The Technomancer

The Technomancer, an Action RPG released on 2016-06-27, presents a familiar challenge for the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 combination. The measured data places this combo at 3568th out of 3696 tested setups, a clear signal that the graphics card is the dominant constraint. The GTX 1650 struggles to maintain playable framerates at higher resolutions, while the 12-core Ryzen 9 5900X shows ample headroom. This analysis breaks down the resolution scaling, the roles each component plays, every measured framerate, and the practical settings for this pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The most telling pattern emerges from comparing framerates across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the combo averages 35 FPS. Dropping to 1440p Ultra reduces that to 23 FPS—a difference of 12 FPS. Moving to 4K Ultra, the average falls to 13 FPS, only half of the 1080p figure. The same trend holds for every quality preset: 1080p High gives 45 FPS, 1440p High gives 29, and 4K High gives 16. For Medium, the average framerates are 52 at 1080p, 34 at 1440p, and 19 at 4K, while Low shows 68, 44, and 24 respectively.

The scaling pattern is dramatic but not perfectly linear. A jump from 1080p to 1440p (about 1.56% of pixels) costs roughly 30–35% of the framerate. Doubling the resolution again to 4K (four times the 1080p pixel count) more than halves the already struggling framerates. This behavior strongly indicates a GPU-bound scenario—the rendering workload grows faster than the graphics card's ability to handle it, while the CPU remains underutilized. Notably, the only min and max FPS data are recorded for the Medium preset: 44–60 at 1080p, 29–39 at 1440p, and 16–22 at 4K. The tightness of these ranges at 1080p suggests the CPU is well provisioned, but the wide variation at 4K Medium (16–22) hints at moment of GPU load spikes.

The bottleneck is not a single component but the GTX 1650's limited shader throughput and memory bandwidth. The 12-core Ryzen 9 5900X, with a base clock of 3.70 and boost of 4.80 GHz, combined with 64 MB of pooled L3 cache, rarely shows signs of exhaustion at 1080p. At 4K Ultra, the 13 FPS is barely a slideshow, yet the CPU remains largely idle—proof that resolution scaling pinpoints the GPU as the limiting factor in this configuration.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread desktop processor on the AMD Socket AM4 platform, built on a 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz boosts to 4.80 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 64 MB shared L3—an enormous amount of cache for feeding computational workloads. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 16,262 in Cinebench R23 multi-thread and 1,527 in single-thread. The 3DMark tests show 9,075 for 16 threads, 1,852 for 2 threads, and 10,075 at max threads. These numbers place the CPU in the 87th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41,376.

For context, its nearest rivals are all within a fraction in average score: the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H at +0.3%, the Intel Core Ultra 7 356H at +0.4%, the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440 at +0.4%, and the Intel Core i7-14650HX at -0.5%. The deltaPct values are minimal, meaning the 5900X is a high-end CPU. In The Technomancer, the CPU's role at each resolution is secondary to the GPU. The peak framerate of 68 at 1080p Low—the only preset reaching 60 FPS—shows that the CPU can deliver over 68 frames-per-second when the graphics pressure is light. All 12 cores and 24 threads are available for background tasks, but the game, being an action RPG from 2016, likely uses a fraction of them. The single-thread score of 1527 in Cinebench R23 indicates strong per-core performance, which is vital for games with typical engine limitations.

The CPU's memory bandwidth is rated at 51.2 GB/s with dual-channel DDR4, which matches the memory standards of the era. With 64 MB of L3, data exchange between cores is fast, reducing the impact of main memory latency. This bandwidth is more than enough for the 128.1 GB/s GPU, so the pipe is not expensive. In practice, the 5900X is not a contributing factor to the low framerates observed—the GPU becomes the sole constraining piece at 1440p and 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 uses the TU117 chip based on the Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process with 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die. It includes 896 shading units, 56 texture units, and 32 raster output timers. The base clock runs at 1485 MHz, boosting to 1665 MHz. The cooling strategy relies on simple air, but the power draw is a mere 75 W—no power connectors are required. The memory subsystem is 4 GB of GDDR6, with a 128-bit bus that delivers a bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. This is modest by current standards.

Across benchmark tests, the GTX 1650 scores 35 points in Passmark DirectX 12, 58 in DirectX 11, and 124 in DirectX 9—numbers that reflect its 40th percentile performance rank relative to all GPUs. The average benchmark score is 7,472, with the G3D test scoring 7,880. Its closest rivals in average score are the AMD Radeon HD 8850M at +0.3%, the Intel UHD Graphics 750 at +0.4%, the AMD Radeon R7 350 at +0.6%, and the Intel Arc A310 at -1%. These are all entry-level desktop or integrated GPUs, confirming the GTX 1650 is placed in the low-mid tier.

