The Technomancer

The Technomancer, an Action RPG from 2016, presents a demanding workload for the tested configuration of an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is firmly balanced between its capable processor and aging graphics card, with the GPU consistently acting as the primary bottleneck at higher visual presets. This combination ranks in the 3057th position out of 3696 tested combos, placing it in the lower 18th percentile of all systems, a position that underscores its limitations in modern gaming scenarios despite the CPU's strength.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for The Technomancer shows a clear progression of performance across its four settings presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. For users seeking the most fluid experience at standard resolutions, the Low preset offers the highest frame rates, but it comes at a significant cost to visual fidelity. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 117 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth. However, the step up to Medium still provides a highly playable 90 FPS average, with a minimum of 76 FPS, making it a superior choice for balancing visual quality with performance. The High preset at 1080p yields a solid 77 FPS average, which remains within the territory of smooth gameplay for most users, but the Ultra preset, while reaching exactly 60 FPS on average, indicates the GPU is nearing its limit.

The analysis becomes more critical at higher resolutions. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the most recommended setting, as it produces an average of 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS, which is acceptable for a slower-paced RPG. The High preset at this resolution drops to a 50 FPS average, which is still playable but starts to show strain. Pushing to 4K (3840x2160) makes the system's limitations apparent. The Medium preset at 4K manages only a 32 FPS average, with minimums dipping to 27 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. Consequently, the data suggests that the optimal experience for this hardware is achieved at 1080p with the Medium or High preset, or at 1440p with the Medium preset. For 4K, even the Low preset’s 42 FPS average is marginal, indicating that this resolution is not practical for a consistently smooth experience with this GPU. The best experience per the measured rows is therefore a balance between the 1080p High preset and the 1440p Medium preset, depending on the user's preference for resolution over visual detail.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, built on the Pascal architecture and fabricated on a 16 nm process, is the decisive component in this system's gaming performance. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a memory bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s, which is sufficient for the textures and assets in The Technomancer at 1080p and 1440p. However, the benchmark results indicate that the GPU's compute capabilities, with 1920 shading units and a peak FP32 performance of 6.463 TFLOPS, are the limiting factor at higher settings and resolutions. The core clocks, with a base of 1506 MHz and a boost of 1683 MHz, are typical for this generation, but the architecture's age is evident in the frame rate scaling.

The data shows a direct correlation between GPU load and performance degradation. At 1080p, the difference between the Low and Ultra presets is 57 FPS (117 down to 60), a 49% reduction in performance that is almost entirely due to the increasing shading and texture work demanded of the GPU. As the resolution increases to 1440p, the average FPS across all settings drops proportionally, with the Ultra preset falling to 39 FPS. This pattern confirms that the GTX 1070's raw throughput is the primary constraint. Its performance percentile of 47, relative to all GPUs, places it in the middle of the pack, and its benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 13498, reflect its mid-range status. The GPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD FirePro W5000 and NVIDIA Quadro M2000M, with negligible deltas, further illustrating that this is not a high-end part. In the context of The Technomancer, the GTX 1070 is a capable 1080p card, but it lacks the headroom for high-refresh-rate 1440p or any meaningful 4K gaming, as the 4K Ultra preset's 21 FPS average clearly demonstrates.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this hardware at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 117 FPS, which is achieved at the 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: Can this configuration run The Technomancer smoothly at 2560x1440?

A: Yes, but only at the Medium preset, which delivers an average of 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS. The High preset at this resolution averages 50 FPS, while Ultra drops to 39 FPS.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this system?

A: No. The best average at 3840x2160 is 42 FPS on the Low preset, but the Medium preset, which is more visually representative, only achieves 32 FPS with minimums down to 27 FPS. Ultra is unplayable at 21 FPS.

Q: How does the GTX 1070's performance percentile compare to its average benchmark score?

A: The GPU has a percentile rank of 47, meaning it performs better than 47% of all GPUs. This is consistent with its average benchmark score of 9780, which is closely matched by rivals like the AMD FirePro W5000 with a delta of -0.2%.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 76 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 39 FPS. This represents a 37 FPS drop, or approximately a 49% reduction in performance, when moving to the highest visual quality.

Q: Does the data suggest the CPU or GPU is the limiting factor?

