Thief

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for this Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 pairing in Thief shows a consistent scaling pattern across all three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the lowest preset delivers an average of 117.3 FPS, while the highest preset drops to 93.4 FPS. The Medium preset lands at 105.4 FPS, and High sits at 99.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 23.9 FPS, which indicates that the graphical settings have a measurable but not overwhelming impact on performance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high. Low settings produce 105.8 FPS average, Medium reaches 96.8 FPS, High hits 86 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 82.9 FPS. The difference between the lowest and highest presets here is 22.9 FPS, a slightly smaller spread than at 1080p. The step from Medium to High costs 10.8 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra costs only 3.1 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns at the top end of the settings range.

At 3840x2160, the averages are still comfortably above 60 FPS across all four presets. Low settings yield 86.5 FPS, Medium produces 80.9 FPS, High reaches 70.7 FPS, and Ultra manages 72.7 FPS. Interestingly, the Ultra preset scores slightly higher than High at this resolution, which is an anomaly worth noting. The total spread from Low to the lowest recorded preset is 15.8 FPS, a narrower range than at the lower resolutions. This compression indicates that at 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant factor and the preset choice matters less relative to the resolution overhead.

The database records average FPS values only for this title, with no minimum or maximum frame time data available in the measurements. That means the analysis relies on average throughput rather than frame pacing or 1% lows.

Best Settings per Resolution

Using the playable threshold of 60 FPS as the benchmark, all four presets at every resolution clear that bar. The most demanding preset that remains at or above 60 FPS is Ultra in each case.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset runs at 93.4 FPS average, which is 33.4 FPS above the playable threshold. This leaves significant headroom for any background tasks or additional load.

At 2560x1440, Ultra also holds the top position with 82.9 FPS average, still 22.9 FPS above the 60 FPS line. The gap narrows but remains substantial.

At 3840x2160, Ultra delivers 72.7 FPS average, which is 12.7 FPS above the threshold. This is the tightest margin of the three resolutions, but it still clears the playable standard without needing to drop settings. The verdict data confirms that all four settings, Low, Medium, High, and Ultra, are listed as playable at every resolution for this combination.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions reveals how the workload shifts between the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. Thief is a 2014 stealth title, and the data shows that the CPU has enough headroom at lower resolutions to feed the GPU effectively.

At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 93.4 to 117.3 depending on the preset. The CPU, which sits at the 47th percentile among all tested processors in the database, is likely the limiting factor at this resolution because the GPU is far less stressed. The RTX 5090 ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, so it has substantial performance available. The fact that Low settings only reach 117.3 FPS, rather than a much higher number, suggests that the CPU is capping the frame rate at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the averages drop by roughly 10 to 12 FPS across presets compared to 1080p. Low goes from 117.3 to 105.8, Medium from 105.4 to 96.8, High from 99.3 to 86, and Ultra from 93.4 to 82.9. This moderate decline indicates that the GPU is beginning to take on more of the workload, but the CPU still has enough single-thread performance to keep frame rates high. The Core i5-9400 has a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, which helps in a title that relies on fewer cores.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes more noticeably. Low drops to 86.5 FPS, Medium to 80.9 FPS, High to 70.7 FPS, and Ultra to 72.7 FPS. The resolution scaling from 1440p to 4K costs roughly 19 to 20 FPS on Low, 16 FPS on Medium, 15 FPS on High, and 10 FPS on Ultra. This larger drop at lower presets is a classic sign that the GPU is now the primary constraint. The RTX 5090, despite its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, still sees a notable workload increase at 4K.

The preset scaling within each resolution also tells a story. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 23.9 FPS. At 1440p, it is 22.9 FPS. At 4K, it shrinks to 15.8 FPS if you compare Low to High, and 13.8 FPS if you compare Low to Ultra. As the resolution climbs, the CPU becomes less relevant and the GPU dominates the equation. This is typical for a game from this era, where draw calls and scene complexity are modest by modern standards.

In practical terms, the Core i5-9400 is sufficient to keep the RTX 5090 well fed at 1080p and 1440p, while at 4K the GPU is clearly the binding constraint. The 6-core, 6-thread configuration with 9 MB of shared L3 cache is adequate for a game released in 2014, and the data shows no sign of CPU bottlenecking severe enough to drag frame rates below the playable threshold.

FAQ

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

A: Yes. The recorded average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 72.7 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold. All four presets at 4K are listed as playable in the verdict data.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p?

A: Ultra is the most demanding preset that stays above 60 FPS at 2560x1440, with an average of 82.9 FPS. Low, Medium, and High all also exceed the threshold, but Ultra provides the highest visual quality while remaining playable.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from 1080p to 4K on the same preset?

A: At Low settings, the average drops from 117.3 FPS at 1920x1080 to 86.5 FPS at 3840x2160, a loss of 30.8 FPS. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 93.4 FPS to 72.7 FPS, a loss of 20.7 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU more important at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the CPU appears to be the limiting factor. The Intel Core i5-9400 sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 5090 ranks at the 92nd percentile among GPUs. The relatively modest frame rates at Low settings suggest the CPU caps performance before the GPU reaches its limit.

Q: Which component matters more at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the GPU is the dominant constraint. The resolution scaling shows larger frame rate drops at 4K, and the preset spread narrows to 15.8 FPS between Low and High, indicating that the RTX 5090 is handling the bulk of the workload.

Q: Are there any settings where the frame rate falls below 60 FPS?

A: No. Every recorded preset at every resolution stays above 60 FPS. The lowest average in the data is 70.7 FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings, which is still 10.7 FPS above the playable threshold.

The Verdict

This PC can run Thief without any compromises. The verdict data lists all four settings, Low, Medium, High, and Ultra, as playable at all three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 93.4 FPS, giving the player significant headroom above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 82.9 FPS, still well above the line. At 3840x2160, Ultra averages 72.7 FPS, which clears the threshold by 12.7 FPS.

The weakest point in the entire dataset is the 4K High preset at 70.7 FPS, and even that is comfortably playable. There is no scenario in the recorded measurements where this combination dips below 60 FPS. The Intel Core i5-9400 provides enough processing power for this 2014 title, and the RTX 5090 delivers far more graphical performance than the game requires. Players can max out the settings at any resolution and expect a smooth experience.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database ranking for Thief, this combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 holds position 1929 out of 3720 tested combos. That places it in the upper half of all configurations, though not at the very top. The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU, which is in the 47th percentile among all processors, and the GPU, which is in the 92nd percentile among all graphics cards. The processor holds this combo back from a higher rank, even though the graphics card is near the top of the GPU hierarchy.

The CPU rivals in the database include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 with an average score of 2259, which is 0.2% higher than the i5-9400, and the Intel Core i3-10305 with an average score of 2264, which is 0.4% higher. On the other side, the Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248, 0.3% lower, and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, 0.4% lower. These are very tight margins, meaning the i5-9400 performs essentially on par with its immediate rivals in the database.

The GPU rivals show a similar pattern. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79605, which is 0.3% lower than the RTX 5090, and the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79396, 0.6% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, 1.1% lower, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80959, 1.4% higher. The RTX 5090 is competitive with these cards, though the differences are small in percentage terms.

For Thief specifically, the high rank among 3720 combos indicates that this system is more than adequate for the game. The game is old enough that even a mid-tier processor paired with a flagship GPU produces excellent results. The bottleneck, if any, comes from the CPU, but it never manifests as an actual playability problem in the recorded data. Every resolution and preset combination clears the 60 FPS threshold, and the Ultra preset at 4K remains the recommended choice for maximum visual fidelity.