Thief

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and Intel Arc B570 combination delivers a clear split in playability for Thief, a 2014 stealth title. At 1920x1080 the pairing is fully capable of max settings, while 2560x1440 requires a step down to Medium for a stable 60 FPS experience. At 3840x2160, the data shows no playable settings, with even Low falling short of the 60 FPS threshold.

Best Settings per Resolution

1920x1080 (1080p)

The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at this resolution is Ultra, which produces an average of 73 FPS. This is the highest settings tier available in the measured data, so the combo can run Thief with every visual option maxed out while still clearing the 60 FPS playable threshold by a comfortable margin. The High preset averages 77 FPS, Medium averages 101 FPS, and Low averages 133 FPS, but none of these are needed because Ultra already delivers playable performance. The gap between Ultra and the next step down is modest, with High trailing Ultra by only 4 FPS, which indicates that the GPU is not being pushed to its limit at this resolution. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 86 FPS and a maximum of 116 FPS, suggesting that frame pacing remains consistent even when the settings are dropped, but again, the headroom at Ultra is sufficient.

2560x1440 (1440p)

The best playable setting at 1440p is Medium, which delivers an average of 69 FPS. This is the only preset above the 60 FPS threshold that also offers a reasonable visual quality level. The Low preset averages 91 FPS, which is higher, but Low sacrifices too much visual fidelity when Medium is already playable. High averages 53 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold, and Ultra averages 50 FPS, also below the threshold. The Medium preset has a minimum FPS of 59 and a maximum of 79, meaning the frame rate dips just one FPS below the playable threshold at the worst moment. That is an edge case, but the average of 69 FPS provides enough overall headroom that most sessions will feel fluid. Dropping to Low raises the average to 91 FPS, a 22 FPS improvement over Medium, which indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution rather than the CPU. Choosing Medium at 1440p is the right balance, as it keeps the experience above 60 FPS on average while retaining more detail than the Low preset.

3840x2160 (4K)

No setting at 4K reaches 60 FPS. The best average is 54 FPS on Low, which is 6 FPS short of the playable threshold. High averages 31 FPS, Medium averages 41 FPS, and Ultra averages 29 FPS. The Medium preset has a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS, which shows that even the mid-tier setting cannot hold a consistent frame rate. Because the playable threshold is 60 FPS and the highest average across all presets is 54 FPS on Low, this resolution is not viable for a smooth experience with this combination. There is also a notable gap between Low and Medium at 4K: Low produces 54 FPS, while Medium drops to 41 FPS, a 13 FPS penalty for moving up one settings tier. That steep drop suggests the GPU is running out of memory bandwidth or raw compute at this resolution, and the 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on the Arc B570 is likely being saturated. The data is clear: 4K is not playable with any preset for this game and this hardware pair.

CPU and GPU Roles

At 1920x1080, the GPU is the primary factor limiting performance, but not by a large margin. The Ultra preset averages 73 FPS, while High averages 77 FPS, a difference of only 4 FPS. This small delta between settings tiers indicates that the CPU, the Ryzen 5 8400F with 6 cores and 12 threads, has enough headroom to feed the GPU at this resolution. The Low preset jumps to 133 FPS, which is 60 FPS higher than Ultra, showing that when the GPU workload is reduced, the frame rate scales significantly. That scaling pattern points to the GPU being the bottleneck at 1080p, because lowering the graphical load produces a large FPS gain. The CPU’s single-thread performance, with a 3dmark single-thread score of 951 and a passmark single-thread score of 3685, is sufficient for a 2014 stealth game that does not demand heavy multi-core utilization.

At 2560x1440, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced. Medium averages 69 FPS, while High drops to 53 FPS, a 16 FPS penalty for one settings tier. Low averages 91 FPS, which is 22 FPS higher than Medium. The scaling here is steeper than at 1080p, where the difference between Low and Medium was 32 FPS (133 vs 101). The increasing gap between settings as resolution rises confirms that the GPU is the dominant constraint. The CPU continues to hold its end, as the 8400F’s multi-core performance, with a cinebench r23 multicore score of 20851, is more than adequate for a game from 2014. The frame rate differences between presets at 1440p are driven by the Arc B570’s ability to process pixels, not by any CPU limitation.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is overwhelmingly the limiting component. Low averages 54 FPS, Medium averages 41 FPS, and High averages 31 FPS. The progression from Low to Medium to High shows a consistent 13 to 10 FPS drop per tier, which is a much larger relative penalty than at lower resolutions. For example, at 1080p the drop from Low to Medium is 32 FPS, but as a percentage of the Low score that is 24%. At 4K, the drop from Low to Medium is 13 FPS, which is 24% of the Low score as well, but the absolute numbers are much smaller. The CPU is not the issue here; the Ryzen 5 8400F has a passmark multithread score of 24389 and a 3dmark max threads score of 6165, which would not bottleneck a GPU at 4K in a game this old. The Arc B570, with 2304 shading units and an 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 rate, simply cannot push enough frames at this resolution. The data shows no scenario where the CPU becomes the limiting factor, even at 1080p Low where the frame rate reaches 133 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Thief at 1080p with maximum settings?

A: Yes. The Ultra preset at 1920x1080 produces an average of 73 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold. The verdictByResolution data confirms that High, Low, Medium, and Ultra are all playable at this resolution, with Ultra being the best settings option at 73 FPS.

