The Technomancer

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the Intel Arc B570 occupies a mid-pack position in the database for The Technomancer, ranking 2972 out of 3696 tested CPU-GPU combinations. This places the combo in the lower half of all systems tested, but the percentile data for the individual components tells a more nuanced story. The CPU sits in the 90th percentile against all processors, while the GPU lands in the 65th percentile against all graphics cards. That gap suggests the pairing is heavily balanced toward the processor, which becomes relevant when analyzing frame rates across the three tested resolutions. The overall rank of 2972 indicates that while this system is not among the elite performers for this title, it still delivers playable results in several configurations, as the measured FPS data confirms.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2972 out of 3696 places it roughly in the 80th percentile of tested systems, yet the actual frame rates tell a more encouraging story. At 1920x1080, the system clears the 60 FPS threshold at every preset, including Ultra with an average of 62 FPS. That performance is consistent with a GPU that sits at the 65th percentile and a CPU at the 90th percentile. The data suggests that for a 2016 Action RPG like The Technomancer, this combination of a high-end 14-core processor and a mid-range graphics card is sufficient for smooth gameplay at standard resolutions. However, the rank drops sharply at higher resolutions, where the GPU becomes the limiting factor. At 2560x1440, only Low and Medium settings remain playable, and at 3840x2160, no preset reaches the 60 FPS threshold. The rank of 2972 primarily reflects the system's performance ceiling at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS falls to 22.

CPU and GPU Roles

The division of labor between the Intel Core i5-14600KF and the Intel Arc B570 becomes clear when examining the scaling between resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the system shows strong headroom: moving from Low (121 FPS) to Ultra (62 FPS) represents a 49% drop, indicating that the GPU is being pushed harder as settings increase. The CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads, combined with its 90th percentile standing, are more than adequate to feed the GPU at this resolution. At 2560x1440, the scaling reveals a shift: Low runs at 79 FPS, Medium at 61 FPS, and High drops to 52 FPS. The step from Medium to High costs 9 FPS, while the step from Low to Medium costs 18 FPS. This non-linear behavior suggests the GPU's 10 GB of GDDR6 memory and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth begin to strain at higher presets. At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck: Low produces 44 FPS, Medium 33 FPS, and High 29 FPS, with Ultra falling to 22 FPS. The CPU's 3.50 GHz base and 5.30 GHz boost clocks are unlikely to be the constraint here, as even the single-core performance benchmarks (462 in Cinebench R15 single-core) remain strong. The data implies that the Arc B570, with its 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, simply lacks the raw fill rate for 4K gaming in this title, regardless of the CPU's capability.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for both components, several systems would behave nearly identically to this pairing. The CPU's closest competitor is the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, with an average benchmark score of 49228 versus the i5-14600KF's 49394, a delta of just 0.3%. A system swapping in that AMD processor would produce virtually indistinguishable frame rates in The Technomancer. Similarly, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196, delta 0.4%) and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48995, delta 0.8%) fall within a 1% performance band. On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile matches the Arc B570 almost exactly, with a delta of 0.1% (20534 vs 20556). This means a laptop with an RTX 3070 Mobile would deliver nearly the same FPS as this desktop Arc B570. The Intel Arc A750 is also a near-identical match, with a delta of -0.1% (20582), suggesting that a system with the previous-generation Arc card would perform within a fraction of a percent. The data also includes the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (delta 0.4%) and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (delta -0.5%), both of which are older mobile parts that surprisingly land in the same performance neighborhood. For gamers looking at upgrade paths, any of these alternatives would provide a baseline for comparison, though the desktop Arc B570's 10 GB memory capacity and 160-bit bus width give it a slight edge in texture-heavy scenes.

The Verdict

Benchmark results indicate that this PC can run The Technomancer, but the playable territory depends heavily on resolution. At 1920x1080, the system clears the 60 FPS threshold at every preset: Ultra averages 62 FPS, High 80 FPS, Medium 93 FPS, and Low 121 FPS. This makes 1080p the sweet spot, with Ultra settings providing a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS playability threshold. At 2560x1440, the verdict is more conditional. The data shows that only Low (79 FPS) and Medium (61 FPS) are playable, while High (52 FPS) and Ultra (41 FPS) fall short. The best playable setting at 1440p is Medium, with an average FPS of 61, just barely clearing the threshold. At 3840x2160, the system cannot maintain 60 FPS at any preset. The playable settings list is empty, and even Low settings only produce 44 FPS on average. For 4K gaming, this combination is not viable for The Technomancer without significant compromises. In summary, the system is fully playable at 1080p with all settings maxed, playable at 1440p with Medium settings, and not playable at 4K.

FAQ

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

A: Yes. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 62, which is above the 60 FPS playability threshold.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 2560x1440?

A: Medium settings provide an average of 61 FPS at 1440p, making it the highest preset that stays at or above 60 FPS.

Q: Is 4K gaming possible with this CPU and GPU combo?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 44 at Low settings, and no preset reaches the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to the Arc A750 in this game?

A: The two GPUs have nearly identical average benchmark scores (20556 for B570 vs 20582 for A750), with a delta of only -0.1%, so frame rates would be virtually the same.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: Low settings run at 121 FPS, while Ultra runs at 62 FPS, representing a 59 FPS drop when moving from the lowest to highest preset.

Q: Does the CPU matter more than the GPU at 4K?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the GPU is the bottleneck—the Arc B570's performance limits all settings to below 60 FPS, while the CPU's 90th percentile standing is not the limiting factor.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS, so the best playable setting is not applicable. The highest average FPS at 4K is 44 at Low settings, but this falls short of the playable threshold. At 2560x1440, the most demanding preset that maintains 60 FPS is Medium, with an average of 61 FPS. This setting provides a 1 FPS margin over the threshold, so it is technically playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays above 60 FPS is Ultra, which averages 62 FPS. This is the recommended configuration for the best visual quality while maintaining playability. For players who prefer a larger safety margin, High settings at 1080p offer 80 FPS, which is a 29% improvement over Ultra while still providing high visual fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern across all three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 121 FPS at Low settings, 93 FPS at Medium (with a min of 79 and max of 107), 80 FPS at High, and 62 FPS at Ultra. The min/max data for Medium shows a 28 FPS range, indicating some scene-to-scene variability. At 2560x1440, the averages are 79 FPS at Low, 61 FPS at Medium (min 52, max 70), 52 FPS at High, and 41 FPS at Ultra. The 1440p Medium range spans 18 FPS, which is tighter than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is working closer to its limits. At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 44 FPS at Low, 33 FPS at Medium (min 28, max 39), 29 FPS at High, and 22 FPS at Ultra. The 4K Medium range is just 11 FPS, showing that the system is heavily constrained at this resolution. Notably, only the Medium settings across all resolutions include min/max data, which provides a partial picture of frame time consistency. The data shows that the system's performance scales predictably with resolution, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is steep: the Ultra preset falls from 41 FPS to 22 FPS, a 46% reduction. This reinforces the conclusion that the Arc B570 is best suited for 1080p and entry-level 1440p gaming in The Technomancer.