The Technomancer

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT combination delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in The Technomancer, with 1080p performance ranging from 71 FPS at Ultra to 139 FPS at Low, while 4K Ultra drops to 26 FPS. The pairing ranks 2741 out of 3696 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the database, though the CPU’s six-core, twelve-thread configuration proves sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at most settings. Benchmark results indicate that the Radeon RX 5700 XT is the primary limiting factor as resolution climbs, with the gap between Low and Ultra settings widening from 68 FPS at 1080p to 24 FPS at 4K.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 brings six cores and twelve threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. This 5000-series processor uses the AM4 socket, supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration, and carries 16 MB of L3 cache. For a 2016 Action RPG like The Technomancer, the CPU’s single-thread performance matters more than its multi-thread capacity, and the data supports that: the Ryzen 5 5500 scores 836 in 3dmark single-thread and 2319 in Cinebench R23 single-core, while its multi-core scores are substantially higher at 5411 in 3dmark max threads and 16429 in Cinebench R23 multicore.

The CPU’s benchmark percentile against all CPUs sits at 73, meaning it outperforms roughly three-quarters of tested processors. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 at 19617 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core i5-12500 at 19668 (0.4% higher), and the Intel Core i7-10700F at 19499 (0.5% lower). These narrow deltas—all within 0.7%—indicate that the Ryzen 5 5500 sits in a crowded performance tier where no single competing chip holds a decisive advantage.

In The Technomancer specifically, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 139 FPS, which is high enough that the GPU still has headroom. The CPU’s six cores and twelve threads handle the game’s AI and physics workloads without dragging down frame rates, even at 1080p Ultra where the average sits at 71 FPS. The game’s release date of 2016-06-27 predates the CPU’s 2022-04-03 release, meaning the Ryzen 5 5500 has far more processing power than the game requires. The 3dmark 2-thread score of 1645 and 4-thread score of 3151 suggest that even older dual-core and quad-core workloads run comfortably, and The Technomancer is unlikely to stress all twelve threads simultaneously.

What the data does not show is any scenario where the CPU becomes the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra, the combo drops to 26 FPS, but the CPU’s benchmark scores remain unchanged—this is a GPU-bound situation. The Ryzen 5 5500’s 65 W TDP and 7 nm process node make it an efficient choice, but for this game, the CPU simply provides stable frame delivery while the GPU handles the graphical load. The passmark single-thread score of 3058 and passmark multithread score of 19330 reinforce that the CPU has ample compute for a title from this era, and the nearest rival deltas—none exceeding 0.7%—confirm that swapping to a similar-tier CPU would yield negligible FPS changes.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 + AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT combination ranks 2741 out of 3696 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the 74th percentile from the bottom—or roughly the 26th percentile from the top. This rank reflects the GPU’s mid-tier standing more than the CPU’s, as the RX 5700 XT’s percentile versus all GPUs is 59, while the CPU’s is 73. The combo rank of 2741 means that 955 other combinations performed worse, and 2740 performed better, placing this pairing firmly in the lower-middle segment of the database.

Looking at the GPU’s nearest rivals helps contextualize this rank. The AMD Radeon Pro 5600M scores 16351 on average, a 0.1% delta from the RX 5700 XT’s 16361. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell scores 16408 (-0.3%), and the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 scores 16415 (-0.3%). These are all within 0.9% of each other, meaning the RX 5700 XT is statistically tied with its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks. However, in actual game performance, the measured FPS numbers for this combo show that the RX 5700 XT’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The combo rank of 2741 also implies that many pairings with weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs outrank this setup, because The Technomancer’s frame rates scale more with GPU capability than CPU capability. For example, the RX 5700 XT’s 9.754 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 64 ROPs determine how many pixels it can push per second, and at 4K Ultra, the 26 FPS average confirms that the GPU is overwhelmed. The CPU’s high percentile (73) does not compensate for the GPU’s lower percentile (59) in this GPU-heavy title. The data shows that the combo’s rank is closer to the GPU’s percentile ranking than the CPU’s, and any attempt to improve this rank would require a stronger GPU, not a faster CPU.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern: as resolution increases, average FPS drops consistently across all settings, and the magnitude of that drop grows with higher quality presets. At Low settings, the combo goes from 139 FPS at 1080p to 91 FPS at 1440p to 50 FPS at 4K—a reduction of 48 FPS from 1080p to 1440p and another 41 FPS from 1440p to 4K. At Ultra settings, the same progression yields 71 FPS at 1080p, 47 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K—a drop of 24 FPS then 21 FPS.

