Thief

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 places at rank 1204 out of 3720 tested combinations in Thief. This position, within the top third of all recorded combos, reflects a system that is clearly above the median for this title, though not at the very apex of the leaderboard. The rank indicates that while this pairing delivers strong frame rates across most settings, there are numerous other configurations—likely featuring higher-tier CPUs or more specialized hardware—that edge it out in this particular game's engine.

Benchmark results show the combo's performance is anchored by the GPU's substantial compute capability. The RTX 5070 sits at the 82nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40377. Its nearest rivals in the synthetic suite are the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (scoring 40318, a 0.1% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 (scoring 40063, a 0.8% delta), placing the 5070 in a tightly contested mid-to-high tier of graphics hardware. Conversely, the i5-11400F holds the 71st percentile among all CPUs, with an average score of 17177, and its closest competitor in the synthetic data is the AMD EPYC 7H12 at 17120 (a 0.3% delta) and the Intel Core i5-12450H at 17239 (a -0.4% delta). This suggests the CPU is a moderate performer, neither a bottleneck at lower resolutions nor a standout at higher ones, but sufficient to feed the RTX 5070 in most scenarios.

In Thief specifically, the rank of 1204 out of 3720 suggests that the overall experience is smooth, with the GPU carrying most of the load. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo still manages an average of 60 FPS, which is the baseline for playability, while at 1080p Low it reaches 146 FPS, indicating headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. The combination's rank is not a reflection of any single component's failure, but rather the aggregate position of a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU, a configuration that yields diminishing returns in a game that is likely more dependent on raw pixel throughput than on multi-threaded processing.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 118 FPS, which is only 2 FPS lower than the High preset's 120 FPS and 14 FPS lower than Medium's 132 FPS. The jump from Low (146 FPS) to Ultra (118 FPS) is a 28 FPS drop, but the visual fidelity gain is substantial. For a 60 Hz or 144 Hz display, the Ultra preset at 1080p is the optimal choice, as it maintains a frame rate well above the refresh threshold while maximizing image quality.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts slightly. High settings produce an average of 106 FPS, while Ultra yields 103 FPS—a mere 3 FPS difference. This indicates that the game's Ultra preset at 1440p is not significantly more demanding than High, making Ultra the preferred option for users with a 1440p monitor, as the performance cost is negligible relative to the quality improvement. Medium at 117 FPS offers a middle ground, but the data suggests that the step from Medium to Ultra is only a 14 FPS loss, which is acceptable for most users.

At 4K, the Preset choice becomes critical. Ultra averages 60 FPS, which is exactly at the threshold for smooth gameplay, but High averages 63 FPS, providing a slight buffer. Medium averages 83 FPS with a minimum of 71 FPS, offering a more comfortable margin above the 60 FPS baseline. For 4K, the Medium preset is recommended as the best balance, as it delivers a 38% higher average frame rate than Ultra (83 vs 60 FPS) while still providing a visual upgrade over Low (108 FPS). The Low preset at 4K (108 FPS) is playable but sacrifices too much visual detail for a game that thrives on atmospheric lighting and shadow work.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU limitation at higher resolutions, but with a nuanced twist at lower settings. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops from 118 FPS at 1080p to 103 FPS at 1440p (a 12.7% decrease) and then to 60 FPS at 4K (a 41.7% decrease from 1440p). This steep decline from 1440p to 4K—a 43 FPS loss—indicates that the RTX 5070's pixel throughput is the primary constraint, as the resolution increase demands exponentially more shading and rasterization work.

At Low settings, the scaling is less severe but still notable: 146 FPS at 1080p, 129 FPS at 1440p (an 11.6% drop), and 108 FPS at 4K (a 16.3% drop from 1440p). The smaller percentage drop at Low settings suggests that the CPU is beginning to play a more significant role, as the GPU has ample headroom to render simple scenes, and the i5-11400F's single-thread performance (a 3dmark single-thread score of 868) becomes a limiting factor. However, the data shows that even at 4K Low, the combo still achieves over 100 FPS, which is impressive for a 2014 title.

The Medium settings row provides the most granular data, with min and max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 132 FPS with a minimum of 112 and maximum of 152, showing a 40 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 117 FPS with a min of 99 and max of 134, a 35 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 83 FPS with a min of 71 and max of 96, a 25 FPS spread. The narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is becoming the bottleneck, as frame times become more consistent under heavy load, whereas at lower resolutions, CPU-driven frame pacing variations create larger swings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS table for this combo in Thief is as follows:

1080p:

• Low: 146 FPS average
• Medium: 132 FPS average (min 112, max 152)
• High: 120 FPS average
• Ultra: 118 FPS average

1440p:

• Low: 129 FPS average
• Medium: 117 FPS average (min 99, max 134)
• High: 106 FPS average
• Ultra: 103 FPS average

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 108 FPS average
• Medium: 83 FPS average (min 71, max 96)
• High: 63 FPS average
• Ultra: 60 FPS average

The data reveals that the step from Low to Medium at each resolution is the most significant performance hit. At 1080p, the drop is 14 FPS (146 to 132); at 1440p, it is 12 FPS (129 to 117); and at 4K, it is 25 FPS (108 to 83). This suggests that the Medium preset introduces a substantial increase in rendering complexity, likely through additional texture detail and shadow calculations. The transition from Medium to High is smaller (12 FPS at 1080p, 11 FPS at 1440p, 20 FPS at 4K), and from High to Ultra is minimal (2 FPS at 1080p, 3 FPS at 1440p, 3 FPS at 4K), indicating that Ultra is a marginal upgrade over High in this title.

