Thief

The Intel Core i9-14900K and Intel Arc B570 combination in Thief presents a clear study in system balance, where a high-end 24-core processor meets a mid-range graphics card in a game from 2014. The measured data shows a pairing that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions, yet capable of producing very high frame rates at 1080p. This analysis explores how the CPU’s substantial core and clock resources interact with the Arc B570’s 10 GB of VRAM and 2500 MHz boost clock, and what the resulting FPS numbers imply for different settings and resolutions.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. This is a desktop-class CPU with a TDP of 125 W, and its benchmark percentile of 95 indicates it outperforms the vast majority of all tested CPUs. In synthetic tests, it scores 39,399.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,262.5 in single-core, while Geekbench results show 21,697 multi-core and 2,655 single-core. These numbers place it within 1.2% of the AMD EPYC 7413 and 1.7% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, but slightly behind the Intel Core i9-14900KF by 0.3%. For a game like Thief, which was released in 2014 and does not have the multi-threading demands of modern titles, the i9-14900K’s raw single-thread performance is what matters most.

The data suggests that the CPU is never the bottleneck in this pairing. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 133 FPS average, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is under maximum stress, the average FPS is 29, and the CPU’s role remains to feed the GPU with enough draw calls and game logic updates. The 6.00 GHz boost clock is particularly relevant here, as Thief’s engine likely relies on a few fast cores rather than the 32 threads available. The L3 cache is 36 MB shared, which helps with data locality, but the game’s age means it does not fully utilize the 80 KB L1 and 2 MB L2 per-core caches. The CPU’s 95th percentile ranking versus all CPUs confirms it is a top-tier part, but in this specific game, the measured FPS deltas between settings are far more indicative of GPU load than CPU capability.

One notable observation is the lack of min FPS data for most settings, except for Medium presets at each resolution. For 1080p Medium, the min FPS is 86, while at 1440p Medium it drops to 59, and at 4K Medium it falls to 35. These minimums suggest that the CPU maintains consistent frame delivery even when the GPU struggles, as the frame pacing issues are more likely tied to the graphics card’s rendering limits. The i9-14900K’s PassMark multi-thread score of 58,674 and single-thread score of 4,697 (listed twice in the data) reinforce its capability, but the game’s results show that no CPU-side adjustment can overcome the GPU’s resolution wall.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Thief, and at what settings?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 133, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only setting that breaks the 130 FPS barrier, with the next closest being 101 FPS at 1080p Medium.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570’s performance compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The Arc B570 has an average benchmark score of 20,556, which places it 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534) and 0.4% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20,480). It is 0.1% behind the Intel Arc A750 (20,582) and 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20,662).

Q: What is the combo’s ranking among all tested system combinations in Thief?

A: This specific combo ranks 2,296 out of 2,851 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 20% of all systems tested. This rank reflects the GPU’s mid-range standing rather than the CPU’s high-end position.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU become the limiting factor at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS drops to 29, which is below the 31 FPS at 4K High and 41 FPS at 4K Medium. The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU’s strong single-thread performance cannot compensate for the Arc B570’s rendering load at 4K.

Q: Is there a significant performance jump between Low and Medium settings at 1080p?

A: Yes, the difference is 32 FPS. At 1080p Low, the average is 133 FPS, while at 1080p Medium, it drops to 101 FPS. This is a 24% reduction, showing that Medium settings introduce a noticeable GPU workload increase.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the Intel Arc B570?

A: The launch MSRP is 219 USD. The Intel Core i9-14900K has a launch MSRP of $589.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a steep resolution scaling curve that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary constraint. At 1080p Low, the combo averages 133 FPS, but moving to 1440p Low reduces that to 91 FPS, a drop of 42 FPS or 31.6%. Going further to 4K Low yields 54 FPS, which is 59.4% lower than the 1080p result. This pattern holds across all settings, but the relative drops become more severe as the quality preset increases.

