The Technomancer

The Technomancer is an Action RPG from 2016 that still presents a meaningful challenge to modern hardware at high resolutions. This analysis covers the measured performance of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700, based strictly on the data provided. The results show a combo that is capable of high refresh rate gaming at 1080p and solid 60+ FPS at 1440p, but which begins to struggle at 4K with higher settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, with the most dramatic shift occurring between 1440p and 4K. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 179 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 117 FPS, a reduction of 62 FPS (approximately 35% less). Pushing further to 4K Low yields 64 FPS, which is a steep 53 FPS drop from the 1440p result. This pattern indicates that the system is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, as the CPU has ample headroom at these frame rates.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similarly consistent. The average FPS at 1080p is 137, dropping to 90 at 1440p, and then to 49 at 4K. The 4K Medium result also includes a minimum FPS of 42 and a maximum of 57, showing a 15 FPS variance that suggests occasional hitches or heavy scenes. The gap between 1080p and 1440p Medium is 47 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K Medium is 41 FPS. This near-linear drop-off when moving to 4K is typical of a GPU that is reaching its limits with pixel throughput.

The High settings results continue this trend. At 1080p High, the average is 117 FPS, which is identical to the 1440p Low result. This is a notable data point. At 1440p High, the average drops to 77 FPS, and at 4K High, it falls to 42 FPS. The scaling here shows that the cost of going from 1440p to 4K at High settings is a 35 FPS loss, which is more expensive than the 40 FPS loss seen when going from 1080p to 1440p. This suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading power become increasingly taxed as the pixel count rises.

Ultra settings provide the clearest evidence of the GPU being the primary limiting factor. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 92 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 60 FPS, which is exactly the threshold for smooth 60 Hz gaming. At 4K Ultra, the average falls to 33 FPS, making the game essentially unplayable at that quality level. The scaling penalty from 1080p to 1440p Ultra is 32 FPS, while from 1440p to 4K Ultra it is 27 FPS. The fact that 4K Ultra produces less than half the frame rate of 1080p Ultra (33 vs 92 FPS) underscores the GPU-bound nature of this workload. The data indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this configuration; the RX 7700 is the component that determines the playable resolution and settings ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for The Technomancer, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and AMD Radeon RX 7700 holds a rank of 1275 out of 2825 total combos. This places it in the upper-middle tier of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms a majority of configurations but is far from the top. The percentile ranking for the CPU is 75, indicating it is better than 75% of all CPUs in the database. However, the GPU's percentile rank is 58, showing it is only better than 58% of all GPUs. This discrepancy suggests that the overall combo rank is held back by the GPU rather than the CPU.

The benchmark data for the CPU shows an average benchmark score of 21771. Its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H with a score of 21749 (a delta of 0.1% slower), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U with a score of 21874 (a delta of -0.5% faster), the Intel Core i7-11700 with a score of 21891 (a delta of -0.5% faster), and the AMD EPYC 9554P with a score of 21899 (a delta of -0.6% faster). These deltas are all within 1% of the Ryzen 5 5600X's score, meaning that in raw CPU compute, this chip is essentially tied with these alternatives. The performance difference between them is negligible for gaming purposes.

For the GPU, the average benchmark score is 15852. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 370X with a score of 15862 (a delta of -0.1% faster), the AMD Radeon RX 9060 with a score of 16014 (a delta of -1% faster), the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 with a score of 15679 (a delta of 1.1% slower), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti with a score of 16129 (a delta of -1.7% faster). The RX 7700 is within a 1.7% margin of the RTX 3060 Ti, which is a significant data point for comparative performance. It sits slightly below the RX 9060 and the R9 370X, but above the Pro W5500. This places the RX 7700 in a competitive position against its close rivals, but not a dominant one.

Given the GPU's mid-pack percentile ranking, a combo rank of 1275 out of 2825 is consistent with expectations. The CPU is a strong performer, but the GPU does not boost the system to the top echelons of the ranking. For a game like The Technomancer, which appears to be sensitive to GPU load, this combo's rank reflects that the GPU is the limiting factor in achieving higher scores.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture and uses the Navi 32 chip. It has a base clock of 1900 MHz and a boost clock of 2459 MHz, with a game clock of 2041 MHz. The memory configuration is a significant feature: 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. The memory clock is listed as 2438 MHz, with an effective speed of 19.5 Gbps. This large memory pool and high bandwidth are crucial for high-resolution gaming, as evidenced by the FPS results.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's performance scales with settings. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 179, which is high enough to saturate most high refresh rate monitors. The GPU is clearly not the bottleneck at this resolution and settings level. However, as settings increase, the load on the GPU grows. At 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 92 FPS, indicating a heavy reliance on the GPU's shading units and ROPs. The GPU has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s. These specifications support the observed performance.

The 16 GB of VRAM is a key asset. While the game is from 2016 and may not require that much memory, the presence of 16 GB ensures that there are no memory capacity limitations at 4K Ultra, even if the compute performance is insufficient to maintain high frame rates. The bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s is also substantial, likely preventing memory bandwidth from being a limiting factor. The data shows that the bottleneck is raw compute power, as the frame rate drops from 179 FPS at 1080p Low to 33 FPS at 4K Ultra, a reduction of over 80%.

