The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting test for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 pairing. The benchmark data reveals a system where the GPU is heavily taxed at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s substantial cache and core configuration provide a stable foundation. This analysis examines the measured FPS across three resolutions and four quality presets to determine the optimal settings and the role each component plays in this title.

Settings Recommendations

For the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination, the measured FPS data indicates that the High preset offers the most balanced experience across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 98 FPS, which is a substantial 21 FPS drop from the Low preset's 150 FPS but a significant 21 FPS improvement over the Ultra preset's 77 FPS. The jump from Medium's 115 FPS to High's 98 FPS represents a 17 FPS reduction, yet High provides better visual fidelity than Medium while remaining comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. The data shows that High is the sweet spot for 1080p gaming, as the difference between High and Low is 52 FPS, but the visual quality improvement is considerable.

Moving to 2560x1440, the High preset maintains an average of 64 FPS, which is exactly at the standard for smooth gameplay. This is 34 FPS lower than the Low preset's 98 FPS but 14 FPS higher than Ultra's 50 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p produces 75 FPS, which is 11 FPS higher than High, but the High preset's visual enhancements are worth the minor performance cost. The 1440p High result of 64 FPS is a 34.7% reduction from the 1080p High result of 98 FPS, indicating a significant GPU workload increase, yet the frame rate remains playable. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 50 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold, making High the recommended choice for this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the High preset produces an average of 35 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target but still playable for a slower-paced Action RPG. The Low preset at 4K yields 54 FPS, which is 19 FPS higher than High, while Medium produces 41 FPS and Ultra drops to 28 FPS. The 4K High result of 35 FPS is a 45.3% reduction from the 1440p High result of 64 FPS, showing that the RTX 5050 is heavily strained at this resolution. For a better 4K experience, the Low preset's 54 FPS is the most playable option, but the High preset offers a more visually appealing experience at the cost of smoothness. The data suggests that High is the recommended preset for 1080p and 1440p, while users at 4K should consider Low for playability or accept High's lower frame rate for better graphics.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a desktop processor from the 5000 series, built on the Zen 3 architecture with the Vermeer codename. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz. The processor has a 96 MB shared L3 cache, which is notably large and beneficial for gaming workloads that require frequent data access. The CPU's benchmark scores show a strong multithreaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14317 and a Geekbench multicore score of 11765. The single-core performance is also respectable, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1452 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2017.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the FPS scaling across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 150 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at high frame rates. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 7299 and the 3DMark 8-thread score of 5906 indicate strong multi-core capability, which is beneficial for an Action RPG that may have background simulation tasks. The CPU's percentile rank of 80 versus all CPUs places it in the upper quintile, and its average benchmark score of 27896 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U, which has a deltaPct of 0. The Intel Core i9-10900K is only 0.1% behind, while the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 is 0.1% ahead, and the Intel Core i5-12600KF trails by 0.3%.

The 5800X3D's 8 cores and 16 threads are sufficient for The Technomancer, as the game likely does not require more than 8 cores to run efficiently. The CPU's high boost clock of 4.50 GHz helps maintain responsiveness, and the large L3 cache reduces memory latency, which can improve frame pacing. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is not the limiting factor, as the FPS scales predictably with GPU settings. The processor's PassMark multithread score of 28309 and single-thread score of 3234 indicate a balanced performance profile that handles both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads well. The CPU's TDP of 105 W and socket compatibility with AMD Socket AM4 are standard for its generation, and its production status is end-of-life, but its performance remains competitive for this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is a dedicated graphics card from the GeForce 50-series, based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and the GB207 chip. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 2317 MHz and a boost clock of 2572 MHz, with memory running at 2500 MHz or 20 Gbps effective. The card includes 2560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units, along with 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores. Its FP32 performance is rated at 13.17 TFLOPS, and the texture rate is 205.8 GTexel/s, with a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s.

In The Technomancer, the GPU is clearly the dominant factor in determining frame rates, especially at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows a consistent decrease as resolution increases. At 1080p High, the average is 98 FPS, which drops to 64 FPS at 1440p High, and further to 35 FPS at 4K High. This represents a 34.7% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 45.3% drop from 1440p to 4K. The GPU's 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for this 2016 title, as even at 4K Ultra, the game runs with an average of 28 FPS, indicating memory is not a bottleneck. The GPU's benchmark scores show a passmark G3D score of 17326, with a percentile rank of 66 versus all GPUs, placing it in the upper two-thirds of graphics cards.

The RTX 5050's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, which has a deltaPct of -0.6, the AMD Radeon HD 8970M with -1, the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT with 1.6, and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile with -1.6. The GPU's average benchmark score is 21035, which is close to these rivals. In gaming, the RTX 5050 shows its strength at 1080p, where it can deliver high frame rates even at Ultra settings (77 FPS). The 1440p performance is adequate for High settings (64 FPS), but 4K gaming requires lower settings to maintain playable frame rates. The GPU's TDP of 130 W and suggested power supply of 300 W are modest, and it uses a dual-slot cooler with a single 8-pin power connector. The card supports PCIe 5.0 x8 interface, which is modern and provides sufficient bandwidth for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 1721 out of 2825 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the 39th percentile of all tested systems. This rank indicates that while this pairing is not at the top of the performance charts, it is neither at the bottom, offering a mid-tier experience relative to other hardware combinations. The rank of 1721 suggests that there are 1104 combos that perform worse and 1720 that perform better, putting this system slightly below the median performance level for this game.

