Thief

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates for this combo in Thief show a clear progression across the four quality presets at each resolution, and the data points to Low as the only preset that delivers consistently playable performance across the board. At 1920x1080, Low produces an average of 76.3 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium follows at 59 FPS, High at 45.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 38.5 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs roughly 17 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs another 13 FPS; the High-to-Ultra transition is smaller, costing about 7 FPS.

At 2560x1440, only Low remains above the 60 FPS threshold, averaging 50.4 FPS. Medium falls to 40.6 FPS, while High and Ultra sit at 29.4 FPS and 29.2 FPS respectively. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to almost nothing at this resolution, suggesting the GPU is becoming the limiting factor rather than the preset scaling. At 3840x2160, every preset falls below 35 FPS. Low manages 32.5 FPS, Medium 21.1 FPS, High 18.5 FPS, and Ultra 17.5 FPS. None of these are playable for a stealth action game that requires responsive movement and quick reactions.

The data indicates that Low is the only preset that offers a comfortable experience at 1080p and a borderline experience at 1440p. Medium at 1080p is acceptable if the user prioritizes visual quality over headroom, but the measured 59 FPS leaves little margin for demanding scenes. For the best balance of smoothness and playability, the recommendation is Low at 1920x1080, where the 76.3 FPS average provides the most stable foundation. If visual fidelity is more important than frame rate, Medium at 1080p is the highest preset that stays above 55 FPS. No preset at 4K is recommended for active play, as even Low at 32.5 FPS falls short of the smoothness needed for stealth mechanics.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is a Turing-architecture GPU with 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 render output units. It operates with a base clock of 1485 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz, paired with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus. The memory runs at 2001 MHz with 8 Gbps effective speed, yielding a bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. The GPU's pixel rate is 53.28 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 93.24 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 2.984 TFLOPS.

In Thief, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the delta between Low and Ultra is 37.8 FPS, which indicates that the GPU has enough headroom to scale down settings and gain significant performance. However, at 4K, the delta between Low and Ultra shrinks to 15 FPS, showing that the GPU is saturated even at Low settings. The GTX 1650's 4 GB VRAM is a relevant factor here, as Thief at 4K with High or Ultra settings likely exceeds the available memory, causing the frame rate to collapse to 18.5 FPS and 17.5 FPS respectively. The measured data supports the interpretation that the GPU's memory bandwidth (128.1 GB/s) and VRAM capacity are the primary constraints at higher resolutions.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 43 places it below the median of all tested GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 550X with an average score of 8749 (deltaPct -0.4) and the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 at 8671 (deltaPct 0.5). This indicates that the GTX 1650 sits in a crowded mid-low tier, where small performance differences separate it from its closest competitors. In Thief specifically, the GPU's moderate compute capacity (2.984 TFLOPS) is sufficient for 1080p gaming but inadequate for 4K, where even the Low preset fails to reach 35 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all presets. At Low, the average FPS falls from 76.3 at 1080p to 50.4 at 1440p (a reduction of 25.9 FPS, or roughly 34%), then to 32.5 at 4K (a further reduction of 17.9 FPS, or about 36% of the 1440p value). At Medium, the progression is 59 → 40.6 → 21.1, with the 4K result representing only about 36% of the 1080p performance. High follows a similar pattern: 45.8 → 29.4 → 18.5, where the 4K score is roughly 40% of the 1080p score. Ultra drops from 38.5 at 1080p to 29.2 at 1440p and 17.5 at 4K.

The scaling behavior reveals that the limiting component changes with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU has more influence, as evidenced by the fact that the frame rate at Low (76.3 FPS) is nearly double that at Ultra (38.5 FPS), suggesting that the GPU is the primary bottleneck even at 1080p. The CPU (Intel Core i5-9400) has 6 cores and 6 threads with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz, which is sufficient to feed the GTX 1650 at 1080p. However, as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the sole bottleneck, and the frame rate differences between presets narrow dramatically. At 4K, the spread from Low to Ultra is only 15 FPS (32.5 to 17.5), indicating that the GPU is fully saturated regardless of settings.

