Thief

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 produces a strong, but not flawless, experience in Thief. The benchmark data shows that the Ultra preset is severely bottlenecked by the CPU, while High offers the most balanced performance across resolutions. The RTX 5090’s massive 32 GB VRAM pool and high bandwidth are largely irrelevant at 1080p but become more critical as resolution increases, though the game’s age means the CPU remains the primary limiter at lower settings.

Settings Recommendations

The data indicates that the High preset is the optimal choice for this combination. At 1080p, High delivers 139.9 FPS, which is only 1.3 FPS behind Ultra (138.6) but is 15.4 FPS faster than Medium (155.3) and 31.8 FPS faster than Low (171.7). The gap between High and Ultra is negligible, suggesting Ultra adds little visual benefit while incurring a performance cost.

At 1440p, High and Ultra are nearly identical, with High at 123 FPS and Ultra at 123.1 FPS. This convergence indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor, not the GPU. At 4K, High (88.5 FPS) edges out Ultra (84.5 FPS) by 4 FPS, making High the better choice for maintaining frame rates above 60 FPS.

The Low preset yields the highest raw frame rates, but it is not recommended. The performance delta between Low and High is substantial — 31.8 FPS at 1080p, 28.2 FPS at 1440p, and 37.1 FPS at 4K — yet the visual quality degradation is not worth the gain when High already exceeds 88 FPS at 4K. Medium sits between, but its 112.7 FPS at 4K versus High’s 88.5 shows that the GPU has headroom; the bottleneck is elsewhere.

For the best experience, High at any resolution is the verdict. It provides the best balance of image quality and frame rate, with 4K still hitting a playable 88.5 FPS average.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost of 2407 MHz. The GPU’s raw compute power — 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 — is far beyond what Thief requires, as evidenced by the fact that at 1080p Low, the combo only reaches 171.7 FPS.

The data shows that the RTX 5090 is severely underutilized at lower resolutions. The FPS difference between Low and High at 1080p is only 31.8 FPS, which is smaller than the difference between High and Low at 4K (37.1 FPS). This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential. At 4K, the GPU starts to matter more; the 4K High result of 88.5 FPS is 51.4 FPS lower than the 1080p High result, indicating the GPU is now the limiting factor.

The 32 GB VRAM is excessive for this 2014 title. Even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate is 84.5 FPS, and there is no indication from the data that VRAM capacity is a constraint. The memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s and the 512-bit bus are similarly over-provisioned. The GPU’s role here is to provide headroom; the bottleneck shifts from GPU to CPU as resolution drops, but the GPU never comes close to being stressed by the game’s demands.

FAQ

*Q: Is the RTX 5090 overkill for Thief at 1080p?*

A: Yes. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 171.7 FPS, but this is only 31.8 FPS higher than High (139.9). The small delta indicates the CPU is the bottleneck, not the GPU. The RTX 5090’s performance is capped by the i5-12400F at this resolution.

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: High is the best preset. It achieves 88.5 FPS, which is 4 FPS faster than Ultra (84.5 FPS). Low yields 125.6 FPS but sacrifices visual quality unnecessarily, as High already provides a smooth experience.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at different resolutions?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the i5-12400F is the limiting factor, as shown by the minimal FPS difference between High and Ultra. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary limiter, with the FPS dropping from 139.9 (1080p High) to 88.5 (4K High).

Q: Does the 32 GB VRAM provide any benefit in this game?

A: No measurable benefit is visible in the data. The frame rates at 4K Ultra (84.5 FPS) do not suggest any VRAM limitation. The 32 GB capacity and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are far beyond the needs of this title.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: Low delivers 151.2 FPS, while Ultra delivers 123.1 FPS. The 28.1 FPS gap is significant, but High (123 FPS) is nearly identical to Ultra, meaning Ultra offers no performance advantage over High.

Q: Is this combo ranked highly among tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 178th out of 1642 tested combinations. This places it in the top 10.8% of all tested combos, though not in the top tier, likely due to the CPU’s limitations.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination ranks 178th out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places the setup in the top 10.8% of all tested configurations. The ranking is respectable but not exceptional, and the data suggests the CPU is holding the GPU back.

