The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting challenge for modern hardware. With the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, the benchmark data reveals a system that is heavily skewed toward GPU limitation at higher resolutions, while remaining highly capable at 1080p. This analysis examines the measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets, providing a clear picture of what this specific combination can deliver in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p with High settings, the system delivers an average of 130 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the average drops to 96 FPS, a reduction of 34 frames. Scaling further to 4K, the average plummets to 50 FPS, marking a 46-frame drop from the 1440p result. This steep decline as resolution increases is a classic sign of the graphics card being pushed to its limits, with the RTX 4080's rendering workload becoming the limiting factor.

The impact of resolution is most pronounced when examining the Ultra preset. At 1080p, the game runs at a smooth 123 FPS average. At 1440p, this falls to 83 FPS, and at 4K, it drops to just 44 FPS. The data indicates that the jump from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 33% of the frame rate at Ultra settings, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs an additional 47%. This non-linear scaling shows that The Technomancer's visual fidelity at higher settings is extremely demanding on the GPU's fill rate and shading capabilities.

Interestingly, the scaling pattern differs slightly at lower settings. At Low settings, the frame rate goes from 142 FPS at 1080p to 122 FPS at 1440p, and then to 65 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 57 FPS, which is a larger absolute drop than at High settings (46 FPS). This suggests that at lower settings, where the CPU has less work to do per frame, the GPU's raw pixel throughput becomes even more critical, making the 4K resolution a particularly heavy lift for the 716.8 GB/s memory bandwidth and 280.6 GPixel/s pixel rate of the RTX 4080.

The limited spread between settings at 1080p further emphasizes the CPU's role. At 1080p, the difference between Low (142 FPS) and Ultra (123 FPS) is only 19 FPS. This narrow gap indicates that the Ryzen 5 5600G, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is keeping pace well enough that the GPU is not fully saturated at this resolution. The system is likely hitting a ceiling related to the CPU's single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 3dmark single-thread score of 872, which prevents the GPU from stretching its legs fully.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting the highest refresh rates, the Low preset at 1080p provides the best measured average FPS at 142, with the Medium preset close behind at 138 FPS. The data suggests that the visual uplift from Low to Medium is nearly free in terms of performance, making Medium the optimal choice for competitive or high-refresh gameplay at 1080p. The High preset, while still delivering a strong 130 FPS, offers diminishing returns for the 8 FPS loss compared to Medium.

At 1440p, the Medium preset emerges as the sweet spot, delivering an average of 116 FPS with a minimum of 98 FPS, ensuring a consistently playable experience. High settings are also viable at 96 FPS, but the Medium preset offers a 20 FPS advantage, which is significant for smoothness. The Ultra preset at 83 FPS is playable but begins to sacrifice the frame rate stability that competitive players might prefer.

The 4K resolution presents a more challenging scenario. The Low preset, at 65 FPS average, is the only setting that consistently maintains a playable frame rate above 60 FPS. The Medium preset, at 61 FPS average with a 51 FPS minimum, is borderline. Given the data, the Low preset is the recommended choice for a stable 4K experience, as the jump to Medium yields only a marginal visual improvement for a potential 10 FPS drop in the worst case. High and Ultra settings at 4K, with averages of 50 and 44 FPS respectively, are best avoided for smooth gameplay.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run The Technomancer at 4K with maximum settings?

A: No. The benchmark data shows that at 4K with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 44 FPS, which is below the standard 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 4K also falls short at 50 FPS average.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with this hardware?

A: The Medium preset at 1440p provides the best balance, with an average of 116 FPS and a minimum of 98 FPS. This ensures a fluid experience without the performance penalty seen in the High (96 FPS) or Ultra (83 FPS) presets.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data indicates that the CPU is more of a limiting factor at 1080p. The frame rate difference between Low (142 FPS) and Ultra (123 FPS) is only 19 FPS, suggesting the GPU is not fully utilized. The Ryzen 5 5600G's performance ceilings prevent the RTX 4080 from reaching its full potential at this resolution.

Q: How much performance is lost by choosing Ultra over Medium at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Ultra preset averages 83 FPS, which is 33 FPS lower than the Medium preset's average of 116 FPS. This represents a 28% reduction in average frame rate for the highest visual quality.

