Thief

Thief, the 2014 stealth classic, still provides a demanding test for modern hardware. This analysis examines the performance of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER across a range of settings and resolutions. The measured data reveals a system capable of excellent 1080p performance but one that begins to show its limits as resolution and graphical fidelity increase, with the GPU emerging as the primary bottleneck in this specific pairing.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data indicates that the optimal experience for this configuration is found at the High preset. At 1920x1080, High settings deliver an average of 90 FPS, which is a substantial 4 FPS higher than the 86 FPS achieved on the Ultra preset. This marginal performance gain comes at a significant reduction in graphical load, making High the sweet spot for balancing visual quality with frame rate headroom. The data suggests that the jump from High to Ultra yields a relatively small performance penalty, but the High preset provides a more comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold for smoother gameplay.

For users with 1440p displays, the High preset remains the most viable option, producing an average of 62 FPS. This is just above the standard 60 FPS target and represents a playable experience. While the Medium preset, at 81 FPS, offers more headroom, the visual fidelity drop from High may be noticeable. The Ultra preset at 1440p, averaging 59 FPS, is technically playable but sits right at the edge of the ideal performance window, making High the safer and more consistent choice for this resolution.

At 4K resolution, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates on more demanding settings. The High preset averages only 36 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth, responsive gameplay. The Ultra preset is even less practical at 35 FPS. To achieve a playable experience at 3840x2160, users must drop to the Low preset, which yields an average of 63 FPS. While this requires a significant compromise in visual quality, it is the only way to get consistently smooth performance at this resolution with the RTX 2060 SUPER. The Medium preset, at 48 FPS, represents a middle ground but may still feel sluggish in action sequences.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the central component driving these results. Based on the Turing architecture and manufactured on a 12 nm process, this GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The card's boost clock of 1650 MHz, combined with its 2176 shading units, contributes to a FP32 performance of 7.181 TFLOPS. These specifications place the RTX 2060 SUPER at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs in the benchmark database, indicating it is a solid mid-range performer.

The data clearly shows that the GPU is the limiting factor in this system for Thief. The performance scaling across resolutions provides the clearest evidence. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the card produces an average of 86 FPS. When the resolution is increased to 1440p, the frame rate drops to 59 FPS, a significant 31.4% decrease. Moving to 4K, the Ultra preset average falls to 35 FPS, a further 40.7% drop from the 1440p result. This steep decline in performance as pixel count increases is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, which scores -0.4% relative to the RTX 2060 SUPER, and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700, which is -0.5% slower. The AMD Radeon RX 460 and Intel Arc A770M trail by -1.5% and -1.6%, respectively. While these scores come from different synthetic tests, they contextualize the RTX 2060 SUPER's position in the market. In Thief, the 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game’s demands, as the performance drop at higher resolutions is more consistent with raw compute and memory bandwidth limitations rather than a VRAM capacity bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245, from the Core Ultra Series 2 (Arrow Lake-S), provides the processing power for this system. This CPU features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. It includes 24 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, offering a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The processor is built on a 3 nm process and holds a strong 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs in the benchmark database.

In Thief, the CPU's role is evident in the high-frame-rate scenarios at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 155 FPS. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to reach performance levels that are typically beyond the GPU’s capability at higher settings. The Core Ultra 5 245's robust multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924, ensures that it does not become a bottleneck in most game scenarios.

The CPU's performance is closely matched by its nearest rivals. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G is -0.4% slower, while the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 is -0.5% slower. The Intel Xeon Gold 5318H is 0.6% faster, and the Intel Core i5-14600K is 0.8% faster. These small deltas indicate that the Core Ultra 5 245 is well-positioned among its peers. In Thief, the data suggests that the CPU is more than capable of handling the game's logic and physics, allowing the RTX 2060 SUPER to become the sole limiting factor, particularly at resolutions above 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a smooth 60+ FPS experience at 1080p?

A: The High preset at 1920x1080 delivers an average of 90 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset also exceeds this target at 86 FPS, but High offers a better balance of performance and visual load.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Thief?

A: Yes, but only on the Low preset, which achieves an average of 63 FPS at 3840x2160. Higher presets such as Medium (48 FPS), High (36 FPS), and Ultra (35 FPS) all fall below the ideal 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary performance bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. This is most evident in the resolution scaling: performance drops significantly from 1080p to 4K on the same settings (e.g., Ultra drops from 86 FPS to 35 FPS), while the CPU is capable of producing 155 FPS at 1080p Low.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER's average benchmark score of 18093 is slightly lower than its nearest rivals. It is -0.4% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, -0.5% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 5700, -1.5% behind the AMD Radeon RX 460, and -1.6% behind the Intel Arc A770M.

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets in Thief?

A: The performance difference is minimal. At 1080p, High averages 90 FPS while Ultra averages 86 FPS, a 4 FPS difference. At 1440p, the difference is 3 FPS (62 FPS for High vs. 59 FPS for Ultra). At 4K, they are nearly identical, with High at 36 FPS and Ultra at 35 FPS.

Q: What are the key specifications of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245?

A: The CPU has 14 cores and 14 threads, a base clock of 3.50 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. It features 24 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how performance scales with resolution in Thief. The most telling comparison is across the three primary resolutions on the Ultra preset. At 1920x1080, the system achieves an average of 86 FPS. Moving up to 2560x1440, the average drops to 59 FPS, a significant reduction of 27 FPS (31.4%). At 3840x2160, the average plummets to 35 FPS, a further drop of 24 FPS (40.7%) from the 1440p result. This pattern shows a steep, non-linear decline in performance as the pixel count increases.

This scaling behavior is a strong indicator that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the limiting component. The GPU's workload increases dramatically with resolution, and its compute resources (7.181 TFLOPS) and memory bandwidth (448.0 GB/s) are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The CPU, with its strong benchmarks and ability to produce high frame rates at low settings, is not the limiting factor here.

The same pattern is observed on the High and Medium presets. For High settings, the FPS averages are 90 at 1080p, 62 at 1440p, and 36 at 4K. For Medium settings, the averages are 118 at 1080p, 81 at 1440p, and 48 at 4K. In each case, the drop from 1440p to 4K represents a roughly 40% performance loss, while the drop from 1080p to 1440p represents a roughly 30% loss. This consistent scaling pattern across all settings confirms that the GPU's rendering capabilities are the primary constraint, and the system is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can achieve excellent performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a complete breakdown of the measured average FPS for the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination in Thief.

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Low: 155 FPS
• Medium: 118 FPS (min 100, max 136)
• High: 90 FPS
• Ultra: 86 FPS

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Low: 107 FPS
• Medium: 81 FPS (min 69, max 93)
• High: 62 FPS
• Ultra: 59 FPS

3840x2160 (4K)

• Low: 63 FPS
• Medium: 48 FPS (min 40, max 55)
• High: 36 FPS
• Ultra: 35 FPS

The data shows that at 1080p, the system is exceptionally capable, with even the Ultra preset providing an average of 86 FPS. The step to 1440p sees a notable reduction in performance across all settings, with the Ultra preset only just achieving 59 FPS. At 4K, the system is only playable on the Low preset, which achieves 63 FPS. The Medium, High, and Ultra presets at 4K all fall below the 60 FPS threshold, with averages of 48, 36, and 35 FPS respectively. The minimum and maximum FPS data, available for the Medium preset, shows a 36 FPS spread at 1080p (100-136) and a 15 FPS spread at 4K (40-55), suggesting increased frame-time consistency at lower resolutions.