The Technomancer

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rate data for The Technomancer with the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and Intel Arc B390 shows a clear pattern: playable performance exists only at 1080p, and even there, it depends heavily on the selected quality preset.

At 3840x2160, the results are consistently below playable thresholds. High settings produce an average of 19 FPS. Low settings improve the average to 28 FPS. Medium settings deliver an average of 22 FPS, with a minimum of 19 FPS and a maximum of 25 FPS. Ultra settings drop the average to 15 FPS. No resolution at 4K offers anything close to a smooth experience, and the spread between presets is narrow, ranging from 15 to 28 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance improves but still falls short of the 60 FPS threshold. High settings average 34 FPS. Low settings reach 52 FPS. Medium settings average 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS. Ultra settings average 26 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 26 FPS, which indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution, as reducing graphical load yields meaningful gains.

At 1920x1080, the picture changes. Low settings average 79 FPS, which comfortably exceeds the playable threshold. Medium settings average 61 FPS, with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS. High settings average 52 FPS, and Ultra settings average 40 FPS. The measured data shows that Low and Medium presets at 1080p are the only configurations that clear 60 FPS on average. The Medium preset is the best playable setting, averaging 61 FPS with a minimum above 52 FPS.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results indicate that the Intel Arc B390 is the dominant performance constraint across all resolutions. The GPU's percentile ranking versus all GPUs is 9, which places it in the lowest decile of recorded hardware. In contrast, the CPU ranks in the 90th percentile versus all CPUs, showing a massive imbalance between the two components.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are uniformly low across all presets. The delta between Low and Ultra is only 13 FPS, which suggests that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is saturated. At 2560x1440, the delta between Low and Ultra widens to 26 FPS, but the absolute numbers remain below 60 FPS. This scaling indicates that the GPU's raw throughput, measured at 7.680 TFLOPS FP32, is insufficient for higher resolutions regardless of CPU performance.

At 1920x1080, the CPU begins to matter more. The jump from Ultra (40 FPS) to Low (79 FPS) shows that reducing GPU load allows the system to approach the CPU's capability ceiling. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and single-core score of 4648 indicate strong processing power, which is why the system can reach 79 FPS at Low settings. The fact that High settings drop to 52 FPS while Medium holds at 61 FPS suggests that the GPU's shading units (1536) and texture units (48) are the bottleneck once graphical complexity increases.

The data shows that the GPU's memory bandwidth is system dependent, and with shared system memory, there is no dedicated VRAM allocation. This architecture likely contributes to the steep performance drops when moving from Medium to High settings at 1080p. The CPU, with 14 cores and 14 threads, is not the limiting factor in any measured configuration; rather, the GPU's 9th percentile ranking dictates the outcome.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination run The Technomancer at 1080p with playable frame rates?

A: Yes. The measured data shows Low settings average 79 FPS, and Medium settings average 61 FPS. Both exceed the 60 FPS playable threshold. High and Ultra settings do not clear 60 FPS, averaging 52 FPS and 40 FPS respectively.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1080p?

A: Medium is the best playable setting. It averages 61 FPS, with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS. This provides the highest visual quality while maintaining an average above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is 1440p playable with this hardware?

A: No. The verdict by resolution lists no playable settings at 2560x1440. The best result is Low settings at 52 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium averages 40 FPS, and High averages 34 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, scores 1463, which is 1.3% lower. The GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% lower), the GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% lower), and the GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% lower). The B390 is slightly ahead of all four, but the differences are small.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU in this game?

A: No. The CPU is far more capable than the GPU. The Core Ultra 5 245 ranks in the 90th percentile versus all CPUs, while the Arc B390 ranks in the 9th percentile versus all GPUs. The frame rate scaling between resolutions and presets indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck in every measured configuration.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum frame rates at Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum is 52 FPS and the maximum is 70 FPS. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 34 FPS and the maximum is 46 FPS. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum is 19 FPS and the maximum is 25 FPS.

The Verdict

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and Intel Arc B390 can run The Technomancer, but only at 1920x1080 with Low or Medium presets. The measured data shows that the 1080p Medium preset is the best playable configuration, averaging 61 FPS. Low settings average 79 FPS, providing additional headroom for those who prioritize smoothness over visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, no settings clear 60 FPS. The closest is Low at 52 FPS, which is below the playable threshold. High and Ultra at 1440p average 34 FPS and 26 FPS respectively, making them unsuitable for comfortable gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the results are far below playable. Low settings average 28 FPS, and Ultra drops to 15 FPS. This resolution is not viable with this hardware combination.

The verdict by resolution confirms this analysis: 1920x1080 supports Low and Medium as playable settings, with Medium as the best setting at 61 FPS average. Both 1440p and 4K have no playable settings. Users who own this combination should target 1080p Medium for the best balance of visual quality and frame rate. Those who require 1440p or higher will need a more powerful GPU.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for both components, the frame rate behavior of this combo would closely match systems using similar hardware.

For the CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G, scores 49196, which is 0.4% higher. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 scores 49228 (0.5% higher), the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H scores 48698 (0.6% lower), and the Intel Core i5-14600K scores 48618 (0.8% lower). Since all four rivals are within 0.8% of the Core Ultra 5 245's average score, any system with these CPUs would produce identical frame rates in this game, given the GPU bottleneck.

For the GPU, the Intel Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, scores 1463, which is 1.3% lower. The GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% lower), the GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% lower), and the GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% lower). These rival GPUs are all extremely close in performance, so swapping the B390 for any of them would result in nearly identical frame rates in The Technomancer. The differences of 1.3% to 2.7% are negligible in practical terms; the measured FPS values would likely shift by less than one frame per second.

A system with the Core Ultra 5 245 and any of these rival GPUs would behave almost identically to the tested combination. The CPU's performance headroom means that even if the GPU were swapped for a slightly faster model, the frame rates would remain GPU-limited. Conversely, pairing the B390 with a weaker CPU would eventually shift the bottleneck, but none of the listed CPU rivals are meaningfully weaker than the Core Ultra 5 245.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and Intel Arc B390 combination ranks 3285 out of 3696 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places it in the bottom 11% of all recorded configurations, which is consistent with the GPU's low percentile ranking.

The rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU. The Arc B390's 9th percentile standing among all GPUs means that most other graphics cards outperform it. The CPU, by contrast, is in the 90th percentile, so the processor is not contributing to the low rank.

In practical terms, this rank means that the vast majority of tested combinations deliver higher frame rates in this game. The 1080p Medium result of 61 FPS is achievable because the game is from 2016 and has modest requirements, but the hardware combination still only barely clears the playable threshold. At higher resolutions, the combo falls far behind the field.

The 411 combos ranked below this one would include systems with even weaker GPUs, such as older integrated graphics or entry-level discrete cards from several generations ago. The B390's rivals, including the GT 710 and GT 625 OEM, would likely sit in this lower range. For users with this specific CPU and GPU pairing, the data indicates that The Technomancer is playable only at 1080p with reduced settings, and that any upgrade to the GPU would yield substantial improvements across all resolutions.