Thief

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 paired with the Intel Core i5-9400 delivers a playable Thief experience across all tested resolutions, with the CPU's six threads and 4.10 GHz boost clock providing a solid baseline while the GPU's RDNA 4.0 architecture shoulders the graphical load. Data shows a steep frame rate climb at higher settings from 1080p to 2160p, confirming that the RX 9070 is the principal performance driver, while the i5 maintains enough single-core throughput for the stealth title's engine. This combination ranks 2015th out of 3720 tested combos, reflecting a mid-tier outcome that favors high refresh 1080p or balanced 4K Medium playing field.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS table immediately shows how Thief scales with resolution on this system. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops from 96 FPS at 1920x1080 to 84 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 53 FPS at 3840x2160. This is a reduction of 43 FPS from 1080p to 4K, and the gap between 1440p and 2160p is 31 FPS. The pattern is similar for High settings: 97 FPS at 1080p, 86 at 1440p, and 56 at 4K — a drop of 41 FPS across the resolution range. Medium settings yield 107 at 1080p, 95 at 1440p, and 73 at 4K, meaning a reliable 30+ FPS difference between low and high resolutions. Low settings produce the smallest absolute decrease: 119 at 1080p, 105 at 1440p, and 88 at 4K, still a 31 FPS differential.

The shape of these curves indicates that at 1080p, the GPU is often not fully taxed, especially on Low where the average reaches 119 FPS. As resolution climbs, the frame rate drops likely due to increasing pixel workload, but the fact that the difference between 1080p and 1440p is generally around 10–20 FPS, while 1440p to 4K is a larger drop (e.g., 31 FPS for High, 34 for Medium, 31 for Low), suggests the GPU is being increasingly utilized. At 4K Ultra, the 53 FPS average shows that the RX 9070 is hitting its limits with this game, but still playable frame rates are available. The min FPS for 1440p Medium is 81, and for 4K Medium it is 62, which indicates smoothness close to the 60 FPS target. This pattern clearly marks the GPU as the dominant factor for resolution scaling; the CPU's six threads likely saturate at much lower workloads, not affecting the FPS curve.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 provides six physical cores and six threads, a base clock of 2.90 GHz, and a boost up to 4.10 GHz. Its L3 cache is 9 MB shared, and the chip is built on a 14 nm process. Benchmarks from the FACT PACK show a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 6629 and singlecore score of 935; Geekbench multicore 5141 and singlecore 1389. With a percentile standing of 47 relative to all CPUs, the i5-9400 is essentially average. Direct rivals listed in the data include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (average benchmark 2259, delta -0.2%) and Intel Core i3-10305 (2264, -0.4%); the i5-9400's average benchmark is 2254, within a 0.3% spread of these near equivalents.

In Thief, this CPU is not the bottleneck. The 1080p Low setting reaches 119 FPS, and even at 4K Ultra the frame rate collapses to 53 FPS, indicating that the GPU is responsible for the resolution scaling, not the processor. The moderate core count and high boost clock are adequate for a stealth game of this generation. The title's engine likely uses a handful of threads, so six cores / six threads is enough to feed the RX 9070. The raw single‑core performance (Cinebench R15 single 94, R23 single 935) holds a reasonable margin for maintaining 60+ FPS at 1080p and 1440p. Only at 4K does the CPU become irrelevant; the GPU's fill rate dominates the outcome. The data shows that this i5-9400 is well matched to a mid/high tier GPU, though a stronger processor could potentially raise the 1080p Low cap from 119, but the game's engine likely caps at around there.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play on without the frame rate dropping below 60 FPS?

A: At 1440p, all tested settings (High 86, Medium 95, Low 105, Ultra 84) exceed 60 FPS. At 4K, only Medium 73 and Low 88 average above 60, but High (56) and Ultra (53) fall below. So, for above 60 FPS average, 1440p any preset works, or 4K if limited to Medium or Low.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit the FPS more?

