Thief

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for this combination of Intel Core i5-11400F and Intel Arc B570 in Thief shows a clear scaling pattern across resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the combo is thoroughly playable at every setting level. Low settings produce an average of 133 FPS, Medium drops to 101 FPS with a minimum of 86 FPS and a maximum of 116 FPS, High reaches 77 FPS, and Ultra still holds 73 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 60 FPS, which leaves plenty of headroom for users who prioritize visual fidelity over raw frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages fall but remain respectable. Low settings deliver 91 FPS, Medium hits 69 FPS with a recorded range of 59 to 79 FPS, High drops to 53 FPS, and Ultra falls to 50 FPS. The important threshold here is the 60 FPS playability mark: the Medium preset clears it with an average of 69 FPS, while High and Ultra both sit below the line. The 59 FPS minimum on Medium indicates that brief dips can touch the boundary, but the average stays comfortably above.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes significantly. Low settings produce 54 FPS, which is just under the 60 FPS target. Medium averages 41 FPS with a range of 35 to 47 FPS, High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 29 FPS. None of the presets at 4K reach the playable threshold. The data shows a consistent drop of roughly 13 to 14 FPS between Medium and High at this resolution, and a further 2 FPS decline from High to Ultra.

Across all three resolutions, the Medium preset consistently shows the most complete frame time data, with both minimum and maximum values recorded. This suggests the benchmark captured a wider sample for that setting, and the ranges reveal that at 1440p Medium the minimum dips to 59 FPS, which is effectively at the playable boundary. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 86 FPS shows no such concern.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Thief at 60 FPS on a 1920x1080 monitor?

A: Yes. Every preset at 1920x1080 clears 60 FPS. The lowest average is Ultra at 73 FPS, and Low reaches 133 FPS, so there is significant headroom across all settings.

Q: What is the best preset at 2560x1440 that stays playable?

A: Medium is the most demanding preset at 1440p that remains at or above 60 FPS, with an average of 69 FPS. High and Ultra both fall below the threshold, averaging 53 FPS and 50 FPS respectively.

Q: Is 4K playable with this hardware?

A: No. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only reach 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium averages 41 FPS, High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 29 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p on Medium settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 101 at 1920x1080 to 69 at 2560x1440, a difference of 32 FPS. The minimum also drops from 86 FPS to 59 FPS.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1080p Low?

A: The average is 133 FPS, which is the highest recorded result for this combination across all resolutions and settings. No minimum or maximum values were recorded for this configuration.

Q: Does the Ultra preset at 1440p fall far behind Medium?

A: Ultra averages 50 FPS, which is 19 FPS below Medium's 69 FPS average. Both presets are below the 60 FPS threshold at 1440p, but Medium is the only one that clears it.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU and GPU each have nearby hardware in the database that would produce similar overall behavior in Thief. For the Intel Core i5-11400F, the nearest rival is the AMD EPYC 7H12, which scores 0.3% higher in aggregate benchmarks. The Intel Core i5-12450H sits 0.4% lower, the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G is 0.6% lower, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U is 0.6% higher. These deltas are all within a single percentage point, meaning any of these processors would deliver nearly identical frame pacing in this game, assuming the same GPU and memory configuration.

On the graphics side, the Intel Arc B570's closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which scores 0.1% higher on average. The Intel Arc A750 is 0.1% lower, the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M is 0.4% higher, and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X is 0.5% lower. The Arc A750 is particularly relevant because it shares the same Intel architecture family, and the nearly identical aggregate scores suggest that swapping between these two cards would yield almost the same FPS results in Thief. The RTX 3070 Mobile, despite being a laptop part, also lands within a fraction of a percent, so users coming from that GPU would see comparable performance.

For a system builder considering alternatives, pairing the i5-11400F with any of these GPU counterparts would shift results by only a few frames at most. The measured data places the Arc B570 at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, while the i5-11400F sits at the 71st percentile among all CPUs. Neither component is a bottleneck in a way that would change the playability verdict: the 1080p results would remain smooth, 1440p would still offer Medium as the highest playable preset, and 4K would still fall short of 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database's tested combinations for Thief, this pairing of Intel Core i5-11400F and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2994 out of 3720 tested combos. That places it in the lower half of all recorded systems, around the 19th percentile from the top. The rank reflects the full system configuration, not just the individual components, and the measured FPS data aligns with that positioning: the combo handles 1080p comfortably, manages 1440p at Medium, but cannot sustain 60 FPS at 4K on any preset.

The ranking is driven primarily by the GPU's mid-tier standing. The Arc B570's 65th percentile among all GPUs and its 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus with 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth are sufficient for a 2014 stealth title at mainstream resolutions, but the card does not have the raw throughput to push 4K. The CPU, with 6 cores and 12 threads boosting to 4.40 GHz, contributes a single-thread score of 2024 in Cinebench R23, which is more than adequate for a game from this era. The bottleneck at higher resolutions is clearly the graphics side, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops when moving from 1440p to 4K.

Compared to the 3720 total combos in the database, sitting at 2994 means a large portion of tested systems outperform this one. However, the rank must be interpreted with context: Thief is a 2014 release, and the database includes many modern high-end configurations that would naturally score higher. Within the context of this specific game's requirements, the combo delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p Medium, which covers the majority of typical gaming displays.

The Verdict

This PC can run Thief, but the playable range depends entirely on the display resolution. At 1920x1080, all four presets clear the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra averaging 73 FPS, High at 77 FPS, Medium at 101 FPS, and Low at 133 FPS. This is a fully playable experience at maximum settings on a 1080p monitor.

At 2560x1440, the system remains playable on Low and Medium, with Medium being the best choice at an average of 69 FPS. High and Ultra fall to 53 FPS and 50 FPS respectively, so users at this resolution should stick to Medium or lower to maintain smooth gameplay. The 59 FPS minimum on Medium shows the system can briefly touch the threshold, but the average stays safely above.

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches the 60 FPS target. Low averages 54 FPS, Medium 41 FPS, High 31 FPS, and Ultra 29 FPS. The verdict for 4K is clear: this combination is not suitable for playable frame rates at that resolution in Thief. Users with 4K displays would need to lower the resolution or accept sub-60 FPS performance.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 73 FPS. This is the optimal configuration for 1080p users: maximum visual quality while maintaining a comfortable margin above the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the best playable preset is Medium, averaging 69 FPS. This is the highest setting that clears the 60 FPS line at this resolution, and the recorded range of 59 to 79 FPS indicates that most of the experience stays well above the threshold, with only occasional dips to the boundary.

At 3840x2160, there is no playable preset. Low comes closest at 54 FPS, but it still falls short of the 60 FPS target. Users at 4K who want to play Thief with this hardware would need to reduce the resolution to 1440p or 1080p, where Medium and Ultra respectively provide smooth frame rates. The database records no best settings for 4K because no configuration meets the playability criterion.