The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, places heavy demands on hardware, and this specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X with the Intel Arc B390 produces a very constrained experience. The benchmark data indicates that this combo is firmly at the low end of the performance spectrum, struggling to maintain playable frame rates at higher resolutions and settings. The analysis below breaks down the measured performance, the role of each component, and what settings offer the most viable path forward for this configuration.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured frame rates, the only playable path for this combo is at 1080p with the lowest settings. The data shows a clear hierarchy where performance degrades rapidly as visual fidelity increases. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 79 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that clears the 60 FPS threshold, providing a smooth and responsive experience. This should be the default recommendation for anyone using this hardware combination.

The Medium preset at 1080p yields an average of 61 FPS, which is technically playable but with less headroom for demanding scenes. The measured minimum of 52 FPS for this setting indicates that there will be noticeable dips below the average, which could lead to stuttering during combat or crowded areas. While it is an option, the data suggests that the stability of the Low preset is preferable.

Moving up to the High preset at 1080p drops the average to 52 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold. The Ultra preset at 1080p is even more demanding, with an average of just 40 FPS, making it a poor choice for sustained gameplay. At 1440p, the situation becomes more difficult; even the Low preset only manages an average of 52 FPS, and the High preset falls to 34 FPS. These numbers suggest that 1440p is not a viable resolution for this combo if aiming for consistent performance.

At 4K, all settings are effectively unplayable. The Low preset at 3840x2160 hits an average of 28 FPS, the Medium preset averages 22 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to a dismal 15 FPS. The data is clear: to get the best experience from this hardware, users must prioritize resolution and settings. The optimal configuration is 1920x1080 with the Low preset, which is the only combination that delivers a consistently high frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The overall performance of this combo is exceptionally poor when compared to other tested configurations. The data shows that this pairing ranks 2500 out of 2825 tested combos for The Technomancer, placing it in the bottom 12% of all systems. This is a strong indicator that the GPU is a severe bottleneck, as the CPU is a high-end desktop part.

This ranking is consistent with the individual component benchmarks. The Intel Arc B390’s average benchmark score places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, indicating it is among the weakest graphics processors tested. In contrast, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X sits in the 81st percentile of all CPUs, showing it is a relatively powerful processor. The massive disparity in component performance is reflected in the low overall combo rank, as the system’s frame rate is heavily limited by the graphics card.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and the Intel Core i5-13500HX, with the 5800X performing within a fraction of a percent of these parts. This shows that the CPU is keeping pace with modern mid-range mobile and desktop processors. The GPU, however, is in a different league entirely. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and the GeForce GT 710, which are legacy, entry-level parts from over a decade ago. This comparison underscores the fact that the Arc B390 is not a gaming-oriented part, and its performance is the primary reason for the combo's low rank.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the defining component in this system’s performance, and not in a good way. Its specifications are unique for a discrete graphics solution, as it is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) built on Intel's Xe3-LPG architecture. The GPU has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output pipelines.

The most critical detail is its memory configuration. The Arc B390 uses "System Shared" memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM and instead relies on the system's main DDR4 memory. The memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which means its performance is tied to the speed and configuration of the system RAM. This is a severe disadvantage in a game like The Technomancer, which requires fast, dedicated memory for texture streaming and frame buffer operations. The shared memory architecture creates a bottleneck that limits the GPU's ability to feed its processing units with data, directly contributing to the low frame rates observed.

The GPU’s raw compute capabilities are also low. It offers a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s, with a FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS. While these numbers are not zero, they are far below what is needed for modern gaming at high resolutions. The benchmark data for the GPU is sparse, with only a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482. This score places it in the 9th percentile and puts it in direct competition with very old, low-end GPUs like the NVIDIA GeForce 800M and the GeForce GT 625 OEM. The data shows that this GPU is simply not designed for the demands of a 2016 Action RPG at playable settings, making it the clear limiting factor in this pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a stark illustration of the performance ceiling for this combo. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: the Low preset averages 79 FPS, the Medium preset averages 61 FPS, the High preset averages 52 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 40 FPS. The Medium preset also recorded a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS, showing a 18 FPS variance. This indicates that even the "playable" settings have significant frame pacing issues.

Stepping up to 2560x1440, the performance takes a significant hit. The Low preset averages 52 FPS, which is a 34% drop from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 and a maximum of 46. The High preset drops to 34 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 26 FPS. These numbers show that 1440p is only suitable for the Low preset if the user can tolerate a 52 FPS average, but it is a marginal experience at best.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapses entirely. The Low preset averages 28 FPS, the Medium preset averages 22 FPS (with a minimum of 19 and a maximum of 25), the High preset averages 19 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 15 FPS. None of these are playable for a game that requires quick reactions. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 13 FPS, which suggests that the GPU is so saturated that even reducing settings has a minimal impact on the frame rate; the bottleneck is the raw processing power and memory bandwidth of the Arc B390.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and dramatic scaling pattern as resolution increases. From 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the average FPS drops from 79 to 52, a reduction of 27 FPS. Moving from 1440p Low to 4K Low, the average further drops from 52 to 28, another 24 FPS reduction. This linear decline with pixel count is a classic sign of a GPU-bound system.

When examining the High preset, the scaling is even more punishing. The 1080p High average is 52 FPS, which drops to 34 FPS at 1440p and then to 19 FPS at 4K. This indicates that the graphics card is the primary limiting component. The CPU is not the bottleneck here; the Ryzen 7 5800X is more than capable of handling the game's logic and draw calls. The fact that frame rates plummet so consistently as the resolution increases proves that the Arc B390 cannot generate enough frames to keep up with the higher pixel counts.

The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial across all settings. For instance, the Low preset loses about 65% of its performance when moving from 1080p to 4K. This steep curve is typical of a GPU with very low memory bandwidth and compute throughput. If the system were CPU-limited, we would expect the frame rate to stay relatively flat across resolutions, but that is not the case. The data strongly suggests that the Arc B390 is the sole reason for the poor performance, and the system's frame rate is essentially a function of the GPU's workload.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is a very capable processor and is not the source of the performance issues in this pairing. It is an 8-core, 16-thread CPU based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. It has 32 MB of L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 15476 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1574.5 points in the single-core test, showing strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance.

In the context of The Technomancer, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and AI. The benchmark data shows that the CPU is performing its job, but the results are masked by the GPU's inadequacy. The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT, with the 5800X performing within 0.6% of these parts. This shows that it is a robust and modern processor.

The fact that the Ryzen 7 5800X sits in the 81st percentile of all CPUs while the overall combo ranks in the bottom 12% of tested combos for this game highlights the massive imbalance. The CPU has more than enough headroom to feed a more powerful GPU. If this processor were paired with a discrete graphics card that had dedicated VRAM and higher compute throughput, the frame rates would be significantly higher. The data confirms that the CPU is not the limiting factor; the Intel Arc B390 is the component that holds this system back, creating a severe bottleneck that prevents the Ryzen 7 5800X from demonstrating its true potential in this 2016 title.