Thief

The Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination delivers a wide spread of frame rates in Thief, from 154.8 FPS at 1080p Low to 34.4 FPS at 4K Ultra. The CPU has a launch MSRP of $97 and the GPU has a launch MSRP of 379 USD. Benchmark results indicate that this pairing ranks 1195th out of 1642 tested combos for this game, placing it in the lower half of the field. The measured data covers three resolutions and four quality presets, providing a clear picture of how the system scales under load.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows show that the best experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, all four presets exceed 60 FPS, with Low at 154.8, Medium at 115.3, High at 87.7, and Ultra at 85.0. The gap between High and Ultra is only 2.7 FPS, but both are comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. For a balance of visual quality and smoothness, Ultra at 1080p is the strongest choice, as it delivers 85 FPS while retaining the highest preset. If a higher refresh rate is preferred, High at 87.7 FPS offers a marginal gain with a slight reduction in quality.

At 2560x1440, the situation tightens. Low runs at 104.6 FPS, Medium at 83.9, High at 63.2, and Ultra at 61.9. High and Ultra both stay above 60 FPS, making either viable. Ultra at 1440p provides the best image quality while still hitting 61.9 FPS, which is acceptable for most players. The difference between High and Ultra is 1.3 FPS, so the choice comes down to whether the extra visual fidelity is worth the small performance cost. For a more consistent frame rate, High at 63.2 FPS is the safer pick.

At 3840x2160, only Low reaches a playable level, with 62.4 FPS. Medium drops to 49.9, High to 35.9, and Ultra to 34.4. None of the higher presets come close to 60 FPS, so 4K gaming with this combo requires a significant compromise. Low at 4K is the only preset that maintains a smooth experience, though it sacrifices most graphical features. For users who prioritize resolution over detail, Low at 4K is the recommended setting. Alternatively, dropping to 1440p and using High or Ultra offers a better overall experience than struggling with 4K Medium or High.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1195 out of 1642 places it in the 27th percentile of tested configurations for Thief. This is notably lower than the individual component percentiles: the CPU sits in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU in the 71st percentile of all GPUs. The discrepancy suggests that Thief’s performance is not solely determined by raw CPU or GPU power, but may be influenced by other factors such as memory bandwidth, driver optimization, or the game’s engine characteristics. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 13516, which is 0.1% below the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX’s 13534 and 0.4% above the Intel Core i7-1250U’s 13462. The GPU’s average score is 27985, which is 0.1% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti’s 27956 and 0.9% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070’s 28238. Despite these competitive individual scores, the game-specific rank indicates that this pairing is not among the top performers in Thief, likely due to the game’s age and its reliance on single-threaded CPU performance or specific GPU features.

The rank also implies that many other combinations, including those with older or less powerful components, achieve better frame rates in Thief. This could be because Thief is a 2014 title that may not fully utilize the modern architecture of the i3-12100F or the RX 6600 XT. The CPU’s 4 cores and 8 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost of 4.30 GHz, are sufficient for most games, but Thief’s engine may not scale well with the Alder Lake design. Similarly, the GPU’s RDNA 2 architecture and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory are overkill for a game of this era, but the measured FPS suggests that the game is not heavily GPU-bound at lower resolutions. The combo’s rank is a reminder that raw hardware capability does not always translate to top-tier performance in older titles.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the Navi 23 chip with RDNA 2.0 architecture, featuring 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 1968 MHz, with a game clock of 2359 MHz and a boost clock of 2589 MHz. These specifications are more than adequate for Thief, which was released in 2014 and does not demand high VRAM or memory bandwidth. The 8 GB VRAM is unlikely to be a limiting factor at any of the tested settings, as the game’s textures and geometry are modest by modern standards. The GPU’s memory clock of 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) and the 256.0 GB/s bandwidth ensure that data transfer is not a bottleneck.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reflect its mid-range positioning. Its passmark G3D score is 16461, and its overall average benchmark score is 27985, placing it in the 71st percentile of all GPUs. In Thief, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU is likely the primary constraint, as the FPS at Low (154.8) is high enough to suggest that the GPU is not fully utilized. However, at 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, as the FPS drops to 62.4 at Low and 34.4 at Ultra. The scaling pattern indicates that the GPU’s compute and memory resources are saturated at higher resolutions, while the CPU has enough headroom to keep up. The GPU’s boost clock of 2589 MHz and the RDNA 2 architecture’s efficiency contribute to the observed performance, but the game’s age means that modern features like ray tracing (32 RT cores) are not relevant.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p Ultra?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 85.0.

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

A: The combo ranks 1195th out of 1642 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the field.

Q: What is the GPU’s VRAM capacity?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory.

Q: What is the CPU’s boost clock?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has a boost clock of 4.30 GHz.

Q: What is the GPU’s boost clock?

A: The GPU’s boost clock is 2589 MHz.

Q: What is the CPU’s TDP?

A: The CPU has a TDP of 58 W.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. For Low settings, the FPS goes from 154.8 at 1080p to 104.6 at 1440p and 62.4 at 4K. This represents a reduction of 50.2 FPS from 1080p to 1440p and 42.2 FPS from 1440p to 4K. The pattern is similar for High settings: 87.7 at 1080p, 63.2 at 1440p, and 35.9 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 51.8 FPS, which is more than half of the 1080p value. Ultra settings follow the same trend, with 85.0 at 1080p, 61.9 at 1440p, and 34.4 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest of all measured points, at 34.4 FPS.

The scaling behavior indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the FPS values are high enough to suggest that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU, but as pixel count increases, the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are stretched. The fact that the FPS at 4K Low (62.4) is still above 60 suggests that the GPU can handle the workload when graphical features are minimized, but the higher presets quickly overwhelm it. The difference between High and Ultra is small at every resolution—87.7 vs 85.0 at 1080p, 63.2 vs 61.9 at 1440p, and 35.9 vs 34.4 at 4K—indicating that the Ultra preset adds little extra cost in this game. The resolution scaling also shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 4K, as the FPS drops are proportional to the increase in pixel count, which is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance. For users targeting 4K, the only viable preset is Low, while 1440p and 1080p offer more flexibility.