The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, shows a wide performance spread on the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination. The measured data reveals a system that is well-balanced at lower resolutions but becomes increasingly GPU-limited as resolution climbs. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, with a focus on how the CPU and GPU each contribute to the final frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that the optimal settings preset depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, the High preset delivers an average of 125 FPS, which is a substantial 27 FPS advantage over the Ultra preset’s 98 FPS. While Ultra offers the highest visual fidelity, the performance drop is notable. The Medium preset at 1080p achieves 147 FPS, which is 22 FPS higher than High, but the jump from Medium to High only costs 22 FPS and likely provides a meaningful visual upgrade. For smooth 60+ FPS gameplay at 1080p, Ultra is still viable, but High provides a better balance of visual quality and headroom for demanding scenes.

At 1440p, the High preset produces 82 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. The Ultra preset drops to 64 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less margin for error in intense combat sequences. The Medium preset at 1440p offers 96 FPS, providing a significant boost over High. For a consistent high-refresh experience at this resolution, High is the recommended starting point, with Medium serving as a strong option for those who prioritize frame rate above all else.

At 4K, the situation changes drastically. The High preset averages only 45 FPS, which is below the ideal for fast-paced action. The Ultra preset falls to 35 FPS, making it difficult to recommend for smooth gameplay. The Low preset at 4K achieves 69 FPS, making it the only preset at this resolution that consistently breaks the 60 FPS barrier. However, the visual compromise of Low is significant. The Medium preset at 4K provides 53 FPS, which is a more balanced compromise between visuals and playability, though it still falls short of a locked 60 FPS. For the best experience at 4K, Medium is the recommended preset, as it offers a playable frame rate with better visual quality than Low, while avoiding the steep performance penalty of High and Ultra.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It features a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz. The processor’s key asset is its large 96 MB shared L3 cache, which is a hallmark of the X3D series. In benchmark results, it scores 2,941 points in the Passmark single-thread test and 20,363 in the multi-thread test, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs.

In The Technomancer, the CPU’s role is most apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rates are exceptionally high, with the Low preset hitting 191 FPS and Medium reaching 147 FPS. These numbers suggest that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to maintain very high frame rates. The single-thread performance is crucial here, as many game logic and draw call tasks are single-threaded. The Ryzen 5 5500X3D’s score of 2,941 in single-threaded Passmark tests is strong, and when paired with the large cache, it helps prevent the CPU from becoming a bottleneck at these settings.

However, the CPU’s influence diminishes as resolution increases. When moving from 1080p to 4K, the frame rates drop significantly across all settings. For instance, the High preset drops from 125 FPS at 1080p to 82 FPS at 1440p and then to 45 FPS at 4K. This scaling pattern indicates that the rendering load on the GPU increases dramatically, and the CPU has more than enough headroom to keep up. The CPU is not the limiting factor at 4K; the GPU is. The data shows that the Ryzen 5 5500X3D provides a robust foundation that does not hold back the RTX 3070, even at high frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is based on the Ampere architecture and features the GA104 chip. It comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz. Its compute capabilities include 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 46 RT cores. In the Passmark G3D benchmark, it scores 22,214 points, placing it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU is the dominant factor in this combination’s performance in The Technomancer. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly demonstrates the GPU’s workload. At 1080p, the GPU is able to produce high frame rates, with the Low preset hitting 191 FPS. As the resolution increases, the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the GPU’s fill rate and shading capabilities are pushed much harder. The 8 GB VRAM is also a consideration, as higher resolutions and texture settings use more memory, though the measured data does not indicate a VRAM capacity limit in this game.

The performance gap between presets at each resolution is also a GPU-centric story. At 4K, the difference between Low (69 FPS) and Ultra (35 FPS) is a massive 34 FPS, showing how much the more demanding rendering features impact the GPU. The RTX 3070’s 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for The Technomancer, but the raw compute power is what limits performance at 4K Ultra. The GPU’s percentile rank of 61% against all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 17,208, indicates it is a solid mid-to-high-end part, but it is not a flagship, and the 4K Ultra settings in this title simply require more GPU power than it can provide.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Technomancer with this hardware for a smooth 60 FPS experience?

A: The data shows that at 1440p, the High preset delivers 82 FPS, and the Medium preset delivers 96 FPS, both comfortably above 60 FPS. At 4K, only the Low preset (69 FPS) exceeds 60 FPS, while Medium (53 FPS) and High (45 FPS) fall below it.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of frame rate at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the Ultra preset averages 98 FPS, while the High preset averages 125 FPS. This represents a 27 FPS difference, or a performance drop of roughly 22% when moving from High to Ultra.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU become the bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: The frame rate scaling indicates the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K. The CPU’s performance headroom is sufficient, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p. The significant drop to 45 FPS at 4K High is due to the GPU’s inability to handle the increased pixel rendering workload.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded across all tested settings?

