Thief

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER produces a specific performance profile in Thief, a game released in 2014. This combo’s measured results place it at rank 1575 out of 2851 tested combinations, positioning it in the 55th percentile of all tested hardware pairings for this title. The data indicates that this system is neither at the top of the charts nor struggling at the bottom; rather, it occupies a solidly mid-pack position. This ranking suggests that while the CPU is exceptionally powerful, the GPU acts as a constraining factor, particularly at higher resolutions. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS data, component roles, and practical implications for playing Thief with this configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1575 out of 2851 tested combinations places it just inside the upper half of all tested systems for Thief. This positioning is driven by the substantial disparity between the CPU and GPU capabilities. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a top-tier processor, achieving a 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs in general benchmarks. Its average benchmark score of 84003 is nearly identical to the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which scores 83807 with a delta of just 0.2% — a negligible difference. The 290K Plus also edges out the AMD EPYC 4584PX and EPYC 9135 by 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively.

However, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a much older, mid-range GPU from the Turing architecture, placing in only the 65th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 20282 is slightly below the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480, -1% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, -1.2% delta). This creates a bottleneck scenario where the CPU is vastly overqualified for the GPU’s output. In Thief, this imbalance manifests as a combo rank that reflects the GPU’s limitations rather than the CPU’s strength. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p Ultra, the system hits 94 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 38 FPS — a decline that points squarely at the GPU as the limiting factor. The ranking would likely be significantly higher if the GPU could match the CPU’s performance tier.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary determinant of the measured frame rates in Thief. This GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its memory clock runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), while the base clock is 1605 MHz and the boost clock reaches 1770 MHz. With 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, the GPU delivers a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 9.062 TFLOPS, which is modest by modern standards but adequate for a 2014 title like Thief.

In the measured FPS data, the GPU’s role becomes evident when comparing settings at a fixed resolution. At 1080p, moving from Low (171 FPS) to Ultra (94 FPS) reduces performance by 45%, indicating that the GPU is being progressively more stressed by higher graphical loads. At 4K, the same settings change yields a drop from 69 FPS to 38 FPS, a 45% reduction as well, but the absolute numbers are much lower. This pattern shows that the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and compute throughput are barely sufficient for 4K Ultra, where it averages 38 FPS. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 65% among all GPUs suggests it is a capable mid-range part, but its age relative to the CPU is stark. In Thief, the GPU is the component that determines whether the game is playable at higher resolutions, and the data shows it struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 1440p Ultra (65 FPS) and fails to do so at 4K Ultra (38 FPS).

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. The data provides average FPS values for Low, Medium, High, and Ultra presets at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, the system can comfortably run Ultra settings at 1080p, where it averages 94 FPS. At 1440p, High settings yield 68 FPS, which is above 60, but Ultra drops to 65 FPS — still playable but closer to the threshold. Medium at 1440p offers 89 FPS, providing headroom for demanding scenes.

At 4K, the options are more constrained. Low settings produce an average of 69 FPS, which is acceptably smooth, while Medium drops to 52 FPS and High to 40 FPS. Ultra at 4K averages 38 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and may feel less fluid. Therefore, the recommended preset for the best balance of visual quality and performance is High at 1440p, which delivers 68 FPS. For users prioritizing frame rate over visuals, Low at 4K (69 FPS) or Medium at 1440p (89 FPS) are better choices. The data shows that the system is most efficient at 1440p, where it can maintain playable frame rates across all presets, whereas 4K requires sacrificing quality to avoid sub-40 FPS performance.

FAQ

*Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested systems in Thief?*

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus with the RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1575 out of 2851 tested combinations, placing it in the upper half of all tested hardware pairings for this game.

Q: How does the CPU’s general benchmark performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score is 84003, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (83807), 1.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 4584PX (83090), and 1.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 9135 (82980). It lags behind the AMD EPYC 7F72 (85072) by -1.3%.

Q: What is the GPU’s VRAM capacity and memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The memory clock is 1750 MHz, effective 14 Gbps.

