Thief

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the Intel Arc B580 produces a wide spread of frame rates in Thief, ranging from a highly playable 146 FPS at 1080p Low to a demanding 35.9 FPS at 4K Ultra. The data shows that the combination sits at rank 1270 out of 1642 tested combos for this game, indicating a mid-to-lower tier placement among all hardware pairings. While the CPU and GPU each perform competitively in their respective synthetic benchmark pools, the measured game performance reveals a system that is heavily influenced by resolution and graphics settings, with the GPU becoming the dominant constraint at higher resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60 FPS in Thief?*

A: The data shows that the Intel Arc B580 can stay above 60 FPS at 2560x1440 on High settings, averaging 59.9 FPS. For a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS, dropping to 1920x1080 on High yields 88 FPS, while Low settings at 1440p achieve 103.8 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-11400F compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181. This is virtually identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, which scores 17189, and the Intel Core i5-1240U, which scores 17141. It is slightly behind the Intel Core i7-1260P, which scores 17212.

Q: What is the GPU's position relative to other graphics cards in the database?

A: The Intel Arc B580 holds a 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23021. Its closest rival is the AMD Radeon 760M, which scores 22999, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 scores 23181, placing it about 0.7% ahead.

Q: Which graphics setting provides the highest average frame rate at 1080p?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 provides the highest measured average frame rate for this combo, reaching 146 FPS. This is followed by the Medium preset at 110.4 FPS and the High preset at 88 FPS.

Q: How much does the frame rate drop when moving from 1440p to 4K on the High preset?

A: At 2560x1440 on High, the average frame rate is 59.9 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160 on High reduces the average to 37.8 FPS, which is a significant drop of 22.1 FPS and places the experience below the 60 FPS threshold.

*Q: Does the CPU's multi-threaded performance bottleneck the GPU in Thief?*

A: Benchmark results indicate the CPU is capable, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14372 and a Passmark multithread score of 16908. The frame rate scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at higher settings, as the CPU maintains high scores even as FPS varies widely.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture and features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base and boost clocks are both set at 2670 MHz, with memory clocked at 2375 MHz. These specifications place the GPU in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23021. In Thief, the GPU's role is clearly defined by the settings presets; at 1920x1080, the average frame rate scales from 146 FPS on Low down to 84.2 FPS on Ultra, showing that the GPU's compute and memory resources are being taxed progressively as visual fidelity increases.

The 12 GB VRAM allocation is a substantial asset for a game from 2014, as it ensures that even at 4K resolution, memory capacity is unlikely to be a bottleneck. The data supports this, as the frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are driven by the rendering load rather than memory paging. The GPU's pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s are the physical attributes that handle the increasing resolution and texture detail. The Arc B580 is positioned closely to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 in the database, with the RTX 4060 scoring 23181 versus the B580's 23021, a delta of -0.7% for the Intel card. This proximity suggests that in absolute compute terms, the B580 is a competitive part, but the measured FPS in Thief shows that it struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra, where it only reaches 35.9 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound behavior. Starting at 1920x1080 on the High preset, the combo produces 88 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 drops this to 59.9 FPS, a reduction of 28.1 FPS or roughly 32%. Continuing to 3840x2160, the frame rate falls to 37.8 FPS, another 22.1 FPS drop from 1440p. This linear degradation indicates that the Arc B580 is the primary limiter, as the workload on the GPU increases proportionally with pixel count.

The pattern holds across all settings. On Low, the frame rate goes from 146 FPS at 1080p, to 103.8 FPS at 1440p, and finally 61.9 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low score is particularly telling, as it shows that even with reduced graphical demands, the GPU cannot push past the 62 FPS mark at that resolution. This suggests that the raw pixel throughput of the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, regardless of the quality settings. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, does not appear to be the bottleneck, as the frame rate scales consistently with resolution changes rather than plateauing due to processor limitations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Intel Core i5-11400F and Intel Arc B580 combination shows strong performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 146 FPS, making it the highest score in the entire dataset. The Medium preset follows at 110.4 FPS, while the High preset delivers 88 FPS. The Ultra preset brings up the rear at 84.2 FPS, which is still a very playable frame rate for a stealth game.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates become more moderate. The Low preset averages 103.8 FPS, maintaining a high level of fluidity. The Medium preset drops to 76.4 FPS, and the High preset hits 59.9 FPS, which is just at the edge of the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset at this resolution averages 56.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU is starting to struggle with the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. The Low preset averages 61.9 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that approaches playability. The Medium preset averages 47.3 FPS, and the High preset averages 37.8 FPS. The Ultra preset reaches a low of 35.9 FPS, which is the lowest score in the entire measured dataset. These numbers show a clear degradation, with the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K being 26 FPS, compared to a 61.8 FPS gap at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting a smooth 60 FPS experience, the data suggests that 2560x1440 on High settings is the optimal balance, as it averages 59.9 FPS. However, this is a marginal score, and any fluctuation could push it below the threshold. A safer choice for consistent 60 FPS gameplay is 2560x1440 on Medium, which averages 76.4 FPS, providing a comfortable buffer above the target.

At 1920x1080, the High preset is the recommended choice, as it delivers 88 FPS and allows for high visual quality without sacrificing performance. The Ultra preset at 1080p also remains viable at 84.2 FPS, making it a strong option for players who prioritize visual fidelity. The Low preset at any resolution is not recommended for the best experience, as it significantly reduces visual quality for frame rate gains that are not necessary at 1080p or 1440p.

For 4K gaming, the Low preset is the only setting that produces an average frame rate above 60 FPS, at 61.9 FPS. However, this comes with a substantial reduction in visual quality. The Medium preset at 47.3 FPS may be acceptable for players who prefer graphics over frame rate, but the High and Ultra presets, at 37.8 and 35.9 FPS respectively, provide a suboptimal experience that is likely too choppy for a stealth game requiring precise timing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has a 12 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 14372 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2029 in single-core, with a Passmark multithread score of 16908. Its average benchmark score of 17181 places it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs.

The CPU's role in Thief is to feed the GPU with data, and the benchmark results indicate that it does so effectively. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent with GPU limitations, as the CPU's performance does not degrade with resolution. The 3DMark scores, including 5652 for max threads and 868 for single thread, show a balanced processor that can handle both single-threaded game logic and multi-threaded background tasks. The nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U and Intel Core i7-1260P, have nearly identical average scores, with deltas of 0% and -0.2% respectively. This suggests that the i5-11400F is a competent partner for the Arc B580, and the measured FPS in Thief reflects a system that is not hampered by CPU bottlenecks, even at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed.