Thief

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread desktop processor based on Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a TDP of 58 W. The CPU carries a 12 MB shared L3 cache, along with 80 KB of L1 and 1.25 MB of L2 per core. Its benchmark profile shows a single-thread score of 893 in 3DMark and 1681 in Cinebench R23, while multi-thread results reach 4023 in 3DMark max threads and 11912 in Cinebench R23 multicore. The processor sits at the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13516.

In Thief, a 2014 stealth title, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain frame pacing and feed the GPU. The data shows that at 1080p, the lowest resolution tested, the CPU is not the limiting factor in most settings. For instance, at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 168.5 FPS, which is the highest recorded value across all configurations. This suggests the 4-core design with 8 threads is sufficient for the game's engine at this resolution. The single-thread performance, indicated by the 3DMark single-thread score of 893 and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1681, is strong for a processor in this class, which helps in a game that likely relies on fewer threads for its core simulation logic.

Comparing to nearest rivals, the i3-12100F's average score of 13516 is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, which scores 13534 (a delta of -0.1%), and sits just 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U at 13462. It is 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core i3-10105 (13430) and 1.8% ahead of the Intel Core i7-7700K (13280). These deltas are marginal, indicating that in raw CPU benchmark terms, the i3-12100F performs on par with much higher-tier or older processors. However, in Thief specifically, the 4-core configuration is adequate; the measured FPS at 1080p High is 139.7, which is only 5% lower than the Low setting's 168.5 FPS, showing that even with higher CPU load from game logic, the processor keeps up.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is a high-end GPU from the Radeon RX 9000 series, based on the Navi 48 chip and RDNA 4.0 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 4 nm process. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s and an effective memory speed of 20.1 Gbps. The GPU has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs, with 64 ray tracing cores. Its clock speeds include a base of 1660 MHz, a boost of 2970 MHz, and a game clock of 2400 MHz. The pixel rate is 380.2 GPixel/s, texture rate is 760.3 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 48.66 TFLOPS. The GPU's TDP is 304 W, and it holds an 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 39647.

In Thief, the GPU is the dominant component at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the combo delivers 55.9 FPS, while at 4K High it is 56.5 FPS, showing a negligible difference of 1.1%. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is heavily taxed regardless of whether settings are High or Ultra, as the RX 9070 XT's 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for the game's textures (Thief released in 2014, so VRAM usage is modest), but the shading workload at 4K resolution is substantial. The GPU's high boost clock of 2970 MHz helps maintain these frame rates, but the data shows that even with this powerful card, 4K Ultra just misses the 60 FPS threshold.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the AMD Radeon Pro 575 (39703, delta -0.1%), NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile (39568, delta 0.2%), AMD Radeon Pro 575X (39836, delta -0.5%), and AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (39879, delta -0.6%). These deltas are all within 1%, meaning the RX 9070 XT's average benchmark score is statistically similar to these cards, though its actual gaming performance in Thief is likely far superior due to architectural advancements. The GPU's compute score of 15864 in Passmark GPU Compute highlights its raw processing capability, which translates into strong rasterization performance for older titles like Thief.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 168.5 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, it drops to 148 FPS, a decrease of 12.2%. At 4K Low, it falls to 102.5 FPS, which is a 39.2% drop from 1080p Low. This steep decline indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, because the CPU's workload remains relatively constant while the GPU must render more pixels.

For Medium settings, the pattern is similar: 1080p Medium delivers 152.8 FPS, 1440p Medium drops to 131.8 FPS (a 13.7% decrease), and 4K Medium falls to 75.6 FPS (a 50.5% drop from 1080p). The High settings show 139.7 FPS at 1080p, 99.6 FPS at 1440p (a 28.7% drop), and 56.5 FPS at 4K (a 59.6% drop). Ultra settings follow: 138.9 FPS at 1080p, 94.8 FPS at 1440p (a 31.8% drop), and 55.9 FPS at 4K (a 59.8% drop).

