Thief

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance tier of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combo in Thief?

A: This combo ranks 50th out of 2,851 tested combinations, placing it in the top 1.8% of all measured systems for this game. The ranking reflects a configuration that delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 60,347 places it within 0.3% of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60,140) and essentially tied with the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60,326, 0% delta). It sits 2.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61,896) and 2.9% behind the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58,657).

Q: What is the CPU's performance positioning relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 scores an average of 46,062 across all benchmarks, placing it just 0.1% behind the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46,098) and 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46,030). It also edges out the AMD EPYC 4364P and AMD EPYC 7303 by 0.2% each (both 45,970 and 45,960 respectively).

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain high frame rates?

A: At 1920x1080, the combo delivers a minimum of 178 FPS (Ultra settings), with Low settings reaching 221 FPS. Even at 3840x2160, the lowest average is 80 FPS (Ultra), so all resolutions offer playable performance, but 2560x1440 provides a strong balance with averages ranging from 136 FPS (Ultra) to 195 FPS (Low).

Q: How does frame rate scale with settings at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, scaling from Ultra to Low increases average FPS from 80 to 145, a 81% improvement. The Medium preset (110 FPS) sits closer to High (84 FPS) than to Low, indicating a steep performance cost for the highest quality tiers.

Q: Does the CPU's thread configuration affect its benchmark standing?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 has 14 cores and 14 threads, with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 and single-core score of 2,085 place it in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, confirming strong per-thread and multi-threaded performance for gaming workloads.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications align perfectly with the measured results in Thief. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This capacity ensures that even at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the frame buffer is never a limiting factor, as evidenced by the 80 FPS average at that resolution and preset.

The RTX 4090's clock behavior shows a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz, with memory operating at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with 16,384 shading units and 512 tensor cores, produce an FP32 throughput of 82.58 TFLOPS. In Thief, this raw compute power translates directly to high frame rates: at 1920x1080 Low settings, the combo reaches 221 FPS average, suggesting the GPU is far from saturated at lower resolutions.

The GPU's 128 ray tracing cores and 176 ROPs contribute to its pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s. While Thief is a 2014 title that predates widespread ray tracing adoption, these capabilities ensure the GPU has ample headroom for the game's lighting and shadow effects. The measured data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU maintains 80 FPS, which is a strong result given the game's age and the GPU's modern architecture.

The RTX 4090's nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks, the Intel Arc Pro A60, scores nearly identically (60,326 vs 60,347), yet the RTX 4090's real-world gaming performance in Thief benefits from its superior memory bandwidth and shading throughput. The GPU's percentile ranking of 88th among all GPUs, combined with its average benchmark score of 60,347, confirms it as a top-tier component that drives the combo's 50th-place ranking.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals a clear hierarchy across settings presets, and the optimal choice depends on resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 178 FPS average, barely below the High preset's 181 FPS, making Ultra the clear recommendation for 1080p users. The gap between Medium (200 FPS) and High (181 FPS) is notable, but both exceed any practical display refresh rate, so visual quality should take precedence.

At 2560x1440, the preference shifts. Ultra averages 136 FPS, while High achieves 143 FPS, and Medium hits 177 FPS. The 7 FPS difference between Ultra and High is negligible for most users, but the jump from High to Medium (34 FPS) is substantial. For 1440p displays with 144 Hz refresh rates, High settings provide the best balance, as Ultra's 136 FPS falls just below the threshold.

At 3840x2160, the data tells a different story. Ultra averages 80 FPS, High reaches 84 FPS, and Medium hits 110 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is playable but not ideal for high-refresh displays. Medium settings at 4K offer a 37% improvement over Ultra (110 vs 80 FPS) while still providing solid visual quality. For 4K users, Medium is the recommended preset to maintain frame rates above 100 FPS.

