Thief

The Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 649th out of 1,642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the top 40% of all systems. This is a strong position for a game from 2014, indicating the pairing is well above the median performer. The percentile rankings for the individual components support this: the CPU sits in the 77th percentile of all processors, and the GPU is in the 72nd percentile of all graphics cards. The data shows a balanced system capable of high refresh rates at common resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 649 out of 1,642 places it in the upper tier of tested configurations. This is not a top-tier enthusiast setup, but it is decidedly a high-performance pairing for Thief. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 19,221 puts it within a 0.1% margin of the Intel Core i7-8700K, and it is 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-1335U. Against the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS, it trails by 0.7%, and it leads the AMD EPYC 7773X by 1.3%. This CPU performance is more than sufficient for the game’s requirements. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 28,238 places it 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti. It is 0.6% behind the AMD FirePro S7150 and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon R9 M295X. The measured FPS results confirm that the combination is not leaving significant performance on the table at any resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the primary driver of frame rates in Thief, especially at higher resolutions. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for the game’s textures. The GPU’s base clock is 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1725 MHz. The memory runs at 1750 MHz, or 14 Gbps effective. This configuration delivers strong raw throughput, with a pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s. The card’s 5,888 shading units and 96 ROPs handle the DirectX 11 workload of Thief efficiently. The data shows the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, where frame rates drop significantly, but at lower resolutions, it is less constrained. The GPU’s 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is more than enough to keep up with the game’s demands.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to High settings as the optimal choice for most users. At 1080p, High settings deliver 122.2 FPS, which is a comfortable margin above 60 FPS and close to the 144 Hz refresh rate of many monitors. Moving to Ultra only reduces performance to 116.1 FPS, which is still playable, but the visual gain is minimal for the performance cost. At 1440p, High settings produce 82.3 FPS, which is a solid experience. The jump to Ultra drops this to 78.3 FPS, which is still acceptable. For 4K, High settings yield 50.9 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay. Medium settings at 4K provide 66 FPS, which is a better trade-off. Low settings at 4K reach 86 FPS, but this sacrifices too much visual fidelity. The data indicates that Medium is the best preset for 4K, while High is the best overall balance at 1080p and 1440p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 3070 delivers exceptionally high frame rates. Low settings achieve 174 FPS, Medium hits 152.5 FPS, and High reaches 122.2 FPS. Ultra settings still produce 116.1 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 57.9 FPS, showing that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution. At 2560x1440, performance remains strong. Low settings hit 144.4 FPS, Medium drops to 109.1 FPS, High comes in at 82.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 78.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 66.1 FPS. At 3840x2160, the GPU starts to feel the strain. Low settings produce 86 FPS, Medium drops to 66 FPS, High falls to 50.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 48.4 FPS. The 4K results show a clear scaling pattern: the game becomes more GPU-bound as resolution increases.

FAQ

Q: Does this combo maintain 60 FPS at 1440p with High settings?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings is 82.3 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for this pairing?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 delivers the highest frame rates, with a maximum of 174 FPS on Low settings. For a balance of quality and speed, 1440p on High is strong at 82.3 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from High to Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, the drop is from 122.2 FPS to 116.1 FPS, a loss of 6.1 FPS. At 1440p, it drops from 82.3 FPS to 78.3 FPS, a loss of 4 FPS.

Q: Is the GPU more of a bottleneck at 4K?

A: Yes. At 4K, the highest setting (Ultra) only achieves 48.4 FPS, while the lowest (Low) reaches 86 FPS. This wide range indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution.

Q: Can this system handle 144 Hz gaming?

A: At 1080p, yes. Medium settings reach 152.5 FPS and Low settings hit 174 FPS. At 1440p, only Low settings exceed 144 FPS with 144.4 FPS.

Q: What is the CPU’s average benchmark score relative to a close rival?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19,221, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-8700K’s score, with a delta of 0.1%.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F provides the computational foundation for this combo. With 6 cores and 12 threads, it has enough parallelism for Thief’s workload. The base clock is 2.50 GHz, which can boost up to 4.40 GHz. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. This configuration yields strong benchmark results: the Cinebench R23 multicore score is 16,518, and the single-core score is 2,332. The Geekbench multicore score is 9,138, with a single-core score of 2,221. The Passmark multithread score is 19,433. The CPU’s 77th percentile ranking among all processors indicates it is a competent performer for gaming. The data shows that at lower resolutions, the CPU is not a bottleneck, as frame rates scale well with GPU headroom. At 1080p, the CPU is more than capable of feeding the GPU, with frame rates exceeding 170 FPS on Low settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a clear trend of diminishing performance as resolution increases. From 1080p to 1440p on High settings, the average FPS drops from 122.2 to 82.3, a 39.9 FPS decrease. From 1440p to 4K on High settings, it drops from 82.3 to 50.9, a 31.4 FPS decrease. The scaling is more pronounced at lower settings. On Low settings, going from 1080p to 1440p drops from 174 to 144.4 FPS, a 29.6 FPS decrease. From 1440p to 4K, it drops from 144.4 to 86 FPS, a 58.4 FPS decrease. This pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting component at higher resolutions. The CPU’s performance is sufficient to maintain high frame rates at 1080p, but the GPU’s workload increases significantly at 4K. The relative performance drop from 1080p to 4K on Ultra settings is from 116.1 to 48.4 FPS, a 67.7 FPS difference. This shows that the RTX 3070 is the primary constraint for 4K gaming, while the CPU is less of a factor at all tested resolutions.