Thief

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER delivers a playable but constrained experience in Thief, a 2014 stealth title. The data shows a combo that ranks in the 10th percentile (1479 out of 1642 tested combinations), indicating that while the CPU is a modern powerhouse, the GPU is the decisive bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings. The measured FPS reveals a system that can hit high refresh rates at 1080p with lowered settings, but struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K, even on Low. This analysis breaks down the exact performance metrics, explores the individual roles of the CPU and GPU, and provides clear settings recommendations based solely on the measured data.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset to use at 1920x1080 for a smooth experience?

A: The Low preset at 1080p delivers the highest average of 122.7 FPS. However, the Medium preset still provides a very playable 90.3 FPS, which is likely a better balance for visual quality without sacrificing smoothness.

Q: How much of a performance drop occurs when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: The drop is significant across all settings. For example, on High settings, the average FPS falls from 68.2 at 1080p to 47.8 at 1440p, a reduction of roughly 30%. On Low settings, it drops from 122.7 to 82.4 FPS.

Q: Is the 4K resolution viable with this hardware?

A: The data indicates it is not. Even on the Low preset at 3840x2160, the average FPS is only 46.2. On Ultra settings, the average drops to 24.8 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay.

*Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested systems in Thief?*

A: This specific combination of CPU and GPU ranks 1479 out of 1642 tested combos (comboRankInGame). This places it in the lower tier of systems, suggesting that while it can run the game, many other configurations will provide higher frame rates.

Q: What is the difference in performance between the Low and Ultra presets at 2560x1440?

A: At 1440p, the Low preset averages 82.4 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 46.7 FPS. This represents a performance difference of 35.7 FPS, or a 43% reduction in average frame rate when switching to the highest quality settings.

Q: Which component is more likely to be the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. The GTX 1660 SUPER has a 6 GB VRAM capacity and a 192-bit memory bus, which is modest for 4K. The CPU's high benchmark scores (e.g., 21279 in Cinebench R23 multicore) far exceed what is needed for this title, making the GPU the primary constraint, especially at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the data shows that the Medium preset provides an excellent balance, achieving an average of 90.3 FPS. This is nearly 1.5x the frame rate of the High preset (68.2 FPS) and offers a significant visual improvement over Low. While Ultra is playable at 65 FPS, the 25 FPS gain from dropping to Medium is substantial and likely worth the visual trade-off.

At 2560x1440, the situation changes. The Medium preset delivers an average of 60 FPS, which is the minimum for smooth gameplay. The High preset (47.8 FPS) and Ultra preset (46.7 FPS) both fall below this threshold, making them less ideal for a consistent experience. Therefore, Medium is the recommended preset for 1440p, as it is the only setting that maintains a 60 FPS average.

For 3840x2160, no preset achieves a playable frame rate. Even the Low preset, which averages 46.2 FPS, will feel stuttery in a stealth game that benefits from smooth camera movement. The High (27.4 FPS) and Ultra (24.8 FPS) presets are effectively unplayable. The recommendation here is to avoid 4K entirely or to drastically reduce the internal resolution scale, as the GPU's 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for this workload.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame of 1479 out of 1642 places this system in the bottom 10% of all tested configurations for Thief. This low ranking is surprising given the CPU's strength. The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor that sits in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs (percentileVsAllCpus). Its average benchmark score of 25236 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-13620H (25201, deltaPct 0.1) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25365, deltaPct -0.5).

This contrast highlights the GPU's role as the bottleneck. The GTX 1660 SUPER, while a capable card for its generation, only ranks in the 55th percentile of all GPUs (percentileVsAllGpus). Its average benchmark score of 14286 is very close to competitors like the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14314, deltaPct -0.2) and the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (14315, deltaPct -0.2). This pairing of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU from 2019 results in the overall combo being dragged down, making it a poor match for a game that is likely more graphically intensive than CPU-bound. The data implies that the CPU is not the limiting factor; the GPU is.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of performance scaling. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are respectable. The Low preset leads with an average of 122.7 FPS, followed by Medium at 90.3 FPS, High at 68.2 FPS, and Ultra at 65 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal (3.2 FPS), suggesting a diminishing return on the Ultra preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, all scores drop significantly. Low averages 82.4 FPS, Medium exactly 60 FPS, High 47.8 FPS, and Ultra 46.7 FPS. The performance gap between 1080p and 1440p is substantial, averaging a 33% reduction in FPS across all settings. This indicates that the GPU is being heavily taxed by the increase in pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles. Low is the only preset to break 40 FPS, with an average of 46.2 FPS. Medium drops to 36.7 FPS, High to 27.4 FPS, and Ultra to 24.8 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 46% performance loss, showing that the GPU's memory bandwidth and VRAM are insufficient for the highest quality settings at this resolution. The data shows a clear, non-linear scaling that points to a hard resource limit being hit at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is the primary determinant of this combo's performance in Thief. Its specifications—6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth—are adequate for 1080p and 1440p but prove to be a significant limitation at 4K. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is likely the reason the Ultra preset fails to maintain playable frame rates at higher resolutions, as the game's texture data exceeds this allocation.

The GPU's clock speeds (1530 MHz base, 1785 MHz boost) and its 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are modest by modern standards. Its benchmark scores reflect this, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1278 and a Passmark G3D score of 12699. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT, has an average score of 14389, a deltaPct of -0.7, which shows the GTX 1660 SUPER is slightly below that competitor. The data suggests that this GPU is the bottleneck, as the CPU is clearly capable of feeding it more frames, but the GPU cannot render them fast enough, especially at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a high-performance processor that is vastly overqualified for Thief. Its 10 cores (6 P-cores and 4 E-cores) and 16 threads, with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, provide immense processing power. Its benchmark results are exceptional, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21279 and a Geekbench multicore score of 10971. The CPU's percentileVsAllCpus of 82 indicates it outperforms 82% of all CPUs in the database.

Given the game's 2014 release, it is unlikely to utilize more than a few of these cores effectively. The data supports this, as the CPU's performance is not the limiting factor. The Passmark single-thread score of 3634 and 3DMark single-thread score of 960 show excellent per-core strength. In this context, the CPU's role is to ensure that frame times are consistent and that there are no stutters from processing bottlenecks. The measured FPS drops are almost entirely attributable to the GPU, not a lack of CPU headroom. This is a classic case of a modern CPU being held back by an older, mid-range GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is a stark illustration of the GPU's limitations. At 1080p, the system is capable of high frame rates, with the Low preset hitting 122.7 FPS. But as resolution increases, the performance drops are steep and consistent. Comparing the High preset, the average FPS goes from 68.2 (1080p) to 47.8 (1440p) to 27.4 (2160p). This represents a 60% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K.

This scaling pattern is a clear indicator that the system is GPU-bound. A CPU-bound system would show less of a performance hit when resolution increases, as the CPU's workload remains relatively constant. Here, the frame rate nearly halves when moving from 1440p to 4K, which directly correlates with the quadrupling of pixel count. The GTX 1660 SUPER's 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is simply not enough to feed the GPU at 4K, causing the rendering pipeline to stall. The data reveals a system that is perfectly balanced for 1080p gaming but becomes progressively more unbalanced as resolution demands on the GPU rise.