The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload for the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Intel Arc B370 combination. The measured data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by its graphics processor, particularly at higher resolutions and detail settings. This analysis examines the benchmark results to understand the performance characteristics, limitations, and optimal usage scenarios for this specific hardware pairing.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in The Technomancer?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 71 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This represents the only configuration in the dataset that breaks the 60 FPS threshold, indicating a playable but limited performance ceiling.

Q: How does the Arc B370's GPU benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Arc B370 scores 1184 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. This places it 0.2% behind the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186), 0.5% behind the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190), and 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192). It is 1.4% ahead of the AMD FirePro M2000 (1168).

Q: What is the Ryzen 5 5500's percentile ranking among all CPUs?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 sits at the 73rd percentile when compared to all CPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score of 19593 is nearly identical to its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430, which scores 19617, a negligible 0.1% difference.

Q: Is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings consistent across all resolutions?

A: No, the performance penalty for Ultra settings grows with resolution. At 1080p, moving from Low (71 FPS) to Ultra (37 FPS) reduces performance by 34 FPS. At 1440p, the drop is 23 FPS (47 to 24 FPS). At 4K, the difference is 13 FPS (26 to 13 FPS), showing the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck before settings are even considered.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested systems for this game?

A: This particular combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Intel Arc B370 ranks 3408 out of 3696 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places it in the lower percentile of all systems, highlighting its significant performance limitations in this title.

Q: Does the CPU's multi-threaded performance suggest it can handle the game's logic?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500's Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 16429, while its single-core score is 2319. The 6-core, 12-thread processor shows solid multi-threading capabilities, but the data indicates the GPU, not the CPU, is the limiting factor in achieving higher frame rates in this game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for The Technomancer paints a clear picture of performance scaling across presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 71 FPS, which is the only setting that provides a truly smooth experience. The Medium preset drops to 55 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 22.5% performance hit for presumably better visuals. High settings yield 47 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS, making the higher presets less viable for consistent gameplay.

For 2560x1440, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset averages 47 FPS, which dips below the ideal 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings drop further to 36 FPS, and High is at 31 FPS. Ultra at 1440p is barely playable at 24 FPS. At 3840x2160, all presets struggle, with Low averaging 26 FPS and Ultra a mere 13 FPS.

Based on this data, the optimal experience for this hardware combo is the Low preset at 1080p, which is the only configuration that exceeds 60 FPS. For users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, the Medium preset at 1080p offers a compromise at 55 FPS, which remains relatively smooth. The data suggests that attempting to run higher settings at 1440p or 4K will result in a sub-optimal experience, with frame rates falling below 50 FPS across the board. The performance gap between presets is significant, but the resolution has a more dramatic impact on overall playability.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the dominant performance bottleneck in this system. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, indicating extremely low relative performance. The GPU's specifications, including 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs, are modest by modern standards. Its boost clock of 2400 MHz and pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s, alongside a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s, define its limited processing capabilities.

The Arc B370's memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning it relies on the system's DDR4 memory rather than dedicated VRAM. This shared memory architecture, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent," severely limits performance in memory-intensive scenarios. The GPU's FP32 compute power is 6.144 TFLOPS, which is low for contemporary gaming. This explains why the data shows such drastic frame rate drops when moving from 1080p to 4K, as the GPU struggles to fill the increasing pixel count.

The GPU's performance in The Technomancer is further contextualized by its nearest rivals, which are all older, lower-tier cards. Being within 1.4% of the AMD FirePro M2000 and 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon HD 7650M shows it is competing with hardware from a previous era. The measured FPS data confirms this: even at 1080p Low, the Arc B370 only manages 71 FPS, and this drops to 13 FPS at 4K Ultra. The GPU's 25W TDP and IGP form factor indicate it is designed for low-power, integrated usage, which aligns with its performance characteristics. This data strongly suggests that the Arc B370 is the primary constraint on the system's gaming performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Intel Arc B370 combination ranks 3408 out of 3696 total tested combos in The Technomancer. This places the system in the bottom 8% of all configurations, which firmly establishes it as a low-performance outlier. The rank reflects the combined capabilities of both components, but the data indicates the GPU is the primary driver of this poor ranking.

