Thief

The data for _Thief_ with the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 shows a combination that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet still delivers excellent performance across all settings. At 1080p, the CPU's 6-core/12-thread Rocket Lake architecture proves sufficient to keep the frame rate high, but the RTX 4090’s immense power is the dominant factor in determining overall frame rates. The measured results indicate that this pairing is capable of delivering a highly playable experience at every tested setting and resolution, with the primary trade-off being between visual fidelity and raw frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

The best experience in _Thief_ with this hardware depends largely on the target display resolution, but the data shows a clear pattern: the High preset offers the most balanced combination of visual quality and performance. At 4K, High settings produce an average of 82.1 FPS, which is a minor 2.6% drop from the Ultra preset’s 80 FPS. This negligible difference makes High the superior choice, as it frees up GPU resources without a meaningful visual penalty. Moving down to Medium at 4K yields 100.6 FPS, but the jump to High is only a 18.4% reduction in frame rate, which is a reasonable cost for improved image quality.

At 1440p, the High preset again stands out, delivering 108.2 FPS. This is only 2.9% slower than the Ultra preset’s 105.1 FPS, yet it provides a smoother experience. The Medium preset at 115.3 FPS offers a 6.6% advantage over High, but the visual difference between Medium and High is typically more noticeable than that between High and Ultra. For 1080p users, the High preset’s 120.1 FPS is a superb target, as it already exceeds the refresh rate of most standard monitors. While the Low preset pushes to 145.8 FPS, the visual compromise is significant, and the marginal gain over High (21.4%) does not justify the loss of detail.

Therefore, the recommended approach is to use the High preset for all resolutions. It provides a consistent frame rate that is over 80 FPS at 4K and above 108 FPS at 1440p, making it the most efficient setting for this specific CPU-GPU combination. Ultra is only advisable for users who prioritize maximum visual fidelity over the small FPS gain, while Low and Medium are best reserved for competitive play or if the user prefers higher frame rates over visual polish.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the undisputed performance driver in this configuration. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, which is more than sufficient for _Thief_'s textures and assets at any resolution. The GPU’s 16,384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units handle the game’s rendering with ease, evidenced by the high frame rates even at 4K. The base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz allow the card to sustain high throughput, as the measured results show only a 35.3% drop in FPS from 1080p Low to 4K Low (from 145.8 to 107.3 FPS), indicating that the GPU is scaling well with workload.

The data suggests that the RTX 4090 is not being fully utilized at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 28.1 FPS (from 145.8 to 117.7), which is a relatively small range, suggesting the CPU might be providing a slight bottleneck at the lowest settings. However, at 4K, the spread widens to 27.3 FPS (from 107.3 Low to 80 Ultra), showing that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as resolution increases. The GPU’s 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores are present but not directly relevant to this game's measured data, as no ray tracing-specific metrics are provided. The card’s 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance reflects its raw compute capability, which is reflected in the consistently high frame rates across all test scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but not linear across all settings. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 120.1 at 1080p to 108.2 at 1440p (a 9.9% decrease), and then to 82.1 at 4K (a 24.1% decrease from 1440p). This pattern indicates that the RTX 4090 has enough headroom at 1080p to maintain high frame rates, but the rendering load at 4K begins to tax the GPU more heavily. The Low settings show a similar trend, with 145.8 FPS at 1080p dropping to 132.1 at 1440p (a 9.4% decrease) and then to 107.3 at 4K (a 18.8% decrease from 1440p).

The scaling behavior reveals that the CPU is less of a constraint at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the i5-11400F’s performance is adequate, as the frame rates are high, but the relatively small difference between Low and Ultra (28.1 FPS) suggests the CPU is keeping pace. As resolution increases, the GPU workload grows, and the CPU’s influence diminishes. For instance, at 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra is 27.3 FPS, which is similar to 1080p, but the overall frame rates are lower, confirming that the GPU is now the bottleneck. The data shows that this combo is well-balanced for 1440p and 4K gaming, where the GPU’s capabilities are fully leveraged, while at 1080p, the system is often limited by the CPU’s ability to feed the GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achieved with this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 145.8 at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the Ultra preset at 4K compare to High at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 80 FPS, while High averages 82.1 FPS. The difference is a 2.6% performance drop for Ultra, which is minimal.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck for this GPU at 1080p?

A: The data suggests a slight CPU limitation at 1080p. The FPS range between Low (145.8) and Ultra (117.7) is only 28.1 FPS, indicating that the CPU cannot fully saturate the GPU at the lowest settings.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1440p and 4K at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 115.3 at 2560x1440 to 100.6 at 3840x2160, representing a 12.7% decrease.

Q: Which resolution offers the best balance of performance and quality?

A: 2560x1440 with High settings provides an excellent balance, achieving 108.2 FPS while maintaining high visual fidelity.

Q: Does the RTX 4090 have enough VRAM for this game?

A: The RTX 4090 features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory, which is far beyond the requirements of _Thief_, a game from 2014. The memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s ensures no memory-related performance issues are observed.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 466th out of 1642 tested combos for _Thief_. This places it in the 71.6th percentile of all configurations, indicating that it performs better than a majority of systems. The high ranking is largely attributable to the RTX 4090’s raw power, as the CPU’s own benchmark scores are moderate. The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rivals being the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (0% delta) and Intel Core i7-1260P (-0.2% delta).

The GPU, with an average benchmark score of 66473, ranks in the 91st percentile of all GPUs, and its closest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (-0.4% delta) and NVIDIA Tesla P40 (0.5% delta). The combo’s rank of 466 suggests that while the GPU is top-tier, the CPU’s mid-range standing prevents the system from reaching the very top of the rankings. This indicates that for _Thief_, a more powerful CPU could potentially unlock even higher frame rates, especially at 1080p where the CPU is more likely to be a limiting factor. However, the current configuration still delivers a smooth experience at all resolutions, making it a strong performer for this title.