The Technomancer

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for this combination of an Intel Core i5-9400 and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 shows a clear performance curve across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the system delivers consistently high frame rates. With Low settings, the average FPS reaches 172.3. Medium settings produce an average of 158 FPS, High settings 152.4 FPS, and Ultra settings 118.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial, with Ultra still holding well above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the system remains strong. Low settings average 149.1 FPS, Medium 118.7 FPS, High 99 FPS, and Ultra 75.5 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent, but every preset remains comfortably above the playable threshold. The difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is 23.5 FPS, which indicates that Ultra settings demand noticeably more from the hardware.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes. Low settings average 85.8 FPS, Medium 67 FPS, High 57.2 FPS, and Ultra 39.6 FPS. Only Low and Medium clear the 60 FPS playable line. High falls just short, and Ultra is far below. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is steep, especially at higher presets. At Ultra, the average FPS collapses by 35.9 FPS compared to 1440p Ultra. This is the only resolution where the system cannot handle all settings.

The data shows no recorded minimum or maximum FPS values. Only average FPS is available from the measurements. This limits the analysis to mean performance, but the averages alone reveal a consistent pattern: the system is strongest at 1080p, capable at 1440p, and constrained at 4K.

Across all three resolutions, the relative ordering of settings remains identical. Low is always fastest, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra slowest. The magnitude of the gap between Low and Ultra grows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the spread is 53.7 FPS. At 1440p, it is 73.6 FPS. At 4K, it expands to 46.2 FPS, though the absolute values are much lower. The data indicates that Ultra settings at 4K impose a severe penalty that no other preset at any resolution approaches.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1920x1080 according to the measurements?

A: Ultra settings deliver an average of 118.6 FPS at 1080p, which is the highest quality preset and still well above the 60 FPS threshold. The verdict by resolution lists Ultra as the best settings, with that average FPS.

Q: Can this system run the game at 3840x2160 with High settings?

A: No. The measured average FPS for High settings at 4K is 57.2, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Only Low and Medium presets are listed as playable at this resolution.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1920x1080 Ultra to 2560x1440 Ultra?

A: The average FPS drops from 118.6 at 1080p Ultra to 75.5 at 1440p Ultra, a decrease of 43.1 FPS. This represents a significant but expected cost of higher resolution.

Q: Which resolution and preset combination produces the highest average FPS in the recorded data?

A: The highest average FPS is 172.3, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the fastest recorded configuration in the measurements.

Q: What are the playable settings at 2560x1440?

A: All four presets are playable at 1440p. High, Low, Medium, and Ultra all clear the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra averaging 75.5 FPS and Low averaging 149.1 FPS.

Q: Is there a large difference between Medium and High settings at 4K?

A: Yes. Medium averages 67 FPS, while High averages 57.2 FPS, a difference of 9.8 FPS. This gap is enough to push High below the playable threshold while Medium remains playable.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded data allows for a clear interpretation of how the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 share the workload in The Technomancer. The game is an Action RPG from 2016, and the benchmark results show that the GPU becomes the dominant factor as resolution increases.

At 1920x1080, the CPU has more headroom relative to the GPU. The frame rates are high across all settings, with Low at 172.3 and Ultra at 118.6. The spread between presets is 53.7 FPS, which indicates that the GPU is the limiting component even at this resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain nearly flat regardless of graphics settings. The data shows clear scaling with settings, so the GPU is doing most of the work.

At 2560x1440, the GPU load increases further. Low averages 149.1 FPS, Medium 118.7, High 99, and Ultra 75.5. The gap between Low and Ultra is 73.6 FPS, larger than at 1080p. This widening spread confirms that the GPU is being pushed harder, while the CPU continues to feed frames adequately. The i5-9400, with six cores and six threads, has enough throughput to keep up at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the overwhelming bottleneck. Low averages 85.8 FPS, but Ultra drops to 39.6. The difference between Low and Ultra is 46.2 FPS, and the absolute values are much lower. The CPU is no longer the primary constraint; the RTX 4070 is simply unable to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra. The fact that even Low settings at 4K only reach 85.8 FPS, compared to 172.3 at 1080p Low, shows that the resolution scaling is dominated by GPU rasterization and shading work.

The CPU's role is more evident at lower resolutions and lower settings. At 1080p Low, the system is likely approaching the CPU's maximum frame delivery capability, given the i5-9400's benchmark scores. The recorded Cinebench R23 multicore score is 6629, and the Geekbench multicore score is 5141, placing this CPU in the 47th percentile among all CPUs. This is a mid-range processor, and while it handles the game adequately, the data does not suggest it can drive much beyond 172 FPS in this title.

The GPU, by contrast, sits in the 81st percentile among all GPUs. Its Passmark G3D score is 26927, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3854. This is a high-end graphics card, and the measured FPS reflects that at 1080p and 1440p. The GPU is the component that determines whether the game runs smoothly at higher resolutions and presets.

In summary, the CPU sets a ceiling for very high frame rates at 1080p, but the GPU dictates performance at 1440p and especially at 4K. For this game, the RTX 4070 is the more important component when targeting higher resolutions, while the i5-9400 is sufficient but not exceptional.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 1136 out of 3696 tested combinations in The Technomancer. This places the combo in the top 31 percent of all tested systems. The rank is a composite measure that reflects the overall FPS performance across the tested resolutions and settings.

