Thief

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Thief with the Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT reveals a clear pattern: performance scales strongly with resolution, and the GPU is the primary limiting factor across all settings. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 179.3 FPS, which drops to 136.2 FPS at 1440p and 79.9 FPS at 4K. That represents a 55.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, a substantial decline that indicates the graphics card is being pushed to its limits as pixel count rises.

The scaling pattern becomes even more telling at higher quality presets. At Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 105.4 at 1080p to 76.5 at 1440p, then further to 44.5 at 4K — a 57.8% drop from 1080p to 4K. The consistency of this decline across presets suggests that the RX 6750 XT's rendering throughput, not the CPU, is dictating frame rates at every resolution tested. If the processor were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS gap between 1080p and 4K to narrow significantly at lower settings, where CPU overhead becomes relatively more important. Instead, the 1080p Low result of 179.3 FPS versus the 4K Low result of 79.9 FPS shows a steep slope that points squarely at GPU-bound performance.

At 1440p, the combo delivers playable frame rates across all settings, with the Low preset hitting 136.2 FPS and Ultra still managing 76.5 FPS. The 4K results are more demanding: only Low (79.9 FPS) and Medium (61.1 FPS) cross the 60 FPS threshold, while High (47.7 FPS) and Ultra (44.5 FPS) fall short. This indicates that Thief at 4K is a heavy workload for this GPU, and users targeting high refresh rates at that resolution will need to compromise on quality settings.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p is the sweet spot, as it delivers 136.2 FPS on Low, 103.7 FPS on Medium, 79.5 FPS on High, and 76.5 FPS on Ultra — all comfortably above 60 FPS. At 1080p, frame rates are higher but the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, while at 4K, only Low and Medium presets maintain smooth frame rates.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At Low settings, average FPS drops from 179.3 at 1080p to 79.9 at 4K, a 55.4% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 105.4 to 44.5 FPS, a 57.8% reduction. The consistent percentage loss across presets indicates GPU-bound scaling throughout.

Q: Can this combo run Thief at 4K smoothly?

A: Yes, but only at lower quality presets. The 4K Low setting produces 79.9 FPS and 4K Medium produces 61.1 FPS, both playable. However, 4K High (47.7 FPS) and 4K Ultra (44.5 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS mark, so those presets are not recommended for smooth 4K gameplay.

Q: How does the RX 6750 XT compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 6750 XT has an average benchmark score of 35327, placing it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 5600M, scores 35264, a 0.2% difference. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 scores 35787, which is 1.3% higher, while the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile scores 35435, just 0.3% above.

Q: What does the CPU's benchmark performance indicate?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F scores 32508 on average, placing it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs. It is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-12800H (32513, 0% delta) and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446, 0.2% delta), indicating the CPU is a strong performer that is unlikely to bottleneck the GPU in Thief.

Q: Is the 12 GB VRAM sufficient for Thief at high resolutions?

A: The RX 6750 XT features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit bus and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth. Given that the measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 44.5 and 4K High is 47.7, the VRAM capacity does not appear to be a limiting factor; instead, the GPU's raw compute performance is the constraint.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that the best experience depends heavily on the target resolution. For 1080p gaming, the Ultra preset delivers 105.4 FPS, which is above 100 FPS and perfectly smooth for most displays. The High preset at 110.9 FPS offers a marginal 5.2% improvement while reducing visual quality, making Ultra the better choice for those with 100 Hz or 120 Hz monitors. However, for users with 144 Hz displays, the Medium preset at 150.3 FPS provides a significant frame rate boost over Ultra (42.6% higher) and may be preferable for competitive play, though it sacrifices visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the recommendation is clearer: High at 79.5 FPS and Ultra at 76.5 FPS are both well above 60 FPS, so users can choose based on visual preference. The Medium preset at 103.7 FPS offers a 30.3% improvement over Ultra and is ideal for those prioritizing smoothness. The Low preset at 136.2 FPS is only recommended for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, as the visual downgrade is substantial.

For 4K, the choices are more constrained. The Low preset at 79.9 FPS is the only option that clears 75 FPS, while Medium at 61.1 FPS just exceeds 60 FPS. High at 47.7 FPS and Ultra at 44.5 FPS are below the 60 FPS threshold and would result in noticeable stutter on standard 60 Hz displays. The data suggests that 4K Medium is the optimal balance: it stays above 60 FPS while providing better visuals than Low. Users with variable refresh rate monitors might tolerate 4K High, but the 47.7 FPS average leaves little headroom.

Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset consistently shows the smallest frame rate advantage over High — only 4.7% at 1080p (105.4 vs 110.9 FPS), 3.8% at 1440p (76.5 vs 79.5 FPS), and 6.7% at 4K (44.5 vs 47.7 FPS). This suggests that the Ultra preset's additional visual effects come at a disproportionate performance cost, making High the more efficient choice for most users.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured data set for Thief with the Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 179.3 FPS, Medium achieves 150.3 FPS, High achieves 110.9 FPS, and Ultra achieves 105.4 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 39.4 FPS, which is the largest single-preset jump at this resolution, indicating that the High preset introduces significant rendering costs.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 136.2 FPS, Medium produces 103.7 FPS, High produces 79.5 FPS, and Ultra produces 76.5 FPS. The transition from Medium to High costs 24.2 FPS, while High to Ultra only costs 3.0 FPS — a small difference that again suggests the Ultra preset is not efficiently implemented.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers 79.9 FPS, Medium delivers 61.1 FPS, High delivers 47.7 FPS, and Ultra delivers 44.5 FPS. The Medium to High drop of 13.4 FPS is proportionally large, and the High to Ultra drop of 3.2 FPS is again minimal. Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: the High preset represents the steepest performance cliff, while Ultra adds little extra cost relative to High.

Comparing resolutions at the same preset, the 1080p to 1440p transition reduces FPS by 24.1% at Low (179.3 to 136.2), 31.0% at Medium (150.3 to 103.7), 28.3% at High (110.9 to 79.5), and 27.4% at Ultra (105.4 to 76.5). The 1440p to 4K transition reduces FPS by 41.3% at Low (136.2 to 79.9), 41.1% at Medium (103.7 to 61.1), 40.0% at High (79.5 to 47.7), and 41.8% at Ultra (76.5 to 44.5). The consistent 40%+ drop from 1440p to 4K across all presets is strong evidence of GPU-bound performance.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is the decisive factor in Thief's performance profile. Built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 22 chip on a 7 nm process, this GPU features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. Its boost clock of 2600 MHz and game clock of 2495 MHz, with a base clock of 2150 MHz, drive a measured FP32 performance of 13.31 TFLOPS. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Thief's 2014-era engine.

The benchmark results place the RX 6750 XT in the 79th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 35327. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 5600M, scores 35264, a negligible 0.2% difference. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 scores 35787, which is 1.3% higher, while the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile scores 35435, just 0.3% higher. This clustering indicates that the RX 6750 XT sits at a performance tier where small variations in game optimization can flip the ranking.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's rendering throughput is the limiting factor at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 44.5 FPS translates to a 57.8% reduction from the 1080p Ultra result of 105.4 FPS, a scaling factor consistent with pixel-count increases. The GPU's 64 ROPs and 166.4 GPixel/s pixel rate are insufficient for smooth 4K Ultra in Thief, but the 416.0 GTexel/s texture rate handles lower presets well, as evidenced by the 4K Low result of 79.9 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boosts to 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache, and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its benchmark scores are strong: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 21914 and single-core reaches 3093, while Geekbench multi-core scores 11209 and single-core scores 2333.

The CPU's percentile rank of 88 among all CPUs confirms it is a high-end performer. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-12800H (avg score 32513, 0% delta), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446, 0.2% delta), and AMD Ryzen 7 250 (32584, -0.2% delta). This tight clustering means the i5-14400F is effectively at parity with several mobile and desktop parts, and none of these differences would produce a measurable impact on Thief's frame rates.

In Thief, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The 1080p Low result of 179.3 FPS demonstrates that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough draw calls to sustain very high frame rates. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 105.4 FPS result is well above the GPU's 4K capabilities, indicating the CPU is not the bottleneck at any tested resolution. The fact that 4K Low (79.9 FPS) is significantly lower than 1080p Low (179.3 FPS) — a 55.4% reduction — confirms that the GPU, not the CPU, is the performance limiter. The i5-14400F's 16 threads and 4.70 GHz boost clock provide ample headroom for Thief's single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT combination ranks 718th out of 1642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all systems tested. This rank of 718 out of 1642 means the combo outperforms approximately 56% of tested configurations, which is a solid result given that many of the higher-ranked combos likely feature newer, more expensive GPUs.

The GPU's 79th percentile ranking and the CPU's 88th percentile ranking both contribute to this position, but the GPU is the more influential component for Thief. The RX 6750 XT's average benchmark score of 35327 places it just 0.2% above the RX 5600M and 1.3% below the RTX 3080, while the i5-14400F's score of 32508 is within 0.2% of the i7-12800H. This means the combo's rank is driven primarily by the GPU's position in the performance hierarchy.

It is important to note that the combo's rank of 718 does not reflect a weak pairing — rather, it reflects the large number of tested configurations in the database. The measured FPS data shows that this combo delivers over 60 FPS at 1440p Ultra and over 100 FPS at 1080p Ultra, putting it in strong standing for mainstream gaming. At 4K, the combo's performance is more modest, with only Low and Medium presets exceeding 60 FPS, which limits its rank relative to systems with more powerful GPUs. Overall, this pairing is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with the CPU providing enough headroom to avoid limiting the GPU in Thief's engine.