Thief

The Intel Core i7-13700K and Intel Arc B570 combination delivers a playable experience in Thief, but only at 1080p and 1440p resolutions. At 4K, the pair falls short of the 60 FPS threshold across all tested settings. The data shows a clear ceiling: 1080p Ultra runs at 73 FPS on average, while 1440p Medium hits 69 FPS, making those the highest quality presets that remain fluid.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its strongest visual quality while maintaining playability. The Ultra preset runs at an average of 73 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold. This is the recommended maximum settings for this resolution, as it provides the highest fidelity without dropping below the target frame rate.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the best option, delivering 69 FPS on average. The High preset at this resolution drops to 53 FPS, which is below the playable threshold, and Ultra falls to 50 FPS. The data indicates that Medium is the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS here.

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches the 60 FPS threshold. The Low preset achieves 54 FPS, Medium hits 41 FPS, High manages 31 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 29 FPS. None of these settings provide a playable experience at 4K, so the verdictByResolution data lists no playable settings for this resolution.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU and GPU each have nearby hardware that would behave similarly in this game, based on aggregate benchmark scores. For the Intel Core i7-13700K, the nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, which scores 0.2% lower in average benchmarks, and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375, which is 0.3% lower. The AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535 both score 0.5% higher, placing them as slightly stronger alternatives that would yield marginally better CPU-bound performance in Thief.

On the GPU side, the Intel Arc B570 is closely matched by the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which scores 0.1% higher in average benchmarks. The Intel Arc A750 is 0.1% lower, making it a near-identical performer. More distant rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M at 0.4% higher and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X at 0.5% lower. In practical terms, swapping to any of these GPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Thief, as the differences in aggregate scores are minimal.

The CPU sits in the 89th percentile against all tested CPUs, while the GPU is in the 65th percentile against all GPUs. This percentile gap suggests the GPU is more likely to be the limiting factor in demanding scenes, though the CPU's strong multi-threaded scores (30745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) ensure it won't bottleneck at these settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates reveal a consistent scaling pattern across resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset runs at 133 FPS on average, Medium drops to 101 FPS with a minimum of 86 and maximum of 116, High achieves 77 FPS, and Ultra reaches 73 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 60 FPS, showing that Thief is sensitive to graphical settings at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same preset order holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low runs at 91 FPS, Medium at 69 FPS with a minimum of 59 and maximum of 79, High at 53 FPS, and Ultra at 50 FPS. The minimum frame rate for Medium at 1440p is 59 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating occasional dips below the target even though the average stays above it.

At 3840x2160, performance drops significantly. Low achieves 54 FPS, Medium hits 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 and maximum of 47, High manages 31 FPS, and Ultra falls to 29 FPS. The frame rate at 4K is roughly 40-50% lower than at 1440p for equivalent settings, which is a steeper drop than the resolution scaling would suggest. This indicates that the Arc B570's memory bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s and 10 GB GDDR6 buffer are strained at 4K, even in a 2014 title.

The minimum and maximum frame rates are only recorded for Medium settings at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the range is 86 to 116 FPS, a 30 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the range narrows to 59 to 79 FPS, a 20 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the range tightens further to 35 to 47 FPS, a 12 FPS spread. This pattern suggests that higher resolutions reduce the variance between frames, likely due to the GPU becoming more consistently saturated.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Thief at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: No. The data shows no playable settings at 3840x2160. The highest average frame rate at 4K is 54 FPS on Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Ultra settings at 4K only reach 29 FPS.

Q: What is the best setting at 1440p for this hardware?

A: Medium is the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS, averaging 69 FPS. High and Ultra both fall below the threshold at 53 FPS and 50 FPS respectively, while Low reaches 91 FPS.

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

A: The Intel Core i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 46881, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 and 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375. The AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535 are both 0.5% higher.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to bottleneck in Thief?

A: The GPU is the more likely bottleneck. The Arc B570 sits in the 65th percentile against all GPUs, while the CPU is in the 89th percentile against all CPUs. The frame rate drops sharply at 4K, indicating GPU memory bandwidth limitations rather than CPU processing limits.

Q: What are the minimum frame rates recorded at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 86 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 59 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 35 FPS. Only Medium settings have recorded min/max values in the data.

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

A: The combo ranks 2994 out of 3720 tested combinations in Thief. This places it in the lower portion of the overall ranking, though it still achieves playable performance at 1080p and 1440p.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions and presets shows that the GPU becomes the dominant factor as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra is 60 FPS (133 vs 73), which suggests the GPU has headroom at lower settings and the CPU can feed it adequately. The CPU's strong single-thread score (4333 in Passmark single-thread) supports this, as Thief is a 2014 title that relies more on single-core performance.

At 2560x1440, the gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 41 FPS (91 vs 50). This smaller spread indicates that the GPU is starting to saturate, and the performance becomes more dependent on the Arc B570's raw throughput. The CPU's role diminishes slightly, but the 1440p Medium result of 69 FPS shows that the combination still has enough CPU headroom to maintain playable frame rates.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapses across all settings. Low runs at 54 FPS and Ultra at 29 FPS, a spread of only 25 FPS. This compressed range is a hallmark of GPU-bound scenarios, where the Arc B570's 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the pixel load. The CPU's capabilities become largely irrelevant at this resolution, as the GPU cannot produce enough frames regardless of CPU speed.

The data also shows that the CPU matters more at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Ultra costs 45% of the frame rate (60 FPS drop from 133), which implies the CPU can handle the lower settings easily while the GPU scales with load. At 4K, the same preset jump costs only 46% of the frame rate (25 FPS drop from 54), but from a much lower baseline, confirming that GPU limits dominate.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-13700K and Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2994 out of 3720 tested combos in Thief. This places it in the 20th percentile of all combinations, meaning roughly 80% of tested hardware pairs perform better in this game. The ranking reflects the GPU's mid-tier status (65th percentile overall) combined with the CPU's high-tier status (89th percentile overall), resulting in a pairing that is GPU-limited.

The rank is consistent with the measured performance. At 1080p, the combo achieves playable frame rates at all settings, but the 73 FPS Ultra result is modest compared to what higher-ranked combos would deliver. At 1440p, the 69 FPS Medium result is the best playable option, which is a reasonable outcome for a mid-range GPU. At 4K, the lack of any playable settings explains the lower rank, as many other combos likely manage 60 FPS at this resolution.

The nearest GPU rival data provides context for the ranking. The Arc B570's aggregate score of 20556 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, +0.1%), so combos using that GPU would likely rank similarly. The Intel Arc A750 at 20582 (-0.1%) would also produce near-identical results. The ranking is therefore not an outlier for this class of hardware; it reflects the expected performance of a GPU in the 65th percentile paired with a CPU in the 89th percentile.