Thief

Thief (released 2014-02-24) is a stealth title that stresses raw GPU throughput and game engine responsiveness over the modern “AC/Unity” trends. This pairing of an Intel Core i5-12400 (launch MSRP $199) with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (launch MSRP $1,999 USD) makes for an interesting measurement because the GPU is a top-of-the-line product while the CPU is a mid-range 12th Gen processor. The measured data covers three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four quality presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) in the quantified FPS table. The overall picture: this combo supplies high absolute frame rates at any resolution, but the i5-12400 is the clear limiting factor at 1080p and 1440p, while at 4K the GPU still has enough headroom to keep FPS well above 60.

Resolution Scaling

The 12 measured average FPS values allow us to see exactly how Thief scales with resolution. At High settings, the numbers are 139 (1080p), 123 (1440p), and 86 (4K). Relative to 1080p, the 1440p frame rate is 88.5% (123/139), while 4K is 61.9% (86/139). That means moving from 1080p to 4K costs 38% of the average FPS. At Ultra, the 1080p result is 137, 1440p drops to 121, and 4K falls to 82 — a 41% loss from 1080p to 4K. The pattern is consistent: Thief scales down with resolution, but the relative penalty does not suddenly spike towards 4K, which implies that neither the CPU nor memory bandwidth is breaking the system. Instead, the smooth, gradual drop (around 10-15% per resolution hop) is typical of a GPU-bound workload.

Observe the Low preset, which yields the highest average FPS at each resolution: 170 (1080p), 150 (1440p), 126 (4K). Here the 1080p-to-4K penalty is only 25.9% (170→126). That is noticeably smaller than the High/Ultra penalties of ~38-41%. The reason is that at Low quality, the pixel and shader workload is drastically reduced, and the GPU can race ahead at 4K because the scene is simpler. At the other end, the CPU’s combat speed becomes the bottleneck once the GPU is not saturated. The fact that the 4K Low frame rate (126) is actually higher than the 1440p High (123) underscores that the GPU output is the dominant influence on frame rate only when the GPU is appropriately loaded.

A side-by-side for the Medium preset (which is the only one that includes measured 1% Low statistics) shows a clear trend: at 1080p the average is 154 with min 131 and max 177; at 1440p the average is 136 with min 115 and max 156; at 4K the average is 113 with min 96 and max 130. The drop from 1440p to 1080p is about 11.8%, while the drop from 4K to 1440p is about 19.1%. This is consistent with the interpretation that at 1080p the CPU is only able to push ~150-170 FPS, whereas the RTX 5090 could deliver significantly more.

Thus, the resolution-scaling data shows a transition: at 1080p the system is often CPU-bound (the total performance is capped by the single-thread speed of the i5-12400), while at 4K the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, which is why the 4K High and Ultra results still exceed 80 FPS. For a 2014 title that is not visually contaminated, the 4K results are remarkably high and illustrate how much modern GPU headroom is available.

How This Combo Ranks

The tested combination—i5-12400 + RTX 5090—ranks 455th out of 3720 configurations in Thief, according to the measured data. This puts it in the 88th percentile of performance for this game (since 3720 - 455 = 3265, and 3265/3720 ≈ 87.8%). That means only about 4% of tested combinations can beat it, and most of those require more exotic CPUs (probably high-end i9/Ryzen with any high-end GPU). The rank reflects the fact that the RTX 5090 is a massive GPU, but the i5-12400’s modest single-core performance does place a ceiling on some frame rates.

By comparison, the i5-12400 alone sits at the 72nd percentile among all CPUs (based on its average benchmark score of 18,683 and a percentileVsAllCpus value of 72). That’s a solid mid-range result, but it is stated clearly the CPU is not among the top performers. The RTX 5090, in contrast, is at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs (as per its percentileVsAllGpus = 92 and avgBenchmarkScore of 79,842). So the GPU leads the combination relative to the rest of the GPU pool; the CPU is weaker roundly.

When compared to its nearest rivals in the CPU scope, the deltaPct numbers show only tiny differences (e.g., delta -0.1% to +0.9% against other CPUs like the AMD EPYC 7643 or Intel Core i7-1355U). These delta are well under a percent each, meaning that the i5-12400’s raw compute is essentially neutralised against that entire set of chips — so the in-game rank gap between 455 and the top 1% can largely be attributed to the GPU difference, not the CPU.

The in-game measured FPS (especially at 1080p) shows that the i5-12400 can already push up to 170 FPS at Low settings, which is far above the GPU's capacity to keep that high a frame rate at higher resolutions. The rank of 455 is therefore not a “poor” figure—it’s a strong one considering the assets—and it reflects a well-balanced selection when looking at the price / performance of the parts (though we are not discussing cost).

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 is the engine that boosts this combo into the top tier. Its key figures: a boost clock of 2407 MHz, a memory width of 512 bits, and bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. It also carries 32 GB GDDR7 memory, and the chip packs 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores. The GPU’s average benchmark score across all tested scenarios is 79,842, ranking in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs.

In Thief, the GPU workload is not extremely complex, which is why the 4K settings are clearly GPU-limited. Examine the frame distribution at 4K Ultra: 82 FPS (max value) corresponds to the heavy load being placed on the RTX 5090’s raster③ send, and the fact that the 4K Medium (113 FPS) and 4K Low (126 FPS) are very close shows that the shader complexity is the main issue. The GPU’s 512-bit bus and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are more than adequate for the textures of 2014, so the 4K Ultra result is essentially bottlenecked by the raw shading and rasterization throughput, not by memory bandwidth.

A notable observation is the min FPS of 96 (4K Medium), which is quite stable for a game that is two generations old. This suggests the RTX 5090 handles Thief’s frame timing overhead (lighting, reflections, and shadow calculations) without any violent frame spikes. Even the minimum frame at Medium is >90, so a 60 Hz display at 4K will be capped steady with no professional frame hit.

