Thief

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers a compelling 1080p and 1440p experience in Thief, with the GPU’s 24 GB of VRAM and high memory bandwidth ensuring no bottleneck at these resolutions. At 4K, the combination still manages playable frame rates across all tested settings, with a clear scaling pattern that shows the GPU becoming the primary limiter as resolution increases. The data indicates this combo ranks in the 30th percentile among all tested combinations, reflecting a strong but not top-tier performance profile for this specific title.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in Thief?*

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 146 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest average is 66 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

*Q: How much VRAM does the RX 7900 XTX have, and does it matter for Thief?*

A: The RX 7900 XTX has 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus with 960.0 GB/s bandwidth. For Thief, which is a 2014 game, this capacity is more than sufficient; the data shows no VRAM-related performance cliffs even at 4K Ultra.

Q: Does the i5-11400F bottleneck the RX 7900 XTX at any resolution?

A: At 1080p, the frame rate gap between Low (146 FPS) and Ultra (118 FPS) is 28 FPS, indicating some CPU sensitivity. At 1440p and 4K, the frame rate differences narrow, showing the GPU takes over as the limiting component.

*Q: What is the combo rank of this CPU-GPU pairing in Thief?*

A: This combo ranks 1125 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the approximate 30th percentile of all combos tested.

Q: Which settings preset yields the highest minimum frame rate at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset reports a minimum frame rate of 99 FPS, which is the only minimum recorded at that resolution. The High and Ultra presets do not have min/max values listed.

Q: How does the RX 7900 XTX compare to its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The RX 7900 XTX has an average benchmark score of 19410. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, scores 19334, a delta of 0.4%. The NVIDIA Quadro K5200 scores 19602, a delta of -1%, and the AMD FirePro D300 scores 19637, a delta of -1.2%.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is built on the Navi 31 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture and a 5 nm process node from TSMC, containing 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die. Its memory subsystem is a defining feature: 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, yielding 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. For Thief, a title from 2014, this is an extreme amount of memory bandwidth and capacity. The data supports this: even at 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 66 FPS average, and there are no min/max frame outliers that would suggest memory pressure or stutter.

The GPU’s clock behavior also plays a role. The base clock is 1929 MHz, with a game clock of 2365 MHz and a boost clock of 2498 MHz. These clocks, combined with the 96 ray accelerators and 192 raster operations pipelines, deliver high raw throughput. The pixel rate is 479.6 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 959.2 GTexel/s. In the context of Thief, these figures translate into smooth performance at all tested settings, with the lowest average being 66 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The GPU’s benchmark scores provide a broader view of its capability. The Passmark G3D score is 31238, while the Geekbench OpenCL score is 50465 and Vulkan score is 85612. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 6841. These numbers, while not directly tied to Thief frame rates, indicate a GPU that is well above the requirements for this game. The percentile ranking of the GPU versus all other GPUs is 64, meaning it outperforms roughly two-thirds of all tested GPUs in synthetic benchmarks. The nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the GTX 1060 3 GB (19334, delta 0.4%), the Quadro K5200 (19602, delta -1%), the FirePro D300 (19637, delta -1.2%), and the TITAN Xp (19177, delta 1.2%). These are all significantly older or lower-tier cards, showing the 7900 XTX sits in a distinct performance class.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Thief, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX ranks 1125 out of 3720 total tested combos. This places it in the approximate 30th percentile of all combinations, meaning about 70% of tested combos perform better in this game. The rank is driven by the CPU’s mid-tier performance rather than the GPU’s, as the GPU is clearly high-end for this workload.

To contextualize the rank, consider the CPU’s benchmark standing: the Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17177 and a percentile rank of 71 against all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in average score are the AMD EPYC 7H12 (17120, delta 0.3%), the Intel Core i5-12450H (17239, delta -0.4%), the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (17278, delta -0.6%), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17074, delta 0.6%). These rivals are a mix of server and mobile processors, but the i5-11400F holds its own. Yet in Thief specifically, the combo rank of 1125 out of 3720 suggests that the game’s workload favors other CPU-GPU pairings, likely those with stronger single-thread performance or more cores.

