Thief

Thief, a 2014 stealth title, provides a clear example of how the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER work together across resolution and quality presets. Measured frame rates range from 38 FPS at 4K Ultra to 171 FPS at 1080p Low, giving a broad picture of where the pairing lands in this game.

Resolution Scaling

The data for Thief shows a consistent, GPU-heavy pattern as the resolution climbs. At 1920x1080, the tested presets produce high frame rates: Low averages 171 FPS, Medium 130 FPS, High 99 FPS, and Ultra 94 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, those figures drop to 118, 89, 68, and 65 FPS respectively. At 3840x2160, the same presets yield 69, 52, 40, and 38 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 4K is roughly a 60% reduction in average frame rate for every preset, indicating that pixel count is the dominant factor and the GPU is the primary limiter.

The min/max data available for the Medium preset reinforces this. At 1080p Medium, the range is 111–150 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it is 76–103 FPS. At 4K Medium, it drops to 45–60 FPS. These spreads show the same scaling: the GPU spends more time per frame as resolution increases, and the gap between the fastest and slowest frames narrows proportionally. The CPU does not appear to be the bottleneck here—the steepest performance losses line up exactly with the jump to 4K, which stresses the graphics subsystem.

The consistency of the scaling also says something about the title's engine. From 1080p Low to 4K Low, the average FPS falls from 171 to 69. From 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra, it falls from 94 to 38. In each case, the 4K figure is about 40% of the 1080p figure. That near-constant ratio is a signature of pure GPU-bound scaling. Had the CPU been the constraint, the ratio would narrow at lower resolutions where frame counts are high. Instead, the CPU trails continue down to 4K, leaving the RTX 2070 SUPER as the unmistakable limit.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the TU104 chip, a 12nm design with 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its memory subsystem uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, rated at 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The base clock is 1605 MHz, boost 1770 MHz, and the card delivers 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. These figures place the GPU in the 65th percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 20.3 hundred scale, specifically 20,282. The nearest rivals in its synthetic score level are all within roughly 1% of that average: the Intel Arc A50 scores 20,582, the Arc B570 20,556, the RTX 3070 Mobile 20,534, and the Quadro M4000M 20,480. So for Thief’s visual work, the card sits in a well-populated performance band.

In the measured game results, the GPU’s role is evident from the high‑detail presets at 1440p and 4K. At 1440p High, the average is 68 FPS; at 4K High, only 40 FPS. That 4K burden pushes the card to its limit, with Ultra flipping to 38 FPS. The 8 GB video memory is not an obvious constraint in this particular title, since the full range of settings is playable in principle, but it clearly does not help the GPU keep 4K above 60. Instead, the frame limits align with pixel rate and shader load.

Given its Turing-era architecture, Thief was released nine years before the card? Actually the game came out earlier—February 2014—and the GPU launched in July 2019. The GPU is far superior to anything available when the re-release year, but that history is not required to interpret the measured rows. What matters is that the observed FPS at 4K Medium (52) and 4K High (40) shows the GPU completely bound to resolution. At 1080p, the 2070 SUPER has enough headroom to push frame counts above 90 on high or ultra, but that only reinforces the GPU step.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Core Ultra 7 265K and the RTX 2070 SUPER sits at rank 20,931 out of 3,720 tested combinations for Thief in this database. That means slightly more than half of the tested systems deliver higher frame rates in this game, approximately 56% (3720 minus 2091, divided by 3720). In other words, the combo lands in the lower-middle of the pack, which is consistent with the GPU being a mid-range part—the RTX 2070 SUPER is listed at the 65th GPU percentile overall, while the Ultra 7 265K sits at 94th percentile among CPUs.

The rank should not be interpreted as a flaw in the CPU. The Core Ultra 7 265K’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, score within 1.3% of it on average, confirming that this processor is a strong modern desktop chip. The low rank in Thief is instead a consequence of pairing a high-end CPU with a more modest GPU. In game like this, which is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, the CPU has far more headroom than the graphics card. The result is that this particular combo overperforms at 1080p where the CPU can keep the frame pipeline full, but underperforms at 4K where the GPU must be dedicated.

Rank position is not everything—Thief values high single-thread performance, and the Ultra 7 265K excels there independently. But as a singular, the combo rank is in the middle-upper. The data show why: enthusiasts looking for 100+ FPS at 1440p will need a more powerful graphics card, while owners willing to keep at 1080p will find this combination capable of very high refresh rate, up to 170 FPS average on Low and 94 FPS on Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the fastest measured preset in the dataset?

A: 1080p Low averages 171 FPS, followed by 1440p Low at 118 FPS, 1080p Medium at 130 FPS, and 4K Low at 69 FPS.

Q: Which preset is closest to a 60 FPS…… at 4K?

A: 4K Medium averages 52 FPS, with a minimum of 45 and a maximum of 60. 4K High averages 60 FPS lower? Actually the data shows 4K High is 40 FPS, and 4K Ultra is 38 FPS. The only 4K setting that clears 60 FPS average is Low, at 69 FPS.

Q: Does 1440kp Ultra stay above 60?

A: Yes. 1440p Ultra averages 65 FPS, which is 5 FPS above the traditional 60 FPS threshold. 1440p High is slightly better at 68 FPS, while Medium and Low are comfortable.

Q: What kind of FPS variation does the game show?

A: The database provides min/max values only for the Medium preset. At 1080p, the range is 111–150 FPS. At 1440p, it is 76–103 FPS. At 4K, the range is 45–60 FPS.

Q: Is 4K Ultra playable with this combo?

A: According to the measured data, 4K Ultra averages 38 FPS, which is below most real-time 60 Hz displays. 4K Medium is the nearest the package can get to a smooth experience at 52 FPS average.

Q: At which monitor resolution does the CPU cease to be a time factor?

A: The CPU’s enormous headroom shows at 1080p, where Low hits 171 FPS and Ultra still reaches 94 FPS. At 4K, the maximum FPS across all settings is 69 FPS, so the GPU is totally the limitation there.

Settings Recommendations

Using the measured rows, the best experience depends on the resolution you are targeting. At 1080p, every preset exceeds 90 FPS, so the choice is mostly visual quality. The data shows High averages 99 FPS and Ultra 94 FPS—a difference of just 5 FPS—so Ultra is the most sensible candidate for 1080p if you want maximum heads while keeping a comfortable margin above 60. If the goal is absolute maximum frame counts, Low at 171 FPS is your absolute ceiling.

For 1440p, Ultra and High both hold above 60, at 65 and 68 FPS, respectively. The spread from Low (118 FPS) to Medium (89 FPS) to High (68 FPS) shows a gradual trade-off. Given that High and Ultra only separate by 3 FPS, High looks like the best balance for keeping fluid motion without collecting a large penalty from Ultra. The Medium setting also delivers a very smooth 89 FPS, but does not provide the visual chunk that High gets for a small chance.

At 4K, the data strongly defines a practical ceiling. Low is the only preset that reaches above 60 FPS, at 69 FPS. Medium averages 52 FPS with a 45 FPS bottom, which can be tolerant in a stealth title. High and Ultra sit at 40 and 38 FPS, respectively, below the range most consider fluid. If you are restricted to 4K and want 60 FPS, the Low preset is the only one that delivers; if you are willing to settle for sub-60 averages, Medium (52 FPS) maximizes quality without falling to the 40s like High/Ultra.

Overall, the recommended setup is: for 1080p pushing Ultra and even High is fine; for 1440p, High is the best quality-to-frames compromise; for 4Kp, drop to Low or Medium—