Thief

The Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 combination lands in the lower-mid pack for Thief, ranking 1288th out of 1642 tested combos. This placement reflects a pairing that is fully capable of delivering smooth gameplay at mainstream resolutions, but one that cedes ground to higher-end configurations at 4K. The data shows a system where the GPU’s modern architecture is often held back by the CPU’s older platform, resulting in a performance profile that is strong at 1080p, very good at 1440p, and only marginal at 4K on demanding presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo sits at the 78th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly a quarter of the systems tested achieve higher frame rates in Thief. This rank is primarily a function of the CPU, which itself sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is more robust, ranking at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs. The disparity between the CPU’s mid-pack standing and the GPU’s higher placement explains why the combo does not break into the top tier: the i5-9400, with an average benchmark score of 2305, is nearly identical to its closest rivals, including the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300, 0.2% delta) and the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299, 0.2% delta). It is also just 0.4% ahead of the Intel Xeon E-2134 (2295) and 0.6% behind the Intel Core i7-8809G (2319). This clustering shows that the processor is a known quantity with no headroom to boost the system into higher ranks. The GPU, by contrast, has an average score of 20258 and is 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (20146) and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 460 (20088), while trailing the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) by 1.3% and the Intel Arc B570 (20556) by 1.5%. This suggests the graphics card is the stronger link in the chain, but the overall rank is dragged down by the processor’s inability to feed it adequately in a game like Thief that relies on single-thread performance.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 33 chip, fabricated on a 6 nm process by TSMC. It carries 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s boost clock reaches 2655 MHz, with a base clock of 1720 MHz and a game clock of 2250 MHz. These specifications translate into a pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 21.75 TFLOPS. In Thief, the GPU’s role is most evident at 1440p and 4K resolutions. At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo produces 62.6 FPS, which is a 73% increase over the 4K High result of 35.7 FPS. This scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions, as the CPU becomes less of a bottleneck when the pixel workload increases. The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for Thief’s textures, as the game’s 2014 release date means it does not demand excessive memory capacity. The 128-bit bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the game’s data streaming, but the card’s performance ceiling is reached at 4K Ultra, where it can only muster 33 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate. At 2560x1440 Medium, the combo achieves 85 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Pushing to High at the same resolution drops the frame rate to 62.6 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. At 1080p, the Medium preset produces 109.6 FPS, which is excellent, but the High preset at 90.6 FPS is also very strong and likely offers a better visual experience without sacrificing smoothness. For users with 4K displays, the Low preset is the only viable option, yielding 60.7 FPS, while Medium drops to 50 FPS and High falls to 35.7 FPS. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it yields 87.7 FPS at 1080p, 59.9 FPS at 1440p, and 33 FPS at 4K, with the 1440p result being the only acceptable one. The data shows that the High preset at 1440p is the sweet spot for this combination, providing a solid 62.6 FPS that balances image quality and performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results across all settings. Low settings produce 117.7 FPS, Medium yields 109.6 FPS, High reaches 90.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 87.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 30 FPS, indicating that the GPU has ample headroom to handle the game’s effects at this resolution. Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease noticeably: Low yields 107.4 FPS, Medium produces 85 FPS, High achieves 62.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 59.9 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 47.5 FPS, showing that the higher resolution places a greater strain on the GPU. At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more constrained: Low produces 60.7 FPS, Medium yields 50 FPS, High drops to 35.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 33 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 27.7 FPS, but the absolute numbers are much lower, making only the Low preset playable. These figures illustrate a clear pattern: the combo is excellent for 1080p gaming, good for 1440p with adjustments, and limited to low settings at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component. At High settings, the combo delivers 90.6 FPS at 1080p, 62.6 FPS at 1440p, and 35.7 FPS at 4K. This represents a 30.9% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 60.6% drop from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, which suggests that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the results are 117.7 FPS at 1080p, 107.4 FPS at 1440p, and 60.7 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is only 8.7%, indicating that the CPU is still capable of keeping up at lower graphical loads. However, the drop from 1440p to 4K is 43.5%, which points to the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute capabilities being stretched. The Ultra preset shows a similar pattern: 87.7 FPS at 1080p, 59.9 FPS at 1440p, and 33 FPS at 4K. The fact that 1080p Ultra (87.7 FPS) is only slightly lower than 1080p High (90.6 FPS) suggests that the CPU is limiting performance at lower resolutions, as the GPU has enough power to handle the increased settings without a significant frame rate penalty. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, as the frame rate drops to 33 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor from the Coffee Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It has 9 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel interface, providing 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU’s benchmark results show a single-core score of 113 in Cinebench R15 and 472 in Cinebench R20, with multi-core scores of 803 and 3346 respectively. In Thief, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates across settings are closely grouped. The difference between Low (117.7 FPS) and Ultra (87.7 FPS) is just 30 FPS, which indicates that the GPU is not being fully utilized at lower resolutions. The CPU’s 6 cores and 6 threads are sufficient for Thief’s single-threaded engine, but the lack of hyper-threading means it cannot handle background tasks as efficiently as a processor with more threads. The 4.10 GHz boost clock provides adequate single-thread performance, as evidenced by the 90.6 FPS at 1080p High, but the 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs shows that it is not a high-end part. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and Socket 1151 compatibility are noted, but the data indicates that it is the bottleneck in this pairing, particularly at 1080p where the GPU could likely deliver higher frame rates if the CPU could feed it more quickly.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo playable at 4K in Thief?

A: Only at Low settings, where it achieves 60.7 FPS. Medium produces 50 FPS, High drops to 35.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 33 FPS, making Low the only smooth option at 4K.

Q: What is the best resolution for this pairing?

A: 2560x1440 with Medium settings provides 85 FPS, which is strong. However, 1080p at High settings yields 90.6 FPS, offering a better balance of visual quality and performance for most users.

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

A: The i5-9400 has an average score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300) and 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299). It is 0.4% ahead of the Intel Xeon E-2134 (2295) and 0.6% behind the Intel Core i7-8809G (2319).

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

A: The RX 7600 has an average score of 20258, which is 0.6% higher than the RX 7600 XT (20146) and 0.8% higher than the RX 460 (20088). It trails the RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) by 1.3% and the Intel Arc B570 (20556) by 1.5%.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p at High settings?

A: The combo delivers 90.6 FPS at 1080p and 62.6 FPS at 1440p, a 30.9% drop. This indicates that the GPU is becoming a larger factor at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p, as the frame rate difference between Low (117.7 FPS) and Ultra (87.7 FPS) is only 30 FPS, showing that the GPU has headroom that the CPU cannot fully utilize.