Thief

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a highly playable Thief experience across most settings, with the data showing that 1440p Medium is the optimal balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, while 4K gaming requires significant compromises. This combo ranks in the 59th percentile of tested configurations, placing it solidly in the mid-to-upper tier for this title, though the GPU clearly becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 offers the best overall experience. At Medium settings, the combo achieves 91 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and even High settings at 69.9 FPS remain playable. While 1920x1080 delivers higher frame rates, 1440p provides a significantly sharper image without sacrificing fluidity.

Q: Can this system handle 4K resolution in Thief?

A: Yes, but with limitations. At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate drops to 41.1 FPS, which may be acceptable for a stealth game but is below the ideal 60 FPS mark. For a smoother 4K experience, dropping to Low settings yields 70.3 FPS, though this requires a substantial visual downgrade.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: The performance cost of Ultra over High is minimal at 1080p, with only a 0.6 FPS difference (96.1 vs 96.7 FPS). However, at 1440p, the gap widens to 5.5 FPS (64.4 vs 69.9 FPS), and at 4K it becomes more pronounced at 1.6 FPS (41.1 vs 39.5 FPS). The data suggests Ultra provides marginal visual gains for a measurable performance hit at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this system?

A: The GPU is the clear limiting factor at higher resolutions. The RTX 2070 SUPER, with its 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, shows significant frame rate drops when moving from 1080p to 4K, while the i5-13400F's 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample processing headroom for this 2014 title.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Medium settings?

A: The jump from Low to Medium costs roughly 39 FPS at 1080p (168.4 to 129.2 FPS) and 27.6 FPS at 1440p (118.6 to 91 FPS). At 4K, the difference is 19.2 FPS (70.3 to 51.1 FPS). This indicates that Medium settings provide a significant visual upgrade for a moderate performance penalty.

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

A: The combo ranks 965th out of 1642 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier. This positioning reflects the RTX 2070 SUPER's 65th percentile standing among all GPUs, while the i5-13400F sits at the 82nd percentile among all CPUs, indicating the CPU has more relative headroom than the GPU.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data clearly indicates that Medium at 2560x1440 provides the best balance of performance and visual quality for this combination. At this setting, the system achieves 91 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay while still offering significantly better visuals than Low. The frame rate headroom also allows for occasional demanding scenes without dropping below playable levels.

For users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, High at 1920x1080 is the recommended choice, delivering 96.7 FPS while maintaining the game's graphical features. Surprisingly, Ultra at 1080p provides nearly identical performance at 96.1 FPS, making it a viable option for those who want the highest settings without worrying about frame rate drops. However, at 1440p, the jump from High to Ultra costs over 5 FPS, making High the smarter choice at that resolution.

For 4K displays, the data suggests that Low settings are the only way to achieve a consistently smooth experience, with 70.3 FPS average. Medium at 4K drops to 51.1 FPS, which may be acceptable for a slower-paced stealth title but risks noticeable stuttering in action sequences. The performance scaling from Low to Medium to High at 4K (70.3 → 51.1 → 39.5 FPS) shows diminishing returns, where each visual tier costs roughly 19-20% of the previous frame rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the dominant component in determining Thief's performance at higher resolutions. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for this game's textures but becomes strained at 4K resolution. The GPU's 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs, combined with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, deliver 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which the benchmark results show is adequate for 60 FPS gameplay at 1080p and 1440p on most presets.

The GPU's 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs contextualizes its performance. The RTX 2070 SUPER sits between the NVIDIA RTX A400 (which scores 0.5% higher on average) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (which scores 0.9% lower), indicating that this is a well-balanced mid-range card. The data shows that at 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to handle even the Ultra preset at 96.1 FPS, but at 4K, the card's limits become apparent, with the frame rate dropping to 41.1 FPS on Ultra.

The 12 nm Turing architecture, while older, still provides capable DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility. The card's 160 texture units and 283.2 GTexel/s texture rate help maintain consistent texture filtering performance, which is evident in the relatively small performance gaps between settings at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers excellent performance across all settings. Low settings produce 168.4 FPS, Medium reaches 129.2 FPS, and both High and Ultra hover around 96-97 FPS (96.7 and 96.1 respectively). The minimal difference between High and Ultra at this resolution suggests that the GPU is not heavily taxed, allowing the CPU to maintain consistent frame delivery.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show clearer scaling. Low settings achieve 118.6 FPS, Medium drops to 91 FPS, High settles at 69.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 64.4 FPS. The gap between Medium and High (21.1 FPS) is larger than the gap between High and Ultra (5.5 FPS), indicating that Medium is the sweet spot for maintaining high refresh rates.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings produce 70.3 FPS, but Medium drops to 51.1 FPS, High falls to 39.5 FPS, and Ultra barely manages 41.1 FPS. Interestingly, Ultra performs slightly better than High at 4K (41.1 vs 39.5 FPS), which may indicate that certain High-specific settings are less optimized than their Ultra counterparts, though the difference is within a plausible margin of variability.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 965th out of 1642 tested combinations, placing it in the 59th percentile of all tested systems. This positioning is notably lower than what the individual component rankings might suggest, as the i5-13400F sits at the 82nd percentile among CPUs while the RTX 2070 SUPER ranks at the 65th percentile among GPUs. The relatively lower combo rank indicates that Thief is more GPU-dependent than CPU-dependent, and the 2070 SUPER's mid-tier status drags the overall ranking down.

This rank also reflects the age of the GPU relative to the CPU. The i5-13400F, released in early 2023, is a modern 10-core processor with 16 threads and a 4.60 GHz boost clock, while the RTX 2070 SUPER launched in mid-2019 and is now end-of-life. The data shows that this CPU-GPU pairing is slightly unbalanced for Thief, with the CPU having significant headroom that the GPU cannot fully utilize at higher resolutions.

The deltaPct figures from the GPU's nearest rivals provide context: the RTX 2070 SUPER scores 2.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5700 and 2.3% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile. This places the card in a competitive position against its contemporaries, though modern mid-range options would likely outperform it.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F plays a supporting role in Thief's performance, providing ample processing power that rarely becomes the limiting factor. With 10 cores and 16 threads, the CPU offers strong multithreaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21279 and Geekbench multicore score of 10971. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 4.60 GHz boost clock ensure that even single-threaded game logic runs efficiently.

The CPU's 82nd percentile ranking among all CPUs places it well above the GPU's 65th percentile, confirming that the processor has significant headroom in this pairing. The data supports this: at 1080p, frame rates scale from 168.4 FPS on Low to 96.1 FPS on Ultra, with the CPU maintaining high minimum frame rates even in CPU-intensive scenes. At 1440p, the CPU continues to perform admirably, with Low settings reaching 118.6 FPS.

The i5-13400F's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, which scores 0.5% higher on average, and the Intel Core i7-13620H, which scores 0.1% lower. This indicates that the CPU is well-matched against its peers, though its performance in Thief is secondary to the GPU's capabilities. The 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility make it an efficient choice for this system.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the GPU-bound nature of this system. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 168.4 FPS at 1080p to 118.6 FPS at 1440p (a 29.6% reduction) and then to 70.3 FPS at 4K (a 40.7% reduction from 1440p). This steep decline indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput is the primary constraint, as the CPU has ample headroom to handle the increased resolution.

At Medium settings, the scaling is slightly more gradual: 129.2 FPS at 1080p drops to 91 FPS at 1440p (29.6% reduction) and then to 51.1 FPS at 4K (43.8% reduction). The consistency of the 1080p-to-1440p drop across settings suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth (448.0 GB/s) is sufficient for 1440p but becomes strained at 4K.

The High and Ultra presets show even more pronounced scaling, with High dropping from 96.7 FPS at 1080p to 69.9 FPS at 1440p (27.7% reduction) and then to 39.5 FPS at 4K (43.5% reduction). Ultra follows a similar pattern: 96.1 → 64.4 → 41.1 FPS. The fact that the 4K-to-1440p drop is consistently around 40-44% across all settings confirms that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU's performance is resolution-independent. Users seeking higher 4K frame rates would need to either reduce settings to Low or upgrade the GPU to a more powerful model.