The Technomancer

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

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 brings six cores and twelve threads to this pairing, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. This is a Zen 3 architecture chip on the AMD Socket AM4 platform, built on a 7 nm process. The processor carries 16 MB of L3 cache, with 512 KB of L2 per core and 64 KB of L1 per core. Its memory bandwidth is rated at 51.2 GB/s over dual-channel DDR4.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU shows a generally balanced profile. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16429 and single-core score of 2319 indicate that the chip can handle both heavily threaded workloads and single-thread-sensitive tasks reasonably well. The 3DMark scores follow a similar pattern: 5386 for 16 threads, 4593 for 8 threads, 3151 for 4 threads, and 836 for single-thread. The PassMark multi-thread score of 19330 and single-thread score of 3058 reinforce this picture.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 5500 sits in a tight cluster. The Intel Core i5-12500 posts an average score of 20897, which is a delta of -0.1% from the Ryzen's average benchmark score of 20875. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE also shows a -0.1% delta at 20900. The AMD EPYC 7J13 is 0.1% ahead at 20845, while the Intel Core i5-12600T trails by 0.2% at 20917. These differences are negligible in practice, meaning the CPU's performance class is well established.

For The Technomancer, the 12-thread configuration matters because the game can utilize multiple cores for physics and AI calculations. The measured FPS data shows that at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the frame rate reaches 222.5 FPS average, which suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is only 52 FPS (222.5 vs 170.5), indicating that the game's engine does not scale dramatically with CPU load across these settings. The CPU's 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it comfortably in the upper tier for gaming workloads.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a 40-series card built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process. It carries 24 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 384-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed. The core operates at a base clock of 2235 MHz and boosts to 2520 MHz.

The GPU's compute resources are substantial: 16384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 render output units. It also includes 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores. The pixel rate is 443.5 GPixel/s, and the texture rate reaches 1290.2 GTexel/s. Floating-point performance is rated at 82.58 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16.

In benchmark terms, the RTX 4090 achieves a PassMark G3D score of 38194 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 317684. Its percentile ranking among all GPUs is 91, which places it in the top decile. The nearest rivals show a mixed picture: the NVIDIA Tesla T4 is 0.4% behind at 66733, the Tesla P40 is 0.5% ahead at 66127, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 is 0.9% behind at 67097, and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 trails by 1.3% at 67320. These deltas are small, but they confirm the RTX 4090's position near the top of the performance stack.

For The Technomancer, the GPU's role becomes clearer when examining the measured FPS across resolutions. At 3840x2160, the card still delivers playable frame rates even at Ultra settings (60.2 FPS average), which shows that the 24 GB VRAM buffer is far from being exhausted by this game's texture requirements. The bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s ensures that memory-intensive scenes at 4K do not cause stuttering. The GPU's 91st percentile ranking means it outclasses the vast majority of cards in the database, and the game's performance at 4K Ultra (60.2 FPS) versus 4K Low (117.8 FPS) demonstrates a 57.6 FPS swing purely from settings changes.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings for this combo?

A: The measured average FPS is 138.8 at 2560x1440 with High settings, which places it well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500's average benchmark score is 20875, while the Intel Core i5-12500 scores 20897, a delta of -0.1%. This means the two perform nearly identically in aggregate benchmarks.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's VRAM sufficient for 4K gaming in The Technomancer?

A: The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory is more than adequate. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the combo still achieves 60.2 FPS average, indicating no VRAM-related bottlenecks.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1920x1080?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings yield 222.5 FPS average, while Ultra settings yield 170.5 FPS average. This is a difference of 52 FPS, representing a 23.4% reduction from Low to Ultra.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations for The Technomancer?

A: The combo is ranked 109 out of 1656 tested combinations, placing it in the top 6.6% of all tested hardware pairings for this game.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how does it affect 4K performance?