The data suggests that the GTX 1650 cannot sustain playable frame rates at 4K for Thief, and even at 1440p, only Low settings approach 60 FPS. The resolution scaling curve indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p, where the GPU can maintain a reasonable frame rate across all presets, and the CPU can keep up with the GPU's demands.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 1557 out of 1642 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the bottom 5% of all configurations. This rank reflects the combined performance of both components, and the data shows that this combo is well below average for this game. The CPU alone has a percentile ranking of 50 among all CPUs, meaning it is exactly at the median, but the GPU's percentile of 43 pulls the combined score down significantly.

The combo's low rank is primarily attributable to the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions, as discussed above. At 1080p, the combo performs adequately, but the rank is determined across all tested resolutions and settings, where the 4K results (all below 33 FPS) drag the overall standing down. The nearest rival GPUs to the GTX 1650, such as the RTX 3050 A Mobile (avgScore 8746, deltaPct -0.4) and the Radeon Pro WX 5100 (avgScore 8761, deltaPct -0.5), show that the GPU is near the bottom of its performance class, but the combo rank suggests that even these similar GPUs would likely place higher due to the CPU's mediocre standing.

For context, the combo's rank of 1557 out of 1642 means there are only 85 combos that perform worse in Thief. This places the i5-9400 + GTX 1650 in the lower echelon of tested systems, and users should expect significant compromises in visual settings or resolution to achieve playable frame rates. The data does not provide individual combo scores for comparison, but the rank alone is a clear indicator that this pairing is not competitive for Thief at higher settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a Coffee Lake Refresh processor with 6 cores and 6 threads, running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It has 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 256 KB of L2 cache per core, and 9 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory on a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, and it uses PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes. Its TDP is 65 W, and it features integrated UHD 630 graphics, though those are not relevant for this discrete GPU configuration.

In Thief, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU at most settings, but it becomes more apparent at 1080p with lower quality presets. At 1080p Low, the frame rate reaches 76.3 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum capability for this game. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 7969 and single-core score of 1125 indicate that the CPU has moderate processing power, ranking at the 50th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i3-10305 (avgScore 2300, deltaPct 0.2) and the Intel Xeon E-2134 (avgScore 2295, deltaPct 0.4), showing that the i5-9400 is closely matched with several other mid-range chips.

The CPU's 6 threads are adequate for Thief, which is a 2014 game that likely does not utilize more than 4-6 threads effectively. However, the lack of hyperthreading means that the CPU could become a bottleneck in scenes with heavy AI or physics calculations, though the measured data at 1080p suggests this is not a major issue. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, as evidenced by the collapsing frame rates regardless of CPU load. The CPU's boost clock of 4.10 GHz provides sufficient single-thread performance for the game's logic, but the overall combo rank indicates that the CPU is not strong enough to compensate for the GPU's weaknesses.

FAQ

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

A: The best experience is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, which produces an average of 76.3 FPS. Medium at 1080p is also viable at 59 FPS, but Low offers more headroom for demanding scenes.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K in Thief?

A: No. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only reach 32.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 17.5 FPS. None of the 4K presets are playable for a stealth game.

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

A: The GTX 1650 has an average benchmark score of 8713. Its closest competitor, the AMD Radeon 550X, scores 8749 with a deltaPct of -0.4, while the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 scores 8671 with a deltaPct of 0.5. The differences are minimal.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck in Thief?

A: The GPU is the primary bottleneck at all resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rate drops from 76.3 FPS at Low to 38.5 FPS at Ultra, indicating GPU saturation. At 4K, the GPU is fully saturated even at Low settings.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 1557 out of 1642 tested combinations in Thief, placing it in the bottom 5% of all systems tested.

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

A: At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 76.3 FPS at 1080p to 50.4 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 25.9 FPS. At Ultra, it drops from 38.5 FPS to 29.2 FPS.