Thief

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a robust performance profile in Thief, a 2014 stealth title that scales predictably across resolution and settings. The measured data indicates that this pairing is heavily influenced by resolution, with the GPU becoming the primary constraint at higher pixel counts, while the CPU’s strong multi-core and single-core capabilities ensure headroom at lower resolutions. The benchmark results, drawn from the provided measurements, offer a clear picture of how this combo behaves across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, with specific average FPS figures that range from 53 to 237, depending on the configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent trend: as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, average frame rates drop significantly across all settings. At the Low preset, the system achieves 237 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 164 FPS at 1440p and further to 97 FPS at 4K. This represents a 59% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor when rendering at higher pixel densities. The scaling is not linear, as the jump from 1440p to 4K produces a steeper decline (from 164 to 97 FPS, a 41% drop) compared to the 1080p to 1440p transition (from 237 to 164 FPS, a 31% drop), suggesting that the Radeon RX 9070’s 16 GB memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth are stressed more severely as pixel count grows.

At the Medium preset, the same pattern holds: 182 FPS at 1080p, 125 FPS at 1440p, and 73 FPS at 4K. The High preset shows 139 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 56 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, yields 132 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K. Notably, the gap between Medium and High narrows at higher resolutions, with only a 3 FPS difference at 4K (73 vs 56 FPS for Medium and High, respectively), whereas at 1080p the difference is 43 FPS. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU’s rendering pipeline becomes saturated, and additional settings changes have diminishing returns on frame rate. The data indicates the CPU is not the bottleneck at 4K, as even the Low preset, which reduces GPU load, only reaches 97 FPS, leaving substantial headroom for the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, which has 24 cores and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070, built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 48 chip, plays a pivotal role in Thief’s performance, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient to handle the game’s textures and geometry at 4K, as evidenced by the playable average FPS of 53 at Ultra settings. The boost clock of 2520 MHz and game clock of 2070 MHz contribute to the card’s compute throughput, which is rated at 36.13 TFLOPS for FP32 operations. This raw power is reflected in the measured results: at 1080p Low, the GPU pushes 237 FPS, demonstrating that it is not a limiting factor at lower resolutions where the CPU’s single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303, can keep up with the frame generation.

The GPU’s role becomes more pronounced at 4K, where the average FPS drops to 97 at Low settings, a 59% reduction from 1080p Low. This indicates that the RX 9070’s pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s are fully utilized, and the card is operating near its capacity. The Radeon’s 128 ROPs and 224 TMUs are directly engaged in rasterization, and the data shows that moving from Low to Ultra at 4K costs 44 FPS (from 97 to 53), a 45% performance hit, which underscores the GPU’s sensitivity to settings. The GPU’s benchmark scores, such as a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6290 and a Passmark G3D score of 25381, place it in the 69th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z, is only 0.6% behind in average score, indicating that the RX 9070 is competitive but not dominant in synthetic tests.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 132 FPS on average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the Low preset reaches 237 FPS, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 182 FPS offers a balanced trade-off between visual fidelity and performance, with a minimum FPS of 155 and a maximum of 209, providing a stable experience. For 1440p, the High preset at 95 FPS is a solid choice, as it delivers near-60 FPS performance with better visuals than Medium (125 FPS) or Low (164 FPS), though Ultra at 91 FPS is also viable if the user prioritizes image quality over a small FPS margin.

At 3840x2160, the data suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot, with an average of 73 FPS and a minimum of 62 FPS, ensuring that the frame rate does not dip below 60 FPS, which is critical for maintaining smoothness. The High preset at 56 FPS and Ultra at 53 FPS are playable but risk occasional stutters, as the minimum FPS is not recorded for these settings, but the averages are only slightly above the 50 FPS mark. The Low preset at 97 FPS is the only 4K setting that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, but it sacrifices significant visual quality. Given that the game is a 2014 stealth title, the Medium preset at 4K offers the best balance, providing 73 FPS with a measured minimum of 62 FPS, which is a reliable indicator of consistent performance.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 9070 achieves a combo rank of 529 out of 2851 combos, placing it in the top 18.6% of all tested systems. This rank is determined by the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, and it reflects the system’s overall capability in Thief. The CPU’s percentile of 96 against all CPUs indicates it is a top-tier processor, while the GPU’s percentile of 69 is more modest, suggesting that the graphics card is the weaker link in this pairing. The nearest CPU rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, has an average benchmark score of 83807, which is only 0.2% lower than the 290K Plus’s 84003, indicating that the CPU’s performance is nearly identical to its closest competitor. On the GPU side, the Radeon RX 9070’s average benchmark score of 23877 is slightly below the AMD Radeon RX 6800S’s 24063, a -0.8% delta, showing that it is on par with mid-range mobile GPUs in synthetic tests, despite its desktop-class specifications.