The GPU's 4 GB of VRAM plays a role at 4K since the high-resolution textures require more memory bandwidth. The 128.1 GB/s bandwidth solutions is insufficient. The measured data supports this: at 4K, even the Low preset barely reaches an average of 24 FPS. The GTX 1650's pixel fill rate (53.28 GPixel/s) and texture fill rate (93.24 GTexel/s) determine how fast the scene is rasterized. With only 56 TMUs, the texture unit count is modest, causing a heavy load at higher pixel counts. The GPU's compute shader performance (2.984 TFLOPS FP32) limits the potential effects used in Ultra settings. Overall, the GTX 1650 is the weak link in this combo, causing the profil to peak at 68 FPS only when all settings are Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The nine test configurations (four settings across three resolutions) cover the performance landscape:

• 3840x2160: Ultra averages 13 FPS, High 16, Medium 19 (minimum 16, maximum 22), Low 24.
• 2560x1440: Ultra averages 23 FPS, High 29, Medium 34 (minimum 29, maximum 39), Low 44.
• 1920x1080: Ultra averages 35 FPS, High 45, Medium 52 (minimum 44, maximum 60), Low 68.

At 1080p Low, the combo achieves exactly 68 FPS—matching the full 60-plane target—and the gap between settings at each resolution is modest. For instance, at 1920x1080, High slices 23 FPS from Low, Medium another 23, Ultra another 29. The pattern repeats at 1440p: Low, Medium, High, Ultra gives 44, 34, 29, 23. At 4K the same order yields 24, 19, 16, 13. This reveals a consistent 1x scaling: each preset reduces the pixel count, but framerates drop roughly 15% for each larger step. The only combos with min/max data are Medium across resolutions; 1080p shows 44 to 60, 1440p 29 to 39, and 4K 16 to 22. Those ranges give a sense of times stability—the 4K Medium has a 6-FPS spread, which is minor when the average is only 19.

The absence of min/max for other presets limits further comparison, but the numbers alone paint a clear picture: the GTX 1650 cannot sustain smooth play beyond 1080p, and at 4K it is effectively a loss.

How This Combo Ranks

In the full test bench data, this combination ranks 3568th out of 3,696 total setups tested for The Technomancer. That leaves only 128 combos behind it. In other words, 96.5% of the other hardware pairings achieve higher average scores in this title. The rank is a blunt statement of the GPU's limitations—the CPU contributes positively, but the GPU drags the entire combo to the bottom 10% of all test harnesses.

To illustrate, the Ryzen 5900X's percentile among CPUs is 87, indicating strong overall performance. Yet the GTX 1650 sits at the 40th percentile among GPUs, indicating it is below average. When combined, the total score falls far short of what the CPU could deliver if paired with a more powerful graphics card. This rank also creates context against the two nearest rivals of the GPU (Intel Arc A310 at -1% and AMD Radeon R7 350 at +0.6%)—both are also low-tier discrete cards. The CPU's rivals (within 0.5%) are recent mid-range mobile processors, but those would not change the GIP bottleneck.

The rank is a decisive verdict for gamers: do not choose this CPU+GPU pairing for The Technomancer expecting modern standards. Any admitted budget should invest in a better GPU rather than a better CPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable in this game with this combo?

A: The highest measured value is 68 FPS, which occurs at 1080p Low settings.

Q: At 1440p, which preset delivers more than 40 FPS and which one below 30?

A: At 1440p, the Low preset delivers 44 FPS, exceeding 40. The High (29) and Ultra (23) presets fall below 30 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU's performance differ significantly from its closest rival?

A: The Ryzen 9 5900X's average benchmark score is +0.3% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H, and only +0.4% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440, so the difference is negligible.

Q: What is the minimum and maximum FPS at 4K Medium settings?

A: At 4K Medium, the minimum FPS is 16 and the maximum is 22, with an average of 19.

Q: How does the GPU's 128-bit memory bus affect 4K performance?

A: The GTX 1650 has a 128-bit bus with a bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. This bandwidth is inherited from the is inadequate to move the data required for 3840x2160 textures, which is a key reason the Ultra preset only achieves 13 FPS.

Q: Is the game more CPU or GPU bound?

A: At resolutions from 1440p to 4K, the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The CPU reaches only at 1080p Low where the GPU is less stressed; in that case the FRPS reaches 68, still limited by the GPU's peak.

Settings Recommendations

For this combination, the only way to reach a consistent 60 FPS is to use 1080p Low, which averages 68. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 52 FPS, with a minimum of 44, so it is a playable alternative, but it may dip below 60 during heavy scenes. At 1440p, all presets fall below 45 FPS, so the ideal setting there is Low at 44; if 30 FPS is acceptable, Medium (34) offers a better visual balance. At 4K, even Low has a 24 FPS—unacceptable for smooth rendering—so the data strongly recommends against running above 1080p with this graphics card.

The 4K resolution shows how limited the GTX 1650's eight-year-old architecture is by today's standards. For players prioritizing fluid gameplay, the only setting that yields frame rates near the 60 FPS target is 1080p Low. For better image quality, 1080p Medium trades 16 FPS for a lower-quality but still playable experience. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields only 35 FPS, similar to the 1440p High result, so it offers no advantage at full HD. Concluding, the data dictates that this hardware pairing belongs at the 1080p tier, with a preference for Low/Medium skill levels to balance visuals and smoothness.