Thief

The pairing of the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D in Thief produces a benchmark set that is heavily dictated by resolution scaling, with the GPU's immense headroom becoming increasingly constrained by the CPU's architectural limits at lower resolutions. The data shows a system that is consistently playable across all tested configurations, but the relationship between settings and frame rate reveals distinct bottlenecks that define the optimal user experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows indicate that the Medium preset is the only configuration providing a complete dataset with both minimum and maximum frame rates at every resolution, making it the most reliable reference point for user experience. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 153 FPS with a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 175 FPS, which represents a 13 FPS improvement over High settings (138 FPS) and a 17 FPS gain over Ultra (136 FPS) at the same resolution. The Low preset achieves the highest average of 169 FPS at 1080p, but this comes with the visual fidelity trade-off that the Medium preset mitigates while still maintaining a substantial performance cushion.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Medium preset again stands out with an average of 135 FPS, a minimum of 114 FPS, and a maximum of 155 FPS. This is 13 FPS ahead of High (122 FPS) and 15 FPS ahead of Ultra (120 FPS), while Low only manages a 14 FPS advantage (149 FPS) over Medium. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset produces an average of 113 FPS with a minimum of 96 FPS and a maximum of 130 FPS, which is 21 FPS faster than High (92 FPS) and 26 FPS faster than Ultra (87 FPS). The data consistently shows that Medium offers the best balance between visual quality and frame rate stability, particularly when considering the minimum FPS figures that indicate frame pacing.

The Ultra preset, while providing the highest visual settings, is the slowest configuration at every resolution, with 87 FPS at 4K, 120 FPS at 1440p, and 136 FPS at 1080p. Given that the minimum FPS for Ultra is not provided, the average figures alone suggest that the performance deficit compared to Medium is not justified by the marginal visual improvements in this title. The recommended experience is therefore the Medium preset, which delivers the most consistent performance metrics across all three resolutions while avoiding the steep performance drop seen at High and Ultra.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. The GPU features a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz for 28 Gbps effective speed. The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s, which is more than sufficient for this 2014 title's modest memory requirements. The GPU's raw specifications include 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, contributing to a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

The benchmark data shows that the RTX 5090 D is severely underutilized in Thief. The GPU's percentile ranking of 92 places it well above average, with an average benchmark score of 77,712 across all tests. However, the measured FPS figures in Thief do not reflect the GPU's theoretical capability. At 4K Ultra, the card produces 87 FPS, which is a modest result for a GPU of this caliber. The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT with a 1.6% higher average score, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB with a 2.1% higher score, and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB with a 2.4% higher score, while the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT trails by 1.1%. These deltas are minimal, indicating that the RTX 5090 D performs near parity with its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks, but the game's actual frame rates are not limited by GPU compute.

Instead, the data suggests that the GPU's frame delivery is constrained by other factors, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU becomes the limiting factor. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what Thief requires, and the memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s ensures that texture streaming and memory access are never bottlenecks. The GPU's FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS and FP16 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1) indicate massive compute headroom that the game engine likely cannot exploit. The RTX 5090 D is effectively operating well below its potential, with the frame rate differences between resolutions revealing that the GPU's role becomes more prominent at 4K, where it still delivers playable frame rates above 87 FPS even at Ultra settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S generation, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. It features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's process node is 10 nm from Intel, with a die size of 163 mm². Its benchmark scores include a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11,860 and a single-core score of 1,674, along with a Geekbench multi-core score of 7,252 and single-core score of 1,932. The CPU's percentile ranking of 68 places it above the median, with an average benchmark score of 13,494.

The CPU's nearest rivals show tight competition: the Intel Core 3 N355 has an identical average score (13,492, 0% delta), the Intel Core i5-9500 is 0.3% higher (13,452), the Intel Core 5 120UL is 0.7% lower (13,594), and the Intel Core i7-1250U is 1.1% higher (13,351). These small deltas indicate that the i3-12100F performs in line with its direct competitors in synthetic tests. However, in Thief, the CPU's 4-core configuration becomes a significant factor. The game was released in 2014, and its engine is not designed to fully utilize modern multi-threaded processors, but the i3-12100F's limited core count still affects performance scaling.

The measured FPS data reveals that the CPU's influence is most pronounced at 1080p. At 1920x1080, the frame rates range from 136 FPS at Ultra to 169 FPS at Low, with Medium at 153 FPS. These figures are notably lower than what the RTX 5090 D could theoretically produce if the CPU were not a constraint. The CPU's passmark single-thread score of 3,444 and multi-thread score of 14,015 suggest adequate single-thread performance, but the 4-core limitation means that the processor cannot feed the GPU enough frames at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. The 3DMark scores reinforce this pattern: 4,023 for max threads, 4,026 for 8 threads, and 2,859 for 4 threads, indicating that the CPU's performance scales well up to its thread count but cannot exceed it.

