Thief

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its benchmark profile shows strong single-thread performance, scoring 909 in 3dmark_single_thread and 3481 in passmark_single_thread, which is critical for frame pacing in a stealth title like Thief where AI and physics calculations often hinge on a few cores. The processor’s multi-threaded capabilities, evidenced by a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 16518, ensure that background tasks and game engine threads do not starve the main rendering pipeline. However, for a 2014 game, the CPU is rarely the bottleneck; the data suggests it provides ample headroom, as the measured FPS at 1080p Low reaches 110.9, indicating the i5-12400F can feed the GPU well beyond typical 60 FPS thresholds. The processor’s 65W TDP and support for DDR4/DDR5 memory further position it as a flexible foundation, but in this specific title, its role is to stay out of the way.

In terms of its standing among rivals, the i5-12400F’s average benchmark score of 19221 places it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rival comparison shows it is virtually tied with the Intel Core i7-8700K, being 0.1% ahead in average score, and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-1335U. Conversely, it lags behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS by 0.7% and trails the AMD EPYC 7773X by 1.3%. This tight grouping implies that for Thief, the CPU choice among these models would yield negligible FPS differences, reinforcing that the graphics card is the primary determinant of performance in this title.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is the other half of this combo, and its data tells a more complex story. With a base clock of 1545 MHz and a boost clock of 1740 MHz, it is a modest Ampere-generation part. The 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s, which is a significant constraint at higher resolutions and settings. The GPU’s pixel rate is 55.68 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 111.4 GTexel/s, with an FP32 throughput of 7.127 TFLOPS. These specifications suggest a card capable of 1080p gaming, but the VRAM capacity is the glaring limitation. Thief is a game from 2014, but its Ultra settings can still push memory usage, and the measured FPS data reveals a sharp drop when moving from Medium to Ultra at 4K, falling from 34.5 to 22.0 FPS. This indicates that the 4 GB VRAM buffer is being saturated, forcing the card to swap data and causing a performance cliff.

The RTX 3050’s percentile ranking of 50 means it sits at the median of all GPUs, which aligns with its role as a mainstream entry-point card. Without rival GPU data in the pack, we rely on the FPS measurements to judge its behavior. At 1080p Low, the card achieves 110.9 FPS, showing that the silicon itself is capable of high frame rates when the memory pressure is low. However, at 4K High, the frame rate collapses to 26.2 FPS, which is unplayable for most users. The data implies that the 4 GB VRAM is the defining bottleneck, not the compute cores. The card’s memory clock is listed as 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective, and the bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s, while adequate for 1080p, is insufficient for the pixel throughput required at 4K.

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

The measured FPS across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 110.9 at 1080p, to 76.8 at 1440p, and then to 43.5 at 4K. This is a drop of 30.8% from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 43.4% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, which suggests that beyond raw pixel count, the VRAM bandwidth and capacity are exacerbating the decline. At High settings, the progression is 61.1 FPS at 1080p, 45.0 FPS at 1440p, and 26.2 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly severe, with a 41.8% reduction, indicating that the 4 GB VRAM is being overwhelmed. Conversely, at Ultra settings, the FPS drops from 62.1 at 1080p to 42.8 at 1440p, and finally to 22.0 at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 31.1%, but the 1440p to 4K drop is 48.6%, which is the steepest decline across all settings.

This data strongly implies that the limiting component is the GPU, specifically its memory subsystem. The CPU’s performance is consistent across resolutions, so the FPS decline is attributable to the RTX 3050’s inability to maintain fill rates and shader workload at higher pixel counts. The fact that the 1080p results are generally playable, with even Ultra hitting 62.1 FPS, suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor at lower resolutions. As resolution increases, the GPU becomes the sole bottleneck, and the 4 GB VRAM acts as a hard ceiling. The data shows that the most significant FPS penalty occurs when moving from 1440p to 4K, which is where the memory bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s and the 128-bit bus become insufficient.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the grand scheme of all tested hardware combinations for Thief, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB ranks 1502 out of 1642 combos. This places it in the bottom 8.5% of all systems tested, which is a poor showing for a modern setup. The low rank is almost entirely due to the GPU’s limitations, as the CPU is a strong performer in its own right. The combo rank of 1502 indicates that the majority of other tested systems, likely featuring more powerful GPUs or larger VRAM pools, achieve higher average FPS across the board. This rank is not a reflection of the CPU’s capability, but rather the pairing’s overall balance. A system with this CPU and a more capable GPU would rank significantly higher, but with the 4 GB RTX 3050, the combo is hamstrung.

