The Technomancer

The Technomancer pairs the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, a combination that stands at rank 1382 out of 1656 tested combos in this Action RPG. This pairing of a 16-core, 32-thread desktop processor with an end-of-life Pascal GPU produces a system where the graphics card is the clear limiting factor, as the benchmark data confirms through predictable frame rate scaling across resolutions and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic and consistent drop as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 78.8 FPS average, which falls to 50.9 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 29 FPS at 4K. That represents a 35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 63% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GTX 1070 is being pushed to its limits as pixel count rises. The same trend appears across all settings presets. At Low settings, the system hits 118 FPS at 1080p, drops to 74.7 FPS at 1440p, and reaches 43.7 FPS at 4K. This pattern is consistent with the GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus, which provide 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth — sufficient for 1080p but increasingly strained at higher resolutions.

The 4K Ultra result of 18.9 FPS is particularly telling. That is barely playable and shows the GPU is overwhelmed by the combination of resolution and maximum graphical fidelity. In contrast, the 1080p Ultra result of 61.5 FPS is comfortably playable, suggesting that the GPU can handle the game’s full visual feature set only when pixel count is kept moderate. The scaling from Medium to Ultra at 4K — 31.4 FPS down to 18.9 FPS — shows a 40% performance penalty for that step, which is severe. At 1080p, the same Medium-to-Ultra transition costs 33% (from 91.7 to 61.5 FPS), indicating that the GPU’s headroom is already limited even at the lowest tested resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a Zen 3 architecture processor based on the Vermeer codename, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It features 16 cores and 32 threads with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, alongside 64 MB of L3 cache. These specifications place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49062. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600K (deltaPct -0.2), the Intel Core i5-14600KF (deltaPct -0.6), the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (deltaPct 0.7), and the AMD EPYC 4345P (deltaPct -1.1). This means the CPU is effectively tied with those processors in aggregate performance, despite having more cores than most of them.

For The Technomancer, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and the data suggests it does this without becoming a bottleneck. The single-thread performance is strong, as shown by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5450 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2211. Multithreaded performance is exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 38607 and a Passmark multithread score of 45424. However, this game does not appear to leverage the full 16-core capability. The measured FPS scales almost entirely with GPU load — if the CPU were the constraint, we would expect smaller FPS differences between Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution. Instead, at 1080p, Low produces 118 FPS while Ultra produces 61.5 FPS, a 48% gap that is clearly GPU-driven. The CPU is more than capable of keeping up, and its 3DMark 16-thread score of 10810 versus the 2-thread score of 1856 shows ample headroom for any thread count the game might use.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the decisive component in this combo. Built on the Pascal architecture with the GP104 chip at 16 nm, it has 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. Its base clock is 1506 MHz with a boost of 1683 MHz, and it features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The card’s FP32 compute is 6.463 TFLOPS, and its texture rate is 202.0 GTexel/s. These specifications place it at the 51st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12331. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (deltaPct 0.7), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (deltaPct -1.3), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (deltaPct -1.4), and the NVIDIA Tesla K20Xm (deltaPct -1.7). This places the GTX 1070 in a mid-range position — not obsolete, but clearly not a high-end card by modern standards.

The VRAM capacity of 8 GB is adequate for 1080p and 1440p in this game, but the 4K results suggest it is insufficient for maximum settings at that resolution. The Ultra preset at 4K yields only 18.9 FPS, which is likely a combination of both compute and memory bandwidth limitations. The card’s memory clock of 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective) is fine for its era, but the 256.3 GB/s bandwidth is constrained when pushing 8.3 million pixels per frame. The data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck in every scenario: the FPS differences between resolutions at the same settings are far larger than any CPU-related variation would be. For example, going from 1080p High (78.8 FPS) to 1440p High (50.9 FPS) is a 35% drop, which is entirely attributable to the GPU’s pixel throughput limits.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1382 out of 1656 tested combinations places this pairing in the bottom 17% of all tested systems for The Technomancer. This is a low ranking, but it is important to interpret it correctly. The CPU is in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is only in the 51st percentile. The ranking reflects the weakest link, which is the GPU. The data indicates that the Ryzen 9 5950X has enormous headroom that the GTX 1070 cannot utilize. If the GPU were upgraded, the CPU could support significantly higher frame rates without becoming a constraint. The combo rank is therefore a measure of the GPU’s limitation, not the CPU’s capability. In practical terms, this system is well-balanced for 1080p gaming, but it is not a high-end 4K setup, and the ranking reflects that reality.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience at each resolution is clear. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 78.8 FPS, which is smooth and visually rich, while Ultra drops to 61.5 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is 17 FPS, which is noticeable but not critical. For players with 60 Hz displays, Ultra at 1080p is playable, but High offers a more comfortable margin. At 1440p, High produces 50.9 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast action. Medium at 1440p yields 60.6 FPS, which is a better balance of visual quality and smoothness. Low at 1440p provides 74.7 FPS, which is the most responsive option, but it sacrifices visual fidelity. At 4K, High drops to 29 FPS, which is below playable thresholds for most players. Medium at 4K is 31.4 FPS, which is still marginal. Low at 4K is 43.7 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that approaches playability. The data suggests that the optimal experience is 1080p High, which offers the best combination of visual quality and frame rate headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo is as follows. At 1920x1080, Low settings produce an average of 118 FPS, Medium produces 91.7 FPS, High produces 78.8 FPS, and Ultra produces 61.5 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low yields 74.7 FPS, Medium yields 60.6 FPS, High yields 50.9 FPS, and Ultra yields 42 FPS. At 3840x2160, Low yields 43.7 FPS, Medium yields 31.4 FPS, High yields 29 FPS, and Ultra yields 18.9 FPS. These numbers reveal a consistent pattern: each step up in settings costs roughly 10-15% performance at the same resolution, and each step up in resolution costs roughly 35-40% performance at the same settings. The 4K Ultra result of 18.9 FPS is the worst case, while the 1080p Low result of 118 FPS is the best case. The spread between the best and worst measured results is 99.1 FPS, which highlights the wide range of performance this combo can deliver depending on the workload. The data is measured, not estimated, and it provides a clear picture of a system that is well-suited for 1080p gaming at high settings, acceptable at 1440p with medium settings, and only marginally playable at 4K with low settings.