The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting stress profile for modern high-end hardware. This analysis examines the measured performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, focusing on how the game scales across resolutions and settings. The data reveals a title that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but becomes increasingly CPU-sensitive at 1080p, where the Ryzen 7's architecture plays a critical role in achieving triple-digit frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop varies significantly by settings preset. At High settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 results in a drop from 236 FPS to 154 FPS, a reduction of 82 FPS or roughly 35%. Pushing further to 3840x2160 at High yields 85 FPS, which is another 69 FPS drop from 1440p. This steep decline indicates that at higher resolutions, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the primary limiting factor, with its rendering workload scaling directly with pixel count.

The Low preset tells a different story about the system's bottlenecks. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an exceptional 340 FPS. This high frame rate suggests the CPU is working near its limit, as the GPU has relatively little work to do. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops the average to 235 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, it falls to 129 FPS. The 1080p to 1440p drop of 105 FPS is substantial, but the 1440p to 4K drop of 106 FPS is nearly identical, indicating a more linear scaling pattern when the graphical load is lighter. This suggests that at Low settings, neither component is fully saturated at 1440p, and the scaling is more evenly distributed.

Ultra settings present the most demanding scenario. The frame rate at 1920x1080 Ultra is 184 FPS, which drops to 120 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 66 FPS at 3840x2160. The percentage drops are consistent, with each resolution step reducing performance by roughly 35% to 45%. This consistent scaling at Ultra confirms that the RTX 5090 D's compute resources are the dominant constraint, and the game's visual effects at this preset scale heavily with resolution.

The data indicates that The Technomancer is fundamentally a GPU-bound title at 4K, with the RTX 5090 D's raw throughput determining the final frame rate. However, at 1080p, the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D's capabilities become more relevant, particularly at Low settings where the 340 FPS result suggests the CPU can feed the GPU effectively without becoming a major bottleneck. The medium preset at 4K shows a minimum FPS of 84, which is 15 FPS below the average of 99, indicating some frame pacing variance under load.

FAQ

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D achieves an average of 66 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the lowest measured average across all tested configurations, indicating that this preset demands the most from the GPU.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary limiter at higher resolutions. At 4K Low, the average FPS is 129, while at 1080p Low it reaches 340 FPS. The significant scaling with resolution indicates the RTX 5090 D's rendering workload is the main constraint, though the CPU's performance becomes more relevant at lower resolutions and settings.

Q: What is the best resolution for high refresh rate monitors?

A: For 144Hz displays, the 2560x1440 High preset, with an average of 154 FPS, would be suitable. For 240Hz displays, the 1920x1080 High preset at 236 FPS or the 2560x1440 Low preset at 235 FPS would be more appropriate, as both exceed the 240 FPS threshold only at 1080p Low.

Q: How does the Medium preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: At every resolution, the Medium preset provides a significant frame rate advantage over High. At 3840x2160, Medium yields 99 FPS compared to High's 85 FPS. At 2560x1440, Medium achieves 180 FPS versus High's 154 FPS. The gap narrows slightly at 1920x1080, with Medium at 276 FPS and High at 236 FPS.

Q: Does the system maintain consistent frame times?

A: The only configurations with measured minimum and maximum FPS are the Medium presets. At 3840x2160 Medium, the frame rate varies between 84 and 114 FPS. At 2560x1440 Medium, it ranges from 153 to 207 FPS. At 1920x1080 Medium, the spread is 235 to 317 FPS. This data indicates some frame time variance, but the averages remain solid.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested system combinations?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks 4th out of 2825 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places the system in the top 0.1% of all configurations tested for this game.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D is a desktop processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This high clock speed, combined with the substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache, provides the CPU with significant single-thread and multi-thread capabilities. The CPU's benchmarks support this, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22807 and a single-core score of 2228.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do. At 1920x1080 Low, the system achieves 340 FPS, a result that requires strong per-core performance to maintain frame pacing. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D's boost clock of 5.60 GHz is crucial here, as the game's engine likely relies on a few primary threads for game logic and draw call submission. The Passmark single-thread score of 4704 indicates strong single-core performance, which aligns with the 1080p results.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, evidenced by a Passmark multi-thread score of 41318, may also contribute to the game's performance at lower resolutions. However, the data shows that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at 1080p High, where the average FPS of 236 is lower than the Low preset's 340 FPS. This suggests that even at 1080p, the graphical settings have a significant impact on the GPU's workload, and the CPU can keep up with the increased demands.

