Thief

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X paired with the Intel Arc B370 presents a heavily GPU-limited configuration for Thief. The recorded data shows that this combination cannot achieve a stable 60 FPS experience at 4K or 1440p under any tested preset. The only configuration that clears the 60 FPS playability threshold is 1080p with Low settings, where the average frame rate reaches 78 FPS.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no settings preset delivers playable performance. The highest average frame rate recorded at this resolution is 31 FPS with Low settings, which falls far below the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset averages 18 FPS, Medium averages 24 FPS, and Ultra averages 17 FPS. None of these are viable for smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the situation improves slightly but remains below the playability threshold. The Low preset produces an average of 53 FPS, which is the best result at this resolution. Medium averages 41 FPS, High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 29 FPS. Even the best case, Low at 53 FPS, misses the 60 FPS target by a noticeable margin.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset is the only setting that reaches playable performance, delivering an average of 78 FPS. The Medium preset comes very close to the threshold with an average of 59 FPS, but it does not clear the 60 FPS mark. High averages 45 FPS, and Ultra averages 43 FPS. The data indicates that 1080p Low is the single viable configuration for this combo in Thief.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU portion of this combo ranks in the 87th percentile among all tested processors, and its nearest rivals in the database show very small performance deltas. The Intel Core Ultra 7 366H scores 0.3 percent higher, the Intel Core Ultra 7 356H scores 0.4 percent higher, and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440 also scores 0.4 percent higher. The Intel Core i7-14650HX scores 0.5 percent lower. These differences are negligible, meaning any of these CPUs would behave nearly identically to the Ryzen 9 5900X in this game.

The GPU side is far more constrained. The Intel Arc B370 sits in the 5th percentile among all tested GPUs, and its nearest rivals are older discrete and mobile parts. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scores 0.2 percent higher, the ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 0.5 percent higher, and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 0.7 percent higher. The AMD FirePro M2000 scores 1.4 percent lower. These deltas are all within a couple of percentage points, so swapping the Arc B370 for any of these rivals would yield essentially the same frame rates in Thief.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the recorded averages are low across all presets. Low settings produce 31 FPS on average, Medium produces 24 FPS with a minimum of 20 FPS and a maximum of 27 FPS, High produces 18 FPS, and Ultra produces 17 FPS. The spread between the lowest and highest preset is only 14 FPS, which shows how severely the GPU limits performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages step up considerably. Low settings average 53 FPS, Medium averages 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS, High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 29 FPS. The jump from 4K to 1440p provides a meaningful improvement, but the top result still stays below 60 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the data shows the only playable configuration. Low settings average 78 FPS. Medium averages 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS and a maximum of 68 FPS, which means it occasionally touches playable territory but does not sustain it. High averages 45 FPS, and Ultra averages 43 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p spans 35 FPS, from 78 down to 43, indicating that settings choices have a substantial impact at this resolution.

The Verdict

This PC can run Thief, but only under a narrow set of conditions. According to the verdict data, the combination of the Ryzen 9 5900X and Intel Arc B370 has no playable settings at 3840x2160 or 2560x1440. At 1920x1080, the Low preset is the sole playable option, with an average of 78 FPS.

The Medium preset at 1080p averages 59 FPS, which is one frame shy of the 60 FPS threshold. In practice, that single-frame gap means the experience would be borderline, with dips to 50 FPS and peaks at 68 FPS. The benchmark data classifies it as not playable, but it is close enough that players might tolerate it with adaptive sync or minor tweaks outside the tested presets.

For anyone planning to play Thief with this hardware, the practical takeaway is clear: run the game at 1080p and keep the quality preset on Low. Higher resolutions are not viable, and higher settings at 1080p sacrifice too much performance for the visual gain. The GPU is the decisive bottleneck, and no CPU-side adjustment can overcome it.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data shows that the Intel Arc B370 is the limiting factor in this pairing. The Ryzen 9 5900X is a high-end desktop processor with 12 cores and 24 threads, and its benchmark scores place it in the 87th percentile among all CPUs. The Arc B370, by contrast, sits in the 5th percentile among all GPUs. The gap between these two components is enormous, and Thief's frame rates reflect that imbalance.

The scaling between resolutions confirms the GPU bottleneck. Moving from 1080p Low at 78 FPS to 1440p Low at 53 FPS is a 32 percent drop, and moving from 1440p Low to 4K Low at 31 FPS is another 42 percent drop. These large losses as pixel count increases are classic signs of a GPU-limited scenario. If the CPU were the constraint, resolution changes would have a much smaller effect on frame rates.

Settings scaling tells the same story. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 35 FPS, from 78 down to 43. At 1440p, the same settings range spans 24 FPS, from 53 down to 29. At 4K, the range narrows to 14 FPS, from 31 down to 17. As resolution increases, the GPU becomes so saturated that changing quality presets has diminishing returns. This pattern indicates that the processor has ample headroom and is never the primary limiter in Thief.

At 1080p, the CPU still has some influence because the lower pixel count reduces GPU load, but even here the Medium preset's minimum of 50 FPS suggests occasional GPU stalls. The Ryzen 9 5900X's strong single-thread and multi-thread scores, including a PassMark single-thread score of 3469 and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16262, are more than sufficient for a 2014 stealth title. The system would need a far more powerful GPU to unlock higher presets and resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database's ranking of tested combinations for Thief, this pairing ranks 3433 out of 3720 combos. That places it in the lower portion of the field, with roughly 92 percent of tested systems performing better in this game. The low GPU percentile is the dominant factor in this ranking.

The CPU's nearest rivals all score within 0.5 percent of the Ryzen 9 5900X, which means the processor is not the reason for the low rank. Any of those rival CPUs paired with the same GPU would produce nearly identical results. The GPU's nearest rivals, including the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 and ATI Radeon HD 5770, are similarly close in score, reinforcing that this tier of graphics hardware is the limiting factor.

Thief is an older title from 2014, but the measured frame rates show that even older games can challenge a low-end GPU at high resolutions. The combination of a top-tier CPU and a bottom-tier GPU creates a lopsided system where the processor's capabilities are largely wasted in this workload. For this specific game, the Ryzen 9 5900X contributes little to the final experience; the Arc B370 determines everything. The 3433rd place ranking out of 3720 combos reflects that reality, and the only way to improve this system's standing in Thief would be to pair the CPU with a stronger graphics solution.