The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 action RPG, presents another interesting test case for a 2020 CPU and a 2022 GPU. The data is measured, not synthetic, so it reflects real gameplay constraints. This combination—an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT—delivers frame rates that scale in a predictable fashion, but the pattern across resolutions and presets reveals which component has the harder job at each setting.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a classic GPU-bound scaling curve. At 1920×1080, the Low preset averages 249 FPS; at 2560×1440, that number drops to 164 FPS; at 3840×2160, it lands at 90 FPS. The Medium preset tells a similar story, moving from 193 FPS at 1080p, to 126 FPS at 1440p, to 69 FPS at 4K. Even the High preset, which averages 164 FPS at 1080p, falls to 108 FPS at 1440p and then to 59 FPS at 4K. Ultra follows the same curve: 128 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 46 FPS at 4K.

The pattern is consistent: moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces the average frame rate by roughly 60–74 FPS depending on the preset, and the jump to 4K brings another significant cut. For Low, the 249 FPS at 1080p becomes 90 FPS at 4K—a reduction of 159 FPS—but the relative drop (from a high triple-digit to a mid-double-digit) suggests that the GPU is the first component to hit its limit. At 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to feed the massively parallel GPU, but the load quickly becomes more GPU-bound as the pixel count increases. The Medium and High presets mirror this, with a high frame rate that thins out at the 4K boundary.

The minimum FPS readings are only provided for Medium settings across all three resolutions, and they offer a glimpse into the frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the measured min is 164 FPS, and at 1440p it falls to 107 FPS. The 4K Medium min hits 59 FPS. These minimums align closely with the average values, suggesting that the frame times stay reasonably stable. That is a typical GPU-limited scenario where the render load dominates the frame duration. At 4K, the 69 FPS average is still well above typical refresh thresholds, but the 59 FPS min means occasional dips into the low-60s.

The large difference between 1080p Low and 4K Low (249 vs 90) indicates the game stress is heavily pixel-bound. The 20 GB frame buffer does not present a bandwidth issue, but the sheer compute needed for the rendering pipeline is the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the GPU often runs at a high utilization but also has plenty of spare cycles; this is why the average exceeds 250 FPS. The 1440p and 4K numbers tell a GPU-bound story, with the frame rate inversely proportional to the render resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the graphics engine here. It carries 84 ray accelerators across 5376 shader units, with 336 texture mapping units and 192 render output units. The processor is built on 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, manufactured on a 5 nm TSMC process. The GPU’s memory subsystem uses 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 320-bit bus, delivering a theoretical bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s. Its base clock is set at 1387 MHz, with a game clock of 2025 MHz and a boost of 2394 MHz.

For a 2019 game like The Technomancer, the VRAM is far beyond anything the title can require. The 20 GB allocation means that the game's texture sets—even at the highest settings—cannot come close to saturating the memory. The bus width and bandwidth also contribute: the 800.0 GB/s rate means no memory fill bottlenecks at any of the tested presets.

The measured frame rates then reflect the raw shader speed, not the memory. At 1080p, the Low preset cleanly hits 249 FPS, which is near the upper bound of what the display bus can produce. In a purely CPU-unlimited scenario, a lighter GPU would still reach high numbers, but the RX 7900 XT’s enter number (53.5 teraflops? ) . Actually, we don't have the exact FP32 value in the pack, but we do have the FP32 number of 51.48 TFLOPS. Yes, that's in the pack. So we can mention that: The FP32 throughput is 51.48 TFLOPS, which provides the calculation muscle for this older title. The same TFLOPS figure, not the texture rates or pixel rate. The 459.6 GPixel/s pixel rate is notable, but the 4K data suggests that even this rate drops the FPS to 46 at Ultra.

The GPU’s global percentile against all GPUs is 55, and its average synthetic benchmark score is 13745. That percentile is modest because the synthetic benchmarks bring in other components, but in this game’s actual measurements, the GPU is clearly strong enough to push benchmarks above 200 FPS at lower resolutions. The fact that the 4K Medium test shows a minimum of 59 FPS indicates that the GPU alone is not stretched to its absolute limit—though it is close.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread Zen 3 processor based on the Vermeer architecture. It operates on a 7 nm process, with 8,300 million transistors across two 74 mm² dies. The base clock is 3.70 GHz, and the boost maximum reaches 4.80 GHz. The L3 cache is a generous 64 MB, split per CCX, and it supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The CPU’s synthetic percentile is 88, meaning it ranks higher than the large majority of processors in database.

In The Technomancer, the CPU role appears honestly but not seriously. At 1080p Low, the average FPS of 249 is a balance between the CPU's ability to submit frames and the GPU’s ability to render them. Because the CPU has 12 cores and the game can scale across multiple threads, it can keep up with the GPU’s request for draw calls. At 1440p, the frame rate drops to 164 FPS, which is a 43% reduction from 1080p, but at 4K the frame rate dives to 90. This scaling is heart-wse: the CPU is not the bottleneck, as the same CPU handles 249 FPS at 1080p and only a fairly smaller drop to 164 at 1440p; the GPU begins to hit its rasterization limits as pixel load increases.

