Thief

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination delivers exceptional performance in Thief, placing in the top 8% of all tested system configurations (rank 222 out of 2851). The measured data shows that this pairing is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings, while the CPU’s strong single-threaded performance ensures headroom at lower resolutions. The best experience balances visual fidelity with frame rate stability, favoring High settings over Ultra to maintain a significant performance cushion.

Settings Recommendations

The data strongly favors High settings as the optimal choice across most resolutions. At 1080p, High produces an average of 164 FPS, which is only 8 FPS lower than Medium (200 FPS) but a substantial 49 FPS higher than Low (221 FPS). The jump from High to Ultra yields a marginal gain in visual quality but costs 8 FPS, dropping to 156 FPS. At 1440p, High delivers 112 FPS, which is 5 FPS above Ultra (107 FPS) and 35 FPS below Medium (147 FPS). The 1440p High result is particularly compelling because it maintains a smooth triple-digit frame rate while offering the full complement of visual enhancements.

At 4K, the choice becomes more critical. High settings produce 66 FPS, which dips below the 70 FPS threshold many consider optimal for fast-paced action. Ultra drops further to 63 FPS, while Medium achieves 87 FPS and Low reaches 114 FPS. Given that Thief is a stealth game requiring precise timing and environmental awareness, the 63 FPS at Ultra is playable but not ideal. The 21 FPS advantage of Medium over High at 4K (87 vs 66) makes Medium the pragmatic choice for 4K displays, as it preserves most visual quality while ensuring smoother motion. However, for users prioritizing visual fidelity over raw frame rate, High remains viable, as the 66 FPS average still exceeds the 60 FPS baseline.

The data indicates that Low settings are unnecessary except for extreme performance demands. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 221 FPS, but this sacrifices nearly all graphical features for a frame rate that exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors. The sweet spot is High at 1080p and 1440p, with Medium serving as the recommended fallback at 4K.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 SUPER, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, is the primary driver of performance in Thief. The GPU’s 7168 shading units and 80 ROPs provide ample pixel throughput, evidenced by the pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s. This hardware configuration explains the scaling pattern observed: at 1080p, the GPU is powerful enough to render frames faster than the CPU can feed it, resulting in diminishing returns when lowering settings.

The GPU’s 2475 MHz boost clock and 1980 MHz base clock are relatively high for the Ada Lovelace architecture, contributing to the strong raw performance. In Thief, a title from 2014, the RTX 4070 SUPER is vastly overqualified. The benchmark scores reflect this: the GPU achieves a Passmark G3D score of 29995 and sits in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB, scores 43262, a negligible 0.1% difference, indicating that the RTX 4070 SUPER is near the top of its performance tier.

The 12 GB VRAM capacity is never a bottleneck in Thief, as the game’s texture requirements are modest even at 4K Ultra. The memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s ensures that texture streaming and geometry processing remain fluid. The GPU’s 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 compute provides headroom that is only partially utilized at 1080p, where the system is likely CPU-limited. At 4K, the GPU’s compute and memory subsystems are more fully engaged, as evidenced by the 42% frame rate drop from 1080p High (164 FPS) to 4K High (66 FPS).

Resolution Scaling

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, indicating a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 164 FPS at 1080p to 112 FPS at 1440p (a 32% decrease), then to 66 FPS at 4K (a further 41% decrease). This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU that has ample headroom at lower resolutions but becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more dramatic: 221 FPS at 1080p falls to 194 FPS at 1440p (12% drop) and then to 114 FPS at 4K (41% drop). The smaller drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU is the bottleneck, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential. The 221 FPS at 1080p Low is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame delivery capability, given the Core Ultra 5 235’s 14 cores and 14 threads.

Medium settings show a more linear scaling: 200 FPS at 1080p, 147 FPS at 1440p (26% drop), and 87 FPS at 4K (41% drop). This consistency indicates that Medium settings balance the load between CPU and GPU more evenly. The 4K results across all settings show a similar 41-42% reduction from 1440p, confirming that at 4K, the RTX 4070 SUPER is the definitive bottleneck. The Ultra settings follow the same pattern: 156 FPS at 1080p, 107 FPS at 1440p (31% drop), and 63 FPS at 4K (41% drop).

The min/max frame data available for Medium settings provides additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the system ranges from 170 to 230 FPS, with an average of 200 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 125 to 169 FPS, averaging 147 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range narrows to 74 to 100 FPS, averaging 87 FPS. The narrowing frame time variance at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is working more consistently, with less fluctuation caused by CPU-side processing spikes.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gameplay?

