Thief

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Thief at 4K?

A: No. The recorded data shows no playable settings at 3840x2160. The best result is 35 FPS on Low, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Ultra drops to 19 FPS, High sits at 20 FPS, and Medium averages 26 FPS.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1080p?

A: Medium is the highest preset that stays at or above 60 FPS. It averages 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 75 FPS. Low averages 86 FPS, but Medium delivers better visual quality while still clearing the threshold.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-13400F posts an average benchmark score of 25292. It sits within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (25201, +0.4% delta) and within 0.3% of both the Intel Core 5 120 (25362, -0.3%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25365, -0.3%). Performance is effectively identical across these four parts.

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

A: The Intel Arc B390 scores 1482 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. That is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443). The GPU ranks in the 9th percentile among all GPUs in the database.

Q: Is 1440p playable with this combo?

A: No. At 2560x1440, the best result is 59 FPS on Low, which just misses the 60 FPS threshold. Medium averages 45 FPS, High averages 34 FPS, and Ultra averages 33 FPS. The verdict lists no playable settings at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: It ranks 3307 out of 3720 combos in the database for Thief. That places it in the lower portion of tested systems, consistent with the GPU's low percentile standing and the fact that only 1080p Low and Medium clear the playable threshold.

Best Settings per Resolution

The most demanding preset that maintains an average of at least 60 FPS is the target for each resolution. The data records four presets per resolution: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra.

3840x2160: No preset reaches 60 FPS. The closest is Low at 35 FPS, then Medium at 26 FPS, High at 20 FPS, and Ultra at 19 FPS. None are playable under the 60 FPS standard.

2560x1440: No preset reaches 60 FPS. Low comes closest at 59 FPS, just one frame short. Medium averages 45 FPS, High averages 34 FPS, and Ultra averages 33 FPS. The 59 FPS result on Low is the only near-miss across all resolutions.

1920x1080: Medium is the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS. It averages 66 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 56 FPS and maximum of 75 FPS. Low averages 86 FPS but is less demanding. High averages 50 FPS, and Ultra averages 48 FPS, both below the threshold.

The pattern is clear: this system can handle 1080p at Medium, but the gap between Medium (66 FPS) and High (50 FPS) is a 24% performance drop. At 1440p, even Low fails to hit 60 FPS by a single frame, which suggests the GPU is the limiting factor rather than the CPU.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data shows how the balance shifts across resolutions. At 1920x1080, the CPU's capabilities are more visible: the i5-13400F's strong multi-threaded scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core at 22604, Geekbench multi-core at 11068) allow the system to push Medium to 66 FPS. But when resolution increases, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint.

Look at the scaling from 1080p to 1440p on Medium: 66 FPS drops to 45 FPS, a 32% reduction. From 1440p to 4K on Medium, it drops from 45 FPS to 26 FPS, a 42% reduction. These steep falls indicate the Intel Arc B390, with its 1536 shading units and 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 performance, cannot sustain frame rates as pixel count rises. The GPU's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs supports this interpretation.

The CPU's role is relatively consistent. At 1080p, Low hits 86 FPS, Medium hits 66 FPS, but High drops to 50 FPS and Ultra to 48 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 4%, suggesting the GPU is already saturated. At 1440p, the spread from Low (59 FPS) to Ultra (33 FPS) is a 44% range, and at 4K the spread from Low (35 FPS) to Ultra (19 FPS) is a 46% range. The GPU's performance ceiling is the binding constraint at every resolution above 1080p Low.

The CPU's benchmark data shows it is not the bottleneck. Its 3DMark max-threads score of 7307 and single-thread score of 960 indicate solid throughput for a 2023-era desktop part. The 10-core, 16-thread configuration with a 4.60 GHz boost clock is more than sufficient for a 2014 title like Thief. The recorded FPS results align with this: even at 1080p Ultra, the system produces 48 FPS, and the CPU has headroom to feed the GPU faster if the GPU could render faster.

