The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload that stresses both CPU and GPU. The pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces a range of results across resolutions and presets, revealing a system that is well-suited for 1080p play but progressively struggles as resolution climbs. The measured data provides a clear picture of where this combination excels and where its limitations become apparent.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combination indicates that the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates considerable headroom. The High preset delivers an average of 85 FPS, which is a strong result. However, the Medium preset, with an average of 100 FPS and a minimum of 85 FPS, offers a more compelling balance for competitive or high-refresh-rate displays. The jump from High to Medium yields a 15 FPS improvement, representing a 17.6% gain in average frame rate, making it the recommended preset for 1080p users who prioritize smoothness. The Low preset at 130 FPS is available for those seeking maximum frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the system's performance becomes more moderate. The High preset averages 56 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The Medium preset, with an average of 65 FPS and a minimum of 55 FPS, again proves to be the best choice. It provides a 9 FPS advantage over High, which is a 16.1% increase, while maintaining a minimum frame rate that prevents most noticeable stutters. This preset appears to be the sweet spot for 1440p, offering a good compromise between visual fidelity and performance.

For 3840x2160, the data shows that the RTX 2060 is out of its depth. The High preset averages only 31 FPS, which is below the threshold for a consistently smooth experience. The Medium preset fares slightly better at 36 FPS, but its minimum of 30 FPS indicates that frame pacing will be inconsistent. The Low preset, averaging 47 FPS, is the only option that approaches playability, but it requires a significant sacrifice in visual quality. Given these numbers, the recommendation for 4K is to use the Low preset if playability is the absolute priority, but the system is not well-suited for this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The database ranks this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 for The Technomancer at position 2212 out of 2825 tested combos. This places the system in the 22nd percentile of all configurations, indicating that it performs worse than a substantial majority of other tested setups. This ranking is a direct consequence of the RTX 2060's age and performance tier, which acts as the primary bottleneck for this game.

This low rank is not a reflection of the CPU's capability. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a high-performing processor, sitting in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. The disparity between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's low in-game rank underscores the fact that the GPU is the limiting factor. The data suggests that this pairing is heavily unbalanced for a game like The Technomancer, where the graphics card is unable to keep pace with the processor's potential, resulting in a system that ranks poorly against others that may have more balanced components.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the central component in determining this combo's performance in The Technomancer. The benchmark results indicate that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU's memory configuration includes 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The architecture is Turing, built on a 12 nm process, and features 1920 shading units. Its base clock is 1365 MHz, with a boost clock of 1680 MHz.

The GPU's performance metrics, such as its Passmark G3D score of 14111 and its 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs, place it as a mid-range part. The data from the game shows a clear pattern: as the resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, the average FPS drops significantly, even at the same settings. This is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance. At 1080p High, the average is 85 FPS, but at 1440p High, it drops to 56 FPS, and at 4K High, it plummets to 31 FPS. This indicates that the RTX 2060's raw processing power and memory bandwidth are insufficient to handle the increased pixel count, making the GPU the definitive limiting component in this configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance. At 1920x1080, the results are strong across the board. The Low preset achieves an average of 130 FPS. The Medium preset averages 100 FPS, with a minimum of 85 FPS and a maximum of 115 FPS. The High preset averages 85 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 66 FPS. This shows a clear performance scaling, with a 64 FPS difference between Low and Ultra.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably. The Low preset averages 85 FPS. The Medium preset averages 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 75 FPS. The High preset averages 56 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 43 FPS. The scaling remains consistent, but the overall frame rates are lower, with a 42 FPS difference between Low and Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles. The Low preset is the only one that achieves a playable average, at 47 FPS. The Medium preset averages 36 FPS, with a minimum of 30 FPS and a maximum of 41 FPS. The High preset averages 31 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 24 FPS. The frame rate at this resolution is generally too low for a smooth experience, with the difference between Low and Ultra being only 23 FPS, indicating that the GPU is saturated even at the lowest settings.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a steep performance penalty as resolution increases. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS at High settings drops from 85 to 56, a 34.1% decrease. This is a significant reduction, but the resulting 56 FPS is still in the playable range. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is even more severe, with the High preset average falling from 56 to 31 FPS, a 44.6% decrease. This steep decline highlights the GPU's inability to manage the pixel workload at 4K.

The pattern is consistent across all settings. The Low preset shows a drop from 130 FPS at 1080p to 47 FPS at 4K, a 63.8% reduction. The Medium preset goes from 100 FPS to 36 FPS, a 64% reduction. This consistent scaling behavior strongly indicates that the system is entirely GPU-bound. The CPU, with its high single-thread and multi-thread performance, is not the limiting factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a smaller performance delta between resolutions, as the CPU workload would not change as drastically. The data confirms that the RTX 2060 is the component that dictates the performance ceiling for this game.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 1920x1080 display?

A: The Medium preset is the recommended choice, providing an average FPS of 100 with a minimum of 85 FPS. This offers a significant performance advantage over High (85 FPS avg) while maintaining a smooth experience.

Q: Can this system run The Technomancer at 3840x2160?

A: The data suggests it is not a good experience. The highest playable average FPS is 47 on the Low preset. The Medium preset averages 36 FPS with a minimum of 30 FPS, and the High preset averages only 31 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

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

A: The benchmark data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and consistent across all settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload. The CPU's high performance percentile (89th) compared to the combo's low in-game rank (2212 out of 2825) further confirms this.

Q: How does the performance at 2560x1440 High compare to 1920x1080 High?

A: The average FPS drops from 85 at 1080p to 56 at 1440p, a 34.1% decrease. While 1440p High is playable, it requires a significant performance trade-off compared to 1080p.

Q: What is the expected frame rate for the Ultra preset at 1920x1080?

A: The measured average FPS for the Ultra preset at 1920x1080 is 66 FPS. This is lower than the High preset's 85 FPS, making it a less attractive choice for users who prioritize frame rate stability.

Q: Does the RTX 2060's 6 GB of VRAM cause issues at 4K?

A: The data shows that the average FPS at 4K is very low across all settings, including Low (47 FPS). While the 6 GB VRAM capacity and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are likely contributing factors to the overall performance ceiling, the low frame rates even at Low settings suggest the GPU's processing power is the primary limitation at this resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture. It has a base clock of 4.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz. A key feature is its large 96 MB shared L3 cache, which is designed to improve gaming performance. Its benchmark scores are strong, including a Passmark single-thread score of 3494 and a multi-thread score of 25047. Its average benchmark score of 44573 places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs.

Despite its impressive specifications, the data from The Technomancer clearly shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this pairing. The system's performance scales directly with resolution, which is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect the frame rates to be more consistent across different resolutions. The CPU's high performance, evidenced by its close rivalry with processors like the Intel Core i9-13950HX (0.5% delta), ensures that it can easily feed the RTX 2060 with data. The performance ceiling is set by the GPU, and the Ryzen 5 7500X3D is more than capable of supporting the RTX 2060's output. The low combo rank is therefore attributable to the graphics card, not this processor.