Thief

The Radeon RX 9070 XT paired with the Intel Core i5-11400F delivers a strong 1080p experience in Thief, but the data reveals a clear shift in system behavior as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080, the lowest preset produces 144.1 FPS, while the Ultra preset yields 118.1 FPS, a narrow 26 FPS spread that suggests the CPU, not the GPU, is setting the ceiling. Moving to 2560x1440, the spread widens dramatically: Low runs at 129.8 FPS while Ultra drops to 96.7 FPS. At 3840x2160, the gap becomes even more pronounced, with Low at 101.7 FPS and Ultra at 54.3 FPS, confirming that the RX 9070 XT’s rendering load becomes the primary constraint only at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a consistent pattern: scaling from 1080p to 4K reduces performance by roughly 28% to 55% depending on the preset. At Low settings, the drop from 144.1 FPS (1080p) to 101.7 FPS (4K) is a 42.4 FPS decline, or about 29%. At Ultra settings, the drop from 118.1 FPS to 54.3 FPS is a 63.8 FPS decline, or about 54%. This asymmetry indicates that at 1080p, the Intel Core i5-11400F’s 6 cores and 12 threads are often the limiting factor, especially on lower presets where the GPU has spare capacity. The CPU’s boost clock of 4.40 GHz and its 12 MB of shared L3 cache are sufficient to keep frame rates high, but they cap performance below what the GPU could theoretically deliver.

At 1440p, the system becomes more balanced. The High preset yields 101 FPS, and the Medium preset 119.3 FPS, both of which are playable, but the Ultra preset’s 96.7 FPS shows the GPU starting to take over. The RX 9070 XT’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth are not yet saturated, but the 256-bit bus width and 4096 shading units are handling the increased pixel load. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck: the difference between Low (101.7 FPS) and Ultra (54.3 FPS) is 47.4 FPS, a 47% swing that tracks directly with the GPU’s pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s. This means that for 4K play, the user must rely on the GPU’s raw compute power, which is substantial but not unlimited.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT’s specifications directly explain the 4K results. Its base clock of 1660 MHz and boost clock of 2970 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz, allow it to scale performance with resolution. The 16 GB VRAM is ample for Thief’s textures, as evidenced by the 4K Ultra preset still averaging 54.3 FPS without signs of memory exhaustion. The 53,900 million transistors on a 4 nm process and 357 mm² die size provide the compute headroom, but the data shows that the GPU’s 48.66 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is the key driver at 4K. At 1080p, the GPU is underutilized — the Low preset’s 144.1 FPS is the highest measured, but it is likely capped by the CPU’s single-thread performance, which scores 868 in 3dmark_single_thread and 2029 in Cinebench R23 single-core.

The GPU’s memory clock of 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective) and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth ensure that the 9070 XT does not starve at any resolution. The data shows that at 1440p, the Medium preset (119.3 FPS) is only 10.5 FPS behind Low (129.8 FPS), suggesting that the GPU’s 128 ROPs and 256 TMUs are efficiently processing the geometry. In contrast, at 4K, the Ultra preset’s 54.3 FPS is just 2.6 FPS below the High preset’s 56.9 FPS, indicating that Ultra settings add minimal extra load beyond High. This is a sign that the GPU’s 64 ray accelerators (RT cores) are not heavily taxed by this game, as Thief relies more on rasterization than ray tracing.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gaming, the Ultra preset is the optimal choice because the measured 118.1 FPS is still well above the 144 Hz refresh rate of most monitors, and the visual fidelity gains from Ultra are free in terms of playability. The Low preset’s 144.1 FPS is only 26 FPS higher, which is imperceptible to most users, so there is no reason to sacrifice image quality. At 1440p, the Medium preset (119.3 FPS) offers the best balance: it is 18.5 FPS faster than High (101 FPS) and 22.6 FPS faster than Ultra (96.7 FPS), while still looking better than Low (129.8 FPS). The data suggests that Medium settings at 1440p provide a smooth experience without the 4K-level drop-off.

