Thief

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Thief with the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 reveals a sharp, predictable collapse as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo averages 72.2 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 53.1 FPS, a reduction of roughly 26%. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 31.7 FPS, which is less than half of the 1080p result. This scaling pattern is steep, and it points squarely at the GPU as the limiting component.

The data becomes more telling when comparing settings tiers at each resolution. At 1080p, the spread between Low (72.2 FPS) and Ultra (39 FPS) is 33.2 FPS. At 1440p, that spread narrows to 24.9 FPS (Low at 53.1, Ultra at 28.2). At 4K, the spread compresses further to 15.5 FPS (Low at 31.7, Ultra at 16.2). This compression at higher resolutions is classic GPU-bound behavior: as pixel count rises, the geometry and shading workload dominate, and the CPU's ability to feed frames becomes less relevant. The GTX 1650, with its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 128-bit bus, simply runs out of throughput.

The 4K Ultra result of 16.2 FPS is identical to the 4K High result of 16.2 FPS. That flatline suggests the GPU is hitting a hard performance ceiling, unable to differentiate between High and Ultra presets because both are beyond its rendering capacity. In contrast, at 1080p there is a clear 6.6 FPS gap between High (45.6) and Ultra (39), indicating the GPU still has some headroom to process additional effects at that lower pixel count. The conclusion is unambiguous: for playable frame rates, 1080p is the practical ceiling for this pairing, and 4K is only viable at Low settings with severe compromises.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Thief, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 1601 out of 1642 combos. That places it in the bottom 2.5% of all tested configurations. The percentile data reinforces this: the CPU sits at the 75th percentile against all processors, and the GPU sits at the 43rd percentile against all graphics cards. The combo's poor rank is therefore driven almost entirely by the GPU's modest position, not the CPU's.

The CPU's nearest rivals show why the processor is not the bottleneck. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700U has an average score of 17189, a delta of 0% from the i5-11400F's 17181 average. The Intel Core i7-1260P and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U both sit at 17212 and 17215 respectively, with deltas of -0.2%. These are essentially identical performance tiers, meaning the i5-11400F is competitive with its peers in general compute. The GPU's rivals, by contrast, include the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (8671, delta 0.5%) and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (8761, delta -0.5%), all clustered within a 1% band of the GTX 1650's 8713 average. The GPU is not uniquely weak among its immediate peers, but those peers are all mid-range or workstation parts.

The rank of 1601 out of 1642 is a verdict on the whole system. Thief is a 2014 title, and the data shows this combo is positioned for low-to-mid settings at 1080p, not for high-resolution play. Any expectation of 1440p or 4K performance beyond Low presets is unsupported by the measured rows. The combo sits near the bottom because the GTX 1650's 4 GB VRAM and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for modern rendering loads at higher resolutions, even in an older game.

GPU Role

The GTX 1650 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU117 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 12 nm process. Its base clock is 1485 MHz with a boost of 1665 MHz, and the memory runs at 2001 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The 4 GB GDDR5 frame buffer across a 128-bit bus yields 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth. These are the physical constraints that explain the measured FPS.

The benchmark data for the GPU shows a PassMark G3D score of 7880 and an average benchmark score of 8713, with a 43rd percentile ranking. The VRAM capacity is the most likely culprit for the 4K High and Ultra results both landing at 16.2 FPS. At 3840x2160, texture and geometry data can exceed 4 GB, forcing the driver to spill to system memory or drop assets. The identical scores at High and Ultra suggest the GPU is not processing the full visual load; it is capping out on memory bandwidth or capacity before the preset differences can manifest.

Clock behavior reinforces this. The boost clock of 1665 MHz is modest by modern standards, and the FP32 throughput of 2.984 TFLOPS places it firmly in entry-level territory. In Thief, a stealth title with dense indoor environments and dynamic lighting, the pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s are the relevant metrics. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 72.2 FPS, showing the GPU can handle the workload when pixel count is low. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 39.5 FPS, and at 4K Medium, 21.4 FPS. Each resolution step halves the effective pixel throughput, and the GPU's fixed resources cannot compensate.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA RTX 3050 A Mobile (8746, delta -0.4%) and the AMD Radeon 550X (8749, delta -0.4%). These are all within a 1% band, meaning the GTX 1650 is not an outlier among its performance class. It is simply a low-end part, and Thief's demands at higher resolutions exceed its capacity.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest playable settings preset at 1920x1080 for this combo?

A: The data shows 1080p Medium averages 56.6 FPS, while 1080p High averages 45.6 FPS. Both are above 30 FPS, but Medium offers a 11 FPS margin over High and is the recommended balance for consistent performance.

Q: Why are the 4K High and 4K Ultra scores identical at 16.2 FPS?

