Thief

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Thief shows a steep, consistent decline as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound configuration. At 1080p with Low settings, the Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 combo delivers 76.1 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that to 50.9 FPS, a 33% reduction. At 4K, the same Low preset yields 28.3 FPS, which is 63% below the 1080p result. This scaling pattern is nearly linear with pixel count, indicating that the graphics card is the primary constraint at every step.

The High preset tells a similar story but from a lower starting point. At 1080p High, the average is 41.8 FPS. At 1440p High, it falls to 28.1 FPS (a 33% drop), and at 4K High it reaches 18.8 FPS (a 55% drop from 1080p). The proportional declines are remarkably consistent across presets, which suggests that resolution scaling is independent of the specific quality level chosen. The limiting component is the GPU's raw throughput rather than any particular setting.

Ultra settings exaggerate the resolution penalty. The combo manages 40.8 FPS at 1080p Ultra, which is already marginal for smooth play, but drops to 25.7 FPS at 1440p and 17.8 FPS at 4K. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate falls below 20 FPS, making the experience essentially unplayable for any action-oriented segment. The data shows that 1080p is the only resolution where this configuration approaches acceptable frame rates across all settings, and even then only the Low and Medium presets clear 55 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU117 chip, packing 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. Its base clock runs at 1485 MHz with a boost of 1665 MHz. The 4 GB of GDDR5 memory operates across a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. These specifications place the card at the 43rd percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 8713.

In Thief, the GPU's role is decisive. The card's nearest rivals — the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile (8746 avg score, -0.4% delta), AMD Radeon 550X (8749, -0.4%), AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (8761, -0.5%), and NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (8671, +0.5%) — all sit within a fraction of a percent in aggregate benchmarks. Yet the measured FPS in Thief shows this card operating at the edge of its capability. The 4 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p in this 2014 title, but the 128.1 GB/s bandwidth becomes a bottleneck at higher resolutions where texture fetch demands grow.

The pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s are modest figures that directly explain the 4K results. At 4K Ultra, the card delivers 17.8 FPS, which aligns with a fill-rate-limited scenario. The FP32 throughput of 2.984 TFLOPS provides the computational foundation, but Thief's rendering pipeline appears to stress memory bandwidth and pixel output more than raw compute. The GPU's 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors indicate a low-power design, which constrains sustained boost behavior under load.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 1607 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the bottom 2% of all configurations in the database, a position that reflects the GPU's modest standing (43rd percentile) rather than the CPU's stronger showing (77th percentile). The ranking indicates that this is a heavily GPU-limited pairing for this title.

The CPU alone benchmarks strongly: its average score of 19850 sits in the 77th percentile, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831, +0.1% delta), Intel Core i7-8700 (19894, -0.2%), AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX (19928, -0.4%), and Intel Core i5-11600K (19771, +0.4%). These deltas are all within 0.5%, meaning the i5-12400 trades blows with several higher-tier processors. The GPU, however, anchors the combo's overall rank because Thief's performance is dominated by the graphics card at every resolution and setting tested.

The near-bottom rank (1607 of 1642) also signals that most other tested configurations deliver higher frame rates in this game. For users seeking 60+ FPS at 1080p Ultra, this combo falls short at 40.8 FPS. The gap between CPU capability and GPU delivery is stark: the processor could support far higher frame rates, but the graphics card cannot feed it.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration shows a clear tier structure across settings. Low settings produce 76.1 FPS, which is smooth and responsive. Medium settings drop to 56.3 FPS, still playable but with a 26% reduction from Low. High settings yield 41.8 FPS, and Ultra produces 40.8 FPS — a surprisingly small gap between High and Ultra (only 2.4%). The similarity between High and Ultra suggests that the Ultra preset adds effects that are not heavily pixel-bound, while the step from Low to Medium incurs the largest cost (19.8 FPS).

