Thief

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is an entry-level combination that struggles significantly with Thief, a 2014 stealth title. The data shows a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck, and playable frame rates are only achievable at the lowest settings and resolutions. This pairing ranks near the bottom of the database, at 1597 out of 1642 tested combos, indicating that while it can run the game, it does so at the margins of playability for modern standards.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is stark and reveals a system under heavy graphical load. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 72.4 FPS, which is smooth. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same Low settings, the average FPS falls to 50.8, a substantial 21.6 FPS reduction. At 3840x2160, the average plummets to 29.1 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gaming. This scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets, demonstrating that the GPU’s rendering capabilities are exhausted quickly as pixel count increases.

The data indicates a severe bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 4K, even the Low preset cannot maintain a 30 FPS average, while the High and Ultra presets fall to 15.5 and 16.6 FPS respectively, making the game essentially unplayable. The difference between 1440p and 4K is more punishing than the jump from 1080p to 1440p, suggesting the GPU’s memory bandwidth and processing power are insufficient for the 4K workload. For this combination, 1080p is the only viable resolution range, and even then, the higher presets push the average below 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The GeForce GTX 1650 is the limiting factor in this pairing. Its specifications show a 4 GB GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a modest amount of VRAM and bandwidth for a game like Thief, which was released in 2014 but still demands consistent memory throughput at higher resolutions. The GPU’s boost clock is 1665 MHz, and it operates with a 75 W TDP, indicating a low-power design that prioritizes efficiency over raw performance.

The benchmark results confirm the GPU’s mid-range standing, with a percentile of 43 against all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 8713, placing it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile (8746) and AMD Radeon 550X (8749), with a deltaPct of -0.4 for both. In Thief, the GPU’s limitations are exposed at 4K, where the average FPS drops to 15.5 on High settings. The 4 GB VRAM is likely a constraint at higher resolutions, but the primary issue is the raw compute power, as even the Low preset at 4K only reaches 29.1 FPS.

The GTX 1650’s DirectX 12 support (12_1) is present, but the game’s performance indicates it is not leveraging modern APIs effectively. The measured results show that the GPU can handle 1080p Low at 72.4 FPS, but the scaling to higher resolutions is poor. This is a classic case where the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are insufficient for the pixel throughput required at 1440p and 4K, making it clear that this GPU is designed for 1080p gaming at best.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a modern 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. It is a capable CPU, with a percentile of 82 against all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 25064. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (25057, deltaPct of 0) and the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (24993, deltaPct of 0.3), showing it is competitive with older high-end parts. In synthetic tests, it scores 20851 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2943 in single-core, indicating strong processing power.

In Thief, the CPU is not the bottleneck. The frame rates are dictated by the GPU, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops at higher resolutions regardless of the CPU’s capabilities. The Ryzen 5 8400F’s 16 MB of L3 cache and 4.70 GHz boost clock are more than enough to feed the GTX 1650. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 72.4 FPS, which is a frame rate where the CPU could start to matter, but the GPU is still the limiting factor. Even at the lowest resolution, the CPU is not holding back performance, as the GPU’s workload is the primary constraint.

The CPU’s 12 threads are sufficient for Thief, a game from 2014 that is not heavily multithreaded. The Ryzen 5 8400F’s single-thread performance, with a PassMark single-thread score of 3684, ensures that the game’s main thread is well-served. The conclusion is that this CPU is overqualified for the GTX 1650, and any performance issues in Thief are attributable to the GPU, not the processor.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Ryzen 5 8400F and GTX 1650 ranks 1597 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the bottom 3% of all tested systems, which is consistent with the GPU’s low percentile of 43 and the CPU’s high percentile of 82. The rank indicates that while the CPU is strong, the GPU drags the overall performance down significantly. The data shows that this combo is not well-suited for Thief at higher settings or resolutions, and it is only marginally playable at 1080p Low.

The disparity between the CPU and GPU performance is notable. The Ryzen 5 8400F’s average benchmark score of 25064 is nearly three times the GPU’s 8713, yet the combo’s rank in this game is poor. This suggests that the GPU is the sole determinant of frame rates in Thief, and the CPU’s power is wasted in this configuration. For a builder, this rank indicates that the GTX 1650 is the weak link, and upgrading the GPU would yield a massive improvement in playability, while upgrading the CPU would have no measurable impact on this game’s performance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the only playable configuration for this combo is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which yields an average of 72.4 FPS. This provides a smooth experience, though it requires sacrificing visual quality. The Medium preset at 1080p drops to 57.5 FPS, which is still playable but may exhibit occasional stutters in demanding scenes. High and Ultra at 1080p are borderline, with averages of 41.8 and 42.9 FPS respectively, which are below the 60 FPS target for fast-paced action but may be acceptable for a stealth game.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only option that approaches playability, with an average of 50.8 FPS. Medium at 1440p falls to 40.3 FPS, and High/Ultra are not recommended due to averages in the 28 FPS range. At 3840x2160, no preset is playable, with the highest average being 29.1 FPS on Low. The recommendation is to play at 1080p Low for the best balance of performance and visual fidelity, as the game’s stealth genre does not require high frame rates, but the 72.4 FPS average provides headroom for consistent gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are as follows: Low averages 72.4 FPS, Medium averages 57.5 FPS, High averages 41.8 FPS, and Ultra averages 42.9 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is a 14.9 FPS drop, while the drop from Medium to High is another 15.7 FPS. Interestingly, the difference between High and Ultra is minimal, with only a 1.1 FPS increase for Ultra, indicating that the Ultra preset does not add significant graphical load over High.

At 2560x1440, the results show a similar pattern but at lower absolute values. Low averages 50.8 FPS, Medium averages 40.3 FPS, High averages 28.3 FPS, and Ultra averages 28.9 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 10.5 FPS, and from Medium to High is 12 FPS. The High and Ultra presets are nearly identical, with Ultra being 0.6 FPS higher, again showing that the higher presets are not well-optimized for this GPU.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapses. Low averages 29.1 FPS, Medium averages 25.1 FPS, High averages 15.5 FPS, and Ultra averages 16.6 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 4 FPS, while the drop from Medium to High is a significant 9.6 FPS. The Ultra preset is slightly higher than High, at 16.6 FPS versus 15.5 FPS, which is a negligible difference. Across all resolutions, the data shows that the GTX 1650 cannot handle Thief at 4K, and 1440p is only viable at the lowest settings. The 1080p Low preset is the only configuration that delivers a consistently smooth experience above 60 FPS.