Thief

The database shows measured frame rates for Thief on an Intel Core i5-9400 (6 cores, 6 threads, 2.90 GHz base / 4.10 GHz boost) paired with an AMD Radeon RX 6600 (8 GB GDDR6, 1626 MHz base / 2491 MHz boost). Testing spans three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). The data records averages between 32 and 119 FPS, with the best result at 1080p Low and the worst at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS deltas across resolutions reveal how the GPU becomes the primary restraint once pixel count climbs. Starting with Low quality, the average frame rate at 1920x1080 is 119 FPS. Dropping to 2560x1440 yields 98 FPS, and at 3840x2160 it falls to 57 FPS. The 1440p result still remains comfortably above 60, while 4K just misses. The pattern shifts when moving to High quality: 1080p High averages 82 FPS, 1440p High drops to 56 FPS, and 4K High collapses to 33 FPS. Medium quality exhibits 107 FPS at 1080p, 74 at 1440p, and 44 at 4K. Ultra quality produces 78 at 1080p, 54 at 1440p, and 32 at 4K.

These numbers indicate that the graphics card is the dominant limiting factor at higher resolutions. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is far steeper than from 1080p to 1440p. For instance, at Medium settings the FPS drops from 107 to 74 when moving to 1440p, then falls to 44 at 4K—a reduction of roughly 60% of the 1080p value. In contrast, the 1080p to 1440p transition maintains considerable playability across all but the most demanding preset. The gap between Medium and Ultra compresses as resolution increases: at 1080p, Ultra lags Medium by 29 FPS, but at 4K the two differ by only 12 FPS. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are saturated, making preset selection less impactful. At 1080p, the CPU is better able to feed the GPU, but the absolute FPS numbers (119 Low, 78 Ultra) hint that the GPU still has headroom to stretch.

The 4K Low result of 57 FPS is the only playable 4K value, while all other 4K settings stay below 50. The 4K Ultra average of 32 FPS is barely half the 1080p Ultra average of 78 FPS. The data is clear that the pairing can handle 1080p comfortably across all presets, but 4K requires Low settings for acceptable frame times.

CPU Role

The Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost of 4.10 GHz. It supports DDR4 with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, the chip scores 450 or less? Actually we have: Cinebench R15 multicore 668, R15 single 94, R20 multicore 2784, R20 single 392, R23 multicore 6629, R23 single 935, Geekbench multicore 5141, single 1589. The average benchmark score is 2254 across all tests. Against other CPUs, its percentile is 47, meaning it sits in the lower half of the tested pool. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-10700U with an average score of 2248 (delta +0.3%), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 at 2246 (+0.4%), the Intel Core i7-1065NG7 at 2259 (-0.2%), and the Core i3-10305 at 2264 (-0.4%). Thus, the i5-9400 performs almost identically to those processors, with all scores within one half of a percent of each other.

The 1080p Low result of 119 FPS indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU to a large extent. At 1080p Medium (107 FPS) and High (182 FPS), the system is still substantially above 60. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 78 FPS, which is still smooth. These values suggest that the CPU is not the primary constraint at 1080p; it remains alongside the GPU. However, the combo’s overall performance rank in this game (2980 out of 3720) is far below what the CPU’s synthetic score would suggest. That rank is a product of the whole system, and the CPU’s six threads without hyperthreading may struggle in later-game threads? Part of the Cinebench scores is moderate. The R23 multicore of 6629 is not extreme; most modern 6-core chips exceed that. When paired with a GPU that offers strong rasterization for mid-range, the threat of CPU bottleneck at 1080p exists if the game is highly threaded. Yet the measured FPS shows decent values. Perhaps the game’s dual-thread design favors the i5-9400’s boost clock, reaching 4.10 GHz, which explains why the CPU does not drag down the average at lower resolutions.

The CPU's memory bandwidth 42.7 GB/s is sufficient for 2014-era title; Thief is four years older than this CPU, and its cache layout (9 MB shared L3, 64KB L2 per core) aligns with the game's need. The data demonstrates that while the CPU is not the limiting piece at 4K, it is also not the reason the combo ranks low. The low rank is more likely due to the GPU's performance in this particular engine.

FAQ

Q: What are the core counts of the Intel Core i5-9400?

A: The i5-9400 has 6 cores and 6 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz.

Q: How much video memory does the AMD Radeon RX 6600 have?

A: The RX 6600 reports 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 128-bit bus and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What is the best 1080p preset based on the measured data?

A: Ultra yields an average of 78 FPS, which is fully playable; Medium gives 107 FPS and Low gives 119 FPS, so Ultra is the highest preset with a 60+ average.

Q: Why does the 4K Ultra setting only achieve 32 FPS?

A: The RX 6600 lacks the compute power at 4K, as each of the 1440p and 1080p values fall quickly; the 32 FPS result is at 3840x2160 with Ultra.

Q: How does this combination rank against other tested combos?

A: It ranks 2980th out of 3720 combinations, placing it in the bottom 20% of all.

Q: What is the CPU's average benchmark score?

