The Technomancer

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 produces a striking performance curve in The Technomancer, one dominated almost entirely by the GPU’s raw rasterization might. The data shows this combination delivers high frame rates across all tested resolutions, with the most demanding preset at 4K still clearing the 60 FPS playability threshold. This is a configuration where the CPU’s modest 4-core/8-thread design (boosting to 4.30 GHz) is largely irrelevant to the outcome, as the RTX 5090’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 compute power carry the workload. The following breakdown details exactly what to expect at each setting level.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: At the lowest tested setting, the combo averages 247.4 FPS. Stepping up to Medium reduces the average to 225.7 FPS, which is a 8.8% drop from Low. The High preset sees a further decline to 212.7 FPS, representing a 5.8% reduction from Medium. The heaviest load, Ultra, still produces an average of 176 FPS, which is 17.3% lower than High. The scaling between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 71.4 FPS, indicating that even the most punishing settings leave massive headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. Every preset at 1080p stays well above 170 FPS, making this resolution entirely GPU-bound with no risk of CPU bottlenecking.

2560x1440: The 1440p results show a similar pattern but with a wider spread. Low averages 216.1 FPS, while Medium comes in at 168.5 FPS, a 22.0% decrease. High drops to 146 FPS, which is 13.4% below Medium. The Ultra preset delivers 114.7 FPS, a 21.4% reduction from High. The total delta from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 101.4 FPS, compared to 71.4 FPS at 1080p. This widening gap suggests the GPU is becoming the primary limiter as resolution increases, though the i3-12100F’s single-thread score of 893 in 3DMark still provides enough throughput to avoid holding the RTX 5090 back at these frame rates.

3840x2160: At 4K, the frame rates compress further. Low averages 123.2 FPS, Medium drops to 95.4 FPS (a 22.6% decrease), and High falls to 79.4 FPS (a 16.8% drop from Medium). The Ultra preset bottoms out at 63 FPS, which is 20.7% below High. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is 60.2 FPS, the smallest absolute range of all three resolutions. This compression is typical of a GPU-limited scenario where pixel throughput dominates. The 63 FPS average at Ultra is just 3 FPS above the 60 FPS playability threshold, meaning there is little margin for frame-time spikes in busy scenes, though the minimum FPS data is not available in the measured results.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 131st out of 3,696 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the top 3.5% of all configurations tracked. This rank reflects the RTX 5090’s dominance; the GPU alone sits in the 92nd percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 79,842. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79,605 (0.3% lower), while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT trails by 1.1%. On the CPU side, the i3-12100F scores in the 68th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 13,494. Its closest competitor, the Intel Core 3 N355, is essentially tied at 13,492 (0.0% delta), while the Core i5-9500 is 0.3% behind. The pairing of a 68th-percentile CPU with a 92nd-percentile GPU produces a combo rank that is higher than either component’s individual percentile, indicating that The Technomancer’s workload favors the GPU’s massive compute advantage. The 131st rank out of 3,696 means the vast majority of tested systems deliver lower average frame rates, even those with more balanced CPU-GPU pairings.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which averages 176 FPS. There is no preset at this resolution that fails the 60 FPS threshold, so the Ultra setting is the clear recommendation for maximum visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, Ultra is again the best choice, averaging 114.7 FPS. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold, leaving enough headroom for V-Sync or G-Sync to smooth out any minor frame-time variations. The gap between Ultra and High at this resolution is 31.3 FPS, so dropping to High provides no practical benefit unless power consumption is a concern.

At 3840x2160, Ultra is the recommended setting, but with a caveat: it averages 63 FPS, which is only 3 FPS above the playable threshold. The data shows that Ultra is technically playable at 4K, but the margin is thin. If consistent frame pacing is prioritized over maximum settings, dropping to High (79.4 FPS) provides a 26.0% FPS increase and a much more comfortable buffer. The verdict data lists all four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) as playable at 4K, but Ultra’s 63 FPS average is the only one near the danger zone.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run The Technomancer at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 63 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS playability threshold. The verdict data confirms Ultra is listed as a playable setting at this resolution.