The percentage drops tell a more nuanced story. From 1080p to 1440p, Low settings lose 34.5% of their frame rate (139 to 91), while Ultra loses 33.8% (71 to 47). From 1440p to 4K, Low loses 45.1% (91 to 50), and Ultra loses 44.7% (47 to 26). These proportional drops are remarkably consistent across settings, which indicates that the limiting component is the GPU at all resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would plateau at higher resolutions rather than continuing to fall, but instead the frame rate keeps dropping linearly with pixel count.

The pixel count increase from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is fourfold, yet the FPS at Low settings drops from 139 to 50, which is a 64% reduction—not the 75% reduction that a perfectly scalable GPU-bound scenario would produce. This suggests that some portion of the workload remains CPU-bound even at 4K, but the dominant trend is GPU limitation. The RX 5700 XT’s 2560 shading units and 160 TMUs are tasked with filling four times as many pixels at 4K, and its 121.9 GPixel/s pixel rate is insufficient for 60 FPS at that resolution. The 4K Medium row shows an average of 38 FPS with a min of 33 and max of 44, confirming that even mid-tier settings cannot sustain smooth frame rates at 4K.

The resolution scaling data also reveals that the GPU’s memory bandwidth becomes a factor at 4K. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is shared across the 256-bit bus, and at 4K, the larger textures and higher memory pressure cause the GPU to throttle. The 1440p results—60 FPS at High, 70 FPS at Medium, 91 FPS at Low—show a comfortable range where the GPU can maintain acceptable performance, but 4K pushes the RX 5700 XT beyond its designed capacity. The conclusion is unambiguous: the RX 5700 XT is the limiting component in this combo, and the Ryzen 5 5500’s CPU performance is never the primary constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings average 139 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 107 FPS with a min of 91 and max of 123. High settings average 91 FPS, and Ultra settings average 71 FPS. The 68 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p demonstrates that the GPU has enough headroom to handle higher quality presets, though Ultra still maintains a playable 71 FPS. The min and max values for Medium (91 min, 123 max) show a 32 FPS spread, indicating some frame-time variance but no severe stuttering.

At 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably. Low settings average 91 FPS, which matches the 1080p High result. Medium settings average 70 FPS with a min of 59 and max of 80. High settings average 60 FPS, and Ultra settings average 47 FPS. The 1440p results show that the GPU is starting to struggle with higher presets—Ultra at 47 FPS is borderline for smooth gameplay, and the 59 FPS minimum at Medium suggests occasional dips below 60 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 44 FPS, narrower than at 1080p because the GPU is becoming the limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the combo falls below playable thresholds for most presets. Low settings average 50 FPS, which is the only 4K preset that approaches acceptable smoothness. Medium settings average 38 FPS with a min of 33 and max of 44. High settings average 33 FPS, and Ultra settings average 26 FPS. The 4K results show that the RX 5700 XT cannot sustain 60 FPS at any preset, and even Low settings fall short of that target by 10 FPS. The 24 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 4K indicates that the GPU’s compute resources are saturated regardless of quality settings.

The full dataset shows a consistent hierarchy: Low > Medium > High > Ultra at every resolution. The measured rows include min and max values only for Medium settings—at 1080p (91 min, 123 max), 1440p (59 min, 80 max), and 4K (33 min, 44 max)—which suggests that Medium is the only preset where frame-time variance was recorded. The absence of min/max data for other presets does not imply they are smoother; it simply means the database only captured those values for Medium. The average FPS numbers are the primary metric, and they show a clear degradation pattern from 1080p to 4K.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run The Technomancer at 60 FPS at 1080p?

