Thief

# Thief Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D + Intel Arc B390

This combination of AMD's 8-core Ryzen 7 5800X3D and Intel's Arc B390 integrated graphics delivers playable frame rates in Thief only at 1080p with reduced settings, while higher resolutions and Ultra presets fall below acceptable thresholds. The measured data shows this pairing ranks 2534th out of 2851 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 11% of all configurations for this title. The Arc B390, with its 9th percentile standing among all GPUs, is the clear performance bottleneck, as the Ryzen 7 5800X3D's 80th percentile CPU ranking indicates substantial headroom remains untapped.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates reveal a clear hierarchy across presets and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 86 FPS average, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that exceeds 60 FPS. This makes Low at 1080p the sole setting where the game feels consistently smooth for standard refresh-rate displays. The Medium preset at 1080p drops to 66 FPS average with a minimum of 56 FPS and maximum of 75 FPS, providing a playable experience but with occasional dips below 60. For gamers prioritizing frame rate stability, Low at 1080p is the recommended preset, as the 20 FPS gap between Low and Medium represents the largest single-preset jump in the dataset.

At 2560x1440, no preset achieves 60 FPS. Low delivers 59 FPS average, which is tantalizingly close but still falls short. Medium at 1440p yields 45 FPS average with a range of 38-52 FPS, while High and Ultra produce 34 and 33 FPS respectively. The data suggests that 1440p gaming is only viable at Low settings, and even then, the average is barely below the 60 FPS threshold. At 3840x2160, all presets fall below 35 FPS, with Low at 35 FPS, Medium at 26 FPS (range 22-30), High at 20 FPS, and Ultra at 19 FPS. These figures indicate that 4K resolution is not practical for this game with this hardware combination, regardless of settings.

The optimal experience balances visual quality and performance. Medium at 1080p offers 66 FPS average, which is 10 FPS higher than High at 1080p (50 FPS) and 18 FPS higher than Ultra at 1080p (48 FPS). Given that Medium at 1080p maintains a minimum of 56 FPS, it provides a more consistent experience than High or Ultra, which lack reported minimums but average significantly lower. For users with 60Hz displays, Medium at 1080p is the recommended preset, as it stays within 4 FPS of 60 at minimum. Those with 120Hz or higher refresh displays should use Low at 1080p to maximize frame rate headroom.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame places this configuration at 2534 out of 2851 tested combinations, putting it in the bottom 11.1% of all systems tested in Thief. This ranking reflects the Arc B390's severe performance limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D sits at the 80th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27896. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (avgScore 27887, deltaPct 0), Intel Core i9-10900K (avgScore 27872, deltaPct 0.1), AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (avgScore 27932, deltaPct -0.1), and Intel Core i5-12600KF (avgScore 27799, deltaPct 0.3). These rivals are all within 0.3% of the 5800X3D's average score, indicating the CPU is well-matched against strong competition.

In contrast, the Intel Arc B390 ranks at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1482 from its single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. Its nearest rivals are NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (avgScore 1463, deltaPct 1.3), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (avgScore 1460, deltaPct 1.5), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (avgScore 1446, deltaPct 2.5), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (avgScore 1443, deltaPct 2.7). The B390 leads these rivals by 1.3-2.7%, but all of these GPUs occupy the lowest tier of graphics hardware. This explains why the combo ranking is so low despite the capable CPU.

The disparity between the CPU's 80th percentile and the GPU's 9th percentile creates a severely imbalanced system. In Thief, this imbalance manifests as the GPU becoming the limiting factor at every resolution and preset tested. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the system achieves its best performance of 86 FPS, the frame rate is still constrained by the GPU. The CPU's 16 threads and 96 MB of L3 cache are more than sufficient for this 2014 stealth title, but the Arc B390's integrated graphics architecture cannot translate that CPU headroom into higher frame rates.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture built on Intel's 3 nm process. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operations pipelines, along with 12 ray tracing cores. Its clock speeds range from a 300 MHz base to a 2500 MHz boost, producing a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The compute capability reaches 7.680 TFLOPS for FP32 and 15.36 TFLOPS for FP16 (2:1 ratio).

Memory configuration is entirely system-dependent, with the GPU using shared system memory rather than dedicated VRAM. The memory type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent," meaning performance scales with the host system's DDR4 memory configuration. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D supports dual-channel DDR4 with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, which serves as the effective memory bandwidth for the Arc B390. This shared memory arrangement can exacerbate performance issues in memory-intensive scenarios, though Thief's 2014 engine may not fully stress this configuration.

