Thief

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT delivers consistently high frame rates in Thief, a 2014 stealth title. Across all tested resolutions and presets, the combination produces an average FPS ranging from a headroom-heavy 170 FPS at 1080p Low down to 61 FPS at 4K Ultra. In the global ranking table, this hardware pairing sits at position 815 out of 3,720 tested combinations, placing it in the upper portion of the database. The data shows a clear scaling pattern: the CPU remains capable of feeding the GPU well beyond 1080p, while the GPU’s heavy load at 4K becomes the primary limiter, especially on high or Ultra presets.

The Intel processor, built with 6 cores and 12 threads, offers strong single-threaded performance with a boost clock of 4.4 GHz, while the Radeon RX 7900 XT brings 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit interface, an 800 GB/s bandwidth, and a boost frequency of 2394 MHz. The following sections break down how each component contributes to the observed frame rates and how the pair scales across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-12400 uses an Alder Lake architecture fabricated on Intel’s 10 nm node. It provides 6 physical cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.5 GHz and a maximum Turbo Boost of 4.4 GHz. As a desktop part in the Core 12th Gen family, it is paired with a UHD Graphics 730 iGPU, but for gaming the CPU’s raw compute is sufficient for a game of Thief’s era. The processor’s 18 MB of L3 cache and dual‑channel memory support further support its ability to deliver steady frame rates, aided by its ability to run DDR4 or DDR5 memory.

Looking at the benchmark score sheet, the i5‑12400 records a Cinebench R23 multi‑core score of 15,889 and a single‑thread score of 2,257. These numbers reflect a balanced trade‑off between sustained multi‑core loads and the single‑thread speed that most 2014 titles rely on. Extremely useful in Thief, where the game’s engine often runs the main game loop on a handful of threads, the CPU’s single-core boost (4.4 GHz) provides the scripting, physics, and AI calculations with fast execution. The measured frame times in the game back this up: even at 1080p with LLow settings, the average FPS `170` is only constrained by the V‑sync bottleneck in typical monitors, leaving plenty of headroom. When raising the resolution to 1440p or reducing the settings, the CPU does not throttle; the frame rate shifts in proportion to the graphics workload.

The average score of the i5‑12400 across all its benchmark runs is 18,683, which places the part within the 72nd percentile of in‑house CPU testing – a position that indicates it outperforms the average CPU in the database, more so for a 2022 mainstream part. The nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7643, scores 18,697 (a ‑0.1% delta), and the Intel Core i7‑1355U is 18,730 (‑0.3%), while the lower-spec Intel Core i3‑14100F is 18,519 (0.9% delta). These near‑equal numbers underscore that in terms of aggregate synthesis, the i5‑12400 delivers performance nearly identical to those specific heavy hitters, but with the added advantage of its 65 W TDP and LGA 1700 socket accessibility.

In Thief, the CPU’s role is clearly not a bottleneck at any resolution. Across all measured scenes, the processor is consistently able to feed the GPU with more frames than the GPU can render at 1440p and 4K, causing the system to naturally become GPU bound at higher resolutions. The launch MSRP of $199 reflects this positioning—a strong performer that keeps the average rig cost down while retaining top game.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game’s performance

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is a high‑end GPU based on RDNA 3 architecture using TSMC’s 5 nm node. It packs 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320‑bit bus, carrying an effective 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth, and its game‑oriented clock is 2025 MHz with a boost up to 2394 MHz. The GPU features 5,376 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 192 raster pixels — translating into an FP32 compute of 51.48 TFLOPS. Such a specification is far beyond what Thief requires; the 2014 title originally could be built for systems with only a fraction of these resources. However, having such a large frame buffer and high capacity ensures that any texture detail, dynamic shadows, or ambient occlusion effects the game throws at it are rendered with headroom, even if the engine’s API (DirectX) has not evolved much since launch.

The GPU’s own benchmark summaries: it scores 29,009 on Passmark G3D, 16828 on GPU compute, and 71068 on Vulkan Geek`BENCH – all above average. Its 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs in the database places it just barely below the median for “all graphics cards,” but near rivals like the AMD Radeon 660M (delta ‑0.5%) and NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile (‑0.5%) show that these are not direct comparative cards; those integrated solutions cannot hint at the 7900 XT's raw compute. The RX 7900 XT’s 20 GB VRAM is more than enough to hold every texture Thief in its 4K sets, and its memory bandwidth of 800 GB/s lets the rasterization quickly fill the screen at 4K.

When we map the data from the Thief measured FPS table, at 4K High the average FPS is exactly 64, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 61. The fact that there is gain of just a handful of frames when comed to medium (84) or low (111) shows that at 4K, the high memory resources are already used, and the need for raw compute dominates, where the GPU is the limiting piece. At lower resolutions and presets, the GPU delivers some of the highest possible frame counts in the sample (e.g., 139 at 1080p High, 150 at 1440p Low). This is clearly a GPU-oriented game: while the CPU feeds, the RX 7900 XT remains the steering wheel for the final FPS, demonstrating its performance per watt.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS falls from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured data reveals a predictable scaling pattern: as the resolution spins from 1920×1080 to 3840×2160, average FPS declines significantly at every preset. Taking High as a stepladder: at 1080p High the average is 139; at 1440p it falls to 109; at 4K it drops to 64. The 4K number is about half of the 1080p number, though the exact percentage drop is not listed. For the Low preset, the trend is same but slightly less steep: 170 → 150 → 110, while Medium goes 154 → 136 → 84 and the Ultra falls 137 → 103 → 61.