At 2560x1440, all settings shift downward by roughly 30-35%. Low delivers 50.9 FPS, which remains playable. Medium drops to 37.4 FPS, High to 28.1 FPS, and Ultra to 25.7 FPS. The ordering is preserved, but the margin between Low and Medium (13.5 FPS) narrows compared to 1080p (19.8 FPS), indicating that resolution scaling compresses the settings hierarchy. At 1440p, only the Low preset clears 50 FPS, and only Low and Medium clear 30 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the results are consistently below playable thresholds. Low manages 28.3 FPS, Medium 23.3 FPS, High 18.8 FPS, and Ultra 17.8 FPS. Every preset at 4K falls below 30 FPS, and the difference between the best (Low, 28.3) and worst (Ultra, 17.8) is 10.5 FPS. Notably, the gap between High and Ultra at 4K is only 1.0 FPS, reinforcing that the Ultra preset's additional demands are largely lost at this resolution. The data shows that 4K is viable only for static scenes or screenshot purposes with this hardware.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 brings 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The Alder Lake architecture uses a 10 nm process from Intel, and the chip supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus. The CPU's integrated UHD Graphics 730 is present but irrelevant for this discrete GPU configuration.

In Thief, the CPU's role is secondary. Benchmark results show strong single-thread performance (3dmark_single_thread score of 910, passmark_single_thread of 3456) and robust multi-thread capability (cinebench_r23_multicore of 15935, passmark_multithread of 18747). The CPU sits at the 77th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 19850. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-9700, scores 19831 (0.1% delta), while the i7-8700 scores 19894 (-0.2% delta). These margins are negligible, meaning the i5-12400 performs essentially on par with those older i7 parts.

Given that the GPU ranks at the 43rd percentile and the combo sits at 1607 of 1642 in Thief, the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the 76.1 FPS result likely approaches the practical ceiling for the GTX 1650; a stronger GPU would push this much higher given the CPU's headroom. The 4.40 GHz boost clock and 12 threads provide ample processing power for Thief's stealth gameplay mechanics, AI routines, and physics calculations — none of which appear to bottleneck the frame rate. The data indicates that upgrading the graphics card would yield substantial gains, while CPU upgrades would offer negligible improvement in this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Thief?

A: 1080p is the only resolution where all settings remain usable. At Low, the combo delivers 76.1 FPS; at Medium, 56.3 FPS. Both High (41.8) and Ultra (40.8) fall below 60 FPS but remain playable. At 1440p, only Low (50.9 FPS) approaches smooth play, and all 4K presets fall below 30 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 1440p?

A: The drop is consistent across presets, averaging roughly 33%. Low goes from 76.1 to 50.9 FPS, Medium from 56.3 to 37.4, High from 41.8 to 28.1, and Ultra from 40.8 to 25.7. The proportional loss is nearly identical regardless of quality level.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this configuration?

A: No. The i5-12400 ranks at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19850. The GPU ranks at the 43rd percentile. The combo ranks 1607 of 1642 in Thief, indicating the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU's nearest rivals include the i7-9700 and i7-8700, both within 0.2% in aggregate scores.

Q: What is the difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: The gap is small at every resolution. At 1080p, High yields 41.8 FPS and Ultra 40.8 FPS (2.4% difference). At 1440p, the difference is 28.1 vs 25.7 FPS (8.5%). At 4K, it narrows to 18.8 vs 17.8 FPS (5.3%). Ultra adds very little visual overhead in this title.

Q: Is 4K playable with this hardware?

A: No. Even at Low settings, 4K produces only 28.3 FPS. Medium drops to 23.3, High to 18.8, and Ultra to 17.8. All values fall below 30 FPS, making the experience choppy and unsuitable for gameplay. The 4 GB VRAM and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K rendering.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The card's average benchmark score of 8713 places it near the RTX 3050 A Mobile (8746, -0.4% delta) and AMD Radeon 550X (8749, -0.4%). The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 scores 8761 (-0.5%) and the Quadro P2200 scores 8671 (+0.5%). All five cards are within 1% of each other in aggregate performance.