Thief

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a playable experience in Thief at 1080p and 1440p, but falls short of the 60 FPS threshold at 4K across all tested settings. Benchmark results show this combination ranks 2994 out of 3720 tested hardware combos for this game, placing it in the lower-mid tier of systems. The strongest result is a 73 FPS average at 1080p Ultra settings, while the weakest is a 29 FPS average at 4K Ultra, indicating a steep performance cliff as resolution increases.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves the 60 FPS playable threshold. The highest average FPS recorded is 54 at Low settings, which still falls short. Medium produces 41 FPS, High drops to 31 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 29 FPS. The data shows the Arc B570 lacks the raw throughput needed for 4K in this title, even with the Ryzen 9 5900X providing ample CPU headroom.

At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Medium, delivering a 69 FPS average with a minimum of 59 FPS and maximum of 79 FPS. While Low runs faster at 91 FPS, Medium is the highest preset that clears the 60 FPS bar. High falls to 53 FPS, and Ultra drops further to 50 FPS, both below the playable threshold.

At 1920x1080, the system achieves playable frame rates on all four presets. Ultra is the best setting at 73 FPS average, followed by High at 77 FPS, Medium at 101 FPS, and Low at 133 FPS. Notably, High and Ultra are nearly identical in average FPS, with Ultra only 4 FPS behind High despite the increased graphical load. This suggests the GPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution, allowing the CPU to push frame rates higher.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals a GPU-bound scenario at 4K and a more balanced or CPU-bound scenario at 1080p. From 1080p Ultra (73 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (50 FPS), the frame rate drops by 31.5%, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases. From 1440p Ultra (50 FPS) to 4K Ultra (29 FPS), the drop is 42%, a much steeper decline that confirms the Arc B570's memory bandwidth and shading resources are overwhelmed at 4K.

The Ryzen 9 5900X's 12 cores and 24 threads are unlikely to be a constraint in Thief, a 2014 title with modest CPU demands. The CPU's benchmark percentile of 87 versus all CPUs, with an average score of 41376, places it well above the hardware needed for this game. The GPU's percentile of 65 versus all GPUs, with an average score of 20556, is the weaker link in this pairing.

Preset scaling at each resolution shows where the bottleneck shifts. At 1080p, moving from Low (133 FPS) to Ultra (73 FPS) produces a 45% reduction, while at 1440p the same preset change drops from 91 FPS to 50 FPS (45% reduction). At 4K, Low (54 FPS) to Ultra (29 FPS) represents a 46% reduction. This consistent percentage across resolutions indicates that the settings themselves impose a similar relative cost, but the absolute frame rates are dictated by resolution-driven GPU load.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the data shows a clear hierarchy. Low settings produce 54 FPS average, Medium yields 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS and maximum of 47 FPS, High drops to 31 FPS, and Ultra is lowest at 29 FPS. None of these reach the 60 FPS playable threshold, and even the minimum FPS at Medium (35) is far below playable.

At 2560x1440, Low runs at 91 FPS average, which is the fastest 1440p result. Medium achieves 69 FPS average with a minimum of 59 FPS and maximum of 79 FPS, making it the best playable option. High falls to 53 FPS, and Ultra is at 50 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 16 FPS, which is larger than the 3 FPS gap between High and Ultra, suggesting that High presets introduce a disproportionately heavy rendering cost.

At 1920x1080, all settings exceed 60 FPS. Low produces 133 FPS average, Medium delivers 101 FPS with a minimum of 86 FPS and maximum of 116 FPS, High reaches 77 FPS, and Ultra hits 73 FPS. The minimum FPS at Medium (86) is higher than the average FPS at High (77), indicating that even the most demanding scenes at Medium run smoother than typical High gameplay. The maximum FPS at Medium (116) approaches the Low average (133), showing that the CPU can sustain high frame rates when GPU load is moderate.

The Verdict

The Ryzen 9 5900X + Intel Arc B570 can run Thief, but the playable experience depends entirely on resolution. At 1920x1080, the system clears the 60 FPS threshold on every preset, including Ultra at 73 FPS, making it fully capable for high-refresh monitors. At 2560x1440, only Low and Medium are playable, with Medium at 69 FPS being the best choice for visual quality while maintaining smooth gameplay. At 3840x2160, no settings achieve 60 FPS; the best result is 54 FPS at Low, which falls short of the playable threshold.

The verdict by resolution is clear: 1080p is fully playable, 1440p is playable only at Medium or lower, and 4K is not playable. Users targeting 4K would need to accept sub-60 FPS performance or reduce resolution. The 1440p Medium result (69 FPS) is the sweet spot for this hardware, balancing visual fidelity with smoothness.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the Ryzen 9 5900X, the nearest rivals in CPU benchmark performance are the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H, Intel Core Ultra 7 356H, AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440, and Intel Core i7-14650HX. The Core Ultra 7 366H scores 41263, just 0.3% lower than the 5900X's 41376 average, meaning it would deliver nearly identical CPU-bound performance in Thief. The Core Ultra 7 356H (41215) and Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440 (41208) are both 0.4% slower, while the Core i7-14650HX (41576) is 0.5% faster. These differences are negligible for gaming, so any of these CPUs paired with the Arc B570 would produce essentially the same frame rates.

For the Intel Arc B570, the nearest GPU rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, Intel Arc A750, NVIDIA Quadro M4000M, and AMD Radeon R9 M390X. The RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534, just 0.1% lower than the B570's 20556 average. The Intel Arc A750 scores 20582, which is 0.1% higher, making it a direct equivalent. The Quadro M4000M (20480) is 0.4% slower, and the Radeon R9 M390X (20662) is 0.5% faster. In Thief, swapping the B570 for the Arc A750 would yield virtually identical frame rates, while the RTX 3070 Mobile would be slightly slower.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Thief at 60 FPS on 1080p Ultra settings?*

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 Ultra is 73, which exceeds the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1440p?

A: Medium is the highest preset that stays at or above 60 FPS, with an average of 69 FPS and a minimum of 59 FPS.

Q: Is 4K playable with this hardware?

A: No. The highest average FPS at 3840x2160 is 54 at Low settings, which falls short of the 60 FPS threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra all produce averages below 45 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc A750 compare to the Arc B570 for this game?

A: The Arc A750 has an average benchmark score of 20582, which is 0.1% higher than the B570's 20556. This difference is negligible, so performance in Thief would be essentially identical.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the GPU is not fully stressed, as evidenced by the small gap between High (77 FPS) and Ultra (73 FPS). The Ryzen 9 5900X's strong single-thread and multi-thread scores prevent it from bottlenecking the Arc B570 at this resolution.

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded at 1440p Medium?

A: The minimum FPS at 2560x1440 Medium is 59, which is just 1 FPS below the 60 FPS threshold but still represents a generally smooth experience.