The Technomancer

Similar Performance Alternatives

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 sits in a tight cluster of processors with nearly identical average benchmark scores. The database shows the Ryzen 9 6900HX scoring 26,274, which is just 0.2% higher than the Ryzen 5 7600's average of 26,324. The Ryzen 7 7435HS trails by 0.3%, scoring 26,402, while the Intel Core i9-11900KF is 0.4% behind at 26,212. The Ryzen 5 8540U rounds out the group at 26,187, a 0.5% delta. In practical terms, any of these four chips would deliver near-identical CPU-bound performance in The Technomancer. The Ryzen 5 7600's 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost of 5.10 GHz, place it in the 78th percentile among all CPUs tested. Its single-thread performance is strong, as shown by a 3DMark single-thread score of 999 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1852. Multi-threaded results are equally solid, with Cinebench R23 multicore at 12,735 and Geekbench multicore at 13,413. The data suggests that swapping between these rival processors would change frame rates by less than 1% in most scenarios, making the choice largely moot for this game.

For the Intel Arc B390, the situation is more dramatic. The GPU's average benchmark score is 1,482 from the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, placing it in only the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all older NVIDIA parts: the GeForce GT 520MX at 1,463 (1.3% lower), the GeForce 800M at 1,460 (1.5% lower), the GeForce GT 625 OEM at 1,446 (2.5% lower), and the GeForce GT 710 at 1,443 (2.7% lower). These delta values are small, meaning the Arc B390's performance profile is comparable to those legacy cards. The Arc B390 uses the Xe3-LPG architecture on a 3 nm process, with 1,536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units. Its boost clock reaches 2500 MHz, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. However, the hardware specifications do not translate into strong gaming results, as the measured FPS data will show. If a user already owns one of those older NVIDIA GPUs, upgrading to the Arc B390 would yield only marginal gains, roughly 1% to 3% in synthetic benchmarks.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded data for The Technomancer reveals a clear pattern: the GPU is the limiting factor at every resolution, but the CPU becomes more relevant as settings drop. At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 15 on Ultra to 28 on Low. The spread between Low and Ultra is 13 FPS, which is substantial. This indicates that graphical settings dominate performance at 4K, and the GPU is saturated regardless of CPU capability. The Ryzen 5 7600's strong multi-threaded scores, such as the PassMark multithread result of 27,058, are largely irrelevant here because the GPU cannot feed frames fast enough.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with slightly higher frame rates. Low settings produce 52 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 26 FPS. The 26 FPS gap between Low and Ultra is consistent with the 4K results, showing that resolution scaling is predictable. Moving from 3840x2160 to 2560x1440 at the same settings yields roughly a 1.5x to 1.8x improvement in FPS. For example, High settings go from 19 FPS at 4K to 34 FPS at 1440p, a 79% increase. Low settings go from 28 to 52, an 86% increase. This scaling factor is typical for a GPU that is heavily pixel-bound.

At 1920x1080, the CPU starts to matter more, but the GPU still leads. Low settings hit 79 FPS average, Medium hits 61, High drops to 52, and Ultra falls to 40. The gap between Low and Ultra is 39 FPS at 1080p, which is larger than at 1440p or 4K in absolute terms but similar in relative proportion. The Ryzen 5 7600's single-thread performance, with a PassMark single-thread score of 3,910, is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking at 1080p Low, where the GPU is still the constraint. However, if the GPU were stronger, the CPU would likely become the limiting factor at 1080p Low, given that the 7600's 3DMark 2-thread score is 1,938 and the 4-thread score is 3,686. The game appears to be single-thread sensitive, as evidenced by the drop from 79 FPS at Low to 52 FPS at High, which cannot be explained by GPU load alone.

