Thief

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers a commanding performance profile in Thief, with measured data showing every resolution and settings combination tested clearing the 60 FPS playable threshold by a wide margin. At 4K Ultra, the combo still produces an average of 81 FPS, while at 1080p Low it reaches 316 FPS, indicating that this configuration is not merely playable but provides substantial headroom for high-refresh-rate displays or future driver optimizations.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160 (4K), the most demanding preset that maintains an average at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which delivers an average of 81 FPS. All four tested presets at this resolution—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—clear the 60 FPS threshold, so the choice comes down to visual fidelity versus frame rate. Ultra at 81 FPS is the optimal pick for maximum image quality while staying comfortably above the playability line.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the Ultra preset again is the highest-fidelity option that stays at or above 60 FPS, with an average of 134 FPS. This represents more than double the playable threshold, meaning even the heaviest settings leave substantial performance on the table. The gap between Ultra and the next tier down is notable: Ultra runs at 134 FPS average, while High runs at 165 FPS, a 31 FPS difference that may be imperceptible on most displays but measurable in benchmark data.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the Ultra preset delivers an average of 192 FPS, which is over three times the 60 FPS playability threshold. This resolution is where the RTX 4080's raw throughput shines, with even the most demanding settings producing frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of most mainstream monitors. The scaling from 1440p to 1080p at Ultra shows a 58 FPS increase, from 134 to 192, indicating the GPU still has headroom at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Thief at 4K resolution?

A: Yes. Benchmark data shows all four settings presets at 3840x2160—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—produce average frame rates above the 60 FPS playable threshold. The Ultra preset averages 81 FPS, while Low reaches 187 FPS.

Q: What is the highest playable settings preset at 1440p?

A: The Ultra preset is fully playable at 2560x1440, with an average of 134 FPS. This is more than double the 60 FPS threshold, and the minimum frame rate on Medium at this resolution is 185 FPS, suggesting Ultra's minimums are also well above playability.

Q: How much performance difference is there between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low averages 316 FPS while Ultra averages 192 FPS. That is a 124 FPS difference, or roughly 39% lower performance at Ultra compared to Low. Despite this, Ultra remains far above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary performance driver, as frame rates scale consistently with resolution changes. At 4K Ultra the average drops to 81 FPS from 134 FPS at 1440p Ultra, a 53 FPS reduction that aligns with the increased pixel count and GPU workload.

Q: Does this combo ever drop below 60 FPS in the tested scenarios?

A: No. Across all twelve measured configurations—three resolutions and four settings presets—every average frame rate exceeds 81 FPS. The lowest recorded average is 81 FPS at 4K Ultra, and the lowest minimum frame rate recorded is 112 FPS at 4K Medium.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for Thief?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination ranks #2 out of 3,720 tested combos for Thief. This places it in the top 0.05% of all configurations tested for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a clear progression across settings. Low produces an average of 316 FPS. Medium averages 277 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 235 FPS and maximum of 318 FPS. High averages 235 FPS. Ultra averages 192 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 124 FPS drop, but even the Ultra minimum, while not explicitly recorded, would need to fall dramatically to approach the 60 FPS threshold given the 192 FPS average.

At 2560x1440, the performance tiering remains consistent. Low averages 280 FPS. Medium averages 218 FPS, with a minimum of 185 FPS and maximum of 251 FPS. High averages 165 FPS. Ultra averages 134 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 1440p at Ultra is 58 FPS, from 192 to 134, which indicates the GPU is scaling as expected with pixel count. The Medium preset's minimum of 185 FPS at this resolution is still three times the playable threshold.

At 3840x2160, the 4K results show the most demanding workload. Low averages 187 FPS. Medium averages 132 FPS, with a minimum of 112 FPS and maximum of 151 FPS. High averages 99 FPS. Ultra averages 81 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest average across the entire test matrix, but it remains 21 FPS above the 60 FPS playability threshold. The Medium preset's minimum of 112 FPS at 4K demonstrates that even the heaviest scenarios maintain substantial headroom.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: this PC can run Thief at every resolution and settings preset tested, with no configuration falling below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The verdict by resolution confirms all playable settings at each tier. At 3840x2160, the best settings are Ultra with an average of 81 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 134 FPS. At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 192 FPS.

The most demanding scenario—4K Ultra—still produces frame rates that are 35% above the playable threshold, which means there is genuine performance headroom. This is not a marginal pass but a comfortable victory. For players targeting 60 FPS with V-Sync, the 4K Ultra preset is the recommended configuration. For those with 144 Hz or higher refresh-rate monitors, the 1440p Ultra preset at 134 FPS is the sweet spot, offering both high visual quality and frame rates that can take advantage of faster displays.

At 1080p, the combo is almost overkill, with Ultra producing 192 FPS. This makes the configuration suitable for competitive play or for users who prioritize maximum frame rates over visual fidelity, though the data shows even the highest settings are far beyond what most 1080p displays can show.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance scaling across resolutions indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this pairing for Thief. The evidence is in the resolution scaling: at Ultra settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces the average frame rate from 192 FPS to 134 FPS, a 30% drop. Moving from 1440p to 4K reduces it further from 134 FPS to 81 FPS, a 40% drop. These reductions align closely with the increase in pixel count, which is a GPU-bound workload characteristic.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 316 FPS, which is approaching the upper range where even a high-end CPU like the Core i5-14400F, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, might encounter instruction-level bottlenecks. However, the data shows no such limitation in the tested scenarios, as the frame rates continue to scale linearly with GPU workload.

At 4K, the GPU is unambiguously the limiting factor. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 106 FPS (187 to 81), which is a 57% reduction. This wide spread between settings at the same resolution is characteristic of GPU-bound rendering, where the graphics card's compute and memory bandwidth determine the ceiling. The RTX 4080's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth provide ample headroom for Thief's 2014-era textures, even at 4K.

The Medium preset data, which includes minimum and maximum frame rates, further illuminates the component roles. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 112 FPS and the maximum is 151 FPS, a 39 FPS variance. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 185 FPS and the maximum is 251 FPS, a 66 FPS variance. This wider variance at lower resolutions suggests the CPU is having a slightly larger influence on frame pacing, though the absolute performance remains far above playable levels.

How This Combo Ranks

In the aggregate benchmark database for Thief, the Intel Core i5-14400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination ranks #2 out of 3,720 tested combos. This places it in the 99.95th percentile of all configurations tested for this game. The only combination ranked higher would need to produce frame rates that exceed the 81 FPS average at 4K Ultra, which is a demanding target given that this combo already achieves over 3x the playable threshold at 1080p Ultra.

The individual components also rank highly in their respective categories. The Core i5-14400F sits in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32,279. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (0.1% higher score), Intel Core i9-11900 (0.2% higher), and AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (0.2% lower). The RTX 4080 ranks in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54,247. Its closest competitor is the RTX 4080 SUPER at 0.1% higher score, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 1.1% lower.

The combination's #2 ranking in Thief, combined with the high individual component percentiles, indicates that this pairing is well-balanced for this specific game. The GPU's 86th percentile ranking and the CPU's 83rd percentile ranking suggest that neither component is dramatically underpowered relative to the other, which is consistent with the smooth scaling observed across resolutions. The combo's rank of 2 out of 3,720 means that for practical purposes, this is one of the fastest configurations available for Thief, and the measured frame rate data confirms that it handles the game's maximum settings with substantial margin at every resolution.