Thief

The Intel Arc B390 paired with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D produces a constrained experience in Thief, where the integrated graphics solution is the decisive bottleneck at every resolution. The data indicates that the playable range is narrow, and users must prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity. The most effective configuration is the Low preset at 1920x1080, which delivers an average of 86 FPS, representing the only tested setting that approaches a high-refresh experience. While the Medium preset at the same resolution offers 66 FPS, the 20 FPS drop from Low is substantial. At higher resolutions, the system struggles to maintain acceptable performance, with 1440p and 4K configurations falling below 60 FPS even on Low settings.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results for Thief show a clear hierarchy where performance degrades significantly as settings increase, and the Arc B390 lacks the headroom to compensate. The optimal choice is the Low preset at 1920x1080, which produces an average of 86 FPS. This is the only configuration that clears the 60 FPS threshold by a comfortable margin, making it the baseline for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at the same resolution yields 66 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 23% reduction in average frame rate. The High preset drops further to 50 FPS, and the Ultra preset bottoms out at 48 FPS. Given the escalating cost to visual quality, the jump from Low to Medium provides the best compromise for users who want slightly better graphics without sacrificing responsiveness, but Low is the definitive recommendation for consistent frame pacing.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more restrictive. The Low preset delivers 59 FPS, which is technically playable but just shy of the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset falls to 45 FPS, and both High and Ultra dip below 34 FPS. At 3840x2160, no setting achieves a playable frame rate; Low produces 35 FPS, Medium 26 FPS, and High/Ultra sit at 20 and 19 FPS respectively. The data shows a consistent pattern: each step up in settings costs roughly 10-15 FPS at 1080p, and this penalty becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. For the best experience, users should accept the visual compromises of the Low preset at 1080p, as it is the only configuration that provides a comfortable margin above the minimum playability threshold.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process node. Its performance profile in Thief is severely limited, as evidenced by its 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of just 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GT 625 OEM, and GT 710, with delta percentages of 1.3%, 1.5%, 2.5%, and 2.7% respectively. This places the Arc B390 in the company of decade-old entry-level discrete parts, which explains its struggle to maintain high frame rates in a 2014 title.

The GPU operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, but its memory configuration is system-shared, meaning it relies on the host system's DDR5 RAM rather than dedicated VRAM. The memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which introduces variability based on the platform. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput is 7.680 TFLOPS, which is modest for modern standards but should theoretically handle a game from 2014 better than the results indicate. The fact that the GPU's 3DMark score is only 1.3% above the GT 520MX suggests that driver optimization or architectural limitations are hampering real-world performance in Thief. The 80 W TDP and integrated form factor (IGP) mean there is no dedicated cooling or power delivery, further constraining sustained performance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a steep performance cliff that intensifies with pixel count. At 1920x1080 on the Low preset, the system achieves 86 FPS, which drops to 59 FPS at 2560x1440 — a 31% reduction. Moving to 3840x2160 on Low yields 35 FPS, which is a further 41% drop from 1440p. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component, as the resolution increase from 1080p to 4K quadruples the pixel count, and the Arc B390's fixed shading resources cannot keep pace. The data shows a near-linear degradation: 1080p to 1440p costs 27 FPS, and 1440p to 4K costs another 24 FPS on Low settings.

The same trend holds across all presets, but the absolute frame rates shrink. On Medium, the system delivers 66 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K. High settings start at 50 FPS at 1080p, fall to 34 FPS at 1440p, and bottom out at 20 FPS at 4K. Ultra is marginally worse than High, with 48 FPS at 1080p, 33 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K. The consistent difference between High and Ultra is only 1-2 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset adds negligible GPU load for this title. The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are dramatic: Low loses 59% of its performance, Medium loses 61%, High loses 60%, and Ultra loses 60%. This uniform degradation confirms that the limiting component is the GPU's rasterization throughput rather than any CPU-side constraint, as the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's capabilities are not being taxed by this workload.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and preset for the highest frame rate in Thief?

A: The best configuration is the Low preset at 1920x1080, which achieves an average of 86 FPS. This is the only tested setting that exceeds 60 FPS by a substantial margin, with Medium at 1080p being the next best at 66 FPS.

Q: Can this combo run Thief at 4K?

A: No setting at 3840x2160 reaches a playable frame rate. The Low preset delivers 35 FPS, Medium provides 26 FPS, and High/Ultra fall to 20 and 19 FPS respectively. All 4K configurations are below the 60 FPS target and even struggle to maintain 30 FPS on higher presets.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 places it just 1.3% above the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% above the GeForce 800M, 2.5% above the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% above the GT 710. This indicates it performs in the same league as these older entry-level GPUs.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9800X3D the bottleneck in this system?

A: No, the data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU has a high benchmark score of 39768 average across all tests, and its 8 cores and 16 threads provide ample processing power. The consistent frame rate drops across resolutions and settings point to the integrated GPU as the primary constraint.

Q: What is the difference between Medium and High settings at 1080p?

A: Medium at 1920x1080 produces an average of 66 FPS with minimum and maximum readings of 56 and 75 FPS. High at the same resolution delivers 50 FPS, representing a 24% reduction. The gap between High and Ultra is much smaller, with Ultra yielding 48 FPS.

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

A: The combo ranks 2534 out of 2851 total tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of systems. This low ranking is consistent with the GPU's 9th percentile standing among all GPUs, while the CPU ranks in the 87th percentile among all CPUs.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2534 out of 2851 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the bottom 11% of all configurations. This ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's performance ceiling, as the Arc B390 sits in the 9th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 1482. The CPU, by contrast, is a high-end part that ranks in the 87th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 39768. The stark difference between these two components creates a system where the CPU's potential is largely untapped, as the GPU cannot translate its processing power into frame rate gains.

The combo's rank of 2534 out of 2851 means that roughly 89% of tested systems outperform it in Thief. This is not surprising given that the GPU's nearest rivals are all low-end discrete parts from past generations. The data shows that the Arc B390's 3DMark score of 1482 is only 1.3% higher than the GT 520MX, which was a budget laptop GPU from over a decade ago. Despite the CPU's strong multi-threaded performance — with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23230 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 18696 — the system cannot overcome the GPU's fundamental limitations in this game. The ranking reflects a severe imbalance where the CPU sits at the high end while the GPU anchors the system to entry-level performance.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a desktop processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.20 GHz. The CPU includes 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is a defining characteristic of the X3D line, along with 80 KB of L1 cache per core and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. This cache configuration is designed to reduce memory latency in gaming workloads, and the CPU's benchmark scores reflect its strength: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23230 and a single-core score of 2080, plus a Geekbench multi-core score of 18696 and single-core score of 2964.

In Thief, the CPU's role is diminished because the GPU cannot keep up with its output. The measured frame rates show no signs of CPU bottlenecking — the system does not exhibit the characteristic pattern where higher resolutions yield similar frame rates due to CPU limits. Instead, frame rates drop consistently as resolution increases, which is the hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU's 16 threads and high boost clock are more than sufficient for a game from 2014, and its 3DMark 16-thread score of 10081 and max-thread score of 10067 demonstrate strong multi-core capability. The single-thread score of 1212 in 3DMark and 328 in Cinebench R15 single-core further confirm that even single-threaded performance is not a constraint. The data suggests that users could pair this CPU with a much more powerful GPU to unlock significantly higher frame rates, but with the Arc B390, the CPU's potential remains largely unrealized in Thief.