The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting performance profile for the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination. The benchmark data reveals that this pairing delivers exceptional frame rates across all tested configurations, but the optimal experience depends heavily on the resolution and the specific trade-off between visual fidelity and raw speed. The RTX 4090, with its massive 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, is clearly the dominant component, yet the Ryzen 5 3600 proves sufficient to feed it effectively, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU workload becomes more demanding.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to the High preset as the best overall experience for this combination, particularly at 1440p and 4K. At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 136.6 FPS, which is a substantial 29 FPS jump over the Ultra preset's 107.6 FPS, while still providing a significant visual upgrade over Medium's 145.5 FPS. The gap between High and Medium at this resolution is only 8.9 FPS (136.6 vs 145.5), indicating that High offers nearly all of the performance headroom of Medium with better image quality.

At 3840x2160, the High preset achieves 79.4 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while Ultra drops to 60.1 FPS—a marginal 0.1 FPS above that same threshold and not worth the visual gains for most users. The Low preset at 4K delivers 116.5 FPS, but the visual degradation is unnecessary given that High already provides a playable experience. For users with high-refresh-rate 1080p displays, the Medium preset at 166.4 FPS offers a better balance than High at 156.8 FPS, as the difference is only 10 FPS but Medium may reduce visual artifacts in fast-moving scenes. The data clearly shows that the Ultra preset is the least efficient choice at every resolution, with the largest FPS penalty relative to its visual improvement.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the primary driver of The Technomancer's performance, and its specifications explain the observed results. The GPU's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for this game's textures and geometry at any resolution. The base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz, combined with 16,384 shading units, allow the card to process the game's rendering workload with significant headroom. The benchmark scores reflect this capability: the GPU achieves a Passmark G3D score of 38,194 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223, with a percentile rank of 91 among all GPUs.

The RTX 4090's nearest rivals in the benchmark database—the NVIDIA Tesla T4, Tesla P40, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56, and NVIDIA Quadro P6000—all have average scores within 1.3% of the RTX 4090's 66,473 average, yet none of these are gaming-focused cards. This suggests that the RTX 4090's gaming performance is not directly comparable to these compute-oriented products, and its actual in-game advantage is far greater than the raw benchmark deltaPct values indicate. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are the specifications that translate into the high frame rates seen in the measured data, particularly at 1080p where the card is not bottlenecked by the CPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo in The Technomancer?

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 with High settings provides the best balance, delivering 136.6 FPS while maintaining visual quality. At 4K, the High preset still achieves 79.4 FPS, making it viable for users prioritizing resolution over frame rate.

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

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 156.8 at 1920x1080 to 79.4 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 77.4 FPS. This represents a 49.4% decrease in frame rate, indicating that the GPU becomes increasingly stressed at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using with this hardware?

A: No. The Ultra preset produces the lowest frame rates at every resolution, with 145.5 FPS at 1080p, 107.6 FPS at 1440p, and 60.1 FPS at 4K. The High preset is consistently 10-20 FPS faster and offers nearly identical visual quality for this game.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 3600 bottleneck the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: The data suggests limited bottlenecking. At 1080p, the frame rates range from 145.5 to 185.8 FPS, which are high but not extreme. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15,045 and single-core score of 2,124 indicate it can keep up with the GPU's demands, especially at 1440p and 4K where the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 259th out of 1,656 total tested combos, placing it in the top 15.6% of all configurations. This is a strong result given the CPU's 76th percentile ranking among all processors.

Q: What is the impact of Low settings on performance?

A: Low settings provide the highest frame rates at all resolutions—185.8 FPS at 1080p, 156.8 FPS at 1440p, and 116.5 FPS at 4K. The jump from Low to Medium at 4K is 24.9 FPS (116.5 to 91.6), while the jump from Medium to High is 12.2 FPS (91.6 to 79.4), showing diminishing returns as settings increase.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 60.1 on Ultra to 116.5 on Low, with Medium at 91.6 and High at 79.4. The progression shows a consistent pattern: Low is 24.9 FPS faster than Medium, which is 12.2 FPS faster than High, which is 19.3 FPS faster than Ultra. The total spread from Ultra to Low is 56.4 FPS, indicating that settings have a dramatic impact on 4K performance.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are significantly higher across the board. Ultra delivers 107.6 FPS, High hits 136.6 FPS, Medium reaches 145.5 FPS, and Low tops out at 156.8 FPS. The gap between Ultra and High is 29 FPS, which is the largest single-step difference at this resolution, while the gap between High and Medium is only 8.9 FPS. Low is just 11.3 FPS faster than Medium, suggesting that the GPU is approaching its efficiency ceiling at this resolution.

At 1920x1080, the performance is exceptionally high, with Ultra at 145.5 FPS, High at 156.8 FPS, Medium at 166.4 FPS, and Low at 185.8 FPS. The differences are more compressed than at higher resolutions: Ultra to High is 11.3 FPS, High to Medium is 9.6 FPS, and Medium to Low is 19.4 FPS. The 1080p results show that the CPU is beginning to play a more significant role, as the frame rates are high enough that the Ryzen 5 3600's limitations become apparent in the smaller gaps between settings.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals how the system's performance degrades as pixel count increases. At High settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 reduces the average FPS from 156.8 to 136.6, a drop of 20.2 FPS or 12.9%. Moving from 1440p to 4K reduces FPS from 136.6 to 79.4, a much steeper drop of 57.2 FPS or 41.9%. The total scaling from 1080p to 4K is a 77.4 FPS reduction, representing a 49.4% loss in performance.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar but slightly less pronounced. From 1080p (166.4 FPS) to 1440p (145.5 FPS) is a 20.9 FPS drop, and from 1440p to 4K (91.6 FPS) is a 53.9 FPS drop. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 74.8 FPS, or 44.9%. The Low settings show the most linear scaling: 185.8 FPS at 1080p drops to 156.8 FPS at 1440p (29 FPS) and then to 116.5 FPS at 4K (40.3 FPS), for a total reduction of 69.3 FPS or 37.3%.

The Ultra settings exhibit the worst scaling behavior. From 1080p (145.5 FPS) to 1440p (107.6 FPS), the drop is 37.9 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K (60.1 FPS), the drop is 47.5 FPS. The total reduction is 85.4 FPS, or 58.7%. This pattern indicates that at Ultra settings, the game becomes heavily GPU-bound, and the RTX 4090's architecture is less efficient at handling the combined load of high resolution and maximum visual effects. The smaller percentage drops at Low settings suggest that the CPU is more of a limiting factor at 1080p, while the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 plays a supporting but crucial role in this configuration. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 2 architecture, the CPU operates at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s of dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth provide adequate data throughput for the RTX 4090. The CPU's benchmark scores show a balanced profile: Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15,045 and single-core score of 2,124, with a Passmark multi-thread score of 17,700 and single-thread score of 2,562.

The CPU's 76th percentile rank among all processors indicates it is above average, but its nearest rivals—the Intel Core i5-11400, AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, AMD Ryzen 5 1600, and AMD EPYC 9274F—all have average scores within 0.3% of the Ryzen 5 3600's 18,129. This tight clustering suggests that the CPU's performance is not a differentiator in this game. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 185.8 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame rate capability. The fact that 1080p Ultra (145.5 FPS) is only 11.3 FPS slower than 1080p High (156.8 FPS) indicates that the GPU is not fully saturated at this resolution, and the CPU is beginning to limit performance. However, at 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with frame rates scaling more predictably with resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 259th out of 1,656 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places the configuration in the top 15.6% of all systems tested, which is a strong result given the CPU's mid-range positioning. The ranking reflects the GPU's dominance in the pairing: the RTX 4090's 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs is the primary driver of the combo's high placement, while the Ryzen 5 3600's 76th percentile ranking is sufficient to avoid becoming a significant bottleneck.

The combo's rank is particularly impressive when considering the CPU's nearest rivals. The Ryzen 5 3600's average benchmark score of 18,129 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-11400 (18,150, deltaPct -0.1%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (18,101, deltaPct 0.2%), meaning that swapping in any of these CPUs would likely produce very similar results in this game. The GPU, however, has more varied competition: its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733, deltaPct -0.4%) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67,097, deltaPct -0.9%), but these are not gaming-focused cards and would likely perform worse in actual gameplay. The combination's 259th rank out of 1,656 suggests that while there are 258 faster configurations, the vast majority of tested systems—1,397 total—are slower. This makes the Ryzen 5 3600 + RTX 4090 pairing a high-performing option for The Technomancer, capable of delivering excellent frame rates at all tested resolutions and settings.