The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting case study for the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is well-balanced but ultimately constrained by the graphics card at higher loads, while the processor ensures a robust foundation at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 91 FPS at 1920x1080 to 61 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 30 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the average plummets to 34.7 FPS, which is less than half of the 1080p performance. This significant scaling penalty indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The data suggests that the GPU's capabilities are being saturated at 4K, particularly with higher quality presets. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 4K is substantial, with a 23.7 FPS difference (49.1 FPS vs 25.4 FPS). This wide margin implies that the GPU's shading units, texture mapping units, and memory bandwidth are all heavily taxed by the combination of high resolution and complex graphical effects. In contrast, the scaling from 1080p to 1440p is less punishing, but still noticeable, reinforcing the idea that the RTX 2060 SUPER is a capable 1080p and 1440p card, but not a native 4K performer for this title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides a solid platform for The Technomancer. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz, built on the Zen 3 architecture, are more than sufficient to feed the GPU at most settings. The benchmark results for the CPU show strong single-thread performance, which is often crucial for game logic and draw calls. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2622 and the 3DMark single-thread score of 917 indicate that the processor can handle the game's primary thread without becoming a bottleneck.

At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 145 FPS, a figure that suggests the CPU is capable of high frame rates when the GPU is not the limiting factor. The jump from Medium to Low at 1080p (111.8 FPS to 145 FPS) shows that the processor has headroom to push beyond 144 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays. However, the CPU's role becomes less prominent as resolution increases. At 4K, even with Low settings (49.1 FPS), the frame rate is clearly dictated by the GPU, as the CPU's performance headroom cannot compensate for the GPU's inability to render more pixels. The Ryzen 5 5600X's 32 MB of L3 cache and support for DDR4 memory are adequate, but the data shows that this game is more dependent on the GPU's raw throughput at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for optimizing the experience. For a smooth and visually pleasing experience at 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 91 FPS, which is a good balance of visual fidelity and performance. However, the Medium preset at 111.8 FPS offers a significant performance boost with only a modest visual compromise. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, the Low preset at 145 FPS is the clear choice, though it will sacrifice visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the High preset's 61 FPS is playable, but the Medium preset at 68.9 FPS provides a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The jump from High to Medium at this resolution yields a 7.9 FPS improvement, which is a worthwhile trade for smoother motion. The Ultra preset at 45.2 FPS is not recommended for 1440p, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold. For 4K, the data is less favorable. The Low preset at 49.1 FPS is the only option that approaches playability, but it is still below 60 FPS. The High preset at 34.7 FPS and Ultra at 25.4 FPS are not suitable for a good experience, suggesting that users should lower resolution or settings significantly if they wish to use this combo at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 5600X and RTX 2060 SUPER holds a specific position. The comboRankInGame is 1224 out of 1656 total combos, placing it in the 74th percentile of all tested systems. This ranking indicates that while this setup is not at the top tier, it is still ahead of a significant majority of the tested configurations.

The CPU's own benchmark performance shows it is competitive with its nearest rivals. The Ryzen 5 5600X has an average benchmark score of 20680, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT (20740, deltaPct -0.3) and the Intel Core i7-10700 (20746, deltaPct -0.3). This puts the processor in a strong position relative to its peers. For the GPU, the RTX 2060 SUPER's average benchmark score is 19774, which is slightly above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN (19706, deltaPct 0.3) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (19680, deltaPct 0.5). This suggests that the GPU is performing at the expected level for its class, but the overall combo ranking is dragged down by its limitations at higher resolutions in this specific game.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Technomancer with this hardware?

A: The data suggests 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution, as it offers the highest frame rates across all settings, from 145 FPS on Low to 71.1 FPS on Ultra.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Technomancer?

A: The measured results show that 4K is not a viable option for a smooth experience. Even on Low settings, the average FPS is only 49.1, and on Ultra it drops to 25.4 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5600X compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600X has an average benchmark score of 20680, which is only 0.3% below the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT and Intel Core i7-10700, indicating nearly identical performance.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the main bottleneck in this system?

A: The benchmark results show that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary bottleneck, especially at 2560x1440 and 3840x2160, where frame rates drop significantly regardless of the CPU's capabilities.

Q: What is the most efficient settings preset at 2560x1440?

A: The Medium preset at 68.9 FPS offers the best performance-to-visuals trade-off at 1440p, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while maintaining higher quality than Low.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 1224 out of 1656 total tested combos, placing it in the 74th percentile, which is a solid mid-range position.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance is robust across all presets. The Low preset achieves an average of 145 FPS, making it the fastest option. The Medium preset follows with 111.8 FPS, while the High preset delivers 91 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, yielding 71.1 FPS. This shows a clear 73.9 FPS difference between the lowest and highest quality settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates become more moderate. The Low preset leads with 96 FPS, followed by the Medium preset at 68.9 FPS. The High preset produces 61 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 45.2 FPS. The scaling from Low to High at this resolution shows a 35 FPS penalty for increased quality.

At 3840x2160, the performance is heavily constrained. The Low preset is the only one that breaks the 40 FPS barrier, averaging 49.1 FPS. The Medium preset falls to 39.4 FPS, and the High preset manages 34.7 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of just 25.4 FPS. This data highlights the GPU's struggle at this resolution, particularly with higher quality settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the defining component for this game's performance. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is a crucial factor for texture streaming and high-resolution rendering. The GPU's base clock of 1470 MHz and boost clock of 1650 MHz, based on the Turing architecture, deliver a solid foundation for gaming.

The GPU's benchmark scores indicate it is a competent performer, with a Passmark G3D score of 16462 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2011. Its percentileVsAllGpus of 63 shows it sits above the median of all GPUs. However, the measured FPS data shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER is not powerful enough for 4K gaming in The Technomancer, especially at higher presets. The 34.7 FPS at 4K High and 25.4 FPS at 4K Ultra are clear indicators of its limits. The GPU's role is to provide excellent 1080p performance and capable 1440p performance, but it falls short when the pixel count is pushed to 4K. The 175 W TDP and dual-slot design are standard for this class, but the performance ceiling is clearly defined by the hardware's raw compute power and memory bandwidth.