The Ryzen 7 9850X3D's performance relative to its rivals provides context for its gaming capabilities. In the CPU benchmark database, it scores within 0.1% of the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M, with an average score of 58386 versus 58323. It is also 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i9-14900 and 0.7% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470. This tight grouping indicates that the CPU's gaming performance is competitive with other high-end processors, even those with different core counts and architectures. The 92nd percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its top-tier status.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset achieves an average of 340 FPS, which is the maximum recorded in the entire dataset. The Medium preset produces 276 FPS, with a minimum of 235 FPS and a maximum of 317 FPS. High settings drop to 236 FPS, while Ultra settings bring the average down to 184 FPS. This represents a 156 FPS difference between the lowest and highest quality presets at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down notably. Low settings yield 235 FPS, which is 105 FPS lower than the 1080p result. Medium settings achieve 180 FPS, with a spread from 153 to 207 FPS. High settings produce 154 FPS, and Ultra settings average 120 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 115 FPS, which is narrower than the 156 FPS gap at 1080p, indicating that the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are the lowest in the dataset. Low settings average 129 FPS, Medium settings average 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and maximum of 114 FPS, High settings average 85 FPS, and Ultra settings average 66 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 63 FPS difference, which is significantly smaller than at lower resolutions. This compressed range at 4K strongly suggests that the RTX 5090 D's rendering capabilities are the dominant constraint, and the CPU's performance has less impact on the final frame rate.

The Medium presets are the only configurations with complete min/max data. At 1080p, the variance between minimum and maximum FPS is 82 FPS. At 1440p, the variance is 54 FPS, and at 4K, it is 30 FPS. This decreasing variance at higher resolutions indicates more consistent frame pacing, as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck and the frame rate stabilizes around the average.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks 4th out of 2825 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places the system in the top 0.14% of all configurations tested, indicating that this hardware pairing is exceptionally well-suited for this game. The rank of 4th is particularly notable given the age of the game, which was released in 2016, and the modern hardware's ability to handle its engine.

The GPU's benchmark performance provides context for this ranking. The RTX 5090 D scores 44065 in the Passmark G3D benchmark, placing it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 77712 is 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, 1.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, and 2.1% lower than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB. This competitive positioning, combined with the CPU's strong 92nd percentile ranking, contributes to the combo's high overall rank in this game.

The fact that this combo ranks 4th out of such a large pool of 2825 configurations suggests that the game's engine responds well to the combination of the Ryzen 7's high clock speeds and large cache, along with the RTX 5090 D's massive compute throughput. The rank indicates that few other CPU-GPU pairings in the database can match the frame rates achieved by this system across the tested settings and resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 4K resolution, the Medium preset at 3840x2160 offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, with an average of 99 FPS and a minimum of 84 FPS. This provides a smooth experience on standard 60Hz displays and is close to 100 FPS for higher refresh rate panels. The High preset at 85 FPS is also playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes, while the Low preset at 129 FPS sacrifices visual fidelity for a significant performance boost.

At 2560x1440, the High preset emerges as the best option, delivering 154 FPS on average. This exceeds the 144Hz refresh rate commonly found on 1440p monitors, providing a buttery-smooth experience. The Medium preset at 180 FPS would benefit 165Hz or 180Hz displays, but the visual improvements of High settings are likely worth the 26 FPS trade-off for most users. The Ultra preset at 120 FPS is also viable for 120Hz displays, though it represents a 34 FPS drop from High.

For 1080p gaming, the High preset at 236 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides an excellent balance between visual quality and performance. This frame rate comfortably exceeds 144Hz and 165Hz refresh rates, and is close to 240Hz. The Medium preset at 276 FPS would be necessary for 240Hz displays, but the visual difference between Medium and High is often substantial. The Ultra preset at 184 FPS is still very playable and offers the best image quality, but the 52 FPS drop from High makes it less appealing for competitive play.

The data suggests that the system is well-suited for high refresh rate gaming at 1440p and 1080p, with 4K being more appropriate for 60Hz to 100Hz displays. The Low preset is not recommended for any resolution, as the frame rate gains over Medium are substantial but the visual quality degradation is likely too severe for an Action RPG where environmental detail contributes to immersion. The Medium preset at 1440p, with its 180 FPS average, represents the best performance-per-visual-quality trade-off in the dataset, but the High preset's 154 FPS at 1440p offers a superior visual experience for only a 26 FPS reduction.