A: Yes, at all settings except Ultra. The measured data shows 139 FPS at Low, 107 FPS at Medium, and 91 FPS at High, all above 60 FPS. At Ultra, the average drops to 71 FPS, which still exceeds 60 FPS, so every 1080p preset is playable.

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

A: 2560x1440 is the highest resolution where the combo can maintain 60 FPS, but only at Low settings (91 FPS) and Medium settings (70 FPS). At High, the average drops to exactly 60 FPS, and at Ultra it falls to 47 FPS. For consistent 60+ FPS, 1080p is the safest choice, while 1440p Medium (70 FPS) offers a good balance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck. The measured FPS drops proportionally with resolution increases—from 139 FPS at 1080p Low to 50 FPS at 4K Low—which indicates GPU limitation. The Ryzen 5 5500’s benchmark scores (73rd percentile among CPUs) are higher than the RX 5700 XT’s (59th percentile among GPUs), and the FPS scaling pattern confirms that the graphics card is the limiting component.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems in The Technomancer?

A: It ranks 2741 out of 3696 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the database. The rank reflects the GPU’s mid-tier performance, as the RX 5700 XT’s nearest rivals—the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, and AMD Radeon PRO W7500—all score within 0.9% of it in synthetic benchmarks, yet none of these are top-tier gaming GPUs.

Q: What is the 4K performance like with this setup?

A: 4K performance is limited. At Low settings, the average is 50 FPS; at Medium, 38 FPS with a min of 33 and max of 44; at High, 33 FPS; and at Ultra, 26 FPS. No preset reaches 60 FPS at 4K, and even Low settings fall 10 FPS short of that target. The RX 5700 XT’s 8 GB of VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for smooth 4K gameplay in this title.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best balance of visual quality and frame rate?

A: At 1080p, Medium settings (107 FPS) provide a strong balance, with a min of 91 FPS ensuring no dips below 60. At 1440p, Medium (70 FPS) is the best choice, though the 59 FPS minimum means occasional sub-60 dips. High settings at 1440p (60 FPS) are also viable if visual quality is prioritized over a safety margin.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings preset depends on the target resolution and frame rate preference. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings deliver 71 FPS average, which is above 60 FPS and provides the highest visual quality available. However, Medium settings at 107 FPS offer a 36 FPS headroom over Ultra while still looking substantially better than Low. For players who prioritize smoothness over visual fidelity, 1080p High at 91 FPS is a strong middle ground—it maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS and avoids the potential frame-time variance seen at Medium (min 91 FPS) and Ultra (no min data recorded).

At 2560x1440, the choice narrows considerably. Medium settings average 70 FPS, which is the only preset that clears 60 FPS with any margin, though the 59 FPS minimum means it occasionally dips below. High settings at 60 FPS are technically playable but leave no headroom for demanding scenes. Low settings at 91 FPS provide the smoothest experience but sacrifice significant visual quality. The data suggests that 1440p Medium is the best compromise for this resolution, as it balances the 70 FPS average with a 59 FPS floor that is close to acceptable.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS, so the recommendation shifts to maximizing playability. Low settings at 50 FPS are the only option that approaches smooth gameplay, though the frame rate is still below the 60 FPS target. Medium settings at 38 FPS with a 33 FPS minimum are borderline playable but may feel stuttery. Ultra at 26 FPS and High at 33 FPS are not recommended for active gameplay. For 4K, the data indicates that this combo should run at Low settings or the resolution should be lowered to 1440p for a better experience.

The best overall experience for this combo in The Technomancer is 1080p Ultra at 71 FPS or 1080p High at 91 FPS, depending on whether visual fidelity or frame rate headroom is prioritized. At 1440p, Medium at 70 FPS is the recommended preset, and 4K should be avoided unless the user accepts Low settings at 50 FPS. The measured data shows that the RX 5700 XT has sufficient power for 1080p and 1440p gaming in this title, but 4K exceeds its capabilities.