Thief

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the recorded average frame rates show a steep drop as visual fidelity climbs. Low settings produce 74.6 FPS, Medium drops to 57.9 FPS, High falls to 45 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 39.9 FPS. Only the Low preset clears the 60 FPS playability threshold at this resolution. The gap between Low and Ultra is 34.7 FPS, a reduction of roughly 46 percent of the Low preset's performance. Medium sits just 2.1 FPS below the playable line, making it a near miss rather than a distant one.

Moving to 2560x1440, the picture improves across every setting. Low reaches 104.7 FPS, Medium hits 96.7 FPS, High manages 73.4 FPS, and Ultra stays playable at 72.1 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra here is 32.6 FPS, but all four presets remain above the 60 FPS threshold. The jump from 4K Low to 1440p Low is 30.1 FPS, indicating that resolution scaling has a substantial effect on the GPU load. Ultra at 1440p delivers 72.1 FPS, which is 32.2 FPS higher than Ultra at 4K.

At 1920x1080, the combo shows its strongest results. Low settings hit 122 FPS, Medium reaches 109.6 FPS, High posts 95.7 FPS, and Ultra lands at 95.8 FPS. Interestingly, High and Ultra are nearly identical, differing by only 0.1 FPS. The gap from 1440p Ultra to 1080p Ultra is 23.7 FPS, and from 1440p High to 1080p High it is 22.3 FPS. The lowest recorded average across all resolution and preset combinations is 39.9 FPS at 4K Ultra, while the highest is 122 FPS at 1080p Low.

CPU and GPU Roles

Benchmark results indicate that the GPU dominates performance scaling in Thief, with the CPU playing a supporting role that becomes more noticeable at lower resolutions. The evidence comes from how average FPS changes with resolution. At 4K, the Ultra preset yields 39.9 FPS, while at 1440p the same preset yields 72.1 FPS. That is an 80.7 percent improvement from reducing resolution, which points to the GPU's pixel throughput being the limiting factor at 4K. The RTX 4060 has a pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s, and at 4K Ultra those resources are saturated.

At 1440p, the same GPU handles the load more comfortably. The shift from 4K High (45 FPS) to 1440p High (73.4 FPS) is a 63.1 percent gain. The CPU's role becomes more apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates compress across presets. At 1080p, High and Ultra produce 95.7 and 95.8 FPS respectively, a difference of only 0.1 FPS. This suggests the CPU, with 6 cores and 6 threads running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost of 4.10 GHz, is keeping pace with the GPU's output but not bottlenecking it hard enough to create large preset gaps.

The Core i5-9400's benchmark scores reinforce this interpretation. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 6629 and single-core score is 935. The Geekbench multicore score is 5141 and single-core is 1389. These are modest numbers for a 2018 Coffee Lake part, but Thief's engine does not appear to demand high thread counts. The 65 W TDP and 14 nm process node indicate a mainstream part, yet the FPS data shows that at 1080p the CPU can feed the GPU enough frames to reach 122 FPS on Low settings. At 4K, the CPU is likely idle relative to the GPU's workload, as the 45 FPS High result and 39.9 FPS Ultra result are far below what the CPU could theoretically deliver.

Preset scaling also reveals the balance. At 4K, going from Low (74.6 FPS) to Medium (57.9 FPS) costs 16.7 FPS, and from Medium to High costs 12.9 FPS. At 1080p, the same Low-to-Medium step costs 12.4 FPS, and Medium-to-High costs 13.9 FPS. The similarity in these step costs across resolutions suggests that settings changes impose a consistent GPU load, while resolution changes impose a geometric load. The CPU's influence is secondary, appearing mostly as a ceiling on very high frame rates at 1080p Low, where 122 FPS is reached but not exceeded.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database provide context for its role. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 has an average benchmark score of 2259, which is 0.2 percent lower than the i5-9400's average of 2254. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248, 0.3 percent higher than the i5-9400. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, 0.4 percent higher. The Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264, 0.4 percent lower. These deltas are tiny, meaning any of these CPUs would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in Thief when paired with the same GPU. The i5-9400's 47th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates it sits in the lower-middle of the performance distribution, but for a game like Thief, the gap between it and its rivals is negligible in practice.

