The Technomancer

The Technomancer is a 2016 Action RPG that scales heavily with GPU power, and the combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER produces a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions. The data shows this pairing delivers playable performance across all tested settings at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K requires a modest settings reduction to maintain a solid frame rate. The RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, with its 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 54209, while the i3-12100F holds a 68th percentile CPU ranking with an average score of 13494. This is a high-end GPU paired with a budget quad-core CPU, and the benchmark results reflect that imbalance, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU has more room to become a limiting factor.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that maintains at least 60 FPS is High, which delivers an average of 72 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 51.5 FPS, which falls below the playable threshold of 60 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay. Medium runs at 81.1 FPS and Low at 103.8 FPS, both of which are playable, but High is the optimal choice for visual quality while keeping performance comfortably above the threshold. The gap between High and Ultra at 4K is substantial, representing about a 28% performance hit for the highest settings tier.

At 2560x1440, the system can handle the Ultra preset at an average of 97.3 FPS. This is the most demanding setting available, and it stays well above the 60 FPS threshold. High runs at 127.3 FPS, Medium at 148.3 FPS, and Low at 191.6 FPS. All four settings are playable, but Ultra is the recommended choice since it provides the best visual fidelity without any risk of dropping below playable frame rates. The headroom at 1440p is significant, with Ultra sitting roughly 62% above the playable threshold.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 149.5 FPS, which is the highest settings tier and still more than double the 60 FPS threshold. High runs at 192.7 FPS, Medium at 225.5 FPS, and Low at 247.2 FPS. All settings are comfortably playable, and the GPU is clearly not stressed at this resolution. The scaling from Medium to Ultra at 1080p shows only a moderate performance cost, with Ultra being about 34% slower than Medium, but the absolute frame rates remain exceptionally high.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals a clear division of labor between the CPU and GPU in this pairing. At 4K, the GPU is the primary performance driver, as evidenced by the steep drop from Low to Ultra settings. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are heavily utilized at this resolution, and the i3-12100F's four cores and eight threads appear sufficient to keep the GPU fed. The performance scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a reduction from 103.8 FPS to 51.5 FPS, a 50% drop that is almost entirely attributable to GPU rendering load.

At 1440p, the CPU begins to show its limitations more clearly. The Ultra preset still achieves 97.3 FPS, but the scaling pattern suggests the CPU is starting to cap performance at the lower settings. Low runs at 191.6 FPS, which is exceptionally high, but the gap between Low and Medium is only about 23%, while the gap between Medium and Ultra is about 34%. This non-linear scaling hints that the i3-12100F's single-thread performance, with its 3.30 GHz base clock and 4.30 GHz boost clock, is becoming more relevant as frame rates climb above 150 FPS.

At 1080p, the CPU's role becomes even more pronounced. The Low preset hits 247.2 FPS, which is approaching the practical limits of what a quad-core processor can sustain in a game from 2016. The scaling from Low to Medium is relatively small at about 9%, and from Medium to High it is about 14%, but the jump from High to Ultra is a 22% reduction. This pattern indicates that at very high frame rates, the i3-12100F's 4 cores and 8 threads, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11860, are the limiting factor rather than the GPU. The RTX 4080 SUPER is capable of far higher frame rates at 1080p, but the CPU prevents the system from fully utilizing that headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured average FPS values are: Low at 103.8 FPS, Medium at 81.1 FPS, High at 72 FPS, and Ultra at 51.5 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent degradation, with each settings tier costing roughly 20-25% performance. The Ultra preset is the only one that fails to meet the 60 FPS playable threshold, making it the only non-viable option at this resolution. The step from High to Ultra represents the largest single drop at about 28%, which suggests the Ultra preset includes particularly demanding effects that the GPU struggles to render at 4K.

At 2560x1440, the measured values are: Low at 191.6 FPS, Medium at 148.3 FPS, High at 127.3 FPS, and Ultra at 97.3 FPS. The scaling is more linear here, with each step down in settings yielding roughly 15-25% more performance. All settings remain well above the 60 FPS threshold, and even Ultra provides nearly 40 FPS of headroom above the minimum playable frame rate. The difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is about 24%, which is significant but still leaves Ultra in a highly playable range.