A: Medium settings provide the best balance, delivering 87 FPS average with a minimum of 74 FPS. High settings drop to 66 FPS, while Ultra falls to 63 FPS. Low settings reach 114 FPS but sacrifice visual quality.

*Q: Is the RTX 4070 SUPER sufficient for 1440p High settings in Thief?*

A: Yes, the data shows 112 FPS average at 1440p High, which is well above the 60 FPS standard. The system maintains a 5 FPS advantage over Ultra settings (107 FPS), making High the preferred choice for smooth gameplay.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck occur at any resolution?

A: At 1080p Low, the 221 FPS result suggests CPU limitation, as the frame rate is nearly double that of 4K Low (114 FPS). The Core Ultra 5 235’s single-thread score of 2085 in Cinebench R23 indicates strong per-core performance that supports high frame rates at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 43223, with the nearest rival being the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB at 43262 (a 0.1% difference). The RTX 4090 Mobile scores 43667, which is 1% higher, indicating the RTX 4070 SUPER is within a narrow performance band of top-tier options.

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

A: High settings produce 164 FPS, while Ultra produces 156 FPS, a difference of 8 FPS (approximately 5%). This small gap suggests that Ultra is nearly as efficient as High at 1080p, though High offers a slightly larger safety margin.

*Q: Is the 12 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K Ultra settings in Thief?*

A: Yes, the 12 GB GDDR6X memory is more than adequate. The game runs at 63 FPS on 4K Ultra, indicating no VRAM-related stuttering or texture pop-in. The memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s supports the high-resolution texture loads.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235, with its 14 cores and 14 threads, provides a solid foundation for Thief. The CPU’s base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz deliver strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for a game from 2014 that relies heavily on main-thread processing. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085 places this CPU in a competitive position, while the multi-core score of 14769 demonstrates substantial parallel capability.

The CPU’s performance relative to its nearest rivals is remarkably tight. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 scores 46030, just 0.1% lower than the Ultra 5 235’s average benchmark score of 46062. The Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46098, a 0.1% advantage. The AMD EPYC 4364P and EPYC 7303 both score 45970 and 45960 respectively, each 0.2% lower. This clustering indicates that the Ultra 5 235 is at parity with top-tier laptop and server CPUs in synthetic benchmarks, though its desktop-oriented architecture may yield different results in gaming workloads.

In Thief, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the 221 FPS result likely approaches the CPU’s frame delivery limit. The Passmark single-thread score of 4516 supports this interpretation, as does the data compression score of 390711, which indicates strong memory subsystem performance. The L3 cache of 24 MB shared across all cores helps maintain data locality, reducing memory latency during gameplay.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP is notably efficient for a 14-core desktop processor, allowing sustained boost clocks without thermal throttling. The 3 nm process node from TSMC contributes to this efficiency, with a die size of 243 mm² and 17,800 million transistors. The 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth of the dual-channel DDR5 configuration is sufficient for Thief, as the game does not require extreme memory throughput.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured frame rate data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER in Thief is as follows:

1080p:

• Low: 221 FPS average
• Medium: 200 FPS average (min 170, max 230)
• High: 164 FPS average
• Ultra: 156 FPS average

1440p:

• Low: 194 FPS average
• Medium: 147 FPS average (min 125, max 169)
• High: 112 FPS average
• Ultra: 107 FPS average

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 114 FPS average
• Medium: 87 FPS average (min 74, max 100)
• High: 66 FPS average
• Ultra: 63 FPS average

The data reveals consistent scaling patterns across all settings tiers. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 65 FPS (221 vs 156), representing a 42% reduction. At 1440p, this gap narrows to 87 FPS (194 vs 107), a 45% reduction. At 4K, the gap is 51 FPS (114 vs 63), also a 45% reduction. This consistency suggests that each settings tier imposes a similar relative performance cost regardless of resolution.

The Medium settings provide the only complete min/max data, offering insights into frame time stability. At 1080p, the system maintains a 60 FPS range (170-230), indicating some CPU-induced variance. At 1440p, the range tightens to 44 FPS (125-169), and at 4K, it narrows further to 26 FPS (74-100). This decreasing variance with increasing resolution confirms that the GPU becomes more dominant at higher pixel counts, smoothing out frame delivery.

The 4K results are particularly noteworthy for a game from 2014. Even at Ultra settings, the system maintains 63 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS standard. At High settings, the 66 FPS result is only 3 FPS higher than Ultra, suggesting that the Ultra preset in Thief does not impose a significant additional GPU load. The 4K Low result of 114 FPS demonstrates that the system can handle high-refresh-rate 4K gaming when visual fidelity is reduced, though the 4K Medium result of 87 FPS is a more balanced choice.