The GPU's nearest rivals show a similar pattern. The AMD Radeon HD 7790 has an average score of 17666, which is 0.2 percent higher than the RTX 4060's 17639. The AMD Radeon 780M scores 17588, 0.3 percent lower. The AMD Radeon Pro 560 scores 17551, 0.5 percent lower. The AMD Radeon Pro 460 scores 17509, 0.7 percent lower. These are all within 1 percent of the RTX 4060, so swapping to any of these GPUs would yield nearly identical FPS in Thief. The RTX 4060's 61st percentile ranking among all GPUs places it above the midpoint, but its closest competitors are older or integrated parts, which speaks to the broad performance spread in the database.

For a user considering alternatives, the data suggests that the CPU choice matters less than the GPU choice for this game. A Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 or Core i3-10305 would not change the 4K Ultra result of 39.9 FPS by more than a frame or two. Similarly, a Radeon HD 7790 or Radeon 780M would replicate the RTX 4060's 1080p Ultra result of 95.8 FPS within a small margin. The combination of a 47th percentile CPU and a 61st percentile GPU produces the measured FPS, and swapping either for a near-identical rival would preserve the playability profile.

The Verdict

The question of whether this PC can run Thief has a clear answer from the recorded data. At 1920x1080, every preset clears the 60 FPS playability threshold. Low runs at 122 FPS, Medium at 109.6 FPS, High at 95.7 FPS, and Ultra at 95.8 FPS. The best settings at this resolution are Ultra, which delivers 95.8 FPS. This is a fully playable experience with headroom for frame rate dips, though the database does not record minimum or maximum FPS values for this title.

At 2560x1440, all four presets also remain playable. Low runs at 104.7 FPS, Medium at 96.7 FPS, High at 73.4 FPS, and Ultra at 72.1 FPS. The best settings are Ultra, with 72.1 FPS, which is 12.1 FPS above the playable threshold. This resolution offers a comfortable margin for sustained gameplay.

At 3840x2160, only the Low preset clears 60 FPS, with 74.6 FPS. Medium falls short at 57.9 FPS, just 2.1 FPS below the line. High and Ultra are not playable at 45 FPS and 39.9 FPS respectively. The recommended setting for 4K is Low, which provides the only playable option. Users who prefer Medium or higher at 4K would need to accept sub-60 FPS performance or reduce resolution to 1440p.

In summary, this combination is playable at 1080p and 1440p across all settings, and at 4K only on Low. The 4K Medium result of 57.9 FPS is close enough that some users might tolerate it, but the official playability threshold of 60 FPS is not met.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Thief at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: Yes. The recorded average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 95.8 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS playability threshold.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 3840x2160?

A: Low is the only playable preset at 4K, with an average of 74.6 FPS. Medium is close at 57.9 FPS but does not meet the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1440p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At 2560x1440 Ultra, the average is 72.1 FPS. At 3840x2160 Ultra, it drops to 39.9 FPS. That is a reduction of 32.2 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance in Thief?

A: The GPU is the primary limiter, especially at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU comes closer to matching the GPU's output, as seen in the small difference between High (95.7 FPS) and Ultra (95.8 FPS).

Q: What settings are playable at 2560x1440?

A: All four presets are playable. High runs at 73.4 FPS, Low at 104.7 FPS, Medium at 96.7 FPS, and Ultra at 72.1 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 4060's performance similar to any older AMD cards?

A: Yes. The AMD Radeon HD 7790 has an average benchmark score 0.2 percent higher, and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 is 0.5 percent lower, meaning they would produce nearly identical FPS in Thief.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination ranks 2257 out of 3720 tested combos for Thief in the database. This places it in the upper-middle portion of all recorded configurations, specifically around the 60.7th percentile of tested combos. The rank reflects the measured FPS across all resolutions and presets, not just the best case.

Given that the CPU sits at the 47th percentile and the GPU at the 61st percentile among their respective categories, the combo rank of 2257 is consistent with the GPU carrying more weight in this game's performance. The 3720 total combos include far more powerful CPUs and GPUs, so a rank of 2257 indicates that this system outperforms roughly three-fifths of all tested configurations in Thief.

The practical implication is that this combo is not a top-tier setup for Thief, but it is also not a weak one. It can handle 1080p and 1440p at maximum settings, and it can handle 4K only at the lowest settings. The rank of 2257 reflects that breadth: strong at mainstream resolutions, limited at 4K. Users with this combo should target 1440p Ultra for the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, or 4K Low if they prioritize resolution over detail.