Thief

Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 deliver a combination that places in the 2927th position out of 3720 tested combos in Thief. This is a mid-pack result, indicating that while the hardware can run the game, it does not lead the field. The recorded data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 2060 becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the i5-12400 provides sufficient throughput to avoid holding back the frame rate at 1080p.

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

The Intel Core i5-12400 uses six cores and twelve threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This processor belongs to the Core 12th Gen series, built on the Alder Lake architecture with a 10 nm process node. The L3 cache is 18 MB shared, and the L2 cache is 1.25 MB per core. For a game like Thief, which was released in 2014, the i5-12400's multi-threading capability is more than adequate. The measured benchmarks for this CPU show a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15989 and a single-core score of 2257. The 3DMark 16-thread score is 5873, while the 4-thread score is 3012. These figures indicate strong parallel processing, but Thief does not heavily utilize many threads, so the single-thread performance becomes more relevant.

The single-thread performance of the i5-12400, as shown by the 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and the Geekbench single-core score of 1848, is sufficient to drive the RTX 2060 at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 142 FPS average, which is close to the practical limit for many displays. The CPU does not appear to be a bottleneck at this resolution, as the frame rate scales predictably with GPU load. At 2560x1440 and 3840x2160, the frame rates drop, which aligns with the GPU becoming the limiting factor. The i5-12400's boost clock of 4.40 GHz ensures that even in scenes with numerous AI enemies or complex geometry, the processor can keep up with the GPU's requests.

The CPU's percentile ranking against all processors is 72, meaning it outperforms most CPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643 with an average score of 18697, a 0.1% difference, and the Intel Core i7-1355U with an average score of 18730, a 0.3% difference. The Intel Core i3-14100F is 0.9% ahead with an average score of 18519, while the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 is 0.7% ahead with an average score of 18811. These small deltas indicate that the i5-12400 sits in a competitive tier, but none of these rivals change the fundamental relationship between CPU and GPU in Thief. The CPU provides enough headroom, and the measured FPS differences across settings are more attributable to the GPU.

Settings Recommendations - which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data for this combo includes four settings presets at each resolution: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. At 1920x1080, the average FPS values are 142 for Low, 108 for Medium, 82 for High, and 78 for Ultra. The jump from Low to Medium is 34 FPS, which is substantial, but the drop from Medium to High is 26 FPS, and from High to Ultra is only 4 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset offers minimal gains over High in visual quality for a small cost in frame rate. The Medium preset at 1080p provides 108 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the minimum FPS recorded for Medium is 91, ensuring consistency.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 97 for Low, 74 for Medium, 56 for High, and 54 for Ultra. The Medium preset delivers 74 FPS, which is still playable, but the High preset drops to 56 FPS, which may introduce noticeable stutter on displays with a 60 Hz refresh rate. The Ultra preset at 54 FPS is only 2 FPS lower than High, so there is no reason to select Ultra over High at this resolution unless the visual differences are critical. For 3840x2160, the averages are 57 for Low, 43 for Medium, 33 for High, and 31 for Ultra. None of these settings reach 60 FPS, so the experience is not ideal at 4K. The Low preset at 57 FPS is the only option that approaches smoothness, but it sacrifices significant visual fidelity.

The best experience per the measured rows is the Medium preset at 1920x1080. This combination offers 108 FPS average with a minimum of 91 FPS, which provides a fluid experience without the frame rate dips seen at higher resolutions. The High preset at 1080p delivers 82 FPS, which is also acceptable, but the Medium preset maintains a higher minimum FPS and a larger margin above 60 FPS. The data indicates that the RTX 2060 has enough headroom at 1080p Medium to handle the game's stealth mechanics, which often require quick camera movements and precise timing. The Ultra preset at 1080p, at 78 FPS, does not provide enough additional visual quality to justify the 30 FPS drop from Low.

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

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a clear GPU-bound pattern. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the average is 82 FPS. At 2560x1440 with High settings, the average drops to 56 FPS, a reduction of 26 FPS or approximately 32%. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average is 33 FPS, which is 49 FPS lower than 1080p, a 60% reduction. This scaling is consistent with the RTX 2060's memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s and its 6 GB GDDR6 memory. The 4K resolution requires significantly more pixel throughput, and the GPU's texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s become limiting factors.

For the Low preset, the scaling is similar but with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the average is 142 FPS, at 1440p Low it is 97 FPS, and at 4K Low it is 57 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 45 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 40 FPS. This indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU cannot maintain the same frame rate at higher resolutions because the number of pixels being rendered increases by roughly 2.25 times from 1080p to 4K. The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal, as the i5-12400's benchmarks show it can handle far more complex workloads than Thief presents.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend. At 1080p Medium, the average is 108 FPS, at 1440p Medium it is 74 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 43 FPS. The minimum FPS values for Medium are 91 at 1080p, 63 at 1440p, and 37 at 4K. These minimums track the averages closely, indicating that the frame rate is stable and does not exhibit severe spikes. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 78 FPS, at 1440p it averages 54 FPS, and at 4K it averages 31 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows at higher resolutions, suggesting that the GPU is already saturated and the extra settings in Ultra do not add much overhead.

The limiting component is unambiguously the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain relatively constant across resolutions, but the data shows a strong correlation between resolution and FPS. The i5-12400's 3DMark 16-thread score of 5873 and its Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 6715 are far above what Thief requires, and the CPU's single-thread performance is also sufficient. The recorded data confirms that the RTX 2060 is the component that determines the playable settings and resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks - use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2927 out of 3720 tested combinations in Thief. This places it in the lower 21% of all combos, which may seem low, but it is important to contextualize this ranking. The database includes many high-end combinations with newer GPUs and CPUs, so a rank of 2927 does not imply poor performance. It indicates that this combo is positioned below the median, but the measured FPS values show that it can still achieve playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p.

