Thief

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers a remarkably consistent experience in Thief, a 2014 stealth title. The data shows the combination ranks 402nd out of 1,642 tested combos, placing it comfortably in the upper quartile. Across all resolutions and settings, the system never dips below 59 FPS, indicating a pairing that is well-balanced for this game’s engine, though the scaling patterns reveal distinct bottlenecks depending on the workload.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but not catastrophic, revealing how the RTX 3080 Ti becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 142.9 FPS at 1920x1080 to 101.4 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 41.5 FPS, and then to 61.8 FPS at 3840x2160, a further drop of 39.6 FPS. This translates to a 56.8% performance loss from 1080p to 4K, a clear sign that the GPU is being pushed hard at higher resolutions.

The scaling curve is not linear, however. The jump from 1440p to 4K produces a larger absolute drop (39.6 FPS) than the jump from 1080p to 1440p (41.5 FPS), but the percentage loss is similar. This suggests the Ampere architecture’s raw compute and memory bandwidth are being saturated at 4K, while the CPU still has headroom. At Low settings, the trend is even more telling: 171.1 FPS at 1080p drops to 150 FPS at 1440p (a 12.3% decline) and then to 102.7 FPS at 4K (a 31.5% decline from 1440p). The larger drop at 4K Low indicates that even with minimal graphical load, the 3840x2160 pixel count alone is enough to strain the 12 GB GDDR6X memory and 384-bit bus.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread Alder Lake desktop processor with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores are competitive, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16,518 and a single-core score of 2,332. In the 3DMark suite, the max-thread score of 5,912 versus a 2-thread score of 1,699 shows strong scaling across cores, which is relevant for Thief’s engine that can leverage multiple threads for AI and physics.

The data suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in this pairing, even at 1080p. At 1920x1080 Low, the system hits 171.1 FPS, which is likely near the upper limit of what this processor can feed to the GPU in this title. However, the gap between 1080p Low (171.1 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (137.5 FPS) is only 33.6 FPS, indicating that the CPU can handle the frame pacing without major hitches. The 3DMark single-thread score of 909 and Passmark single-thread score of 3,481 are modest, but Thief appears to be more GPU-bound at higher settings. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide adequate data locality for the game’s streaming assets, preventing stutter.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component here, with 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for 4K textures. The base clock of 1365 MHz and boost of 1665 MHz are modest, but the 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance drives the high frame rates observed.

The GPU’s role is most evident in the 4K results. At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 102.7 at Low to 59 at Ultra, a spread of 43.7 FPS. This wide variance shows that the RTX 3080 Ti is the limiting factor, as lowering settings directly translates to higher frame rates. The passmark G3D score of 26,896 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 5,077 corroborate this, placing the GPU in the 83rd percentile. Its nearest rival, the RTX 3090, scores 41,441 on average, a delta of -0.5% relative to the RTX 3080 Ti’s 41,224, meaning the two are nearly identical in synthetic tests, yet the 3080 Ti has less VRAM (12 GB vs 24 GB), which could matter for future titles but not for Thief.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Thief?*

A: The data shows 2560x1440 at High settings yields 101.4 FPS, which is smooth, while 1920x1080 at Ultra hits 137.5 FPS. For a balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, 1440p High is the sweet spot, as 4K High at 61.8 FPS is playable but close to the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 Low, the system reaches 171.1 FPS, but the gap to 4K Low (102.7 FPS) is 68.4 FPS. This indicates the CPU is not a hard bottleneck at 1080p, as the frame rate is still high; however, the 1080p Ultra result of 137.5 FPS suggests the GPU is still doing most of the work, with the CPU providing sufficient throughput.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At Ultra, the average FPS drops from 137.5 at 1920x1080 to 95.5 at 2560x1440, and then to 59 at 3840x2160. This is a 78.5 FPS total loss, or 57.1%, indicating a heavy GPU load at 4K.

Q: Is the RTX 3080 Ti overkill for this game?

A: Not at 4K. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces 59 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS target. At 1440p, the GPU has ample headroom, with 134.7 FPS on Medium, but the 4K results show the card is fully utilized.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to others?

A: The combo ranks 402nd out of 1,642 tested combos, placing it in the top 24.5% of all pairings. This is a strong showing, though not top-tier, reflecting the i5-12400F’s mid-range standing (77th percentile) and the 3080 Ti’s high-end position (83rd percentile).

Q: What settings provide the most stable experience?

A: At 1080p, all settings from Low to Ultra stay above 137 FPS, so there is no stability risk. At 4K, High (61.8 FPS) is the highest setting that stays above 60 FPS, while Ultra dips to 59 FPS, making High the recommended 4K preset.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear hierarchy across settings, with the most dramatic differences at 4K. At 3840x2160, the spread from Low (102.7 FPS) to Ultra (59 FPS) is 43.7 FPS, meaning settings have a massive impact on playability. The High preset at 61.8 FPS is the highest setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming. Dropping to Medium at 80.5 FPS provides a 30.3% boost over High, which could be preferable for those prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the situation is more relaxed. Ultra runs at 95.5 FPS, which is smooth, but High at 101.4 FPS and Medium at 134.7 FPS offer incremental improvements. The data suggests that Ultra at 1440p is viable, but Medium provides the best frame rate headroom with a 39.2 FPS advantage over Ultra. At 1920x1080, even Ultra at 137.5 FPS is far above the 60 FPS threshold, so users can max out settings without concern. The Low preset at 171.1 FPS is only useful for competitive play or reducing input lag, but it sacrifices too much visual quality for a marginal gain.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full dataset reveals consistent performance scaling across all nine combinations of resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 137.5 (Ultra) to 171.1 (Low), with Medium at 155.9 and High at 142.9. At 2560x1440, the range tightens slightly: Low hits 150 FPS, Medium 134.7 FPS, High 101.4 FPS, and Ultra 95.5 FPS. The 4K results show the widest variance: Low at 102.7 FPS, Medium at 80.5 FPS, High at 61.8 FPS, and Ultra at 59 FPS.

Notably, the gap between High and Ultra is smallest at 4K (2.8 FPS) and largest at 1440p (5.9 FPS). This suggests that the Ultra preset’s additional effects are more costly at lower resolutions where the GPU is less saturated. The step from Low to Medium is significant at 4K (22.2 FPS), but at 1080p it is only 15.2 FPS, indicating diminishing returns from higher settings as resolution decreases. Overall, the combo never drops below 59 FPS in any configuration, ensuring a playable experience even at the most demanding settings.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 402 out of 1,642 combos, this pairing sits in the 75.5th percentile of all tested systems for Thief. This is a strong position, but not exceptional. The CPU’s 77th percentile ranking and the GPU’s 83rd percentile suggest the combo is slightly GPU-heavy, which aligns with the observed bottleneck at 4K. The i5-12400F’s nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, has an average score of 19,210, a delta of just 0.1% relative to the i5’s 19,221, meaning the two are effectively tied in synthetic benchmarks. The AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS lags by -0.7%, while the AMD EPYC 7773X trails by 1.3%.

On the GPU side, the RTX 3080 Ti’s average score of 41,224 is nearly identical to the RTX 3090 at 41,441 (-0.5%), and the RTX 5070 at 41,687 (-1.1%). This indicates that the 3080 Ti is still a top-tier performer, but the 402nd rank in Thief suggests other factors, such as CPU driver overhead or memory latency, may hold it back from the top 300. The data implies that upgrading the CPU would not yield major gains in this title, as the GPU is the clear limiter at 4K, but at 1080p, a stronger processor could push frame rates closer to the 171.1 FPS ceiling observed at Low settings.