The data indicates that the GPU’s capability is not the limiting factor in the rank. The RX 7900 XTX has a percentile rank of 64 versus all GPUs, which is higher than the combo’s overall rank. This implies that the CPU is holding the combo back from a higher rank, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU’s influence is more pronounced. The difference between the combo’s rank and the GPU’s rank is a clear signal for the CPU’s role.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers high average frame rates across all settings. The Low preset achieves 146 FPS, Medium 132 FPS, High 120 FPS, and Ultra 118 FPS. The Medium preset has a minimum of 112 FPS and a maximum of 152 FPS, providing a full range for that setting. The difference between Low and Ultra is 28 FPS, showing that the GPU is not fully saturated at this resolution; the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as the frame rate does not scale linearly with setting complexity.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 129 FPS, Medium 117 FPS, High 106 FPS, and Ultra 104 FPS. The Medium setting records a minimum 99 FPS and a maximum 134 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 25 FPS, slightly smaller than at 1080p. The scaling pattern indicates the GPU is becoming more of a factor, as the absolute frame rates drop, but the CPU still has some headroom at 1440p.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the averages are: Low 108 FPS, Medium 91 FPS, High 89 FPS, and Ultra 56 FPS. Wait, the data shows: High 89 FPS, Low 108 FPS, Medium 91 FPS with min 77 and max 104, and Ultra 56 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 52 FPS, which is the largest gap across all resolutions. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is the primary limiting component, as the frame rate drops dramatically with higher settings. The 4K results show the combo still maintains playable framerates, with even the Ultra preset reaching 66 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS threshold.

Resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a clear pattern: at Low settings, the average drops from 146 to 108 FPS, a 38 FPS reduction; at Medium, from 132 to 91 FPS, a 41 FPS reduction; at High, from 120 to 69 FPS, a 51 FPS reduction; at Ultra, from 118 to 66 FPS, a 52 FPS reduction. The larger drops at High and Ultra indicate the GPU is more heavily loaded at those settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the best experience at each resolution is a balance between average FPS and the integrity of the preset.

At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 120 FPS, which is only 2 FPS less than Ultra (118 FPS). The Ultra preset provides a negligible visual improvement for a 2 FPS loss, so High is the most efficient choice. The Medium preset at 132 FPS is also viable, but High offers a better visual experience for only a 12 FPS cost. For a 1440p monitor, the High preset gives 106 FPS, which is 2 FPS above the Ultra preset’s 104 FPS. The Medium preset at 117 FPS is the highest non-Ultra option, but High’s visual quality is worth the 11 FPS difference. At 2160p, the High preset delivers 69 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold, while the Ultra preset drops to 66 FPS. The Medium preset at 91 FPS is the best playable high-quality option, but High’s 69 FPS is still smooth. For a 4K experience, Medium is recommended, as it guarantees a minimum of 77 FPS, ensuring no dips below 60 FPS.

In summary, the data suggests that High is the most balanced preset for 1080p and 1440p, while Medium is the optimal choice for 4K to maintain smooth performance without sacrificing visual fidelity.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has 12 MB of shared L3 cache and a TDP of 65 W. The CPU’s benchmark scores show a single-thread 3DMark score of 868, a 2-thread score of 1691, and a max-thread score of 5652. The Cinebench R23 single-core score is 2024 and multi-core is 14340. These numbers indicate a competent mid-range CPU, but not a top-tier one.

In Thief, the CPU’s influence is most visible at 1080p. The frame rate from Low to Ultra at 1080p is only 28 FPS, while the GPU’s load increases, the CPU becomes the limiting factor. At 1080p, the CPU is able to feed the GPU at rates of up to 146 FPS (Low), but the GPU is not fully utilized at lower resolutions. The 1440p results show a similar pattern, but the frame rates are lower, suggesting the GPU is starting to become more significant. At 4K, the CPU’s role diminishes as the GPU takes over, with frame rates dropping to 56-69 FPS.

The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for Thief, a game from 2014 that is likely to utilize a few cores. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz helps maintain high single-thread performance, which is crucial for games. The benchmark data shows a single-thread Passmark score of 2981, which is above average. The CPU’s percentile rank of 71 indicates it outperforms most CPUs in general, but the game’s specific workload may not leverage all cores equally.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS values show a clear scaling trend as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average drops from 146 FPS at 1080p to 129 FPS at 1440p, then to 108 FPS at 4K. This represents a 26% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 16% drop from 1440p to 4K. At Medium settings, the average drops from 132 to 117 to 91 FPS, a 11% and 22% drop respectively. At High settings, the average drops from 120 to 106 to 69 FPS, a 12% and 35% drop. At Ultra settings, the average drops from 118 to 104 to 66 FPS, a 12% and 37% drop.

The pattern is clear: the higher the setting preset, the more the frame rate drops with resolution. For Low, the drop from 1080p to 4K is 38 FPS; for Medium, 41 FPS; for High, 51 FPS; for Ultra, 52 FPS. This suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting component at 4K, as higher settings increase the GPU load. At 1080p and 1440p, the GPU has enough headroom, so the CPU becomes the bottleneck, as seen in the smaller drops between resolutions.

The GPU’s 24 GB of VRAM and high bandwidth ensure that memory capacity is never an issue, even at 4K Ultra. The only limitation is the GPU’s raw compute power, which is why the frame rate scales inversely with resolution and settings. In summary, the data shows that this combo is well-suited for 1440p High to Ultra, while 4K is playable but requires Medium or High settings to stay above 60 FPS.