For 4K, the choice is more nuanced. The High preset (56.9 FPS) is the only one that approaches 60 FPS, while Ultra (54.3 FPS) is barely below it. The Low preset (101.7 FPS) is playable but sacrifices too much visual detail for a stealth game where ambient lighting matters. The Medium preset (76.3 FPS) is the best compromise, offering a 19.4 FPS advantage over High while maintaining better shadows and textures than Low. Based on the measured rows, Medium at 4K is the recommended preset for a 60 FPS target, while High is acceptable if the user prefers higher quality and can tolerate a 56.9 FPS average.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-11400F + AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combination ranks 625 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the 62nd percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms roughly 62% of configurations. The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus of 75 and the GPU’s percentileVsAllGpus of 82 suggest that the pairing is well-matched, but the combo rank is lower than either component’s individual percentile, indicating that the CPU is holding the GPU back in this specific game. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (0% delta) and Intel Core i5-1240U (0.2% delta), have similar average benchmark scores, but their lower boost clocks (not listed) would likely produce worse gaming results.

The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the AMD Radeon Pro 575 (-0.1% delta) and NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile (0.2% delta), have nearly identical average scores, but the RX 9070 XT’s 16 GB VRAM and higher boost clock give it an edge in this game’s higher-resolution settings. The combo’s rank of 625 suggests that while the GPU is capable of 4K play, the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are not the primary bottleneck at that resolution — the GPU is. At 1080p, however, the CPU’s single-thread score of 868 in 3dmark limits the system to 144.1 FPS max, which is why the combo does not rank higher. Users with faster CPUs would see higher 1080p frame rates, but for 1440p and 4K, this combo is competitive.

FAQ

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

A: Yes, but only at lower presets. The Low preset averages 101.7 FPS, Medium 76.3 FPS, High 56.9 FPS, and Ultra 54.3 FPS at 3840x2160.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The CPU is the limit. The Low preset hits 144.1 FPS, but the Ultra preset’s 118.1 FPS is only 26 FPS lower, showing the GPU has spare capacity that the Core i5-11400F cannot utilize.

Q: How much does the Ultra preset cost in performance at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 96.7 FPS, which is 22.6 FPS slower than Medium (119.3 FPS) and 33.1 FPS slower than Low (129.8 FPS).

Q: What is the best preset for a 60 FPS target at 4K?

A: Medium is the best choice, averaging 76.3 FPS, which is 19.4 FPS faster than High (56.9 FPS) and 22 FPS faster than Ultra (54.3 FPS).

Q: How does this combo rank against all tested systems?

A: It ranks 625 out of 1642 combos, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all tested configurations in Thief.

Q: Does the GPU’s 16 GB VRAM help at 4K?

A: Yes, because the 4K Ultra preset still averages 54.3 FPS without memory-related stutters, confirming the 16 GB capacity is sufficient for this game’s textures.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a narrow range: Low averages 144.1 FPS, Medium 132 FPS, High 120 FPS, and Ultra 118.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 26 FPS, and the difference between High and Ultra is only 1.9 FPS, suggesting that Ultra adds minimal load over High at this resolution. At 2560x1440, the range widens: Low hits 129.8 FPS, Medium 119.3 FPS, High 101 FPS, and Ultra 96.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 33.1 FPS, with High and Ultra nearly identical (4.3 FPS apart). At 3840x2160, the range is the largest: Low averages 101.7 FPS, Medium 76.3 FPS, High 56.9 FPS, and Ultra 54.3 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 47.4 FPS, and the High-to-Ultra difference shrinks to 2.6 FPS, indicating that Ultra’s extra effects are negligible at 4K.

Looking at the scaling across resolutions for each preset, Low goes from 144.1 FPS (1080p) to 129.8 FPS (1440p) to 101.7 FPS (4K), which is a 29.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K. Medium goes from 132 FPS to 119.3 FPS to 76.3 FPS, a 42.2% reduction from 1080p to 4K. High goes from 120 FPS to 101 FPS to 56.9 FPS, a 52.6% reduction. Ultra goes from 118.1 FPS to 96.7 FPS to 54.3 FPS, a 54% reduction. This pattern confirms that higher presets are more sensitive to resolution scaling, which is expected given the GPU’s increased workload at 4K. The data also shows that the 1440p results are closer to 1080p than to 4K for all presets, meaning that 1440p is a sweet spot for this combo, offering 96.7 FPS to 129.8 FPS depending on settings.