Thief

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded measurements for the Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 in Thief show a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers average frame rates well above the 60 FPS playability threshold in every tested setting. Low preset averages 122.9 FPS, Medium drops slightly to 115.9 FPS, High reaches 104.2 FPS, and Ultra still holds a strong 102.6 FPS. The gap between the most demanding and least demanding presets is roughly 20 FPS at this resolution, suggesting the GPU has ample headroom even when pushed with Ultra effects.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages remain playable across all four settings, though the spread widens. Low preset averages 110.9 FPS, Medium delivers 97.6 FPS, High produces 75.8 FPS, and Ultra settles at 72.5 FPS. The transition from High to Ultra costs only about 3 FPS here, while the jump from Low to Medium costs over 13 FPS, indicating that the medium-tier settings impose a more significant rendering load than the final quality tier does.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes dramatically. Ultra drops to 43.4 FPS, High sits at 43.6 FPS, and Medium manages 58.8 FPS, all below the 60 FPS threshold. Low is the only preset that clears the bar, averaging 78.5 FPS. The difference between Medium and High is negligible at roughly 15 FPS, but the leap from High to Low is substantial, a 35 FPS improvement that makes 4K playable only when most visual features are disabled. The measured data includes no minimum or maximum frame time values, so variance cannot be assessed from these records, but the averages alone point to a system that scales predictably with resolution and settings.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The database places the CPU and GPU near specific rival hardware based on aggregate benchmark scores. The Intel Core i5-10400F scores 14,185 on average, sitting within 0.6% of several alternatives. The Intel Xeon 6756E averages 14,163, a 0.2% deficit, while the AMD EPYC 7552 scores 14,115, 0.5% lower. On the other side, the Intel Core 7 160UL posts 14,232, 0.3% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C reaches 14,277, 0.6% above. These deltas are small enough that in real gameplay all four processors would likely produce nearly identical frame pacing, meaning the choice among them would not alter Thief's performance profile in any measurable way.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 averages 26,331. The AMD Radeon 860M scores 26,401, just 0.3% higher, and the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 matches at 26,421, also 0.3% above. The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary reaches 26,553, 0.8% higher, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT trails at 26,011, 1.2% lower. Given these margins, swapping the RTX 5060 for any of these cards would shift the measured FPS in Thief by only a fraction of a frame in most scenarios. Users with any of these GPUs should expect similar playability classifications at each resolution and preset, with the RX 6750 XT potentially showing a slightly lower average and the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary a marginally higher one.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 3,720 tested combinations in the database, this CPU-GPU pairing ranks 2,180th in Thief. That places it in the lower half of all recorded combos, which is a meaningful signal given the game's age. The rank reflects the i5-10400F's modest multi-threaded throughput and the RTX 5060's mid-tier position among GPUs, but Thief's engine appears to reward raw single-core speed and GPU rasterization more than thread count. The combo's percentile standing suggests that while it clears 60 FPS at 1080p and 1440p with ease, it does not compete with higher-end pairings that push 4K Ultra above the threshold. The data implies that the bottleneck shifts between components depending on resolution, with the CPU becoming more relevant at lower settings and the GPU dominating at higher resolutions and presets.

The Verdict

This PC can run Thief. At 1920x1080, every preset from Low to Ultra clears 60 FPS, with Ultra averaging 102.6 FPS, so the full visual experience is available without compromise. At 2560x1440, the same holds true: High averages 75.8 FPS, Medium hits 97.6 FPS, and Ultra delivers 72.5 FPS, all above the playable threshold. The verdict at 3840x2160 is more restrictive. Only the Low preset reaches a playable average of 78.5 FPS. Medium falls short at 58.8 FPS, and both High and Ultra sit near 43 FPS. For 4K owners, the recommendation is clear: drop to Low settings to maintain fluid gameplay, or accept a sub-60 FPS experience if visual fidelity takes priority. The recorded data does not include minimum FPS values, so occasional dips below the average cannot be ruled out, but the averages themselves provide a reliable baseline for each configuration.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Thief at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 43.4, which falls below the 60 FPS playability threshold. Only the Low preset at this resolution achieves a playable average of 78.5 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset at 1440p?

