Thief

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for this Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination in Thief show a clear and predictable pattern of scaling as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers 147.1 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 drops that to 127.8 FPS, a reduction of roughly 13%. The jump to 3840x2160 brings the average down to 80.9 FPS, which is a 45% decline from the 1080p figure.

This scaling curve tells a specific story about which component is limiting performance. The 1080p to 1440p transition is relatively mild, with only a 19.3 FPS difference. But the 1440p to 4K step costs 46.9 FPS. That steep drop at the highest resolution indicates the GPU is becoming the primary constraint as pixel throughput demands increase. The RTX 5080's 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus with 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth is being exercised heavily at 4K, and the data shows it.

Looking at the Low preset across resolutions reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the system hits 181.9 FPS. At 1440p Low, it manages 161 FPS. At 4K Low, it still holds 130.3 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low is a 28% drop, which is smaller than the 45% drop seen at High. When settings are lowered, the CPU has more headroom to feed frames, and the GPU still has enough bandwidth to handle the lower fidelity load. The smaller relative decline at Low suggests that at higher presets, the GPU's shading and memory throughput are more deeply engaged.

Ultra settings show the tightest spread across resolutions: 142.3 FPS at 1080p, 124.9 FPS at 1440p, and 79.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest in the entire measured set, and the gap between 1440p Ultra and 4K Ultra is 45.4 FPS — nearly identical to the High preset's 46.9 FPS gap. This consistency indicates that the rendering workload scales almost linearly with pixel count when the visual complexity is high, which is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this pairing for Thief, and the benchmark data highlights how its memory subsystem and clock behavior shape the results. The GPU runs at a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2617 MHz, built on TSMC's 5 nm process with the GB203 chip under the Blackwell 2.0 architecture. Its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory operates at 1875 MHz with 30 Gbps effective speed, feeding a 256-bit bus for a total bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s.

That memory bandwidth is critical for Thief's performance at higher resolutions. The 4K High result of 80.9 FPS versus the 1080p High result of 147.1 FPS shows a 66.2 FPS penalty. The 4K Ultra result of 79.5 FPS is only 1.4 FPS below the High preset at the same resolution, suggesting that once the resolution is fixed at 4K, the additional settings overhead from High to Ultra is minimal for this GPU. The GPU's 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput and 879.3 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient to keep the frame rate in a playable range even at the most demanding configuration tested.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 89th percentile versus all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 59188. Its nearest rivals in the database are the Intel Arc A570M (58239, deltaPct 1.6), the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60326, deltaPct -1.9), the Intel Arc A580 (57756, deltaPct 2.5), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (57661, deltaPct 2.6). The RTX 5080 sits slightly ahead of three of these four rivals in average score, though the margins are small — within 2.6% in all cases. This indicates that while the RTX 5080 is a top-tier part, its synthetic benchmark lead over these specific competitors is not overwhelming.

In Thief specifically, the GPU's role is most evident in the resolution scaling data. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset delivers 142.3 FPS, which is well above the 1440p High result of 127.8 FPS. The fact that 1080p Ultra beats 1440p High by 14.5 FPS shows that the GPU has ample headroom at lower pixel counts, and the bottleneck shifts to the CPU. The i5-13400F, with 10 cores and 16 threads, boosts to 4.60 GHz and has a 20 MB shared L3 cache, which helps maintain high frame rates at 1080p where the GPU is less stressed.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 153rd out of 1642 tested combinations in Thief, placing it in the top 9.3% of all systems in the database. This is a strong showing, but not a dominant one, given that the RTX 5080 is a high-end GPU and the i5-13400F is a capable mid-range processor. The CPU itself sits in the 82nd percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25236, and its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i7-13620H (25201, deltaPct 0.1), the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25365, deltaPct -0.5), the AMD EPYC 9474F (25103, deltaPct 0.5), and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (25099, deltaPct 0.5). These deltas are all within 0.5%, meaning the i5-13400F is essentially performance-equivalent to those parts in synthetic benchmarks.

The GPU's synthetic average score of 59188 is substantially higher than its nearest rivals, but the combo's rank of 153 out of 1642 suggests that Thief is not a title where this pairing stretches its legs fully. The game was released in 2014, and its engine is likely not optimized to exploit the RTX 5080's Blackwell architecture to the fullest. The measured frame rates, while high, do not show the GPU pushing to its limits at 1080p, where the CPU is more likely the limiter.

Compared to other combos in the database, the 153rd rank means there are 152 combinations that produce higher average frame rates in Thief. This is not a reflection of poor hardware, but rather an indication that many other CPU-GPU pairings with faster processors or different GPU configurations can achieve higher scores in this specific title. The data shows that the RTX 5080's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the Intel Arc parts and the Radeon Pro W5500X — would likely rank lower in Thief given their lower average scores, but the i5-13400F's modest single-thread performance (3dmark_single_thread score of 960) may hold back the combo in a game that relies on CPU draw call processing.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The combo delivers 147.1 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is the second-highest 1080p result behind the Low preset's 181.9 FPS.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 4K High?

A: At 3840x2160, Ultra settings yield 79.5 FPS while High settings yield 80.9 FPS, a difference of only 1.4 FPS. This suggests the GPU handles the Ultra preset's additional load with minimal frame rate impact at 4K.

Q: Which component is the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the GPU has ample headroom, as evidenced by the 181.9 FPS Low result versus 142.3 FPS Ultra. The CPU, with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz and 16 threads, becomes the more likely limiting factor at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the combo's rank in the database?

A: The combo ranks 153rd out of 1642 tested combinations in Thief, placing it in the top 9.3% of all tested systems.

Q: How does the RTX 5080 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 5080 has an average benchmark score of 59188, which is 1.6% higher than the Intel Arc A570M, 2.5% higher than the Intel Arc A580, and 2.6% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X, but 1.9% lower than the Intel Arc Pro A60.

Q: What is the best resolution for high frame rates?

A: For frame rates above 140 FPS, 1080p with High or Ultra settings is optimal, delivering 147.1 and 142.3 FPS respectively. At 1440p, High settings still achieve 127.8 FPS, which is above 120 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience for this Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination in Thief. The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 127.8 FPS, which is a strong balance of visual quality and performance. The 1440p High result is 33.5% higher than the 4K High result of 80.9 FPS, and it is only 19.3 FPS below the 1080p High figure. This makes 1440p High the sweet spot for players who want resolution above 1080p without sacrificing frame rate.

For players targeting 4K, the High preset at 80.9 FPS is preferable to Ultra at 79.5 FPS, since the difference is negligible (1.4 FPS) and High likely reduces some unnecessary visual effects. The 4K Medium result of 108.4 FPS is another viable option, offering a 27.5 FPS improvement over 4K High, but the visual quality drop may not be worth it for a game like Thief where stealth and atmosphere rely on lighting details.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset at 142.3 FPS is the best choice for maximum fidelity, as it is only 5.4% lower than the High preset's 147.1 FPS and 21.7% lower than the Low preset's 181.9 FPS. The jump from Ultra to Low at 1080p gains 39.6 FPS, but the visual degradation would be severe. Given that the Ultra preset already exceeds 140 FPS, there is no reason to drop below it at 1080p.

For competitive play or maximum smoothness, the Low preset at 1440p delivers 161 FPS, which is the highest 1440p result in the dataset. However, this sacrifices most graphical features. The Medium preset at 1440p (142.1 FPS) is a better compromise if frame rate is the priority, as it stays above 140 FPS while retaining some visual quality. The data overall indicates that the combo is best suited to 1440p High or 1080p Ultra, with 4K being playable but not optimal for high-refresh-rate displays.