Thief

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a compelling performance profile in Thief, a 2014 stealth title that remains surprisingly demanding at higher resolutions. The measured data shows a system capable of high refresh rate gaming at 1080p, but it encounters significant challenges as resolution scales to 4K, particularly with Ultra settings. This analysis breaks down the empirical frame rate results, examines the role of each component, and provides actionable settings recommendations based solely on the provided benchmark data.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for high refresh rate gameplay with this combo?

A: At 1920x1080, the system achieves an average of 113 FPS on High settings and 182 FPS on Low settings. Even on Ultra, the average drops only to 108 FPS, making 1080p the only resolution where all presets comfortably exceed 100 FPS averages.

Q: How significant is the performance drop between 1080p and 4K?

A: The data shows a substantial scaling penalty. For High settings, the average FPS drops from 113 at 1080p to 77 at 1440p and further to 46 at 4K. This represents a loss of roughly 59% of the 1080p performance when moving to 4K.

Q: Is the RX 7700's 16 GB of VRAM a limiting factor in this game?

A: The game's measured results show playable frame rates at 4K Medium (60 FPS average), which suggests the 16 GB memory pool is sufficient for the game's demands. The limiting factor at 4K appears to be raw compute throughput rather than memory capacity.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best balance of visual quality and performance at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers a 102 FPS average with a minimum of 86 FPS and maximum of 117 FPS. This is the only 1440p preset with a recorded minimum above 60 FPS, indicating a solid experience.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32279. It is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (32233, +0.1% delta) and the Intel Core i9-11900 (32226, +0.2%). It trails the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS by a mere 0.2% (32354).

Q: Where does this specific CPU+GPU combination rank among all tested combos?

A: The combo ranks 1204th out of 2851 total tested combinations in this game. This places it in the upper-middle portion of the overall ranking, indicating solid but not elite-tier performance.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is the primary driver of frame rate differences across settings in Thief. Its RDNA 3.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process, provides a substantial foundation with 2560 shading units and a 256-bit memory bus. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at an effective 19.5 Gbps, yielding a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. This memory subsystem is crucial for maintaining texture throughput in a game that, while older, can still stress graphical memory.

Examining the measured FPS data, the GPU's role becomes clear. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is a massive 36 FPS (79 vs 43 average). This 46% performance swing is entirely attributable to the GPU's workload increasing with higher fidelity presets. The RX 7700's boost clock of 2459 MHz and game clock of 2041 MHz allow it to handle the computational load, but the data shows it reaches its limits at 4K Ultra. The card's compute capability, rated at 25.18 TFLOPS FP32, is sufficient for 1440p High at 77 FPS but is not enough to maintain fluid 4K Ultra.

The GPU's performance percentile versus all GPUs is 58, and its average benchmark score of 15852 places it in a close group with the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862, -0.1%) and the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014, -1%). Interestingly, this puts it slightly behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129, -1.7% delta for the RX 7700). The data suggests that while the RX 7700 has ample VRAM and clock speeds, its raw rendering power is the bottleneck at 4K Ultra in Thief.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a clear and predictable scaling pattern tied to resolution. The system's performance drops sharply as the pixel count increases, which indicates the GPU becomes the limiting component at higher resolutions.

At 1080p, the system is clearly CPU-bound or at least not fully GPU-limited. The Low preset averages 182 FPS, while High drops to 113 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the Low preset still manages 134 FPS, but the High preset falls to 77 FPS. This 36 FPS drop between 1080p High and 1440p High is a stark indicator of GPU load scaling. At 4K, the trend continues and intensifies. The High preset at 4K achieves only 46 FPS, which is a 31 FPS drop from 1440p High.