The CPU's percentile rank of 80 versus all CPUs is significantly higher than the combo's overall rank, indicating that the processor is capable but is likely held back by the GPU in this specific game. Conversely, the GPU's percentile rank of 66 versus all GPUs is also higher than the combo rank, but the gap is smaller. This suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor in this pairing, as the CPU has more headroom than the GPU. The combo's rank of 1721 out of 2825 means that approximately 39% of tested systems perform better, which is consistent with the RTX 5050 being a mid-range GPU that struggles at higher resolutions.

When compared to the CPU's nearest rivals, the 5800X3D's average benchmark score of 27896 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (27887), Intel Core i9-10900K (27872), AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (27932), and Intel Core i5-12600KF (27799). These scores show that the CPU is competitive with other processors from different generations and market segments. The GPU's average benchmark score of 21035 is also close to its nearest rivals, with the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL at 21153 and the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT at 20713. This indicates that in synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5050 performs similarly to older high-end mobile and desktop GPUs, but in The Technomancer, the combination's rank reflects the game's specific demands.

The data shows that the combo's rank is influenced more by the GPU than the CPU, as evidenced by the FPS scaling across resolutions. At 1080p, the system can achieve high frame rates, but at 4K, performance drops significantly. This pattern is typical of a system where the GPU is the bottleneck, and the CPU's strong performance cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations at high resolutions. The combo's rank of 1721 out of 2825 is a reasonable result for a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU, and users can expect smooth gameplay at 1080p and 1440p with appropriate settings, but 4K gaming will require compromises.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 98 at 1080p to 64 at 1440p, a decrease of 34 FPS or 34.7%. From 1440p to 4K, the average drops from 64 to 35 FPS, a decrease of 29 FPS or 45.3%. This shows that the performance scaling is not linear, with a larger percentage drop at higher resolutions, indicating that the GPU is becoming increasingly strained as pixel count increases.

For the Low preset, the FPS drops from 150 at 1080p to 98 at 1440p (a 34.7% decrease) and then to 54 at 4K (a 44.9% decrease from 1440p). The Medium preset shows a similar pattern, with 115 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p (a 34.8% decrease), and 41 FPS at 4K (a 45.3% decrease from 1440p). The Ultra preset produces 77 FPS at 1080p, 50 FPS at 1440p (a 35.1% decrease), and 28 FPS at 4K (a 44% decrease from 1440p). Across all settings, the percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistently around 34-35%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is consistently around 44-45%.

This consistent scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting component in this system for The Technomancer. The CPU's performance is sufficient to maintain high frame rates at 1080p, as evidenced by the 150 FPS Low result, but as resolution increases, the GPU's rendering workload grows, and the frame rate drops accordingly. The RTX 5050's 8 GB VRAM and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for this game, but the GPU's compute power (13.17 TFLOPS) is not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The data shows that the system is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but 4K requires lower settings to achieve playable frame rates.

The resolution scaling analysis also reveals that the CPU's role becomes less significant at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU can push the GPU to 150 FPS on Low settings, but at 4K, the GPU is the bottleneck, and the CPU's performance is less relevant. This is typical for modern games, where the GPU workload scales with resolution while the CPU workload remains relatively constant. The 5800X3D's 8 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for this game, and the CPU's high L3 cache does not provide a significant advantage at higher resolutions where the GPU is the limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average FPS of 150 on the Low preset, which is the highest measured result across all settings and resolutions. The Medium preset produces 115 FPS, with a minimum of 98 FPS and a maximum of 132 FPS, indicating a stable frame rate with a 34 FPS variance. The High preset yields 98 FPS, which is 52 FPS lower than Low, and the Ultra preset produces 77 FPS, which is 73 FPS lower than the Low preset. The data shows that at 1080p, the system can easily handle the game, with even the Ultra preset providing a smooth experience above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces an average of 98 FPS, which is 52 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset yields 75 FPS, with a minimum of 64 FPS and a maximum of 87 FPS, showing a 23 FPS variance. The High preset delivers 64 FPS, which is exactly at the 60 FPS threshold, and the Ultra preset drops to 50 FPS. The 1440p results show a clear performance hierarchy, with Low being the only preset that significantly exceeds 60 FPS, while High and Medium are playable, and Ultra is below the ideal threshold.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset produces an average of 54 FPS, which is the only preset that approaches playable smoothness at this resolution. The Medium preset yields 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 48 FPS, showing a 13 FPS variance. The High preset delivers 35 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 28 FPS. The 4K results indicate that the RTX 5050 is not powerful enough for high-quality gaming at this resolution, with even the Low preset struggling to maintain 60 FPS. The data shows that users should stick to 1080p or 1440p for the best experience, or accept lower settings at 4K.

The measured FPS breakdown provides a complete picture of the system's performance in The Technomancer. At 1080p, all presets are playable, with Low offering the highest frame rates and Ultra still providing 77 FPS. At 1440p, High and Medium are the recommended presets, with Low offering higher frame rates but lower visual quality, and Ultra being marginal. At 4K, only the Low preset is recommended for playable frame rates, while Medium, High, and Ultra all fall below 45 FPS. The minimum FPS values for the Medium preset at each resolution (98 at 1080p, 64 at 1440p, 35 at 4K) show that frame dips are consistent with the average, indicating stable performance without severe stuttering.