Q: Does the game have a consistent frame rate at 4K Medium settings?

A: The data shows a 4K Medium average of 61 FPS with a minimum of 51 FPS. This indicates that while the average is near 60 FPS, there are dips that could cause noticeable stuttering, making it less consistent than the 4K Low preset.

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combination can achieve?

A: The highest measured average is 142 FPS, achieved at 1080p with the Low preset. At this resolution, the Medium preset is nearly identical at 138 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 142 FPS average
• Medium: 138 FPS average (118 min, 159 max)
• High: 130 FPS average
• Ultra: 123 FPS average

At 1080p, the system delivers a high level of performance across all presets. The difference between the most demanding Ultra preset and the least demanding Low preset is 19 FPS, showing that all settings are playable with a high-end display. The Medium preset's minimum of 118 FPS ensures no noticeable dips.

2560x1440:

• Low: 122 FPS average
• Medium: 116 FPS average (98 min, 133 max)
• High: 96 FPS average
• Ultra: 83 FPS average

The 1440p results show a wider spread between presets, with a 39 FPS difference between Low and Ultra. The Medium preset remains a strong performer, keeping its minimum above 98 FPS. The High and Ultra presets, while still playable, see a significant reduction in frame rate, with Ultra dipping into the 80s.

3840x2160:

• Low: 65 FPS average
• Medium: 61 FPS average (51 min, 70 max)
• High: 50 FPS average
• Ultra: 44 FPS average

At 4K, the RTX 4080 is clearly strained. Only the Low and Medium presets manage to stay near or above the 60 FPS average mark. The High preset drops to 50 FPS, and Ultra falls to 44 FPS, making these presets unsuitable for smooth gameplay on displays with a 60Hz refresh rate or higher.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the central component driving frame rates at higher resolutions. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s, which is critical for feeding the shaders at 4K. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU's limits are reached, producing 44 FPS. This is consistent with the GPU's performance characteristics, which include a boost clock of 2505 MHz and a pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s.

The RTX 4080's compute power, measured at 48.74 TFLOPS for FP32 operations, is substantial but not infinite. The game's rendering workload at 4K, especially with Ultra settings, appears to demand even more than this GPU can provide. The benchmark results show that the GPU is also the bottleneck at 1440p, where the frame rate drops significantly as settings increase from Medium to Ultra. The 83 FPS result at 1440p Ultra indicates that the GPU is still the primary constraint, even at this lower resolution.

In the context of its rivals, the RTX 4080 sits just 0.1% ahead of the RTX 4080 SUPER in average benchmark scores, with a deltaPct of 0.1. It trails the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.6% and the AMD Radeon 8060S by 2.7%. The GPU's overall performance percentile is 86, indicating it is among the top tier of graphics cards. However, The Technomancer's specific engine seems to be particularly demanding, as the 4K results are lower than one might expect from a card with this level of performance. The transition from 1440p High (96 FPS) to 4K High (50 FPS) shows a 48% performance drop, highlighting the immense pressure 4K resolution places on the GPU's memory subsystem and processing units.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G is the processor in this configuration, and its role is most apparent at lower resolutions. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, it provides a solid foundation for gaming. Its boost clock of 4.40 GHz and single-thread benchmark scores, such as 1409 in Cinebench R23, help drive frame rates at 1080p. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is sufficient to keep the RTX 4080 well-fed, as the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings is relatively small.

However, the CPU's limitations become clear when looking at its overall performance compared to its peers. It scores 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i3-1220P and 0.1% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V. It also trails the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U by 0.2% and the Intel Core Ultra 7 155U by 0.4%. This places the 5600G in a competitive but not leading position among CPUs. Its 74th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates it is near the middle-to-upper tier, but it is not a top-tier processor.

The CPU's impact on The Technomancer is most visible when comparing the 1080p and 1440p results. At 1080p, the frame rates across all settings are clustered between 123 and 142 FPS, suggesting a CPU-imposed ceiling. At 1440p, the spread widens, showing that the CPU is less of a bottleneck as the GPU takes on more work. The Ryzen 5 5600G's 16 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth are adequate for this game, but the data suggests that a more powerful CPU could potentially extract higher frame rates at 1080p, especially with the High and Ultra presets, which currently show a 7 FPS and 19 FPS deficit compared to Low, respectively.