Thief

# Thief Performance Analysis: Intel Core i5-12400 + AMD Radeon RX 7700

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a playable experience in Thief across most resolution and settings combinations, though the data reveals distinct performance ceilings and scaling patterns. At 1080p, this combo averages between 108 FPS (Ultra) and 170 FPS (Low), while 4K Ultra drops to 43 FPS, indicating that resolution scaling follows expected GPU-bound behavior. The combination ranks 1254th out of 2851 tested combos, placing it in the 44th percentile of all system pairings for this title — a mid-pack result that reflects the balance between a capable six-core CPU and a mid-range RDNA 3.0 GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent pattern: as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, average frame rates decline across every settings tier. At High settings, the drop from 113 FPS at 1080p to 77 FPS at 1440p represents a 31.9% reduction, while moving from 1440p to 4K High reduces performance further to 46 FPS — a 40.3% decline from the 1440p figure. The Low preset exhibits even steeper scaling: 170 FPS at 1080p falls to 134 FPS at 1440p (a 21.2% drop) and then to 79 FPS at 4K (a 41.0% decline from 1440p). This non-linear scaling pattern — where the 1440p-to-4K transition costs more than the 1080p-to-1440p step — is characteristic of GPU-bound workloads with increasing pixel throughput demands.

The Medium preset, which includes min and max FPS data, provides the most complete picture of resolution scaling. At 1080p Medium, the combo averages 148 FPS with a min of 126 and max of 171 FPS. Stepping to 1440p Medium yields 102 FPS (range: 86–117), a 31.1% reduction. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 60 FPS (range: 51–69), representing a 41.2% drop from 1440p. The scaling ratio between settings tiers remains relatively consistent across resolutions — Ultra is roughly 27% slower than High at 1080p (108 vs 113 FPS) and 6.5% slower at 4K (43 vs 46 FPS) — suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth (624.1 GB/s) and 16 GB GDDR6 frame buffer provide sufficient headroom for texture-heavy presets without causing disproportionate penalties at higher resolutions.

The limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU's six Performance cores (with 12 threads) maintain high frame delivery — 170 FPS at Low suggests the i5-12400 can feed frames well beyond typical 60 Hz displays. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (170 vs 108 FPS, a 36.5% difference) indicates that even at this resolution, GPU shading load matters significantly. At 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint: the 79 FPS at Low versus 43 FPS at Ultra (a 45.6% spread) shows that pixel fill rate and shader execution — not CPU throughput — dictate performance. The RX 7700's pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and 25.18 TFLOPS FP32 compute align with these results, as Thief's 2014-era engine does not heavily tax modern CPU architectures.

Settings Recommendations

Across all three resolutions, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience when accounting for both average FPS and frame consistency. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 148 FPS average with a 126 FPS minimum — a 22 FPS buffer above the average that ensures smooth gameplay even during complex scenes. The 126 FPS floor at 1080p Medium is higher than the 113 FPS average at High, meaning Medium provides a more stable baseline despite the lower average. At 2560x1440, Medium averages 102 FPS with an 86 FPS minimum, keeping frame times well below the 16.7 ms threshold for 60 Hz displays and even maintaining playability on 100 Hz panels. The 4K Medium result of 60 FPS average (51 FPS minimum) is the only 4K preset that stays above the 50 FPS playability floor for the entire measured range — High and Ultra at 4K dip to 46 and 43 FPS averages respectively, while Low (79 FPS) sacrifices visual fidelity for headroom.

For users prioritizing competitive or high-refresh-rate play at 1080p, the Low preset's 170 FPS average provides the maximum frame throughput, but the 62 FPS gap between Low and Medium suggests diminishing returns for the visual quality loss. The Ultra preset at 1080p (108 FPS) and 1440p (74 FPS) both remain playable, but the 34 FPS difference between High and Ultra at 1080p (113 vs 108) is marginal — only a 4.4% improvement in visual quality per the settings tier does not justify the frame rate cost. At 4K, the data clearly recommends Medium as the sweet spot: 60 FPS average with a 51 FPS minimum is the only 4K configuration that maintains an acceptable frame floor, whereas High (46 FPS) and Ultra (43 FPS) risk noticeable stutter during action sequences. The Low preset at 4K (79 FPS) is viable for those who prioritize frame rate over graphics, but Medium offers a 24% improvement in visual settings for a 24% FPS reduction — a more favorable trade-off than the 31% FPS drop from High to Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 + AMD Radeon RX 7700 combination ranks 1254th out of 2851 tested combos for Thief, placing it in the 56th percentile of all system pairings. This mid-table position reflects the GPU's percentile VsAllGpus score of 58 (meaning it outperforms 58% of all GPUs) combined with the CPU's percentile VsAllCpus of 72. The discrepancy between the GPU's modest percentile and the CPU's stronger showing suggests that this pairing is CPU-favorable in general benchmarks, but Thief's specific demands — likely heavy on GPU shading and memory bandwidth — pull the combo's overall ranking down relative to what the processor alone might suggest.

