The Technomancer

Resolution Scaling

The Technomancer presents a clear and predictable scaling pattern across the three tested resolutions with the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination. At 1080p, the system delivers high frame rates that indicate a GPU-bound scenario at higher settings, while the CPU has ample headroom. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average frame rate drops by roughly 35% across most settings, which is a typical penalty for a 77% increase in pixel count. The transition from 1440p to 4K (3840x2160) is even more punishing, with average frame rates falling by approximately 44-45% across the board, reflecting the massive 2.25x pixel count increase over 1440p.

At 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches an average of 169 FPS, which suggests the game is not heavily taxing the CPU at this resolution. The Ryzen 5 8400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, shows it can feed the RTX 4060 adequately at lower resolutions. However, as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. The data reveals that at 4K Ultra, the average frame rate plummets to 31 FPS, which is barely playable, while 4K High manages 40 FPS. The scaling from Ultra to Low at 4K is substantial, with a 30 FPS difference (61 FPS at Low versus 31 FPS at Ultra), indicating that the game's visual fidelity settings have a significant impact on GPU workload.

The limiting component shifts clearly with resolution. At 1080p, the RTX 4060 is the limiting factor at Ultra settings (86 FPS), but at Low and Medium settings, the frame rates of 169 and 130 FPS respectively suggest that either the CPU or game engine's single-thread performance begins to matter. The Ryzen 5 8400F's single-thread benchmark score of 951 in 3DMark and 2943 in Cinebench R23 single-core indicates reasonable performance, but the game appears to scale well with GPU load as resolution increases. At 1440p, the GPU bottleneck becomes more pronounced, with the gap between Low (110 FPS) and Ultra (56 FPS) widening to 54 FPS. At 4K, the GPU is unequivocally the bottleneck, as even Low settings only produce 61 FPS average.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the dominant factor in The Technomancer's performance at higher resolutions. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for this 2016 Action RPG at 1080p and 1440p, but the data shows the card struggles at 4K with higher settings. The GPU's boost clock of 2460 MHz and base clock of 1830 MHz are relatively high, and the Ada Lovelace architecture with 3072 shading units delivers 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. These specifications translate into a PassMark G3D score of 19545, placing the card in the 61st percentile of all GPUs.

The RTX 4060's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (with a deltaPct of -0.2, essentially identical), the AMD Radeon 780M (0.3% slower), and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (0.5% slower). This indicates that while the RTX 4060 is a capable modern GPU, its raw compute performance is comparable to some older or integrated solutions in synthetic benchmarks, which is interesting context for The Technomancer's results. In actual game performance, the RTX 4060 shows significant variation based on settings and resolution, with the 4K Ultra result of 31 FPS being particularly low.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is worth examining in the context of The Technomancer's settings. At 4K with Ultra settings, the game likely demands more than 8 GB of VRAM, which could explain the steep drop from 47 FPS at Medium to 31 FPS at Ultra. The memory clock runs at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective), which is standard for GDDR6. The card's pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s are moderate for the 40-series, and these figures align with the observed frame rates. At 1440p Medium, the card produces 85 FPS average with minimums of 72 FPS, suggesting smooth gameplay, while 4K Medium drops to 47 FPS with a 40 FPS minimum, indicating potential stutter in demanding scenes.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for smooth gameplay with this CPU/GPU combo?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with High settings delivers 111 FPS average, while 2560x1440 with High settings yields 72 FPS. For 60+ FPS gameplay, 1440p High is the highest resolution/settings combination that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, while 4K only reaches 61 FPS at Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17639, which is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666, 0.2% faster) and slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon 780M (17588, 0.3% slower) and AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17551, 0.5% slower).

Q: What is the CPU's relative performance ranking?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F sits in the 77th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 25005. It is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (24964, 0.2% slower), Intel Core i7-11850H (24935, 0.3% slower), and Intel Core i7-13620H (24911, 0.4% slower).

Q: Does the game become unplayable at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 31 FPS, which is below the typical 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The minimum frame rate data is not available for this combination, but the average suggests a poor experience.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from Ultra to Low at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, moving from Ultra (86 FPS average) to Low (169 FPS average) nearly doubles the frame rate, a gain of 83 FPS. This indicates that the RTX 4060 has significant headroom at 1080p if settings are reduced.

