Thief

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2534 out of 2851 tested combos in Thief, placing it in the bottom 11% of all system configurations. This is a lowly position for a CPU that otherwise sits near the top of processor charts, and it makes clear that the graphics solution is the overwhelming bottleneck in this pairing. The Arc B390's percentile ranking of 9 versus all GPUs puts it in the bottom decile of graphics hardware, which drags the entire combo down despite the CPU's 89th percentile standing among all processors.

Benchmark results indicate a severe mismatch: the CPU is a high-end desktop part with a 125 W TDP, while the GPU is an integrated-class solution with an 80 W TDP and system-shared memory. The combo's rank reflects this imbalance, and in a game like Thief, which is a 2014 stealth title, the data shows the GPU simply cannot keep pace with what the CPU can feed it. The nearest rival combos in this ranking are not listed, but the gap between the CPU's performance class and the GPU's performance class is the defining characteristic of this build.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 16 cores and 24 threads running at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. This Raptor Lake-S architecture chip, built on Intel's 10 nm process, has 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 30745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 16292 in Cinebench R20 multi-core, and 19429 in Geekbench multi-core, with a single-core Geekbench score of 2529.

The CPU's 3DMark results show a scaling pattern that matters for Thief: 2262 with 2 threads, 4469 with 4 threads, 8193 with 8 threads, 10717 with 16 threads, and 12412 with maximum threads. This indicates that the CPU gains meaningful performance up to 16 threads, but the marginal return diminishes beyond that point. Since Thief is a game from 2014, it is unlikely to leverage all 24 threads effectively, but the CPU's strong single-core performance — evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1136 and a Cinebench R15 single-core score of 303 — ensures that the processor is not the limiting factor in this combo.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 46881 places it nearly identical to its nearest rivals: the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 scores 46971 (0.2% higher), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 scores 47022 (0.3% higher), while the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX scores 46654 (0.5% lower) and the Intel Xeon w3-2535 scores 46653 (0.5% lower). These differences are within noise, meaning the i7-13700K is essentially on par with those alternatives in general compute. For Thief specifically, the CPU has more than enough headroom; the passport-level PassMark multi-thread score of 45887 and single-thread score of 4333 reinforce that this processor is a non-issue in this game.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the decisive component in this combo, and its specifications explain the low frame rates. This is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process, with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. It has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, 24 raster output units, and 12 ray tracing cores, with pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput is 7.680 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 15.36 TFLOPS.

Memory is entirely system-shared, with no dedicated VRAM, no dedicated bus width, and bandwidth that is system dependent. This is a critical limitation for gaming: the GPU must compete with the CPU for memory bandwidth, and in Thief, which loads assets into memory continuously, the shared memory arrangement reduces performance. The GPU's only benchmark score in the data is 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which places it at the 9th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all ancient or low-end NVIDIA parts: the GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463 (1.3% lower), the GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% lower), the GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% lower), and the GeForce GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% lower). The Arc B390 is only marginally faster than these decade-old entry-level GPUs, which contextualizes its performance in Thief.

The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is not the problem. The problem is raw throughput: with only 24 ROPs and a shared memory pool, the GPU cannot sustain high fill rates or large texture reads. In Thief, which was released in 2014 and is not a graphically demanding title by modern standards, the Arc B390 still struggles, confirming that its low percentile ranking is not an artifact of the benchmark suite but a genuine reflection of its limited gaming capability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the resolution most likely to yield playable results, the data shows the Arc B390 produces an average of 86 FPS at Low settings, 66 FPS at Medium settings (with a minimum of 56 and maximum of 75), 50 FPS at High settings, and 48 FPS at Ultra settings. The jump from Low to Medium costs 20 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs 16 FPS, and High to Ultra costs only 2 FPS. This suggests that the GPU hits a performance ceiling at High settings, with Ultra offering little additional visual cost but also little headroom.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop to 59 FPS at Low, 45 FPS at Medium (minimum 38, maximum 52), 34 FPS at High, and 33 FPS at Ultra. The pattern is consistent: Low settings are the only tier that maintains a playable frame rate, while Medium dips below 60, and High and Ultra fall into the low 30s. At 3840x2160, the results are largely unplayable: 35 FPS at Low, 26 FPS at Medium (minimum 22, maximum 30), 20 FPS at High, and 19 FPS at Ultra. The 4K numbers are so low that even the minimum at Medium (22 FPS) is below any reasonable playability threshold.