Examining the nearest rivals provides context for this ranking. The GPU's closest competitor, the AMD Radeon R9 370X, scores within 0.1% (15862 vs 15852 average benchmark score), yet the RX 7700's modern architecture (RDNA 3.0, 5 nm process) and 16 GB GDDR6 memory should theoretically outperform that older card in most scenarios. The RX 9060 scores 1% higher (16014) and the RTX 3060 Ti scores 1.7% higher (16129), while the Radeon Pro W5500 sits 1.1% lower (15679). These small deltaPct values (all within ±1.7%) indicate that the RX 7700 occupies a tightly contested performance band — a 1% difference in synthetic benchmarks translates to single-digit FPS differences in actual gameplay, meaning the 1254th rank could shift by hundreds of positions with even minor driver updates or game patches.

The combo's rank in Thief specifically (1254 of 2851) suggests that this game is less favorable to the RX 7700 than average. Given that the GPU's percentile (58) exceeds the combo's percentile (56), Thief appears to be a slightly GPU-intensive title that penalizes the RX 7700's mid-range positioning. The CPU's nearest rivals — AMD EPYC 7643 (-0.1%), Intel Core i7-1355U (-0.3%), AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (-0.7%), and Intel Core i3-14100F (+0.9%) — all fall within a 1.6% band, confirming that the i5-12400's performance is well-established and not a bottleneck factor in this pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS values span a wide range across settings. Low averages 170 FPS, Medium 148 FPS (126 min, 171 max), High 113 FPS, and Ultra 108 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 36.5% total reduction in average FPS, with the largest single-step drop occurring between Medium and High (148 to 113 FPS, a 23.6% decrease). The Medium preset's max FPS of 171 FPS actually exceeds the Low average, indicating that frame delivery is not strictly limited by settings tier at this resolution — scene complexity can produce higher peaks on Medium than the Low preset's average suggests.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues with Low at 134 FPS, Medium at 102 FPS (86 min, 117 max), High at 77 FPS, and Ultra at 74 FPS. The gap between Medium and High widens to 24.5% at this resolution, while the High-to-Ultra difference narrows to just 3.9% (77 vs 74 FPS). This compression at the top end suggests that Ultra settings at 1440p provide diminishing visual returns for the marginal FPS cost. The 1440p Medium minimum of 86 FPS remains comfortably above 60 FPS, making this the highest resolution where the combo can guarantee a 60+ FPS floor.

At 3840x2160, the data shows: Low at 79 FPS, Medium at 60 FPS (51 min, 69 max), High at 46 FPS, and Ultra at 43 FPS. The Medium preset's 51 FPS minimum is the only 4K configuration that stays above the 50 FPS threshold for the entire measured range. The 4K Low result (79 FPS) demonstrates that the GPU can handle 4K when shading requirements are minimal, but the 33 FPS gap between Low and Medium (79 to 60 FPS) reveals how quickly the RX 7700's compute resources are consumed by increased texture filtering and lighting effects at 4K pixel counts.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700's specifications directly explain the measured performance in Thief. With 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth — ample for a 2014 title that was designed for GPUs with far less memory bandwidth. The base clock of 1900 MHz and boost clock of 2459 MHz (with a game clock of 2041 MHz) deliver 25.18 TFLOPS FP32 compute, which translates to the 4K Ultra result of 43 FPS. The card's 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 96 ROPs produce a pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s; these figures align with the observed scaling — at 4K, the GPU is pushing approximately 8.3 million pixels per frame, and the 43 FPS Ultra result implies a per-pixel shading cost that the RX 7700's RDNA 3.0 architecture handles efficiently.

