Thief

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a playable experience in Thief across most settings, but the data clearly shows where this combination excels and where it struggles. Benchmark results for this 2014 stealth title indicate that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, while the CPU provides ample headroom for high frame rates at 1080p. The measured FPS rows reveal a system that can push well past 100 frames per second at lower settings, yet falls below 60 at 4K Ultra, making preset selection critical for a smooth experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for this pairing in Thief points to Medium settings as the optimal balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 130 FPS, with a minimum of 110 and a maximum of 149. That minimum frame rate is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold, ensuring consistent gameplay without noticeable hitches. The High preset at the same resolution drops to 99 FPS average, which is still smooth, but the Medium preset offers a wider safety margin for demanding scenes. For users with 144Hz displays, the Low preset at 1080p reaches 170 FPS average, but the visual downgrade is substantial for a game that relies on atmospheric lighting and shadow play.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Medium preset again stands out. The average of 89 FPS, with a minimum of 76 and a maximum of 102, keeps the experience fluid on most 1440p monitors. High at this resolution produces 68 FPS average, which is playable but leaves less headroom for drops during intense stealth sequences. Ultra at 1440p dips to 65 FPS average, and while that is technically above 60, the measured minimum is not recorded, suggesting potential instability. The Low preset at 1440p hits 117 FPS average, but similar to the 1080p case, the visual compromise is severe for a game that uses darkness and contrast as core mechanics.

At 3840x2160, the story changes dramatically. Medium is the only preset that provides a recorded minimum frame rate, sitting at 45 FPS with an average of 52 and a maximum of 60. That 45 FPS floor is below the ideal 60, but it is the most consistent option at 4K. High and Ultra at 4K average 40 and 38 FPS respectively, with no recorded minimums, indicating these settings are not suitable for sustained play. The Low preset at 4K reaches 69 FPS average, which is the only 4K option that clears 60, but it strips away most of the graphical features that define the game's moody aesthetic. For the best overall experience, Medium at 1080p or 1440p is the clear recommendation, with the latter offering a resolution upgrade at a modest frame rate cost.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the dominant component in this pairing for Thief, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. That memory configuration is sufficient for this game at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results suggest it becomes a bottleneck at higher pixel counts. The GPU's clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. The high boost clock helps maintain frame rates in less demanding scenes, but the overall throughput is capped by the 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs.

The RX 9060's compute capabilities, measured at 21.43 TFLOPS for FP32, are substantial for a game from 2014, yet the benchmark data shows that Thief does not fully utilize this power at higher resolutions. The GPU's pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s are the theoretical limits, but the actual performance at 4K Ultra (38 FPS average) indicates that memory bandwidth and fill rate constraints kick in. The DirectX 11 benchmark score of 182 from Passmark is relevant here, as Thief primarily uses DX11, and the GPU's performance in that API directly translates to the measured FPS.

The GPU's 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the mid-range tier, and its average benchmark score of 16014 is close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which scores 16129. That comparison is telling: the RX 9060 sits just 0.7% behind the RTX 3060 Ti in average score, yet in Thief, the measured results show that the RX 9060 can push 170 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating the game is not overly demanding on the GPU's raw compute. The 8 GB VRAM is adequate for the textures and geometry in Thief, but the 128-bit bus limits how quickly data can be fed to the shading units, which becomes more apparent as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K in Thief is steep, and the data quantifies this precisely. At Medium settings, the average frame rate falls from 130 FPS at 1920x1080 to 89 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 41 FPS, and then to 52 FPS at 3840x2160, another drop of 37 FPS. That represents a 60% decrease in average FPS from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings. The trend is consistent across all presets: High goes from 99 FPS at 1080p to 68 FPS at 1440p and 40 FPS at 4K, while Low goes from 170 FPS to 117 FPS to 69 FPS. Ultra follows the same pattern, with 94 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 38 FPS at 4K.

This scaling pattern strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting component as resolution increases. The CPU, an Intel Core i5-12400, has ample processing power, as evidenced by its ability to maintain 170 FPS at 1080p Low without a recorded minimum FPS drop. The fact that 4K Ultra produces 38 FPS average, nearly identical to 4K High at 40 FPS, suggests that the GPU hits a hard wall around 40 FPS at that resolution, regardless of settings. This is characteristic of a memory bandwidth or fill rate limitation rather than a compute bottleneck.

The percentage drops are revealing. From 1080p to 1440p at Medium, the FPS drops by 31.5%. From 1440p to 4K at Medium, it drops by 41.6%. The larger drop at higher resolution confirms that the GPU's 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient to feed the pixel pipeline at 4K. The minimum FPS data at Medium settings further supports this: at 1080p, the minimum is 110 FPS; at 1440p, it falls to 76 FPS; and at 4K, it collapses to 45 FPS. The minimum FPS at 4K is only 34.6% of the 1080p minimum, showing that not only average performance but also frame consistency degrades sharply with resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings is playable. Low settings produce an average of 170 FPS, with no recorded minimum or maximum, indicating the frame rate is consistently high. Medium settings yield 130 FPS average, with a minimum of 110 and a maximum of 149, providing a stable experience. High settings average 99 FPS, and Ultra averages 94 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is small, only 5 FPS, suggesting that Ultra adds minimal visual benefit for the performance cost. The minimum FPS for High and Ultra is not recorded, but the averages are close enough that either is viable for 60Hz displays.

