Thief

Thief, a 2014 stealth title, remains a demanding benchmark for modern hardware due to its heavy reliance on both CPU and GPU resources. This analysis examines the performance of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, based on measured FPS data across various resolutions and settings. The data provides a clear picture of how this combination handles the game, where its bottlenecks lie, and how it stacks up against other tested configurations.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combination achieves an average of 156 FPS. This is the lowest average at that resolution, while the Low preset reaches 244 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the 1080p Low preset compared to the 4K Ultra preset?

A: The 1080p Low preset delivers 244 FPS average, which is 181 FPS higher than the 4K Ultra preset's 63 FPS average. This represents a performance uplift of roughly 287% when moving from the most demanding to the least demanding tested configuration.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 SUPER maintain playable frame rates at 4K?

A: Yes, the data indicates it does. At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 63 on Ultra to 114 on Low. The Medium preset yields 87 FPS, with a minimum of 74 FPS, suggesting consistent performance above common playability thresholds.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested systems for Thief?

A: This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is ranked 188 out of 2851 tested combos for Thief. This places it in the top 7% of all configurations tested.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Medium and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 147 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 107 FPS. The Medium preset is 40 FPS faster, or approximately 37% higher performance than Ultra.

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures for the Medium preset at each resolution?

A: The measured minimum FPS for the Medium preset is 183 at 1920x1080, 125 at 2560x1440, and 74 at 3840x2160. These figures are useful for understanding frame time consistency beyond just averages.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for this hardware combination shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. For players prioritizing the highest refresh rates, the Low preset is the clear choice. It delivers 244 FPS at 1080p and 194 FPS at 1440p, which are exceptional figures that can fully utilize high-refresh-rate monitors. Even at 4K, the Low preset maintains a very high 114 FPS average, making it a viable option for competitive or fast-paced play.

For a balance between visual quality and performance, the Medium preset is the optimal recommendation. At 1080p, it provides a very high 215 FPS average with a minimum of 183 FPS, ensuring a smooth experience. At 1440p, it delivers 147 FPS, which is still excellent for high-refresh-rate displays. The Medium preset also offers the most detailed FPS data, including minimum and maximum figures, indicating a stable frame rate window. At 4K, it is the highest preset to maintain an average above 60 FPS, hitting 87 FPS.

The High and Ultra presets are for users who prioritize image quality above all else. At 1080p, High (164 FPS) and Ultra (156 FPS) still provide very high frame rates. The step up to 1440p sees High averaging 112 FPS and Ultra at 107 FPS, both of which are perfectly playable. However, at 4K, these presets are the most demanding, with High dropping to 66 FPS and Ultra to 63 FPS. The data suggests that for a consistent 60+ FPS experience at 4K, the Medium preset is the safest and most balanced choice. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal in average FPS at all resolutions, so users should opt for High if they want a small performance buffer, or Ultra if they desire the absolute maximum settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary driver of frame rate in Thief as resolution and graphical settings increase. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for the game's assets at all tested resolutions, as evidenced by the playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 1980 MHz and a boost of 2475 MHz, allow it to sustain high throughput. The benchmark results for the GPU itself are strong, with a Passmark G3D score of 29995 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 172795. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4627 further indicates its modern rendering capabilities. The RTX 4070 SUPER's percentile ranking versus all GPUs is 83, placing it in the upper tier of graphics cards.

The data shows a clear scaling pattern: as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, the average FPS drops significantly, indicating the GPU is the primary bottleneck. For instance, on the Ultra preset, performance falls from 156 FPS at 1080p to 107 FPS at 1440p and then to 63 FPS at 4K. This is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario where the rendering load is stressing the graphics card's compute and memory resources. The RTX 4070 SUPER is powerful enough to drive high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p on high settings, and it can just manage 4K at lower presets. The GPU's performance in this game aligns well with its overall benchmark profile, showing it as a capable mid-to-high-end card for its generation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at performance scaling. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: 244 FPS average.
• Medium: 215 FPS average, with a minimum of 183 FPS and a maximum of 247 FPS.
• High: 164 FPS average.
• Ultra: 156 FPS average.