This scaling behavior suggests that the 1080p results are partially limited by the CPU's ability to feed the GPU, as the performance delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is only 74 FPS (182 vs 108). In contrast, at 4K, the delta between Low and Ultra is 36 FPS (79 vs 43). The relative performance difference between presets shrinks at higher resolutions because the GPU is overwhelmed by the pixel count in all presets, making the settings' impact less pronounced. The data strongly implies that for 4K gaming, the RX 7700 is the definitive bottleneck, whereas at 1080p, the i5-14400F's capabilities are more relevant to the final frame count.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The provided data offers specific average frame rates for all tested configurations, with some entries also including minimum and maximum values.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 182 FPS average. No min/max recorded.
• Medium: 148 FPS average, with a minimum of 126 FPS and a maximum of 171 FPS.
• High: 113 FPS average. No min/max recorded.
• Ultra: 108 FPS average. No min/max recorded.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 134 FPS average. No min/max recorded.
• Medium: 102 FPS average, with a minimum of 86 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS.
• High: 77 FPS average. No min/max recorded.
• Ultra: 74 FPS average. No min/max recorded.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 79 FPS average. No min/max recorded.
• Medium: 60 FPS average, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 69 FPS.
• High: 46 FPS average. No min/max recorded.
• Ultra: 43 FPS average. No min/max recorded.

The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data across all resolutions. This data shows that at 4K Medium, the frame rate can dip to 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold often considered ideal for smooth gameplay. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 86 FPS indicates a much safer performance margin.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the optimal settings depend heavily on the user's target resolution and refresh rate.

For 1080p, the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation. With an average of 108 FPS, it delivers the highest visual quality while still providing a frame rate well above 60 FPS. The High preset at 113 FPS offers a negligible performance gain over Ultra, making the visual upgrade of Ultra essentially free.

For 1440p, the High preset is the best choice for visual fidelity. It averages 77 FPS, which is playable, but the Medium preset is the safer option for ensuring a consistent experience. The Medium preset's 102 FPS average and 86 FPS minimum guarantee that the frame rate will not drop into stutter territory, whereas the High preset's lack of recorded minimum data introduces some uncertainty. The Ultra preset at 74 FPS is also viable, but it offers only a 3 FPS advantage over High, which seems to indicate diminishing returns.

For 4K, the data presents a clear trade-off. The Medium preset is the only one that maintains an average of 60 FPS, though its minimum of 51 FPS means occasional dips below 60. The High preset (46 FPS) and Ultra preset (43 FPS) are below the 60 FPS mark and will not provide a smooth experience on a standard 60 Hz display. The Low preset at 79 FPS is the only 4K option that safely exceeds 60 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial. For a balanced 4K experience, Medium is the recommended starting point, with Low as a fallback if the minimum frame rate is a concern.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Raptor Lake family, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it a capable modern gaming CPU. The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores are robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21645 and a single-core score of 3055.

In Thief, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p. The fact that the Low preset (182 FPS) is nearly 70 FPS faster than the Ultra preset (108 FPS) at 1080p suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU frames at a very high rate, but the GPU is still the main limiter even at this resolution. However, the CPU's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its Passmark single-thread score of 3701, is likely a key factor in maintaining these high frame rates. The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 83, placing it in the upper echelon of processors.

Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all mobile or older desktop parts. The average score of 32279 is essentially a tie with the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (32233), Intel Core i9-11900 (32226), and AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (32354). This indicates that the i5-14400F's compute potential is comparable to those chips, which confirms its efficiency. In game, the data shows that the CPU does not bottleneck the RX 7700 at 1440p or 4K, as the FPS scales down with resolution, indicating the GPU is the primary constraint. At 1080p, the high frame rates suggest the CPU is performing admirably, but the exact limit of its capability is not exposed by the data.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 achieves a rank of 1204 out of 2851 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the 58th percentile of all combinations, meaning it outperforms more than half of the systems tested but is not near the top.

This ranking is a direct result of the component performance. The CPU's strong 83rd percentile standing is offset by the GPU's more modest 58th percentile score. The RX 7700's average benchmark score of 15852 is actually slightly lower than that of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129), a rival that would likely rank higher in this game. The combo's rank suggests that while the CPU is a high performer, the GPU holds the overall system back from breaking into the top-tier of results.

Looking at the measured FPS, the 4K Ultra result of 43 FPS is a clear weak point. Many higher-ranked combos would likely achieve above 60 FPS at this setting. The combo's strength lies in its 1080p and 1440p performance, where it delivers very playable frame rates. The rank of 1204 out of 2851 is a fair reflection of the hardware's capabilities: a powerful CPU paired with a mid-range GPU that excels at mainstream resolutions but struggles with extreme 4K demands. The data implies that this is a well-balanced system for high-refresh 1440p gaming, but it is not built for 4K Ultra.