The Technomancer

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER pairing delivers a playable experience in The Technomancer, but the data shows that you must be selective with settings, especially at higher resolutions. The measured frame rates indicate that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, with the CPU having ample headroom. This analysis breaks down the optimal settings, component roles, and performance scaling based strictly on the measured data.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows at each resolution reveal a clear pattern: the "High" preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, with "Ultra" providing a marginal improvement at a significant frame rate cost. At 1920x1080, the High preset averages 103 FPS, which is solid for an action RPG. Dropping to Medium yields 120 FPS, a 17 FPS gain, while Low jumps to 157 FPS. However, the step up to Ultra drops the average to 80 FPS, a 23 FPS loss from High. Given that High is only 17 FPS behind Medium and 23 FPS ahead of Ultra, it is the sweet spot for this combo at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the High preset maintains a respectable 67 FPS average. This is the threshold for smooth gameplay on most displays. The Medium preset provides 79 FPS, which is a comfortable buffer, but High remains perfectly playable. The Ultra preset falls to 53 FPS, which is noticeably less fluid and shows the GPU struggling to maintain high frame rates with maximum settings. The Low preset at 1440p yields 102 FPS, proving the system's raw capability when visual load is reduced, but the visual sacrifice is too great for typical use.

The 4K results (3840x2160) are the most telling. The High preset averages only 37 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold. Medium averages 43 FPS, and Low averages 56 FPS. Ultra at 4K is nearly unplayable at 29 FPS. For this resolution, the data suggests that the High preset is the highest you should consider, and even then, you are accepting a sub-60 FPS experience. The drop from High to Medium at 4K is only 6 FPS, so if you need more performance, Medium is the better fallback than Low, which costs 19 FPS from High.

The recommendation is to use the High preset for all resolutions. At 1080p and 1440p, it provides a strong balance. At 4K, it is the highest playable setting, though you will need to accept the lower frame rate. The Ultra preset is consistently the worst value in terms of performance per frame, with the data showing it is best avoided unless you have a high refresh rate 1080p monitor and prefer maximum eye candy over fluidity.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the defining component in this build for The Technomancer. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the game's textures at 1080p and 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The measured FPS drops are consistent with a GPU that is running out of memory bandwidth or fill rate at higher resolutions.

The GPU's clock speeds are 1605 MHz base and 1770 MHz boost. These clocks, combined with the 2560 shading units, produce a 9.062 TFLOPS FP32 performance figure. The data shows this is enough for 103 FPS at 1080p High, but the scaling to 67 FPS at 1440p and 37 FPS at 4K highlights the GPU's limitations. The 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present, but The Technomancer is a 2016 title and does not appear to leverage ray tracing, so these features are not relevant to the measured performance.

The GPU's percentile rank is 65, meaning it outperforms 65% of all GPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score of 20282 places it in a competitive tier, with nearest rivals including the Intel Arc B570 (avgScore 20556) and Intel Arc A750 (avgScore 20582), both of which are slightly faster by 1.3% and 1.5%, respectively. The RTX 2070 SUPER also sits just behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (avgScore 20534), which is 1.2% faster. This positioning suggests that the GPU is a mid-range performer, and its 4K results in this game are predictably weak.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is the key concern. At 4K, the game likely requires more than 8 GB for high-resolution textures, causing the GPU to struggle. The data shows a 19 FPS difference between High (37 FPS) and Low (56 FPS) at 4K, which suggests that lowering texture quality alleviates the memory pressure, but the core rendering performance is still insufficient for a smooth experience. For 1080p and 1440p, the 8 GB is adequate, as the frame rates remain playable.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS across resolutions shows a classic GPU-bound scaling curve. At 1080p High, the combo produces 103 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops the average to 67 FPS, a 35% reduction. Moving to 4K High drops it further to 37 FPS, a 45% reduction from 1440p and a 64% reduction from 1080p. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the limiting factor, as the CPU has more than enough headroom to handle the increased pixel count.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. For Low settings, 1080p yields 157 FPS, 1440p yields 102 FPS (a 35% drop), and 4K yields 56 FPS (a 45% drop from 1440p). The percentage drops are nearly identical for High and Low, which is a strong indicator that the bottleneck is purely the GPU's raw rendering throughput, not any specific setting. The CPU's role remains constant; it is the GPU that is being saturated.