A: The RTX 4090 has a memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. This high bandwidth supports the 4K results, where even Ultra settings maintain 60.2 FPS average, and Low settings reach 117.8 FPS average.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings tiers, providing a complete picture of performance scaling.

At 3840x2160, the results show a clear settings hierarchy. Low settings produce an average of 117.8 FPS, Medium drops to 88.5 FPS, High further reduces to 80.2 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 60.2 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is the largest single drop at 29.3 FPS, while the step from Medium to High is 8.3 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 20 FPS. This suggests that the Medium-to-High transition is relatively inexpensive, while moving to Ultra carries a more significant cost.

At 2560x1440, the performance envelope expands considerably. Low settings deliver 192.1 FPS, Medium reaches 166.8 FPS, High manages 138.8 FPS, and Ultra settles at 108.4 FPS. The gaps here are more evenly distributed: 25.3 FPS from Low to Medium, 28 FPS from Medium to High, and 30.4 FPS from High to Ultra. This resolution shows the GPU scaling more predictably with settings changes.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates become very high. Low settings hit 222.5 FPS, Medium reaches 202.9 FPS, High produces 188.6 FPS, and Ultra delivers 170.5 FPS. The differences are 19.6 FPS from Low to Medium, 14.3 FPS from Medium to High, and 18.1 FPS from High to Ultra. Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 52 FPS, which is smaller in absolute terms than the 57.6 FPS gap at 4K. This indicates that at 1080p, the CPU begins to exert more influence on the upper FPS ceiling, as the GPU has more headroom.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K follows expected patterns. At Ultra settings, the transition from 1080p to 1440p costs 62.1 FPS (170.5 to 108.4), and from 1440p to 4K costs another 48.2 FPS (108.4 to 60.2). This shows that 4K Ultra is the most demanding configuration, but still maintains a playable 60.2 FPS average.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 109 out of 1656 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places the pairing in the top 6.6% of all configurations in the database. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's 79th percentile standing and the GPU's 91st percentile standing.

Given the GPU's high percentile, one might expect an even better rank, but the CPU's position at the 79th percentile tempers the overall result. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the combo reaches 222.5 FPS, which is likely near the engine's practical limit. At higher resolutions and settings, the GPU's dominance becomes more apparent, with 4K Ultra still maintaining 60.2 FPS.

The nearest rival combos in the database are not provided directly, but the rank of 109 suggests that many other pairings with more powerful CPUs achieve higher frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions where CPU overhead matters more. At 4K, the RTX 4090's raw performance carries the combo to competitive results regardless of the CPU's relative weakness.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate.

For 3840x2160, the High preset at 80.2 FPS average provides a strong balance between visual quality and smoothness. Ultra drops to 60.2 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. Low at 117.8 FPS is excessively fast for most displays and sacrifices visual fidelity unnecessarily. Medium at 88.5 FPS is also viable, but High offers better visuals for only an 8.3 FPS reduction.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset at 108.4 FPS is the recommended choice for players with high-refresh-rate displays. It delivers the best visual experience while staying well above 100 FPS. High at 138.8 FPS is a reasonable alternative for those who prioritize frame rate over maximum detail. Medium and Low at 166.8 FPS and 192.1 FPS respectively are unnecessary for most users, as the visual downgrade is not justified by the additional frames.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset at 170.5 FPS is the clear recommendation. The GPU's power is sufficient to maintain high frame rates even at maximum settings, and the 52 FPS difference between Ultra and Low does not meaningfully impact gameplay smoothness given both are well above typical refresh rates. High at 188.6 FPS offers a slight frame rate boost, but the visual compromise is not worth the gain for most players.

The data supports a pattern: at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, making settings choices more impactful. At lower resolutions, the CPU's influence grows, but the RTX 4090's power ensures that even Ultra settings at 1080p remain exceptionally fast. For the best overall experience, 2560x1440 Ultra provides the strongest combination of visual fidelity and performance, while 4K High offers the best balance at the highest resolution.