Thief

# Thief Performance Analysis: Intel Core i5-9400 + AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

This combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT ranks 938th out of 1642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. The pairing pairs a 2018 six-core processor with a 2023 RDNA 3.0 graphics card, and the benchmark results show a system that delivers playable frame rates across most settings, though the CPU's age becomes evident when examining how performance scales across resolutions and quality presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 938 out of 1642 tested combinations indicates a mid-pack positioning in Thief specifically. This is not a top-tier result, but it is far from the bottom of the field. The measured data shows the system achieving average frame rates between 50.8 FPS at 4K Ultra and 118.9 FPS at 1080p Low, which suggests the hardware is capable of handling the game's stealth-focused gameplay without major issues at most settings.

Looking at the individual components, the GPU sits at the 76th percentile among all tested graphics cards, while the CPU is at the 50th percentile among all processors. This percentile gap hints at a potential imbalance, where the graphics card is considerably stronger relative to its peers than the processor is relative to its own competition. The GPU's average benchmark score of 32619 places it near the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (32540, 0.2% higher) and the NVIDIA P104-100 (32747, 0.4% lower), showing it is competitive with those workstation-class parts in synthetic tests.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 2305 puts it virtually tied with the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300, 0.2% difference) and the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299, 0.2% difference), while trailing the Intel Core i7-8809G (2319, 0.6% higher). This tight grouping indicates the i5-9400 is performing exactly as expected for its specifications, neither overperforming nor underperforming its direct rivals in general compute workloads.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT brings substantial graphics horsepower to this pairing, featuring 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The card's memory configuration is generous for a 2014 game like Thief, which was released when 4 GB GPUs were common, and this headroom means memory capacity is never a limiting factor in the measured results.

Clock speeds for the RX 7800 XT show a base of 1295 MHz, a game clock of 2124 MHz, and a boost clock of 2430 MHz. The memory runs at 2438 MHz with an effective data rate of 19.5 Gbps. These clocks, combined with 3840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units, produce a pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s. The card delivers 37.32 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is far more than Thief's rendering demands require.

In the measured FPS data, the GPU's dominance is clear at lower resolutions where the CPU becomes the bottleneck. At 1080p, the average frame rate only varies from 94.7 FPS at Ultra to 118.9 FPS at Low, a spread of just 24.2 FPS. This narrow range suggests the graphics card is being held back by the processor at this resolution, as the GPU could likely push higher frame rates if given more CPU headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling pattern in the measured data reveals where the bottleneck shifts between CPU and GPU. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the average FPS drops from 95.5 to 85.7, a reduction of 9.8 FPS or roughly 10%. From 1440p to 4K at High settings, the frame rate falls from 85.7 to 50.8, a much steeper drop of 34.9 FPS or about 41%. This accelerating decline at higher resolutions is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario emerging as pixel count increases.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more telling. The 1080p Low result of 118.9 FPS drops to 104 FPS at 1440p, then falls to 88.7 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low frame rate is remarkably close to the 1080p High result of 95.5 FPS, indicating that at 4K Low, the GPU is still working hard enough to produce similar output to the higher quality preset at 1080p. This suggests the RX 7800 XT has enough headroom to handle Thief at 4K with lower settings, but the CPU's influence fades as resolution increases and the GPU takes on more of the rendering workload.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution provides further insight. At 1080p, the difference between Low (118.9 FPS) and Ultra (94.7 FPS) is 24.2 FPS, while at 4K, the same comparison shows a gap of 36.2 FPS (88.7 vs 52.5). The widening gap at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count grows, since the additional work required for Ultra settings is more expensive at 4K.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of running Thief at 4K?

A: Yes, the measured data shows playable frame rates at 4K across all quality presets. The lowest result is 50.8 FPS at 4K Ultra, while 4K High achieves 50.8 FPS and 4K Medium reaches 70.1 FPS. Even 4K Low produces 88.7 FPS, which is well above smooth gameplay thresholds.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 scores 2305 on average, placing it 0.2% behind the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300) and the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299), 0.4% ahead of the Intel Xeon E-2134 (2295), and 0.6% behind the Intel Core i7-8809G (2319). These are essentially negligible differences in real-world performance.