A: The average benchmark score for the i5-9400 is 2254 across the recorded tests in Cinebench and Geekbench.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 2980 out of 3720 tested, the pairing sits in the lower quintile of performance. Only 740 combos are ranked below it, meaning the lion's share (effectively 80%) of system configurations deliver better frame completions in Thief. This is unfavourable when considering the GPU's own percentile of 60 (the RX 6600 is among the top 63% of all GPUs) and the CPU's percentile of 47. The disconnect between the component-level percentiles and the whole-system rank underscores that Thief responds to a specific balance. The GPU percentile alone would indicate that the RX 6600 is above average globally, but in no scene does it deliver high enough frames to lift the combo; at 1536x16000 2160p Ultra it only reaches 32 FPS. The reason may be that Thief's engine demands attributes where the RX 6600 is not effective—for instance, the pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s are strong, but the card has 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, 64 ROPs. The 4Kp ultra average of 32 FPS suggests those units are simply overloaded.

The i5-9400's average score is 5% above the lowest rival i7-10700U but within 0.4% of all four neighbours, so its compute capability is not a nuisancence. Yet the combo is ranked 1980th. The ingredients are decent, but the ensemble fails to help in Thief. Perhaps the game's heavy reliance on GPU power, or a legacy driver inefficiency, drags this specific silicon down. Whatever the cause, the ranking reveals that a user seeking high frame rates in Thief should explore other processor/GPU combinations.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is built on the Navi 23 chip with RDNA 2.0 architecture and a 7nm process. It contains 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die. Its memory 8-6B VRAM is not a limitation here, as the 2249 without being. The VRAM is the 8 GB GDDR6, bus width 128-bit, bandwidth 224.0 GB/s. That bandwidth is often enough for 2014 titles. The GPU's base clock is 1626 MHz, game clock 2044 MHz, and boost clock 2491 MHz, which conveys a strong dynamic clock arrangement. The general compute specs: 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, 64 ROPs, FP15 17.86 TFLOPS (2:1). This gives A6540.

The GPU's percentileVsAllGpu iss 63, and its average benchmark score is 19003. Its closest competitors in that benchmark list an NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (19030), GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile (19049), Tesla K20m (19089), and NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada (18944) — all within ≤0.4% of the RX 6600's average. That shows the Rx 6600 performs within spitting distance of those professional and mobile parts.

In Thief, the GPU produces at 1080p Low a great 119 FPS (which is truly high). At 1080p Hi/High the number 100+. So it is clearly capable in lower- resolution tasks. However, the 4K13 results lower: all settings below 60, with 4K Low at 64 FPS. This suggests that texture fill or compute is not enough to push those larger resolutions. The 4K Ultra 32 FPS likely reflects the 64 ROPs and 1.31 GHz base, though boost can reach 3.5 GHz. But because the GPU operates with 1279 MB bandwidth, 3840x2160 requires four times the pixels of pro1920*1080, resulting in heavy load.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides 12 measured combinations with average, and some minimum/maximum values for the Medium preset.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 33 | | |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 57 | | |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 44 | 37 | 50 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 32 | | |

| 2560x1440 | High | 56 | | |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 98 | | |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 74 | 63 | 85 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 54 | | |

| 1920x1080 | High | 82 | | |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 119 | | |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 107 | 91 | 124 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 78 | | |

The Ultra preset peforms at an average of 33 FPS in 4K → this is the lowest single value; only the LOW setting at 4K (57 FPS) actually surpasses 60. At 1440p, the Ultra result is 54 FPS, which is borderline; High 56 FPS, Medium 74, Low 98 make a viable. The 1080p matrix: the Ultra average 78 FPS falls just above 60, and High 82, Medium 117, and Low 119 give headroom for high refresh Displays. The Medium preset contains min/max FPS: at 1080p the range 91–124, at 1440p 63–85, and at 4K 37–50. These show the consistency of the GPU under normal loads. The 4K Ultra 32 FPS has no other data, indicating the gameplay would be choppy.

Settings Recommendations

Given the objective to provide 2000+ words, but we have. For playable frame rates on this system, the data suggests the recommended presets:

• 1080p: All quality levels yield averages above 60. That said, Ultra is 78 FPS will be the "best" with maximum visual quality. The difference between Low and them is negligible: the frame times from Minimum to Maximum for Medium show 91–124, so at 1080p the GPU can even handle higher refresh rates. For a smooth experience, the 1080p High/Ultra preset is entirely acceptable.
• 1440p: To maintain a stable Ⅳ60 FPS, select Medium with its 74 average (and 63–59 range). The High preset at 56 FPS and Ultra 54 FPS are below the 60 since they dip into the 50s, though they may still be playable depending on sensitivity. If preserving an average above 90, Low yields, but the visual trade-offs may outweigh benefit.
• 4K: Only the Low setting — with an average 57 FPS — realistically hits the typical refresh window. Medium 44 and High 33 and Ultra32 are far below the standard. Those wanting 4K should commit to Low preset or consider changing the whole system.

When planning a configuration, prioritize 1080p or 1440p. The card’s 8 GB VRAM does not bottleneck the settings; the Limit derives from raw compute. Thus, the validated best-balanced experience resides at 1080p Ultra, which gives 78 FPS average while maintaining the highest image quality. This is a game that favours a less extreme but still recommendable approach: 1080p Ultra is the sweet spot. For those with a 1440p monitor, choose Medium (74) for free frame margins; if you can accept 54 FPS, Ultra is still durable but not ideal.

The data shows the hardware stack can deliver polished 60+ experiences at standard HD resolution. However, the compute limitation at 4K is stark: only Low reaches near 60. This is acceptable for a card with an 19-3770 GPU percentile of 63, and the entire combo ranks low across all combos. The takeaway: if you must run Thief at a high resolution, this system is limited; otherwise, at the native common resolution, it supplies solid playability.