The combo rank of 529 suggests that while the CPU is exceptional, the GPU’s performance in Thief holds the system back from the top 500, as the RX 9070’s 69th percentile ranking indicates it is not a flagship-level card. The data shows that higher-ranked combos likely pair the same or similar CPUs with more powerful GPUs, which would yield higher FPS at 4K Ultra settings. However, the current combo still provides a playable experience at all tested settings, with the lowest average FPS being 53 at 4K Ultra, which is above the minimum threshold for many users.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, with its 24 cores and 24 threads, plays a critical role in ensuring that the GPU is not starved of data, particularly at lower resolutions where frame rates are high. The CPU’s base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.80 GHz provide strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4823. This is crucial for Thief, a game that relies on the main thread for game logic and scene management, and the data supports this: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 237 FPS, which is only possible if the CPU can process frames quickly enough to feed the GPU. The CPU’s multi-thread capabilities, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and a Passmark multithread score of 60860, ensure that background tasks and physics simulations do not cause frame drops, contributing to the stable minimum FPS observed at Medium settings (e.g., 155 FPS at 1080p).

The CPU’s 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for a game like Thief that involves frequent asset loading. The memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s, paired with DDR5 support, ensures that the CPU can quickly access data, preventing bottlenecks. The CPU’s performance relative to its rivals is notable: it is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 1.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4584PX, but 1.3% behind the AMD EPYC 7F72 in average benchmark scores. This indicates that the 290K Plus is a top-tier consumer processor, and its role in Thief is to facilitate the high frame rates seen at 1080p and 1440p, where the GPU is not the limiting factor. At 4K, the CPU’s role diminishes, as the GPU becomes the primary constraint, but the CPU still ensures that frame times remain consistent, as seen in the Medium preset’s minimum FPS of 62 at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings for this combo?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 132, making it a viable option for smooth gameplay on standard 60 Hz monitors.

Q: How does the Radeon RX 9070’s VRAM capacity affect 4K performance in Thief?

A: The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory provides sufficient capacity for 4K textures, as the system achieves 53 FPS at 4K Ultra, indicating that VRAM is not a limiting factor.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1440p High settings?

A: With an average of 95 FPS at 1440p High, the system is balanced, but the GPU is more likely the limiting factor, as the CPU’s high single-thread score of 7303 in Cinebench R23 can handle frame generation above 100 FPS.

Q: What is the best setting for maintaining 60 FPS at 4K?

A: The Medium preset at 4K delivers an average of 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, making it the only 4K setting that consistently stays above 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested systems in Thief?

A: It ranks 529th out of 2851 combos, placing it in the top 18.6% of all tested systems, with the CPU being a top-tier component (96th percentile) and the GPU being more mid-range (69th percentile).

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for 1440p Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS is 106, with a maximum of 144, providing a stable experience that avoids major frame drops.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo in Thief is as follows, organized by resolution and settings.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 237 FPS, which is the highest recorded value across all tests. The Medium preset averages 182 FPS, with a minimum of 155 and a maximum of 209, indicating a stable frame delivery. The High preset averages 139 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 132 FPS, showing a modest 5% drop from High to Ultra. These figures demonstrate that at 1080p, the system has ample headroom, and the CPU’s strong single-thread performance allows the GPU to operate near its maximum output.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 164 FPS, a 31% reduction from 1080p Low. The Medium preset averages 125 FPS, with a minimum of 106 and a maximum of 144, which is a solid performance level for high-refresh-rate monitors. The High preset averages 95 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 91 FPS, with only a 4 FPS difference between them, suggesting that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor at this resolution. The transition from Low to Ultra at 1440p costs 73 FPS, a 45% drop, which is consistent with the GPU’s workload increasing as settings rise.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 97 FPS, which is still playable but significantly lower than lower resolutions. The Medium preset averages 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 and a maximum of 84, making it the most reliable 4K option for maintaining 60 FPS. The High preset averages 56 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 53 FPS, both of which are below the 60 FPS threshold but still render the game at a playable rate. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 44 FPS drop (from 97 to 53), a 45% reduction, highlighting the GPU’s sensitivity to settings at this resolution. These measurements collectively indicate that the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K performance being acceptable only at lower settings.