Thief

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for Thief with the Intel Core i7-14700K and Intel Arc B370 shows a clear performance ceiling imposed by the graphics solution. At 3840x2160, the combo delivers 18 FPS average on High settings, 24 FPS average on Medium, and 31 FPS average on Low. The Ultra preset drops to 17 FPS average. The only 4K entry with min/max data is Medium, which fluctuates between 20 FPS minimum and 27 FPS maximum. This is well below the 60 FPS playable threshold, and every 4K preset fails to reach even half of that target.

Stepping down to 2560x1440 improves the situation but does not change the fundamental picture. High settings produce 31 FPS average, Medium produces 41 FPS average with a 35 FPS minimum and 47 FPS maximum, Low produces 53 FPS average, and Ultra produces 29 FPS average. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 24 FPS, which indicates that the graphics card is heavily taxed by the higher quality presets. None of these averages clear 60 FPS, meaning the 1440p output remains below the playable threshold across the board.

At 1920x1080, the results finally approach playable territory. Low settings deliver 78 FPS average, which clears the 60 FPS threshold by a comfortable margin. Medium settings land at 59 FPS average, just one frame short of the target, with a 50 FPS minimum and 68 FPS maximum. High settings drop to 45 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 43 FPS average. The 1080p data shows a steep drop from Low to Medium of 19 FPS, then a more gradual decline of 14 FPS from Medium to High, and a modest 2 FPS loss from High to Ultra. The pattern across resolutions is consistent: the Arc B370 is the limiting factor, and only the lowest preset at the lowest resolution tested reaches a smooth experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The database ranks this specific CPU and GPU pairing at 3433 out of 3720 tested combinations for Thief. That places it in the bottom 8% of all recorded configurations. The percentile data reinforces this: the Intel Core i7-14700K sits at the 94th percentile among all CPUs, while the Intel Arc B370 sits at the 5th percentile among all GPUs. This is an extreme mismatch. The processor is among the strongest desktop chips ever measured, but the graphics component is near the bottom of the distribution. For a game like Thief, which relies on the GPU for rendering, the combo rank is dragged down almost entirely by the graphics side.

The rank of 3433 means that 287 tested combos perform worse, and 3432 perform better. This is not a subtle difference; the pairing lands in the lowest percentile band of the database. The CPU's high percentile does not rescue the overall result because the game's frame rate scales primarily with the graphics solution. The Arc B370's average benchmark score of 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 places it at the 5th percentile, and that weakness translates directly into the measured FPS figures. The data indicates that any game with moderate to heavy GPU demands will see this combo rank poorly, regardless of the CPU's strength.

CPU and GPU Roles

The CPU and GPU roles in Thief are clearly separated by the measured scaling. The Intel Core i7-14700K has 20 cores, 28 threads, and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a single-core score of 2160. These are top-tier results, and the CPU percentile of 94 confirms it. However, the frame rates do not reflect that strength. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra is only 14 FPS (31 versus 17). At 1440p, the spread is 24 FPS (53 versus 29). At 1080p, the spread is 35 FPS (78 versus 43). The growing spread at lower resolutions suggests that the CPU can feed frames faster when the GPU is less burdened, but the GPU still caps the output.

The GPU's specifications explain why. The Arc B370 has 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units, with a boost clock of 2400 MHz. Its FP32 throughput is 6.144 TFLOPS, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 places it at the 5th percentile. This is an integrated-class part with system shared memory, which means bandwidth is system dependent. In Thief, the GPU becomes the bottleneck at every resolution. The CPU is never the limiting factor; even at 1080p Low, where the CPU has the least work to do, the GPU still determines the 78 FPS result. Lowering the resolution from 4K to 1080p improves FPS by 47 at Low settings (31 to 78), which indicates that the GPU has more headroom as pixel count drops, but the ceiling remains low.

The scaling between presets at a fixed resolution also points to GPU dominance. At 1080p, dropping from Ultra to Low improves performance by 35 FPS, which is a 81% increase. At 1440p, the same preset drop improves performance by 24 FPS, a 83% increase. At 4K, the improvement is 14 FPS, a 82% increase. The consistent percentage improvement across resolutions indicates that the GPU's shading and texture throughput are the primary constraints, not memory bandwidth or CPU geometry processing. The CPU's role is to keep up with the GPU, and it does so easily given its single-core performance, but that does not translate into higher frame rates.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Thief at 4K?

