The Technomancer

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 with Intel Arc B390 produces an average of 19 FPS on High settings. Dropping to Medium yields 22 FPS average, with a recorded minimum of 19 FPS and maximum of 25 FPS. Low settings raise the average to 28 FPS, while Ultra falls to 15 FPS. None of these 4K results approach the 60 FPS playability threshold; the gap between the best 4K result (28 FPS on Low) and playability is substantial.

Moving to 2560x1440, the combination records 34 FPS average on High. Medium settings deliver 40 FPS average, with a minimum of 34 FPS and maximum of 46 FPS. Low settings reach 52 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 26 FPS. The 1440p results show a clear progression: each settings tier costs roughly 6 to 14 FPS compared to the tier below it. Even at Low, the average stays 8 FPS short of the 60 FPS target.

At 1920x1080, the picture improves considerably. Low settings deliver 79 FPS average, which clears the 60 FPS threshold with margin. Medium settings average 61 FPS, with a minimum of 52 FPS and maximum of 70 FPS. High settings fall to 52 FPS average, and Ultra drops further to 40 FPS. The 1080p data reveals that only Low and Medium presets maintain an average at or above 60 FPS. The minimum FPS recorded at Medium (52 FPS) indicates occasional dips below the target even when the average is acceptable.

The scaling pattern across resolutions is consistent: from 1080p to 1440p, average FPS drops by roughly 35% to 45% depending on the preset. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is even steeper, with High falling from 34 to 19 FPS and Medium from 40 to 22 FPS. This suggests the Intel Arc B390's performance ceiling is reached quickly as pixel count increases, while the Ryzen 7 7700's processing power is not the limiting factor in these scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The database places this CPU and GPU pairing at rank 3285 out of 3696 tested combinations for The Technomancer. That puts it in the lower portion of the field, roughly in the 89th percentile from the bottom, meaning about 89% of tested combos deliver higher performance in this title. The rank reflects the Intel Arc B390's modest capabilities rather than the CPU, as the Ryzen 7 7700 sits at the 87th percentile among all CPUs in general benchmark data. The GPU's percentile among all GPUs is 9, a stark contrast that explains the overall combo ranking.

The game's age (released in 2016) does not rescue this pairing. The measured FPS data shows that even a last-generation Action RPG from that era struggles to reach 60 FPS at 1080p on higher presets with this hardware. The combo's rank of 3285 indicates that most alternative pairings, even those with weaker CPUs, would outperform this configuration because the GPU bottleneck is so pronounced.

When interpreting the rank, note that it reflects all settings and resolutions tested, not just the playable ones. The 1080p Low result (79 FPS) is the only measurement that shows comfortable headroom, while the majority of tested scenarios fall below 60 FPS. This bimodal distribution, with one strong result and many weak ones, is typical of a system where the GPU cannot sustain high frame rates as resolution and settings increase.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data for The Technomancer clearly shows that the Intel Arc B390 is the performance-limiting component in this pairing. The Ryzen 7 7700, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, produces strong general benchmark scores: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18760 and a single-core score of 1930, a Geekbench multi-core score of 15371, and a PassMark multi-thread score of 34470. These numbers place the CPU at the 87th percentile among all CPUs. The GPU, by contrast, produces a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, placing it at the 9th percentile among all GPUs.

The resolution scaling confirms this imbalance. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect similar FPS across resolutions at the same settings, since the CPU workload does not increase dramatically with resolution. Instead, the data shows FPS dropping sharply as resolution increases: 1080p High at 52 FPS falls to 1440p High at 34 FPS and further to 4K High at 19 FPS. This is classic GPU-bound behavior, where the rendering load outpaces the GPU's compute capacity.

The settings scaling tells the same story. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra reduces FPS from 79 to 40, a 49% drop. At 1440p, the same settings change reduces FPS from 52 to 26, exactly 50%. At 4K, Low delivers 28 FPS and Ultra delivers 15 FPS, a 46% drop. The consistent percentage drops across resolutions indicate that the GPU's shading units, texture units, and raster operations are saturated at every resolution, and the CPU has spare capacity to feed frames.

The Ryzen 7 7700's memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s with dual-channel DDR5 support, combined with its Zen 4 architecture, provides ample headroom for a game from 2016. The GPU's system-shared memory configuration, where memory size, type, and bus width are all listed as system dependent, likely contributes to the bottleneck. The Arc B390's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are modest figures that cap performance well below what the CPU can deliver.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run The Technomancer at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 61 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS playability threshold. The recorded minimum is 52 FPS, so there will be occasional dips below the target, but the average is playable.

