Thief

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti delivers a commanding performance profile in Thief, a 2014 stealth title that remains surprisingly demanding at higher resolutions. The measured data shows a system that is clearly GPU-bound at 4K, but transitions to a more balanced state as resolution drops. For the RTX 4070 Ti, which sits in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, the game’s engine scales predictably, though the frame rate deltas between settings reveal where the hardware’s headroom lies. The i5-12600KF, ranking in the 79th percentile of CPUs, provides ample single-threaded throughput to keep the GPU fed at lower resolutions, but the data indicates that the graphics card becomes the limiting factor well before the CPU’s capabilities are exhausted. This combination ranks 395th out of 3,720 tested combos for this game, placing it firmly in the top tier of systems capable of running Thief at high refresh rates.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression across resolutions is the clearest indicator of where the bottleneck resides. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the system produces an average of 155 FPS. When moving to 2560x1440 Ultra, the average drops to 113 FPS, a reduction of 42 FPS (27%). At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average falls further to 66 FPS, representing a 47 FPS drop (42%) from the 1440p figure and a 89 FPS drop (57%) from the 1080p figure. This pattern—where the absolute FPS loss increases as resolution climbs—is classic GPU-bound behavior. The pixel throughput demand at 4K overwhelms the RTX 4070 Ti’s 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and 40.09 TFLOPS of compute, even though the game is from 2014.

The scaling is less severe when moving from Low to Medium settings. At 1080p, Low yields 192 FPS, while Medium yields 174 FPS—an 18 FPS gap. At 1440p, Low produces 169 FPS, and Medium drops to 153 FPS—a 16 FPS gap. At 4K, Low hits 120 FPS, while Medium achieves 91 FPS, a 29 FPS gap. This widening delta at 4K suggests that the Medium preset’s additional visual effects place a disproportionate load on the GPU’s shading units and memory subsystem. The 4K Medium row includes measured min and max values (78 FPS and 105 FPS, respectively), showing a 27 FPS variance, which indicates frame time inconsistency under load.

At 1080p, the difference between High and Ultra is minimal: 157 FPS versus 155 FPS. At 1440p, High and Ultra are similarly close, with 118 FPS and 113 FPS. At 4K, High and Ultra produce 70 FPS and 66 FPS, respectively. This narrow gap between High and Ultra across all resolutions suggests that the Ultra preset’s incremental quality improvements—likely shadow resolution and draw distance—are not the primary cost drivers. Instead, the jump from Medium to High is where the significant performance hit occurs: at 4K, Medium drops from 91 FPS to High’s 70 FPS, a 23% reduction. The data indicates that for this game, the High preset represents a quality plateau where further visual gains are marginal relative to the FPS cost.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 Ti’s specifications are central to interpreting these results. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, the card delivers 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 2310 MHz, boosting to 2610 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The GPU has 7680 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 208.8 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s. These figures explain why the card handles 1080p and 1440p with ease—the raw throughput is more than sufficient for a 2014 title—but also why 4K Ultra (66 FPS) falls below the 70 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for smooth gameplay.

The VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor in this game. Thief from 2014 does not require 12 GB of memory at any preset; even at 4K Ultra, the game’s texture budgets are modest by modern standards. The measured FPS data confirms this, as the lowest average (66 FPS at 4K Ultra) is still playable, indicating the card is compute-bound rather than memory-capacity-bound. The GPU’s 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 44,795, places it above the RTX 5090 Mobile (45,152) by 0.8% and above the RTX A6000 (44,075) by 1.6%. This suggests that in synthetic benchmarks, the 4070 Ti is competitive with professional-grade silicon, but in Thief, the game’s engine does not leverage the card’s RT or Tensor cores (60 and 240, respectively), relying instead on traditional rasterization.

The GPU’s boost clock behavior is worth noting. At 1080p, where the CPU might occasionally throttle the GPU, the average FPS figures (192 at Low, 157 at High) suggest the card is not running at its maximum boost for sustained periods, as the frame rate ceiling is likely dictated by the i5-12600KF’s single-thread performance. At 4K, the GPU is fully saturated, and the boost clock becomes the primary driver of performance. The 66 FPS at 4K Ultra corresponds to the card’s sustained boost under heavy load, which is lower than the 2610 MHz spec due to thermal and power constraints (285 W TDP). The data shows that the GPU’s role shifts from being merely sufficient at 1080p to being the sole arbiter of performance at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combination?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 192, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest is 66 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the 4K Medium preset compare to 1440p Ultra in terms of performance?

A: The 4K Medium preset yields an average of 91 FPS, while 1440p Ultra yields 113 FPS. The 1440p Ultra setting provides 22 more FPS on average, suggesting that the lower resolution with higher quality is a better trade-off for smoothness.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the frame rates range from 155 FPS (Ultra) to 192 FPS (Low). The i5-12600KF has a single-thread benchmark score of 3,302 in Cinebench R23, which is likely sufficient to drive these frame rates, but the GPU’s 84th percentile ranking suggests it is still the primary constraint, as the FPS does not scale linearly with resolution drops.