The GPU's FP32 performance is listed at 25.18 TFLOPS, which is a measure of its raw compute throughput. This figure, combined with the memory bandwidth, explains why the card can handle 1080p and 1440p well but struggles at 4K. The drop from 64 FPS at 4K Low to 33 FPS at 4K Ultra is a 31 FPS loss, showing the cost of enabling higher-quality effects. The data suggests that for 4K gaming, this GPU is best paired with Low or Medium settings to maintain playable frame rates, while 1440p allows for High settings at 77 FPS or Ultra at 60 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. All data points are average FPS unless otherwise specified.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings yield an average of 179 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 137 FPS, with a minimum of 117 FPS and a maximum of 158 FPS. High settings deliver an average of 117 FPS. Ultra settings result in an average of 92 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 87 FPS, which is the largest of any resolution. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU and GPU have enough headroom to allow settings to have a significant impact on performance. The Medium settings variance of 41 FPS (from 117 to 158) indicates that the GPU is working hard but not consistently.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down. Low settings average 117 FPS. Medium settings average 90 FPS, with a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 103 FPS. High settings average 77 FPS. Ultra settings average 60 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 57 FPS. Notably, the 1440p Medium minimum FPS is 76, which is still comfortably above 60 FPS, indicating good frame pacing. The 1440p Ultra average of exactly 60 FPS is a critical threshold, meaning the system can hit 60 FPS on average but may dip below in demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low settings average 64 FPS. Medium settings average 49 FPS, with a minimum of 42 FPS and a maximum of 57 FPS. High settings average 42 FPS. Ultra settings average 33 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 31 FPS, which is the smallest of the three resolutions. This indicates that the GPU is so heavily loaded at 4K that even lowering settings provides limited relief. The 4K Medium minimum of 42 FPS shows that the game will struggle to maintain smooth gameplay at that resolution and settings level. The 4K High average matches the 4K Medium minimum, showing that the GPU is consistently delivering low frame rates.

The data also shows an interesting crossover: 1080p High and 1440p Low both produce an average of 117 FPS. Similarly, 1080p Ultra and 1440p High produce 92 and 77 FPS respectively, while 1440p Ultra and 4K Low produce 60 and 64 FPS. This suggests that the game's rendering load scales predictably with resolution, and the GPU is the primary determinant of performance.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run The Technomancer at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: At 4K with Low settings, the average FPS is 64, which is playable. However, at Medium settings, the average drops to 49 FPS with a minimum of 42 FPS, which may feel inconsistent. High and Ultra settings yield 42 and 33 FPS respectively, which are not ideal for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for a 60 FPS target?

A: The data shows that 1440p Ultra produces an average of exactly 60 FPS. For a more comfortable margin, 1440p High yields 77 FPS. At 1080p, all settings levels exceed 60 FPS, with Ultra producing 92 FPS.

Q: How much of a performance drop is there from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 117. At 4K High, the average is 42. This is a difference of 75 FPS, representing a 64% reduction in performance.

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

A: The data strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU has a benchmark percentile of 75, while the GPU has a percentile of 58. The FPS drops significantly with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the 179 FPS result shows the CPU can push high frame rates, but the GPU cannot maintain them at higher loads.

Q: How does this combo compare to other systems in the database?

A: This combo ranks 1275 out of 2825 tested combinations. The GPU is roughly on par with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which has a benchmark score of 16129 compared to the RX 7700's 15852, a delta of -1.7% (meaning the RTX 3060 Ti is slightly faster).

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium is 76, with an average of 90 and a maximum of 103. This shows that the system maintains a frame rate well above 60 FPS even in the most demanding moments.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer). It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. The CPU is manufactured on a 7 nm process and has a TDP of 65 W. Its cache configuration includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a total of 32 MB of L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s.

The CPU's benchmark scores are strong. In Cinebench R23, it scores 11838 in multicore and 1541 in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 9173 in multicore and 1989 in single-core. Its average benchmark score is 21771, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. This indicates that the CPU is a capable performer and unlikely to be a bottleneck in most gaming scenarios, including The Technomancer.

The measured FPS data supports this conclusion. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 179 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would require a powerful CPU to sustain. The fact that the CPU can maintain these frame rates without issue confirms its single-thread performance. The single-core Cinebench R15 score is 254, and the 3DMark single-thread score is 917, which are solid numbers for gaming.

However, the CPU's performance is not the limiting factor in this game. The GPU's lower percentile ranking and the FPS scaling pattern indicate that the RX 7700 is the bottleneck. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-11700, have nearly identical average benchmark scores (21891 vs 21771), showing that the 5600X is competitive but not exceptional. In The Technomancer, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to handle the game's logic and physics, leaving the GPU to do the heavy lifting for rendering.

The data shows that the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough data to keep it busy. At 1080p Low, the CPU is able to produce 179 FPS, which is above the refresh rate of most monitors. At higher settings and resolutions, the frame rate drops, but this is due to the GPU's inability to render frames fast enough, not the CPU's inability to process game logic. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5582 indicates that the CPU has good multi-threaded performance, but this is not heavily utilized in a game that is GPU-bound at these settings. The conclusion from the data is that the Ryzen 5 5600X provides a solid foundation for this system, but the gaming performance is dictated entirely by the GPU's capabilities.