The Technomancer

This analysis examines measured performance data for The Technomancer running on an Intel Core i7-14700K paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. The dataset includes average, minimum, and maximum frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets, along with comparative rankings against other hardware combinations. All figures cited below are drawn directly from the provided measurement pack.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all presets. The Low preset averages 321 FPS, which is the highest recorded figure in the entire dataset. Medium settings produce an average of 259 FPS, with a minimum of 220 FPS and a maximum of 298 FPS. High settings yield 221 FPS on average, while Ultra settings still maintain a robust 173 FPS average. The spread between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 148 FPS, indicating that the GPU has substantial headroom even when pushing the most demanding visual options.

Moving to 2560x1440, frame rates remain very high but show a predictable decline from the 1080p results. Low settings average 220 FPS, Medium settings average 169 FPS (with a minimum of 144 FPS and maximum of 195 FPS), High settings reach 144 FPS, and Ultra settings hold at 113 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 107 FPS at this resolution, suggesting that the GPU is still not the primary limiting factor, though the scaling pattern is consistent with increasing pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve steepens considerably. Low settings average 121 FPS, Medium settings average 93 FPS (minimum 79 FPS, maximum 107 FPS), High settings drop to 79 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 62 FPS on average. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 59 FPS, roughly half the delta seen at 1080p. This indicates that the GPU is becoming more constrained as resolution increases, though even the most demanding preset remains above the 60 FPS playability threshold.

The minimum and maximum frame rate data is only available for Medium settings at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the range spans 220 to 298 FPS, a variance of 78 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 144 to 195 FPS, a variance of 51 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range narrows to 79 to 107 FPS, a variance of 28 FPS. This tightening of the frame time distribution at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is working closer to its sustained capacity, reducing the peaks and valleys typical of less demanding workloads.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that maintains at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which achieves an average of 173 FPS. This is the highest quality setting available in the test suite, so there is no trade-off between visual fidelity and playability at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, Ultra settings again qualify as the best playable option, delivering an average of 113 FPS. This represents a 35% reduction compared to the 1080p Ultra result, but still leaves substantial margin above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, Ultra settings remain playable with an average of 62 FPS. This is the only resolution where the highest preset comes close to the playability boundary, yet it still clears the threshold by a narrow margin. The data shows that every preset at every resolution exceeds 60 FPS, so the "best settings" choice is always Ultra for this hardware combination.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions and presets reveals which component exerts more influence on frame rates. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 148 FPS, a 46% reduction from the Low preset value. At 2560x1440, the same comparison shows a 107 FPS difference, or a 49% reduction. At 3840x2160, the difference narrows to 59 FPS, a 49% reduction from Low to Ultra.

The consistent percentage drop from Low to Ultra across all three resolutions suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately even at 1080p, where the frame rates exceed 300 FPS on Low settings. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the absolute difference between presets would shrink more dramatically at lower resolutions, as the GPU would be waiting on processor instructions rather than rendering work.

Resolution scaling tells a different story. Comparing Low settings across resolutions, 1080p averages 321 FPS, 1440p averages 220 FPS, and 4K averages 121 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 31%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 45%. This accelerating decline with resolution indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more dominant as pixel count rises. At 1080p, the CPU still has influence; at 4K, the GPU is nearly always the limiting factor.

The same pattern holds for Ultra settings. From 1080p to 1440p, the average drops from 173 FPS to 113 FPS, a 35% reduction. From 1440p to 4K, it drops from 113 FPS to 62 FPS, a 45% reduction. The CPU's role is most visible at 1080p Ultra, where the 173 FPS result suggests that the Core i7-14700K's single-thread and multi-thread capabilities are sufficient to keep the RTX 5090 supplied with draw calls and state changes.

The Verdict

This PC can run The Technomancer at every resolution and preset combination tested, with no exceptions. The verdict by resolution confirms that all four settings — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — are playable at 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160.

At 1920x1080, the worst-case scenario is Ultra with an average of 173 FPS, which is nearly triple the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 113 FPS, still well above the playability line. At 3840x2160, Ultra averages 62 FPS, clearing the threshold by just 2 FPS. This means that even the most demanding configuration — 4K with maximum quality settings — is technically playable, though the margin is thin enough that any additional background load or driver overhead could potentially push it below 60 FPS in demanding scenes.

For users prioritizing stability over visual fidelity, the data shows that 4K Medium offers a more comfortable cushion with an average of 93 FPS and a minimum of 79 FPS. The 4K High preset, averaging 79 FPS, also provides a substantial buffer. The 4K Ultra result should be considered playable but not headroom-rich, whereas every other preset at every resolution offers at least 53 FPS of margin above the threshold.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals from the benchmark database, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X scores 69,515 in the average benchmark, which is 0.2% higher than the Core i7-14700K's 69,355 average. The AMD EPYC 9115 scores 69,288, a 0.1% difference. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX scores 69,875, 0.7% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F scores 69,996, 0.9% higher. These deltas are all within 1% of the Core i7-14700K, meaning any of these processors would produce near-identical frame rates in The Technomancer, assuming the GPU remains the same.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5090's nearest rivals show slightly larger performance gaps. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605, which is 0.3% lower than the RTX 5090's 79,842 average. The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396, a 0.6% deficit. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940, 1.1% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80,959, which is 1.4% higher than the RTX 5090. Swapping in any of these GPUs would change frame rates by a few percent at most, which in absolute terms at 4K Ultra could mean a shift of roughly 1-2 FPS.

For a practical comparison, the RTX 5090's percentile rank of 92 among all GPUs and the Core i7-14700K's rank of 94 among all CPUs indicate that both components sit near the top of their respective performance distributions. The nearest rivals listed above all fall within a narrow band of aggregate scores, so users migrating from any of these alternatives would see qualitatively similar behavior in this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 63rd out of 3,696 tested combinations in The Technomancer. This places the pairing in the top 1.7% of all configurations in the database. The rank reflects the measured FPS data across the full test matrix, not just the average scores of the individual components.

Given that both the CPU and GPU are near the top of their respective benchmark distributions, the 63rd rank is consistent with expectations. The top 62 combinations likely feature CPUs with even higher single-thread performance or GPUs with marginally better sustained clocks, though the delta in actual frame rates would be minimal given the 60 FPS threshold and the large margins this combo achieves at most settings.

The rank also underscores that The Technomancer, released in 2016, is not particularly demanding by current standards. The game's engine scales well with both CPU and GPU resources, but the RTX 5090's raw throughput is so far above the game's requirements that the limiting factor at 1080p is likely the CPU's ability to issue draw calls, while at 4K the GPU still has enough headroom to maintain 60+ FPS on Ultra.

FAQ

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

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 62 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS playability threshold by 2 FPS.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combination?

A: The highest average is 321 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 173 at 1920x1080 to 62 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 111 FPS or approximately 64%.

Q: Are there any settings at any resolution that fall below 60 FPS?

A: No. All twelve tested configurations (four settings across three resolutions) maintain average frame rates above 60 FPS, with the lowest being 62 FPS at 4K Ultra.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest rival, the Radeon Pro Vega 64X?

A: The Radeon Pro Vega 64X has an average benchmark score of 80,959, which is 1.4% higher than the RTX 5090's 79,842. This translates to a negligible difference in actual game frame rates.

Q: What frame rate range can be expected at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 169 FPS, with a minimum of 144 FPS and a maximum of 195 FPS, based on the available data for Medium settings at this resolution.