The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 action RPG, presents an interesting case study for the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination. The measured data reveals a system that is capable of high refresh rate gaming at 1080p but faces significant challenges at higher resolutions. This analysis breaks down the performance metrics, focusing on where the bottleneck lies and how the hardware scales with graphical demands.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is substantial across all settings, indicating that the rendering load scales aggressively with pixel count. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 104.4 FPS at 1080p to 66.5 FPS at 1440p, and further down to 39.4 FPS at 4K. This represents a steep decline, with the 4K result being only about 37.7% of the 1080p performance.

The trend is consistent across the other presets. With Low settings, the system delivers 159 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 102.7 FPS at 1440p and 53.4 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 121.7 FPS at 1080p, 81.6 FPS at 1440p, and 43.8 FPS at 4K. Even the most demanding Ultra preset, which starts at a playable 79.8 FPS at 1080p, falls to 50.3 FPS at 1440p and becomes largely unplayable at 29.1 FPS in 4K.

These numbers suggest that the graphics card is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases. The gap between the 1080p and 1440p results is significant, but the drop to 4K is particularly severe. The data indicates that 1440p is a reasonable target for this combo, but 4K is only viable at the lowest settings, and even then, the average frame rate of 53.4 FPS is not ideal for a smooth experience. The scaling curve points to a GPU that is being pushed to its limits by the pixel throughput required at 4K resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is a modern 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its performance in synthetic benchmarks is strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29302 and a single-core score of 4136. These figures place the CPU in the 91st percentile among all tested processors, according to its percentileVsAllCpus field.

In the context of The Technomancer, the CPU's role appears to be providing a solid foundation that does not bottleneck the GPU at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the frame rate of 159 FPS is high enough that the CPU's 16 threads are likely handling the game's logic and draw calls without issue. The processor's high single-thread performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R15 single-core score of 416, is beneficial for games that rely on a few primary threads. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache also helps keep frequently accessed data close to the cores.

However, as resolution increases, the CPU's influence wanes because the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The fact that the frame rate drops so dramatically from 1080p to 4K, regardless of the settings, suggests that the Ryzen 7 7700 has ample headroom. The data shows that the CPU is not the constraint in this pairing; its performance is sufficient to feed the RTX 2070 SUPER even at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do per frame.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a Turing-architecture card with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its core clocks are a base of 1605 MHz and a boost of 1770 MHz. The card's average benchmark score is 22206, placing it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. This is a mid-range performer by modern standards, and the data from The Technomancer reflects its capabilities.

The GPU's memory configuration and bandwidth are critical for high-resolution gaming. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for this title, but the 4K results suggest that the card's raw compute power is the limiting factor. The FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS is not sufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K with demanding settings. The measured results show that the Ultra preset at 4K yields only 29.1 FPS, which is below the threshold for a fluid experience.

The GPU's role in this combo is to determine the upper ceiling of performance. At 1080p, it is fast enough to deliver over 100 FPS on High settings and nearly 160 FPS on Low. The bottleneck shifts to the GPU as the resolution increases, and the frame rates fall accordingly. The RTX 2070 SUPER is clearly the limiting component in this system for The Technomancer, as the CPU has performance to spare.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all tested combinations in the benchmark database, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1020 out of 1656 combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the lower-middle tier of systems, which is consistent with the GPU's age and performance class. The comboRankInGame field indicates that while it is not a top-tier setup, it is also not at the very bottom.

The CPU alone is a high performer, ranking in the 91st percentile against all CPUs. This high CPU ranking does not translate into a high combo ranking because the GPU holds the system back. The RTX 2070 SUPER has a GPU percentile of 65, which is significantly lower. The data suggests that the CPU is capable of supporting a more powerful graphics card, and the overall system performance is capped by the GPU's limits.

This ranking emphasizes the importance of balance in a gaming system. The Ryzen 7 7700 is a future-proof processor that can handle more demanding graphics cards, but in this specific configuration, its potential is not fully utilized. The combination is functional and can play the game, but it does not achieve a high rank due to the GPU's constraints.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution. For a 60 FPS experience, the system can handle High settings at 2560x1440, achieving an average of 66.5 FPS. This provides a good balance between visual quality and performance. At 1080p, the Ultra preset is playable with an average of 79.8 FPS, allowing for maximum visual fidelity.

For 4K gaming, the options are more limited. The Low preset delivers an average of 53.4 FPS, which is the only setting that approaches a playable frame rate at this resolution. The Medium preset at 4K yields 43.8 FPS, which may be acceptable for some players but is not ideal for fast-paced action. The High and Ultra presets at 4K are not recommended, as they fall to 39.4 and 29.1 FPS respectively.

The data indicates that the best experience is achieved by prioritizing resolution over settings. At 1440p with High settings, the game looks good and runs smoothly. If a player prefers 1080p, they can enable Ultra settings for the best visuals. The 4K resolution is only viable with significant graphical compromises, and even then, the frame rate is not consistently smooth. The measured rows suggest that 1440p High is the sweet spot for this hardware combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following section details the exact average frame rates measured for each resolution and settings preset.

At 1920x1080, the system performs admirably. The Low preset achieves 159 FPS, the Medium preset reaches 121.7 FPS, and the High preset delivers 104.4 FPS. The Ultra preset is also playable, with an average of 79.8 FPS.

For 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease, but remain respectable. The Low preset yields 102.7 FPS, the Medium preset drops to 81.6 FPS, and the High preset achieves 66.5 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to 50.3 FPS, which is still smooth for most titles.

At 3840x2160, the performance is limited. The Low preset manages 53.4 FPS, the Medium preset drops to 43.8 FPS, and the High preset averages 39.4 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, resulting in 29.1 FPS, which is below the standard for a playable experience.

These numbers provide a complete picture of the system's capabilities. The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p is the most comfortable resolution, 1440p is a viable step up with adjusted settings, and 4K is only for those willing to sacrifice visual quality for a playable frame rate. The benchmark results indicate that this combination is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming on The Technomancer.