Thief

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 delivers a predictable but instructive performance curve in Thief, one that clearly illustrates the GPU’s dominance as the primary bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combination produces 76 FPS, but this falls to 59.6 FPS at Medium, a drop of 16.4 FPS. Pushing to High yields 41.9 FPS, and Ultra nearly matches that at 41.2 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p is severe—a 34.8 FPS reduction—which indicates that the RX 570’s 4 GB frame buffer and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are being saturated long before the CPU’s four cores and eight threads reach their limit. At 1440p, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers: Low delivers 52.2 FPS, Medium 40.4 FPS, High 32.1 FPS, and Ultra 26.4 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 25.8 FPS, showing that resolution scaling amplifies the GPU workload more than the CPU side, which remains relatively idle. At 4K, the combo struggles fundamentally: Low is the only setting approaching playability at 31 FPS, while Medium drops to 21.2 FPS, High to 19.8 FPS, and Ultra to 18.1 FPS. These numbers reveal that the RX 570 is the limiting component across all resolutions, as the i3-12100F’s 3.30 GHz base and 4.30 GHz boost clocks are more than sufficient for a 2014 stealth title. The data suggests that any attempt to play beyond 1080p will require significant setting reductions, and even then, 4K remains largely out of reach for smooth gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent trend: as resolution increases, frame rates collapse in a near-linear fashion, confirming that the GPU is the sole bottleneck. Moving from 1080p Low (76 FPS) to 1440p Low (52.2 FPS) results in a 23.8 FPS loss, and then to 4K Low (31 FPS) another 21.2 FPS loss. This pattern repeats at every quality setting. For instance, at High, the drop from 1080p (41.9 FPS) to 1440p (32.1 FPS) is 9.8 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K (19.8 FPS) is another 12.3 FPS. The percentage losses are steep: at Low, 1440p retains 68.7% of 1080p performance, while 4K retains just 40.8%. At Ultra, the situation is worse—1440p keeps 64.1% of 1080p’s 41.2 FPS, but 4K only manages 43.9% of that already low number. This heavy scaling points directly to the RX 570’s 4 GB VRAM and 256-bit memory bus, which become overwhelmed at higher pixel counts. The CPU’s role is negligible here; the i3-12100F’s single-thread score of 893 in 3dmark and multi-thread score of 4023 in 3dmark_8_threads are more than adequate for Thief’s stealth gameplay, which rarely stresses more than a few cores. The data indicates that at 1080p, the combo is GPU-limited in all settings, but the gap between Low and Ultra (34.8 FPS) shows that the GPU’s fill rate and texture units are the primary constraint, not the CPU. At 4K, the RX 570’s pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s is simply insufficient, resulting in sub-20 FPS at High and Ultra. The takeaway is that resolution scaling in Thief is entirely a GPU phenomenon for this pairing, with the CPU contributing little to the frame rate variance.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570’s specifications directly explain its performance ceiling in Thief. With 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, the GPU is built for 1080p gaming of its era, and the measured data confirms this. The 4 GB GDDR5 memory running at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p but becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The base clock of 1168 MHz and boost clock of 1244 MHz are modest by modern standards, and the FP32 performance of 5.095 TFLOPS reflects a mid-range part from 2017. In Thief, the game’s texture-heavy environments and lighting effects appear to tax the GPU’s memory subsystem heavily. At 1080p Medium, the GPU produces 59.6 FPS, but moving to High (41.9 FPS) costs 17.7 FPS, suggesting that texture quality settings rapidly exceed the 4 GB buffer. The Ultra setting (41.2 FPS) is nearly identical to High, indicating that the GPU hits a hard wall—likely VRAM capacity or memory bandwidth—rather than a compute limit. The GPU’s 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30158, places it in the same ballpark as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (30109, deltaPct 0.2) and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30097, deltaPct 0.2), though those are far more modern parts. This comparison is misleading in practice; the RX 570’s 14 nm process and GCN 4.0 architecture are outdated, and Thief’s results reflect that age. The GPU’s TDP of 150 W and suggested PSU of 450 W indicate a power-hungry design for its performance class, but the data shows that power efficiency is irrelevant when the bottleneck is raw throughput. The VRAM is the critical weakness: at 4K Ultra, the 18.1 FPS average suggests the GPU is thrashing, unable to hold textures in memory. The i3-12100F’s role is to feed the GPU, and its memory support for DDR4 and DDR5, along with a 12 MB L3 cache, ensures that the CPU never stalls the pipeline. The benchmark results show that the GPU is the decisive component, with the CPU’s 3dmark_2_threads score of 1659 and single-thread score of 893 being more than sufficient for Thief’s AI and physics calculations.