Q: What is the best playable preset at 1440p?

A: There is no playable preset at 2560x1440. The highest average FPS at this resolution is 52 FPS on Low settings, which falls 8 FPS short of the 60 FPS threshold. Medium delivers 40 FPS, High delivers 34 FPS, and Ultra delivers 26 FPS.

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

A: The Intel Arc B390's average benchmark score is 1482. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, scores 1463, which is 1.3% lower. The GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% lower), the GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% lower), and the GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% lower). The Arc B390 is the fastest of this group, but all of these GPUs cluster at the low end of the performance spectrum.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU in this game?

A: No. The Ryzen 7 7700 is a high-end desktop CPU with an 87th percentile rank among all CPUs. The FPS scaling between resolutions and settings follows a GPU-bound pattern, with frame rates dropping dramatically as resolution increases. The CPU has significant headroom, and the GPU is the limiting factor at every resolution.

Q: What is the best playable preset at 4K?

A: There is no playable preset at 3840x2160. The best result is 28 FPS on Low settings, which is less than half of the 60 FPS target. Medium averages 22 FPS, High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS.

Q: How does the overall combo rank compare to other tested systems?

A: This CPU and GPU combination ranks 3285 out of 3696 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the lower portion of the database, with most other tested configurations performing better in this game.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no settings preset achieves an average of 60 FPS or higher. The closest result is Low settings at 28 FPS average, which is less than half of the playability threshold. The database records no best settings for this resolution because no preset is playable.

At 2560x1440, the same situation applies. No preset reaches 60 FPS average. Low settings produce 52 FPS average, Medium produces 40 FPS, High produces 34 FPS, and Ultra produces 26 FPS. The database records no best settings for this resolution.

At 1920x1080, Medium settings are the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS. The recorded average is 61 FPS, with a minimum of 52 FPS and maximum of 70 FPS. Low settings also clear the threshold with 79 FPS average, but Medium is the highest-quality option that remains playable. High settings fall to 52 FPS average, and Ultra drops to 40 FPS average, so neither meets the playability criterion.

The Verdict

The data shows that this system can run The Technomancer, but only at 1080p and only on Low or Medium settings. The verdict by resolution is clear: 3840x2160 has no playable settings, 2560x1440 has no playable settings, and 1920x1080 has two playable settings (Low and Medium). The best playable configuration is 1080p with Medium settings, delivering 61 FPS average.

For players who want a consistent 60 FPS experience, 1080p Low is the safer choice, averaging 79 FPS with no recorded minimum below the threshold. Medium settings average 61 FPS but dip to 52 FPS at minimum, so frame pacing may be inconsistent during demanding scenes. At 1440p and 4K, this system cannot maintain playable frame rates at any preset, and users should not expect a smooth experience above 1080p.

The CPU is not the problem. The Ryzen 7 7700 is a capable processor with strong multi-core and single-core benchmark results, and its 87th percentile ranking among all CPUs demonstrates that it can handle modern gaming workloads. The Intel Arc B390, with its 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs, is the limiting factor. Its system-shared memory configuration and modest shading unit count (1536) cap performance at low resolution and low settings.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Arc B390's nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, are all NVIDIA GPUs from the GeForce 500M, 800M, and 600 series families. The GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463, which is 1.3% lower than the Arc B390. The GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% lower), the GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% lower), and the GeForce GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% lower). Any of these GPUs paired with the Ryzen 7 7700 would produce similar frame rates in The Technomancer, since the GPU is the bottleneck. The performance differences among this group are small enough that the choice between them would not meaningfully change the playable settings or resolutions identified above.

On the CPU side, the Ryzen 7 7700's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 (average score 40048, 0.1% higher), the Intel Core 5 221E (40144, 0.2% higher), the AMD Ryzen 9 270 (40246, 0.4% higher), and the Intel Core i9-13905H (40313, 0.6% higher). All of these CPUs are within 0.6% of the Ryzen 7 7700's average benchmark score of 40081. Since the GPU limits performance in this game, swapping to any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical FPS results. The Ryzen 7 7700 itself sits at the 87th percentile among all CPUs, so users with any of these nearby processors can expect the same 1080p Medium playability ceiling with the Arc B390.