Thief

Thief, a 2014 stealth title, pushes this Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 combination through a wide performance spectrum. The measured data reveals a system that is clearly capable of high refresh rates at 1080p, yet it encounters significant strain at 4K. The benchmark results indicate that this pairing's overall standing is mid-pack, placing it in the lower half of all tested configurations for this specific game.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all settings presets achieve playable frame rates, with the Low preset reaching 140.5 FPS and even the demanding Ultra preset hitting 78.6 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32508, which places it directly between the AMD Ryzen 7 250 (32584, 0.2% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446, 0.2% slower), showing a tightly contested performance cluster.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all other graphics cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 sits in the 69th percentile among all GPUs, indicating it outperforms a majority of the graphics cards in the database while still being outclassed by higher-tier offerings.

Q: Which settings preset shows the largest performance drop from 1080p to 4K?

A: The Low preset demonstrates the most significant scaling burden, dropping from 140.5 FPS at 1080p to 57.9 FPS at 4K, a substantial reduction of 82.6 FPS due to the increased pixel count.

Q: How does this CPU compare to the Intel Core i7-12800H in average score?

A: The Core i5-14400F's average score of 32508 is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-12800H, which scores 32513, resulting in a negligible 0% deltaPct between the two processors.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM of the RX 6600 a limiting factor at any resolution?

A: While the FACT PACK does not provide VRAM usage metrics, the significant frame rate drops at 3840x2160, where the Ultra preset only achieves 33.7 FPS, suggest that the GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth are under considerable stress at this resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is the primary engine driving Thief's visuals, and its specifications dictate the performance boundaries observed. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1626 MHz and a boost clock of 2491 MHz, with a game clock of 2044 MHz, providing the core processing speed for rendering tasks. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s, which is critical for feeding the shader units and texture mapping units at higher resolutions.

The data shows that the GPU's role is most prominent at 4K, where the demand for pixel throughput and memory bandwidth skyrockets. At 3840x2160, the frame rates across all settings struggle to maintain fluidity, with the High preset yielding only 32.2 FPS and the Ultra preset at 33.7 FPS. This suggests that the RX 6600's compute capabilities, measured at 8.928 TFLOPS for FP32, are insufficient for the raw pixel count, regardless of the graphics quality settings. The gap between Low (57.9 FPS) and Medium (44.4 FPS) at 4K highlights how quickly the GPU becomes saturated as the rendering load increases.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, but with some nuance. The most pronounced drop occurs with the Low preset, where the average FPS falls from 140.5 to 57.9, a 58.8% reduction. This substantial decline indicates that even at the lowest settings, the RX 6600's pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become exhausted as the resolution quadruples.

At the High preset, the scaling is less severe but still impactful, with frame rates dropping from 81.2 FPS at 1080p to 54.9 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 32.2 FPS at 4K. The pattern shows that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU's processing power is likely not the bottleneck when resolution increases. The data implies that for consistent 60 FPS gameplay, the user must stay at 1080p, while 1440p offers playable but reduced performance, and 4K is only viable for those who accept sub-40 FPS averages.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination demonstrates strong performance across all presets. The Low setting delivers the highest average at 140.5 FPS, followed by Medium at 108.9 FPS, High at 81.2 FPS, and Ultra at 78.6 FPS. This shows a clear hierarchy where the Ultra preset is only 3.2% slower than High, suggesting diminishing returns from the highest settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down predictably. The Low preset still achieves a smooth 99.2 FPS, while Medium drops to 76.9 FPS. The High preset falls to 54.9 FPS, and Ultra trails at 53.7 FPS. The gap between Medium and High widens here, indicating that the higher-quality textures and effects at 1440p start to tax the 8 GB of VRAM and the GPU's shading units.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly overburdened. The Low preset manages 57.9 FPS, which is the only playable option at this resolution. Medium drops to 44.4 FPS, while High and Ultra fall to 32.2 FPS and 33.7 FPS, respectively. These figures show that 4K gaming is not a viable option for this hardware in Thief, as even the lowest settings barely maintain 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 is ranked 1337 out of 1642 tested combinations in Thief. This places it in the 81st percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly 19% of all other tested system configurations. The ranking suggests that while this is a competent mid-range setup, it is not optimized for peak performance in this particular title.

This rank is influenced by the GPU's 69th percentile standing among all graphics cards, which is a moderate score. The CPU's 88th percentile ranking is notably higher, but the overall system performance is dragged down by the GPU's limitations. The data implies that for Thief, the graphics card is the primary determinant of the system's final standing, as the CPU's strong benchmark scores cannot compensate for the GPU's inability to maintain high frame rates at elevated resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F provides the processing foundation for this system, with 10 cores and 16 threads running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its architecture, Raptor Lake, is built on a 10 nm process, and it features a 20 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores are robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 and a single-core score of 3093, indicating strong performance for both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads.

In Thief, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls, while the GPU renders the frames. The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions, as the frame rates at 1080p are high enough to suggest that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's 88th percentile ranking against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32508, places it in a competitive tier, just 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 and 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13705H. This indicates that the i5-14400F has ample headroom to support the RX 6600 without causing performance stalls.

Settings Recommendations

For an optimal experience, the data suggests that the 1920x1080 resolution is the sweet spot. At this resolution, the High preset delivers 81.2 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while the Ultra preset at 78.6 FPS offers a minor visual upgrade for a small performance cost. The Medium preset at 108.9 FPS is also an excellent choice for those who prioritize higher frame rates.

At 2560x1440, users must make a trade-off. The Medium preset at 76.9 FPS provides a good balance of visual fidelity and performance, while the High preset at 54.9 FPS may be acceptable for those who prefer higher quality over a locked 60 FPS. The Low preset at 99.2 FPS is the only way to achieve a high refresh rate experience at this resolution.

For 3840x2160, the only recommendation is the Low preset, which yields 57.9 FPS. Any higher setting will result in a sub-45 FPS experience, which is generally considered too choppy for a stealth game that requires precise timing. The data clearly indicates that this hardware is not intended for 4K gaming in Thief, and users should either lower the resolution or adjust their expectations for frame rates.