BOSGAME VTA-439 Mini PC Running Linux: Thief

Why the VTA-439?

I’ve been testing the BOSGAME VTA-439 with a selection of games to see what its Radeon 890M integrated graphics can manage under Linux. It’s a compact machine without a dedicated graphics card, but the results so far have shown that 1920×1080 is a realistic target if you’re willing to adjust the settings.

The VTA-439 pairs AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 processor with Radeon 890M graphics. The GPU shares system memory with the CPU, making it quite a different proposition from the dedicated graphics cards usually associated with PC gaming.

This time, I’m testing Thief under CachyOS and Windows 11 on the same machine. I’ve also included results from my NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti desktop to give the figures some context.

Thief

Released in 2014 and developed by Eidos-Montréal, Thief puts you in the shoes of Garrett, a master thief working his way through a gloomy city. Sneaking past guards and finding a quiet route to your next prize are more important than charging into a fight.

Its built-in benchmark provides a convenient way to compare hardware and operating systems. I’m testing all five graphics presets, Very Low, Low, Normal, High and Very High, at 1920×1080, recording both average and minimum frame rates.

An older game should give the Radeon 890M some breathing room. Even so, there’s a substantial difference between running Thief at its lowest settings and turning everything up.

Performance

Very Low gives CachyOS its best result: a 96 FPS average and a 70 FPS minimum. There’s plenty of headroom here, although I wouldn’t settle for the lowest preset when the machine can handle more detail.

Low averages 75 FPS, with a minimum of 61 FPS. If keeping above 60 FPS is your priority, this is the highest preset to achieve that throughout the benchmark. It doesn’t guarantee the same result in every part of the game, but it’s a useful starting point.

I’d lean towards Normal. The average remains above 60 FPS at 65 FPS, while the minimum falls to 52 FPS. For a stealth game, that looks like a sensible trade-off for the higher graphics settings.

High and Very High ask more of the GPU. High returns a 52 FPS average and a 41 FPS minimum, dropping to 46 FPS and 34 FPS at Very High. Those figures don’t rule out either preset, but I’d favour the extra performance at Normal.

CachyOS vs Windows 11

Windows 11 wins at four of the five presets, with higher average and minimum frame rates at Low, Normal, High and Very High. Very Low is the sole exception: CachyOS averages 96 FPS against 87 FPS on Windows, while both record a 70 FPS minimum.

At Low, Windows delivers an 86 FPS average and a 69 FPS minimum, compared with 75 FPS and 61 FPS under CachyOS. Both stay above 60 FPS in the benchmark, but Windows has more room to spare.

The gap narrows at Normal. Windows averages 72 FPS against 65 FPS, while the minimums are almost identical at 53 FPS and 52 FPS. Windows still leads, though its higher average doesn’t translate into much improvement at the slowest point of the test.

High gives Windows its largest percentage lead in average frame rate, at around 17%. It averages 61 FPS compared with 52 FPS under CachyOS. That puts Windows just above the 60 FPS mark on average, although its 45 FPS minimum means it doesn’t hold that frame rate throughout the benchmark. CachyOS records a 41 FPS minimum.

At Very High, Windows averages 51 FPS against 46 FPS. The more striking difference is in the minimum: 43 FPS on Windows versus 34 FPS under CachyOS. That’s a sizeable advantage at the most demanding preset.

The unusual result is at the bottom of the settings range. Moving from Very Low to Low costs Windows just 1 FPS on average, whereas CachyOS loses 21 FPS.

For Thief on this machine, Windows 11 is the faster option at every preset above Very Low. CachyOS still delivers useful performance, particularly at Low and Normal, but Windows has a clear advantage in these results.

Discrete GPU context

My NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti desktop, running Kubuntu 26.04 LTS, averages approximately 135 FPS at each of the five presets. Minimum frame rates range from 102 to 108 FPS.

There’s barely any change as the graphics settings increase. That suggests something other than GPU performance may be setting the limit.

At Very High, the desktop delivers almost three times the average frame rate of the VTA-439 under CachyOS. It’s a substantial difference, as you’d expect, although this compares two complete systems rather than the graphics hardware in isolation.

Summary

Thief is a good fit for the VTA-439 at 1920×1080. Based on the benchmark, I’d start with Normal under CachyOS: its 65 FPS average and 52 FPS minimum leave enough performance to make the higher settings tempting without pushing the Radeon 890M too hard. Low is the better choice if you want more headroom.

Windows 11 takes the honours here. It beats CachyOS at four of the five presets, and its higher minimum at Very High is particularly welcome. The Linux lead at Very Low is real, but it doesn’t reflect the rest of the results.

I’d still be happy to use CachyOS for this one. There’s enough performance at Low and Normal that I wouldn’t feel compelled to boot into Windows just to play Thief.

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