This data suggests that 1080p is the native resolution for this combo. The 103 FPS at High is excellent for a 144Hz monitor. At 1440p, the 67 FPS average is acceptable for a 60Hz display but will not satisfy high refresh rate users. At 4K, the 37 FPS average is only suitable for slower-paced gameplay or for users who prioritize visual fidelity over performance. The scaling behavior shows that if you want to play at 4K, you must drop to Low settings to get near 60 FPS, but even that is a compromise.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. The fact that the frame rate drops by almost identical percentages when moving from 1080p to 1440p and 1440p to 4K, regardless of the settings preset, is definitive proof. A CPU-bound system would show a smaller frame rate difference between resolutions, especially at lower settings where the CPU has to feed more frames. Here, the GPU is the wall.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1620 out of 2825 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the 57th percentile of all tested combinations, meaning it outperforms 57% of the systems tested in this game. This is a mid-pack ranking, which aligns with the GPU's 65th percentile rank and the CPU's 89th percentile rank. The ranking is dragged down by the older GPU, which is the bottleneck.

The combo's rank of 1620 is not a poor result, but it is not impressive either. The CPU is a high-end part, but the GPU's age limits the overall system. The data shows that the combo is better than 1205 other tested configurations, but worse than 1620. This suggests that many other systems with newer GPUs or faster graphics cards will achieve higher frame rates, even if they have slower CPUs. The CPU's strength is not fully utilized in this game because the GPU cannot keep up.

The ranking also implies that if you were to upgrade the GPU, the combo's rank would improve significantly. The CPU has the headroom to support a faster graphics card, as evidenced by its high benchmark scores. However, as configured, the RTX 2070 SUPER is the limiting factor. The 1620 rank is a direct reflection of the GPU's mid-range standing in the database. The CPU's role is to provide a stable platform, which it does, but it does not boost the combo's ranking in a GPU-intensive title like The Technomancer.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D provides a robust foundation for this GPU. With 6 cores and 12 threads, it has enough processing power for The Technomancer's action RPG gameplay, which typically utilizes a few threads for game logic and AI. Its base clock of 4.00 GHz and boost clock of 4.50 GHz, combined with 96 MB of shared L3 cache, ensure that the CPU is never the bottleneck in this pairing.

The CPU's benchmark data supports this. Its Passmark multithread score is 25047, and its single-thread score is 3494. These are strong numbers, placing the CPU in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 44573 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i9-13950HX (avgScore 44342) and the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (avgScore 44466), with delta percentages of 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively. This means the CPU is performing exactly as expected.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game state updates. Given that the frame rates drop significantly at higher resolutions, the CPU is clearly not limiting performance. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 157 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would stress a weaker CPU. The fact that it reaches this level shows the 7500X3D has substantial headroom. The 65W TDP and 5nm process node also mean it runs efficiently, though this is not directly reflected in the game's FPS.

The CPU's high L3 cache of 96 MB is a notable advantage, likely helping with game data access. However, its impact is not visible in the measured FPS because the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU is a future-proof part, but for this specific game and GPU, its role is secondary. It provides a stable platform, but the RTX 2070 SUPER is the component that determines the final frame rate.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this CPU and GPU combo in The Technomancer?

A: The High preset offers the best balance. At 1080p it averages 103 FPS, at 1440p it averages 67 FPS, and at 4K it averages 37 FPS. The Ultra preset provides a 23 FPS drop at 1080p and is not worth the visual gain.

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

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The evidence is in the resolution scaling: from 1080p to 1440p High, the FPS drops from 103 to 67 (a 35% decrease), and from 1440p to 4K, it drops from 67 to 37 (a 45% decrease). This pattern holds across all settings, indicating a GPU bottleneck.

Q: Can this combo run The Technomancer at 4K?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 4K High, the average FPS is 37, which is playable but not smooth. At 4K Low, it averages 56 FPS. The 4K Ultra preset is not recommended as it averages only 29 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 1620 out of 2825 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places it in the 57th percentile, outperforming 57% of all tested systems. The ranking is limited by the GPU's performance.

Q: What is the GPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M, scores 20480, which is 1% faster. The Intel Arc A750 scores 20582, which is 1.5% faster. The RTX 2070 SUPER is slightly behind all of them.

Q: What is the CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 7500X3D has an average benchmark score of 44573. It is 0.2% faster than the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (avgScore 44466) and 0.5% faster than the Intel Core i9-13950HX (avgScore 44342). It is 0.7% slower than the Intel Core i5-14600 (avgScore 44889).