Thief

# Thief with Intel Core Ultra 7 265 + AMD Radeon RX 7600

This pairing brings together Intel's Core Ultra 7 265 desktop processor with AMD's Radeon RX 7600 graphics card, targeting a 2014 stealth title that still gets played today. The CPU is a 20-core Arrow Lake part built on TSMC's 3 nm process, while the GPU is a Navi 33 chip on 6 nm with RDNA 3.0 architecture. Measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets show a system that handles Thief comfortably at 1080p, loses steam at 4K, and sits at rank 1978 out of 2851 tested combos in this game.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank for this CPU-GPU pairing in Thief?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 with AMD Radeon RX 7600 ranks 1978 out of 2851 tested combinations in Thief. That places it in the lower-middle portion of the field, meaning many other pairings deliver higher frame rates in this specific title.

Q: What average FPS does this combo achieve at 1080p with High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with High settings, the measured average is 90 FPS. This is a playable result for a stealth game, though not exceptionally high compared to what faster GPUs would deliver.

Q: How does the RX 7600 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The RX 7600 has an average benchmark score of 15171. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, scores 15199, which is only 0.2% higher. The AMD Radeon Pro 560X scores 15082, putting it 0.6% lower than the RX 7600.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile relative to all processors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 sits at the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, indicating it outperforms the vast majority of processors in general benchmark tests.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU bottleneck this system in Thief at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the frame rate drops sharply compared to 1080p, suggesting the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The RX 7600's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth appear insufficient for maintaining high frame rates at 4K in this title.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded at Medium settings across resolutions?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 101 FPS and maximum is 136 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 69 to 93 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range narrows to 41 to 55 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is built on the Navi 33 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 6 nm process. It contains 13,300 million transistors on a 204 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1720 MHz and a boost clock of 2655 MHz, with a game clock rated at 2250 MHz. Memory runs at 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective speed.

The card has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. With 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, the RX 7600 offers 21.75 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. It also includes 32 ray tracing cores, though Thief from 2014 does not utilize ray tracing.

In Thief, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution climbs. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 156 FPS average, but at 4K Ultra, it falls to 35 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for 1080p and 1440p in this title, but at 4K, the memory bandwidth and capacity constraints become apparent. The passmark DirectX 11 score of 172 and DirectX 12 score of 58 indicate moderate DirectX performance, which aligns with the measured frame rates.

The RX 7600's percentile rank of 57 among all GPUs places it in the middle of the pack. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 3050 OEM with a 0.2% higher score, the AMD Radeon 680M with a 0.7% higher score, and the GTX 660 Ti with a 0.7% lower score. This positioning explains why the combo ranks lower in Thief — the GPU is competent but not exceptional for this workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 features 20 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It is built on Arrow Lake architecture using TSMC's 3 nm process, containing 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The processor supports DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth.

Cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU has a 65 W TDP and uses Intel Socket 1851. It also includes integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 32 execution units, though the discrete RX 7600 handles all rendering in this test.

In CPU benchmarks, the Core Ultra 7 265 shows strong multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42216 and single-core score of 5960. The R20 scores are 6268 multi-core and 884 single-core, while R15 scores are 4255 multi-core and 600 single-core. Passmark results include 49682 for multithread, 4689 for single thread, and 2923 for physics.

The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all processors indicates it is a high-end part. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the AMD EPYC 4464P with a 0.3% higher score, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F with a 0.3% lower score, and the AMD EPYC 7343 with a 0.7% higher score.

In Thief, the CPU's influence is most visible at lower resolutions where frame rates are higher. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 156 FPS, which suggests the 20-core processor can feed frames quickly enough. However, the game from 2014 likely does not fully utilize all 20 cores, so the CPU's advantage over slower processors may be minimal in this title. The single-thread performance, as shown by the 5960 R23 single-core score, is more relevant for older games like Thief.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1978 out of 2851 tested combinations places this pairing in the 69th percentile of all tested combos in Thief. This means roughly 69% of other CPU-GPU pairings achieve higher frame rates in this game. Given the CPU's strong performance (93rd percentile) and the GPU's mid-range positioning (57th percentile), the overall rank is dragged down by the graphics card.

The delta between this rank and what the CPU alone would suggest indicates a GPU-limited scenario in most settings and resolutions. The Core Ultra 7 265 has an average benchmark score of 64640, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 4464P's 64823 and 0.3% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F's 64438. These rival CPUs would likely produce similar results in Thief when paired with the same GPU.

For comparison, the RX 7600's average benchmark score of 15171 is 0.2% lower than the RTX 3050 OEM's 15199 and 0.7% lower than the AMD Radeon 680M's 15270. Pairing the Core Ultra 7 265 with any of these rival GPUs would yield comparable frame rates in Thief, since the GPU is the limiting factor.

The rank of 1978 suggests that builders seeking higher performance in Thief should prioritize GPU upgrades over CPU upgrades. A stronger graphics card would improve frame rates more substantially than switching to a faster processor, given the CPU's already high percentile ranking.

Resolution Scaling

Frame rates scale predictably across resolutions in Thief with this combo. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 90 at 1080p to 62 at 1440p, then to 36 at 4K. This represents a 31% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a further 42% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The 4K result of 36 FPS is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay, while 1440p at 62 FPS is playable.

Low settings show a similar pattern: 156 FPS at 1080p, 107 FPS at 1440p, and 63 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is technically playable but barely, and the 1440p result is solid. Medium settings produce 118 FPS at 1080p, 81 FPS at 1440p, and 48 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings yield 86 FPS at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K.

The scaling pattern indicates that the RX 7600's 8 GB VRAM and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth become constraints at 4K. The frame rate drops are larger than what would be expected from pixel count alone, suggesting memory bandwidth limitations. At 1080p and 1440p, the combo maintains playable frame rates across all settings, but 4K requires Low settings to approach 60 FPS.

The GPU's role as the limiting component is confirmed by these results. The CPU's high single-thread performance (5960 in R23 single-core) means it can keep up with the GPU's rendering demands at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU's compute throughput of 21.75 TFLOPS is insufficient for high frame rates in this title, regardless of CPU capability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers strong performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 156 FPS, which is well above any display refresh rate commonly used. Medium settings average 118 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS and maximum of 136 FPS. High settings average 90 FPS, and Ultra settings average 86 FPS. All 1080p results are above 60 FPS, making this resolution fully playable with headroom for high refresh rate displays.

At 2560x1440, performance remains respectable. Low settings average 107 FPS, Medium settings average 81 FPS with a range of 69 to 93 FPS, High settings average 62 FPS, and Ultra settings average 59 FPS. The Ultra result dips just below 60 FPS, which may cause minor stuttering on standard 60 Hz displays. Medium settings provide the best balance of visual quality and frame rate at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings average 63 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. Medium settings average 48 FPS with a minimum of 41 FPS and maximum of 55 FPS. High settings average 36 FPS, and Ultra settings average 35 FPS. The 4K results below 60 FPS indicate that this resolution is not well-suited for this GPU in Thief, even at lower quality presets.

The measured data shows that the RX 7600 handles 1080p and 1440p effectively in this game, with 4K reserved for Low settings if playability is the priority. The minimum FPS values at Medium settings (101 at 1080p, 69 at 1440p, 41 at 4K) provide confidence that frame times remain consistent without major drops. For a stealth game where smooth movement matters, the 1440p Medium or High settings appear to offer the best experience with this combination.