Thief

Thief, the 2014 stealth title, remains a demanding showcase for modern hardware, particularly when paired with a high-core-count CPU and a mid-range graphics card. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core i7-14700F combined with the Intel Arc B570, using only the benchmark data provided. The results reveal a system that scales predictably with resolution, but whose overall ranking and component balance tell a nuanced story about where its strengths and bottlenecks lie.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, indicating that the Intel Arc B570 is the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 133 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 at Low settings, the average falls to 91 FPS, a reduction of 42 FPS. At 3840x2160 with Low settings, the average drops further to 54 FPS, which is 79 FPS below the 1080p result. This steep decline—roughly a 59% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings—points to the GPU’s rendering throughput being saturated as pixel count quadruples.

The pattern holds across all settings. With High settings, the average FPS goes from 77 at 1080p to 53 at 1440p, then down to 31 at 4K. That is a 46 FPS drop between 1080p and 4K, or about 60% lower performance. For Medium settings, the figures are 101 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p, and 41 FPS at 4K—again, a near-60% reduction from the lowest to highest resolution. Ultra settings follow the same trajectory: 73 FPS at 1080p, 50 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K.

These numbers suggest that the CPU, the Intel Core i7-14700F, is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system produces 133 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would require substantial CPU headroom. The fact that performance still scales down significantly at 1440p and 4K implies the GPU is doing the heavy lifting. The Arc B570’s 10 GB of GDDR6 memory and 160-bit bus width, with a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s, are adequate for the game’s demands, but the raw compute power—11.52 TFLOPS FP32—appears to be the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (133 FPS) and Ultra (73 FPS) is 60 FPS. At 1440p, that gap shrinks to 41 FPS (91 vs. 50). At 4K, the gap is just 25 FPS (54 vs. 29). This compression indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that even reducing graphical settings cannot fully compensate for the pixel throughput required. The game becomes resolution-bound rather than setting-bound, a classic sign of GPU saturation.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this combination of Intel Core i7-14700F and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2296 out of 2851 tested combos for Thief. That places it in the lower half of all systems tested, specifically around the 80th percentile from the bottom (2296 divided by 2851 is approximately 0.805). This is a modest ranking for a setup with a 20-core, 28-thread CPU and a 10 GB GPU.

The ranking suggests that while the CPU is powerful, the GPU holds the combo back in this title. The Arc B570’s percentile vs. all GPUs is 65, meaning it performs better than 65% of GPUs in general benchmarks. However, in this specific game, the combo’s rank is lower than what the GPU’s percentile might imply, indicating that Thief’s engine may not be optimally utilizing the Arc B570’s architecture, or that the game’s rendering demands are particularly heavy on the GPU’s strengths.

To contextualize, the CPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6505P (deltaPct -0.2), Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (0.3), AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (0.6), and AMD EPYC 7313P (0.8). These are all high-end processors with average benchmark scores within 1% of the i7-14700F’s 53620 average. This confirms the CPU is a top-tier part, but its performance in Thief is only as good as the GPU allows. The GPU’s nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1 deltaPct), Intel Arc A750 (-0.1), NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (0.4), and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (-0.5). The Arc B570’s average benchmark score of 20556 is nearly identical to these, meaning it sits in a competitive mid-range segment. Yet, in Thief, the combo rank of 2296 suggests that this GPU, when paired with this CPU, does not punch above its weight class.

The data implies that users seeking higher rankings in Thief would need a stronger GPU, as the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor. The combo’s rank is a direct consequence of the GPU’s 65th percentile standing, which is respectable but not exceptional for a game that appears to scale heavily with raw pixel throughput.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture, specifically the Battlemage generation, with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. It features 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs. Its base and boost clocks are both 2500 MHz, which is a single, fixed clock speed. The memory operates at 2375 MHz, with 19 Gbps effective speed, across a 160-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. The 10 GB GDDR6 frame buffer is sufficient for Thief’s 2014-era textures, even at 4K, but the compute throughput of 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 is the key metric.

In this game, the GPU’s performance is best illustrated by the 4K results. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 29, which is below the 30 FPS threshold often considered playable. At 4K High, it is 31 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it reaches 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 and maximum of 47. Only at 4K Low does it hit 54 FPS, which is playable but not smooth for a stealth game where quick reactions matter. The GPU’s pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s are being fully exercised at 4K, as evidenced by the steep scaling curve.

