Thief

# Thief with Intel Core i5-10400F + AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

This combination pairs a six-core Comet Lake processor from 2020 with a current-generation RDNA 3.0 graphics card, producing a system that handles Thief's 2014 stealth sandbox with considerable headroom at most settings. The measured frame rates reveal a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, while the CPU's 12 threads provide enough throughput for the game's AI and physics systems. The data shows a combo ranking in the 893rd position out of 1642 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all tested systems for this title.

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

The Intel Core i5-10400F brings 6 cores and 12 threads to the table, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. This Comet Lake architecture chip, built on Intel's 14 nm process, features 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 256 KB of L2 cache per core. The processor's single-thread performance, as measured by Cinebench R23, reaches 1453 points, while multi-core scaling hits 10297 points — a ratio that suggests strong per-core efficiency for a game like Thief, which was released before the era of 8-core dominance.

The CPU's benchmark percentile of 73 places it above most processors, with nearest rivals like the AMD EPYC 7552 showing a delta of just 0.4% and the Intel Core i5-8500 trailing by 1.1%. In Thief specifically, the processor never appears to bottleneck the GPU at 1080p, where frame rates reach 122.9 FPS on Low settings. The 12 threads allow the game's stealth AI and physics calculations to run without stalling, though the data suggests that at 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the limiting factor rather than the CPU.

The PassMark multithread score of 12115 and single-thread score of 2541 indicate a balanced processor. When compared to the nearest rivals, the i5-10400F sits remarkably close to the AMD EPYC 7552 in average benchmark score, with a delta of only 0.4%. This proximity in synthetic benchmarks does not directly translate to gaming performance, but it does confirm that the CPU is not a weak link in this pairing for Thief's workload.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is built on the Navi 32 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The card packs 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. With 3840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units, the GPU's raw specifications are substantial. The boost clock reaches 2430 MHz, while the game clock sits at 2124 MHz, and the pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s helps explain the strong 4K performance.

In Thief, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 122.9 FPS, but at 4K Low, it still manages 90.2 FPS — a drop that indicates the GPU is doing most of the heavy lifting. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what Thief requires, even at 4K Ultra, meaning memory capacity never becomes a constraint. The card's passmark G3D score of 24176 places it in the 76th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals like the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 within 0.2% and the NVIDIA P104-100 just 0.4% ahead.

The RX 7800 XT's 60 ray tracing cores are irrelevant for Thief, which predates ray tracing technology. However, the card's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and 37.32 TFLOPS of FP32 performance ensure it handles the game's older rendering paths with ease. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains 53.3 FPS, which is playable, though not ideal for a stealth game where smooth motion matters.

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

The measured frame rates tell a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p Ultra, the system delivers 102 FPS, which drops to 87.7 FPS at 1440p Ultra — a 14% reduction. Moving to 4K Ultra, the frame rate falls to 53.3 FPS, a 47.8% drop from 1440p. This scaling pattern is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios, where the processor has sufficient headroom and the graphics card becomes the limiting factor.

Comparing Low settings across resolutions reveals a similar trend but with different magnitudes. At 1080p Low, the system hits 122.9 FPS; at 1440p Low, it drops to 109 FPS; and at 4K Low, it reaches 90.2 FPS. The 4K Low figure being higher than the 1080p Ultra figure (90.2 vs 102) shows that settings adjustments can compensate for resolution increases. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution grows with resolution: at 1080p, the difference is 20.9 FPS (122.9 vs 102), while at 4K, the difference is 36.9 FPS (90.2 vs 53.3).