At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the limiting factor, but the frame rates still do not reach the GPU's full potential. The data suggests that the i3-12100F provides just enough processing power to maintain playable frame rates, but its 4 cores and 8 threads are insufficient to fully saturate the RTX 5090 D's capabilities. The CPU's boost clock of 4.30 GHz helps in single-threaded scenarios, but the lack of additional cores means that background tasks and game engine threads compete for limited resources, potentially causing frame time inconsistencies that are not fully captured by average FPS figures.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 333rd out of 2,851 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the top 11.7% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the overall performance of the system, but the data indicates that the ranking is primarily driven by the GPU's strength rather than a balanced pairing. The combo's rank is notable because the CPU is positioned at the 68th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 92nd percentile, creating a significant disparity in their relative capabilities.

The ranking suggests that the system performs well in absolute terms, but the CPU is the weak link. Compared to other combos, this pairing likely achieves its rank due to the GPU's ability to maintain high frame rates even with a modest CPU. The fact that the combo ranks 333rd out of 2,851 means that there are 332 other combinations that perform better, many of which likely feature more powerful CPUs paired with similarly strong GPUs. The data shows that the frame rates are playable across all settings and resolutions, but the system does not maximize its potential due to the CPU bottleneck.

The ranking also implies that users with this combo will experience a system that is capable of running Thief smoothly, but the performance headroom of the RTX 5090 D is not fully utilized. The GPU's average benchmark score of 77,712 and its 92nd percentile ranking indicate that it is a top-tier component, but the CPU's 68th percentile ranking and 4-core limitation prevent the system from reaching the top echelons of the combo rankings. This is a classic example of an imbalanced pairing where the GPU outclasses the CPU, resulting in suboptimal performance scaling at lower resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Thief?*

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 at Medium settings provides the best balance, with an average of 135 FPS, a minimum of 114 FPS, and a maximum of 155 FPS. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 153 FPS, but the CPU bottleneck becomes more apparent, while at 3840x2160 Medium, the average drops to 113 FPS.

Q: How does the i3-12100F compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13,494, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core 3 N355 (13,492, 0% delta). The Intel Core i5-9500 is 0.3% higher, the Intel Core 5 120UL is 0.7% lower, and the Intel Core i7-1250U is 1.1% higher.

*Q: Does the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM matter for Thief?*

A: The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory is far more than the game requires. The memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s ensures that texture streaming is never a bottleneck, but the game's performance is not limited by VRAM capacity. The GPU's role is constrained by the CPU at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings produce an average of 125 FPS, while Ultra produces 87 FPS. This represents a 38 FPS difference, with Medium at 113 FPS and High at 92 FPS. The Ultra preset is the slowest configuration at every resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 333rd out of 2,851 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the top 11.7% of all configurations. This ranking is driven by the GPU's 92nd percentile performance, while the CPU's 68th percentile limits the overall system.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this pairing?

A: The data indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080, the frame rates range from 136 to 169 FPS, which are constrained by the i3-12100F's 4-core design. At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes more of a factor, but the frame rates still do not reflect the RTX 5090 D's full potential.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average at 169 FPS, followed by Medium at 153 FPS, High at 138 FPS, and Ultra at 136 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one with complete data, showing a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 175 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 16 FPS, while Medium to High is 15 FPS, and High to Ultra is a minimal 2 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset offers little performance benefit over High at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, Low produces 149 FPS, Medium 135 FPS, High 122 FPS, and Ultra 120 FPS. The Medium preset again provides the most complete dataset with a minimum of 114 FPS and a maximum of 155 FPS. The performance drop from Low to Medium is 14 FPS, from Medium to High is 13 FPS, and from High to Ultra is only 2 FPS. The consistency of the 2 FPS difference between High and Ultra across 1080p and 1440p suggests that the Ultra preset's additional visual features have minimal impact on frame rate.

At 3840x2160, Low delivers 125 FPS, Medium 113 FPS, High 92 FPS, and Ultra 87 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 96 FPS and a maximum of 130 FPS. The scaling is more pronounced at this resolution, with a 12 FPS drop from Low to Medium, a 21 FPS drop from Medium to High, and a 5 FPS drop from High to Ultra. The 4K Ultra result of 87 FPS is the lowest measured frame rate in the entire dataset, but it remains playable.

The data reveals that the performance scaling from Low to Ultra is not linear. The largest performance hit occurs when moving from Medium to High settings, particularly at 4K where the difference is 21 FPS. In contrast, the jump from High to Ultra is consistently small, ranging from 2 to 5 FPS across all resolutions. This indicates that the Ultra preset's additional graphical features are relatively inexpensive, while High settings introduce a significant performance cost. The Medium preset stands out as the sweet spot, offering substantial performance improvements over High and Ultra while maintaining the visual quality that Low sacrifices.