The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, places unique demands on modern hardware. This analysis examines the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination, using measured frame rate data to detail how this pairing performs across resolutions and settings. The data set provides a clear picture of where the system excels and where its limitations become apparent, particularly at higher resolutions and extreme graphical presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall ranking of this CPU and GPU combo for The Technomancer?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination ranks 1632 out of 2825 tested combos for this game. This places it in the lower half of all tested configurations, indicating that while it is capable, many other pairings deliver higher average frame rates in The Technomancer.

Q: How does the RX 9060's memory configuration affect 4K performance?

A: The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. At 4K resolution, the data shows a significant performance drop, with average FPS falling to 37 on High settings and 29 on Ultra. This suggests the 8 GB frame buffer and memory bandwidth are limiting factors at 2160p, where the game demands more memory capacity and throughput than at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the best setting for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves the highest measured average of 157 FPS. The Medium preset delivers 120 FPS, while High reaches 103 FPS. Even the demanding Ultra preset maintains a playable 80 FPS average, so users prioritizing smoothness over visual fidelity will find the Low setting optimal, while those wanting maximum quality can still achieve solid frame rates.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 9800X3D has an average benchmark score of 39768. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS, scores 39603, a delta of 0.4 percent. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 scores 40048, which is 0.7 percent higher. The Ryzen 7 7700 outperforms it by 0.8 percent with a score of 40081, while the Ryzen AI 7 450 trails by 0.7 percent with a score of 39485.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 Medium, the combo achieves 79 FPS average with a minimum of 67 FPS. Comparing this to the 1080p Medium result of 120 FPS, the drop is substantial. Given the CPU's strong benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23230, the data indicates the RX 9060 is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases, since frame rates scale inversely with pixel count.

Q: What does the 87th percentile ranking for the CPU indicate?

A: The Ryzen 7 9800X3D ranks in the 87th percentile among all CPUs, meaning it performs better than 86 percent of processors in the database. This high percentile, combined with its 8 cores and 16 threads, shows that the CPU provides ample processing power for The Technomancer, which is an older title that may not fully utilize all available threads.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 achieves a combined rank of 1632 out of 2825 tested configurations for The Technomancer. This rank places the combo in the 42nd percentile of all tested pairings, a result that is notably lower than what the individual component benchmarks might suggest. The CPU itself is a top-tier performer, sitting in the 87th percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU only reaches the 59th percentile against all GPUs. The data indicates that the graphics card holds the combo back from achieving a higher rank.

Examining the GPU's position among its peers clarifies this dynamic. The RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores 16129, which is 0.7 percent higher. Conversely, the AMD Radeon R9 370X scores 15862, a 1 percent difference, and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 scores 15852, also a 1 percent difference. This places the RX 9060 in a tight cluster of mid-range graphics cards, none of which are dominant in synthetic benchmarks. The measured FPS in The Technomancer reflects this mid-pack positioning, with frame rates that are respectable at 1080p but struggle to maintain high refresh rates at 4K.

The ranking also suggests that the game's age plays a role. Released in 2016, The Technomancer may not be optimized for the RDNA 4.0 architecture's features, such as the 28 ray tracing cores, which are largely irrelevant to this title. The combo's rank of 1632 indicates that many other combinations, likely with more powerful GPUs or better optimization for this specific engine, deliver superior performance. The data shows a clear ceiling: the CPU is not the constraint, but the GPU's capabilities cap the system's overall standing in this particular game.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the central figure in this combo's performance profile. Its specifications reveal a card designed for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, a 128-bit bus, and a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The base clock is set at 1700 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz and a boost clock reaching 2990 MHz. The memory operates at 2250 MHz, translating to an effective speed of 18 Gbps. These clocks provide the raw throughput necessary for the measured frame rates, but the memory configuration is a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The GPU's 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units deliver a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is rated at 21.43 TFLOPS, which is competitive for this class. However, the 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes a critical constraint in The Technomancer at 4K. The data shows that at 3840x2160, the average FPS drops to 37 on High and 29 on Ultra, a steep decline from the 103 FPS at 1080p High. This pattern strongly suggests that the game is exceeding the available memory or bandwidth at 2160p, causing the GPU to struggle.

