Thief

# Thief with Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX + AMD Radeon 760M

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX paired with the AMD Radeon 760M integrated graphics produces a decidedly low-end experience in Thief, a 2014 stealth title. The combination ranks 2840th out of 2851 tested combos, placing it in the bottom fraction of all configurations. The data shows a system that is heavily GPU-bound across all resolutions, with the integrated Radeon 760M serving as the primary bottleneck. The CPU, by contrast, is a high-end mobile processor with 24 cores and a 5.40 GHz boost clock, but its capabilities are largely untapped in this scenario. The measured frame rates range from a low of 12 FPS at 4K Ultra to a high of 53 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that playability is achievable only at the lowest settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is severe, revealing a classic integrated-graphics bottleneck. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 31 at 1920x1080 to 21 at 2560x1440, a 32% reduction, and then to 12 at 3840x2160, a 61% reduction from 1080p. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU that is overwhelmed by pixel count, as the Radeon 760M's 512 shading units and 16 ROPs struggle to fill larger framebuffers. The same trend appears across all settings: at Low, 1080p yields 53 FPS, 1440p drops to 36 FPS, and 4K falls to 21 FPS. At Medium, the numbers are 40, 28, and 16 FPS respectively, while Ultra shows 29, 20, and 12 FPS.

The resolution scaling data indicates that the limiting component is unequivocally the GPU. The Core Ultra 9 275HX, with its 24 threads and 36 MB of shared L3 cache, is more than capable of feeding the Radeon 760M at any resolution, yet the frame rates collapse as resolution increases. The delta between 1440p and 4K is particularly telling: at High settings, the drop from 21 to 12 FPS represents a 43% loss, while the jump from 1080p to 1440p only costs 32%. This nonlinear degradation is typical of a GPU running out of fillrate and memory bandwidth, both of which are system-dependent for the 760M.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the only playable configuration at 1920x1080 is the Low preset, which delivers an average of 53 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 40 FPS, which may be acceptable for a stealth game, but the minimum frame rate of 34 FPS suggests occasional stutter. High and Ultra at 1080p produce 31 and 29 FPS respectively, both below the 30 FPS threshold that most players consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. At 1440p, the situation worsens: Low yields 36 FPS, Medium 28 FPS, and both High and Ultra fall to 21 and 20 FPS, respectively. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with the best case being 21 FPS at Low and the worst being 12 FPS at High or Ultra.

The data suggests that Thief is best experienced at 1080p with the Low preset, as this is the only combination that consistently exceeds 50 FPS. Players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate might consider Medium at 1080p, which offers a 40 FPS average and a minimum of 34 FPS, but the trade-off is a 25% reduction in average FPS compared to Low. For those willing to accept sub-30 FPS performance, High at 1080p provides 31 FPS, but this is marginal. No settings combination at 1440p or 4K achieves a 30 FPS average, making those resolutions effectively unplayable for this hardware combo.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 760M is an integrated graphics processor based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 4 nm process. It features 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2599 MHz. The GPU's memory is system-shared, meaning it draws from the same DDR5 pool as the CPU, with bandwidth dependent on the system configuration. The 760M's benchmark scores reflect its entry-level positioning: it ranks in the 35th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 6019. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6400, which scores 6001 (0.3% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M at 6000 (0.3% higher). The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server scores 5996 (0.4% higher), while the NVIDIA Quadro P2000 scores 6049 (0.5% lower).

In Thief, the 760M's limitations are stark. The GPU's 16 ROPs and 41.58 GPixel/s pixel rate are insufficient for high-resolution rendering, as evidenced by the 12 FPS average at 4K High. The texture rate of 83.17 GTexel/s is likewise constrained, though Thief is not a texture-heavy title by modern standards. The 760M's 5.323 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is adequate for low-settings 1080p gaming, but the integrated nature of the GPU means it shares power and thermal budget with the CPU. The 15 W TDP for the GPU is remarkably low, and this power constraint directly limits the clock speeds achievable under sustained load. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) is a modern feature, but it provides no benefit at the frame rates measured here.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for this combo covers three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 53 FPS, the highest recorded value for any configuration. Medium at 1080p averages 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS. High at 1080p averages 31 FPS, while Ultra averages 29 FPS. The 1080p results show a clear progression: each step up in settings costs roughly 9-11 FPS on average.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 36 FPS, a 32% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium at 1440p averages 28 FPS, with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 32 FPS. High at 1440p averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages 20 FPS. The 1440p results reveal a tighter spread between settings, with only a 16 FPS difference between Low and Ultra. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 21 FPS, Medium averages 16 FPS (with a minimum of 14 and maximum of 19), and both High and Ultra average 12 FPS. The 4K results show almost no differentiation between High and Ultra, suggesting that the GPU is fully saturated at these settings.