Q: What is the frame rate range at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average frame rate is 85 FPS, with a minimum of 72 FPS and a maximum of 97 FPS. This represents a stable experience with minimal variance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4060 and Ryzen 5 8400F combination delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 169 FPS, Medium settings average 130 FPS with a range of 110 to 149 FPS, High settings average 111 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 86 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 49% reduction in frame rate, which is substantial but leaves all settings comfortably above 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance curve shifts downward. Low settings still manage an average of 110 FPS, Medium settings average 85 FPS with a 72 to 97 FPS range, High settings average 72 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 56 FPS. The 1440p results show that High settings are the highest quality option that maintains 60+ FPS average, while Ultra dips just below that threshold.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4060's limitations become apparent. Low settings average 61 FPS, which is borderline playable but not smooth by modern standards. Medium settings average 47 FPS with a 40 to 53 FPS range, High settings average 40 FPS, and Ultra settings plummet to 31 FPS. The 4K results demonstrate that this GPU is not suited for 4K gaming in The Technomancer unless the player accepts Low settings and tolerates frame rates in the low 60s.

The measured data across all resolutions shows a consistent pattern: the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 83 FPS (169 vs 86), at 1440p it is 54 FPS (110 vs 56), and at 4K it is 30 FPS (61 vs 31). This trend confirms that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the absolute frame rate differences shrink while the percentage differences remain similar.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the best experience for this hardware combination in The Technomancer depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings (86 FPS average) provide the best visual quality while maintaining frame rates well above 60 FPS. The High preset at 1080p (111 FPS) is also excellent if players prefer higher refresh rates, but Ultra is the recommended choice for those with 60Hz displays who want maximum visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, High settings (72 FPS average) are the optimal balance between visual quality and performance. Medium settings (85 FPS) offer a smoother experience, but the visual downgrade may not be worth the 13 FPS gain. Ultra settings at 1440p (56 FPS average) fall short of the 60 FPS target and are not recommended for action-oriented gameplay, as the Action RPG genre often requires responsive controls.

For 3840x2160, the data suggests that Low settings (61 FPS average) are the only viable option for playable frame rates. Medium settings (47 FPS) may be acceptable for players who prioritize visuals over smoothness, but the 40 FPS minimum could cause noticeable stutter in combat scenarios. High and Ultra settings at 4K (40 and 31 FPS respectively) are not recommended for general play, as they fall well below the 60 FPS target and even struggle to maintain 30 FPS consistently at Ultra.

The overall recommendation is to prioritize 1440p High settings as the sweet spot for this hardware, delivering 72 FPS average with good visual quality. Players with 1080p displays can comfortably use Ultra settings, while those with 4K displays should either reduce resolution or accept Low settings. The measured data does not include frame generation or upscaling technologies, so the RTX 4060's DLSS capabilities could potentially improve 4K performance, but this is not reflected in the available numbers.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F plays a supporting role in The Technomancer's performance, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. This 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Zen 4 architecture (Phoenix codename) operates at a base clock of 4.20 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a 65W TDP. Its 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 per core provide adequate memory hierarchy for game workloads. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 951 and multi-thread score of 6165 indicate solid performance, though not exceptional compared to the top-tier desktop processors.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's influence is most evident at 1080p with Low settings, where the system achieves 169 FPS. This high frame rate suggests the game engine is not heavily multi-threaded, as the CPU's multi-thread scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core of 20851) are strong but not dominant. The CPU's 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25005, places it in a competitive position. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, has a nearly identical average score of 24964 (0.2% difference), indicating that the 8400F is well-matched to its peers.

The fact that The Technomancer was released in 2016, several years before this CPU's 2024 release, suggests the game likely has modest CPU requirements. The Ryzen 5 8400F's 4 nm process and 25,000 million transistors provide ample computational headroom. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 3685 and multi-thread score of 24389 show balanced performance, but the game's frame rates at 1080p (169 FPS at Low) indicate that the CPU is not a limiting factor even at high refresh rates. At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's role diminishes further, as the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. The data shows that the CPU maintains consistent performance across all resolutions, with no evidence of CPU-related frame rate drops or stuttering, even at the highest settings where the GPU is heavily taxed.