Thief

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 lands at rank 1400 out of 1642 tested combinations for Thief. That places this system in the lower 15% of all tested hardware pairings, a position that reflects the age of the GPU more than the capability of the CPU. The combo sits below the median, meaning a majority of tested systems deliver higher frame rates in this 2014 stealth title.

What is striking here is the gap between the two components' individual standings. The i5-14400F holds an 88th percentile ranking against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32508. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-12800H at 32513 (a 0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 at 32446 (0.2% ahead of the i5), and the AMD Ryzen 7 250 at 32584 (0.2% behind). The CPU is clearly a modern, high-performing part. Meanwhile, the GTX 1070 sits at just the 51st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12331. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 at 12241 (0.7% ahead), the GTX 880M at 12490 (1.3% behind), the GTX 1650 SUPER at 12504 (1.4% behind), and the Tesla K20Xm at 12547 (1.7% behind). The GPU is essentially mid-pack, and it drags the overall combo ranking down.

The data suggests this pairing is fundamentally mismatched for Thief. A top-tier CPU is being held back by a GPU that, while competent, is not designed to push high frame rates at demanding settings. The measured FPS figures confirm this bottleneck, as the frame rates scale more with GPU load than with CPU capability. This is not a bad combination for general use, but for Thief specifically, the ranking indicates the GPU is the limiting factor in nearly every scenario.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, the data points to a clear sweet spot. At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the combo delivers 94.4 FPS average. This is a strong result, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider playable. Moving up to High at 1080p yields 72.4 FPS, which is still solid, but the jump to Ultra drops the average to 69.2 FPS, a smaller margin than the step from Medium to High.

The situation changes at higher resolutions. At 2560x1440, Medium settings produce 67.4 FPS, which is playable but not as fluid as the 1080p Medium result. High at 1440p drops to 52.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 48.8 FPS. At 3840x2160, the numbers become marginal: Medium yields 38.2 FPS, High drops to 30.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 29.2 FPS.

For the best experience per the measured rows, 1080p Medium is the recommended configuration. It offers a significant FPS advantage over High (94.4 vs 72.4) and a massive lead over Ultra (94.4 vs 69.2). The performance headroom at Medium suggests the GPU is not fully saturated, allowing for smoother frame pacing. If visual fidelity is a priority, 1080p High at 72.4 FPS is acceptable, but the data shows diminishing returns beyond Medium. At 1440p, Medium is the only setting that stays above 60 FPS, making it the viable choice for that resolution. For 4K, none of the settings reach playable levels, with the best option being Low at 51.6 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound pattern. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 94.4 FPS. Dropping to 1440p Medium reduces that to 67.4 FPS, a 28.6% decrease. Moving to 4K Medium yields 38.2 FPS, which is 59.5% lower than the 1080p figure. This steep decline as resolution increases is the signature of a GPU that is working at its limits.

The pattern holds across all settings. High settings show 72.4 FPS at 1080p, 52.5 FPS at 1440p, and 30.9 FPS at 4K. Low settings show 128.6 FPS at 1080p, 88.6 FPS at 1440p, and 51.6 FPS at 4K. Ultra shows 69.2 FPS at 1080p, 48.8 FPS at 1440p, and 29.2 FPS at 4K. In every case, the drop from 1440p to 4K is more severe than the drop from 1080p to 1440p, indicating that the GPU's pixel throughput is the limiting factor.

The data implies that the GTX 1070's 256.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 256-bit bus are being saturated at higher resolutions. The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory is not the issue, as the game likely fits within that capacity, but the raw fill rate and shading power of the GPU cannot sustain high frame rates as pixel count increases. The CPU, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, is not the bottleneck here; its benchmark scores suggest it could handle far more demanding workloads.

FAQ

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

A: 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all settings stay above 60 FPS. Low hits 128.6 FPS, Medium hits 94.4 FPS, High hits 72.4 FPS, and Ultra hits 69.2 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Thief?

