Thief

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 demonstrates a classic shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution increases in Thief. At 1920x1080, the system is heavily CPU-limited, evidenced by the modest scaling between presets. The average frame rate moves from 177.6 FPS on Low to 161.9 FPS on Medium and 141 FPS on High, a relatively small drop-off that suggests the graphics card has ample headroom but the processor is constraining output. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is only 47.4 FPS, indicating that the i5-13400F’s single-thread performance is the primary gatekeeper.

Moving to 2560x1440, the picture changes subtly. The Low preset delivers 158.1 FPS, while Medium hits 124.6 FPS, High manages 94.7 FPS, and Ultra drops to 93 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra here is 65.1 FPS, wider than at 1080p, signaling that the GPU is starting to take on more responsibility. However, the compression between High and Ultra (a mere 1.7 FPS difference) reveals that the RX 9070 is still not fully saturated at this resolution with these settings.

At 3840x2160, the RX 9070 becomes the definitive limiting factor. The average FPS plummets to 96 on Low, 72.8 on Medium, 55.8 on High, and 54.8 on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 41.2 FPS swing, but more importantly, the High-to-Ultra delta shrinks to just 1 FPS. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU’s compute and memory bandwidth are exhausted, and the CPU is largely irrelevant to the final frame rate. The data suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot for balancing the two components, while 4K demands graphical compromises to maintain playable frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 holds a combo rank of 449 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it comfortably in the top 27% of all configurations, a solid result for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The CPU itself sits in the 82nd percentile against all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 79th percentile against all graphics cards, indicating a well-matched pair where neither component dramatically outclasses the other.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 25,236 puts it in a tight cluster with its nearest rivals. It sits just 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13620H (25,201) and 0.5% ahead of both the AMD EPYC 9474F (25,103) and AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (25,099). Interestingly, it trails the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D by a marginal 0.5% (25,365), a negligible difference in real-world gaming. This suggests the i5-13400F’s 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample processing power for Thief, which is not a particularly demanding title by modern standards.

On the GPU side, the RX 9070’s average benchmark score of 34,780 places it in close competition with several unexpected rivals. It is 0.2% behind the NVIDIA A2 (34,866) and 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro GV100 (34,677). More surprisingly, it outperforms the AMD Radeon HD 7970 by 0.7% (34,541) and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 by 0.8% (34,511). While these deltas are small in aggregate benchmarks, the RX 9070’s modern architecture with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth gives it a distinct advantage in a 2014 title like Thief, which benefits from higher fill rates and texture throughput.

The rank of 449 suggests that while this combo is strong, there are many systems with faster CPUs or more powerful GPUs that achieve higher frame rates. However, given the game’s age, the combination is more than sufficient to deliver a smooth experience at most resolutions, with the primary caveat being 4K Ultra performance.

Settings Recommendations

Benchmark results indicate that the optimal settings for this combination depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset delivers an average of 130.2 FPS, which is well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Low preset hits 177.6 FPS, but the visual trade-offs are unlikely to be worth the extra 47.4 FPS over Ultra, as the game already runs fluidly at the highest settings. For 1080p users, Ultra is the clear recommendation, as the i5-13400F and RX 9070 combination has enough headroom to maintain consistently high frame rates.

At 1440p, the choice becomes more nuanced. The High preset delivers 94.7 FPS, which is excellent for most displays, while Ultra only drops to 93 FPS—a negligible 1.7 FPS penalty. Given the minimal performance cost, Ultra is recommended at 1440p as well, as it provides the best visual fidelity without sacrificing playability. The Medium preset at 124.6 FPS is viable for gamers seeking higher refresh rates, but the jump from Medium to Ultra costs only 31.6 FPS, making Ultra the more compelling option for the visual upgrade.

At 4K, the data shows a stark cliff between Medium and High. The Medium preset averages 72.8 FPS, while High drops to 55.8 FPS and Ultra falls to 54.8 FPS. For a smooth experience above 60 FPS, Medium is the only viable preset, offering a 17 FPS advantage over High. The High-to-Ultra delta of 1 FPS indicates that there is no reason to select Ultra over High, as the performance hit is identical but the settings are higher. However, for gamers who prioritize frame rate over fidelity, the Low preset at 96 FPS is the best choice to maintain a fluid experience on 4K displays, though it sacrifices significant visual quality.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 achieves an average of 130.2 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D?

A: The i5-13400F trails the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D by only 0.5% in average benchmark score, with a score of 25,236 versus 25,365, indicating virtually identical performance in this title.

*Q: Is the RX 9070's 16 GB of VRAM sufficient for Thief at 4K?*

A: Yes, the 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is more than adequate for Thief, a 2014 title. The limiting factor at 4K is the GPU's raw compute performance, not memory capacity, as evidenced by the FPS drop from 96 on Low to 54.8 on Ultra.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 delivers an average of 93 FPS, which is only 1.7 FPS slower than High (94.7 FPS). Given the minimal performance difference, Ultra is the recommended choice for 1440p.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This specific pairing ranks 449 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the top 27% of all systems in the database.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 96 FPS while Ultra averages 54.8 FPS, a difference of 41.2 FPS. This demonstrates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 plays a decisive role in determining Thief’s performance at higher resolutions, particularly at 4K. The GPU is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 48 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process. It features 3,584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 raster operation pipelines, providing a theoretical FP32 performance of 36.13 TFLOPS. The card operates at a base clock of 1330 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with a game clock rated at 2070 MHz. These clocks are relatively high, but the benchmark data shows that they are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra, where the average drops to 54.8 FPS.

Memory configuration is a key factor in the RX 9070’s performance. The card is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 2518 MHz, translating to an effective data rate of 20.1 Gbps. In Thief, this bandwidth is sufficient to feed the GPU’s cores at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the texture and geometry demands outpace the memory subsystem’s ability to keep the cores saturated. This is evident in the FPS scaling: from 1440p High (94.7 FPS) to 4K High (55.8 FPS), there is a 38.9 FPS drop, a 41% reduction that highlights the GPU’s compute limits rather than memory constraints.

The GPU’s benchmark scores corroborate its mid-to-high-end positioning. It scores 25,381 in Passmark G3D and 14737 in Passmark GPU Compute, placing it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it achieves 6,290 points, indicating strong DirectX 12 performance. However, its nearest rivals in the database—NVIDIA A2, Quadro GV100, HD 7970, and PRO W6400—all have similar aggregate scores, suggesting that the RX 9070’s raw compute is not exceptional. Its advantage in Thief comes from modern architectural efficiencies and higher memory bandwidth, which allow it to handle the game’s older rendering techniques effectively. The GPU’s 56 ray tracing cores and 12 Ultimate API support are largely irrelevant for this title, but its 128 ROPs ensure high pixel throughput, which is crucial for maintaining frame rates at 4K.