The Technomancer

# The Technomancer — AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D + AMD Radeon RX 7700

The Technomancer, an Action RPG released in 2016, presents an interesting stress test for this modern AMD pairing. The data shows a combo that ranks 1275th out of 2825 tested combinations, placing it in the 55th percentile of all combos — a solidly mid-pack result. What makes this configuration particularly revealing is how the FPS scales across resolutions and settings, pointing to a system where the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck at higher loads, while the CPU's strong single-threaded performance keeps 1080p frame rates remarkably high.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep and consistent decline as resolution increases, a pattern that strongly implicates the GPU as the limiting component in this pairing. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces 117 FPS on average. Moving to 1440p drops that to 77 FPS — a 34% reduction. At 4K, the average falls further to 42 FPS, which represents a 64% drop from the 1080p figure. This scaling curve is classic GPU-bound behavior: the Ryzen 7 5800X3D's compute capabilities are sufficient to feed the Radeon RX 7700 at lower resolutions, but the GPU's rendering workload grows quadratically with pixel count.

The Low settings data reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 179 FPS, while 1440p Low yields 117 FPS and 4K Low produces 64 FPS. The percentage drops are similar to High settings — 35% from 1080p to 1440p, and another 45% from 1440p to 4K. Even at the lowest quality preset, the GPU is still the primary constraint; the 4K Low result of 64 FPS is barely higher than the 1080p High result of 117 FPS, suggesting that resolution has a much larger impact on frame rate than graphical fidelity settings alone.

What does this imply for the system's balance? The 4K Ultra result of 33 FPS is nearly unplayable by modern standards, while 1080p Low at 179 FPS is far beyond what most displays can show. The sweet spot appears to be 1440p Medium at 90 FPS or 1080p High at 117 FPS, both of which represent reasonable trade-offs between visual quality and smoothness. The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1440p gaming, where it can maintain respectable frame rates without hitting the severe degradation seen at 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, carries the primary responsibility for the resolution scaling observed in the data. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for a game from 2016. The GPU's boost clock of 2459 MHz and game clock of 2041 MHz are relatively high, yet the measured FPS at 4K Ultra (33 FPS) suggests that raw pixel throughput becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows a PassMark G3D score of 20974 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2865. In the broader context of all GPUs, this card sits at the 58th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 15852. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 370X (deltaPct -0.1%), AMD Radeon RX 9060 (deltaPct -1%), AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (deltaPct 1.1%), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (deltaPct -1.7%). These close deltas indicate that the RX 7700 performs roughly on par with these cards in synthetic benchmarks, though the measured game performance will depend heavily on the specific workload.

The GPU's pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s are substantial, yet the 4K results show the card struggling to maintain 60 FPS even at Low settings (64 FPS). This suggests that The Technomancer's rendering pipeline is particularly demanding on fill rate and memory bandwidth at high resolutions. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for this game's textures, so the bottleneck is almost certainly in the GPU's compute and rasterization throughput rather than memory capacity.

Interestingly, the GPU's FP32 performance of 25.18 TFLOPS is quite high, yet the game's engine appears unable to translate that raw compute into proportionally high frame rates at 4K. This could indicate that The Technomancer is limited by other GPU subsystems, such as the 96 ROPs or the 160 TMUs, rather than shader throughput. The data shows that reducing settings from Ultra to Low at 4K improves performance from 33 to 64 FPS — a 94% improvement — which is a larger gain than the resolution scaling alone would suggest.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, with its 8 cores and 16 threads based on Zen 3 architecture, provides the computational foundation for this combo. Its 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a distinctive feature that gives it an edge in cache-sensitive workloads. The CPU's boost clock of 4.50 GHz and base clock of 3.40 GHz are moderate by current standards, yet its benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14317 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 11765.

The CPU's role in this game's performance becomes clear when examining the FPS at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 179 FPS, which is likely near the engine's practical limit for frame rate. The single-threaded performance, evidenced by a PassMark single-thread score of 3234 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 884, appears sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at these lower resolutions. The CPU's percentile ranking of 80 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27896, places it well above the GPU's 58th percentile, reinforcing the notion that the GPU is the limiting factor.

However, the CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its overall capability. The AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (deltaPct 0%), Intel Core i9-10900K (deltaPct 0.1%), AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (deltaPct -0.1%), and Intel Core i5-12600KF (deltaPct 0.3%) all have nearly identical average scores. This means the 5800X3D is not dramatically ahead of its contemporaries in general benchmarks, but its 3D V-Cache technology (96 MB L3) could provide specific advantages in games that benefit from large caches.

