Thief

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 in Thief delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience. The data shows a combined benchmark percentile placement around the 71st for the CPU and 47th for the GPU, indicating that the graphics card is the more limiting component in this pairing. The measured FPS across resolutions reveals a system that handles 1080p with ease but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K Ultra, making the 1440p High preset the sweet spot for balanced performance and visual fidelity.

Resolution Scaling

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is substantial and clearly illustrates the GPU-bound nature of this combination. At High settings, the system drops from 74 FPS at 1920x1080 to 51 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 23 FPS, and then further down to 30 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 31% performance loss when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 59% loss when moving from 1080p to 4K. The scaling pattern indicates that the GTX 1070's 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus width are being heavily taxed as pixel count increases.

Looking at the Medium preset, the pattern holds: 97 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K (27 FPS) is nearly identical to the drop from 1080p to 1440p (31 FPS), suggesting a linear relationship between resolution and frame rate in this title. This linearity is characteristic of a GPU that is fully utilized at every resolution, with no CPU bottleneck visible in the data.

The Low preset shows the least severe scaling: 128 FPS at 1080p, 88 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result being equal to the 1440p High result (both 51 FPS) reveals that lowering settings can compensate for resolution increases, but only up to a point. The GTX 1070's raw compute power, measured at 6.463 TFLOPS FP32, is the primary driver of these results, with the CPU's 12 threads clearly not being the limiting factor in any resolution tested.

Ultra settings demonstrate the sharpest falloff: 70 FPS at 1080p, 48 FPS at 1440p, and 28 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 28 FPS is below the 30 FPS threshold typically considered the minimum for playable frame rates, indicating that this setting is not recommended for this hardware. The data shows a 42% drop from 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra, and a 60% drop from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 3079 out of 3720 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the 82.8th percentile of all tested systems. This positions the combo in the lower-middle portion of the database, suggesting that most other tested configurations outperform it. The CPU itself sits at the 71st percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 47th percentile among all GPUs, reinforcing the conclusion that the GPU is the dominant constraint in this pairing.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database provide context for its performance level. The AMD EPYC 7H12 scores 0.3% higher, the Intel Core i5-12450H scores 0.4% lower, the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G scores 0.6% lower, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U scores 0.6% higher. These margins are all within 1% of the 11400F's average benchmark score of 17177, indicating that the CPU is performing consistently with expectations for its class.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals show a similar story. The AMD FirePro W5000 scores 0.2% higher, the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M scores 0.5% higher, the NVIDIA Tesla M10 scores 0.6% lower, and the NVIDIA Tesla C2070 scores 0.7% lower. The GTX 1070's average benchmark score of 9780 places it in a tight cluster of GPUs with similar compute capabilities. The GPU's percentile rank of 42 among all GPUs is the key statistic for understanding the combo's overall rank, as it indicates the GPU is performing below the median with the data.

The rank in Thief specifically suggests that the game is somewhat more demanding than the average benchmark would indicate, as the combo's 82.8th percentile ranking is lower than what the individual component percentiles would suggest. This is likely due to Thief's reliance on GPU features like the GTX 1070's 6.4 TFLOPS FP32 performance and its 8 GB of memory, which is higher than many other GPUs in the database.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 70 FPS on average, which is above the 60 FPS commonly considered the threshold for smooth gameplay. However, the High preset offers 74 FPS, a 4% increase over Ultra, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional graphical features cost performance without a proportional visual gain. The Medium preset provides 97 FPS, a 39% increase over Ultra, making it the best choice for players who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the High preset provides 51 FPS, which is the minimum acceptable for general play but not ideal for fast-paced sections. The Medium preset offers 66 FPS, a 29% improvement over High, and represents the best balance between visual quality and performance at this resolution. The Ultra preset at 48 FPS is slightly better than the High preset's 51 FPS, but the trade-off is not substantial for most players.

For 4K resolution, the data shows that none of the presets provide a consistently smooth experience. The Low preset averages 51 FPS, which is playable but visually sparse. The Medium preset's 39 FPS is below the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay, and the High and Ultra presets at 30 and 28 FPS respectively are not recommended for anything other than screenshot purposes. The 4K Ultra setting at 28 FPS represents the worst-case scenario for this combo.