For High settings, the progression is 77 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p, and 31 FPS at 4K. The step from 1080p to 1440p is a 24 FPS loss, while the step from 1440p to 4K is a 22 FPS loss. In percentage terms, 1080p to 1440p is a 31.2% decrease, and 1440p to 4K is a 41.5% decrease. This accelerating drop-off is a classic sign of GPU memory bandwidth and shading unit limits, as the Arc B570’s 380.0 GB/s bandwidth and 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 performance are stretched thin at higher pixel counts.

The Medium preset offers the most complete data, with min and max FPS recorded at all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the average is 101 FPS with a range of 86 to 116. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 69 FPS with a range of 59 to 79. At 4K Medium, the average is 41 FPS with a range of 35 to 47. The min-to-max spread widens as resolution increases, from 30 FPS at 1080p to 20 FPS at 1440p and 12 FPS at 4K, indicating that frame time consistency degrades alongside average performance.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling. The average FPS goes from 73 at 1080p to 50 at 1440p, a 31.5% drop, and then to 29 at 4K, a 42% drop from 1440p. At 4K Ultra, the 29 FPS average is barely playable, and the lack of min FPS data suggests the frame delivery may be unstable. The data strongly implies that the Intel Core i9-14900K is not the limiting factor; even at 4K Ultra, the CPU’s 6.00 GHz boost clock and 24 cores have ample headroom, but the Arc B570 cannot render enough frames per second. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat across resolutions, but the consistent 30-40% declines indicate a pure GPU-bound scenario.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo’s rank of 2,296 out of 2,851 tested combinations places it in the 19.5th percentile of all systems tested in Thief. This is a low ranking, but it must be interpreted in context. The Intel Core i9-14900K is a top-tier CPU with a 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs, while the Intel Arc B570 has a 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs. The combo rank is therefore dragged down by the GPU, which is the weaker component in this pairing.

Looking at the GPU’s nearest rivals, the Arc B570’s average benchmark score of 20,556 is almost identical to the RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534) and Arc A750 (20,582). This suggests that any of these GPUs would produce similar results in Thief, and the combo rank would likely be similar. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the i9-14900KF (0.3% higher score) and Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus (0.6% higher), would not meaningfully change the combo rank because the game is GPU-bound. The data indicates that for Thief, the CPU choice has minimal impact on the final rank once a certain performance threshold is met, and the i9-14900K far exceeds that threshold.

The rank of 2,296 also suggests that many other tested combos include more powerful GPUs paired with weaker CPUs, resulting in higher FPS in this game. For example, a combo with a mid-range CPU and a high-end GPU would likely outperform this pairing at 4K, where the GPU’s shading and memory capabilities dominate. The 2851 total combos tested mean that this system sits in the bottom 20% of all configurations, which is consistent with the Arc B570’s position as a mid-range graphics card. The takeaway from the ranking data is that the i9-14900K is overkill for Thief when paired with an Arc B570; the CPU’s power is not being fully utilized, and the GPU becomes the definitive performance ceiling.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and the user’s frame rate preferences. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 133 FPS average, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. However, the Medium preset still provides 101 FPS average with a minimum of 86 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay without sacrificing too much visual quality. The High preset at 1080p yields 77 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 24 FPS drop from Medium. The Ultra preset drops to 73 FPS, which is marginal for a 2014 game and not worth the extra GPU load.

At 1440p, the Low preset achieves 91 FPS, which is excellent for most displays. The Medium preset averages 69 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS, offering a good balance between visual fidelity and responsiveness. The High preset drops to 53 FPS, and Ultra to 50 FPS, both of which are below the 60 FPS threshold that many users consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. For 1440p, Medium or Low are the recommended presets, as they maintain playable frame rates while avoiding the steep performance penalties of High and Ultra.

At 4K, the situation becomes more challenging. The Low preset averages 54 FPS, which is the only setting that approaches a playable level. The Medium preset averages 41 FPS with a minimum of 35, which may be acceptable for slower-paced stealth gameplay but risks noticeable stutter. The High preset drops to 31 FPS, and Ultra to 29 FPS, both of which are below 30 FPS and likely to feel unresponsive. For 4K, the data suggests that Low is the only viable preset, and even then, the 54 FPS average is not particularly high. Users with 4K displays would be better served by lowering the resolution to 1440p for a better experience.