The GPU's API support includes DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, which covers Thief's requirements. The 80 W TDP and IGP form factor indicate this is designed for portable devices, matching the "Portable Device Dependent" display output specification. The GPU's single benchmark result of 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 places it at the 9th percentile, confirming its entry-level positioning. The nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts from the GT 500M, 800M, and GT 600 series, which further contextualizes the B390's performance class.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates show a clear performance ladder across presets. Low settings produce 86 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings deliver 66 FPS average with a minimum of 56 FPS and maximum of 75 FPS, representing a 23.3% decrease from Low. High settings reduce performance to 50 FPS average, a 24.2% drop from Medium. Ultra settings yield 48 FPS average, which is only 4% lower than High, suggesting diminishing returns between these two highest presets.

The 2560x1440 results follow a similar pattern but at lower absolute values. Low settings achieve 59 FPS average, just one frame short of the 60 FPS target. Medium settings produce 45 FPS average with a range of 38-52 FPS, a 23.7% reduction from Low. High settings deliver 34 FPS average, and Ultra settings provide 33 FPS average. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is just 1 FPS, indicating that the GPU is hitting a performance ceiling that additional settings changes cannot overcome.

At 3840x2160, all presets fall into unplayable territory. Low settings produce 35 FPS average, Medium delivers 26 FPS with a range of 22-30 FPS, High achieves 20 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 19 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 45.7% performance reduction, which is the largest relative drop across all resolutions. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU's limited pixel throughput becomes the dominant constraint, as the pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s is insufficient for the 8.3 million pixels of 4K resolution at playable frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reveals how the system scales with resolution. At Low settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces frame rate from 86 to 59 FPS, a 31.4% decrease. Moving from 1440p to 4K further reduces to 35 FPS, a 40.7% decrease. The cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K is 59.3%, meaning 4K Low runs at just 40.7% of the 1080p Low frame rate. At Medium settings, the progression is 66 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p (31.8% drop), and 26 FPS at 4K (42.2% drop), totaling a 60.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

High settings show a similar trend: 50 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p (32% drop), and 20 FPS at 4K (41.2% drop), for a total 60% reduction. Ultra settings follow with 48 FPS at 1080p, 33 FPS at 1440p (31.3% drop), and 19 FPS at 4K (42.4% drop), totaling 60.4% reduction. The consistency of these percentage drops across presets indicates that resolution scaling is uniform regardless of quality settings, which points to a GPU-limited scenario. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the percentage drops would be less severe at higher resolutions as the GPU becomes more saturated.

The resolution scaling data reveals that the Arc B390's performance degrades predictably with pixel count. The near-constant 31-32% drop from 1080p to 1440p and 41-42% drop from 1440p to 4K across all presets suggests the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors. The CPU's 96 MB L3 cache and high single-thread performance are not stressed by Thief's engine at these resolutions, as evidenced by the consistent scaling pattern. This confirms that upgrading the GPU would yield substantial performance improvements, while the Ryzen 7 5800X3D would continue to provide sufficient CPU performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings for playable frame rates in Thief with this hardware?

A: The only configuration that exceeds 60 FPS is 1920x1080 with Low settings, producing 86 FPS average. Medium at 1080p achieves 66 FPS average with a 56 FPS minimum, which is also playable. At 2560x1440, Low settings deliver 59 FPS average, just below the 60 FPS threshold, while all 4K presets fall below 35 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 2534th out of 2851 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 11% of all configurations. The ranking reflects the GPU's 9th percentile standing among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at the 80th percentile, indicating significant performance imbalance.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5800X3D or the Arc B390 the bottleneck in Thief?

A: The Arc B390 is clearly the bottleneck. The CPU's nearest rivals are within 0.3% of its average benchmark score, while the GPU's nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts from the GT 500M and GT 600 series. The resolution scaling shows consistent frame rate drops across all presets, confirming GPU-limited performance.

Q: What are the Arc B390's key specifications and how do they affect performance?

A: The Arc B390 features 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, 24 ROPs, and 12 ray tracing cores with clock speeds from 300 MHz base to 2500 MHz boost. It uses system shared memory with no dedicated VRAM, and its FP32 compute reaches 7.680 TFLOPS. The GPU's single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it at the 9th percentile.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At Low settings, frame rate drops from 86 to 35 FPS, a 59.3% reduction. Medium settings drop from 66 to 26 FPS (60.6% reduction), High from 50 to 20 FPS (60% reduction), and Ultra from 48 to 19 FPS (60.4% reduction). The consistent percentages across presets confirm GPU-limited scaling.

Q: What preset provides the best balance of visual quality and performance?

A: Medium at 1920x1080 offers the best balance, delivering 66 FPS average with a 56 FPS minimum and 75 FPS maximum. This provides 10 FPS more than High at 1080p and maintains a minimum above 55 FPS, while Low at 1080p sacrifices significant visual quality for the only 86 FPS result in the dataset.