Thief

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a robust 1080p and 1440p experience in Thief, with the data indicating that the GPU is the primary performance driver at higher resolutions. The measured results show that the Ultra preset is consistently the most demanding, while the Low preset offers the highest frame rates. For most users, the High preset represents the optimal balance, providing a substantial visual upgrade over Medium with a relatively modest performance cost, particularly at 1440p and 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data for this combination reveals a clear scaling pattern across the four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 168.3 FPS for Low, 150.3 FPS for Medium, 138.4 FPS for High, and 128.9 FPS for Ultra. The delta between Low and Ultra is 39.4 FPS, which is significant but not prohibitive. Given that the game is a stealth title where smoothness and responsiveness are paramount, the High preset at 1080p is recommended, as it maintains an average of 138.4 FPS, well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate displays while offering superior visual fidelity compared to Medium.

At 2560x1440, the performance gap widens between presets. The Low preset delivers 151.9 FPS, Medium drops to 121.2 FPS, High to 96.4 FPS, and Ultra to 89.3 FPS. The High preset remains the strongest choice here, as its 96.4 FPS average is still comfortably playable on most 1440p monitors. The step from High to Ultra costs 7.1 FPS, which is a relatively small penalty for the additional visual effects. However, the step from Medium to High costs 24.8 FPS, making High the better value in terms of visual impact per frame lost.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes significantly. The Low preset produces 95.1 FPS, Medium 73.8 FPS, High 55.5 FPS, and Ultra 52.5 FPS. Here, the High preset is the only one that approaches a playable standard for smooth 4K gameplay, but its 55.5 FPS average is marginal. The Medium preset, at 73.8 FPS, offers a much safer margin for consistent performance, and the visual difference between Medium and High is less noticeable at this resolution due to the pixel density. For 4K, the Medium preset is the recommended setting, as it provides the best combination of fluidity and image quality without the risk of dropping below 60 FPS in demanding scenes.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 1440p monitor with this CPU and GPU combo?

A: The High preset is the recommended choice at 2560x1440, delivering an average of 96.4 FPS. This provides a significant improvement over the Medium preset's 121.2 FPS, but the High preset maintains a frame rate high enough for a smooth experience on most 1440p displays.

Q: Can this combination achieve 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only with the Low and Medium presets. The data shows 95.1 FPS for Low and 73.8 FPS for Medium at 3840x2160. The High preset falls short at 55.5 FPS, and the Ultra preset is below 60 FPS at 52.5 FPS.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from Ultra to Low settings at 1080p?

A: The measured average frame rate increases from 128.9 FPS on Ultra to 168.3 FPS on Low at 1920x1080. This represents a 39.4 FPS gain, a substantial improvement that could be useful for competitive play or very high refresh rate displays.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at any resolution?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra is 39.4 FPS, which is a smaller relative drop than at 4K, where the difference is 42.6 FPS. This indicates the GPU is increasingly stressed as resolution increases, while the CPU performance remains sufficient.

Q: What is the expected frame rate on the Medium preset at 2560x1440?

A: The measured average FPS for the Medium preset at 2560x1440 is 121.2 FPS. This is the second-highest average at that resolution, behind only the Low preset's 151.9 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 52.5 FPS, which is 3.0 FPS lower than the High preset's 55.5 FPS. This small difference suggests that the visual enhancements of the Ultra preset are not worth the performance cost at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data exhibits a clear pattern of scaling from 1080p to 4K, indicating the GPU's workload increases substantially with resolution. At the High settings preset, the average FPS drops from 138.4 at 1920x1080 to 96.4 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 42.0 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the average further drops to 55.5 FPS, a 40.9 FPS reduction from the 1440p result. This consistent drop of roughly 40 FPS per resolution step suggests a nearly linear scaling of GPU load, which is typical for a game that is heavily dependent on pixel fill rate and shader complexity.

For the Low preset, the scaling is less steep in absolute terms but still significant. The average FPS goes from 168.3 at 1080p to 151.9 at 1440p, a drop of 16.4 FPS, and then to 95.1 at 4K, a drop of 56.8 FPS. The larger relative drop between 1440p and 4K on the Low preset indicates that the RX 6800 XT's memory bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s becomes a more critical factor at higher pixel counts, even when the shading load is reduced. The Ultra preset shows a different behavior, with a drop of 39.6 FPS from 1080p to 1440p and 36.8 FPS from 1440p to 4K, suggesting that the additional effects at Ultra settings saturate the GPU's compute units at all resolutions.

The scaling behavior points to the GPU as the primary limiting component across all tested resolutions. The Intel Core i3-12100F, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, appears to provide sufficient performance to keep up with the RX 6800 XT, as the frame rate drops consistently with resolution rather than plateauing. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would be more similar across resolutions, particularly at the lower settings where the GPU has less work to do. The fact that the Low preset still sees a 56.8 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K reinforces the conclusion that the graphics card is the main constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT produces its highest frame rates. The Low preset averages 168.3 FPS, which is the peak performance measured for this combo. The Medium preset delivers 150.3 FPS, representing a 18.0 FPS drop from Low. The High preset follows at 138.4 FPS, a 11.9 FPS reduction from Medium. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of 128.9 FPS, which is 9.5 FPS lower than High. This shows a consistent scaling pattern where each preset step costs between 9.5 and 18.0 FPS at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates are still high but begin to show the GPU's load. The Low preset averages 151.9 FPS, which is 16.4 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 121.2 FPS, a 30.7 FPS drop from Low. The High preset delivers 96.4 FPS, a 24.8 FPS reduction from Medium. The Ultra preset averages 89.3 FPS, which is 7.1 FPS lower than High. The performance deltas between presets at 1440p are larger than at 1080p, with the Low-to-Medium gap being the most significant at 30.7 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is pushed to its limits. The Low preset averages 95.1 FPS, which is 56.8 FPS lower than the 1440p Low result. The Medium preset averages 73.8 FPS, a 21.3 FPS drop from Low. The High preset delivers 55.5 FPS, a 18.3 FPS reduction from Medium. The Ultra preset averages 52.5 FPS, which is 3.0 FPS lower than High. The scaling at 4K shows a much steeper decline, with the Low-to-Medium gap still being the largest at 21.3 FPS, but the High-to-Ultra gap being very small at 3.0 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional effects provide diminishing returns at this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT combination ranks 515th out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places the combo in the upper third of all tested configurations, indicating that it delivers strong performance in this specific game. The percentile ranking of the CPU is 72, meaning it outperforms 72% of all CPUs in the benchmark database, while the GPU ranks in the 87th percentile for all GPUs. This suggests a well-balanced pairing where the GPU is the stronger component, which aligns with the observed performance scaling.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, which has a 0.1% higher average benchmark score, and the Intel Core i7-1250U, which is 0.4% lower. The Intel Core i3-10105 is 0.6% lower, and the Intel Core i7-7700K is 1.8% lower. These small deltas indicate that the i3-12100F is competitive with much more expensive processors in general compute benchmarks, but for gaming, its 4-core / 8-thread configuration is sufficient for the frame rates observed.

On the GPU side, the RX 6800 XT's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A1000, which scores 1.7% higher on average, and the Intel Arc A550M, which is 0.5% lower. The NVIDIA CMP 50HX is 1.9% lower, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is 2.6% lower. The RX 6800 XT's 87th percentile ranking places it as a high-end part, and its performance in Thief is consistent with its strong synthetic benchmark results. The combo's 515th rank out of 1642 is a solid result, confirming that this pairing is well-suited for playing Thief at high settings and resolutions.