The narrowing gap between High and Ultra at 4K is telling. At 1080p, Ultra (138.9 FPS) is only 0.6% slower than High (139.7 FPS), but at 4K, Ultra (55.9 FPS) is actually 1.1% faster than High (56.5 FPS) — a negligible difference that falls within measurement variance. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is bottlenecked by pixel throughput rather than shading complexity, so increasing settings from High to Ultra doesn't meaningfully impact performance. Conversely, at 1080p, the CPU and GPU have more headroom, and the difference between settings is more pronounced, confirming that the GPU is the primary limiter at higher resolutions while the CPU is sufficient at lower ones.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This combination of Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT ranks 446th out of 1642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the top 27.2% of all combinations. This rank reflects a balance between the CPU's modest 4-core configuration and the GPU's high-end performance. The rank is likely driven by the GPU's ability to push high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the CPU's limited core count may prevent the combo from reaching the top tiers where more powerful processors (e.g., 8-core or 16-core CPUs) could extract extra performance at lower resolutions.

The percentile data supports this interpretation. The CPU sits at the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 82nd percentile among all GPUs. If the combo's rank were purely determined by the geometric mean of these percentiles, one might expect a higher rank, but the game's engine appears to be more sensitive to GPU performance at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the combo achieves 168.5 FPS at Low settings, which is excellent, but at 4K Ultra, it falls to 55.9 FPS, missing the 60 FPS target. The rank of 446 suggests that many combos with higher-tier CPUs (even with slightly weaker GPUs) achieve better 1080p performance, where CPU headroom matters more. However, for 1440p and 4K gaming, this combo's rank is competitive due to the GPU's strength.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: 168.5 FPS average
• Medium: 152.8 FPS average
• High: 139.7 FPS average
• Ultra: 138.9 FPS average

At 1080p, the combo delivers smooth gameplay across all settings. The gap between Low and Ultra is 29.6 FPS, or 17.6%, indicating that the GPU has ample headroom even at Ultra settings. The difference between High and Ultra is just 0.8 FPS (0.6%), suggesting that Ultra settings offer minimal visual gains over High for this title.

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 148 FPS average
• Medium: 131.8 FPS average
• High: 99.6 FPS average
• Ultra: 94.8 FPS average

At 1440p, the frame rates remain high but begin to show the GPU's workload. Low settings achieve 148 FPS, but High drops to 99.6 FPS and Ultra to 94.8 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 53.2 FPS, or 35.9%, which is a larger relative decrease than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming more stressed. Still, all settings exceed 90 FPS, making 1440p a strong target for this combo.

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 102.5 FPS average
• Medium: 75.6 FPS average
• High: 56.5 FPS average
• Ultra: 55.9 FPS average

At 4K, the combo's performance varies widely by settings. Low settings deliver 102.5 FPS, which is playable, but Medium drops to 75.6 FPS. High and Ultra are nearly identical at 56.5 FPS and 55.9 FPS, respectively, both below the 60 FPS threshold. The data shows that for 4K gaming, users should stick to Medium settings or lower to maintain smooth frame rates, as High and Ultra offer no meaningful FPS advantage.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest FPS this combo achieves in Thief?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 168.5 at 1080p with Low settings.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K Ultra in Thief?

A: No, at 4K Ultra the combo averages 55.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. For 4K, Medium settings at 75.6 FPS are the highest setting that stays above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F scores 13516 on average, which is 0.1% below the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13534), 0.4% above the Intel Core i7-1250U (13462), 0.6% above the Intel Core i3-10105 (13430), and 1.8% above the Intel Core i7-7700K (13280).

Q: What is the GPU's benchmark percentile and average score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is in the 82nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 39647.

Q: Which resolution provides the best balance of performance and quality?

A: At 1440p High, the combo achieves 99.6 FPS, which is well above 60 FPS and offers a significant visual upgrade over 1080p. This is the highest resolution and setting combination that maintains a large FPS margin.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the GPU is not the primary limiter, as evidenced by the small performance gap between High (139.7 FPS) and Ultra (138.9 FPS). The CPU's 4-core design may limit absolute maximum FPS, but it still delivers over 138 FPS at Ultra, indicating it is sufficient for this game's requirements.