The data indicates that the 1080p Medium preset at 97 FPS is the most reliable choice for a balanced experience, offering 31% more performance than High while maintaining acceptable visual quality. For players with higher-resolution monitors, the 1440p Medium preset at 66 FPS is the recommended compromise. The 4K resolution should be avoided unless the player can tolerate the Low preset's 51 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers resolutions from 1080p to 4K and presets from Low to Ultra. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 128 FPS, the Medium preset 97 FPS with a range of 82 to 111, the High preset 74 FPS, and the Ultra preset 70 FPS. The 58 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p highlights the clear performance impact of the higher presets.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 88 FPS, the Medium averages 66 FPS with a range of 56 to 76, the High averages 51 FPS, and the Ultra averages 48 FPS. The difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p is 40 FPS, a 45% reduction from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset's range of 76 to 56 FPS shows a 20 FPS variance, which is the largest variance recorded in any of the measured rows.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only one that remains at a playable level, averaging 51 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 39 FPS, with a range of 33 to 45 FPS, indicating that the GPU is under stress. The High and Ultra presets average 30 and 28 FPS respectively, both below the standard playability threshold. The 4K Medium's range of 33 to 45 FPS shows a 12 FPS variance, which is notable for a game that does not have heavy CPU load.

The consistency of the data across all resolutions and presets suggests that the GTX 1070's 8 GB memory and 256 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p, but the 4K resolution pushes the GPU to its limits. The 4K High setting, at 30 FPS, is exactly half the 1080p High setting, showing a 100% performance reduction in the worst case. The 1440p High and 4K Low results are identical at 51 FPS, indicating that the game scales linearly with pixel count and settings complexity.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the performance bottleneck in this combo. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but are stressed at 4K. The GPU's 1920 shading units and 64 ROPS are the same hardware that drives the 6.4 TFLOPS FP32 compute rate, which is the key figure for understanding the frame rates measured. The GPU's 150 W TDP and its 267 mm length are typical of the Pascal architecture's mid-range offerings.

The GTX 1070's memory clock of 2002 MHz with 8 Gbps effective and 256-bit bus produces the 256.3 GB/s bandwidth. This bandwidth is the limiting factor at 4K, where the 4K Medium preset's 39 FPS is likely constrained by memory throughput rather than compute. The GPU's 64 ROPS are responsible for pixel fill rate, which at 107.7 GPixel/s is sufficient for 1080p but not for 4K Ultra, where the 28 FPS result reflects the pixel processing bottleneck.

The GPU's performance in Thief is consistent with its benchmark scores. The PassMark G3D score of 13498 and DirectX 11 score of 100 indicate strong performance in the API used by Thief. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 22121 shows the GPU's capability for modern APIs, though Thief's use of DirectX 11 is the more relevant metric for this game. The nearest rival GPUs, such as the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M's 0.5% higher score and the AMD FirePro W5000's 0.2% higher score, confirm that the GTX 1070 sits slightly below the median of all GPUs but within a tight performance band.

The GPU's 8 GB of VRAM is a key factor in Thief's performance. The data shows that 4K Ultra consumes more memory than the GPU can efficiently handle, as the 28 FPS result demonstrates. The 6.4 TFLOPS FP32 rate is the upper bound for compute, and the 107.7 GPixel/s pixel rate is the upper bound for fill. With these figures, the 1080p Medium preset at 97 FPS is the closest to the GPU's optimal performance, leaving little headroom for higher settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and preset for the Intel Core i5-11400F and GTX 1070 in Thief?

A: The data shows the 1920x1080 Medium preset at 97 FPS is the most balanced option, while 2560x1440 Medium at 66 FPS offers a good compromise for higher-resolution displays. 4K should be avoided, as the best 4K result is 51 FPS at Low settings.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its nearest rival GPUs in terms of performance?

A: The GTX 1070 has an average benchmark score of 9780, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD FirePro W5000, 0.5% lower than the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M, 0.6% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla M10, and 0.7% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla C2070. This places it in a close performance band with these workstation GPUs.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the GPU is the clear limiting factor. The CPU's 144 threads are not being fully utilized, while the GTX 1070's 8 GB memory and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are stressed by the pixel count. The 4K High preset's 30 FPS and 4K Ultra's 28 FPS are below playable levels.

Q: Does the GTX 1070's 8 GB of VRAM cause issues at 4K?

A: The 4K Medium and Ultra presets show the GPU struggling, with 39 FPS and 28 FPS respectively. While the 8 GB of memory is sufficient for most 4K textures, the data suggests that the 256-bit bus and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are the limiting factors, not the VRAM capacity.

Q: How does the combo's ranking in Thief compare to the overall component percentiles?

A: The combo ranks 3079 out of 3720 tested combos, placing it in the 82.8th percentile. The CPU's 71st percentile and GPU's 42nd percentile suggest that the GPU is the weaker link, and Thief's performance is particularly sensitive to the GPU's capabilities.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 66 FPS with a range of 56 to 76, while the Ultra preset averages 48 FPS. This represents a 27% reduction in average FPS when moving from Medium to Ultra, and the Ultra's 48 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.