This resolution is clearly CPU and GPU friendly, with even the most demanding preset producing a very high frame rate. The jump from Low to Medium is a 29 FPS drop, while the drop from Medium to High is a more substantial 51 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is a smaller 8 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected:

• Low: 194 FPS average.
• Medium: 147 FPS average, with a minimum of 125 FPS and a maximum of 169 FPS.
• High: 112 FPS average.
• Ultra: 107 FPS average.

The 1440p results show a more pronounced impact from the settings. The gap between Low and Medium is 47 FPS, and the gap between Medium and High is 35 FPS. The High to Ultra transition is again a small 5 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset offers minimal visual benefit for the performance cost at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is under its heaviest load:

• Low: 114 FPS average.
• Medium: 87 FPS average, with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS.
• High: 66 FPS average.
• Ultra: 63 FPS average.

At 4K, the performance cost of each setting tier is significant. The difference between Low and Medium is 27 FPS, and between Medium and High is 21 FPS. The Ultra preset provides only 3 FPS more than High, showing that it is the most demanding and offers the least return on investment in terms of frame rate. The Medium preset is the only one that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, with its 74 FPS minimum ensuring a relatively smooth experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination is ranked 188 out of 2851 tested combos for Thief. This places it in the top 6.6% of all systems that have been benchmarked for this game. This is a strong showing, indicating that this hardware pairing is well-suited for Thief at high settings and resolutions.

This rank is a composite measure of the system's overall capability. The GPU's strong performance is a major factor, given its high percentile ranking of 83 versus all GPUs. The CPU also contributes significantly, with a percentile ranking of 96 versus all CPUs. The combination of a top-tier CPU and a strong upper-midrange GPU results in a system that can push this game to its limits. The rank suggests that in a large database of hardware configurations, this specific pairing is a high-performing one, capable of delivering an excellent experience in Thief, likely outperforming the vast majority of systems in the database.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, with its 24 cores and 24 threads, is a powerful processor that ensures the system is not CPU-limited in Thief. Its high boost clock of 5.50 GHz provides strong single-threaded performance, which is crucial for game logic and physics. The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 44253 and a single-core score of 2439, showing its capability to handle both heavily threaded and lightly threaded workloads.

In Thief, a game from 2014, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with data and handle the game's simulation. The measured FPS data shows that the system is largely GPU-bound, especially at higher resolutions and settings. For example, at 1080p Low, the average FPS is 244, but this figure doesn't increase to the CPU's maximum potential, suggesting the GPU is still the limiting factor. However, the CPU's strong performance ensures that it won't become a bottleneck even when the GPU is producing very high frame rates.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s and support for DDR5 memory also help in maintaining smooth performance. Its 36 MB of shared L3 cache is beneficial for reducing memory latency. The CPU's overall average benchmark score of 93785 and its 96th percentile ranking versus all CPUs confirm that it is a high-end processor. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Xeon 6520P and AMD EPYC 4564P, have nearly identical average scores, placing it in a performance class of its own that is well above what Thief requires. The data indicates that the CPU provides a vast amount of headroom, allowing the GPU to be the primary determinant of frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across resolutions provides a clear picture of the system's scaling behavior and bottleneck. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by a noticeable margin. For the Ultra preset, it falls from 156 to 107 FPS, a decrease of 31%. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is even more severe, with the Ultra preset falling from 107 to 63 FPS, a 41% reduction.

This pattern strongly indicates a GPU-bound scenario. As the resolution increases, the number of pixels the GPU must process grows exponentially, placing a greater load on its shading units, ROPs, and memory system. The CPU, with its immense processing power, is not the limiting factor here; it can easily keep up with the GPU's demands at all tested resolutions.

The scaling is not linear, which is typical for GPU-bound games. The jump from 1080p to 1440p (1.78x pixels) results in a significant FPS drop, but the jump from 1440p to 4K (2.25x pixels) causes an even larger relative drop. This is because the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are being saturated more completely at the higher resolution. The RTX 4070 SUPER's 504.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth is sufficient, but it is still a limiting factor at 4K. This data confirms that for this hardware combo, the RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary performance ceiling, and users looking to play at 4K will need to adjust settings to maintain high frame rates.