The Technomancer

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Core i9-14900K sits in a tightly contested group of high-end desktop processors. Its average benchmark score of 79,097 places it within 1.7% of several comparable chips. The nearest alternative is the Intel Core i9-14900KF, which scores 79,371, a margin of only 0.3%. Users swapping between these two parts would see virtually identical application performance. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus trails by 0.6% with a score of 79,574, while the AMD EPYC 7413 posts 80,041, a 1.2% advantage. On the slower side, the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77,740, which is 1.7% behind. The data shows the i9-14900K is bracketed by CPUs that are, for practical purposes, equals in multi-threaded workloads.

The Intel Arc B370 is a vastly different story. This integrated GPU, built on the Xe3-LPG architecture with the Panther Lake chip, scores just 1,184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. That places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs in the database, a remarkably low position. Its nearest rivals are all legacy discrete parts. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scores 1,186, a 0.2% difference. The ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1,190, 0.5% ahead. The AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 1,192, 0.7% ahead, and the AMD FirePro M2000 trails at 1,168, 1.4% behind. In practical terms, anyone expecting desktop-class gaming performance from this chip should calibrate expectations against these older mobile and entry-level parts. The Arc B370 is not competing with modern discrete GPUs.

The Verdict

Can this PC run The Technomancer? The recorded data says yes, but only at 1080p with the lowest settings. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers an average of 71 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS playable threshold. No other configuration achieves that mark. Medium settings at 1080p drop to 55 FPS average, just below the threshold. High settings at 1080p produce 47 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 37 FPS. At 2560x1440, every preset fails to reach 60 FPS: Low averages 47 FPS, Medium 36 FPS, High 31 FPS, and Ultra 24 FPS. At 3840x2160, performance collapses entirely, with Low averaging 26 FPS, Medium 20 FPS, High 17 FPS, and Ultra just 13 FPS. The verdict is unambiguous: this system is playable only at 1080p Low, and anything more demanding requires a different GPU.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results indicate that the Intel Arc B370 is the dominant constraint in this pairing. The i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor with a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, a 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs, and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39,399.5. It is not the bottleneck. The Arc B370, by contrast, sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. The scaling between resolutions confirms this. Moving from 1920x1080 Low at 71 FPS to 2560x1440 Low at 47 FPS is a 33.8% drop, and further to 3840x2160 Low at 26 FPS is another 44.7% drop. These are classic signs of a GPU-bound system, where pixel throughput is the limiting factor.

The preset scaling reinforces the same conclusion. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low to Medium costs 16 FPS (71 to 55), Medium to High costs 8 FPS (55 to 47), and High to Ultra costs 10 FPS (47 to 37). At 2560x1440, the same progression goes 47, 36, 31, and 24 FPS. At 3840x2160, it goes 26, 20, 17, and 13 FPS. The CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at all settings, but the GPU cannot translate that into high frame rates at higher resolutions. For this game, the GPU is the deciding factor at every resolution. The i9-14900K's role is to ensure the GPU is never starved, which it does effortlessly given its multi-threaded and single-threaded benchmark scores. At 1080p, where the GPU load is lighter, the CPU's strength becomes more relevant, but even then the GPU still limits the final frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database's ranking of tested CPU and GPU combinations for The Technomancer, this pairing lands at 3,408 out of 3,696 combos. That places it in the bottom 7.8% of all tested systems. The rank reflects the Arc B370's low standing in the GPU percentile (5th) rather than the CPU's high standing (95th). The i9-14900K is a top-tier processor, but the integrated GPU drags the combined result down. The data shows that pairing a flagship CPU with a low-end integrated GPU produces a system that is competitive only with older, weaker hardware. For a game like The Technomancer, released in 2016, this rank is still low because the GPU simply cannot deliver playable frame rates at higher resolutions or settings. The rank is a direct consequence of the GPU's 5th percentile performance, not the CPU's capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the recorded measurements show a clear hierarchy. Low settings average 71 FPS with no recorded minimum or maximum. Medium settings average 55 FPS, with a minimum of 47 FPS and a maximum of 63 FPS. High settings average 47 FPS. Ultra settings average 37 FPS. Only Low clears the 60 FPS threshold. Medium comes close but falls short by 5 FPS, and its minimum of 47 FPS indicates noticeable dips below the average.

At 2560x1440, all settings fail the 60 FPS threshold. Low averages 47 FPS. Medium averages 36 FPS, with a minimum of 30 FPS and a maximum of 41 FPS. High averages 31 FPS. Ultra averages 24 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 11 FPS, and the gap between Medium and High is 5 FPS. The minimum at Medium, 30 FPS, is exactly half the playable threshold, which would result in visibly stuttery gameplay during demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, performance is marginal at best. Low averages 26 FPS. Medium averages 20 FPS, with a minimum of 17 FPS and a maximum of 23 FPS. High averages 17 FPS. Ultra averages 13 FPS. None of these are close to playable. The Medium preset's minimum of 17 FPS is below the average of the Low preset, indicating that even the least demanding settings at 4K are far from acceptable. The data shows a consistent pattern: each resolution step up halves the available headroom, and each settings step up costs a fixed percentage of frame rate.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best settings that maintain at least 60 FPS average are Low, with an average of 71 FPS. This is the only playable configuration in the entire dataset. Medium at 1080p averages 55 FPS, which is below the threshold, so it cannot be recommended for a consistent 60 FPS experience. The minimum of 47 FPS at Medium further confirms that dips below 60 FPS would be frequent.

At 2560x1440, no settings reach 60 FPS. The best available average is Low at 47 FPS, which is 13 FPS short of the threshold. Medium drops to 36 FPS, High to 31 FPS, and Ultra to 24 FPS. None of these are suitable for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, no settings reach 60 FPS either. Low averages 26 FPS, Medium 20 FPS, High 17 FPS, and Ultra 13 FPS. The best configuration, Low, still delivers less than half the required frame rate. The verdict from the database is that this system is limited to 1080p Low for The Technomancer. Any attempt to raise the resolution or the preset will result in frame rates below the playable threshold. The i9-14900K has ample headroom, but the Arc B370 cannot push the pixels needed for higher settings.