Thief

The Intel Core i5-12400 pairs six physical cores with twelve threads via Hyper-Threading, operating at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This configuration sits in the 77th percentile against all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19,850. In synthetic workloads, the chip demonstrates a strong balance between single-threaded and multi-threaded capability: its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,249 points and multi-core score of 15,935 points indicate that the 4.40 GHz boost clock is well-utilized for lightly-threaded game logic, while the twelve threads provide headroom for background tasks. The data shows that in Thief, a 2014 stealth title, the CPU’s six cores are sufficient to feed the GPU at most settings, as the game’s engine is not particularly demanding on modern processors. The L3 cache is 18 MB shared, and the chip supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, though the benchmark results do not isolate memory bandwidth effects. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-12400 is effectively tied with the Intel Core i7-9700 (deltaPct 0.1) and sits 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K, while trailing the Intel Core i7-8700 by 0.2% and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX by 0.4% in average score. These margins are negligible, meaning the CPU is not a differentiating factor in this combo’s performance.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the primary driver of frame rates in this pairing. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The GPU’s boost clock is 1665 MHz, and it contains 4,864 shading units, 152 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. This places the card in the 69th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25,120. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (deltaPct -0.2), the AMD Radeon RX 6600 (deltaPct -0.5), the AMD Radeon 890M (deltaPct -0.5), and the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (deltaPct -0.7), all of which are within 0.7% of its score, indicating very close competition in synthetic benchmarks. In Thief, the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is ample for the game’s textures, even at 4K Ultra, as the measured FPS drops are consistent with rasterization load rather than memory capacity limits. The RTX 3060 Ti’s 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 253.1 GTexel/s texture rate are the key specs that explain why frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings, as detailed below.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 156 FPS, which drops to 106.6 FPS at 1440p Low (a 31.7% reduction) and further to 65.5 FPS at 4K Low (a 58.0% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the CPU has ample headroom to maintain high frame rates. At Ultra settings, the pattern is similar but with lower absolute numbers: 86.9 FPS at 1080p, 61.1 FPS at 1440p (a 29.7% drop), and 34.8 FPS at 4K (a 59.9% drop from 1080p). The consistency of the percentage drops across settings—roughly 30% from 1080p to 1440p and another 30% from 1440p to 4K—suggests that the scaling is driven by pixel count and fill rate, not by CPU bottlenecks or VRAM exhaustion. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU can push the GPU to its limits, but at 4K, the RTX 3060 Ti’s 133.2 GPixel/s pixel rate becomes the binding constraint. Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens at higher resolutions: at 1080p, the difference is 69.1 FPS (156 vs 86.9), while at 4K, the difference is 30.7 FPS (65.5 vs 34.8). This indicates that the GPU’s raw throughput is increasingly taxed by both resolution and settings, with the CPU remaining a non-factor throughout.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers playable frame rates across all settings. Low settings yield an average of 156 FPS, Medium drops to 117.6 FPS, High averages 90.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 86.9 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 24.6% reduction, while the step from Medium to High is a 23.0% reduction, and High to Ultra is a 4.1% reduction—the latter being relatively small, suggesting diminishing returns from the highest preset. At 2560x1440, the averages are 106.6 FPS (Low), 80.8 FPS (Medium), 62.8 FPS (High), and 61.1 FPS (Ultra). Here, the drop from Low to Medium is 24.2%, Medium to High is 22.3%, and High to Ultra is just 2.7%. This pattern shows that at 1440p, the GPU is still capable of exceeding 60 FPS on High settings, which is a solid result for a stealth game that does not require extreme refresh rates. At 3840x2160, the averages are 65.5 FPS (Low), 47.1 FPS (Medium), 38.9 FPS (High), and 34.8 FPS (Ultra). Only Low settings maintain a frame rate above 60 FPS at 4K, while Ultra dips below 35 FPS, making it borderline for smooth gameplay. The data indicates that the RTX 3060 Ti can handle Thief at 1440p High with ease, but 4K Ultra requires a compromise on settings. Across all resolutions, the min and max FPS values are not provided, so the analysis relies solely on averages, which show a consistent, predictable degradation as both resolution and settings increase.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti achieves a rank of 1,126 out of 1,642 combos in Thief. This places it in the lower half of the rankings, specifically at the 68.5th percentile (calculated as 1 - 1126/1642), meaning it outperforms roughly 31.5% of all tested combos. Given that the CPU is in the 77th percentile and the GPU is in the 69th percentile individually, the combo rank is lower than either component’s standalone percentile, which suggests that Thief’s performance is more sensitive to the GPU than the CPU, and the RTX 3060 Ti’s mid-tier standing drags the overall result down. The rank of 1,126 implies that many other combos—likely those with higher-end GPUs—achieve better frame rates in this game. However, the data shows that this particular pairing is not bottlenecked by the CPU, as evidenced by the FPS scaling patterns; the i5-12400 has no trouble keeping up with the RTX 3060 Ti at any resolution or setting. The combo’s position is thus a reflection of the GPU’s absolute performance level rather than any imbalance between the two components. For context, the GPU’s nearest rivals (RX 6700M, RX 6600, etc.) have nearly identical average scores, so swapping the RTX 3060 Ti for any of them would likely produce similar ranking outcomes.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 156, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 1440p with high settings?

A: Yes, at 2560x1440 with High settings, the average FPS is 62.8, which is above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU’s benchmark score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19,850, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-9700 (19,831) and 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-11600K (19,771), but 0.2% lower than the Intel Core i7-8700 (19,894).

Q: What is the GPU’s memory bandwidth and how does it affect 4K performance?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti has 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth via 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 34.8, suggesting that the bandwidth is sufficient for the game’s data, but the GPU’s compute throughput becomes the limiting factor.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo hits 156 FPS, which is high enough that the CPU’s 4.40 GHz boost clock and six cores are likely the limiting factor, though the data does not isolate individual component utilization.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of the GPU among all tested GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is in the 69th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 25,120, placing it slightly above the mid-range of the database.