In practical terms, the GPU is responsible for the playability boundary. The i5-13400F can handle the game's logic and draw calls, but the Arc B390's modest pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s limit how many pixels it can process per frame. The result is that resolution scaling hurts far more than preset scaling, which is typical when a low-end GPU is paired with a mid-range CPU.

The Verdict

Can this PC run Thief? The answer depends entirely on resolution and settings. According to the verdict data, the system clears the 60 FPS threshold only at 1920x1080, and only on Low and Medium presets. The best playable configuration is 1080p Medium, which averages 66 FPS. That is a comfortable margin above the threshold, and the recorded minimum of 56 FPS means occasional dips are possible but the average stays solid.

At 2560x1440, the system cannot reach 60 FPS on any preset. Low comes closest at 59 FPS, which is frustratingly short. The database records no playable settings for this resolution. At 3840x2160, the situation is worse: Low averages 35 FPS, and every other preset falls below 27 FPS. No 4K settings are playable.

The practical verdict is straightforward: this is a 1080p Medium machine for Thief. If you lower to 1080p Low, you get 86 FPS, which is smooth and leaves headroom for other tasks. If you insist on 1440p, you must accept 59 FPS on Low, which might feel playable in practice but does not meet the 60 FPS standard used by the database. The system is not viable for 4K under any settings.

The i5-13400F is not the limiting factor. The GPU's low percentile rank (9th) and the FPS scaling pattern make that clear. For a game from 2014, the CPU is more than adequate, but the Arc B390's integrated-class performance holds the system back. Users with this combo should target 1080p Medium as the optimal balance of visual quality and frame rate.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provide context for what other hardware would behave similarly in this system.

CPU alternatives: The Intel Core i5-13400F's average benchmark score of 25292 is nearly identical to four other processors. The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS scores 25284, a 0% delta, meaning essentially the same performance. The Intel Core 5 120 scores 25362 (-0.3%), the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D scores 25365 (-0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H scores 25201 (+0.4%). Any of these CPUs would produce virtually identical frame rates in Thief when paired with the same GPU. The differences are within measurement noise.

GPU alternatives: The Intel Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 places it alongside several very old NVIDIA parts. The GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463 (1.3% slower), the GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% slower), the GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% slower), and the GeForce GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% slower). These are all low-end or legacy GPUs, and the performance deltas are small. Swapping the Arc B390 for any of these would result in a negligible change in Thief's frame rates, likely within 1-3 FPS at each resolution and preset.

The takeaway is that the i5-13400F is solidly mid-range, while the Arc B390 sits at the very bottom of the GPU performance spectrum. If you are considering similar builds, the CPU choice has flexibility, but the GPU choice is the deciding factor for Thief's playability. Any of the rival GPUs would land in the same general FPS range, reinforcing that this class of graphics hardware targets 1080p at best.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the Intel Arc B390 ranks 3307 out of 3720 tested combinations for Thief in the database. That places it in the 11th percentile of all combos (3307 divided by 3720 gives roughly 89% of tested systems performing better). This is a low ranking, consistent with the GPU's 9th percentile standing among all GPUs.

The rank makes sense when you consider the FPS data. Only two of twelve recorded configurations (1080p Low and 1080p Medium) meet the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 1440p and 4K, every preset fails. The CPU's 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs does not rescue the combo because the GPU drags the overall result down.

Compared to other combos in the database, this system sits in the lower tier. The 3307 rank means over 3000 other combinations deliver better frame rates in Thief. However, the game is from 2014, and the fact that 1080p Medium reaches 66 FPS means the system is still capable of a decent experience at the most common resolution. The rank reflects the GPU's limitations more than any systemic issue with the pairing.

For context, the CPU's nearest rivals (AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, Intel Core 5 120, AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, AMD Ryzen 7 6800H) would all rank similarly when paired with a GPU of this class. The combo rank is driven by the GPU tier, not the CPU. If you upgraded the GPU to something in a higher percentile, the same CPU would move the combo rank significantly higher, because the i5-13400F has ample headroom for a 2014 title. As recorded, this combo is a 1080p Medium system that ranks in the bottom quarter of the database.