Thief

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for Thief with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Intel Arc B390 combination shows a steep performance curve that is heavily dependent on both resolution and quality preset. At 3840x2160, the system struggles across the board. The High preset averages 20 FPS, Low averages 35 FPS, Medium averages 26 FPS with a minimum of 22 FPS and a maximum of 30 FPS, and Ultra averages 19 FPS. None of these figures approach the 60 FPS playable threshold, and even the best case, Low at 35 FPS, falls far short of smooth gameplay. The gap between Low and High at 4K is only 15 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor regardless of how much graphical load is removed.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results improve but remain below the playable threshold. High averages 34 FPS, Low averages 59 FPS, Medium averages 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS, and Ultra averages 33 FPS. The Low preset at 1440p is tantalizingly close to 60 FPS, but it does not reach it. The Medium preset at 45 FPS shows a noticeable drop from Low, and Ultra at 33 FPS is only 1 FPS behind High, suggesting that the higher presets are all bottlenecked by the same component limitation. The delta between Low and Medium at this resolution is 14 FPS, while the delta between Medium and Ultra is 12 FPS, showing a consistent scaling penalty per preset tier.

At 1920x1080, the combination finally delivers playable results, but only at certain settings. The Low preset averages 86 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and leaves headroom for demanding scenes. The Medium preset averages 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 75 FPS, which clears the average threshold but dips below it in the minimum frame time. The High preset averages 50 FPS, and Ultra averages 48 FPS, both of which miss the target. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 38 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between Low and Medium at 20 FPS. This indicates that the Medium preset is the highest setting that can sustain a playable average, though the 56 FPS minimum is worth noting for stutter-sensitive players.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Thief at 3840x2160?

A: No. The database shows no playable settings at 4K. The best recorded average is 35 FPS on Low, which is 25 FPS below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium averages 26 FPS, High averages 20 FPS, and Ultra averages 19 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset at 2560x1440?

A: The verdict data lists no playable settings at 1440p. The closest result is Low at 59 FPS, which is 1 FPS short of the threshold. Medium averages 45 FPS, High averages 34 FPS, and Ultra averages 33 FPS.

Q: Which presets clear 60 FPS at 1920x1080?

A: Low and Medium are the only playable presets at 1080p. Low averages 86 FPS, and Medium averages 66 FPS. High and Ultra fall short at 50 FPS and 48 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 has an average benchmark score of 1482. It sits 1.3% above the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% above the GeForce 800M, 2.5% above the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% above the GT 710. Its percentile ranking among all GPUs is 9, meaning it outperforms only about 9% of recorded GPUs.

Q: Where does this CPU+GPU combo rank among all tested combos in Thief?

A: The combination ranks 3307 out of 3720 tested combos, placing it in the lower portion of the database. This is consistent with the GPU's low percentile ranking, which drags down the overall position despite the CPU's strength.

Q: What is the CPU's benchmark standing relative to its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 5900X has an average benchmark score of 41376, which is 0.3% above the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H, 0.4% above the Intel Core Ultra 7 356H, 0.4% above the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440, and 0.5% below the Intel Core i7-14650HX. Its percentile ranking among all CPUs is 87.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance data makes it clear that the Intel Arc B390 is the dominant constraint in this pairing. The Ryzen 9 5900X is a high-end desktop processor with a percentile ranking of 87 among all CPUs, while the Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile among GPUs. This asymmetry means that in Thief, the GPU determines the playability ceiling at every resolution. The evidence lies in the scaling pattern: at 1080p, dropping from Ultra to Low improves the average FPS from 48 to 86, a 38 FPS swing. If the CPU were the limiting factor, reducing the GPU workload would not produce such a large gain. The CPU has ample headroom in its 12 cores, 24 threads, and 64 MB of L3 cache to feed frames, but the GPU cannot convert that feed into high frame rates.

The resolution scaling further confirms the GPU bottleneck. From 1080p Low at 86 FPS to 1440p Low at 59 FPS, the average drops by 27 FPS, and from 1440p Low to 4K Low, it drops another 24 FPS to 35 FPS. This is a classic signature of a GPU that is overwhelmed by pixel count. The CPU's workload in Thief is largely resolution-independent, so if the CPU were the constraint, the FPS would stay roughly flat across resolutions. Instead, the data shows a consistent decline as resolution increases, which points squarely at the Arc B390's limited shading units, TMUs, and ROPs: 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs with a 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate and 120.0 GTexel/s texture rate. The GPU's FP32 throughput of 7.680 TFLOPS is simply not enough to drive high pixel counts at demanding settings.

