Thief

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti places 901st out of 1,642 tested combos in Thief, positioning it in the lower-middle segment of the database. This rank reflects a substantial imbalance between the two components: the GPU is a high-end part while the CPU sits near the middle of the pack at the 50th percentile among all processors. The i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2,305 places it within a tight cluster of rivals — it trails the Intel Core i7-8809G by 0.6% (2,319 vs. 2,305) and leads the Intel Core i3-10305 by 0.2% (2,300) and the Intel Core i3-1125G4 by 0.2% (2,299), with the Intel Xeon E-2134 also at 2,295 (0.4% behind). These near-identical scores indicate that CPU-side performance is not a differentiator in this configuration; the i5-9400 is effectively interchangeable with its closest competitors in synthetic multi-core workloads.

Given that the RTX 3080 Ti ranks at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 41,224, the combo's 901st rank is almost certainly constrained by the processor. The GPU's nearest rivals — the RTX 3090 (41,441, 0.5% ahead), AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41,610, 0.9% ahead), RTX 5070 (41,687, 1.1% ahead), and Tesla M40 (41,897, 1.6% ahead) — all score within 2% of the 3080 Ti, so the GPU is not the limiting factor. In Thief, a 2014 stealth title, the measured frame rates show that the combo can push high averages, but the CPU's six cores and six threads without hyper-threading may create bottlenecks in CPU-bound scenes, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU has spare headroom.

GPU Role

The RTX 3080 Ti brings substantial memory and bandwidth resources to this pairing. It features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth — a figure that is more than sufficient for Thief's texture and geometry demands, even at 4K resolution. The GPU's memory clock runs at 1188 MHz with an effective data rate of 19 Gbps. The core clocks are 1365 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost, which are moderate for a high-end Ampere part but still capable of driving the frame rates observed in the measured data.

The GPU's 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output pipelines provide a theoretical pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput of 34.10 TFLOPS (with FP16 at the same 1:1 ratio) indicates that the card has ample compute headroom for this game's DirectX 12 rendering path, which the GPU supports through DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The 80 ray-tracing cores and 320 tensor cores are present on the chip but are unlikely to be exercised heavily in Thief, given its 2014 release date and pre-ray-tracing engine.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's role becomes more prominent as resolution increases. At 3840x2160, the gap between Low and Ultra settings is 27.2 FPS (87.2 vs. 60.0), whereas at 1920x1080 the same settings gap narrows to 19.5 FPS (117.5 vs. 98.0). This pattern indicates that at 4K, the GPU is more heavily loaded and settings have a larger relative impact, while at 1080p the CPU begins to cap performance, compressing the difference between quality presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in Thief, and how many combos are included in the comparison?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 + RTX 3080 Ti combo ranks 901st out of 1,642 tested combinations in Thief.

Q: How does the i5-9400 compare to its nearest CPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-9400 scores 2,305 on average, which is 0.6% below the Intel Core i7-8809G (2,319) and 0.2% above both the Intel Core i3-10305 (2,300) and Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2,299), with the Intel Xeon E-2134 at 2,295 (0.4% behind).

Q: What is the RTX 3080 Ti's standing relative to its closest GPU competitors?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti averages 41,224 in benchmarks, which is 0.5% behind the RTX 3090 (41,441), 0.9% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41,610), 1.1% behind the RTX 5070 (41,687), and 1.6% behind the Tesla M40 (41,897).

Q: What is the best measured average FPS achieved by this combo, and at what settings?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 117.5, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 107.6 at 1920x1080 Medium, followed by 106.5 at 2560x1440 Low.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is exactly 60.0 FPS, which is playable. At 3840x2160 High, the average drops to 58.1 FPS, slightly below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the GPU's memory bandwidth compare to its VRAM capacity?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a high-bandwidth configuration that supports the high-resolution frame rates observed.

Settings Recommendations

Analyzing the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, all four presets deliver averages above 98 FPS, with Low at 117.5, Medium at 107.6, High at 98.1, and Ultra at 98.0. The 19.5 FPS difference between Low and Ultra is relatively modest, and since Ultra and High are nearly identical (98.0 vs. 98.1), the Ultra preset provides the best visual quality with no meaningful performance penalty compared to High. Medium offers a 9.6 FPS uplift over Ultra but sacrifices visual fidelity; for most users, Ultra is the recommended choice at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Ultra averages 84.6 FPS, High 83.9, Medium 97.1, and Low 106.5. The gap between Ultra and High is only 0.7 FPS, making High the better value if the goal is to maintain similar visuals with a slight edge, but Ultra remains perfectly playable. Medium offers a substantial 12.5 FPS improvement over Ultra, which could be worthwhile for high-refresh-rate displays. Low provides the highest average but with noticeably reduced visual quality; the data suggests that Medium strikes the best balance at 1440p, delivering 97.1 FPS while preserving more graphical detail than Low.

At 3840x2160, the results are closer to the edge of playability. Ultra averages exactly 60.0 FPS, High 58.1, Medium 81.1, and Low 87.2. The jump from High to Medium is 23.0 FPS, which is significant. Given that Ultra and High both hover near 60 FPS, the Medium preset at 81.1 FPS is the recommended choice for 4K gaming, as it provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold while retaining a reasonable level of visual fidelity. Low at 87.2 FPS is available for those prioritizing frame rate above all else, but Medium offers the best combination of smoothness and quality at this resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 117.5 FPS, which is the highest figure in the entire dataset. Medium follows at 107.6 FPS, a 9.9 FPS drop from Low. High and Ultra are nearly identical at 98.1 and 98.0 FPS respectively, showing that the Ultra preset does not impose an additional cost over High at this resolution. The total spread from Low to Ultra is 19.5 FPS, indicating that the game scales modestly with settings at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages decrease but remain comfortably high. Low achieves 106.5 FPS, which is only 11 FPS below the 1080p Low figure, demonstrating that the GPU has ample headroom at this resolution. Medium delivers 97.1 FPS, a 9.4 FPS reduction from Low. High and Ultra are again close together at 83.9 and 84.6 FPS respectively — in this case, Ultra actually edges out High by 0.7 FPS, which is within measurement noise but noteworthy. The spread from Low to Ultra is 21.9 FPS at 1440p, slightly wider than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve steepens. Low averages 87.2 FPS, which is still smooth for most displays. Medium drops to 81.1 FPS, a 6.1 FPS reduction. High falls to 58.1 FPS, a substantial 23.0 FPS decrease from Medium, indicating a significant scaling cliff as the GPU becomes more heavily taxed. Ultra averages exactly 60.0 FPS, which is 1.9 FPS higher than High — an anomaly that may reflect scene variation but places both presets in the same playable range. The spread from Low to Ultra is 27.2 FPS at 4K, the largest of any resolution, confirming that settings have the greatest impact when the GPU is under maximum load.