The fact that the FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p (139→109, a 30 frame difference) is smaller than the mm from 1440p to 4K (109→64, a 45 frame drop) points to a strong scaling, as expected when rendering Geodesic De Bronc more pixels into the same budget. At Low settings, the drop is 20 (170→150) and then 40 (150→110); the 4K – 20% drop in average remains. Taken together, it shows that with the RX 7900 XT the game becomes more and more dependent on the pixel throughput and memory bandwidth, rather than on CPU, as pixels quadruple. If this were a CPU‑limited engine, the test would show the same FPS at 1080p and 4K for a given preset, but rather we see a large decline proportional to raw pixel load. So in Thief, the CPU i5‑12400 is definitely not the constraint at resolutions any lower than UHD, while at 4K the GPU is firmly the limiting factor.

Moreover, the difference to the reduction in FPS from different settings at the same resolution is a clue. At 1080p, Low and Ultra are only 132 frames apart (170 vs 137) – a 33‑frame margin – whereas at 4K Low vs Ultra is 49 frames apart (110 vs 61). The GPU workload scales with both resolution and quality, and the deeper 4K gap underlines that the GPU’s compute capacity, not the CPU POS constrains the highest settings at native 4K. For higher resolutions, maintaining playable frame rates at this combination will require a GPU as strong as the RX 7900 XT.

Measured FPS Breakdown — exact numbers by resolution and settings

The recorded data set includes every FPS average at three resolutions and four quality presets. The following table lists Average (Avg), plus min/max only for the Medium preset, where those two additional fields appear.

| Resolution | Settings (High) | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------------|-----------|-----------|----------|

| 1920×1080| High | 139 | – | – |

| 1920×1080| Low | 170 | – | – |

| 1920×1080| Medium | 154 | 131 | 177 |

| 1920×1080| Ultra | 137 | – | – |

| 2560×1440| High | 109 | – | – |

| 2560×1440| Low | 150 | – | – |

| 2560×1440| Medium | 136 | 115 | 156 |

| 2560×1440| Ultra | 103 | – | – |

| 3840×2160| High | 64 | – | – |

| 3840×2160| Low | 111 | – | – |

| 3840×2160| Medium | 84 | 71 | 96 |

| 3840×2160| Ultra | 61 | – | – |

At lower resolutions, the Low and Medium presets deliver headroom on the 7900 XT: 170 and 154 FPS at 1080p, or 150 and 136 FPS at 1440p, all far above 140 Hz refresh rates. The high and Ultra presets at the same resolution also remain comfortably high (139 and 137 at 1080p, 109 and 103 at 1440p), which means that users will not see any stutter on typical high-refresh monitors. At 4K, the situation is more moderate: the Low preset hits 112 FPS, Medium 84, High 64, and Ultra 61 – still exceeding 60 FPS for all settings, but clearly closing on the V‑Sync threshold on the max‑quality preset.

For those who seek frame-rate ranges, the Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 71 and a maximum of 96; the equivalent 1440p numbers are 115–156; at 1080p it’s 131–177. This range indicates that even at the heaviest tested settings the low-end frame times are within the playable range, with only the Ultra preset at 4K having a min unknown on the pack, which we show as n/a.

How This Combo Ranks — comboRankInGame vs. other tested combinations

The combination rank for this CPU + GPU pair in Thief is 815 out of 3,720 total tested configurations. This means the i5‑12400 + RX 7900 XT is placed in the top 21.9% of all recorded (non‑unique) builds for that game, as the rank number is the percentile position from top to bottom among the 3,720 tested. To put it to perspective, only 814 different combinations in the database exceed this CPU/GPU pair's average frame in the same benchmark. Because the game relies heavily on the graphics card, the high standing is a result of the RX 7900 XT’s compute power and, to a lesser extent, the i5‑12400’s solid multiplayer support.

The pairing sits unlike in the database: In the CPU‐focused benchmarks, the i5‑12400 reaches a 72nd percentile among all CPUs, and the RX 7900 XT reaches 55th percentile among all GPUs. The final game rank (815th of 3,720) is not simply a product of those two percentiles – the game’s specific work load allocation for the CPU and GPU also influence it. But given that the GPU average is at the 55th percentile, the high 815th rank shows that Thief is not oriented to the graphics card’s strong-tier computation, but rather the GPU outperforms its own benchmark median, likely due to the game’s light system requirements and a high frame cap.

Nevertheless, this is a very strong result: 3,720 tested hardware combinations span many previous and loyal hardware pieces, so being among the lowest 250 (or similar) is a good performance summary. The launch MSRP of the GPU (899 USD) may be high, but in terms of absolute FPS this combination consistently reaches above 137 FPS at 1080p and 60-64 FPS at 4K. For those looking for a high fidelity and high refresh rate experience in Thief, this build is a clear candidate.

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