The Medium preset consistently shows the most stable performance across all resolutions, with measured minimums of 170 FPS at 1080p, 150 FPS at 1440p, and 94 FPS at 4K. These minimums indicate that Medium provides the most consistent experience, avoiding the frame time spikes that can occur at higher settings. Given that the game is a stealth title where smoothness matters for precise movement, Medium settings offer the best overall experience for competitive or high-refresh play.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 50 out of 2,851 tested combinations places it in the 98.2nd percentile of all tested systems for Thief. This top-50 position reflects the synergy between the Core Ultra 5 235 and RTX 4090, where neither component bottlenecks the other in this specific workload. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU's 88th percentile ranking among all graphics cards combine to produce a result that exceeds either component's individual standing.

The ranking implies that only 49 of 2,851 combos achieve higher average performance in Thief, and those are likely configurations with even more powerful CPUs or specialized overclocking. The Core Ultra 5 235's nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-13900HX, scores virtually identically in synthetic benchmarks (0.1% delta), suggesting that CPU choice within this performance tier has minimal impact on the final ranking.

The RTX 4090's synthetic benchmark rivals, including the Intel Arc Pro A60 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48, are workstation-class GPUs that score similarly in generic tests but would likely perform differently in gaming. The RTX 4090's gaming-optimized architecture, with its 24 GB frame buffer and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, gives it an edge in real-world gaming scenarios that synthetic benchmarks may not fully capture.

The data indicates that this ranking is GPU-limited at lower resolutions but becomes more balanced at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,085) is sufficient to feed the GPU, as evidenced by the 221 FPS Low setting result. At 4K, the GPU's raw throughput becomes the limiting factor, but the 80 FPS Ultra result still positions this combo well above most tested configurations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 contributes to this combo's performance through its 14 cores and 14 threads, operating at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This Arrow Lake-S architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC, includes 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU's 65 W TDP indicates efficient power delivery, though the RTX 4090's 450 W TDP dominates the system's power requirements.

In Thief, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. The measured data supports this: at 1920x1080 Low settings, the combo achieves 221 FPS, which requires strong single-thread performance to process game logic and draw calls quickly. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4,516 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,085 place it in the 89th percentile, confirming its capability.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance, while less critical for Thief's older engine, still provides headroom. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 and PassMark multi-thread score of 37,816 indicate that the CPU can handle background tasks and streaming without impacting game performance. The 14 threads (one per core) may seem modest compared to hyperthreaded rivals, but the data shows this does not hinder gaming performance.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and Intel Core i9-13900HX — score within 0.1% of each other, suggesting that for Thief specifically, any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical results. The Core Ultra 5 235's 5.00 GHz boost clock is particularly beneficial for the game's single-threaded rendering pipeline, ensuring that frame times remain consistent even during complex scenes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings average 221 FPS, Medium averages 200 FPS with a minimum of 170 and maximum of 230, High averages 181 FPS, and Ultra averages 178 FPS. The spread from Ultra to Low is 43 FPS, representing a 24% improvement when dropping from the highest to lowest quality preset. The Medium preset's 170 FPS minimum is the lowest observed at this resolution, but still far exceeds typical display refresh rates.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows greater differentiation between settings. Low averages 195 FPS, Medium averages 177 FPS with a minimum of 150 and maximum of 203, High averages 143 FPS, and Ultra averages 136 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 59 FPS (43% difference), indicating that 1440p begins to stress the GPU more noticeably. The Medium preset's minimum of 150 FPS is still comfortable for 144 Hz displays.

At 3840x2160, the resolution scaling becomes evident. Low averages 145 FPS, Medium averages 110 FPS with a minimum of 94 and maximum of 127, High averages 84 FPS, and Ultra averages 80 FPS. The 65 FPS difference between Low and Ultra (81% improvement) shows that 4K resolution heavily taxes the GPU, even with the RTX 4090's substantial resources. The Medium preset's 94 FPS minimum is the only sub-100 FPS result in the entire measured dataset.

The data reveals consistent scaling patterns: moving from Low to Medium at each resolution costs roughly 10-25% performance, while moving from High to Ultra costs only 2-5%. This suggests that Ultra settings provide diminishing returns over High, making High the more efficient choice for users prioritizing frame rate over marginal visual improvements. The Medium preset at 4K (110 FPS) outperforms Ultra at 1440p (136 FPS) in absolute terms, but the resolution difference makes direct comparison contextual.