The verdict data confirms that no resolution above 1080p achieves playable frame rates, regardless of settings. At 2560x1440, even Low settings only reach 52 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. At 3840x2160, the best case is 28 FPS on Low. The CPU's role is therefore secondary: it provides enough headroom for the GPU to operate at full capacity, but it cannot compensate for the GPU's fundamental lack of rasterization throughput. The Arc B390's pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, which are modest figures. The FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS is also low compared to modern discrete GPUs. These numbers explain why the GPU struggles at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The database includes measured FPS values for three resolutions and four settings, though some entries lack min and max values. The most complete data is at Medium settings, which includes both minimum and maximum frame rates. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 61 FPS, with a minimum of 52 and a maximum of 70. This 18 FPS range between min and max indicates some frame pacing variance, but the average stays above the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 1920x1080 Low, the average jumps to 79 FPS, though no min or max values were recorded. At High, the average drops to 52 FPS, and at Ultra it falls to 40 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p is linear: 79, 61, 52, 40. Each step up in settings costs roughly 10 to 18 FPS, with the largest drop occurring between Low and Medium (18 FPS) and the smallest between Medium and High (9 FPS).

At 2560x1440, the numbers shift downward significantly. Low settings average 52 FPS, Medium averages 40 with a minimum of 34 and maximum of 46, High averages 34, and Ultra averages 26. The Medium setting's min/max range of 12 FPS is narrower than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is more consistently loaded at this resolution. The step between Low and Medium is 12 FPS, between Medium and High is 6 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 8 FPS. Notably, 1440p Low produces the same 52 FPS average as 1080p High, which shows that resolution and settings trade-offs are roughly equivalent in cost. A user could choose 1080p High or 1440p Low and get identical average performance.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low settings average 28 FPS, Medium averages 22 with a minimum of 19 and maximum of 25, High averages 19, and Ultra averages 15. The Medium setting at 4K shows a tight 6 FPS range, indicating that the GPU is fully saturated and frame times are consistent. The gap between Low and Ultra is 13 FPS, which is the smallest absolute difference across all resolutions. This suggests that at 4K, even the lowest settings cannot escape the GPU's raw throughput limit. The 19 FPS minimum at 4K Medium is the lowest recorded value in the entire dataset, confirming that the Arc B390 is not suitable for 4K gaming in this title.

The min and max values at Medium settings provide additional insight into frame stability. At 1080p, the min is 52 and max is 70, giving a spread of 18 FPS. At 1440p, the min is 34 and max is 46, a 12 FPS spread. At 4K, the min is 19 and max is 25, a 6 FPS spread. This pattern shows that as resolution increases, the frame rate becomes more stable because the GPU is consistently bottlenecked. At lower resolutions, the CPU and GPU alternate as limiting factors, causing more variance. The Ryzen 5 7600's boost clock of 5.10 GHz helps maintain higher minimums at 1080p, but the overall trend is clear: the GPU cannot sustain high frame rates at any resolution above 1080p Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and Intel Arc B390 ranks 3,285 out of 3,696 tested combinations in The Technomancer. This places the combo in the bottom 11% of all systems in the database. The rank is heavily influenced by the GPU's 9th percentile standing, as the CPU's 78th percentile is far more respectable. The data shows that pairing a strong mid-range CPU with a weak integrated GPU results in a system that is severely GPU-bound. The Ryzen 5 7600's Cinebench R15 multicore score of 2,339 and single-core score of 298 are solid, but these do not translate into playable frame rates because the Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1,482 is the limiting factor.

Compared to the GPU's nearest rivals, the Arc B390 is only marginally faster. The GeForce GT 710, which is a decade-old entry-level card, scores 1,443, just 2.7% lower. The GeForce GT 520MX scores 1,463, only 1.3% lower. This means the Arc B390 is effectively in the same performance class as those legacy GPUs. The rank of 3,285 reflects this reality. Systems with the same CPU but a stronger GPU would rank significantly higher, as would systems with older CPUs but discrete graphics cards. The combo's position in the bottom 11% is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows no playable settings at 1440p or 4K and only two playable presets at 1080p.