The fact that the Ultra setting at 1080p delivers 128 FPS, while Medium does not produce 193 FPS, shows a CPU has headroom. At 4K, the Ultra drops to 46 FPS, and even a 5900X cannot compensate for that because the frame rate is now dictated by the GPU’s parallel shader capacity. The 5900X does not produce a bottleneck in this test; the game’s threads can saturate the 24 heterogeneous engines at the low-resolution scenarios. The CPU at most 20% of usage? Actually we don't have CPU usage numbers, but the data inference is clear: the average FPS at 1080p Low exceeds the minimum acceptable, so the CPU is not the limiting component. The wide scaling of 249->164->90 is a textbook GPU-bound progression.

Settings Recommendations

Looking at the measured rows, the best experience per preset depends heavily on the target resolution. At 3840×2160, the Medium preset provides an average of 69 FPS and a minimum of 59 FPS. This is the only preset at 4K with a reported minimum, making it the most consistent option among the High and Medium choices; the High is slightly slower at 59 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 46. Thus, for a fluid 4K experience, Medium is the recommended preset: its 69 FPS average seats it above the typical 60 FPS threshold, and the 59 FPS minimum keeps it just at the edge. Ultra, at 46 FPS, will feel more stuttery in action.

At 1440p, High delivers 108 FPS average and is a very smooth experience for most displays. The Low preset at 164 FPS is unnecessary unless you own a very high refresh monitor. The Medium preset at 126 FPS is a balanced choice if you want headroom over High's 108, but the 107 FPS minimum on Medium means occasional dips near the low 100s. For users with a 144 Hz monitor, the Medium (126 avg) or Low (164 avg) are the best fits; High still works at 108, which may be fine for a 60-100 Hz display.

At 1080p, every preset is playable. Ultra delivers 128 FPS average, which matches a 120 Hz target; High does as well (164 FPS), and Low hits 249 FPS. The minimums are not reported for High or Low, but the Medium preset has a 164 FPS minimum, which is the most stable data point. If your goal is purely the highest visual quality without diving below 100 FPS, then Ultra at 1080p (128 avg) is a safe pick. Simply, the preset recommendation scales with the display resolution: Medium at 4K, High or Medium at 1440p, and proceed with the highest preset that holds above the refresh target at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

When placed against all 3696 combinations tested in this game, this specific pairing of the Ryzen 9 5900X and the RX 7900 XT holds the 715th position. Being in the 715th slot, it is just below the top 20% of all combos. The ranker is a combination score across all resolutions and settings, so the wide 4K frame rates (59± at Medium) contribute heavily.

The CPU in this combination, with its 12-core and 24-thread layout, is above the 87th percentile of all CPUs in synthetic performance. The GPU, however, is only at the 55th percentile for all GPUs. Yet, in this specific game, the rank is 715/3696, which indicates that the GPU’s raw benchmark position does not always translate directly to the game’s ranking. The RX 7900 XT has a great 20GB memory and high FPS at these settings, but its synthetic average score is 13745, and the nearest rivals are a mix of mobile and entry-level cards. That suggests that its synthetic average is pulled down by other benchmarks, but for The Technomancer, its actual rendering performance is strong enough to drive high FPS at lower resolutions.

In essence, the ranking for this game is on a consistent frame, but not excessively high: there are 715 other (CPU, GPU) pairings in front of it. Since many of those pairings include stronger hardware, the scores indicate that this CPU+GPU gives a good performance-to-FPS ratio, not an extreme top-tier one.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for the RX 7900 XT at 4K with Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 69 FPS, with a minimum frame of 59 FPS recorded in the data.

Q: At 1440p, which preset gives the highest average frame rate?

A: The Low preset reaches 164 FPS average. Medium is 126 FPS, High is 108 FPS, and Ultra is 84 FPS.

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so much from 1080p to 4K?

A: The game scale is pixel-bound: at 1080p with Low settings the average is 249 FPS, while the same low settings at 4K produce 90 FPS. The CPU and GPU both have headroom, but the increased resolution forces the GPU to compute around 4 times the number of pixels, which dominates the performance.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 5900X a bottleneck in this game at lower resolutions?

A: At 1080p Low, the CPU processes the game quickly enough to allow the GPU to reach 249 FPS; the bottleneck is not CPU-limited, as the frame rate falls predominantly when the resolution climbs.

Q: What minimum frame rate does the Medium setting offer at 1080p?

A: The 1080p Medium preset reports a minimum average of 164 FPS, and the maximum is 222 FPS.

Q: Does the 20 GB VRAM of the RX 7900 XT have any effect at 4K?

A: Yes, it ensures the memory never runs out during test. The 20 GB GDDR6 allocation with 320-bit bus provides capacity far above what The Technomancer demands, allowing texture detail preserved even at the Ultra preset.