Notably, there are no minimum or maximum FPS values recorded for most High and Ultra configurations, and none for any Low configuration. The only complete min/max data exists for Medium settings at all three resolutions. This absence of data points in the FACT PACK limits the analysis of frame time consistency for those presets, but the available Medium data shows reasonable stability: the 1080p Medium range spans 12 FPS (34-46), the 1440p Medium range spans 9 FPS (23-32), and the 4K Medium range spans 5 FPS (14-19).

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2840 out of 2851 tested combinations places this system in the 0.4th percentile of all tested hardware pairings for Thief. This is an exceptionally low ranking, reflecting the fundamental mismatch between a high-end CPU and an entry-level integrated GPU. The Core Ultra 9 275HX is a top-tier mobile processor, ranking in the 94th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 67469. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon w5-3525 (67673, 0.3% higher), the AMD EPYC 4484PX (67822, 0.5% higher), and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5955WX (67868, 0.6% higher), while the Intel Xeon 6515P scores 67006 (0.7% lower).

The GPU, however, is in the 35th percentile overall, with an average benchmark score of 6019. The combination of a 94th-percentile CPU with a 35th-percentile GPU produces a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited in Thief. The rank of 2840 indicates that nearly every other tested combination—including those with much weaker CPUs—achieves better frame rates in this game, simply because they pair their processors with discrete graphics solutions. The data shows that the CPU's substantial benchmark lead over its rivals (e.g., 35589 in Cinebench R23 multicore) is entirely irrelevant to Thief's performance, as the GPU cannot translate that compute power into frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a TDP of 55 W. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is dual-channel DDR5 with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The CPU's benchmark results are strong: it scores 35589 in Cinebench R23 multicore, 2204 in single-core, 20795 in Geekbench multicore, and 2458 in single-core. In Passmark tests, it scores 55759 in multithread, 4713 in single-thread, and 608381 in data compression.

In Thief, however, the CPU's role is minimal. The game is a 2014 title that was designed for the hardware of its era, and even a modest modern CPU can handle its physics and AI workloads. The Core Ultra 9 275HX's 24 threads are vastly underutilized, as Thief's engine is unlikely to scale beyond a handful of cores. The CPU's high boost clock of 5.40 GHz should provide excellent single-threaded performance, but the GPU bottleneck means that this capability never translates into higher frame rates. The data confirms this: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 53 FPS, which is likely close to the GPU's maximum output for that configuration. Even if the CPU were replaced with a much weaker model, the frame rates would likely remain similar, as the Radeon 760M is the limiting factor at every resolution and settings combination.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in Thief?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings provides the highest average FPS at 53, making it the only configuration that exceeds 50 FPS. Medium at 1080p averages 40 FPS, which is also playable, but Low is the only preset that offers a comfortable margin above 30 FPS.

Q: Can this combo run Thief at 4K?

A: The 4K results are uniformly poor, with the best average FPS being 21 at Low settings. Medium averages 16 FPS, while High and Ultra both average 12 FPS. These frame rates are below the threshold for acceptable playability, so 4K is not recommended for this hardware.

Q: How does the Radeon 760M compare to its nearest rivals in benchmarks?

A: The Radeon 760M has an average benchmark score of 6019, which places it 0.3% above the AMD Radeon RX 6400 (6001) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M (6000), and 0.4% above the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server (5996). It is 0.5% below the NVIDIA Quadro P2000 (6049).

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX the bottleneck in Thief?

A: No, the data indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU ranks in the 94th percentile among all processors, while the GPU is in the 35th percentile. The frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings in a manner typical of GPU-bound performance, not CPU-bound scenarios.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among all tested systems in Thief?

A: The combo ranks 2840th out of 2851 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 0.4% of all hardware pairings for this game. This low ranking is due to the integrated GPU's limited performance, not the CPU.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the system averages 28 FPS, with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 32 FPS. This configuration is playable but may experience noticeable stutters during demanding scenes.