Q: What is the best setting for 1440p to stay above 60 FPS?

A: Medium is the best choice. It delivers an average of 69 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS. High and Ultra both fall below 60 FPS, averaging 53 FPS and 50 FPS respectively, so Medium is the highest preset that remains playable.

Q: Is 4K playable with this combination?

A: No. The highest average FPS at 3840x2160 is 54 on the Low preset, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium averages 41 FPS, High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 29 FPS. The verdictByResolution lists no playable settings at this resolution.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 8400F compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The 8400F has an average benchmark score of 25005, which places it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (score 24964), 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i7-11850H (score 24935), and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13620H (score 24911). It trails the AMD EPYC 9474F by 0.4%, which has a score of 25103.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B570 has an average benchmark score of 20556. It is 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (score 20534), 0.1% behind the Intel Arc A750 (score 20582), 0.4% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (score 20480), and 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (score 20662).

Q: What frame rate does the Medium preset achieve at 1080p?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 averages 101 FPS, with a minimum of 86 FPS and a maximum of 116 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold, but the Ultra preset at 73 FPS is still the recommended option because it offers higher visual quality while remaining playable.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F sits in a tight cluster of processors with nearly identical average benchmark scores. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is the closest match, with a delta of 0.2% (score 24964 vs 25005). In practical terms for Thief, this means the 7500F would produce effectively the same frame rates as the 8400F, since the difference is less than one percent. The Intel Core i7-11850H and Intel Core i7-13620H are also within 0.3% and 0.4% respectively, so any of these CPUs would behave indistinguishably in this game. The AMD EPYC 9474F is 0.4% behind, but that is a server-class chip not intended for gaming, so it is not a realistic alternative for a desktop build. The key takeaway is that the CPU is not a differentiator for Thief; any of these processors will keep the GPU fed at all tested settings.

For the GPU, the Intel Arc B570 has a more varied set of neighbors. The Intel Arc A750 is the closest rival, with a delta of -0.1% (score 20582 vs 20556), meaning the A750 is marginally faster. In Thief at 1080p Ultra, that would translate to roughly the same 73 FPS, with maybe one FPS of difference. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile is 0.1% slower (score 20534), but being a mobile part, it is not a direct desktop comparison. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M and AMD Radeon R9 M390X are older or workstation-oriented parts, with deltas of 0.4% and -0.5% respectively. The M390X, with a score of 20662, is actually 0.5% faster than the Arc B570, which is surprising for a 2015-era chip, but that score reflects synthetic benchmarks rather than real-world Thief performance. For this game, the Arc B570 and Arc A750 would be interchangeable, and the RTX 3070 Mobile would also land in the same frame rate band despite being designed for laptops.

The Verdict

This PC can run Thief, but the resolution determines how well. At 1920x1080, the combination is fully playable at every preset, with Ultra delivering 73 FPS. That is the ideal scenario: max settings, no compromises, and a frame rate that clears the 60 FPS threshold by 13 FPS. At 2560x1440, the system remains playable but requires a settings reduction. Medium produces 69 FPS, which is above the threshold, while High and Ultra fall to 53 FPS and 50 FPS respectively. The verdictByResolution lists Low and Medium as playable at 1440p, with Medium as the best option at 69 FPS. At 3840x2160, the system cannot reach 60 FPS on any preset. The best case is Low at 54 FPS, which is 6 FPS short of playable. High, Medium, and Ultra all produce averages in the 29 to 41 FPS range, which is not a smooth experience for a stealth game that relies on timing and observation.

The practical advice is straightforward: run Thief at 1080p with Ultra settings for the best experience, or at 1440p with Medium if you prefer higher resolution over maximum detail. Avoid 4K entirely with this combo. The Ryzen 5 8400F is more than capable, with a 77th percentile ranking against all CPUs, and the Arc B570 sits at the 65th percentile against all GPUs, which is adequate for a game from 2014 but not for 4K. The data is measured, not estimated, so these numbers reflect actual performance in Thief.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2994 out of 3720 tested combos for Thief. That places it in the bottom 19% of all hardware pairings tested for this game. This low rank is not surprising given the GPU’s limitations at higher resolutions. The CPU alone is strong, ranking in the 77th percentile, and the GPU ranks in the 65th percentile, but the combination’s performance in Thief is dragged down by the Arc B570’s inability to handle 4K. Out of 3720 combos, 2994 are better, meaning only 726 are worse. That puts this pairing in the lower tier for this specific title, despite the individual components being reasonably capable.

The rank reflects the measured FPS data across all resolutions. At 1080p, the combo performs respectably, with Ultra at 73 FPS, but many other GPU and CPU pairings will push higher numbers. At 1440p, the Medium preset’s 69 FPS is playable, but again, faster GPUs will achieve High or Ultra at the same frame rate. At 4K, the combo fails entirely, which is a significant factor in the low rank. For a game from 2014, this rank suggests that the Arc B570 is a mid-range GPU that is outclassed by many other options, especially at higher resolutions. The Ryzen 5 8400F does its part, but the GPU holds the pairing back. If you are building a system for Thief specifically, this rank indicates that there are many better-performing combinations, but the combo is still usable at 1080p and 1440p with the right settings.