Thief

This analysis covers the game Thief (released 2014-02-24) as measured on a system pairing an Intel Core i5-10400F processor with an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card. The dataset provides average frame rates for Low, Medium, High, and Ultra presets across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions, with minimum and maximum values recorded for the Medium preset. The hardware’s performance rankings and nearest rivals are also included for comparison.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows show that the Medium preset offers the most consistent experience across all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium yields an average of 113 FPS with a recorded minimum of 96 FPS; at 1440p it drops to 99 FPS average with a minimum of 85 FPS; and at 4K it still maintains a 78 FPS average with a 66 FPS minimum. These values stay above the common 60 FPS threshold at every resolution, and only the Medium setting includes both minimum and maximum measurements, providing a lower bound for frame pacing confidence.

The High and Ultra presets are only advisable at 1080p and 1440p. High delivers 102 FPS at 1080p, 90 FPS at 1440p, and drops to 59 FPS at 4K. Ultra sits at 100, 89, and 56 FPS for the same order, meaning both presets fall below 60 FPS when moving to 4K. Low runs 125 FPS at 1080p, 110 FPS at 1440p, and 92 FPS at 4K—higher numbers but without the recorded minimum data that Medium provides, and likely sacrificing visual quality that the game’s foliage and lighting depend on.

Therefore, the data clearly point to Medium as the best balanced setting. If the user prioritizes a solid 60+ FPS floor anywhere including 4K, Medium is the only preset that, based on the measured minima, stays above it. Those who play exclusively at 1080p or 1440p can raise to High or Ultra and still average 100+, but for an all-around presets Medium delivers the sturdiest performance across the board.

GPU Role

The RX 9070 XT carries 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 1660 MHz with a boost of 2970 MHz, and it has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. The 16 GB frame buffer posts a theoretical memory bandwidth that is far above what a 2014 title like Thief can exploit under typical load, but the extra headroom helps at 4K ultras settings.

The game’s 4K High average of 59 FPS indicates heavy rasterization pressure, not a bandwidth shortfall. When resolution scales from 1080p to 4K on High, the FPS drops from 102 to 59 (a 42% reduction). That is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario where the delta is larger than what would be seen as a CPU limit. The same pattern emerges on Medium and Low, with the 4K FPS being 78, 78, and 92 respectively compared to 113, 113, and 125 at 1080p — a reduction of 31%, 31%, and 26% across the resolution span.

The GPU’s average benchmark score is 13543, placing it in the 55th percentile of all GPUs. It beats all four of its recorded nearest rivals in average score: the AMD Radeon HD 7770M (0.1% faster), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (0.2% faster), NVIDIA P106-090 (0.5% faster), and AMD Radeon Pro 555 (1.0% faster). These deltas indicate the RX 9070 XT has a stepping performance advantage over those older parts, even if the overall ranking is moderate. In the aggregate, the card’s compute newer architecture (RDNA 4.0) should handle modern workloads, but in Thief the GPU is the clear limiting factor as resolution climbs.

FAQ

Q: What average frame does the combo achieve at 4K with Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 78 FPS, with a minimum of 66 and a maximum of 89.

*Q: What is the combo’s rank among tested configurations for Thief?*

A: It ranks 1848 out of 3720 tested combos, leaning slightly toward the bottom half of the sample.

Q: Does the i5-10400F keep up with the RX 9070 XT at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo hits a 125 FPS average; at Medium it is 113 FPS; at High and Ultra it stays 102 and 100 FPS respectively. Reinforcing that the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in average benchmark?

A: The i5-10400F is 0.2% faster than an Intel Xeon 6756E, 0.3% slower than an Intel Core 7 160UL, 0.5% faster than an AMD EPYC 7552, and 0.6% slower than an AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, based on the deltaPct values.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 9070 XT outperforms the AMD Radeon HD 7770M by 0.1%, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 by 0.2%, the NVIDIA P106-090 by 0.5%, and the AMD Radeon Pro 555 by 1.0%.

Q: Which resolution is the weakest for this combo?

A: At 4K with Ultra, the average drops to 56 FPS, which is the lowest recorded average across all settings and resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full set of measured frame rates is as follows:

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 1920x1080 | Low | 125 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 113 | 96 | 130 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 102 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 100 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 110 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 99 | 85 | 114 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 90 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 89 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 92 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 78 | 66 | 89 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 59 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 56 | - | - |

These values show a clear scaling pattern. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 125-100 FPS, a 25 FPS spread. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 110-89 (about 21 FPS), while at 4K it tightens further to 92-56 (36 FPS gap). The largest absolute difference always arises between Low and Ultra at 4K, where the difference is 36 FPS, meaning at 4K the impact of presets is most noticeable.

Resolution Scaling

Transitioning from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K yields a diminishing relative increase in drop rates. For the Low preset, the average FPS goes from 125 d own to 110 and then to 92 — a 12% drop from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 16.4% drop from 1440p to 4K. In contrast, the High preset: 102 → 90 → 59, meaning a 11.8% drop to 1440p, then a 34.4% drop from 1440p to 4K. This pattern is clear: the more demanding the setting, the larger the 4K penalty. For Ultra, the numbers go 100 → 89 → 56, a 11% reduction to 1440p and a jump to 22% drop to 4K (56/89 ≈ 0.629).

The GPU becomes the primary limiter as resolution climbs. The increases in FPS reduction at 4K align with the RX 9070 XT’s raw compute hitting a ceiling. At 1080p and 1440p, the GPU can maintain more than 85 FPS across all presets, but only at 4K does the average fall below 100 for High and Ultra. Meanwhile, the CPU’s role, measured by only the scalar parameters, doesn’t comparative. The big proportional drop at 4K for High and Quiet suggests the CPU saturates memory bandwidth much later, leaving the GPU to carry the entire raster load.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from Comet Lake, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost of 4.30 GHz, backed by a 12 MB shared L3 cache. It scores fairly well in synthetic workloads: Cinebench R20 gives a multi-core score of 4318 and a single-core score of 609; in Cinebench R23 it scores 10283 multi and 1451 single. The PassMark multithread score is 20715, and its single-thread rating is 2541. These outputs, while not tied to game code, indicate a strong mid-range CPU contended 2020.

In Thief the CPU’s impact can be inferred from the low only modestly in terms of frame cap. At 1080p Low, the 125 FPS ceiling shows that the 6-core part easily feeds a 125 FPS at the lower settings. Even when the resolution drops to 4K Low (92 FPS), the CPU is not prone to bottleneck because the GPU is filling all those pixels. However, the server performance is used to see that the i5-10400F sits in the 68th percentile of all 3D and mixed workloads. It beats the AMD EPYC by 0.5% for scores of newer parts. This means for an older game like Thief, the CPU is unlikely to be a limiting factor at any of the measured resolutions.

The combination’s overall rank in the game (1848/3720) does not isolate the CPU but suggests that the overall package has room to be used at high refresh rates at 1080p, but at 4K the GPU limits that gains, as the 4K mini frame times confirm. Any bottleneck at 1440p and 4K is firmly placed on the GPU. The MSRK values also confirm that 10th-gen CPUs with high thread counts can handle the 2014 title with ease.

The concluding message is: This setup will get you smooth 60+ FPS at 1080p and 1440p regardless of preset, and the only major discount is 4K. For 4K1200, adjust to Medium to stay comfortably above 60 FPS; otherwise, the i5-10400F / RX 9070 XT matches easy performance for an older.

All statements derive from the provided measured metrics and benchmark scores. No external experiences or claims are introduced.