Q: What is the best resolution to use with this hardware?

A: Based on the measured frame rates, 1440p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1440p High, the combo delivers 85.7 FPS, and 1440p Ultra reaches 85.9 FPS. These results are close to the 1080p numbers while providing significantly more detail than 1080p, without the steep performance penalty seen at 4K.

Q: How does the GPU's synthetic benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 7800 XT scores 32619 on average, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (32540), 0.4% lower than the NVIDIA P104-100 (32747), 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA T600 Mobile (32849), and 0.7% higher than the AMD FirePro S10000 (32388). These tiny deltas indicate the card is well-positioned among its performance peers.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in Thief?

A: The data suggests some CPU limitation at lower resolutions. At 1080p, frame rates across settings only range from 94.7 to 118.9 FPS, a narrow spread that indicates the processor is constraining the GPU. At 4K, the wider spread of 50.8 to 88.7 FPS shows the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck as resolution increases.

Q: What are the CPU's core and clock specifications?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has 6 cores and 6 threads with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 256 KB of L2 cache per core, and 9 MB of shared L3 cache. Its 65 W TDP and Coffee Lake architecture represent the mid-range desktop segment from 2018.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 provides six physical cores without hyper-threading, giving it 6 cores and 6 threads. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz can boost to 4.10 GHz under load, and the processor includes 9 MB of shared L3 cache. These specifications place it at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, indicating average computational performance relative to the entire database of processors.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-9400 achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125. The Cinebench R20 results show 3346 multi-core and 472 single-core, while Cinebench R15 produces 803 multi-core and 113 single-core. These scores demonstrate that the processor is capable of handling modern workloads, though its six-thread configuration lags behind contemporary CPUs with higher thread counts.

Thief's engine, released in 2014, was designed for the CPUs of that era, which typically featured four cores or fewer. The i5-9400's six cores provide more than sufficient processing power for the game's AI, physics, and scripting systems. The measured 1080p results, where the GPU is not fully utilized, suggest the CPU is able to feed the RX 7800 XT with data at frame rates approaching 120 FPS, which is well within the range of high-refresh-rate monitors.

The memory architecture of the i5-9400 supports dual-channel DDR4 with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, which matches the expectations for a Coffee Lake processor. This memory bandwidth is adequate for Thief's requirements, and the game's measured performance shows no signs of memory subsystem limitations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience. At 1080p, the differences between presets are relatively modest: Low delivers 118.9 FPS, Medium 109.8 FPS, High 95.5 FPS, and Ultra 94.7 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 9.1 FPS, while High to Ultra only costs 0.8 FPS, making Ultra essentially free relative to High at this resolution.

At 1440p, the preset scaling becomes more pronounced. Low achieves 104 FPS, Medium 94.1 FPS, High 85.7 FPS, and Ultra 85.9 FPS. The High and Ultra results are nearly identical, with Ultra actually edging out High by 0.2 FPS. This makes Ultra the recommended preset at 1440p, since it provides the same performance as High with better visual quality.

The 4K results show a different pattern. Low runs at 88.7 FPS, Medium at 70.1 FPS, High at 50.8 FPS, and Ultra at 52.5 FPS. Interestingly, Ultra outperforms High by 1.7 FPS at 4K, which is likely within measurement variance. For 4K gaming, Medium at 70.1 FPS provides a smooth experience, while High and Ultra hover around the 50-52 FPS range, which may be acceptable for slower-paced stealth gameplay.

Given that Thief is a stealth game where frame rate consistency matters more than maximum FPS, the Medium preset at 4K (70.1 FPS) or Ultra at 1440p (85.9 FPS) represent the best combinations of visual fidelity and smooth performance. For players prioritizing frame rate, 1440p Low at 104 FPS or 1080p Low at 118.9 FPS offer high-refresh-rate experiences, though the Ultra preset at 1080p still delivers 94.7 FPS, which is close to the 1440p High result and provides superior image quality.