The Technomancer

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1080p, this combination delivers its only playable experience. The recorded data shows 79 FPS at Low settings, 61 FPS at Medium, and 52 FPS at High. The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at 1920x1080 is Medium, which holds an average of 61 FPS with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS. That 52 FPS minimum means the frame rate dips below the 60 FPS threshold during demanding moments, but the average stays above it. Low settings at 1080p produce a comfortable 79 FPS average, giving headroom for scenes with heavy action.

At 1440p, no preset reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold. The best result is 52 FPS at Low settings. Medium settings average 40 FPS, High averages 34 FPS, and Ultra drops to 26 FPS. The 1440p results show a steep falloff from the 1080p numbers, with even the lowest preset losing 27 FPS when moving up one resolution step. This indicates the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

At 4K, the situation worsens considerably. Low settings average 28 FPS, Medium averages 22 FPS, High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. None of these come close to the 60 FPS target. The 4K results are uniformly below playable levels, and the gap between Low and Ultra is only 13 FPS, suggesting the GPU is saturated even at the lowest quality settings.

The pattern across all three resolutions is clear: the Intel Arc B390 cannot maintain 60 FPS at 1440p or 4K in The Technomancer, regardless of preset. The only viable path to a smooth experience is 1080p with Medium or Low settings. Medium is the highest preset that clears the average 60 FPS bar, making it the recommended configuration for 1080p play.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results reveal a heavily GPU-bound scenario. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a high-end desktop processor with 12 cores, 24 threads, and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. Its benchmark scores place it in the 91st percentile among all CPUs. The Intel Arc B390, by contrast, sits in the 9th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. This massive discrepancy in relative performance dictates the frame rate behavior.

Evidence for GPU dominance comes from the scaling between resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 79 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 52 FPS, a 34% reduction. At 4K Low, it falls to 28 FPS, a further 46% drop. These are classic GPU-bound scaling patterns. A CPU-bound system would show much smaller frame rate differences when resolution changes, because the CPU workload stays similar while the GPU workload increases. The steep declines point directly at the graphics card as the limiting factor.

Preset scaling tells the same story. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 18 FPS, from Medium to High costs 9 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 12 FPS. At 4K, the same preset ladder only spans 15 to 28 FPS, a narrow range. When a GPU is severely underpowered for a resolution, raising settings has diminishing effects because the card is already near its maximum output. The 4K results compress into a tight band, confirming the GPU is the bottleneck across all quality levels.

The CPU's role is minimal in this title. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work, the combo only reaches 79 FPS. A stronger GPU paired with this same processor would likely push much higher frame rates, but the database does not contain such a pairing for this game. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D has ample headroom, as shown by its multi-threaded benchmark scores: Cinebench R23 multicore at 47737, Geekbench multicore at 22884, and PassMark multithread at 56154. None of these scores translate into higher FPS here because the Arc B390 cannot feed frames fast enough.

The practical takeaway is that upgrading the GPU would yield the largest performance gains in The Technomancer. The CPU will not be the limiting factor at any resolution or preset tested. Players seeking higher frame rates should focus on graphics card improvements, not processor upgrades.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D are all close in average benchmark score. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF scores 55093, which is 0.6% higher than the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's average of 54762. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K scores 54053, putting it 1.3% lower. The Intel Xeon 6505P scores 53701, 2.0% lower. The Intel Core i7-14700F scores 53620, 2.1% lower. In practical terms, any of these CPUs would deliver nearly identical frame rates in The Technomancer when paired with the same GPU, because the game is GPU-bound. The differences among these processors are within a couple of percentage points, well below the threshold where a player would notice a change in FPS.

For the Intel Arc B390, the nearest rivals are dramatically different in capability. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463, which is 1.3% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce 800M scores 1460, 1.5% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446, 2.5% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 scores 1443, 2.7% lower. These are all older or lower-tier mobile and desktop GPUs that cluster within a few points of the Arc B390's 1482 score. In the context of The Technomancer, swapping the Arc B390 for any of these cards would produce nearly the same frame rates. The GT 520MX and GeForce 800M are particularly close, with deltas under 2%, meaning a user could expect essentially identical performance in this game.