Given that the GPU is in the 81st percentile among all GPUs, the combo rank is lower than the GPU percentile suggests. This is because the CPU, at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, holds the system back in certain scenarios. The i5-9400 is not a weak processor, but it is not a high-end one either. The data shows that the GPU is capable of far more than the CPU can consistently feed at low resolutions, which drags the overall combo rank down.

In practical terms, a rank of 1136 out of 3696 means there are many other combinations that perform better in this game. The top quartile of combos likely includes newer CPUs with higher single-thread and multi-thread performance. The Technomancer, released in 2016, may not be heavily threaded, so single-core performance matters. The i5-9400 has a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 935, which is moderate. The GPU, however, is strong enough to compensate at higher resolutions where the CPU has less influence.

The combo rank also reflects the fact that the system cannot handle 4K Ultra settings, which limits its overall score. At 4K, the average FPS for Ultra is 39.6, well below the playable threshold. This failure at the highest resolution and preset is a significant factor in the mid-tier rank.

Compared to the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 4070 performs similarly to a few other GPUs. The data shows that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile has an average score that is 1.3 percent higher than the RTX 4070. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 is 0.1 percent lower, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is 0.4 percent lower, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 is 1.3 percent lower. These differences are small, suggesting that the RTX 4070 is within a tight performance band near these GPUs.

The CPU's nearest rivals show a similar pattern. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 0.2 percent lower, the Intel Core i7-10710U scores 0.3 percent higher, the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 0.4 percent higher, and the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 0.4 percent lower. The i5-9400 sits comfortably in the middle of this group, with no significant deviations.

These rival comparisons indicate that the combo's rank is not driven by any single weak component, but rather by the combination of a mid-range CPU and a high-end GPU. The system is well balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the CPU's limitations become apparent at 4K, where the GPU is the primary constraint.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Based on the nearest rivals recorded for both the CPU and GPU, several hardware combinations would produce similar performance in The Technomancer. These alternatives are useful for understanding where this system sits in the broader hardware landscape.

For the CPU, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 has an average score that is 0.2 percent lower than the i5-9400. This means a system with that CPU and the same RTX 4070 would likely deliver nearly identical frame rates. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 0.3 percent higher, so it would be slightly faster in CPU-bound scenarios. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 0.4 percent higher, and the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 0.4 percent lower. All four alternatives are within a half a percent of the i5-9400, so any of them paired with the RTX 4070 would behave very similarly.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P4, which scores 0.1 percent lower than the RTX 4070. This is an extremely close match. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 0.4 percent lower, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 1.3 percent higher, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 scores 1.3 percent lower. The RTX 4080 Mobile is the most capable GPU in this group, but the 1.3 percent difference is minor in real-world terms.

Combining these CPU and GPU alternatives, a system with an Intel Core i7-10710U and an AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 would offer nearly the same performance as the i5-9400 and RTX 4070 combination. The CPU would be slightly faster, and the GPU would be slightly slower, resulting in a net effect that is close to neutral. Similarly, an Intel Core i3-10305 paired with a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile would have a slightly slower CPU but a faster GPU, again landing near the same overall performance.

The practical implication is that this combo is not unique in its performance envelope. Many mid-range CPUs from the same era, paired with high-end GPUs, will produce comparable results in The Technomancer. The game's performance is primarily GPU-driven at higher resolutions, so the GPU choice has more impact than the CPU choice.

For users considering upgrades or replacements, the data suggests that swapping the i5-9400 for one of its listed rivals would not change the gaming experience meaningfully. The same applies to swapping the RTX 4070 for one of its rivals. The system's performance is defined more by the GPU than the CPU, so a GPU upgrade would yield larger gains than a CPU upgrade.

The Verdict

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 can run The Technomancer, but the experience varies significantly by resolution and settings.

At 1920x1080, the system is fully playable at every preset. The best settings are Ultra, with an average FPS of 118.6. This is more than double the 60 FPS playable threshold, so the game runs smoothly and with maximum graphical quality. Even at Ultra, there is substantial headroom, meaning the system is not strained at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the system remains fully playable at every preset. Ultra averages 75.5 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. High averages 99 FPS, Medium 118.7, and Low 149.1. All presets deliver a comfortable margin above the playable line. The best settings are Ultra, and the system handles this resolution without any compromises.

At 3840x2160, the system is only partially playable. Low settings average 85.8 FPS and Medium settings average 67 FPS, both above the 60 FPS threshold. High settings fall to 57.2 FPS, just below the threshold, and Ultra settings drop to 39.6 FPS, well below. The verdict by resolution lists Low and Medium as playable, with Medium being the best playable setting at 67 FPS. For 4K gaming, users must accept Medium settings to maintain a playable frame rate.

The overall conclusion is that this combo is a strong choice for 1080p and 1440p gaming, capable of running The Technomancer at maximum quality with high frame rates. For 4K, the system can still play the game but requires a reduction to Medium settings for a smooth experience. The GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, while the CPU is sufficient for lower resolutions.

This system is not a top-tier performer, given its rank of 1136 out of 3696 combos, but it delivers a solid experience for the majority of gaming scenarios. Users targeting 1080p or 1440p will find no issues. Users targeting 4K should be prepared to lower settings to Medium to stay above 60 FPS.