The Arc B570’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility are relevant, as Thief can leverage modern APIs. However, the game’s release in 2014 means it was designed for earlier DirectX versions, and the PassMark DirectX 11 score of 118 and DirectX 12 score of 72 for this GPU suggest that its performance in legacy APIs may be inconsistent. The DirectX 9 score of 164 is notably higher, which could explain why Low settings, which might use simpler rendering paths, perform better relative to higher settings.

With 18 ray tracing cores, the Arc B570 is future-proofed, but Thief does not use ray tracing, so this hardware goes unused. The GPU’s 150 W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for this class, and its 10 GB memory capacity is a plus for modern titles, but for Thief, the limiting factor is raw fill rate and compute, not capacity. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (133 FPS) shows the GPU can push high frame rates at lower resolutions, but it cannot sustain that at 4K, confirming that it is a mid-range part that excels at 1080p and 1440p but struggles at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 73, with a minimum of 86 and maximum of 116 for Medium settings, but for Ultra specifically, the average is 73 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems in Thief?

A: This combination of Intel Core i7-14700F and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2296 out of 2851 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of all systems.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory bandwidth?

A: The Intel Arc B570 has a memory bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s, using 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops to 31 on High settings and 29 on Ultra, while the CPU is a 20-core part with high benchmark scores. The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, as performance scales down heavily with resolution.

Q: What are the CPU’s core and thread counts?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F has 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz.

Q: Does the GPU support modern APIs?

A: Yes, the Intel Arc B570 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, though Thief is an older title that may not fully utilize these.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo in Thief is as follows, organized by resolution and settings:

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 133 FPS on Low, 101 FPS on Medium, 77 FPS on High, and 73 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting provides a minimum of 86 FPS and a maximum of 116 FPS, showing a stable range. No min or max values are provided for the other settings, but the averages indicate a clear hierarchy: Low is the fastest, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the slowest.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 91 FPS on Low, 69 FPS on Medium, 53 FPS on High, and 50 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting shows a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS, which is a tighter range than at 1080p, suggesting less variance at higher resolution due to GPU limits.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 54 FPS on Low, 41 FPS on Medium, 31 FPS on High, and 29 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting has a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS. These figures are all below 60 FPS, and only the Low setting exceeds 50 FPS, confirming that 4K is not a smooth experience for this combo.

The pattern across all resolutions is consistent: each step up in settings costs roughly 20-30% performance, and each step up in resolution costs roughly 40-50% performance. For example, going from 1080p Low (133 FPS) to 1440p Low (91 FPS) is a 42 FPS drop, while going from 1440p Low to 4K Low (54 FPS) is a 37 FPS drop. This nonlinear scaling highlights the GPU’s pixel throughput limits. The data also shows that the difference between High and Ultra is minimal at each resolution (e.g., 77 vs. 73 at 1080p, 53 vs. 50 at 1440p, 31 vs. 29 at 4K), indicating that Ultra settings offer marginal visual gains for significant performance cost.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a desktop processor from the Core 14th Gen series, based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, and it has a TDP of 65 W. The CPU’s benchmark scores are strong: Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 35122, single-core is 4958, and Geekbench multi-core is 19620 with single-core at 2429. Its percentile vs. all CPUs is 91, meaning it outperforms 91% of CPUs in general benchmarks.

In Thief, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (133 FPS) indicates that the CPU is capable of high frame rates, as this resolution is typically CPU-bound in many games. The fact that the combo achieves 133 FPS at 1080p Low suggests the i7-14700F has ample headroom. However, as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU’s performance becomes less relevant. At 4K, the average FPS of 31 on High is far below what the CPU could theoretically support, reinforcing that the GPU is the constraint.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, which has a similar average benchmark score (53288 vs. 53620, a 0.6% delta). This indicates the i7-14700F is a high-end part, but in this specific game, its performance is not fully utilized because the GPU limits the output. The 20 cores and 28 threads are likely overkill for Thief, which is a 2014 title that may not be optimized for many threads. Single-core performance, as shown by Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4958, is more relevant for older games, and that score is solid, contributing to the high frame rates at 1080p.

The CPU’s 33 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel memory support help with data throughput, but again, the GPU’s 380.0 GB/s bandwidth is the data path that matters most at higher resolutions. In summary, the i7-14700F is a powerful CPU that is not the bottleneck in this combo for Thief; the Arc B570’s limits at 4K and its mid-range ranking hold the system back. The data shows a classic imbalance: a high-end CPU paired with a mid-range GPU, resulting in a system that excels at 1080p and 1440p but falls short at 4K, and ranks in the bottom half of all tested combos due to the GPU’s performance ceiling.