Thief

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is a well-matched mid-range combination for playing Thief. The measured frame rates show that this system can handle the game at 1080p very comfortably, and it remains playable at 1440p with the right settings. However, 4K gaming is generally out of reach for this combo, except at the lowest quality preset. This analysis breaks down exactly how this hardware behaves in Thief, what settings to use, and where the bottlenecks lie.

Settings Recommendations

For the Intel Core i5-9400 and GTX 1660 SUPER combo, the data shows that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for most players. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 91 FPS, with a minimum of 77 FPS and a maximum of 105 FPS. This is a substantial improvement over the High preset, which averages 69 FPS, and the Ultra preset, which averages 66 FPS. The jump from High to Medium is a 22 FPS gain, which is a 31.9% increase in average framerate. The difference between Medium and High in Thief is visually minor, but the performance cost is significant, making Medium the best choice for a smooth experience on a 60Hz or even a 144Hz display.

If you are using a monitor with a high refresh rate, the Low preset at 1080p is your best bet. It produces an average of 119 FPS, which is near the top of what this GPU can output in this game. The Low preset sacrifices some visual fidelity, but the smoothness is undeniable. For players who prioritize frame rate over graphics, this is the way to go. It’s worth remembering the Ultra preset at 1080p, with an average of 66 FPS, is only slightly lower than High (69 FPS). This suggests that the game’s Ultra settings are not heavily taxing the GPU at this resolution, but the difference between Ultra and High is minimal in terms of performance, so the higher quality can be selected if you prefer it.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is again the most balanced option. It averages 62 FPS, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS. This is just inside the playable range for most gamers. The High preset at 1440p averages 47 FPS, which is noticeably lower and might be less smooth for fast-paced action. The Low preset at 1440p averages 82 FPS, which is excellent if you can tolerate the reduced visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 45 FPS, which is very playable for a stealth game but may not be ideal for all players.

For 4K, the data indicates that the Low preset is the only reasonable choice, averaging 48 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K averages 37 FPS, which is below the threshold for truly smooth gameplay. High and Ultra at 4K are not playable, with averages of 28 FPS and 27 FPS respectively. Therefore, the best experience at 4K is only achievable with the Low settings. Given these numbers, the strongest recommendation is to use Medium at 1080p for a good balance of quality and performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is a Turing architecture GPU with a 12 nm process. It has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz, with a memory clock of 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective. The card has 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Its performance in the game is very much tied to these specs.

In Thief, the GPU is the primary factor at higher resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the GPU is not heavily strained, and the frame rates are high, but the game is clearly GPU-bound. The benchmark results show that the GTX 1660 SUPER performs in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 12986. When compared to its nearest rivals, it is very close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, which is only 0.4% higher in score, and the AMD Radeon RX 580, which is also 0.4% higher. This means that the GTX 1660 SUPER is a solid performer for its class.

The 6 GB of VRAM is sufficient for Thief. The game was released in 2014, and its texture requirements are not extreme. At 4K, the VRAM capacity is still enough, but the GPU’s raw processing power is the limiting factor. The GPU’s fill rate and texture rate are not enough to handle the 4K resolution at higher settings. The data confirms this: at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is only 27, which is a frame rate. The GPU’s architecture, Turing, is a generation older than the newer cards, but its performance is still sufficient for this game.

The GTX 1660 SUPER’s clock speeds are relatively high for a mid-range card, but the game's engine is multi-threaded. The GPU’s memory bandwidth is a strong point, and this helps at lower resolutions, but it is not enough to overcome the processing limits at 4K. The card has a TDP of 125 W and uses a dual-slot cooler, requiring a 300 W power supply. In terms of its role in this combo, the GTX 1660 SUPER is the leading component in most resolutions, except at 1080p, where the CPU can sometimes keep up.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rates in Thief scale predictably as the resolution increases. At 1080p, the average FPS for the Medium preset is 91. When you move to 1440p, the average drops to 62 FPS. That’s a reduction of 29 FPS, or about a 31.9% drop. When you go to 4K, the average drops to 37 FPS. That’s another 25 FPS drop, or about a 40.3% drop from 1440p. This pattern shows that the game is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling is even more dramatic. At 1080p, the average FPS is 119. At 1440p, it drops to 82 FPS, a 37 FPS decrease (31.1%). At 4K, it drops to 48 FPS, a further 34 FPS decrease (41.5%). This indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The CPU is a six-core processor, and it is not able to push the GPU to its full potential at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU is not the limiting factor, but at 1440p and 4K, it becomes more of a constraint.

The frame drops from 1080p to 4K are significant. For the Medium preset, 1080p to 4K is a 54 FPS drop, which is a 59.3% decrease. For the Low preset, 1080p to 4K is a 71 FPS drop, which is a 59.7% decrease. This shows that the GTX 1660 SUPER is not a 4K-capable card for this game. The rendering resolution is the main factor, and the GPU’s compute power is insufficient for 4K at playable frame rates. The 6 GB of VRAM is not the issue; the GPU’s shading units and texture rate are.

