief, a 2014 stealth title, shows distinct performance scaling across resolutions for the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile combination. At 1080p, the average frame rates are consistently high, ranging from 132 FPS on Ultra settings to 164 FPS on Low. Moving to 1440p, the frame rates remain very playable, with the High preset delivering 99 FPS and Medium at 130 FPS. At 4K, performance becomes more demanding, with the Ultra preset dropping to 56 FPS and High at 58 FPS. The data suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, particularly on the higher settings presets.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are high across all settings, with Low achieving 164 FPS, Medium at 149 FPS, High at 135 FPS, and Ultra at 132 FPS. This indicates that at 1080p, the system has ample headroom, and the CPU is likely keeping pace with the GPU's output. The difference between the Low and Ultra presets at this resolution is 32 FPS, showing that the settings have a moderate impact on performance when the resolution is not the bottleneck.

When scaling up to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop noticeably but remain smooth. The Low preset yields 145 FPS, while Medium produces 130 FPS, High 99 FPS, and Ultra 95 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 50 FPS, which is larger than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is beginning to feel the load of the additional pixels. The High preset at 1440p (99 FPS) is remarkably close to the Ultra preset at the same resolution (95 FPS), indicating that the difference between these two settings is minor in terms of GPU demand.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve becomes much steeper. The Low preset still delivers a playable 101 FPS, but Medium drops to 77 FPS, High to 58 FPS, and Ultra to 56 FPS. The reduction from Low to Ultra at 4K is 45 FPS, but the more telling detail is the drop from Medium to High, which is 19 FPS. This shows that the higher settings at 4K place a significant burden on the GPU. The data indicates that the RTX 5080 Mobile is the limiting component at 4K, as the CPU's role diminishes and the GPU's raw throughput dictates the frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is a 14-core, 18-thread processor with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz. Its architecture is Meteor Lake, built on a 7 nm process, and it features 18 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 12804.5 and a single-core score of 1647.5. The Passmark multithread score is 21100, with a single-thread score of 3399. These numbers place the CPU in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27507. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800, which scores 27535 (a 0.1% difference), and the Intel Core i5-12600K at 27578 (a 0.3% difference).

In Thief, the CPU's performance is likely sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at lower resolutions. The high frame rates at 1080p, such as 164 FPS on Low settings, suggest that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high throughput. However, as the resolution increases to 4K, the frame rates drop, indicating that the GPU's rendering capabilities become the constraining factor. The CPU's 14 cores and 18 threads are more than adequate for a game from 2014, which typically relies on fewer threads. The boost clock of 4.50 GHz provides strong single-threaded performance, which is crucial for game logic and physics, but the data shows that the GPU is the primary driver of the FPS differences across resolutions.

FAQ

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

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 135 FPS.

Q: How does the frame rate change from 1080p to 4K on the Ultra preset?

A: The Ultra preset delivers 132 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 95 FPS at 1440p and further to 56 FPS at 4K, a total reduction of 76 FPS.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 111 FPS, with a maximum of 150 FPS.

Q: Which resolution and settings produce the highest average FPS in the measured data?

A: The highest average FPS is 164 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to limit performance at 4K?

A: The frame rate drop from 101 FPS at Low to 56 FPS at Ultra at 4K indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU has ample headroom.

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

A: The difference is 50 FPS, with Low at 145 FPS and Ultra at 95 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile ranks 1026 out of 3720 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the upper portion of the database, indicating strong overall performance. The rank is based on the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, with higher ranks signifying better performance. The GPU's percentile of 81 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 38349, suggests that it is a high-performing part. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile, which scores 38135 (a 0.6% difference), and the NVIDIA GeForce MX570, which scores 38299 (a 0.1% difference).

The CPU's percentile of 79 and average benchmark score of 27507 are also strong, but the combo's rank of 1026 out of 3720 suggests that other combinations with more powerful CPUs or GPUs achieve higher frame rates. The data shows that the RTX 5080 Mobile is capable of delivering high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results are more modest, which likely contributes to the overall rank. The combo performs well relative to the majority of tested systems, with the GPU and CPU both contributing to a balanced setup.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, all settings presets are playable, with the Low preset achieving 164 FPS and the Ultra preset at 132 FPS. For a smooth experience at 1080p, the High preset at 135 FPS offers a good balance between visual quality and performance, while the Ultra preset at 132 FPS provides marginally better visuals with a slight FPS cost.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 130 FPS with a minimum of 111 FPS, making it a strong choice for maintaining high frame rates. The High preset at 99 FPS is also viable for those prioritizing visual fidelity, but the Medium preset offers a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 95 FPS is still playable, but the difference from High is minimal, so High may be preferable for a more stable experience.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset at 101 FPS is the only setting that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 77 FPS is playable, but the High and Ultra presets at 58 FPS and 56 FPS, respectively, fall below the 60 FPS threshold. For 4K gaming, the Medium preset is recommended as it provides a better balance, while the Low preset is the safest choice for maintaining high frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 164 FPS, the Medium preset 149 FPS (with a minimum of 126 FPS and maximum of 171 FPS), the High preset 135 FPS, and the Ultra preset 132 FPS. The range from Low to Ultra is 32 FPS, showing that settings have a moderate impact at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 145 FPS, the Medium preset 130 FPS (with a minimum of 111 FPS and maximum of 150 FPS), the High preset 99 FPS, and the Ultra preset 95 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra widens to 50 FPS, indicating that the GPU is more strained at this resolution. The Medium preset's minimum of 111 FPS shows that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate remains high.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 101 FPS, the Medium preset 77 FPS (with a minimum of 65 FPS and maximum of 88 FPS), the High preset 58 FPS, and the Ultra preset 56 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 24 FPS, and from Medium to High is 19 FPS, highlighting the significant GPU load at 4K. The Medium preset's minimum of 65 FPS indicates that the frame rate can dip below 60 FPS in some scenes, but the average remains playable.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile is a high-end mobile GPU based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process. It features 7680 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, with 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 975 MHz with a boost clock of 1500 MHz, and it has a TDP of 80 W. The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

In Thief, the GPU's role is evident in the resolution scaling. At 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to deliver high frame rates, but as the resolution increases, the pixel count rises, and the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become more critical. The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Thief, even at 4K, which means memory capacity is not a limiting factor. The GPU's compute capabilities, including its FP32 performance of 23.04 TFLOPS, are likely sufficient for the game's rendering demands. The benchmark scores for the GPU, such as a Passmark G3D score of 27711 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 4952, indicate strong performance. The GPU's percentile of 81 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 38349, confirms its high standing. The data shows that the GPU is the primary driver of the FPS differences between resolutions, with the 4K Ultra preset (56 FPS) representing the most demanding scenario in the measured data.