A: No setting reaches 60 FPS at 3840x2160. The highest average is 51.6 FPS on Low, with Medium at 38.2 FPS, High at 30.9 FPS, and Ultra at 29.2 FPS.

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

A: The GTX 1070 has an average benchmark score of 12331. It is 0.7% behind the Quadro K4200, 1.3% ahead of the GTX 880M, 1.4% ahead of the GTX 1650 SUPER, and 1.7% ahead of the Tesla K20Xm.

Q: Why is the combo ranking so low despite the strong CPU?

A: The combo ranks 1400 out of 1642 tested. The CPU holds an 88th percentile ranking, but the GPU sits at the 51st percentile. The GPU's mid-pack performance drags the overall ranking down.

Q: What is the CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-14400F scores 32508 on average. It matches the i7-12800H (0% delta), is 0.2% ahead of the Ryzen 5 PRO 7645, and is 0.2% behind both the Ryzen 7 250 and the i7-13705H.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the decisive component in this combo's Thief performance. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the game's assets but not for high-resolution rendering at high settings. The GPU's base clock of 1506 MHz and boost clock of 1683 MHz are modest by modern standards, but they are consistent with its 51st percentile ranking.

The GTX 1070's compute capabilities tell a similar story. Its FP32 performance of 6.463 TFLOPS and its 1920 shading units are adequate for 1080p gaming, but they struggle as resolution scales up. The pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s are the key metrics for understanding the 4K results. At 3840x2160, the GPU must process over 8 million pixels per frame, and the data shows it cannot maintain playable frame rates on any setting above Low.

The GPU's memory configuration is not the bottleneck. The 8 GB capacity is ample for Thief, and the 256.3 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the texture data. The limiting factor is the raw compute throughput. This is evident in the FPS scaling: Low at 4K hits 51.6 FPS, but Medium drops to 38.2 FPS, indicating that even modest increases in shader load push the GPU past its limits. The GTX 1070 is a competent 1080p card, but it is out of its depth at higher resolutions in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a modern powerhouse that is largely underutilized in Thief. With 10 cores and 16 threads, it offers substantial multi-threaded performance, as reflected in its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 and Geekbench multi-core score of 11209. Its boost clock of 4.70 GHz and single-core performance scores, such as 3093 in Cinebench R23 single-core, ensure that it can handle the game's logic and physics without breaking a sweat.

The CPU's 88th percentile ranking among all processors indicates it is far more capable than what this game demands. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 128.6 FPS, which is likely near the game's engine limits. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 29.2 FPS, but this is due to GPU saturation, not CPU constraints.

The i5-14400F's large cache hierarchy, including 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 per core, ensures that game data is quickly accessible. Its 65 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it a versatile part, but for Thief, the CPU's role is simply to feed frames to the GPU. The measured results show that the CPU has ample headroom, as the FPS differences across settings are almost entirely attributable to GPU load. This combination would benefit from a more powerful GPU to unlock the CPU's full potential.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance. Low settings average 128.6 FPS, Medium averages 94.4 FPS, High averages 72.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 69.2 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 3.2 FPS, suggesting that Ultra's additional effects are not heavily taxing the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop significantly. Low averages 88.6 FPS, Medium averages 67.4 FPS, High averages 52.5 FPS, and Ultra averages 48.8 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced on Low, which loses 40 FPS, while High loses 19.9 FPS and Ultra loses 20.4 FPS. This indicates that the GPU's pixel fill rate is becoming a constraint at 1440p.

At 3840x2160, the performance falls below playable thresholds for most settings. Low averages 51.6 FPS, Medium averages 38.2 FPS, High averages 30.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 29.2 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 13.4 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 7.3 FPS. Ultra offers only marginal improvement over High, with a 1.7 FPS difference.

Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: the GPU's performance degrades sharply as resolution increases, with the most severe drops occurring between 1440p and 4K. The data indicates that the GTX 1070 is best suited for 1080p gaming in Thief, with Medium settings providing the best balance of visual quality and frame rate.