This data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU still contributes meaningfully to performance, as the frame rates are high enough that the GPU is not fully saturated. At 4K, however, the GPU's rendering workload becomes so heavy that the CPU's role diminishes. The 1440p results sit in a comfortable middle ground, with Ultra settings achieving 87.7 FPS — smooth enough for most players.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT ranks 893rd out of 1642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the 54.4th percentile of all systems tested for this game. This mid-pack ranking might seem surprising given the strong individual component scores, but it reflects the fact that Thief is an older title that does not heavily stress modern hardware. Many older, less powerful GPUs can achieve playable frame rates in this game, compressing the performance spread.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the AMD EPYC 7552, AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, Intel Core i5-8500, and AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 — all fall within 1.2% of its average score. The GPU's nearest rivals are similarly close, with the AMD FirePro S9300 X2, NVIDIA P104-100, NVIDIA T600 Mobile, and AMD FirePro S10000 all within 0.7% of the RX 7800 XT's average benchmark score. This clustering suggests that the combo's rank is more influenced by the game's specific optimization patterns than by raw component strength.

The ranking data implies that for Thief, this combo provides a solid but not exceptional experience relative to the full database. The 4K Ultra result of 53.3 FPS is above the 50 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for smooth gameplay, making this combo viable for high-resolution play, but the mid-pack rank indicates that other combinations may achieve similar performance with less expensive components.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Examining the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, delivering 97.5 FPS. This is nearly identical to the 1080p High result of 103.9 FPS, but with 77% more pixels rendered. The 1440p Medium setting also outperforms the 1080p Ultra setting (97.5 vs 102), meaning players can get comparable frame rates with higher resolution and slightly reduced visual effects.

For players prioritizing frame rate above all, the 1080p Low setting at 122.9 FPS provides the highest measured performance. However, the jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs only 11.1 FPS (122.9 to 111.8), which is a reasonable trade for improved visuals. The Ultra preset at 1080p delivers 102 FPS, still comfortably above 60 FPS, making it a viable choice for those who want maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 69.2 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides a playable frame rate with better visual quality than Low (90.2 FPS) while avoiding the drop to 53.3 FPS seen at Ultra. The High preset at 4K (50.6 FPS) is slightly below the Medium setting, which is counterintuitive but reflects the measured data. Players with 4K displays should stick to Medium for the best experience.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Thief at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 53.3, which is above the 50 FPS threshold often cited as the minimum for smooth gameplay.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on Low settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 122.9 at 1920x1080 Low to 90.2 at 3840x2160 Low, a reduction of 32.7 FPS or about 26.6%.

Q: What is the best setting for 1440p gaming?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 achieves 97.5 FPS, which is only 6.4 FPS lower than the 1080p High setting but provides significantly more detail.

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

A: The resolution scaling data indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p, frame rates are high enough that CPU performance still matters, but at 4K, the GPU workload dominates.

Q: How does the RX 7800 XT compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 32619, with the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 at 32540 (0.2% lower) and the NVIDIA P104-100 at 32747 (0.4% higher).

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking in Thief?

A: The combo ranks 893rd out of 1642 tested combinations, placing it in the middle of the distribution for this game.

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

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are 122.9 FPS on Low, 111.8 FPS on Medium, 103.9 FPS on High, and 102 FPS on Ultra. The spread between Low and Ultra is 20.9 FPS, showing that the game's visual settings have a moderate impact at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the results are 109 FPS on Low, 97.5 FPS on Medium, 92.7 FPS on High, and 87.7 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 21.3 FPS, similar to 1080p, but the absolute values are lower across the board.

At 3840x2160, the measured results are 90.2 FPS on Low, 69.2 FPS on Medium, 50.6 FPS on High, and 53.3 FPS on Ultra. Notably, the High preset at 4K produces a lower frame rate than Ultra, which is an anomaly in the data. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K expands to 36.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU's rendering load scales significantly with settings at higher resolutions.

The 1440p Medium result of 97.5 FPS represents the best performance-per-pixel ratio in the dataset, as it achieves near-100 FPS at a resolution that is 1.78 times denser than 1080p. The 4K results show that while the combo can handle the resolution, players should expect to compromise on settings to maintain smooth frame rates.