Notably, the 4K High and Ultra presets both hover around 60 FPS, which is a critical threshold. The High preset's 63 FPS average provides a slight safety margin, while Ultra's 60 FPS is exactly at the boundary. Players with adaptive sync displays will find either acceptable, but for those with fixed 60 Hz monitors, High is the safer choice to avoid dips below the refresh rate. The Medium preset at 4K, with its 83 FPS average and 71 FPS minimum, ensures that even the worst-case frame time stays well above 60 FPS, making it the most robust option for consistent gameplay.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the measured results. The GPU is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process, featuring 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is ample for Thief, a game released in 2014 that does not demand high VRAM capacity; the 12 GB allocation ensures no texture swapping occurs even at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's clock speeds—a base of 2325 MHz and a boost of 2512 MHz—are relatively high, which contributes to its strong raw compute performance. The 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines provide a robust foundation for pixel-heavy workloads. The pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s are critical metrics for a game like Thief, which relies heavily on shadow mapping and ambient occlusion effects. These rates allow the GPU to maintain high fill rates, which is why the 4K Ultra preset still achieves 60 FPS despite the resolution's demands.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 30.87 TFLOPS is a strong indicator of its ability to handle complex shader programs. In Thief, which uses DirectX 11-era rendering techniques, this compute power is leveraged for lighting calculations and post-processing effects. The data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, as evidenced by the significant FPS drop from 1440p to 4K at all settings. The RTX 5070's percentile ranking of 82 places it well above the median GPU, and its synthetic scores—notably the 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077 and the Passmark G3D score of 29137—confirm its high-end status, though it is not at the very top tier, as indicated by its nearest rival deltas of up to 2% from the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Thief at 4K Ultra with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, the data shows an average of 60 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is exactly at the threshold for smooth gameplay, though the High preset (63 FPS) offers a slightly more comfortable margin.

Q: What is the best preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 averages 103 FPS, which is only 3 FPS lower than High (106 FPS). Given the negligible performance difference, Ultra provides the best visual experience without a meaningful FPS penalty.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The data suggests a potential CPU limitation at 1080p Low, where the average FPS is 146. This is the highest measured value, and the i5-11400F's single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 868) may cap frame rates in less GPU-intensive scenes.

Q: How much VRAM does Thief need, and does this GPU have enough?

A: The RTX 5070 has 12 GB of GDDR7 memory. Thief, being a 2014 title, does not require high VRAM capacity, so this configuration has ample memory headroom, even at 4K with Ultra textures.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum FPS is 112; at 1440p Medium, it is 99; and at 4K Medium, it is 71. These minimums indicate that the Medium preset maintains frame times above the 60 FPS threshold at all resolutions.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40377. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 580, scores 40318 (a 0.1% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 scores 40063 (a 0.8% delta). This indicates the 5070 performs within a tight cluster of similarly capable GPUs.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F plays a supporting but essential role in this combo, and its specifications are well-matched to the RTX 5070's capabilities in Thief. The CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its cache hierarchy—80 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 12 MB shared L3—is typical for a mid-range desktop processor. The architecture is Rocket Lake, built on a 14 nm process, and it supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s.

In Thief, which is a game that does not heavily utilize multi-threading due to its 2014 release date, the CPU's single-thread performance is more critical than its multi-core capabilities. The 3dmark single-thread score of 868 and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024 indicate strong per-core performance for a processor of its generation. This is sufficient to feed the GPU at most settings, as evidenced by the high FPS at 1080p Low (146 FPS) and 1440p Low (129 FPS).

However, the CPU's multi-threaded performance is also adequate for the game's background tasks and any concurrent applications. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14340 and the Passmark multithread score of 16908 show that the 6-core/12-thread configuration can handle modern system overhead without issue. The CPU's percentile ranking of 71 places it above the median for all CPUs, and its nearest rivals in the synthetic data—such as the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% delta) and the Intel Core i5-12450H (-0.4% delta)—show that it sits in a dense performance band where minor clock differences translate to negligible FPS changes in games.

The data does not show a severe CPU bottleneck at any resolution, as the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent with GPU limitation. The largest FPS drop from 1080p to 4K occurs at Ultra settings (58 FPS difference), which is expected for a GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the drop is 38 FPS, which is smaller but still indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter. The CPU's 65 W TDP and end-of-life production status suggest it is a budget-conscious choice, but its performance in this game is more than adequate to deliver a smooth experience across all tested configurations.