Thief

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a playable experience in Thief, but the data clearly shows this is a GPU-bound pairing at higher resolutions. The benchmark results indicate that the graphics card is the primary limiting factor when moving from 1080p to 4K, while the processor has ample headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions. This combination ranks in the 1138th position out of 1642 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database for this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable decline as resolution increases, but the rate of that decline reveals where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 157.4 FPS at 1920x1080 to 109.7 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of roughly 30%. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average falls to 63.8 FPS, which represents a 59% drop from the 1080p figure. This steep scaling curve at Low settings suggests that pixel throughput is becoming the dominant constraint at 4K, even when the render workload is relatively light.

At Ultra settings, the pattern shifts. The average frame rate goes from 84 FPS at 1920x1080 to 56.3 FPS at 2560x1440, then down to 32.8 FPS at 3840x2160. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K here is 61%, which is similar to the Low setting scaling. This consistency across presets indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER’s memory bandwidth and shading resources are being saturated at 4K regardless of the quality level. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are simply insufficient to maintain high frame rates at that resolution.

The data points to a clear conclusion: at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU can keep up with the GPU’s output, but at 4K the graphics card becomes the sole limiting factor. The Core i5-12600KF, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, shows a 3dmark max threads score of 7952 and a single-thread score of 1016, indicating it is not the constraint in this scenario. The FPS drop from 1440p to 4K is more severe than the drop from 1080p to 1440p across all settings, which is the classic signature of a GPU that runs out of pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth as resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience for this combination. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 117.3 FPS, which is 25 FPS higher than High and 33 FPS higher than Ultra. The jump from Medium to High costs 25.3 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs only 8 FPS. This suggests that Medium is the sweet spot where the visual quality increase is still accompanied by a substantial performance buffer.

At 2560x1440, Medium produces 79.5 FPS, which is still comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. High drops to 65.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 56.3 FPS. For users targeting a consistent 60 FPS at 1440p, Medium is the recommended preset. The data shows that High barely holds above 60 FPS, leaving little margin for demanding scenes, while Ultra falls below it.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves a locked 60 FPS. Low comes closest with 63.8 FPS, but Medium drops to 50.2 FPS and High falls to 38.7 FPS. Ultra is effectively unplayable at 32.8 FPS. For 4K, the only viable option is Low, and even that is borderline. The recommendation for 4K is to either accept Low settings or reduce the resolution to 1440p with Medium for a significantly better experience. The data indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is not designed for 4K gaming in this title, as the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is a 31 FPS swing, which is the largest absolute difference across all resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1138th out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the 69th percentile of all tested pairings, meaning roughly one-third of combinations perform better and two-thirds perform worse. The ranking reflects the mid-range positioning of the GPU, which is the limiting factor in this game.

Looking at the CPU’s standalone performance, the i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27827 and sits in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival is the Intel Core i9-10900K with a deltaPct of 0, indicating identical average performance. The i5-12600K is 0.1% slower, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is 0.2% slower, while the Intel Core i7-13700H is 0.4% faster. These tiny deltas mean the CPU is not the reason for the combo’s mid-pack ranking.

The GPU, however, has a percentileVsAllGpus of 63 and an average benchmark score of 19774. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN with a deltaPct of 0.3, followed by the RTX 2070 at 0.5% higher, the Quadro K5200 at 0.8% higher, and the Tesla K40m at 1.3% higher. This tight grouping around the 19700-19800 score range indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is at the lower end of its performance class. In Thief specifically, the combo’s 1138th rank aligns more closely with the GPU’s 63rd percentile than the CPU’s 84th percentile, reinforcing that the graphics card determines the overall outcome in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are as follows: Low produces 157.4 FPS, Medium produces 117.3 FPS, High produces 92 FPS, and Ultra produces 84 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 40.1 FPS drop, while the step from Medium to High is a 25.3 FPS drop, and the step from High to Ultra is only an 8 FPS drop. This suggests that the Ultra preset adds minimal visual benefit relative to its performance cost at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 109.7 FPS for Low, 79.5 FPS for Medium, 65.1 FPS for High, and 56.3 FPS for Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 47.7 FPS for Low, 37.8 FPS for Medium, 26.9 FPS for High, and 27.7 FPS for Ultra. The larger absolute drops at Low and Medium indicate that the GPU is becoming more stressed at 1440p, but the frame rates remain playable for all presets except Ultra, which dips just below 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 63.8 FPS for Low, 50.2 FPS for Medium, 38.7 FPS for High, and 32.8 FPS for Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 45.9 FPS for Low, 29.3 FPS for Medium, 26.4 FPS for High, and 23.5 FPS for Ultra. Interestingly, the absolute drop from 1440p to 4K is smaller than the drop from 1080p to 1440p for Medium, High, and Ultra. This is because the frame rates are already low at 1440p, so the percentage decline is compressed. The Low preset at 4K is the only one that stays above 60 FPS, but it does so by a narrow margin.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the TU106 chip using a 12 nm process from TSMC. It has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 1470 MHz with a boost clock of 1650 MHz, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed. The card has 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, along with 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores. Its pixel rate is 105.6 GPixel/s and texture rate is 224.4 GTexel/s.

In Thief, the GPU’s VRAM capacity of 8 GB is not the limiting factor, as the game’s release date of 2014-02-24 predates the high-resolution texture demands of modern titles. Instead, the performance is constrained by the card’s raw compute throughput and memory bandwidth. The FP32 performance of 7.181 TFLOPS is moderate by current standards, and the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the card can only manage 32.8 FPS. Even at 4K Low, the card reaches 63.8 FPS, which suggests that the pixel fill rate is the primary bottleneck at that resolution.

The boost clock of 1650 MHz is relatively modest, and the card’s 175 W TDP indicates it is not a high-power part. The passmark g3d score of 16462 and the 3dmark steel nomad dx12 score of 2011 place it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals show that the RTX 2070 is only 0.5% faster in average benchmark score, yet in Thief the RTX 2060 SUPER performs as a mid-range part. The GPU’s role in this combo is to provide playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but it falls short at 4K, where the user must drop to Low settings to achieve acceptable performance.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution, with all presets exceeding 84 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low and Medium stay above 79 FPS, while Ultra drops to 56.3 FPS. At 3840x2160, only Low exceeds 60 FPS with 63.8 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27827, which is identical to the Intel Core i9-10900K with a deltaPct of 0. The i5-12600K is 0.1% slower, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is 0.2% slower.

Q: Is the GPU the limiting factor in this setup?

A: Yes. The GPU has a percentileVsAllGpus of 63, while the CPU has a percentileVsAllCpus of 84. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K across all settings indicate the RTX 2060 SUPER is the bottleneck, particularly at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 High, the average is 92 FPS. At 3840x2160 High, the average is 38.7 FPS. This represents a 53.3 FPS drop, or roughly a 58% reduction in frame rate.

Q: Which preset offers the best balance at 1440p?

A: Medium at 2560x1440 produces 79.5 FPS, which is the highest frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold. High drops to 65.1 FPS, and Ultra falls below 60 FPS at 56.3 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank against all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 1138th out of 1642 total combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier. The ranking is more consistent with the GPU’s performance percentile than the CPU’s, confirming the graphics card’s dominant role.