Thief

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers a robust experience in Thief, a 2014 stealth title. Benchmark data shows the combination ranks 387th out of 1642 tested combos, placing it in the upper quartile of systems. Across all tested resolutions and settings, the average frame rates remain highly playable, with the lowest recorded average being 55.2 FPS at 4K Ultra and the highest reaching 178.8 FPS at 1080p Low. The data indicates a system well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming and capable of smooth 4K performance at higher settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in Thief?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 178.8, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At 1080p Ultra, the average still holds at 136.7 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution with maximum settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system produces an average of 55.2 FPS. This is the lowest average in the dataset, but it remains above the 50 FPS threshold for smooth playability.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. Dropping from 1080p Low (178.8 FPS) to 4K Low (102.1 FPS) shows a 42.9% performance decrease, indicating that the GPU's rendering load is scaling with resolution.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 159.5 on Low to 95.2 on Ultra. This represents a 40.3% reduction in frame rate when moving to the highest quality preset.

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

A: The combo ranks 387th out of 1642 tested combinations. This places it in the top 23.6% of all systems tested in the database for this game.

Q: What kind of memory bandwidth does the GPU provide for this game?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT features a 256-bit memory bus with GDDR6 memory, delivering a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This is paired with 16 GB of VRAM, which is ample for Thief's textures and geometry.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the primary driver of visual performance in Thief, and its specifications align with the measured frame rates. The GPU is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture using a 4 nm process from TSMC, with a die size of 357 mm² containing 53,900 million transistors. Its boost clock reaches 2970 MHz, with a game clock rated at 2400 MHz. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a substantial 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, ensuring that texture streaming and high-resolution assets do not cause stuttering.

In Thief, the GPU's role is evident when comparing frame rates across settings. At 1080p Low, the average is 178.8 FPS, but this drops to 160.1 FPS at Medium and 145.7 FPS at High. The Ultra preset at 1080p still yields 136.7 FPS. This scaling pattern—a 23.5% reduction from Low to Ultra at 1080p—shows that the GPU has enough headroom to handle the game's graphical effects. At 4K, the GPU's limits become clearer: the average drops to 102.1 FPS on Low, 76.5 FPS on Medium, 60.5 FPS on High, and 55.2 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Ultra result, being the only score below 60 FPS, indicates that the GPU is fully utilized by the game's highest settings at this resolution.

The GPU's compute capabilities also play a role. With an FP32 performance of 48.66 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s, the RX 9070 XT handles Thief's lighting and shadow calculations efficiently. The 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs ensure that the game's rasterization workload is processed without issues. The data shows no anomalies, such as sudden frame rate drops, which would suggest driver or hardware problems; instead, the performance scales predictably with settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that highlights the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average frame rates drop significantly. For instance, at Low settings, the average falls from 178.8 FPS to 159.5 FPS, a reduction of 10.8%. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 136.7 FPS to 95.2 FPS, a more substantial 30.4% decrease. This increasing gap at higher settings suggests that the GPU's shader and memory bandwidth resources are being taxed more heavily as resolution increases.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is even more pronounced. At Low settings, the average drops from 159.5 FPS to 102.1 FPS, a 36.0% reduction. At High settings, the drop is from 99.7 FPS to 60.5 FPS, a 39.3% decrease. The 4K Ultra result of 55.2 FPS is 42.0% lower than the 1440p Ultra score of 95.2 FPS. This consistent ~40% penalty when moving to 4K indicates that the RX 9070 XT's 644.6 GB/s memory bandwidth and 256-bit bus are being pushed to their limits, though the frame rates remain playable.

The data also shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this scaling. At 1080p Low, the average of 178.8 FPS is high, and the drop to 4K Low (102.1 FPS) is entirely attributable to the GPU's rendering load. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the 1080p and 1440p scores to be closer together. Instead, the steady decline from 1080p to 4K across all settings confirms that the GPU is the component determining frame rates in Thief.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested configurations, this combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT holds the 387th position out of 1642 total combos. This places it in the top 23.6% of all systems benchmarked for Thief, indicating a strong overall performance level. The rank is a composite of the CPU and GPU's ability to handle the game's workload, and the data shows that both components contribute effectively.

The CPU's benchmark scores provide context for this rank. The Intel Core i5-13400F has a percentile ranking of 82 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25236. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13620H (0.1% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (0.5% slower). This places the CPU in the upper echelon of processors, with a passmark multithread score of 25032 and a single-thread score of 3634. The GPU also ranks at the 82nd percentile, with an average benchmark score of 39647. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon Pro 575 (0.1% slower) and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile (0.2% faster).

The combo rank of 387 suggests that neither component is severely holding back the other. The CPU's strong multi-threaded performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21279, ensures that Thief's AI and physics calculations are processed quickly. The GPU's high-end specs, including its 48.66 TFLOPS FP32 performance, handle the rendering workload. The result is a balanced system that performs well in Thief, though it does not crack the top 300 combos, which likely feature more powerful CPUs or GPUs.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F plays a supporting role in Thief, providing the processing power needed to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic. The CPU features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This configuration, part of the Raptor Lake architecture on a 10 nm process, delivers solid single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core help reduce latency in game code.

In Thief, a game that can utilize multiple threads for AI and physics, the CPU's 16 threads are beneficial. The benchmark data shows a Cinebench R20 multicore score of 8937 and a Geekbench multicore score of 10971, indicating strong parallel processing capabilities. However, the game's performance is not CPU-bound, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling with resolution. At 1080p Low, the average of 178.8 FPS is high, and the CPU is likely not the limiting factor even at this low settings level.

The CPU's single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3004 and a Passmark single-thread score of 3634, ensures that the game's main thread runs efficiently. This is important for Thief, which relies on a single primary thread for player actions and camera movement. The CPU's boost clock of 4.60 GHz provides the necessary clock speed for these single-threaded tasks. The data shows no frame rate inconsistencies that would indicate CPU bottlenecking, as the average FPS values are consistent across multiple runs at the same settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all combinations of resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the system delivers high frame rates suitable for competitive play. The average on Low settings is 178.8 FPS, which drops to 160.1 FPS on Medium, 145.7 FPS on High, and 136.7 FPS on Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra is 42.1 FPS, a 23.5% reduction, showing that the GPU has enough headroom to run the game at high refresh rates even with maximum quality.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain excellent. The average on Low is 159.5 FPS, dropping to 134.8 FPS on Medium, 99.7 FPS on High, and 95.2 FPS on Ultra. The transition from High to Ultra at 1440p shows a smaller drop of 4.5 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects have diminishing returns at this resolution. The 1440p Low score of 159.5 FPS is only 10.8% lower than the 1080p Low score, indicating that the GPU can handle the resolution increase without significant penalties.

At 3840x2160, performance is still playable but shows the GPU's limits. The average on Low is 102.1 FPS, dropping to 76.5 FPS on Medium, 60.5 FPS on High, and 55.2 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Ultra score is the only one below 60 FPS, which is a common target for smooth gameplay. The drop from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 81.5 FPS, a 59.6% reduction. This indicates that while the RX 9070 XT is a high-end GPU, Thief's Ultra settings at 4K require more graphical horsepower than this combo can provide for a locked 60 FPS experience. However, the 4K High score of 60.5 FPS suggests that dropping one setting level can achieve the target.