At 4K, the CPU's performance is largely irrelevant to the final frame rate, as the GPU is clearly the constraint. But at 1080p, the CPU's ability to maintain high frame rates — 179 FPS at Low settings — indicates that the 8-core, 16-thread configuration is more than adequate for this 2016 title. The data suggests that even at 1080p Ultra (92 FPS), the CPU is not the bottleneck, as the GPU's rendering workload at that quality level is sufficient to keep frame rates below the CPU's maximum throughput.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Technomancer with this combo?

A: The data suggests 1440p is the sweet spot. At 1440p Medium, the combo achieves 90 FPS average with a minimum of 76 FPS, while 1440p High yields 77 FPS. These are playable frame rates, unlike 4K which dips to 33-64 FPS depending on settings.

Q: How does the RX 7700 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 7700's average benchmark score of 15852 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862, deltaPct -0.1%), slightly lower than the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014, deltaPct -1%) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129, deltaPct -1.7%), and slightly higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679, deltaPct 1.1%).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck even at 1080p. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D can produce 179 FPS at 1080p Low, and dropping to 117 FPS at 1080p High shows the GPU is limiting performance as settings increase. The CPU's single-threaded performance (3234 PassMark) is sufficient to avoid being the constraint.

Q: How much performance is lost from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 117 at 1080p to 77 at 1440p (a 34% reduction), and then to 42 at 4K (a 64% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline is characteristic of GPU-bound rendering.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1275th out of 2825 tested combinations in The Technomancer, placing it in the middle of the field. This suggests the system provides average performance relative to all tested hardware pairings.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM on the RX 7700 help at 4K?

A: Despite having 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, the 4K results remain below 60 FPS at all settings except Low (64 FPS). This indicates that memory capacity is not the limiting factor; rather, the GPU's rasterization throughput and fill rate constrain performance at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1275 out of 2825 tested combinations places it at approximately the 55th percentile of all tested systems in The Technomancer. This mid-pack position is somewhat surprising given the modern nature of both components, but it reflects the game's demands and the GPU's relative standing in the broader hardware landscape.

The GPU's 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15852, is the likely driver of this mid-tier result. The CPU, by contrast, ranks in the 80th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27896. This disparity suggests that the GPU is holding the combo back from a higher ranking, as the CPU is clearly capable of supporting more demanding graphics hardware.

The data shows that in games where the GPU is the primary constraint — which appears to be the case in The Technomancer — the combo's rank will closely track the GPU's percentile. The 1275th rank out of 2825 combos aligns well with the RX 7700's 58th percentile position, indicating that the system is performing as expected given its components. The CPU's 3D V-Cache and high single-threaded performance do not provide a meaningful advantage in this title, as the game's frame rates at 1080p are already above 90 FPS even at Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the High preset at 117 FPS provides an excellent balance of visual quality and smoothness, while the Medium preset at 137 FPS offers even higher frame rates with a modest visual downgrade. The Ultra preset at 92 FPS is still playable, but the 25 FPS difference between Ultra and High may not justify the additional graphical fidelity.

For 1440p, the Medium preset at 90 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS is the recommended choice, as it maintains frame rates above 60 FPS while providing better visual quality than Low (117 FPS). The High preset at 77 FPS is also viable, but the 13 FPS drop from Medium to High may be noticeable in fast-paced combat. The Ultra preset at 60 FPS is borderline, with the average right at the 60 FPS threshold but no minimum FPS data to confirm stability.

At 4K, the data recommends sticking with Low settings (64 FPS) or Medium (49 FPS) if you can tolerate frame rates in the 40s. The High preset at 42 FPS and Ultra at 33 FPS are likely too choppy for an action RPG, where responsive controls are essential. Given the steep performance penalties at 4K, the data suggests that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo if you prefer Medium or High settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 179 FPS average
• Medium: 137 FPS average, with a minimum of 117 FPS and maximum of 158 FPS
• High: 117 FPS average
• Ultra: 92 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 117 FPS average
• Medium: 90 FPS average, with a minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 103 FPS
• High: 77 FPS average
• Ultra: 60 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 64 FPS average
• Medium: 49 FPS average, with a minimum of 42 FPS and maximum of 57 FPS
• High: 42 FPS average
• Ultra: 33 FPS average

The data reveals a consistent pattern: each step from Low to Medium costs roughly 25-30% performance, while Medium to High costs another 15-20%, and High to Ultra costs another 20-25%. This scaling is consistent across all three resolutions, suggesting that the game's settings have a predictable impact on GPU load regardless of resolution. The minimum FPS values recorded at Medium settings (117 at 1080p, 76 at 1440p, 42 at 4K) indicate that frame pacing remains relatively stable, with no severe stutters or drops below the average by more than 15%.