The RX 9060's benchmark scores further contextualize its role. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 3322, while Geekbench OpenCL yields 88183 and Vulkan scores 39476. Passmark G3D reports a score of 17631. These figures align with its 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs, placing it in the mid-range tier. The nearest rival comparisons show a delta of only -0.7 percent against the RTX 3060 Ti, confirming that the RX 9060 performs at a level similar to that well-known card. In The Technomancer, this translates to solid 60+ FPS at 1440p Medium, but the card's limitations become apparent when pushing to 4K, where the frame rates fall below the ideal playable threshold for many users.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rate data for The Technomancer provides a detailed view of the combo's performance. At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest results. The Low preset achieves an average of 157 FPS, a figure that will satisfy any high refresh rate monitor. The Medium preset averages 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 and a maximum of 138, providing consistent performance. High settings yield 103 FPS average, while the Ultra preset, the most demanding, still manages an 80 FPS average. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the combo is more than capable of handling the game, regardless of settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. The Low preset maintains an average of 102 FPS, which remains smooth. Medium settings drop to 79 FPS on average, with a minimum of 67 and a maximum of 90, ensuring a stable experience. High settings reduce the frame rate to 67 FPS average, which is still playable. The Ultra preset, however, falls to 52 FPS, dipping below the 60 FPS mark that many consider the baseline for smooth gameplay. This resolution represents a sweet spot for the combo, balancing visual quality with acceptable performance.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become pronounced. The Low preset averages 56 FPS, which is marginal for a smooth experience. Medium settings drop to 43 FPS, with a minimum of 37 and a maximum of 50, indicating noticeable stuttering in demanding scenes. High settings average 37 FPS, while Ultra falls to 29 FPS. These figures are below the threshold for comfortable gaming, making 4K a challenging prospect for this combination. The data shows a clear pattern: as resolution increases, the frame rates decrease almost linearly, with the Ultra preset at 4K being nearly unplayable at just 29 FPS average.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals critical insights into the system's bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 157 FPS. At 1440p Low, this drops to 102 FPS, a reduction of 35 percent. At 4K Low, the average is 56 FPS, which is a 64 percent drop from the 1080p result. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the increased pixel count places greater demands on the graphics card's rendering capabilities.

For the Medium preset, the scaling is similar. 1080p yields 120 FPS, 1440p drops to 79 FPS (a 34 percent reduction), and 4K falls to 43 FPS (a 64 percent reduction from 1080p). The High preset shows 103 FPS at 1080p, 67 FPS at 1440p (a 35 percent drop), and 37 FPS at 4K (a 64 percent drop). The Ultra preset follows the same trajectory: 80 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p (a 35 percent drop), and 29 FPS at 4K (a 64 percent drop). This uniform scaling across all settings indicates that the GPU's raw pixel processing power, not memory or other factors, is the primary constraint.

The consistent percentage drops suggest that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would show less variation between resolutions, as the processor would cap performance regardless of pixel count. Instead, the data shows a clear dependency on resolution, which is the hallmark of a GPU-limited system. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D, with its high benchmark scores, including a multi-thread score of 40009 in Passmark, provides ample headroom. The 4K results, particularly the 29 FPS on Ultra, highlight that the RX 9060 simply lacks the necessary fill rate and bandwidth to handle The Technomancer at that resolution with high fidelity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D serves as the computational backbone of this combo, and its specifications indicate it is a formidable processor. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. The base clock is 4.70 GHz, with a boost clock of 5.20 GHz. The CPU has a 96 MB shared L3 cache, which is substantial and beneficial for gaming workloads. Its TDP is rated at 120 W, and it supports DDR5 memory on the AMD Socket AM5 platform. The process node is 4 nm, manufactured by TSMC, with a transistor count of 8,315 million on a 70.6 mm² die.

The benchmark data confirms the CPU's strength. In Cinebench R23, it scores 23230 in multi-core and 2080 in single-core tests. Geekbench reports a multi-core score of 18696 and a single-core score of 2964. Passmark multi-thread tests yield a score of 40009, with single-thread at 4430. These scores place the CPU in the 87th percentile among all processors, proof of its performance. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS, has an average score of 39603, a delta of 0.4 percent, while the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 scores 40048, 0.7 percent higher.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with data and handle game logic. Given the measured FPS, the CPU is never the bottleneck. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is most capable, the CPU delivers 157 FPS, which is far below its theoretical maximum. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 10081 and max-thread score of 10067 show that the CPU can handle heavy multi-threaded workloads, but The Technomancer, as a 2016 title, likely uses fewer cores. The data shows that the CPU's performance is more than sufficient for this game, as frame rates are consistently limited by the GPU's output. This is a positive result, as it means users upgrading the GPU in the future could see significant FPS gains without needing to replace the processor.