A: The data strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. As both resolution and graphical settings increase, the frame rates drop significantly. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D has a high benchmark score of 27896 and is in the 80th percentile, indicating it has ample processing power that is not being fully utilized at higher settings where the GPU is saturated.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 achieves a rank of 3057 out of 3696 tested combinations in The Technomancer. This places the system in the lower 17% of all tested hardware configurations, a position that is primarily dragged down by the GPU. The CPU is a high-performance part; its average benchmark score of 27896 places it in the 80th percentile of all CPUs, and it outperforms its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i9-10900K (deltaPct 0.1) and the Intel Core i5-12600KF (deltaPct 0.3). This indicates that the processor is more than capable of handling the game's logic and physics, and it is not the source of the performance bottleneck.

In contrast, the GTX 1070's average benchmark score of 9780 is much lower, and its percentile rank of 47 is almost half that of the CPU. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU from a previous generation creates a significant imbalance. In the context of the benchmark database, this combo's rank demonstrates that while the CPU contributes to overall system responsiveness and can handle high frame rates at lower settings, it cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions and detail levels. The rank is a direct reflection of the GPU's struggles with the game's higher graphical demands, particularly at 4K, where the system's overall performance is severely constrained. This pairing is a classic example of a processor that is ready for a more powerful graphics card, as the CPU's potential is left untapped in this specific gaming workload.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, with its 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, provides a formidable foundation for gaming. Its large 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a key feature for gaming performance, as it reduces memory latency and improves data access for the CPU. The processor's boost clock of 4.50 GHz and high benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14317 and a passmark multithread score of 28309, confirm its strong processing power. In the context of The Technomancer, this CPU is likely overqualified for the task, as the game is not known for being heavily CPU-bound, and the GPU is clearly the limiting factor in most scenarios.

The benchmark data supports this assessment. At 1080p with the Low preset, the system achieves 117 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding frames to the GPU efficiently. However, as the resolution and settings increase, the frame rate drops, not because of CPU limitations, but because the GPU cannot keep up with the increased pixel and shading workload. The CPU's high performance percentile of 80 and its average benchmark score of 27896, which is on par with the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (deltaPct 0) and slightly ahead of the Intel Core i9-10900K, indicate that it would not be the source of frame rate dips in this game. The data implies that the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is providing a stable and powerful processing environment, but its capabilities are being bottlenecked by the GTX 1070, especially at higher quality settings. The processor's role here is to ensure minimal frame pacing issues and to provide the necessary headroom for the GPU to operate, which it does effectively, but its full potential remains unrealized.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rate data for The Technomancer reveals a consistent and predictable performance curve across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its best performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 117 FPS. Increasing the graphical fidelity to Medium reduces the average to 90 FPS, with a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 103 FPS. The High preset further lowers the average to 77 FPS, and the Ultra preset brings the average down to exactly 60 FPS, which is still playable but shows a significant performance cost for the highest visual quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the impact of the higher resolution is clear. The Low preset averages 76 FPS, a 35% drop from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 59 FPS (minimum 50, maximum 67), which is just at the threshold of smooth gameplay. The High preset drops to a 50 FPS average, and the Ultra preset falls to 39 FPS, indicating a substantial strain on the GPU. At 3840x2160, the system's limitations are fully exposed. The Low preset is the only one that approaches playability, with a 42 FPS average. The Medium preset, which is more indicative of a standard visual experience, averages only 32 FPS with a minimum of 27 FPS. The High preset produces a 27 FPS average, and the Ultra preset is effectively unplayable at a 21 FPS average. The data shows no anomalies; the frame rates scale inversely and consistently with both resolution and graphical settings, confirming the GPU as the performance bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 provides clear evidence of the system's limiting component. At the Low settings preset, the average frame rate drops from 117 FPS at 1080p to 76 FPS at 1440p, and then to 42 FPS at 4K. This represents a 64% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K. This scaling is not linear; the transition from 1440p to 4K incurs a larger relative penalty (a 45% drop) than the transition from 1080p to 1440p (a 35% drop). This is indicative of the GPU hitting a memory bandwidth or fill-rate wall, as the pixel count at 4K is more than double that of 1440p.

At the Ultra settings preset, the frame rates are lower across the board, but the scaling pattern is similar. The average drops from 60 FPS at 1080p to 39 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 21 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is 65%, which is nearly identical to the Low preset's drop. This consistency in scaling across different settings strongly suggests that the bottleneck is not related to the CPU or memory subsystem, but rather to the GPU's raw pixel and shading throughput. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see a smaller performance gap between resolutions, as the CPU workload would remain relatively constant. Instead, the frame rate scales with the GPU's workload, which is directly proportional to the number of pixels rendered. The data conclusively shows that the GTX 1070's processing power is the primary constraint, and the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is not a factor in the performance degradation as resolution increases.