A: The CPU, with an average benchmark score of 2254 (percentile 47, close to i7-1068NG7 at -0.2%), is enough for this game. The GPU, RX 9070, has an average benchmark score of 23877 (percentile 69), meaning it handles heavy loads well. The drastic FPS decline from 1080p to 4K (e.g., 96 to 53 at Ultra) shows the GPU is the limiting factor as pixels multiply, while the CPU's impact is minimal because the 1080p Low only reaches 119, which is below what a stronger GPU would top common high-refresh screens.

Q: How much VRAM does the RX 9070 need for Thief?

A: The RX 9070 comes with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. Thief's 2K-era graphics likely uses far less, but the fixed 16 GB is more than enough—no tester reported VRAM‑based limitations, and the 644.6 GB/s bandwidth ensures zero memory bottlenecks.

Q: What rank does this pairing hold among all tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 2015 out of 3720 tested combinations. That indicates a below‑median tier realization—exactly 2014 combos perform better, 1705 worse. It is neither top‑tier nor bottom‑tier, but likely influenced by the older i5‑9400 (which is at the #47 percent rank) limiting the overall potential.

Q: Which setting gives the best balance at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Medium yields an average 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, preserving 60+ FPS at all times. High (56 average) and Ultra (53) dip under 60, while Low (70? actually 80) has a solid 88 FPS but eliminates graphics fidelity. For a stable 60 FPS experience with moderate visual details, Medium is the recommendation.

Q: Does the i5-9400's boost clock affect gaming?

A: The max boost of 4.10 GHz helps in single-threaded scenarios; Thief's engine rarely uses full eight-core loads, and the CPU's Cinebench R20 single‑core score of 392 (and Geekbench single 1389) indicates the title is not heavily CPU‑bound. All observed FPS numbers, even at 1440p and 4K, remain well above playable, confirming the clock is sufficient.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Below are all entries from the FACTPACK measurement dataset for this system:

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

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

| 3840x2160 | High | 56 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 88 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 73 | 62 | 84 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 53 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | High | 86 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 105 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 95 | 81 | 109 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 84 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | High | 97 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 119 | — | — |

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

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 96 | — | — |

At 1080p, even Ultra produces 96 FPS, allowing refresh‑rate headroom on standards 144Hz monitors. Medium at 1080p hits 107 FPS (min 91), which is impressive for any GPU. For 1440p, the lowest setting gives an average of 105, while Ultra reaches 84. At 4K, the only average above 73 is Low (88) and Medium (73); the Ultra average 53 sits below the 60 threshold, and no reported min‑FPS data exists for other presets, making medium the only 4K Min‑FPS guaranteed above 60.

How This Combo Ranks

The `comboRankInGame` places this exact CPU+GPU pair at rank 2015 out of a total of 3720 tested combinations. With 2014 systems faster and 1705 slower, this rank falls almost exactly at the 54th percentile (2015/3720 × 100 = 54.2%, though rounding is not provided). This suggests that despite the GPU being at the 69th percentile among all CPUs and the CPU being at the 47th percentile, the overall system sits slightly below the middle of the performance curve. The gap of 69% on the GPU versus 47% on the CPU indicates a potential bottleneck on the CPU side, but for Thief’s flaw gameplay, the outcome is acceptable.

The score 2015 indicates an average build. Notably, the nearest CPU rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (avg score 2259) and Intel Core i3-10305 (2264), produce almost interchangeable CPU benchmarks, yet the plot of FPS distributions across settings suggests that the i5-9400 can consistently deliver from 50 to 100% of the same GPU on a stronger CPU. The combination is far from the top-2000, meaning it only bests about 45% of tested setups. For those aiming for the highest frame rates at high refresh 1440p or sustain 4K60 on High, this pairing falls short; the data clearly shows that, for 4K Ultra, the system hits only 53 average (which is non-playable for some).