The i5-12400F has a 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19221. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, scores 19210, a 0.1% difference. The AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS scores 19364, which is 0.7% higher. These marginal deltas indicate the CPU is a mid-range performer.

The RTX 5090, conversely, is a top-tier GPU with a 94th percentile ranking and an average benchmark score of 84306. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, scores 84241 (0.1% lower). The GPU’s performance is exceptional, but the combo’s 178th rank suggests that the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads at a 2.50 GHz base clock (4.40 GHz boost) cannot fully feed the GPU in this game.

The rank is likely dragged down by the CPU, as the GPU alone would rank much higher. In a game like Thief that is not heavily multi-threaded, the CPU’s single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2332) becomes critical, but it still lags behind what the GPU can process.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but not linear. At High settings, the combo delivers 139.9 FPS at 1080p, 123 FPS at 1440p, and 88.5 FPS at 4K. This represents a 12.1% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 36.7% drop from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is more aggressive at lower settings: Low goes from 171.7 FPS (1080p) to 125.6 FPS (4K), a 26.9% drop.

The data indicates that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU is the bottleneck; the FPS difference between Low (171.7) and High (139.9) is only 31.8 FPS, suggesting the GPU has headroom. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiter; the FPS difference between Low (125.6) and High (88.5) is 37.1 FPS, showing the GPU is now working harder.

The 4K results are still playable, with the lowest being Ultra at 84.5 FPS. This suggests that the RTX 5090 is powerful enough to handle 4K in this older title, but the CPU prevents higher frame rates at lower resolutions. The scaling behavior points to a CPU-limited system at 1080p and 1440p, with the GPU taking over as the primary constraint at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces the following average FPS: Low 171.7, Medium 155.3, High 139.9, Ultra 138.6. The difference between High and Ultra is only 1.3 FPS, indicating a CPU bottleneck. The spread from Low to Ultra is 33.1 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 151.2, Medium 138.6, High 123, Ultra 123.1. Again, High and Ultra are nearly identical (0.1 FPS difference), confirming the CPU limit. The spread from Low to Ultra is 28.1 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 125.6, Medium 112.7, High 88.5, Ultra 84.5. Here, the gap between High and Ultra widens to 4 FPS, and the spread from Low to Ultra is 41.1 FPS. This is the largest spread across all resolutions, indicating the GPU is now more involved.

The 4K High result of 88.5 FPS is the lowest acceptable frame rate in the data, still comfortably above 60 FPS. The 1080p Low result of 171.7 FPS is the highest, but it is not recommended due to visual quality loss. The data shows that Medium at 4K (112.7 FPS) is a viable alternative to High, offering a 24.2 FPS advantage.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has 18 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its benchmark scores are solid for a mid-range chip: Cinebench R23 multi-core is 16518, and single-core is 2332. PassMark multi-thread is 19433, and single-thread is 3481.

In Thief, the CPU’s role is significant. The data shows that at 1080p, the FPS is capped at around 171.7 FPS (Low), which is a clear sign of a CPU limit. The GPU is capable of much higher frame rates, but the CPU cannot feed it fast enough. The 3dmark single-thread score of 909 and 2-thread score of 1699 indicate that the CPU’s single-thread performance is adequate but not exceptional.

The CPU’s 65W TDP and 10nm process node are efficient, but the architecture is from 2022. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, scores nearly identically (0.1% difference), showing that the i5-12400F is comparable to a high-end chip from an older generation. The AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS scores 0.7% higher, further indicating the CPU’s mid-range positioning.

The bottleneck is most evident when comparing Low and Ultra at 1080p, where the FPS difference is only 33.1 FPS. If the GPU were the limiter, this gap would be larger. At 4K, the CPU’s influence wanes, and the GPU becomes the primary constraint, as shown by the larger FPS spread. The verdict is clear: the i5-12400F is the limiting component in this combo at 1080p and 1440p, but the RTX 5090 takes over at 4K.