A: The lowest average FPS is 35 FPS, which occurs at the 3840x2160 (4K) resolution with the Ultra settings preset.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5500X3D a high-performing CPU relative to other processors?

A: According to benchmark data, the Ryzen 5 5500X3D has a percentile rank of 85% against all CPUs, indicating it performs better than 85% of all tested processors. Its average benchmark score is 37,018.

Q: How does the RTX 3070’s performance in this game compare to its general benchmark standing?

A: The RTX 3070 has a percentile rank of 61% against all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 17,208. In The Technomancer, its performance is strong at 1080p and 1440p but is insufficient for a locked 60 FPS at 4K on high settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. This scaling is a key indicator of where the performance bottleneck lies. The data reveals that the frame rate drop is not linear, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario.

At the Low settings preset, the average FPS goes from 191 at 1080p to 125 at 1440p, a drop of 66 FPS (35%). Moving from 1440p to 4K, the FPS drops from 125 to 69, a drop of 56 FPS (45%). This shows that the performance penalty of moving to 4K is more severe than moving from 1080p to 1440p. This is because 4K has 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p, while 1440p has 1.78 times the pixels of 1080p.

The High settings preset shows a similar trend. The FPS drops from 125 at 1080p to 82 at 1440p (a 43 FPS drop) and then to 45 at 4K (a 37 FPS drop). The percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is 45%, which is slightly higher than the 34% drop from 1080p to 1440p. This pattern is consistent across all presets, including Medium and Ultra.

This scaling behavior strongly suggests that the system is heavily GPU-limited, especially at higher resolutions. The CPU is able to maintain high frame rates at 1080p, but as the rendering resolution increases, the GPU’s workload grows exponentially, and it becomes the primary factor determining the final frame rate. The Ryzen 5 5500X3D has enough processing power to handle the game’s logic, but the RTX 3070’s compute and memory bandwidth are the limiting resources. The data indicates that for a consistent frame rate, users should consider lowering the resolution or the settings preset, as the GPU’s performance headroom is exhausted at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following breakdown details the exact measured average FPS for each resolution and settings preset.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 191 FPS
• Medium: 147 FPS (minimum 125, maximum 169)
• High: 125 FPS
• Ultra: 98 FPS

At 1080p, the system demonstrates excellent performance. The Low preset achieves an extremely high frame rate, and even the Ultra preset provides a smooth experience above 60 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 125 FPS, indicating consistent performance without significant dips.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 125 FPS
• Medium: 96 FPS (minimum 82, maximum 110)
• High: 82 FPS
• Ultra: 64 FPS

1440p presents a balanced picture. The Low and Medium presets are perfect for high-refresh monitors, with Low hitting 125 FPS. The High preset at 82 FPS is solid, and Ultra at 64 FPS is still playable. The Medium preset’s minimum of 82 FPS suggests that there can be some frame time variation, but the average remains high.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 69 FPS
• Medium: 53 FPS (minimum 45, maximum 61)
• High: 45 FPS
• Ultra: 35 FPS

4K resolution is the most demanding, and the frame rates reflect this. The Low preset is the only one that breaks the 60 FPS barrier, achieving 69 FPS. The Medium preset averages 53 FPS, with a minimum of 45 FPS, indicating noticeable dips. High and Ultra presets fall below 45 FPS, making them less suitable for action-oriented gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 1,179th out of 2,825 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the 58th percentile of all tested systems (calculated as 1 - (1179/2825)). This rank is a reflection of the hardware’s overall capability in this specific game.

The rank indicates that while this is not a top-tier combination for The Technomancer, it is a solidly mid-pack performer. The CPU’s high percentile (85th) does not translate into a similarly high rank for the combo, which further confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor. The RTX 3070, with its 61st percentile rank among GPUs, is the component that drags the combo’s overall standing down.

The combo’s rank of 1,179 suggests that there are many other systems that can achieve higher frame rates in this game. These would likely be systems with more powerful GPUs, such as higher-tier RTX 40-series or Radeon RX 7000-series cards, which are not part of this analysis. The data shows that the Ryzen 5 5500X3D is not the reason for this mid-pack ranking; it provides ample performance. Instead, the RTX 3070’s limitations at higher resolutions and settings are what prevent this combo from ranking higher. Users seeking better performance in The Technomancer would need to prioritize a GPU upgrade over a CPU upgrade, based on the measured bottleneck behavior.