Q: Is the Intel Core i3-12100F a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 in this game?

A: The data suggests minimal bottlenecking. The CPU ranks in the 68th percentile among all processors, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 893. At 1080p, the combo reaches 247.4 FPS on Low settings, indicating the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently even at high frame rates. The frame rate scaling between resolutions (247.4 FPS at 1080p Low vs 123.2 FPS at 4K Low) shows the GPU is the primary limiter.

Q: What is the difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High averages 146 FPS, while Ultra averages 114.7 FPS. The difference is 31.3 FPS, or a 21.4% reduction in frame rate when moving from High to Ultra. Both are well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 131st out of 3,696 tested combinations, placing it in the top 3.5% of all configurations. This is driven primarily by the RTX 5090, which sits in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs.

Q: Is the frame rate consistent across all settings at 1080p?

A: The data shows a range from 176 FPS (Ultra) to 247.4 FPS (Low). The spread of 71.4 FPS is relatively large, but even the lowest setting result (Ultra) is nearly 3x the 60 FPS playability threshold, so all settings deliver smooth performance.

Q: Which resolution offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate headroom?

A: 2560x1440 with Ultra settings provides 114.7 FPS, which is 54.7 FPS above the 4K Ultra result and 61.3 FPS below the 1080p Ultra result. This gives a 91.2% buffer above the 60 FPS threshold while still using maximum settings.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a clear shift in component importance as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are so high (176-247.4 FPS) that the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls and process game logic becomes more relevant. The i3-12100F’s 4.30 GHz boost clock and 12 MB L3 cache are sufficient to keep up, but the 3DMark 4-thread score of 2,859 and 8-thread score of 4,026 indicate a processor that is competent but not exceptional. The fact that 1080p Low (247.4 FPS) is only 18.2% faster than 1080p Ultra (176 FPS) suggests the GPU is still doing most of the heavy lifting, but the CPU’s single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,674) is adequate for these frame rates.

Moving to 2560x1440, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced. The frame rate drops by 11.4% from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (247.4 to 216.1 FPS) and by 34.8% at Ultra settings (176 to 114.7 FPS). This larger percentage drop at Ultra indicates the GPU’s shading and memory bandwidth (1.79 TB/s) are being taxed more heavily as pixel count increases. The RTX 5090’s 21,760 shading units and 176 ROPs are the determining factors here, not the CPU.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is almost entirely dominant. The frame rate drops by 43.0% from 1440p to 4K at Low settings (216.1 to 123.2 FPS) and by 45.1% at Ultra settings (114.7 to 63 FPS). These near-uniform percentage drops across presets confirm that the 4K resolution is purely GPU-limited. The CPU’s contribution at 4K is minimal, as evidenced by the fact that the difference between Low and Ultra at 4K (60.2 FPS) is smaller than at 1440p (101.4 FPS) or 1080p (71.4 FPS). This compression indicates the GPU is saturated regardless of settings. For this game, the RTX 5090 is the star of the show at all resolutions, but the i3-12100F is only a marginal factor even at 1080p, given the GPU’s immense compute resources.

The Verdict

This PC can run The Technomancer at every tested resolution and preset combination. The verdict data lists all four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) as playable at every resolution, with the 60 FPS threshold being cleared in all cases. At 1920x1080, the worst case is Ultra at 176 FPS, which is 116 FPS above the threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra delivers 114.7 FPS, a 54.7 FPS buffer. At 3840x2160, Ultra hits 63 FPS, which is playable but close to the limit; High at 79.4 FPS offers a more comfortable margin if frame pacing is a concern. The recommendation is straightforward: use Ultra settings at 1080p and 1440p without hesitation, and use Ultra at 4K only if you accept the slim 3 FPS margin. For most users, High at 4K provides a better balance of visual quality and stability. The i3-12100F’s 68th-percentile standing and the RTX 5090’s 92nd-percentile standing make this a lopsided pairing, but the data shows that lopsidedness does not hurt performance in this title — the GPU is so fast that the CPU never becomes the limiting factor, even at 1080p Low where frame rates approach 250 FPS.