To understand the ranking, one must consider the CPU's relative strength. The Ryzen 5 5500 is at the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19593. This places it in the upper-middle range of processors, competitive with the Intel Core i5-12500 and i7-10700F. The CPU's performance is not the reason for the low combo rank. Instead, the GPU's 5th percentile ranking and 1184 average benchmark score drag the entire system down.

The disparity between the CPU's decent performance and the GPU's weak performance creates an imbalanced system. In The Technomancer, this imbalance manifests as a GPU-bound scenario where the processor's capabilities are largely untapped. The combo rank of 3408 of 3696 is a direct consequence of the Arc B370's inability to deliver adequate frame rates. The system's overall ranking would likely be significantly higher if paired with a more capable graphics solution. This data highlights the importance of balanced component selection, as a strong CPU cannot compensate for a severely underpowered GPU in gaming workloads.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 provides the processing foundation for this system. As a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, it offers a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. Its 65W TDP and 16 MB of L3 cache are typical for a mid-range desktop processor. The CPU's 3DMark scores show scaling from 836 in single-thread to 5411 in max-thread tests, indicating a healthy multi-threading capability.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and AI, while the GPU renders frames. The benchmark data suggests that the Ryzen 5 5500 is more than capable of this task, as the frame rates are consistently limited by the GPU. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16429 and single-core score of 2319 demonstrate solid performance. Its nearest CPU rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430, has an average score of 19617, a 0.1% difference, showing the 5500 is competitively positioned.

The processor's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s and dual-channel DDR4 support are adequate for gaming, though the shared memory architecture of the GPU may introduce additional latency. The fact that the system achieves its highest FPS at 1080p Low (71 FPS) suggests the CPU can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them at higher settings. The 12 threads allow for efficient handling of the game's multi-threaded tasks, but the data shows the CPU is never the bottleneck. The Ryzen 5 5500 performs its role effectively, but its potential is wasted in this configuration due to the GPU's limitations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for The Technomancer provides a detailed look at performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 71 FPS average, while Medium drops to 55 FPS (min 47, max 63). High settings yield 47 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS. This shows a clear linear progression of performance loss with increased graphical fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 47 FPS, which is a 33.8% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings at 1440p average 36 FPS (min 30, max 41), and High drops to 31 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 24 FPS, making it barely playable. The pattern shows that each settings tier costs roughly 5-9 FPS at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the performance is severely limited. The Low preset averages 26 FPS, which is a 63.4% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings average 20 FPS (min 17, max 23), and High drops to 17 FPS. The Ultra preset averages just 13 FPS, which is a slideshow-like experience. The data indicates that 4K gaming is not viable with this hardware, as even the lowest settings fail to reach 30 FPS.

The complete dataset shows a consistent pattern: the Arc B370 loses approximately 35-40% performance when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another 50-60% when moving from 1440p to 4K. The settings impact is also consistent, with Ultra typically costing 40-50% performance compared to Low at the same resolution. This data confirms the GPU is the limiting factor, as the frame rate drops are directly correlated with increased pixel count and shading complexity.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling analysis reveals a stark picture of the system's rendering capabilities. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 71 to 47, a 33.8% reduction. The same resolution change at High settings shows a drop from 47 to 31 FPS, a 34% reduction. This consistent percentage drop indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the workload scales linearly with pixel count.

The transition from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 shows an even more dramatic impact. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 47 to 26, a 44.7% reduction. At Medium settings, the drop is from 36 to 20 FPS, a 44.4% reduction. This increased drop percentage at 4K suggests the GPU is becoming fully saturated, and the memory bandwidth limitations of the shared system memory are exacerbating the performance decline.

This scaling pattern clearly identifies the GPU as the limiting component. The Ryzen 5 5500's performance is sufficient to handle the game's CPU demands at all resolutions, as evidenced by the fact that the frame rate drops are directly proportional to pixel count increases. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a plateau in FPS at lower resolutions where the CPU can't keep up. Instead, the FPS continues to rise as resolution decreases, indicating the GPU is always the constraint.

The data implies that the Arc B370's rendering pipeline, with its 1280 shading units and 20 ROPs, is overwhelmed by the pixel fill requirements of 4K. The system shared memory, with its system-dependent bandwidth, further limits performance at high resolutions. The resolution scaling results suggest that users should stay at 1080p for any playable experience, and even then, only Low or Medium settings are recommended. The 4K results, ranging from 13 to 26 FPS, are uniformly unplayable, confirming that this hardware combo is not designed for high-resolution gaming in The Technomancer.