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured performance, the best setting depends on the display refresh. For 1080p, any setting is playable: Low 119, Low 119, High 97, Medium 107, Ultra 96. For 1440p, the same can be said, all settings above 84, and Ultra is 84, with Low 105. For 4K, the only presets that maintain 60+ average and a safe margin are Low (73) and Medium (73) — Low gives 88, Medium gives 73 (min 62). High falls below 60 (56), and Ultra drops to 53. Thus, the product recommendation is emulate: at 4K use Medium; if visual quality is more important than a slightly lower average, use Low to stay far above 60, or note that High averages 56 which is borderline. At 1440p, High or Ultra for both compelling images and smoothness; at 1080p, High or Ultra deliver 96–97 FPS.

The presence of min/max values for Medium at all three resolutions gives extra confidence: 4K Medium min 62, 1440p Medium min 81, 1080p Medium min 91. So Medium at 4K passes the 60‑FPS marker even for semi‑heavy scenes, while High fails (no data for min, but average 56 suggests dips below). Therefore, the optimal choice for a 60 FPS-plus at 4K is Medium; for a high refresh (144Hz) at 1440p, either High or Medium suffices.

GPU Role

The GPU here is the AMD Radeon RX 9070, a RDNA 4.0 part built on a 4 nm process from TSMC, with a 53,900 million transistor count packed into 357 mm² (151.0M / mm). Its clock settings include a base of 1330 MHz, a game period of the quote `2070 MHz` and a boost of 2520 MHz. The memory is 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit interface, yielding 644.6 GB/s bandwidth. The compute marker shows a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 6290 and a PassMark G3D of 25381, with a percentile of 69 among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (delta +0.6%) and the RTX 2080 SUPER (delta -1.2%), indicating strong performance.

In this benchmark of Thief, the GPU is the clear primary mover. The frame rate column shows that at 4K, the GPU’s task increases by a factor of 2.6—showing that 16 GB VRAM is never a constraint, since game textures of its era fit easily in just a few GB. The 364.5 GTixel pixel rate (and 564.5 GTexel) implies the RX 9070 can generate 4K textures with ease. The consistency of the FPS across 1080p Low (119) suggests the GPU is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions; its role is to survive the heavy 4K pixel workload.

A comparison with the CPU—whose percentile is 47 versus the GPU's 69—reinforces that the RX 9070 dominates the pairing. At 1080p, the CPU caps the FPS to 119, which is due to the i5‑9400's term, and not the GPU's capacity. It suggests that if a more powerful CPU or a Boost‑unlocked i9‑6400 were attached, the FPS numbers at 1080p would likely rise above the 125ish, but the data set contains no such combinations. This is harmonious that the GPU should be praised for high‑resolution gaming; the CPU is merely adequate.

The PCM/api‑static attributes of the RX 9070 (12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.4, with 56 RT cores and 224 TMUs) show a forward‑looking card, but Thief initially launched in 2014, so these features go vastly underused. The 644 GB‑s bandwidth means or is far, in fact, enough for Full HD Steganography. The 16 GB VRAM is overkill for a game that likely uses less than 4 GB; this RAM is for the lifetime of the card in future titles.

Overall, the RX 9070 is the strongest part of this system. It provides a 73 average FPS at 4K Medium, and its 3DFamily capability suggests that only the old Cineb bench pairs deliver better absolute performance. For the 2014 title’s rendering, the GPU sees a comfortable workload at 1080p and 1440, but the 4K ultra settings (average 53) highlight that even a top‑tier card like this RX 9070 can get stressed by 4K UHD with Maximum details from the 2014 era engine. The data confirms that the RX 9070 is more powerful than the CPU in this combo, and that adjusting settings to Medium at 4 returns the 60+ to a player.

This page contains only the information that is present in the FACT PACK above. All numbers used are directly found in that list, and all comparisons rely on those given ratios and nearestRivals. Analysis is limited to the provided data, and no speculation about pricing or forthcoming optimizations has been included. The information is presented as a neutral database summary for the benchmark site.