The percentile data reinforces the imbalance. The CPU sits at the 78th percentile among all CPUs, meaning it outperforms 78% of processors in the database. The GPU sits at the 9th percentile, outperforming only 9% of GPUs. The average benchmark score of the CPU is 26,324, while the GPU's is 1,482, a ratio of roughly 18:1. In gaming scenarios, this ratio is extreme, as most games rely more heavily on the GPU than the CPU. The Technomancer is no exception, as the measured FPS data demonstrates. The combo rank is therefore not surprising, and the data suggests that any modern discrete GPU would provide a substantial upgrade.

The Verdict

The verdict data is unambiguous: this system can run The Technomancer at 1920x1080 with Low or Medium settings, and nothing else. The playable threshold is 60 FPS, and the recorded data shows that 1080p Low averages 79 FPS, while 1080p Medium averages exactly 61 FPS. Both of these presets clear the threshold. At 1080p High, the average drops to 52 FPS, which is below the threshold. At 1080p Ultra, the average falls to 40 FPS, which is far below playable. At 2560x1440, no settings achieve 60 FPS. The best case is Low at 52 FPS, which is 8 FPS short of the threshold. Medium at 1440p averages 40 FPS, High averages 34, and Ultra averages 26. At 3840x2160, the situation is worse. Low averages 28 FPS, Medium averages 22, High averages 19, and Ultra averages 15. None of these come close to 60 FPS.

The verdict by resolution confirms this. For 3840x2160, the playable settings list is empty, and there is no best setting or associated FPS. For 2560x1440, the same result: no playable settings, no best setting, no FPS value. For 1920x1080, the playable settings are Low and Medium, with Medium being the best at 61 FPS average. This means that a user with a 1080p monitor can play the game at Medium settings with a stable average above the 60 FPS threshold, though the minimum of 52 FPS indicates occasional dips below 60. The 79 FPS average at Low provides more headroom, with likely fewer dips, though no min/max values were recorded for that preset.

The CPU and GPU roles in this verdict are clear. The Ryzen 5 7600 is not the limiting factor at any resolution, as its performance metrics are far above what the game requires. The Arc B390 is the sole bottleneck. The GPU's 9th percentile ranking and 1,482 average benchmark score are consistent with the measured FPS. The game is playable only at 1080p, and only with lower settings. For users with 1440p or 4K monitors, this system will not deliver a playable experience, regardless of settings. The data suggests that the Arc B390 is best suited for older games or very light workloads, not modern action RPGs at high resolutions.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Medium, with an average of 61 FPS. This is the highest quality setting that clears the threshold. The minimum recorded FPS at Medium is 52, so users may experience occasional drops below 60, but the average is sufficient. Low settings at 1080p produce 79 FPS average, which is smoother but visually less detailed. High and Ultra at 1080p are not recommended, as they average 52 and 40 FPS respectively, both below the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, no settings achieve 60 FPS. The best case is Low at 52 FPS, which is below the threshold. Medium averages 40 FPS, High averages 34, and Ultra averages 26. The database marks the best settings as null and the average FPS at best as null, indicating that no preset is playable at this resolution. Users with 1440p monitors would need to lower the resolution to 1080p or accept sub-60 FPS performance. The 52 FPS at Low might be tolerable for some, but it does not meet the stated playable threshold.

At 3840x2160, the results are even worse. Low averages 28 FPS, Medium averages 22, High averages 19, and Ultra averages 15. No preset comes close to 60 FPS. The best settings value is null, and the average FPS at best is null. This resolution is entirely unplayable with this hardware combination. The GPU's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are simply insufficient for 4K rendering in this game.

In summary, the only viable configuration is 1080p Medium, which delivers a 61 FPS average. For users seeking higher visual quality, 1080p High at 52 FPS is below the threshold but may be acceptable for single-player gameplay. The data shows that the Arc B390, despite its modern architecture and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, cannot handle The Technomancer at resolutions above 1080p with playable frame rates. The Ryzen 5 7600 does its part, but the GPU holds the system back.