A: Ultra is the best preset at 2560x1440, averaging 72.5 FPS. All four presets at this resolution are playable, but Ultra offers the highest visual quality while still clearing 60 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: At Ultra settings, the average drops from 102.6 FPS at 1920x1080 to 72.5 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of roughly 30 FPS. At Low settings, the drop is smaller, from 122.9 FPS to 110.9 FPS, about 12 FPS.

Q: Which preset should I use at 4K to stay above 60 FPS?

A: The Low preset is the only option at 3840x2160 that stays above 60 FPS, averaging 78.5 FPS. Medium presets average 58.8 FPS, which is just below the threshold.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to limit performance at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the GPU appears to be the limiting factor at higher presets, since the FPS drops from 122.9 at Low to 104.2 at High and 102.6 at Ultra. The CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU at lower settings, but the rendering load from High and Ultra presets constrains the frame rate.

Q: Does the RTX 5060 outperform the Radeon RX 6750 XT in this combo?

A: According to the database, the RTX 5060 averages 26,331 in benchmark scores, which is 1.2% higher than the RX 6750 XT's 26,011. In Thief, this small delta would translate to a negligible FPS difference, likely less than one frame per second at any given resolution and preset.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Low, with an average of 78.5 FPS. Medium falls short at 58.8 FPS, so it cannot be recommended for playable 4K performance. The data shows a steep drop from Low to Medium, nearly 20 FPS, indicating that the medium-tier rendering features impose a heavy cost at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, Ultra is the best setting that maintains playable performance, averaging 72.5 FPS. This allows users to enable the highest quality effects without sacrificing smoothness. The gap between Ultra and High is small, only 3.3 FPS, but Ultra remains the optimal choice for visual fidelity.

At 1920x1080, Ultra is again the best setting, averaging 102.6 FPS. All presets at this resolution exceed 100 FPS, so there is no reason to reduce quality. The difference between Low and Ultra is about 20 FPS, but even the lowest average is far above the 60 FPS threshold.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling data across resolutions reveals how the balance between the i5-10400F and RTX 5060 shifts. At 1920x1080, the FPS differences between presets are modest: Low averages 122.9, Medium 115.9, High 104.2, and Ultra 102.6. The relatively small spread suggests that the CPU can keep up with the GPU at lower settings, but the GPU's rendering load at High and Ultra creates a bottleneck that limits the frame rate to around 100 FPS. The CPU's single-thread score of 688 in 3DMark and multi-thread score of 4,748 indicate it has enough headroom for this older game engine, which does not heavily utilize many cores.

At 2560x1440, the spread widens to nearly 38 FPS between Low and Ultra. The GPU becomes more clearly the limiting factor as resolution increases, since the pixel count grows and the same CPU can still feed frames at 110.9 FPS on Low but only 72.5 FPS on Ultra. The 6-core, 12-thread configuration of the i5-10400F appears sufficient at this resolution, as even the lowest preset average does not drop below 110 FPS, suggesting the CPU is not the primary constraint.

At 3840x2160, the GPU dominates the performance picture. The difference between Low (78.5 FPS) and Medium (58.8 FPS) is a 20 FPS drop, while High and Ultra both hover near 43 FPS. This pattern indicates that the RTX 5060's 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 128-bit bus become stressed by the 4K resolution, and the shading units, 3,840 of them, cannot keep up with the higher preset demands. The CPU's role diminishes further at this resolution, as the frame rates are governed almost entirely by GPU throughput, memory bandwidth, and the rendering features enabled by each preset. The recorded data shows that users with this combo should treat 4K as a GPU-bound scenario, while 1080p and 1440p offer a more balanced distribution of load between the two components.