Q: What is the frame time variance at 4K Medium?

A: The 4K Medium preset shows a minimum of 78 FPS and a maximum of 105 FPS, with an average of 91 FPS. This 27 FPS spread indicates inconsistent frame pacing, which could be perceptible as stutter during gameplay.

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

A: The combo ranks 395th out of 3,720 tested combinations for Thief, placing it in the top 11% of all systems. This is a strong result for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU.

Q: Does the game benefit from the CPU’s multi-threading capabilities?

A: The i5-12600KF has 10 cores and 16 threads, with a multithread benchmark score of 23,391 in Cinebench R23. However, Thief from 2014 is unlikely to utilize all threads effectively, and the measured FPS deltas between resolutions suggest that the GPU load dominates, making multi-threading a minor factor in this title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal preset depends on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p displays, the High preset (157 FPS average) is the best choice, as it provides a substantial visual upgrade over Medium (174 FPS) with only a 17 FPS penalty. The Ultra preset at 1080p (155 FPS) offers no meaningful advantage over High, as the 2 FPS difference is imperceptible, so High is the recommended setting for maximum quality without sacrificing measurable performance.

For 1440p, the Medium preset (153 FPS average) is the sweet spot. It delivers a 35 FPS advantage over High (118 FPS) while still providing quality settings that are visually acceptable. The Ultra preset (113 FPS) is also viable for 60 Hz displays, but the Medium preset’s higher frame rate ensures smoother motion on 144 Hz monitors. The Low preset (169 FPS) is unnecessary unless the user prioritizes competitive frame rates over visual fidelity.

At 4K, the Medium preset (91 FPS average) is the only reasonable choice for high refresh rate gaming. The High preset (70 FPS) and Ultra preset (66 FPS) both fall below the 72 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for smooth gameplay on 120 Hz displays. The Low preset (120 FPS) is playable but sacrifices too much visual quality, making Medium the recommended setting for 4K. The measured min FPS of 78 at 4K Medium indicates that even this preset can experience dips, so users with 60 Hz displays may prefer High (70 FPS) for a more stable frame time, accepting the lower average.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti combination ranks 395th out of 3,720 tested combos for Thief, placing it in the 89th percentile of all systems. This is a strong showing, given that the CPU is not a flagship part (it ranks 79th percentile among all CPUs) and the GPU is a previous-generation product (now marked as end-of-life). The ranking indicates that the system is well-balanced for this title, with no single component dragging down the overall performance.

Relative to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the i5-12600KF’s average benchmark score of 27,799 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i9-10900K (27,872, 0.3% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (27,896, 0.3% higher). This means that in Thief, any of these CPUs would likely produce similar frame rates, as the game is not CPU-bound at the tested resolutions. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the RTX 5090 Mobile (45,152, 0.8% higher) and the RTX A6000 (44,075, 1.6% lower), suggesting that the 4070 Ti’s performance is in the same league as mobile flagship silicon and professional workstation cards.

The combo’s rank of 395 out of 3,720 means that 3,325 other combos perform worse. This is a significant achievement, as the list includes many systems with newer hardware. The data indicates that for Thief, the 4070 Ti’s 12 GB of VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient, and the i5-12600KF’s 10 cores and 16 threads provide enough headroom for the game’s engine. The ranking also suggests that the system is not leaving performance on the table; the frame rates measured are likely close to the maximum achievable with this hardware configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. The Low preset averages 192 FPS, with no min or max recorded. Medium averages 174 FPS, with a min of 148 and max of 200, showing a 52 FPS variance under load. High averages 157 FPS, and Ultra averages 155 FPS, with the latter two presets showing no recorded min or max values. The narrow gap between High and Ultra (2 FPS) suggests that the game’s Ultra preset is not optimized for this hardware, offering diminishing returns.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales as expected. Low averages 169 FPS, a 23 FPS drop from 1080p Low. Medium averages 153 FPS, with a min of 130 and max of 176, showing a 46 FPS variance. High averages 118 FPS, a 39 FPS drop from 1080p High. Ultra averages 113 FPS, a 42 FPS drop from 1080p Ultra. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to 5 FPS, indicating that the GPU is beginning to feel the resolution increase, but the 4070 Ti still has ample headroom for 1440p gaming.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is the clear bottleneck. Low averages 120 FPS, a 49 FPS drop from 1440p Low. Medium averages 91 FPS, with a min of 78 and max of 105, showing a 27 FPS variance—the tightest range of any 4K preset, suggesting that Medium is the most stable setting at this resolution. High averages 70 FPS, a 48 FPS drop from 1440p High. Ultra averages 66 FPS, a 47 FPS drop from 1440p Ultra. The differences between High (70 FPS) and Ultra (66 FPS) are minimal, while the jump from Medium (91 FPS) to High (70 FPS) is a substantial 23% decrease, indicating that the High preset introduces effects that disproportionately tax the GPU at 4K. The data shows that for 4K gaming, the Medium preset is the only one that consistently stays above 90 FPS, making it the recommended choice for this resolution.