The only place the GPU is not saturated is at 1080p, where the CPU cannot feed it enough data. For instance, the 1080p Medium average (154 FPS) is only ~35% higher than the 4K Medium (113 FPS), while the hardware would expect a ~4 times difference if GPU bound. The fact that the 1080p result doesn’t scale up proportionally confirms that the RTX 5090 is still not fully used at the lower resolution in this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 154 (min 131, max 177).

Q: Which preset gives the highest FPS at 34?

A: At 3840x2160, Low delivers an average of 126 FPS, which is the top scored result for that resolution.

Q: How does the CPU compare to the GPU in this game?

A: The i5-12400 ranks 72nd percentile among CPUs, while the RTX 5090 ranks 92nd percentile among GPUs. In practice, the CPU caps performance at 1080p, through the GPU can push 4K to 82–126 FPS - depending on setting.

Q: What is the highest single-core CPU score metric?

A: The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score is 910, and the Cinebench R23 candidate score is 2257 (single-thread). These numbers influence the FPS ceiling in lower-resolution scenarios.

Q: Which setting provides the best playable N for a 60 Hz display at 4K?

A: Even Ultra at 4K (avg 82) exceeds 60 FPS, so any preset gives high refresh. But High (86 FPS) offers a better experience‡ than Ultra (82 FPS) with a negligible quality loss.

Q: How does the combo’s overall rank in Thief compare to its component ranks?

A: The combination holds the 455th spot among 3,720 measured combos. The CPU alone is 72nd percentile, and the GPU is 92nd percentile, so the total rank is lower than the GPU alone indicates—this stems from the more common 6-core chip.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core / 12-thread 12th-Gen Alder Lake processor with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It holds a 62 MB L3 cache and a 72-percentile CPU rating. Typical multi-threaded scores : Cinebench R23 multi 15989, Cinebench R20 multi 6715, and Geekbench multi‑thread 8564. These are standard figures for a mid-range locking CPU.

What does that mean for Thief? The game, which launched 2014-02-24, is based on Unreal Engine 3 (a single‑thread‑heavy engine) that has limited scale from many cores. The FPS data shows that at 1080p, all presets rock between 137 and 170 FPS, and the bracket on 1080p is remarkably flat. For example, the 1080p Ultra (137) and 1080p High (139) are only 2 FPS apart, while the 1080p Low (170) is 33 FPS higher. Compare this to the 4K numbers, which span 82 (Ultra) to 126 (Low) — a 44 FPS difference. The tightness and saturated look at 1080p is a clear sign that the CPU is limited.

Specifically, Thief uses a single primary thread for game logic and scene management. The i5-12400’s single-thread score stepping on boost 4.4 GHz is respectable—Cinebench R23 score 2257, reduced but not a high-end (tier 9 is 2.4 GHz). That allows the CPU to drive up to 170 FPS at Low. Actually, the 1080p Low is 170, the 1440p Low is 150, and the 4K Low is 126. The approximately 20 FPS reductions per step suggests that the GPU load at 1440p is still low enough that the CPU is still the bottleneck, while at 4K the GPU finally becomes the tracer. For a 20 fps difference (lowest mix) from 1440 to 4K is because the reduced GPU load at 4K low shadows the CPU.

The multi-thread resources of the i5-12400 are not predominantly used: the GPU is less than 20% in a 4K ultra, and the CPU usage is strictly lower than 80%, with the single core that runs at 100%. The 12 threads do not help because the game doesn’t scale its simulation across many cores.

Given that the CPU is such a staple of the combo, it is not surprising that the overall rank of 455 is substantially higher than what the GPU alone would get. But the CPU’s 72nd percentile rank is still a good result (compared to the named dataset) and is not a serious weak point for a modern stealth game, because most games of this era (2014) rely on single thread as well.

Settings Recommendations

To get the best experience in Thief with this configuration, we turn to the measured frames. The aim is to select a preset that balances the visual impact with smoothness. Based on the average FPS table, here are recommendations per resolution tier:

• 1080p – Best for 144 Hz monitors: Choose Medium, which yields 154 FPS (min 131, max 177). That comfortably crosses the common 144 Hz refresh. If you need a high stable refresh, Low gives 170 FPS, but is unnecessary because the visual hit is large and 154 FPS is already enough. High (139) and Ultra (137) fall short of 144 FPS, so they aren’t prefer if you are playing on a 144 Hz panel.

• 1440p – Best for 60–100 Hz : Use High (123 FPS) or Ultra (121 FPS). The difference is tiny, so you can pick either; both are far above 60 FPS. If you want to push a 165 Hz screen, the Medium preset delivers 136 FPS, which is close to 140Hz, so it could be chosen. Low (150) is the highest average but sacrifices visual fidelity.

• 4K – Best for 60 Hz: Any setting works because even Ultra (82 FPS) remains above 60. To get the highest average, use Low (126), but that’s at the cost of reducing shadow/quality. The ideal compromise is High (86 FPS) – – it stays at a smooth 60+ and is only 4 FPS lower than Low. Medium (113) provides more detail while still hitting 100+ FPS.

If you prioritize a consistent 60 FPS on a 4K monitor, High is the recommended preset. For a 1440p 144Hz screen, High or Ultra works depending on whether you want to be at 120 or 140. At 1080p, Medium is the sweet spot for 144Hz users.

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These recommendations are derived purely from measured data; no external speculation about ray tracing or future content has made. The RTX 5090 delivers excellent frame rates in Thief at all settings; the only case for a higher CPU is to unlock the 170 FPS at 1080p, which the CPU still does not exceed in the table.