The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can achieve playable frame rates at most settings. At 1440p, it becomes marginal, and at 4K, it is only viable at Low settings. The rank of 1502 out of 1642 is a stark reminder that hardware combinations must be balanced, and this one is skewed towards CPU performance at the expense of GPU memory capacity. For a stealth game like Thief, where immersion and smoothness matter, the combo’s rank implies that users will need to compromise on visual fidelity to maintain a consistent frame rate.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 61.1 FPS, which is smooth and playable, while the Ultra preset offers 62.1 FPS, a marginal increase of 1.0 FPS over High. Since the difference is negligible, the High preset is recommended for 1080p as it likely reduces VRAM usage without sacrificing visible quality, given that the FPS delta is within the margin of error. The Medium preset at 1080p achieves 84.9 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the jump from Medium to High is only 23.8 FPS, so users with 60 Hz displays should stick with High for better visuals.

At 1440p, the High preset drops to 45.0 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset offers 54.7 FPS, which is closer but still not ideal. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 76.8 FPS, which is playable, but the visual compromise is significant. For 1440p, the data suggests using Medium settings as a balance, accepting the 54.7 FPS average. At 4K, the situation is dire: only the Low preset achieves a playable frame rate of 43.5 FPS, while Medium drops to 34.5 FPS, and High and Ultra fall below 30 FPS. Thus, for 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option. The recommendation is to prioritize 1080p with High settings for the best experience, as it offers the highest visual fidelity at a playable frame rate, avoiding the steep performance penalties seen at higher resolutions.

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

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance. At 1920x1080, the average FPS values are as follows: Low settings yield 110.9 FPS, Medium yields 84.9 FPS, High yields 61.1 FPS, and Ultra yields 62.1 FPS. Notably, Ultra outperforms High by 1.0 FPS, which is unusual and suggests that the High preset may have a specific setting that is more demanding than the Ultra preset, or that the measurement variance is at play. At 2560x1440, the values drop: Low yields 76.8 FPS, Medium yields 54.7 FPS, High yields 45.0 FPS, and Ultra yields 42.8 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to 2.2 FPS, indicating that the GPU is becoming saturated. At 3840x2160, the values are severely reduced: Low yields 43.5 FPS, Medium yields 34.5 FPS, High yields 26.2 FPS, and Ultra yields 22.0 FPS.

The data shows a consistent trend: the FPS penalty for increasing resolution is more pronounced at higher settings. For example, going from 1080p to 4K at Low settings results in a 67.4 FPS drop (110.9 to 43.5), while at Ultra settings, the drop is 40.1 FPS (62.1 to 22.0). This indicates that the GPU’s compute units are not the primary bottleneck at Low settings; rather, the memory bandwidth becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. The Ultra preset at 4K yields only 22.0 FPS, which is a slideshow, while the Low preset at 4K is marginally playable. The breakdown underscores the importance of matching settings to resolution, and for this combo, 1080p is the sweet spot.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination to achieve a stable 60 FPS in Thief?

A: At 1920x1080, the High preset yields 61.1 FPS and the Ultra preset yields 62.1 FPS, both averaging above 60 FPS. No other resolution or setting combination reaches 60 FPS, as the 1440p High preset drops to 45.0 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU’s single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance, and does it matter for Thief?

A: The i5-12400F scores 909 in 3dmark_single_thread and 5912 in 3dmark_max_threads. For Thief, the single-thread score of 909 is more relevant, as the game’s engine relies on a few fast cores, and the 1080p Low FPS of 110.9 confirms the CPU is not a bottleneck.

Q: Is the 4 GB VRAM on the GPU sufficient for 4K gaming in Thief?

A: No. The data shows that at 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages only 22.0 FPS and the High preset averages 26.2 FPS. Only the Low preset at 4K reaches a playable 43.5 FPS, indicating that the 4 GB VRAM is a severe limitation at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank relative to all other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 1502 out of 1642 tested combinations. This puts it in the bottom 8.5% of systems, primarily due to the GPU’s memory constraints, despite the CPU’s strong benchmark scores.

Q: What is the FPS difference between the Medium and High presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 54.7 FPS, while the High preset averages 45.0 FPS. This is a difference of 9.7 FPS, which is significant for gameplay smoothness.

Q: Does the CPU’s launch MSRP affect its performance in this game?

A: The CPU has a launch MSRP of $174, but this does not impact measured performance. The data indicates that the CPU’s performance is sufficient for Thief, as frame rates are limited by the GPU, not the processor.