A: The identical results indicate the GPU is hitting a hard performance ceiling. The GTX 1650's 4 GB VRAM and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth cannot differentiate between High and Ultra presets at 3840x2160, as both exceed its rendering capacity.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700U scores 17189 (delta 0%), and the Intel Core i7-1260P scores 17212 (delta -0.2%). The CPU is statistically tied with these rivals.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p Low and 1440p Low?

A: The measured average at 1080p Low is 72.2 FPS, and at 1440p Low it drops to 53.1 FPS. That is a 19.1 FPS reduction, or approximately 26% lower performance, solely from the resolution increase.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor in Thief?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU ranks at the 75th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 43rd percentile. The FPS scaling pattern, where higher resolutions compress the spread between settings, confirms GPU-bound behavior.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations for Thief?

A: This combo ranks 1601 out of 1642 tested combinations. That places it in the bottom 2.5% of all configurations, which is consistent with the GPU's entry-level position.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a Rocket Lake-S part with 6 cores and 12 threads. Its base clock is 2.60 GHz with a boost of 4.40 GHz, and it has 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are standard for the platform. The CPU's benchmark results are strong: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 14372, and single-core scores 2029. PassMark multithread is 16908, and single-thread is 2981. The 75th percentile ranking against all CPUs confirms it is a capable mid-range processor.

In Thief, the CPU's role is to maintain frame pacing and handle game logic, AI, and physics. The 3DMark scores show scaling from 1691 in 2-thread to 5652 in max-thread, which indicates the processor can leverage its 12 threads effectively. However, the measured FPS data shows the CPU is not the constraining factor. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 72.2 FPS, which is respectable. At 1080p Ultra, it falls to 39 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would see similar FPS across different resolutions at the same settings. Instead, we see a 40.5 FPS drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low (72.2 to 31.7), proving the GPU is saturating before the CPU can push more frames.

The CPU's nearest rivals all score within 0.2% of its average, so there is no meaningful performance gap among its peers. The i5-11400F's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for Thief's 2014-era engine, which was designed for quad-core processors. The data indicates that users upgrading the GPU would see significant FPS gains, while upgrading the CPU would yield little improvement in this game at these resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy for settings recommendations. At 1920x1080, Low averages 72.2 FPS, Medium 56.6, High 45.6, and Ultra 39. For a smooth experience, Medium at 1080p is the strongest choice: 56.6 FPS is comfortably above 30 FPS and within reach of 60 FPS on a standard display. High at 45.6 FPS is acceptable for slower-paced stealth gameplay, but the 11 FPS penalty from Medium may not be worth the visual gains. Ultra at 39 FPS is playable but risks drops in busy scenes, given the GPU's limited headroom.

At 2560x1440, the options narrow. Low averages 53.1 FPS, which is the only preset above 40 FPS. Medium drops to 39.5, High to 28.3, and Ultra to 28.2. For 1440p, Low is the recommended setting, as it is the only one that maintains a playable frame rate above 30 FPS. Medium at 39.5 FPS is borderline, but the 13.6 FPS gap from Low suggests it will feel less stable.

At 3840x2160, no preset is truly playable. Low averages 31.7 FPS, which is marginal, while Medium (21.4), High (16.2), and Ultra (16.2) are all below acceptable thresholds. The recommendation is to avoid 4K entirely with this combo; if forced, Low is the only option, and even then, frame pacing may suffer. The data supports a simple verdict: 1080p Medium is the best experience, 1440p Low is a compromise, and 4K is not viable.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full measured FPS table for the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 in Thief is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 72.2 FPS. Medium averages 56.6 FPS, High averages 45.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 39 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 33.2 FPS, with each step up in settings costing roughly 6.6 to 11 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is the largest single drop at 15.6 FPS, indicating a significant increase in shader or texture workload at that tier.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 53.1 FPS, Medium averages 39.5 FPS, High averages 28.3 FPS, and Ultra averages 28.2 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 13.6 FPS, and High to Ultra is nearly identical at 0.1 FPS difference, suggesting High and Ultra are effectively the same load for this GPU at this resolution. The 1440p Low result is 19.1 FPS lower than 1080p Low, confirming the resolution penalty.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 31.7 FPS, Medium averages 21.4 FPS, High averages 16.2 FPS, and Ultra averages 16.2 FPS. The identical High and Ultra results are notable, as they suggest the GPU is completely saturated. The drop from Low to Medium at 4K is 10.3 FPS, and from Medium to High is 5.2 FPS. The 4K Low result of 31.7 FPS is the only 4K value above 30 FPS, and it is still 40.5 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result. The data shows a consistent pattern: every resolution and settings increase reduces FPS, but the GPU's ceiling manifests most clearly at 4K High and Ultra, where it cannot differentiate between the two presets.