The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting stress test for the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combination. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets reveal a system that is heavily influenced by the graphics settings chosen, with the CPU providing a solid foundation. This analysis breaks down the performance data, showing how the components interact and what users can expect from this pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the pattern is not uniform across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 233 at 1920x1080 to 152 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 81 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 83 FPS, meaning that at 4K Low, the system delivers roughly 36% of the 1080p Low performance. This steep decline indicates that even at the lowest graphical preset, the GPU is being pushed hard by the pixel count, though the CPU is still capable of feeding it enough data at lower resolutions.

For the High preset, the scaling is similar in percentage terms. The average FPS goes from 153 at 1080p to 100 at 1440p, then down to 55 at 4K. The 4K High result is just under half of the 1080p High result, which is a typical curve for a demanding title where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases. The delta between 1080p and 1440p is 53 FPS, while the delta between 1440p and 4K is 45 FPS, showing a slightly more gradual decline at higher resolutions, which is often seen when the GPU’s memory bandwidth and fill rate start to saturate.

The Medium preset follows the expected trajectory, with averages of 179 FPS at 1080p, 117 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset delivers the lowest numbers across the board: 119 FPS at 1080p, 78 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this combination cannot maintain smooth gameplay at the highest settings and resolution. The scaling data clearly shows that the RX 9070 XT is the limiting factor at 4K, regardless of preset, while at 1080p, the differences between presets are more pronounced, suggesting the CPU has more headroom to work with.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture using the Navi 48 chip, fabricated on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 1660 MHz, with a boost clock of 2970 MHz and a game clock of 2400 MHz. Memory runs at 2518 MHz, or 20.1 Gbps effective. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 48.66 TFLOPS.

In this game, the GPU’s role is dominant at higher resolutions. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (43 FPS) versus 4K Low (83 FPS) shows a 40 FPS swing, which is entirely attributable to the GPU’s workload. The RX 9070 XT’s 16 GB of VRAM is not a limiting factor here, as even the highest preset does not appear to exceed the available memory. The clock speeds are consistent with the card’s design, and the data shows that the GPU’s compute capabilities are the primary driver of the performance differences between settings.

The GPU’s benchmark scores provide context for its placement. It scores 26795 in Passmark G3D and 65879 in Geekbench Vulkan, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 7260. Its percentile ranking against all GPUs is 55, indicating it sits in the middle of the pack for this database. The nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the AMD Radeon HD 7770M (13536, delta 0.1%), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13515, delta 0.2%), and NVIDIA P106-090 (13470, delta 0.5%). These comparisons are based on average scores across multiple tests, not specifically for The Technomancer, but they suggest that raw compute performance is moderate relative to the wider GPU landscape.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 is a Zen 3 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Cezanne codename. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, offering 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. It has 16 MB of L3 cache, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 64 KB of L1 cache per core. The chip is manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC, with 10,700 million transistors on a 180 mm² die.

For The Technomancer, the CPU’s role is more evident at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 233, which is a high frame rate that requires a capable processor to keep up with the GPU. The single-thread performance, as measured by benchmarks like Cinebench R23 single-core (2916) and Geekbench single-core (1907), is sufficient for this title. The CPU’s multi-thread capabilities, shown by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20655 and a Passmark multithread score of 24303, ensure that background tasks and game logic do not create bottlenecks.

The CPU’s percentile ranking against all CPUs is 78, placing it in the upper quartile. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon D-2752TER (avg score 25530, delta -0.1%), AMD Ryzen 5 7640U (25485, delta 0.1%), AMD Ryzen 5 6600H (25550, delta -0.1%), and AMD Ryzen 7 5825U (25446, delta 0.3%). These deltas are minimal, indicating that the 5700 performs similarly to these processors in general benchmarks. In this game, the data suggests the CPU is not the primary limiter until frame rates exceed roughly 200 FPS, which only occurs at 1080p Low.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance for most users. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 179 FPS with a minimum of 152 FPS and a maximum of 205 FPS, which is well above any display refresh rate target. At 2560x1440, Medium still provides a strong 117 FPS average, with a minimum of 99 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay. Even at 3840x2160, Medium achieves 64 FPS on average, with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS, which is playable for many.

The High preset is also viable, but it comes with a noticeable cost. At 1080p, High runs at 153 FPS average, which is still excellent. At 1440p, it drops to 100 FPS, which is good. However, at 4K, High falls to 55 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth play. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p, where it hits 119 FPS average, but at 1440p it drops to 78 FPS, and at 4K it bottoms out at 43 FPS, making it unsuitable for serious play at higher resolutions.

The Low preset provides the highest frame rates, with 233 FPS at 1080p and 83 FPS at 4K, but it sacrifices visual fidelity. Given that Medium at 4K offers 64 FPS, which is 21 FPS higher than High at the same resolution, the Medium preset is the sweet spot. The difference between Medium and High at 4K is 9 FPS, but the jump from Medium to Ultra at 4K is another 21 FPS loss, showing that Ultra is disproportionately demanding. For a smooth experience, Medium is the recommended preset across all resolutions, with High being acceptable only for 1080p and 1440p.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combination ranks 875th out of 3696 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the top 24% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the overall performance of the pairing, which is strong but not exceptional, given the GPU’s mid-tier percentile ranking of 55. The combo rank is likely influenced by the fact that the CPU is very capable (78th percentile), but the GPU holds the system back in this specific title.

The ranking of 875 out of 3696 means that this combo outperforms roughly 76% of other tested systems. This is a solid result, but it is not near the top, where higher-end GPUs would dominate. The data indicates that the RX 9070 XT, despite having modern architecture and 16 GB of VRAM, does not deliver top-tier performance in this game, as evidenced by its 55th percentile GPU ranking. The CPU’s strong performance helps, but the GPU’s limitations at 4K are clear from the measured FPS.

When considering the combo rank, it is important to note that this is a single-game result. The Technomancer is an older title, and its engine may not fully utilize the RDNA 4.0 architecture’s features. The GPU’s nearest rivals in general benchmarks, such as the GTX 570 with a delta of 0.2%, are much older cards, which suggests that the RX 9070 XT’s driver optimization or game-specific compatibility may not be ideal. Regardless, the measured data is what it is, and this combo ranks in the upper-middle tier for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 233 FPS, Medium produces 179 FPS with a minimum of 152 FPS and a maximum of 205 FPS, High produces 153 FPS, and Ultra produces 119 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 114 FPS, showing a significant performance cost for higher quality settings. The Medium preset’s minimum of 152 FPS is still very high, indicating consistent frame delivery.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages decrease: Low delivers 152 FPS, Medium delivers 117 FPS (with a min of 99 FPS and max of 134 FPS), High delivers 100 FPS, and Ultra delivers 78 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is notable, with Low losing 81 FPS and Ultra losing 41 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 99 FPS is still above 60, so it remains smooth. High at 100 FPS is also acceptable, but Ultra at 78 FPS begins to show the GPU’s strain.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are the lowest: Low averages 83 FPS, Medium averages 64 FPS (min 55, max 74), High averages 55 FPS, and Ultra averages 43 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one that stays above 60 FPS on average, and even then, its minimum of 55 FPS indicates occasional dips. High and Ultra both fall below 60 FPS, with Ultra dipping well into the 40s. The data shows that 4K gaming is only viable with Medium settings or lower for this combo, and even then, users should expect some frame rate variability. The overall pattern is that the GPU becomes the bottleneck at 4K, while the CPU maintains high performance at 1080p and 1440p.