The data also shows that the difference between Low and Medium at 1080p is 28 FPS, which is 23.5%. At 1440p, the difference is 20 FPS, which is 24.4%. At 4K, the difference is only 11 FPS, which is 22.9%. This suggests that the performance hit from increasing the preset is relatively constant, regardless of resolution. The biggest factor is the resolution itself, not the settings. The game’s engine is more demanding at higher resolutions, and the GPU is the major factor in the FPS drop.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Here is the exact breakdown of the measured frame rates for the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER in Thief:

At 1920x1080:

• Low: Average 119 FPS, no min or max data.
• Medium: Average 91 FPS, with a minimum of 77 FPS and a maximum of 105 FPS.
• High: Average 69 FPS, no min or max data.
• Ultra: Average 66 FPS, no min or max data.

At 2560x1440:

• Low: Average 82 FPS, no min or max data.
• Medium: Average 62 FPS, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS.
• High: Average 47 FPS, no min or max data.
• Ultra: Average 45 FPS, no min or max data.

At 3840x2160:

• Low: Average 48 FPS, no min or max data.
• Medium: Average 37 FPS, with a minimum of 31 FPS and a maximum of 42 FPS.
• High: Average 28 FPS, no min or max data.
• Ultra: Average 27 FPS, no min or max data.

These numbers show a clear trend. At 1080p, the game runs very well. The Low preset is nearly double the frame rate of the Ultra preset. The Medium preset is a good middle ground. At 1440p, the Medium preset is still playable, but the Low preset is a more comfortable experience. At 4K, the only playable option is Low, and even that is only at 48 FPS, which is a bit low for some players.

The min and max data is only available for the Medium preset. At 1080p, the minimum is 77 FPS and the maximum is 105 FPS. This suggests a relatively stable frame time. At 1440p, the minimum is 53 FPS and the maximum is 72 FPS. This is also a stable frame rate. At 4K, the minimum is 31 FPS and the maximum is 42 FPS. This is less stable, and the frame rate is likely to dip during intense scenes. The lack of min and max data for the other presets means we can only comment on the average, but the average frame rate is a solid indicator of overall performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combination ranks 3235 out of 3720 tested combos in Thief. This puts it in the 15th percentile of all tested systems. This ranking is based on the measured FPS data, which shows that this combo performs in the lower half of the database. The ranking is a measure of the system's overall capability in this game, and it indicates that while the system is playable, it is not a top-tier performer.

The low ranking is primarily due to the GPU. The GTX 1660 SUPER is a mid-range card, and it is not a high-end card. The CPU, the i5-9400, is also a mid-range processor. The combination is not a high-end gaming rig. The FPS data shows that the system is capable of playing the game at 1080p, but it struggles at higher resolutions. The ranking of 2130 out of 1230 is a reflection of this. The systems that rank higher are likely using more powerful components, such as higher-end GPUs.

The combo’s performance is very close to the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, which is a mobile GPU. This shows that the GTX 1660 SUPER is competitive with a modern laptop GPU. The Radeon RX 580 is also a close rival, and the GTX 1660 SUPER is slightly less powerful than the RX 580. The ranking is not a judgment of the system’s ability to play the game, but it is a comparison against all other tested systems. For a budget gaming PC, this rank is not a surprise. The game is not very demanding, but the hardware is not top-tier.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. The CPU has 9 MB of shared L3 cache, and it supports DDR4 memory. Its benchmark scores show that it is a mid-range CPU. Its single-core score in Cinebench R23 is 935, and its multi-core score is 6629. In Geekbench, it scores 1389 single-core and 5141 multi-core. This puts it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs.

In Thief, the CPU’s role is not the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, as the frame rates are very low. At 1440p, the CPU and GPU are more balanced, but the GPU is still the main constraint. At 1080p, the CPU can keep up with the GPU. The data shows no specific CPU bottleneck in the game. The CPU is a solid performer for its class, and it is a good match for the GTX 1660 SUPER.

The i5-9400 has a single-core score that is lower than the multi-core score, but the game is not heavily single-threaded. The 6 cores and 6 threads are sufficient for Thief. Its nearest rival is the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, which has a similar average score of 2259, with a deltaPct of -0.2. The i5-9400 is also close to the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, which has a score of 2246, a deltaPct of 0.4. This shows that the i5-9400 is in the same performance tier as these CPUs.

The CPU’s clock speed of up to 4.10 GHz is good for gaming. The boost clock is high enough to handle the game’s logic. The CPU’s architecture is a 14 nm process, and it has a 65W TDP. This is a standard desktop CPU. The system’s overall performance is a good match for the GPU. The CPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p, but it is not a high-end processor either. The benchmark data shows that the CPU is a mid-range chip, and the frame rates in Thief are consistent with that. The CPU’s performance is not a major factor in the game's performance, but it is a component that contributes to the overall experience.