The percentile ranking of the RTX 2060 against all GPUs is 58, meaning it outperforms 58% of GPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score is 15290, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 at 15283 (0% difference), the AMD Radeon 680M at 15270 (0.1% difference), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM at 15199 (0.6% difference), and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 at 15171 (0.8% difference). These small deltas show that the RTX 2060 is in a dense cluster of similar-performing GPUs, and the combo rank is driven by the GPU's position rather than the CPU.

The i5-12400's percentile ranking is 72, which is higher than the GPU's 58. This means the CPU is relatively stronger in the database than the GPU. If the combo rank were determined solely by the CPU, it would likely be higher, but the GPU limits the overall performance in Thief. The combo rank of 2927 is consistent with the GPU's mid-tier position. The data shows that combos with GPUs in the 58th percentile typically land in the lower half of the overall rankings, as the GPU is the primary factor for gaming performance in this title.

Compared to other combos in the database, the i5-12400 and RTX 2060 are not at the bottom. The rank of 2927 out of 3720 means there are 793 combos that perform worse. This is not a negligible margin, and the measured FPS at 1080p Medium (108 FPS) is higher than many older or less powerful combinations. The combo's position is reasonable for a mid-range GPU paired with a strong mid-range CPU.

GPU Role - VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 uses the TU106 chip on a 12 nm process node, with 10,800 million transistors and a die size of 445 mm². It has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The base clock is 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz, and the memory clock is 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective. The GPU has 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. It also includes 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, though these are not directly relevant to Thief's rendering, as the game does not use ray tracing.

The 6 GB VRAM is sufficient for Thief, which is a 2014 title with modest texture requirements. The measured FPS values do not indicate any VRAM-related stuttering, as the minimum FPS for Medium at 1080p is 91, which is close to the average of 108. The memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the GPU's fill rate becomes the limiting factor. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s means that at 4K (8.3 million pixels), the theoretical maximum frame rate is around 9.7 FPS for pure pixel throughput, though the actual frame rate is higher because not all pixels require the same processing.

The GPU's FP32 performance is 6.451 TFLOPS, which is a moderate figure for a GPU from 2019. The texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s allows for detailed textures at 1080p and 1440p, as shown by the High preset achieving 82 FPS at 1080p and 56 FPS at 1440p. The boost clock of 1680 MHz ensures that the GPU operates at a high frequency under load, but the cooling solution is not specified in the data, so the actual sustained clock may vary. The GPU's TDP is 160 W, and it requires a 450 W power supply, but these figures do not directly affect the measured FPS.

The RTX 2060's benchmark scores are consistent with its gaming performance. The Passmark G3D score is 14111, and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1242. The Geekbench OpenCL score is 65014, and the Vulkan score is 65846. These scores place the GPU in the 58th percentile, which aligns with the measured FPS in Thief. The GPU's nearest rivals all have average scores within 0.8% of the RTX 2060, indicating that no single rival is significantly faster or slower. The GTX 580, despite being much older, has a similar average score of 15283, which is a 0% difference, but the GTX 580 lacks the modern features of the RTX 2060.

Measured FPS Breakdown - resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the recorded data includes four settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 142 FPS with no minimum or maximum values recorded. The Medium preset shows an average of 108 FPS, with a minimum of 91 FPS and a maximum of 124 FPS. The High preset averages 82 FPS with no variability data. The Ultra preset averages 78 FPS with no variability data. The spread from Low to Ultra is 64 FPS, which is substantial, but the step from High to Ultra is only 4 FPS, indicating that Ultra is not a significant upgrade over High for this GPU.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 97 FPS. The Medium preset averages 74 FPS, with a minimum of 63 FPS and a maximum of 85 FPS. The High preset averages 56 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 54 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 23 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is only 2 FPS. This resolution is a sweet spot for the RTX 2060, as the Medium preset at 74 FPS is smooth, and the High preset at 56 FPS is borderline but still playable on a 60 Hz monitor.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 57 FPS. The Medium preset averages 43 FPS, with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 50 FPS. The High preset averages 33 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 31 FPS. The 4K resolution is not viable for this GPU, as even the Low preset barely reaches 60 FPS, and the Medium preset drops to 43 FPS with a minimum of 37 FPS. The frame rate at 4K is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, and the data shows that the GPU cannot handle the pixel load.

The minimum FPS values are only recorded for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1080p, the minimum is 91 FPS, which is 84% of the average. At 1440p, the minimum is 63 FPS, which is 85% of the average. At 4K, the minimum is 37 FPS, which is 86% of the average. This consistency indicates that the frame pacing is stable, with no sudden drops that would cause stutter. The maximum FPS values are also recorded for Medium, showing 124 at 1080p, 85 at 1440p, and 50 at 4K. The range from minimum to maximum is 33 FPS at 1080p, 22 FPS at 1440p, and 13 FPS at 4K, suggesting that the frame rate becomes more consistent as the GPU is more heavily loaded.

The overall pattern is that the RTX 2060 delivers its best performance at 1080p, where it can exceed 100 FPS on Medium settings. At 1440p, the GPU is still usable, but the High preset drops below 60 FPS. At 4K, the GPU is not suitable for this game, as all presets fail to maintain a consistent 60 FPS. The i5-12400 does not appear to cause any frame rate limitations, as the CPU's benchmarks indicate it has ample headroom. The combo rank of 2927 out of 3720 reflects the GPU's mid-tier position, and the measured data confirms that this is a capable setup for 1080p gaming in Thief, with acceptable performance at 1440p on lower settings.