The Technomancer

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Arc B390 occupies a very specific performance tier. According to the database, its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it near a cluster of older NVIDIA parts. The nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, which scores 1463, a delta of 1.3% in favor of the Arc. The NVIDIA GeForce 800M sits at 1460 (1.5% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM records 1446 (2.5% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 trails at 1443 (2.7% behind). What this means in practice: any system built around one of those NVIDIA GPUs would deliver a nearly identical frame rate profile in The Technomancer. The performance gap between the Arc B390 and the GT 520MX is so small that it falls well within run-to-run variance for a single scene.

On the CPU side, the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a far more capable component. Its average benchmark score of 29713 places it in the 81st percentile of all CPUs tested. The nearest rivals are all AMD parts with similar aggregate scores. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE scores 29656, a 0.2% deficit relative to the 9600X, making it effectively identical in compute throughput. The AMD Ryzen 7 7840H scores 29868 (0.5% ahead), the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT scores 29879 (0.6% ahead), and the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS scores 29955 (0.8% ahead). Any of these processors would behave indistinguishably from the 9600X when paired with the Arc B390 in this game, since the GPU is the overwhelming bottleneck at every resolution tested.

For a user considering this pairing, the data suggests that swapping the CPU for any of those four alternatives would not change the measured FPS in any meaningful way. The GPU tier is what defines the experience here, and the Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile of all GPUs, meaning roughly nine out of ten tested graphics cards outperform it.

CPU and GPU Roles

The Technomancer with this component combination is a GPU-bound title at every resolution and preset tested. The evidence is straightforward: the CPU's single-threaded and multi-threaded scores are far above what this game requires, while the GPU's 3DMark result is extremely low relative to the rest of the database.

Consider the scaling pattern across resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 79. Dropping to 2560x1440 Low yields 52 FPS, a reduction of 27 frames. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 28 FPS, another 24-frame drop. A CPU-limited scenario would not show such steep declines as pixel count rises; these drops track directly with the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity. The Arc B390's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are the limiting resources here, not the Ryzen's six Zen 5 cores.

The same pattern holds within a single resolution when settings change. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low to Medium costs 18 FPS (79 to 61), and Medium to High costs another 9 FPS (61 to 52). The CPU has 12 threads and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, yet the frame rate still collapses as the GPU works harder. At 3840x2160, Ultra settings produce just 15 FPS average, which is below the Medium result of 22 FPS and far below the Low result of 28 FPS. This is classic GPU saturation.

The verdict data confirms the imbalance. At 2560x1440, no settings preset reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold, and at 3840x2160 the situation is worse. Even the strongest CPU in the database could not rescue this pairing at those resolutions. The Ryzen 5 9600X is effectively idle waiting on the Arc B390 at higher pixel counts. The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 7585 and single-thread score of 1253 indicate it can feed frames far faster than this GPU can render them.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the database records four presets. Low settings produce an average of 79 FPS with no recorded minimum or maximum values. Medium settings average 61 FPS, with a minimum of 52 and a maximum of 70. High settings drop to 52 FPS average. Ultra settings fall to 40 FPS average. The playable threshold is 60 FPS, so Low and Medium both clear it, while High and Ultra do not.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same preset ladder shows a significant step down. Low averages 52 FPS. Medium averages 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 and a maximum of 46. High averages 34 FPS. Ultra averages 26 FPS. No preset at this resolution reaches the 60 FPS threshold, and the verdict list for playable settings is empty.

At 3840x2160, the results are marginal even for basic play. Low averages 28 FPS. Medium averages 22 FPS, with a minimum of 19 and a maximum of 25. High averages 19 FPS. Ultra averages 15 FPS. The minimum recorded value across all 4K runs is 19 FPS on Medium, which indicates consistent stutter-level performance regardless of settings.

The medium preset is the only one across all resolutions that includes min/max data in the database. At 1080p Medium, the 52 FPS minimum shows that even a preset averaging 61 FPS can dip below the playable line during demanding scenes. At 1440p Medium, the 34 FPS minimum matches the High preset average at that resolution, illustrating how tightly clustered the lower end of this GPU's performance envelope is.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run The Technomancer at 1920x1080?

A: Yes, but only on Low or Medium settings. Low averages 79 FPS and Medium averages 61 FPS, both above the 60 FPS playable threshold. High averages 52 FPS and Ultra averages 40 FPS, both below it.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1920x1080?

A: Medium is the best settings preset that stays at or above 60 FPS. It averages 61 FPS with a minimum of 52 and a maximum of 70. Low is also playable but offers lower visual quality.

Q: Is 2560x1440 playable with this hardware?

A: No. Low averages 52 FPS, Medium averages 40 FPS, High averages 34 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. The database lists no playable settings at this resolution.

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

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463 (1.3% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% slower), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% slower). All are within a few percent of each other.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: No. The Ryzen 5 9600X sits in the 81st percentile of all CPUs, while the Arc B390 sits in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Frame rates drop sharply as resolution increases, which is the signature of GPU limitation.

Q: What is the 4K performance like?

A: Unplayable across all presets. Low averages 28 FPS, Medium averages 22 FPS, High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. The best minimum recorded at 4K is 19 FPS on Medium.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best settings preset that maintains an average at or above 60 FPS is Medium. The recorded average is 61 FPS, with a minimum of 52 and a maximum of 70. Low is also playable at 79 FPS average, but Medium is the highest quality option that clears the threshold. High and Ultra are not viable, averaging 52 FPS and 40 FPS respectively.

At 2560x1440, there is no best settings preset because no configuration reaches 60 FPS. Low averages 52 FPS, Medium averages 40 FPS, High averages 34 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. The database explicitly lists an empty playable settings array for this resolution, meaning users should not expect a smooth experience at any quality level.

At 3840x2160, the situation is similarly unplayable. Low averages 28 FPS, Medium averages 22 FPS with a 19 FPS minimum, High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. No preset comes within half of the 60 FPS target, so there is no recommended configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and Intel Arc B390 ranks 3285 out of 3696 tested combos in The Technomancer. That places it in the bottom 11% of all configurations in the database for this specific title. The ranking reflects the GPU's severe limitation; the CPU is not the constraining factor. The 9600X alone would rank much higher with a stronger graphics card, but the Arc B390 drags the overall result down.

To contextualize the rank: only 411 combos perform worse in this game. The large pool of better-performing combinations includes systems with older mid-range GPUs and even modest integrated graphics from other vendors, because the Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 is simply too low for a 2016 action RPG at modern resolutions. The game's genre and release date do not save it; The Technomancer still demands more rasterization throughput than this GPU can deliver above 1080p.

The ranking also confirms the verdict data. A combo ranked 3285 out of 3696 is not one that users should expect to handle high refresh rates or high resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the 61 FPS average is the ceiling for smooth play, and even that comes with a 52 FPS minimum that will produce visible hitches in busy scenes. For anyone considering this pairing, the database is clear: it is a 1080p Low-to-Medium setup at best, with no headroom for higher resolutions.