The preset scaling also illustrates the GPU's role. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Medium costs 20 FPS (86 to 66), while the jump from Medium to High costs 16 FPS (66 to 50), and High to Ultra costs only 2 FPS (50 to 48). The diminishing penalty at the top end suggests that the GPU is already saturated at High, and Ultra adds little additional burden because the hardware cannot render the extra detail anyway. At 1440p, the same pattern appears: Low at 59 FPS, Medium at 45 FPS, High at 34 FPS, and Ultra at 33 FPS. The High to Ultra drop is again minimal at 1 FPS. At 4K, the pattern compresses further with all presets clustered between 19 and 35 FPS, meaning the GPU is so far past its limit that preset selection has only a marginal effect. The CPU, by contrast, has no such saturation point in this game. Its benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16262 and a Geekbench multicore score of 14118, indicate far more processing power than Thief's engine can utilize at these frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The database places this combination at rank 3307 out of 3720 tested combos for Thief. That puts it in the bottom 11% of all recorded configurations. The ranking is driven almost entirely by the GPU. The Arc B390's average benchmark score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are all low-end legacy parts: the GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GT 625 OEM, and GT 710, with delta percentages between 1.3% and 2.7%. These are not modern gaming GPUs by any measure. The CPU, on the other hand, is a top-tier part. The Ryzen 9 5900X's average benchmark score of 41376 puts it in the 87th percentile, and its rivals are all recent mid-range and high-end mobile processors like the Core Ultra 7 366H and Core Ultra 7 356H, with deltas under 1%. The mismatch between the 87th percentile CPU and the 9th percentile GPU creates a configuration where the CPU's potential is largely wasted in this title.

In practical terms, this ranking means that the combo will be outpaced by most other tested systems in Thief. The 3307 rank out of 3720 is not a borderline result; it is firmly in the lower quartile. However, the rank does not tell the whole story because it is an aggregate position. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 86 FPS, which is respectable for a game from 2014. The problem is that the GPU cannot sustain that performance at higher settings or resolutions, so the combo's overall rank reflects its narrow playable window rather than a complete inability to run the game. The CPU's high percentile ranking does not rescue the system because Thief's frame rate is gated by the GPU at every measured resolution. The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a stronger GPU would move the combo up significantly in the rankings, but with the Arc B390 as configured, the result is a system that can handle only the lightest settings at 1080p.

The Verdict

The verdict data is unambiguous. At 3840x2160, there are no playable settings. The playableSettings list is empty, and the best recorded average is 35 FPS on Low, which is 25 FPS below the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, the same situation applies: no playable settings, with Low averaging 59 FPS, just 1 FPS short of the target. At 1920x1080, the system clears the threshold on two presets: Low at 86 FPS and Medium at 66 FPS. The best settings at 1080p is Medium, with an average of 66 FPS. High and Ultra at 1080p fall short at 50 FPS and 48 FPS respectively. Therefore, the answer to whether this PC can run Thief is conditional: it can run the game smoothly at 1080p, but only on Low or Medium presets. For players who prioritize higher resolutions or maximum quality, this system will not deliver a 60 FPS experience. The 56 FPS minimum on Medium at 1080p also means that demanding scenes may briefly dip below the threshold, so players with a strong sensitivity to frame drops may prefer Low for a more consistent experience.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no preset maintains 60 FPS, so there is no recommended setting. The highest recorded average is 35 FPS on Low, which is not playable. At 2560x1440, the same verdict applies: no preset reaches 60 FPS, with Low at 59 FPS being the closest. At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Medium, which averages 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 75 FPS. Low is also playable at 86 FPS and is the safer choice for maintaining a consistent frame rate above the threshold. High and Ultra are not recommended at any resolution because they fail to reach 60 FPS even at 1080p. The database's playable threshold is 60 FPS, and the Medium preset at 1080p is the only non-Low setting that clears it on average.