Thief

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-13400F compare to its closest rival in synthetic CPU benchmarks?

A: The Core i5-13400F scores 25,236 in average benchmark score. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, scores 25,365, which makes the Intel part 0.5% slower. It is effectively tied with the Intel Core i7-13620H, which scores 25,201, a 0.1% difference in favor of the i5-13400F.

Q: Is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti's benchmark score close to any previous-generation card?

A: Yes. The RTX 5070 Ti posts an average benchmark score of 52,086. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 scores 52,085, meaning the two cards are statistically identical with a deltaPct of 0. The AMD Radeon RX 7700S is slightly faster at 52,505, a 0.8% lead.

Q: What is the performance gap between the lowest and highest settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers 125.5 FPS average, while the Ultra preset delivers 68.3 FPS average. This represents a substantial 45.6% drop in frame rate from Low to Ultra, showing that the Ultra preset is far more demanding.

Q: How does the CPU's single-threaded performance compare to its multi-threaded performance in Cinebench?

A: In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 3,004 in single-core and 21,279 in multi-core. The multi-core score is 7.1 times higher, which reflects the benefit of its 10 cores and 16 threads when the workload scales across all cores.

Q: What is the RTX 5070 Ti's memory bandwidth and how might it matter for this game?

A: The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Given that the game's frame rate drops significantly when moving to 4K Ultra, this bandwidth is likely sufficient to feed the 8,960 shading units without becoming a bottleneck.

Q: Where does this specific CPU+GPU combo rank among tested combinations for Thief?

A: The combo ranks 194 out of 1,642 tested combinations. This places it in the top 11.8% of all tested combos, indicating strong overall performance for this title despite being a 2014 game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Thief shows a clear progression across four presets at every resolution. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 179.2 FPS, Medium reaches 160.1 FPS, High hits 147.0 FPS, and Ultra delivers 145.4 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 1080p is only 1.6 FPS, which is negligible in practice. This suggests that the Ultra preset is not significantly more taxing than High at this resolution.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts slightly. Low delivers 157.5 FPS, Medium 141.0 FPS, High 125.6 FPS, and Ultra 115.5 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra here is 10.1 FPS, a more noticeable step. At 4K, the gap widens further: Low hits 125.5 FPS, Medium 94.6 FPS, High 74.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 68.3 FPS.

The data implies that the High preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1440p, High maintains 125.6 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The step from High to Ultra costs 10.1 FPS at 1440p and 6.3 FPS at 4K, but the visual improvement from High to Ultra is typically marginal in a 2014 title. For competitive or high-refresh-rate play, Medium at 1080p provides 160.1 FPS, which offers a significant frame rate advantage over High's 147.0 FPS with only a modest drop in visual quality. The Low preset is rarely necessary given the hardware's capability, as even Ultra at 4K remains above 60 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important characteristics about the limiting component. At High settings, the transition from 1080p (147.0 FPS) to 1440p (125.6 FPS) results in a 14.6% drop, while moving from 1440p to 4K (74.6 FPS) causes a 40.6% drop. This steep decline at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as the workload shifts from CPU-bound to GPU-bound.

At Low settings, the scaling is more pronounced: 1080p yields 179.2 FPS, 1440p drops to 157.5 FPS (12.1% decrease), and 4K falls to 125.5 FPS (20.3% decrease from 1440p). The fact that Low settings at 4K still achieve 125.5 FPS, which is higher than High settings at 1440p, suggests that the GPU is not severely constrained even at 4K when graphical load is reduced.

The Ultra preset shows the most aggressive scaling: 145.4 FPS at 1080p, 115.5 FPS at 1440p (20.6% drop), and 68.3 FPS at 4K (40.9% drop from 1440p). This pattern indicates that the RTX 5070 Ti's compute capabilities are the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, as the GPU must process significantly more pixels with the highest-quality effects. The CPU's role appears to diminish as resolution increases, since the frame rate drops disproportionately with each resolution step.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are 179.2 for Low, 160.1 for Medium, 147.0 for High, and 145.4 for Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 33.8 FPS, representing a 18.9% reduction in performance when selecting the highest preset. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal at just 1.6 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns from the highest settings.