At 2560x1440, the results show a clear tiering. Low settings average 117 FPS, which is still excellent for 1440p. Medium settings average 89 FPS, with a minimum of 76 and a maximum of 102, making it the sweet spot for high refresh rate monitors in this resolution. High settings average 68 FPS, and Ultra averages 65 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra narrows to just 3 FPS, reinforcing that Ultra is not worth the extra load. The minimum FPS for High and Ultra is not recorded, but the averages suggest they hover near the 60 FPS threshold, which could result in occasional dips below that level during complex scenes.

At 3840x2160, the measured data reveals the hardware's limits. Low settings average 69 FPS, the only 4K preset above 60. Medium settings average 52 FPS, with a minimum of 45 and a maximum of 60, which is borderline playable but not ideal. High settings average 40 FPS, and Ultra averages 38 FPS. The 2 FPS difference between High and Ultra at 4K is negligible, indicating that the GPU is saturated and additional settings have little impact. The minimum FPS for High and Ultra is not recorded, but the averages are low enough that stuttering is likely. For 4K play, Low settings are the only option that maintains a consistent frame rate above 60, while Medium offers a more visually rich experience at the cost of smoothness.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination ranks 1633 out of 2851 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the 57th percentile of all configurations. That ranking is modest, reflecting the fact that the GPU is a mid-range part (59th percentile among all GPUs) while the CPU is more capable (72nd percentile among all CPUs). The combo's position suggests that many other pairings achieve higher frame rates in this game, likely due to more powerful GPUs that can handle higher resolutions and settings.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 18683 places it just 0.1% behind the AMD EPYC 7643 and 0.3% behind the Intel Core i7-1355U, according to nearestRivals data. The GPU's average score of 16014 is 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and 1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700. These close scores indicate that the combo's ranking is not due to a weak link but rather the inherent limitations of pairing a mid-range GPU with a mainstream CPU. In Thief, the combo's rank of 1633 out of 2851 means that roughly 57% of tested configurations perform better, which aligns with the GPU's percentile ranking.

The deltaPct values from the nearestRivals data are informative. The CPU is within 1% of its rivals in average score, with the largest gap being 0.9% ahead of the Intel Core i3-14100F. The GPU is within 2.1% of its nearest rivals, with the largest gap being 2.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500. This tight clustering suggests that the combo's ranking in Thief is driven more by the game's specific requirements than by any hardware deficiency. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p, the combo performs well above average, but at 4K, it falls behind due to GPU limits, which likely drags down its overall rank.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample bandwidth for game logic and asset streaming. In Thief, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, but the benchmark data shows it is not a bottleneck. The 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and multi-thread scores ranging from 1692 at 2 threads to 5890 at max threads indicate strong single-core performance, which is critical for a game that relies on AI and physics calculations.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 scores of 15989 multi-core and 2257 single-core place it well within the range needed to feed the GPU at high frame rates. The Passmark single-thread score of 3456 and multi-thread score of 18747 further confirm that the CPU can handle the workload. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 170 FPS average, and the fact that no minimum FPS is recorded suggests the CPU is delivering frames consistently without stutter. The CPU's TDP of 65W and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility make it a mainstream part, but its performance is sufficient for Thief's requirements.

The nearestRivals data for the CPU shows it is competitive with the AMD EPYC 7643 and Intel Core i7-1355U, with deltaPct values of -0.1% and -0.3% respectively. This indicates that the i5-12400 is not holding back the combo in Thief. The CPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all CPUs, compared to the GPU's 59th percentile, suggests that if any component is limiting the combo's rank in this game, it is the GPU. The measured FPS at 1080p Ultra (94 FPS average) shows that the CPU can push high frame rates even at demanding settings, while the 4K Ultra result (38 FPS) is clearly constrained by GPU capabilities rather than CPU processing power.

The CPU's boost clock of 4.40 GHz is particularly relevant for Thief, as the game's stealth mechanics and enemy AI require responsive single-threaded performance. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1692 and 4-thread score of 3012 indicate that the CPU scales well with the multi-threaded workloads that the game may use for background simulation. The Passmark physics score of 1105 and integer math score of 58366 further demonstrate that the CPU handles computational tasks efficiently, ensuring that frame rates are not dragged down by processing overhead. In summary, the i5-12400 provides a solid foundation for this combo, and the performance ceiling in Thief is set by the RX 9060's graphical throughput.