The best experience per the measured rows is at 1080p Medium, which offers 101 FPS average with a minimum of 86 FPS and a maximum of 116 FPS. This preset provides a significant visual upgrade over Low while maintaining frame rates that are smooth and consistent. At 1440p, Medium is the best choice for those who prioritize frame rate, while at 4K, Low is the only reasonable option. The data does not support using Ultra at any resolution, as the average FPS at 1440p Ultra (50) and 1080p Ultra (73) are only slightly higher than the Low presets at the next resolution up, but with much worse minimums.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 133 FPS average
• Medium: 101 FPS average, 86 min, 116 max
• High: 77 FPS average
• Ultra: 73 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 91 FPS average
• Medium: 69 FPS average, 59 min, 79 max
• High: 53 FPS average
• Ultra: 50 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 54 FPS average
• Medium: 41 FPS average, 35 min, 47 max
• High: 31 FPS average
• Ultra: 29 FPS average

The data shows a clear hierarchy: for each settings preset, the FPS drops by roughly 30-40% when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another 30-40% from 1440p to 4K. At 1080p, the Low preset is the only one exceeding 120 FPS, while at 4K, no preset reaches 60 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions, which allows for a more detailed analysis of frame consistency. At 1080p Medium, the spread from min to max is 30 FPS, at 1440p it is 20 FPS, and at 4K it is 12 FPS. This narrowing spread indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU is more consistently at its limit, with less variance in frame times.

The Low preset shows a 133 to 91 to 54 progression across resolutions, which is a 41.4% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 40.7% drop from 1440p to 4K. The High preset shows a 77 to 53 to 31 progression, with a 31.2% drop and then a 41.5% drop. The Ultra preset shows a 73 to 50 to 29 progression, with a 31.5% drop and then a 42% drop. These percentages are remarkably consistent, suggesting that the Arc B570’s performance scales predictably with pixel count, and there are no sudden architectural bottlenecks at any specific resolution.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Arc B570 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die. It has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s base and boost clocks are both 2500 MHz, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). Its 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 80 ROPs deliver 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s. The GPU’s TDP is 150 W, and it requires a 450 W power supply.

In Thief, the GPU’s role is defined by its 10 GB VRAM and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth. The game is from 2014, so its texture sizes and geometry complexity are modest by modern standards, but the data shows that the Arc B570 still struggles at 4K. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 29, which suggests that the GPU’s shading units are the limiting factor, not the VRAM capacity. A 10 GB buffer is likely sufficient for Thief’s assets, but the 11.52 TFLOPS of compute power is not enough to handle 4K Ultra’s pixel shader load. The 2500 MHz boost clock is fixed, meaning there is no dynamic overclocking headroom, and the GPU consistently operates at its rated speed.

The GPU’s benchmark percentile of 65 places it in the mid-range tier, and its average benchmark score of 20,556 is nearly identical to the RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534) and Arc A750 (20,582). This indicates that the Arc B570 is a competent 1080p and 1440p card, but it falls short at 4K. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p, the GPU can deliver 133 FPS on Low and 101 FPS on Medium, which are strong numbers. At 1440p, it still manages 91 FPS on Low and 69 FPS on Medium, both of which are playable. However, at 4K, even Low settings only achieve 54 FPS, and Ultra drops to 29 FPS.

The GPU’s memory bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s is likely a factor in the 4K performance drop. At higher resolutions, the GPU needs to fetch more texture and pixel data, and the 160-bit bus may create a bottleneck. The fact that the FPS drops by over 40% from 1440p to 4K across all settings suggests that the memory subsystem is struggling to keep up. The 19.6 billion transistors and 11.52 TFLOPS are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results show that the Arc B570 is not designed for ultra-high-resolution gaming. The GPU’s 18 ray tracing cores and 12 Ultimate DirectX support are irrelevant for Thief, which likely uses older rendering techniques, but they do not help in this title. Overall, the GPU is the definitive bottleneck at 4K, while the CPU remains underutilized, leading to a system that is unbalanced for high-resolution play.