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 570 pairing ranks 1553 out of 1642 combos in Thief, placing it in the bottom 5.4% of all tested systems. This low rank is unsurprising given the GPU’s age and the game’s demands. The combo’s position reflects the RX 570’s 74th percentile among GPUs, which sounds respectable until considering that the nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (deltaPct 0.2) and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (deltaPct 0.2)—both of which are several generations newer and far more powerful. The CPU’s own ranking is better: the i3-12100F sits in the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13516, just 0.1% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13534) and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U (13462). This contrast is telling—the CPU is a competent modern part, but the GPU drags the entire combo down. The rank of 1553 means that out of 1642 combos, only 89 are slower in Thief. This is a bottom-tier result, but the data also shows that the combo is not entirely without merit; at 1080p Low, it achieves 76 FPS, which is playable. The rank is heavily influenced by the 4K results, where the combo struggles to reach 31 FPS even at Low. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i3-10105 (deltaPct 0.6) and Intel Core i7-7700K (deltaPct 1.8), would likely perform similarly in Thief when paired with the same GPU, since the bottleneck is entirely on the graphics side. The data suggests that this combo is a legacy pairing, suitable for older games or low-resolution esports titles, but it falls far short of modern expectations for a 2014 AAA game like Thief at high settings. The rank is a stark reminder that a strong CPU cannot compensate for a weak GPU in a GPU-bound title, and Thief is clearly one such game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for the optimal settings on this hardware. At 1080p, the best experience is achieved at Medium settings, which delivers 59.6 FPS—a solid playable frame rate that preserves visual quality while avoiding the steep drop to High (41.9 FPS) and Ultra (41.2 FPS). The jump from Low (76 FPS) to Medium costs 16.4 FPS, but the visual improvement in a stealth game like Thief, where shadows and lighting are crucial, justifies the trade-off. High and Ultra offer no meaningful advantage over each other (41.9 vs 41.2 FPS), but both are below the 60 FPS threshold, so they are not recommended for smooth gameplay. At 1440p, the situation is more constrained. Low (52.2 FPS) is the only setting that approaches playability, while Medium (40.4 FPS), High (32.1 FPS), and Ultra (26.4 FPS) all fall below 45 FPS, which is jerky for a game that requires precise movement. For 1440p, Low is the only viable option, and even then, the frame rate is borderline. At 4K, no setting is truly playable: Low (31 FPS) is the least bad, but Medium (21.2 FPS), High (19.8 FPS), and Ultra (18.1 FPS) are all too low for a smooth experience. The data indicates that this combo is best used at 1080p with Medium settings, which offers a balance of 59.6 FPS and acceptable visual fidelity. If the player prioritizes frame rate over visuals, 1080p Low at 76 FPS is the choice, but Medium is the sweet spot. For 1440p, users should stick to Low and accept the 52.2 FPS average. The 4K resolution should be avoided entirely, as even Low fails to maintain 30 FPS consistently, and the game’s stealth mechanics suffer at low frame rates. The measured rows show no scenario where Ultra is worth the performance penalty—at any resolution, Ultra offers less than a 1 FPS improvement over High, making it a pointless setting for this hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured frame rates for the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 570 in Thief is as follows. At 3840x2160 (4K), the results are: Low 31.0 FPS, Medium 21.2 FPS, High 19.8 FPS, and Ultra 18.1 FPS. These numbers show a steep cliff from Low to Medium (a 9.8 FPS drop), but a much smaller difference between Medium, High, and Ultra (3.1 FPS total). This suggests that the Low preset reduces the GPU load enough to make the game barely playable, but any increase in quality immediately overwhelms the RX 570’s 4 GB VRAM. At 2560x1440, the data is: Low 52.2 FPS, Medium 40.4 FPS, High 32.1 FPS, and Ultra 26.4 FPS. The progression here is more gradual—each step costs between 5.7 and 8.3 FPS—indicating that the GPU is being pushed incrementally harder. The 1440p results are the most balanced, with Low providing a comfortable margin above 50 FPS and Medium still hitting 40 FPS. At 1920x1080, the full range is: Low 76.0 FPS, Medium 59.6 FPS, High 41.9 FPS, and Ultra 41.2 FPS. The 1080p numbers reveal a clear threshold: Low and Medium are playable, but High and Ultra both fall to around 41 FPS, a plateau that suggests the GPU hits a hard limit in memory bandwidth. The difference between High and Ultra is negligible (0.7 FPS), meaning the Ultra preset adds visual effects that the GPU cannot render without sacrificing frame rate. Across all resolutions, the Low to Ultra ratio is consistent: 4K retains 58.4% of Low’s performance at Ultra, 1440p retains 50.6%, and 1080p retains 54.2%. This consistency indicates that the RX 570’s bottleneck is uniform across resolutions, likely due to its 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 32 ROPs being insufficient for Thief’s draw calls at higher quality settings. The data shows no min or max FPS values, but the averages alone are sufficient to guide settings decisions. For the best experience, 1080p Medium at 59.6 FPS is the clear winner, followed by 1080p Low at 76 FPS for competitive play. The 1440p Low at 52.2 FPS is acceptable for users with 1440p displays, but 4K is not viable. The measured rows confirm that this combo is a 1080p machine, and any attempt to push higher resolutions will result in sub-30 FPS performance.