Thief

The data for Thief with the Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT reveals a classic case of a high-end graphics card being held back at lower resolutions by the CPU, while the GPU takes full command at 4K. The combination of a 6-core, 12-thread Rocket Lake processor with a 16 GB RDNA 2 flagship offers a wide performance envelope that shifts dramatically depending on the workload. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across resolutions and settings, interpreting what the numbers imply about the system's balance and capability.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K shows a significant shift in system bottleneck. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 117.6 FPS, but at 2560x1440, this drops to 92.3 FPS. The scaling continues to 3840x2160, where the average FPS falls to 56.3. This represents a 52% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is increasingly the limiting factor as pixel count rises. The trend is consistent across all settings, but the severity varies.

Looking at Low settings, the 1080p result is 146.5 FPS, which only drops to 130 FPS at 1440p and 96.8 FPS at 4K. The smaller delta between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings (16.5 FPS) compared to High settings (25.3 FPS) suggests that at Low preset, the CPU is holding the system back even at 1440p. However, at 4K, the gap between Low and High settings narrows to 40.5 FPS, reinforcing that the RX 6800 XT's rendering capability is the primary constraint. The data implies that the i5-11400F can feed the GPU adequately up to 1440p, but the card's raw power is best utilized at 4K where the CPU overhead is less relevant.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its benchmark results show a strong single-thread score of 868 in 3dMark single-thread and 2029 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which is crucial for older game engines like the one powering Thief. The processor's multi-thread capability is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14372, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs.

In Thief, the CPU's role appears to be moderating performance at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the 146.5 FPS figure is likely near the maximum the CPU can push, given that the Ultra preset at the same resolution only reaches 117.9 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 28.6 FPS, which suggests that the GPU is not fully saturated at low settings, and the CPU's single-thread performance becomes the limiting factor. The i5-11400F's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U with a delta of 0%, and the Intel Core i7-1260P at -0.2%, show that this CPU is competitive in general benchmarks, but its performance in Thief is more dependent on the game's specific thread utilization.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the most balanced experience appears to be at 2560x1440 with High settings, yielding 92.3 FPS. This resolution offers a substantial visual upgrade over 1080p while maintaining a frame rate that is smooth for most displays. At 4K, the High preset drops to 56.3 FPS, which is playable but approaches the lower threshold for fast-paced action. The Medium preset at 4K provides 70 FPS, which is a better compromise for those prioritizing resolution over maximum fidelity.

For 1920x1080, the Ultra preset at 117.9 FPS is nearly identical to the High preset at 117.6 FPS, indicating that the game's Ultra settings add minimal overhead at this resolution. This suggests that players with 1080p monitors can run Ultra without sacrificing performance. However, the data shows that the Low preset at 1080p (146.5 FPS) does not offer a proportional improvement over Medium (132.6 FPS), implying that the CPU is capping the frame rate around the 130-150 FPS range. Therefore, the best experience per the measured rows is either 1080p Ultra or 1440p High, depending on the user's preference for resolution versus frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the i5-11400F and RX 6800 XT ranks 659 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the upper half of configurations. This ranking is somewhat modest given the GPU's individual performance, which sits in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. The discrepancy suggests that the CPU is dragging down the overall combo ranking in this specific title.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A550M with a delta of 0.5%, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER at 2.6%, indicating that the RX 6800 XT is competitive with modern mid-to-high-end cards. However, the combo's rank of 659 shows that in Thief, the CPU's 6-core, 12-thread configuration is not fully leveraging the GPU's potential at all resolutions. Other combos with faster single-thread CPUs likely achieve higher rankings, as Thief's engine appears to favor strong single-core performance. The data implies that while this combo is capable, it is not optimized for this game's specific demands, and users might see better results with a newer CPU.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo can achieve in Thief?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 146.5, which occurs at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the i5-11400F compare to its nearest CPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17189) and the Intel Core i7-1260P (17212), with deltas of 0% and -0.2%, respectively.

*Q: Is the RX 6800 XT's 16 GB VRAM a factor in Thief?*

A: The GPU's 16 GB memory is more than sufficient for Thief, as the game is from 2014 and does not have demanding VRAM requirements. The bottleneck is more likely related to processing power than memory capacity.

Q: At which resolution does the CPU become less of a bottleneck?

A: At 3840x2160, the CPU's influence diminishes, as the GPU is heavily loaded. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 40.8 FPS, compared to 28.6 FPS at 1080p, indicating the GPU is the primary driver at 4K.

*Q: How does the combo's ranking in Thief reflect its overall performance?*

A: The combo ranks 659 out of 1642, which is in the 60th percentile. This is lower than the GPU's individual 87th percentile, suggesting the CPU is a limiting factor in this game.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Medium and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium yields 116.9 FPS, while Ultra yields 89.7 FPS, a difference of 27.2 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS scales from 146.5 at Low to 132.6 at Medium, then 117.6 at High, and 117.9 at Ultra. The minimal difference between High and Ultra (0.3 FPS) is notable, indicating that the Ultra preset does not significantly impact the GPU at this resolution. At 2560x1440, the results are 130.0 for Low, 116.9 for Medium, 92.3 for High, and 89.7 for Ultra. The drop from Medium to High is 24.6 FPS, which is a steeper penalty than at 1080p. At 3840x2160, the scores are 96.8 for Low, 70.0 for Medium, 56.3 for High, and 56.0 for Ultra. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 0.3 FPS, similar to 1080p, but the overall performance is much lower. The data shows a clear pattern: the GPU's performance scales predictably with settings, but the CPU becomes less of a factor as resolution increases.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is a high-end card with a boost clock of 2250 MHz and 4608 shading units. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s, which is ample for Thief's textures and effects. The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks is strong, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3689 and a Passmark G3D score of 24980, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs.

In Thief, the GPU's role is decisive at 4K, where the average FPS at High settings is 56.3, and at Ultra it drops to 56.0. This tiny difference suggests that the game's Ultra settings are not adding significant load beyond High, and the card's raw compute power is the primary factor. The GPU's nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA RTX A1000 with a delta of -1.7%, show that the RX 6800 XT is slightly ahead, but the card's 20.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is likely what drives its 4K results. At lower resolutions, the GPU is often underutilized, as evidenced by the 146.5 FPS at 1080p Low, which is likely a CPU limit rather than a GPU limit. The data indicates that the RX 6800 XT is capable of much higher frame rates, but only when paired with a CPU that can keep up.