A: No. The best 4K result is 31 FPS average on Low settings, and the Ultra preset drops to 17 FPS. None of the 4K presets come close to the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the highest preset that reaches 60 FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 78 FPS average. Medium settings fall just short at 59 FPS average, so Low is the only preset that clears the threshold.

Q: How does the CPU compare to the GPU in this pairing?

A: The CPU ranks at the 94th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 5th percentile among all graphics cards. The CPU is vastly more capable, but the game's frame rate is limited by the GPU.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS at 1080p Medium?

A: The 1080p Medium preset records a 50 FPS minimum and a 68 FPS maximum, with an average of 59 FPS.

Q: Is the GPU performance close to any other known graphics cards?

A: The database shows the Arc B370's nearest rivals are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, which is 0.2% slower, and the ATI Radeon HD 5770, which is 0.5% slower. The AMD Radeon HD 7650M is 0.7% slower, and the AMD FirePro M2000 is 1.4% faster.

Q: Does lowering the resolution help enough to reach playable frame rates?

A: Only at 1080p with Low settings. At 1440p, the best result is 53 FPS on Low, which is still below the 60 FPS threshold. The 1080p Low preset is the only configuration that clears it.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU and GPU have separate nearest rivals in the database, and these can inform what other hardware would behave similarly. For the Intel Core i7-14700K, the nearest rival is the AMD EPYC 9115, which scores 0.1% higher in average benchmark score. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is 0.2% lower, the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX is 0.7% lower, and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is 0.9% lower. These are all high-end processors, and any of them paired with the Arc B370 would produce nearly identical frame rates in Thief, because the game is GPU-bound. The CPU differences of less than 1% are irrelevant when the graphics card is the bottleneck.

For the Intel Arc B370, the nearest rivals are much older parts. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 is 0.2% slower, the ATI Radeon HD 5770 is 0.5% slower, and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M is 0.7% slower. The AMD FirePro M2000 is 1.4% faster. These delta values are all within a couple of percentage points, meaning that swapping the Arc B370 for any of these would yield nearly the same FPS in Thief. The practical implication is that users with any of these older graphics cards would see similar performance. The CPU side has plenty of headroom, so the GPU choice is what matters.

The database also shows the Arc B370's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184, and the nearest rival scores are 1186, 1190, 1192, and 1168. The performance deltas are small enough that the user experience in Thief would be indistinguishable across these alternatives. None of them would change the verdict: the combo remains below 60 FPS at 1440p and above, and only reaches playable frame rates at 1080p Low.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches the 60 FPS threshold. The highest average is 31 FPS on Low, and the lowest is 17 FPS on Ultra. The database does not list any playable settings for 4K, so there is no recommended preset. Users at this resolution would need to accept frame rates far below the target.

At 2560x1440, the situation is similar. No preset clears 60 FPS. The best result is 53 FPS average on Low, which is 7 FPS short of the threshold. Medium delivers 41 FPS, High delivers 31 FPS, and Ultra delivers 29 FPS. The database records no playable settings for 1440p.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset is the only playable option, delivering 78 FPS average. Medium settings produce 59 FPS average, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold, and High and Ultra produce 45 and 43 FPS respectively. The best settings per resolution are therefore: 1080p Low at 78 FPS, with no playable settings at 1440p or 4K.

The Verdict

The data shows that this PC can run Thief, but only under narrow conditions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 78 FPS average, clearing the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 59 FPS, which is just short of the target. At 1440p and 4K, no settings preset reaches 60 FPS. The verdict by resolution is clear: 1920x1080 is playable only on Low, while 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 have no playable settings recorded.

The CPU is not the limiting factor. The Intel Core i7-14700K ranks at the 94th percentile, and its nearest rivals are within 1% of its average score. The GPU, however, ranks at the 5th percentile, and its nearest rivals are all over a decade old. The Arc B370's 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput and 1280 shading units are simply insufficient for Thief at higher resolutions or presets. The 1080p Low result of 78 FPS is the best case, and even that requires the lowest quality settings. Users seeking higher quality at 1080p or any playable experience at higher resolutions would need a significantly stronger graphics card.