The broader implication is that the Arc B390's performance class is very low. Its nearest competition consists of entry-level GPUs from over a decade ago. This context helps explain why the combination fails to reach 60 FPS at 1440p or 4K. The CPU is more than adequate, but the GPU sits at the bottom of the performance hierarchy.

The Verdict

Can this PC run The Technomancer? The answer is yes, but only at 1080p and only with specific presets. The verdictByResolution data shows that 1920x1080 has two playable settings: Low and Medium. The best playable preset at 1080p is Medium, with an average of 61 FPS. This clears the 60 FPS playable threshold, though the minimum of 52 FPS means occasional dips below the target. Low settings at 1080p provide a more comfortable margin at 79 FPS average.

At 1440p, the verdict is clear: no settings are playable. The best average is 52 FPS at Low, which falls 8 FPS short of the threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra all score lower: 40, 34, and 26 FPS respectively. At 4K, the situation is worse, with all presets averaging between 15 and 28 FPS. Neither resolution offers any preset that reaches 60 FPS.

The practical verdict is that this combination is suitable for 1080p gaming in The Technomancer at Medium settings or lower. It is not suitable for 1440p or 4K gaming in this title. Players with 1440p or 4K displays would need to reduce their resolution to 1080p or upgrade the GPU. The CPU is not the constraint; the Arc B390's low performance ceiling determines the outcome.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest preset that maintains at least 60 FPS on average?

A: At 1920x1080, Medium settings produce an average of 61 FPS, making it the highest playable preset. Low settings average 79 FPS. No preset at 1440p or 4K reaches 60 FPS.

Q: How does the frame rate change when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: At Low settings, the average drops from 79 FPS at 1080p to 52 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 27 FPS. At Medium settings, it drops from 61 FPS to 40 FPS. At High settings, it drops from 52 FPS to 34 FPS. At Ultra settings, it drops from 40 FPS to 26 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The Intel Arc B390 ranks in the 9th percentile among all GPUs, while the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D ranks in the 91st percentile among CPUs. Resolution scaling shows steep frame rate drops, which indicates GPU saturation.

Q: Which GPUs perform similarly to the Intel Arc B390?

A: The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% lower score), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1.5% lower), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (2.5% lower), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (2.7% lower). These would produce nearly identical frame rates in The Technomancer.

Q: Can this PC run The Technomancer at 1440p?

A: No. The best result at 1440p is 52 FPS at Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall further behind at 40, 34, and 26 FPS respectively.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum frame rates at 1080p Medium?

A: The recorded data shows an average of 61 FPS, with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS. The minimum dips below the 60 FPS threshold during demanding scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the Intel Arc B390 ranks 3285 out of 3696 tested combinations in The Technomancer. This places the combo in the bottom 11% of all tested systems. The ranking reflects the GPU's severe performance limitation rather than the CPU's capability. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a top-tier processor with a 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs, but the Arc B390's 9th percentile GPU ranking drags the overall combination down.

The gap between the CPU's potential and the GPU's output is stark. The processor's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 47737 and PassMark multithread score of 56154 indicate a very powerful CPU. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 indicates entry-level graphics performance. In a GPU-bound game like The Technomancer, the combination's rank is essentially determined by the graphics card.

For context, the combo sits 611 positions from the bottom of the 3696-combo list. This is not a system that will deliver high frame rates in demanding titles. It can handle The Technomancer at 1080p Medium, but it will struggle with more recent or more graphically intensive games. The rank also implies that many other CPU and GPU pairings in the database produce better results in this specific title, even if their processors are weaker. Any system with a more capable GPU would likely outperform this combination, regardless of CPU choice.