The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting stress profile for the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti pairing. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is heavily influenced by graphics settings, with the GPU often acting as the primary bottleneck, particularly at higher resolutions and presets. The data suggests a clear hierarchy where the CPU has ample headroom, while the GPU’s capabilities define the performance envelope.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 demonstrates a significant performance drop, clearly indicating the growing load on the GPU. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 94.4 at 1080p to 60.6 at 1440p, a reduction of 33.8 FPS. Moving to 4K, the average further drops to 35.4 FPS, illustrating the steep cost of rendering at that resolution. This pattern is consistent across all presets, with the most dramatic scaling seen at Ultra settings, which plummet from 70.6 FPS at 1080p to 27.8 FPS at 4K.

The scaling behavior suggests that the RTX 3060 Ti is the limiting component in this configuration. The frame rate drop from 1080p to 1440p is substantial, but the leap to 4K is even more punishing, showing that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are being saturated. At 1080p, the CPU is more capable of feeding frames, but as resolution increases, the GPU’s rendering workload dominates, making the system’s performance almost entirely dependent on the graphics card. The data implies that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo in The Technomancer if aiming for smooth gameplay, while 4K will require compromises in settings to achieve playable frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

Analyzing the measured rows, the Medium preset appears to offer the most balanced experience, particularly at higher resolutions. At 2560x1440, Medium yields an average of 71.2 FPS, which is a solid improvement over High’s 60.6 FPS and much more fluid than Ultra’s 50.7 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is modest (from 95.4 to 71.2 FPS), suggesting that the visual fidelity gains from Medium are worth the performance cost.

At 1920x1080, Medium produces 112.4 FPS, which is excellent for a smooth experience, while High drops to 94.4 FPS. The data indicates that for users with a 1080p display, the High preset is a viable choice, offering a significant visual upgrade over Medium for a manageable performance hit. However, for 1440p users, Medium is the sweet spot, providing a high frame rate without the steep penalties seen at High or Ultra. At 4K, even Low settings only manage 49.5 FPS, so no preset guarantees a consistently smooth experience at that resolution, making Medium’s 38.9 FPS a borderline but potentially playable option for those prioritizing visual quality.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 5500 and RTX 3060 Ti ranks 1141 out of 1656 combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the lower-middle tier of all tested systems, indicating that while it is not a top-tier performer for this specific title, it is also far from the bottom. The rank reflects the game’s demanding nature on the GPU, where the RTX 3060 Ti’s performance is a limiting factor.

The CPU’s benchmark percentile is 79, showing it is a strong processor, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, performs nearly identically with a deltaPct of -0.1. Similarly, the GPU’s percentile is 69, with its closest competitor, the AMD Radeon RX 6700M, also being virtually tied in performance (deltaPct of -0.2). This suggests that the combo’s rank is not due to a weak individual component, but rather the game’s specific optimization and the balance between the two. The data implies that a more powerful GPU would be the primary upgrade path to significantly improve this ranking, as the CPU appears to have sufficient headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The detailed measurements provide a comprehensive view of the system’s capabilities. At 1920x1080, the performance is strong across the board, with Low settings achieving 143.4 FPS, Medium at 112.4 FPS, High at 94.4 FPS, and Ultra at 70.6 FPS. This shows a clear linear scaling with settings, where the game is well-optimized for lower resolutions and the CPU can keep up with the GPU’s output.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease as expected, with Low hitting 95.4 FPS, Medium at 71.2 FPS, High at 60.6 FPS, and Ultra at 50.7 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 30-40% across all settings, indicating that the GPU is starting to become the bottleneck. At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more challenging, with Low managing 49.5 FPS, Medium at 38.9 FPS, High at 35.4 FPS, and Ultra dropping to 27.8 FPS. The 4K results show that the RTX 3060 Ti struggles to maintain playable frame rates, especially at higher presets, reinforcing the conclusion that this resolution is beyond the comfortable range for this combo.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the defining component in this system’s gaming performance. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is crucial for handling high-resolution textures and complex scenes. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed, and the GPU has a boost clock of 1665 MHz, with a base clock of 1410 MHz.

The data shows that the GPU’s performance is the primary factor in the frame rate differences between resolutions. The 4K results, particularly the 27.8 FPS at Ultra, indicate that the card’s compute power (16.20 TFLOPS FP32) and memory bandwidth are insufficient for the demands of the game at that resolution with maximum settings. The GPU’s benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 20349, place it at the 69th percentile, which is respectable but not top-tier. Its nearest rivals, like the AMD Radeon RX 6600, are virtually identical in performance, confirming that the RTX 3060 Ti is a solid mid-range card that excels at 1080p and 1440p but is challenged by 4K.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 provides a robust foundation for this gaming setup. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, it offers strong multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16429. The CPU’s base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.20 GHz, combined with 16 MB of L3 cache, ensure that it can handle the game’s logic and physics calculations without becoming a bottleneck.

The benchmark data supports this, as the CPU’s percentile of 79 and its near-identical performance to the Intel Core i5-12500 (deltaPct of -0.1) indicate a capable processor. In The Technomancer, the CPU’s role appears to be secondary to the GPU, as the frame rates scale more with resolution and settings than with CPU-bound tasks. Even at 1080p with Low settings, where the CPU would typically be more stressed, the system achieves 143.4 FPS, suggesting that the Ryzen 5 5500 has ample headroom. The CPU’s 65W TDP and 7nm process node also contribute to efficient operation, ensuring that it does not throttle and can consistently feed the GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 94.4.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 27.8, which is not ideal for smooth gameplay.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best balance at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 yields an average of 71.2 FPS, offering a good balance between visual quality and performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, as frame rates drop significantly with increased resolution and settings, while the CPU shows strong benchmark performance.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 1141 out of 1656 tested combinations for The Technomancer.

Q: Does the GPU have enough memory for 4K gaming?

A: The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is sufficient for the game, but the overall GPU performance at 4K, as shown by the 49.5 FPS at Low settings, is the limiting factor.