The GPU's benchmark scores contextualize its gaming performance. The PassMark G3D score of 20974 places it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, while the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2865 indicates modern API performance. The DirectX 11 PassMark score of 186 (versus 92 for DX10 and 96 for DX12) is particularly relevant for Thief, which launched in 2014 and relies heavily on DX11 rendering paths. The GPU's 40 ray accelerators (RT cores) are largely irrelevant for this title, but the card's 12 Ultimate API support (DX12_2, Vulkan 1.4) ensures compatibility with any post-launch updates. The 200 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest power delivery is not a constraint, and the 550 W suggested PSU provides adequate headroom. The RX 7700's 5 nm TSMC process node (28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die) gives it a transistor density of 81.2M/mm², which contributes to its 2041 MHz game clock — a critical factor for maintaining the 60 FPS average at 4K Medium.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Thief?

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 170, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The 1080p Medium preset reaches 148 FPS average with a 171 FPS maximum.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, but only on Medium settings. The 4K Medium preset averages 60 FPS with a 51 FPS minimum, while High (46 FPS) and Ultra (43 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K Low preset runs at 79 FPS but sacrifices significant visual quality.

Q: How does the RX 7700 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 7700's average benchmark score of 15852 is 0.1% lower than the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862), 1% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014), and 1.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129). It outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679) by 1.1%.

Q: What CPU benchmark scores does the i5-12400 achieve?

A: The i5-12400 scores 15989 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2257 in single-core, 6715 in Cinebench R20 multi-core and 947 in single-core, and 5873 in 3DMark with 16 threads. Its PassMark multithread score is 18747, with a single-thread score of 3456.

Q: Is the Medium preset the best balance for this game?

A: The data indicates yes. At 1080p, Medium provides 148 FPS average (126 min) versus 113 FPS for High. At 1440p, Medium delivers 102 FPS (86 min) versus 77 FPS for High. At 4K, Medium is the only preset that maintains a 60 FPS average (51 min) while High and Ultra fall to 46 and 43 FPS respectively.

Q: What is this combo's overall ranking for Thief?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 + AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1254th out of 2851 tested combinations, placing it in the 56th percentile of all system pairings tested for this game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Alder Lake architecture, fabricated on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 163 mm². Its base clock of 2.50 GHz boosts to 4.40 GHz, providing the single-thread performance that Thief's 2014-era engine requires. The 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2257 indicate strong per-core capability, which is critical for a game that likely uses only a few threads for main game logic. The CPU's 18 MB shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core reduce memory latency, while dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support (the system's actual memory configuration is not specified in the data) provides adequate bandwidth for feeding the GPU.

In Thief specifically, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions. The fact that 1080p Low (170 FPS) and 1080p Medium (148 FPS) both exceed the 1440p Low result (134 FPS) demonstrates that the CPU can sustain high frame delivery at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases. The i5-12400's 3DMark max-thread score of 5890 and 16-thread score of 5873 (nearly identical, indicating minimal scaling beyond 16 threads) show that the processor has ample multi-threaded headroom for older titles. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15989 places the CPU in the 72nd percentile of all processors, meaning it outperforms 72% of CPUs in general compute — a stronger relative position than the GPU's 58th percentile, confirming that the RX 7700 is the more limiting component in this pairing for Thief.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score — AMD EPYC 7643 (-0.1%), Intel Core i7-1355U (-0.3%), AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (-0.7%), and Intel Core i3-14100F (+0.9%) — all fall within a 1.6% performance band, indicating that the i5-12400's overall compute capability is well-established and consistent. However, Thief's specific workload may favor the i5-12400's high boost clock (4.40 GHz) over competitors with more cores but lower clocks, as the game's single-threaded rendering logic benefits from the 3DMark single-thread score of 910. The 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform provide efficient operation, and the CPU's support for PCIe Gen 5 (16 lanes from the CPU) ensures the RX 7700's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface is fully utilized without bandwidth constraints. The i5-12400's integrated UHD Graphics 730 is irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GPU installed, but its presence confirms the processor is a standard desktop part with no unusual power or thermal characteristics that would affect sustained gaming performance.