At 1920x1080, the measured values are: Low at 247.2 FPS, Medium at 225.5 FPS, High at 192.7 FPS, and Ultra at 149.5 FPS. The Low and Medium settings are extremely close, with only about 9% separating them, which strongly suggests CPU limitation at these frame rates. The i3-12100F's PassMark single-thread score of 3444 and 3dmark single-thread score of 893 indicate it can sustain high instruction throughput, but there is a clear ceiling around 250 FPS. The drop from Medium to High is about 14%, and from High to Ultra is about 22%, showing that the GPU becomes more relevant as settings increase, but even Ultra at 149.5 FPS is far beyond the playable threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 326 out of 3696 tested combinations in the database. This places it in the top 9% of all tested configurations, which is an impressive position for a system built around a budget CPU. The ranking reflects the overwhelming GPU performance of the RTX 4080 SUPER, which sits in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, carrying the system to a high overall position despite the CPU's more modest 68th percentile ranking. The RTX 4080 SUPER's average benchmark score of 54209 is nearly identical to the RTX 4080's 54247, and it is only slightly behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 54828 and the RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55698.

The i3-12100F's average benchmark score of 13494 is very close to its nearest rivals, with the Intel Core 3 N355 at 13492 and the Intel Core i5-9500 at 13452. This means the CPU is performing exactly as expected for its tier, and the combo's high ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU. The 326th rank out of 3696 combinations indicates that in the context of The Technomancer, this pairing delivers performance that is superior to the vast majority of tested systems, primarily because the game is heavily GPU-dependent and the RTX 4080 SUPER excels in this workload. The fact that this combo ranks in the top 9% despite using a quad-core i3 confirms the GPU's dominance in this specific title.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the Intel Core i3-12100F performs almost identically to the Intel Core 3 N355, which has an average score of 13492 and a deltaPct of 0. The Intel Core i5-9500 is also extremely close with an average score of 13452 and a deltaPct of 0.3, meaning it is only 0.3% slower. On the other side, the Intel Core 5 120UL is slightly faster at 13594 with a deltaPct of -0.7, and the Intel Core i7-1250U at 13351 is 1.1% slower. Any of these CPUs would behave nearly identically in The Technomancer, as the differences are well within the margin of error for a game that is not heavily CPU-bound at typical settings.

For the GPU, the closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, which has an average score of 54247 and a deltaPct of -0.1, making it essentially a tie with the RTX 4080 SUPER. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 54828 is 1.1% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55698 is 2.7% faster. The AMD Radeon 8060S at 55757 is 2.8% faster. These deltaPct values are all small, meaning that swapping the RTX 4080 SUPER for any of these alternatives would result in nearly indistinguishable frame rates in The Technomancer. A user with an RTX 4080 would see almost exactly the same FPS numbers, while a system with an RX 6750 GRE 12 GB might see a small but noticeable improvement of around 2-3%.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run The Technomancer at 4K with the highest settings?

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system averages 51.5 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The highest playable setting at 4K is High, which averages 72 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gameplay?

A: At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset is the best choice, delivering an average of 97.3 FPS. All four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are playable at this resolution, but Ultra provides the highest visual quality while remaining well above 60 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game?

A: The GPU is the dominant factor, especially at higher resolutions. At 4K, performance scales heavily with settings, dropping from 103.8 FPS at Low to 51.5 FPS at Ultra. At 1080p, the CPU becomes more relevant, as frame rates cap around 247.2 FPS at Low settings, suggesting the i3-12100F limits the RTX 4080 SUPER's full potential at very high frame rates.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 326 out of 3696 tested combinations, placing it in the top 9% of all systems. This is driven almost entirely by the RTX 4080 SUPER, which ranks in the 86th percentile among GPUs, while the i3-12100F ranks in the 68th percentile among CPUs.

Q: Would upgrading the CPU improve performance significantly?

A: The data suggests limited gains for most scenarios. At 4K and 1440p, the GPU is the bottleneck, so a CPU upgrade would provide minimal benefit. At 1080p with Low or Medium settings, where the system reaches 247.2 FPS and 225.5 FPS respectively, a stronger CPU could potentially push frame rates higher, but the improvement would only matter for users with very high refresh rate monitors.

Q: What GPU alternatives would perform similarly to the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is essentially identical, with a deltaPct of -0.1. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.7% faster. All of these would produce nearly the same frame rates in The Technomancer, with differences well under 3%.