Looking at the Medium settings tier across all three resolutions, the data shows a clear step-down: 66 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K. The minimum and maximum FPS at Medium settings also scale proportionally, with 1080p ranging from 56 to 75, 1440p from 38 to 52, and 4K from 22 to 30. This indicates that the GPU's frame delivery is consistent, but the overall level is too low for smooth gameplay at higher resolutions. For 1080p Low, the 86 FPS average is the only configuration in the entire dataset that clears 60 FPS with significant margin, and even that drops to 59 FPS at 1440p Low.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the limiting component. At Low settings, the average goes from 86 FPS at 1080p to 59 FPS at 1440p (a 31% reduction) and then to 35 FPS at 4K (a 41% reduction from 1440p). At Medium settings, the drop is from 66 FPS at 1080p to 45 FPS at 1440p (32% reduction) and then to 26 FPS at 4K (42% reduction). At High settings, the sequence is 50 FPS to 34 FPS (32% reduction) to 20 FPS (41% reduction). At Ultra, it is 48 to 33 (31% reduction) to 19 (42% reduction).

The consistency of these percentage drops — roughly 31-32% from 1080p to 1440p and 41-42% from 1440p to 4K — is a classic sign of a GPU that is pixel-bound. The Arc B390's fill rate and memory bandwidth limitations manifest as a near-linear scaling with pixel count, meaning the CPU is not constraining the system. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would stay flat as resolution increases; instead, the frame rate drops in proportion to the pixel load.

This scaling pattern also indicates that the Arc B390's system-shared memory is a severe handicap at higher resolutions. At 4K, the GPU must move four times the data of 1080p, but it has no dedicated VRAM to stage that data, relying on system memory bandwidth that is shared with the CPU. The result is that even at Low settings, 4K only achieves 35 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. For Thief, the data suggests that 1080p Low is the only viable configuration for smooth gameplay, while 1440p Low is borderline (59 FPS), and anything above that is a slide show.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings/resolution combination for this combo in Thief?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 at Low settings yields an average of 86 FPS, which is the only configuration that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. The next best is 1920x1080 at Medium with 66 FPS, while 2560x1440 at Low drops to 59 FPS and is borderline.

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

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% higher than the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% higher than the GeForce GT 710 (1443). These are all extremely low-end parts, and the Arc B390 barely outperforms them.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K the bottleneck in this combo?

A: No. The CPU's average benchmark score of 46881 places it in the 89th percentile of all processors, and its nearest rivals (AMD Ryzen 9 5900 at 46971, AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 at 47022) are within 0.3% of its score. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K follow pixel-count scaling, which indicates the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: Can this combo run Thief at 4K at all?

A: Technically yes, but not at playable frame rates. At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 35 at Low, 26 at Medium, 20 at High, and 19 at Ultra. Even the best 4K result (35 FPS at Low) is below 60 FPS, and the Medium minimum of 22 FPS indicates frequent stutters.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance scale for a game like Thief?

A: The CPU's 3DMark scores show scaling from 2262 at 2 threads to 8193 at 8 threads, then to 10717 at 16 threads and 12412 at max threads. This means the CPU has ample headroom even beyond what a 2014 game would use, so its 16 cores and 24 threads are not a factor in limiting Thief's performance.

Q: What does the combo's rank of 2534 out of 2851 mean for real-world playability?

A: The rank places this combo in the bottom 11% of all tested configurations for Thief, which aligns with the measured FPS data showing that only 1080p Low achieves a consistently smooth experience. The GPU's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs is the primary driver of this low position.