Thief

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB delivers a playable experience in Thief, but the data shows that settings management is critical. The sweet spot is the Medium preset, which provides a balanced frame rate across all tested resolutions. At 1080p, Medium yields an average of 83 FPS with a minimum of 71 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay. At 1440p, Medium drops to 57 FPS average with a 49 FPS minimum, which remains acceptable for a stealth title. At 4K, Medium produces 34 FPS average with a 29 FPS minimum, which is borderline but workable for slower-paced gameplay. The High preset is viable at 1080p with 64 FPS and at 1440p with 44 FPS, but at 4K it falls to 26 FPS, which is too low for consistent comfort. The Ultra preset is only recommended at 1080p, where it hits 60 FPS exactly; at 1440p it drops to 41 FPS, and at 4K it bottoms out at 24 FPS. The Low preset offers the highest frame rates, reaching 110 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K, but the visual quality trade-off is significant. For the best experience, Medium at 1080p or 1440p is the recommended choice, balancing visual fidelity with frame rate stability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is the primary performance limiter in this configuration for Thief. The GPU features 2048 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units, with a boost clock of 1740 MHz. The memory subsystem consists of 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The 4 GB VRAM capacity is a notable constraint, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. The data shows that the GPU’s limitations become apparent when moving from Low to Ultra settings, with frame rates dropping by more than half at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (110 FPS) and Ultra (60 FPS) is 50 FPS, indicating that the GPU is handling the geometry and shading load but is increasingly strained by the higher-quality textures and effects. At 4K, the gap narrows in absolute terms but remains proportionally severe: Low yields 44 FPS while Ultra yields just 24 FPS, a 20 FPS difference. The RTX 3050’s 7.127 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 111.4 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for 1080p gaming, but the 192.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is likely a bottleneck at 1440p and 4K, where the demand for texture data outpaces what the 128-bit bus can deliver. The GPU’s pixel rate of 55.68 GPixel/s also caps fill-rate-heavy scenes, which explains why the High and Ultra presets see such steep declines at higher resolutions. The GPU’s 50th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms its mid-range positioning, and in Thief, it behaves accordingly: capable at 1080p, acceptable at 1440p with settings compromises, and only marginal at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F provides ample processing power for Thief, and the data indicates that it is not a bottleneck in this pairing. The CPU has 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and per-core L2 cache of 1.25 MB are more than sufficient for a 2014 title like Thief, which was designed for quad-core processors. The CPU’s benchmark scores reinforce its strength: it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22604 and a single-core score of 3191, along with a Geekbench multi-core score of 11068 and single-core score of 1996. The PassMark multithread score of 25032 and single-thread score of 3634 further confirm its capability. In Thief, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations, and the 13400F’s 10 cores handle this effortlessly. The evidence is in the frame rate scaling: at 1080p Low, the combo hits 110 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it still manages 60 FPS. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would not vary so dramatically with GPU settings. The CPU’s 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it well above the GPU’s 50th percentile, indicating that the processor has headroom left on the table. The nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS with an average score of 25284 and a 0% delta, or the Intel Core 5 120 with a score of 25362 and a -0.3% delta, perform nearly identically, confirming that this CPU tier is not a differentiator in Thief. In practical terms, the 13400F will not hold back the RTX 3050 at any resolution tested, and users could theoretically pair it with a more powerful GPU for future upgrades without needing to replace the platform.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB ranks 3272 out of 3720 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the 12th percentile of all configurations. This low ranking is primarily due to the GPU’s mid-range position rather than the CPU’s capability. The data shows that the RTX 3050 4 GB sits at the 50th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at the 77th percentile, creating an imbalance that drags the overall combo ranking down. The rank of 3272 indicates that the vast majority of tested combos outperform this pairing in Thief, which is expected given the GPU’s 4 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus. However, the ranking does not tell the whole story: within the context of this specific CPU-GPU pairing, the performance is consistent with what the hardware should deliver. The combo’s ranking is a reflection of the GPU’s ceiling, not a sign of a faulty configuration. For a 1080p gaming setup, this combo is adequate, but for 1440p or 4K, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor, and the combo ranking reflects that reality. The data suggests that users with this combo should treat it as a 1080p-oriented machine, where it performs reasonably well, rather than expecting high-refresh-rate or high-resolution capabilities. The ranking also implies that if the GPU were upgraded, the CPU would be capable of supporting a much higher-performing combo, as its benchmark scores and percentile rank demonstrate.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a predictable decline as resolution increases, but the pattern also highlights the GPU’s memory bandwidth constraints. Moving from 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by roughly 30-35% across all settings. For example, at Medium settings, the framerate falls from 83 FPS at 1080p to 57 FPS at 1440p, a 26 FPS reduction. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is even more severe: at Medium settings, the frame rate falls from 57 FPS to 34 FPS, a 23 FPS reduction. This non-linear scaling is characteristic of a GPU that is hitting its memory bandwidth limit. The 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth becomes saturated as the pixel count increases, and the 4 GB VRAM may also be spilling into system memory at 4K, further reducing performance. The data shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows at higher resolutions, which is another sign of bandwidth saturation. At 1080p, the difference between Low (110 FPS) and Ultra (60 FPS) is 50 FPS. At 1440p, the difference shrinks to 34 FPS (75 FPS vs 41 FPS). At 4K, the difference is just 20 FPS (44 FPS vs 24 FPS). This pattern indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so bandwidth-limited that even reducing settings cannot fully compensate for the resolution’s demands. The limiting component is unambiguously the GPU, as the CPU’s performance does not change with resolution, and the frame rate drops align with the GPU’s known memory subsystem characteristics. For 1080p gaming, the scaling is acceptable, but for 4K, the combo is out of its depth, and for 1440p, users must accept a significant settings compromise to maintain playability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo’s performance in Thief across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 110 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 83 FPS, with a minimum of 71 FPS and a maximum of 96 FPS, indicating a stable frame time curve. High settings produce an average of 64 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 60 FPS, which is exactly at the threshold for smooth gameplay but leaves no headroom for demanding scenes. At 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably. Low settings produce an average of 75 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 57 FPS, with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 66 FPS. High settings produce an average of 44 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 41 FPS, which is below the ideal range for fast-paced action but acceptable for Thief’s stealth gameplay. At 3840x2160, the combo struggles. Low settings produce an average of 44 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 34 FPS, with a minimum of 29 FPS and a maximum of 39 FPS. High settings produce an average of 26 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 24 FPS. The 4K results are only playable on Low settings, and even then, the frame rate is barely above 30 FPS. The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p Medium is the best balance of visual quality and performance, 1440p Low or Medium is workable, and 4K is not viable beyond Low settings. The minimum FPS values for Medium settings at each resolution (71 at 1080p, 49 at 1440p, 29 at 4K) indicate that even the average frame rates can dip during intense scenes, so users should consider these minimums when choosing their settings. Overall, this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p being a secondary option if visual details are reduced.