Q: Which resolution and settings combo yields the highest average FPS?

A: The highest average FPS is 171, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is followed by 130 FPS at 1080p Medium and 118 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded, and under what conditions?

A: The lowest average FPS is 38, recorded at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the only measured configuration that falls below 40 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU’s benchmark score compare to the Intel Arc A750?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282, which is 1.5% lower than the Intel Arc A750’s score of 20582. It is also 1.3% lower than the Intel Arc B570 (20556).

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 99 at 1080p to 68 at 1440p, a 31% reduction, and then to 40 at 4K, a further 41% reduction from the 1440p figure. This scaling indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, as the frame rate decreases proportionally with the increase in pixel count. At Low settings, the drop is from 171 FPS at 1080p to 118 FPS at 1440p (31% reduction) and then to 69 FPS at 4K (42% reduction from 1440p). The consistent percentage drops across settings suggest that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution; if it were, the FPS would plateau or drop less steeply at higher resolutions.

The transition from 1440p to 4K is particularly punishing, with average FPS halving at Low settings (118 to 69) and nearly halving at High settings (68 to 40). This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU that is running out of fill rate and memory bandwidth. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 113.3 GPixel/s pixel rate are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K, especially with heavier presets. In contrast, the CPU’s performance is more than adequate, as evidenced by its ability to feed the GPU at lower resolutions where FPS exceeds 100. The data strongly indicates that the GPU is the sole limiting factor in resolution scaling, and any attempt to play Thief at 4K will require reduced settings to achieve playable frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The 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 115.2 GB/s, and it interfaces via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes. The CPU’s general benchmark scores are exceptional: Cinebench R23 multi-core yields 51731, and single-core yields 7303, while Passmark multi-thread scores 60860.

In Thief, the CPU’s role is to handle game logic, AI, and physics, which are typically single-threaded or lightly threaded workloads. The measured FPS data shows that the CPU does not bottleneck the system at any resolution or setting. For example, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 171 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would expose CPU limitations if they existed. The fact that FPS scales down smoothly with resolution and settings increases indicates that the CPU has ample headroom. The CPU’s 96th percentile ranking among all processors confirms its top-tier status, and its nearest rivals (the 285K, EPYC 4584PX, and EPYC 9135) are all within a 1.2% delta, showing that it is at the forefront of CPU performance. However, this power is largely untapped in Thief, as the GPU cannot keep up with the CPU’s output, particularly at higher resolutions. The CPU’s role is to ensure that frame rates are never CPU-limited, which the data confirms: even at the lowest FPS measured (38 at 4K Ultra), the CPU is not the cause.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 171 FPS on Low, 130 FPS on Medium (with a min of 111 and max of 150), 99 FPS on High, and 94 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Medium and High is 31 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is only 5 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns at the higher presets. At 2560x1440, the averages are 118 FPS on Low, 89 FPS on Medium (min 76, max 103), 68 FPS on High, and 65 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 31% across all settings, indicating a consistent GPU-bound scaling. At 3840x2160, the averages fall to 69 FPS on Low, 52 FPS on Medium (min 45, max 60), 40 FPS on High, and 38 FPS on Ultra. The 4K results show that only Low settings maintain an average above 60 FPS, while Medium dips below 60 and High/Ultra fall well below the 60 FPS threshold.

The data reveals that the system is most comfortable at 1080p, where even Ultra settings exceed 90 FPS. At 1440p, the system is still viable for high-refresh-rate gaming, with all presets above 65 FPS. At 4K, the system struggles, and users must compromise on settings to achieve playable frame rates. The min/max values for Medium settings show a spread of 39 FPS at 1080p (111 to 150), 27 FPS at 1440p (76 to 103), and 15 FPS at 4K (45 to 60), indicating that frame time consistency worsens at higher resolutions. This breakdown confirms that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the performance ceiling, while the CPU provides a stable foundation that never limits the GPU. For the best experience, the data suggests 1080p Ultra or 1440p High as the sweet spots, with 4K reserved for Low settings or users who prioritize resolution over frame rate.