At 2560x1440, the results are 157.5 FPS for Low, 141.0 FPS for Medium, 125.6 FPS for High, and 115.5 FPS for Ultra. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 42.0 FPS, a 26.7% reduction. The Medium-to-High step costs 15.4 FPS, while High-to-Ultra costs 10.1 FPS. These steps are more evenly distributed than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is beginning to feel the load.

At 3840x2160, the values are 125.5 FPS for Low, 94.6 FPS for Medium, 74.6 FPS for High, and 68.3 FPS for Ultra. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 57.2 FPS, a 45.6% reduction. The Medium-to-High step is the largest single drop at 20.0 FPS, while High-to-Ultra costs 6.3 FPS. Even at the most demanding setting, the combo maintains 68.3 FPS, which remains playable for most users.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070 Ti brings substantial specifications to this 2014 title. Its 8,960 shading units, 280 TMUs, and 96 ROPs provide the raw compute necessary for high-resolution rendering. The GPU's boost clock of 2452 MHz, combined with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, yields 896.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. This bandwidth is critical for maintaining texture throughput at 4K resolutions.

The benchmark scores for the GPU show a passmark G3D score of 32,974 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,604. The GPU's percentile ranking of 87 indicates it outperforms 87% of all GPUs in the database. The nearest rival, the RTX 4080, has a nearly identical average score of 52,085, which confirms that the 5070 Ti is positioned as a high-end part.

In Thief, the GPU's role is evident from the resolution scaling. At 1080p, the frame rates are high enough (145.4 FPS at Ultra) that the GPU is not the primary bottleneck. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 68.3 FPS, indicating that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are being fully utilized. The 16 GB VRAM is unlikely to be a limiting factor in this game, as Thief's textures from 2014 would fit comfortably within even 8 GB. The 896.0 GB/s bandwidth, however, becomes relevant as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, requiring more frequent memory accesses.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F features 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 of 1.25 MB support game logic and physics calculations. The CPU's Cinebench R23 scores of 3,004 single-core and 21,279 multi-core place it well above average, with a percentile ranking of 82.

In Thief, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the frame rate reaches 179.2 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's limit for this game's engine. The fact that 1080p Ultra (145.4 FPS) is only 33.8 FPS lower than 1080p Low suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU adequately even at high settings. As resolution increases, the CPU becomes less of a factor; at 4K, the frame rate differences between presets are driven primarily by GPU load.

The CPU's 3DMark scores further contextualize its performance: 7,314 for 16 threads, 5,591 for 8 threads, and 960 for single-thread. These scores indicate strong multi-threaded scaling, which is typical for a 10-core part. For Thief, a 2014 stealth game, the engine likely relies on fewer threads, so the single-thread score of 960 and passmark single-thread score of 3,634 are more relevant. The boost clock of 4.60 GHz provides the single-thread responsiveness needed for consistent frame pacing in older game engines.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 194 out of 1,642 tested combinations for Thief. This places it in the top 11.8% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing for a game released in 2014. The rank reflects the combo's ability to maintain high frame rates across all settings and resolutions, with even the most demanding configuration (4K Ultra) achieving 68.3 FPS.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 82 and GPU's percentile ranking of 87 both contribute to this high combo rank. The CPU's nearest rivals—the Ryzen 5 5600X3D (0.5% faster), Core i7-13620H (0.1% slower), and EPYC 9474F (0.5% slower)—are all closely matched, meaning the CPU is not a differentiator in this specific game. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rival, the RTX 4080, has a deltaPct of 0, making the two GPUs effectively interchangeable for Thief.

The rank of 194 suggests that while the combo is not at the absolute top of the leaderboard, it delivers excellent performance for this title. The data indicates that higher-ranked combos likely feature more powerful CPUs or GPUs, but the marginal gains would be small given that this combo already achieves 68.3 FPS at the most demanding settings. For a game from 2014, the combination of this CPU and GPU provides a smooth experience at any resolution and preset, with the only caveat being the diminishing returns of Ultra settings at 4K.