Thief

Thief, a 2014 stealth title, remains a demanding benchmark for modern hardware, particularly at higher resolutions. The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT provides a compelling data point, showing a system that handles the game’s DirectX 11-era engine with significant headroom at 1080p but begins to show its limits as pixel count increases. The measured frames per second (FPS) reveal a clear narrative about where the bottleneck lies and how the game scales across its four quality presets.

FAQ

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

A: The benchmark data shows an average of 88.7 FPS at 1920x1080 with the Ultra preset.

Q: How does the RX 6650 XT compare to its nearest rival in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 29024, which is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, which has a score of 29011 and a deltaPct of 0. It is also 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 470.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and High presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves an average of 111.3 FPS, while the High preset drops to 62.8 FPS. This represents a substantial 48.5 FPS difference between the two settings.

Q: Is the CPU more powerful than the GPU according to percentile rankings?

A: Yes, the Intel Core i5-10400F sits in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, while the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, indicating they are closely matched but the CPU has a slight edge in overall ranking.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS recorded is 36.5, which occurs at 3840x2160 (4K) resolution with the Ultra settings preset.

Q: Does the CPU’s single-thread performance suggest it can handle the game’s logic?

A: The CPU’s 3dmark_single_thread score is 688, and its Cinebench R23 single-core score is 1453, which are strong numbers for a 10th Gen part and should be sufficient for Thief’s core game logic.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is the primary driver of visual output in this configuration. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s, which is a critical resource for texture streaming and frame buffer operations in a game like Thief. The GPU’s boost clock of 2635 MHz and game clock of 2410 MHz are the frequencies at which it operates during typical gaming loads, and the data shows these are more than adequate for smooth performance at 1080p.

The GPU’s role becomes more complex as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the card’s 2048 shading units are able to process frames quickly, with the lowest average being 88.7 FPS on Ultra. However, the jump to 2560x1440 shows a significant performance cost, with the Ultra preset dropping to 62.7 FPS. This trend intensifies at 3840x2160, where the Ultra preset yields only 36.5 FPS, and even the High preset struggles to maintain a smooth 40.3 FPS average. The data clearly indicates that while the card is a capable 1080p performer, its 128-bit memory interface and 8 GB frame buffer become limiting factors at higher resolutions, where the demand for fill rate and memory bandwidth grows exponentially. The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 17166 puts it in the 72nd percentile, confirming its position as a solid mid-range performer that is best suited for 1080p and entry-level 1440p gaming.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear guide for the optimal settings preset at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 88.7 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and is the best visual experience available. The High preset at 94.4 FPS offers a minor performance boost with a slight visual sacrifice, but Ultra is the recommended choice for owners of 1080p monitors who prioritize image quality.

For 2560x1440, the High preset is the sweet spot. It produces an average of 62.8 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target, while the Ultra preset drops to 62.7 FPS, a statistically identical result. However, the Medium preset at 84.9 FPS provides a more comfortable margin for demanding scenes, though it comes with reduced visual fidelity. The Low preset at 111.3 FPS is excessively fast and unnecessary. For a balance of quality and performance, the High preset is the best fit, but Medium is a safer choice for maintaining a consistent frame rate.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more challenging. The Low preset is the only option that provides a consistently playable experience, with an average of 66.2 FPS. The Medium preset at 49 FPS and the High preset at 40.3 FPS are below the 60 FPS target, and the Ultra preset at 36.5 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay. Therefore, for 4K gaming, the Low preset is the only viable option for this hardware combination.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined performance of the Intel Core i5-10400F and the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT in Thief places this configuration at rank 1220 out of 1642 tested combos. This ranking, which places it in the 74th percentile of all tested systems, suggests that while this is a competent pairing, many other combinations of hardware deliver higher average frame rates in this specific title. The rank is a holistic measure of the system’s capability across all tested resolutions and settings.

The data implies that this combo is not at the top of the performance hierarchy for Thief. This is likely due to the game’s age and its reliance on specific hardware features. The CPU, which is in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, is not the limiting factor in most scenarios, as evidenced by its benchmark scores. The GPU, while in the 72nd percentile, is a mid-range card that does not compete with higher-tier options that would rank higher. The deltaPct values against the CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.4% difference) and the Intel Core i5-8500 (-1.1% difference), show that the processor is performing as expected for its class. The combination’s rank of 1220 indicates that a large portion of the 1642 tested combos are faster, which reflects the wide variety of more powerful hardware available in the database.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. For the Ultra preset, the average FPS falls from 88.7 at 1080p to 62.7 at 1440p, and finally to 36.5 at 4K. This represents a 29% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 42% drop from 1440p to 4K. This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering load increases dramatically with pixel count.

This scaling behavior strongly indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. The CPU’s performance remains relatively constant regardless of resolution, as its job is to feed the GPU with draw calls and geometry data. Since the FPS drops so significantly when moving to 4K, it shows that the GPU’s compute units and memory bandwidth are being saturated. The difference between the Low and Ultra presets also widens at higher resolutions, with a 61.1 FPS gap at 1080p growing to a 29.7 FPS gap at 4K. This suggests that the GPU’s ability to handle the increased visual complexity of Ultra settings is severely strained at 4K, confirming that it is the bottleneck in this configuration for high-resolution gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The raw data provides a complete picture of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 127.6 FPS on Low, 111.1 FPS on Medium, 94.4 FPS on High, and 88.7 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a smooth and playable experience at all settings, with the step from High to Ultra costing only 5.7 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 111.3 FPS on Low, 84.9 FPS on Medium, 62.8 FPS on High, and 62.7 FPS on Ultra. The performance drop from 1080p is significant, particularly for the higher presets. The gap between Medium and High is 22.1 FPS, which is a substantial cost for the visual upgrade.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 66.2 FPS on Low, 49 FPS on Medium, 40.3 FPS on High, and 36.5 FPS on Ultra. This resolution is clearly the most demanding, and the data shows that only the Low preset maintains an average above 60 FPS. The difference between the Low and Ultra presets at this resolution is 29.7 FPS, highlighting the immense pressure on the GPU’s resources. The complete dataset shows a consistent performance hierarchy across all resolutions, with Low being the fastest and Ultra being the slowest.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz and it boosts up to 4.30 GHz. For a game like Thief, which was released in 2014, the CPU’s single-thread performance is often more critical than its multi-threaded capabilities. The Cinebench R20 single-core score of 610 and the 3dmark_single_thread score of 688 are robust for this generation, indicating that the CPU can handle the game’s primary game logic and physics calculations without becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU’s multi-threading capabilities, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10297, are also relevant. While older games may not utilize all 12 threads effectively, having them available ensures that background tasks and any game engine processes that do use multiple cores will not cause stuttering. The processor’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache is also a valuable asset for game data that is frequently accessed.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration. The FPS scaling pattern, which shows a steep decline with increased resolution, points directly to the GPU as the performance ceiling. The CPU’s performance, as measured by its benchmark scores, is more than sufficient to keep up with the RX 6650 XT at 1080p and 1440p, and even at 4K, it is the GPU that is struggling to maintain high frame rates. The CPU’s percentile rank of 73rd among all CPUs further supports the conclusion that it is a capable partner for this mid-range graphics card in Thief.