The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload for modern hardware. This analysis examines the measured performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, using the benchmark data provided. The data illustrates a system where the graphics card is the primary constraint, limiting the potential of the high-end processor across all tested resolutions and settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combination clearly indicates that the "Low" preset offers the only consistently playable experience across all resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 65.6 FPS, which is the only result above the 60 FPS threshold in the entire dataset. This is 12.4 FPS higher than the next best result, which is 53.2 FPS at Medium settings. While the Medium preset at 1080p may be tempting for better visuals, the data shows a significant 12.4 FPS drop compared to Low, making it a less stable choice for maintaining high frame rates.

Moving up to "High" and "Ultra" presets at 1080p yields averages of 45.2 FPS and 35.2 FPS, respectively. These are substantial drop-offs from the Low preset. For players prioritizing a smooth, consistent experience, the Low preset is the only recommendation. At 2560x1440, the data shows that even the Low preset drops to 46.8 FPS, confirming that the GTX 1650 is not capable of maintaining high refresh rates at higher resolutions. The "Medium" preset at 1440p results in 32.1 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most action titles. The Ultra preset at 1440p and all presets at 3840x2160 produce average FPS figures in the 14.6 to 25.5 range, which are not suitable for smooth gameplay. The data suggests that users should prioritize the Low preset at 1080p for the best experience, and consider lowering the resolution further if higher visual fidelity is required.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand context of all tested hardware combinations for The Technomancer, this specific pairing of the Ryzen 9 7900X and GTX 1650 ranks at 1573 out of 1656 combos. This places it in the bottom 5% of all tested systems, with its percentile ranking indicating that it performs worse than the vast majority of other configurations. This low ranking is a direct result of the significant bottleneck created by the GTX 1650. The Ryzen 9 7900X is a top-tier processor, but its capabilities are largely wasted in this configuration, as the GPU cannot keep up with the CPU's ability to feed frames.

The combination's average FPS is dragged down by the GPU's performance ceiling, which is clearly visible in the 4K results. While the processor is capable of high frame generation in other contexts, the data here shows that the overall system performance is dictated by the graphics card. This rank is not a reflection of the CPU's quality, but rather the outcome of a severely unbalanced pairing. For comparison, the CPU alone has a percentile ranking of 93 against all CPUs, showing its strength, but the GPU's percentile ranking of 43 against all GPUs shows the weaker link. The system's overall performance in this game confirms the fact that a powerful processor cannot compensate for an underpowered graphics card.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is the definitive limiting factor in this system's The Technomancer performance. The data shows its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory is insufficient for the game's demands at higher settings and resolutions. The memory bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s and a 128-bit bus width are modest, and the benchmark results indicate that the GPU is struggling to process the scene data. The core clocks are set to a base of 1485 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz, which are low enough to be a bottleneck. The GPU's average benchmark score of 8713 places it in the 43rd percentile of all GPUs, confirming its entry-level positioning.

The performance degradation as settings increase is a clear indicator of the GPU's limitations. At 1920x1080, the average FPS drops from 65.6 at Low to 35.2 at Ultra, a 30.4 FPS reduction. This steep decline is more pronounced than what would be expected from a system where the CPU is the limiting factor, confirming the GPU is the bottleneck. The GTX 1650's performance is also reflected in its nearest rivals, which include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile and the AMD Radeon 550X, with delta percentages of -0.4% and -0.4% respectively, showing it is on par with these other entry-level options. The GPU's inability to handle the processing load at 4K is evident, with all settings failing to reach 30 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at the system's performance. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 65.6 FPS for Low, 53.2 FPS for Medium, 45.2 FPS for High, and 35.2 FPS for Ultra. The progression shows a clear and consistent 10-12 FPS drop for each step up in the quality preset. This indicates that the GPU is heavily taxed by the increasing visual complexity, with the jump from Low to Medium costing 12.4 FPS, and the jump from High to Ultra costing another 10.0 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates drop significantly. The Low preset averages 46.8 FPS, which is a decrease of 18.8 FPS from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 32.1 FPS, the High preset averages 29.9 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 25.5 FPS. The difference between the Medium and High presets at this resolution is only 2.2 FPS, suggesting the settings are hitting a similar performance ceiling. At 3840x2160, the system becomes largely unplayable. The Low preset averages 25.5 FPS, the Medium preset averages 20.3 FPS, the High preset averages 17.1 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 14.6 FPS. The data shows that the GTX 1650 is not designed for 4K gaming, as even the lowest settings cannot produce a playable frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling of performance from 1080p to 4K reveals the nature of the system's bottleneck. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 65.6 to 46.8, a 28.7% decrease. Moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 46.8 to 25.5, a 45.5% decrease. This pattern is repeated across all settings, where the percentage drop in FPS is larger when moving from 1440p to 4K than from 1080p to 1440p. This is a classic sign of a GPU-bound system.

The increase in resolution exponentially increases the number of pixels the GPU must render. The GTX 1650, with its limited memory bandwidth and compute power, cannot handle this increased workload. The data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this scaling. A CPU-bound scenario would show a more linear drop in FPS or a plateau at higher resolutions. Here, the FPS continues to fall significantly, confirming that the GPU is at its maximum capacity. The fact that the FPS at 4K Low (25.5) is lower than the FPS at 1080p Ultra (35.2) shows that resolution is a more significant factor than settings for this GPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its benchmark scores are exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 43695 and a single-core score of 6168. Its average benchmark score of 50556 places it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. The data shows that this processor has immense processing power, which is more than sufficient for the demands of The Technomancer. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i9-13980HX, have an average score of 50944, with a delta of -0.8%, showing the 7900X is competitive with top-tier laptop processors.

However, the measured FPS data for this game indicates that the CPU's power is not being utilized. The system's performance is entirely contingent on the GPU, as evidenced by the fact that the FPS scales directly with resolution and settings. The Ryzen 9 7900X's 12 cores and 24 threads are not a factor in this game's performance, as the bottleneck is clearly the GTX 1650. The CPU has a TDP of 170 W and is a high-end desktop part, but its capabilities are wasted in this pairing. The data suggests that even a much less powerful CPU would produce identical results in this game, as the GTX 1650 is the sole determinant of the frame rate. The CPU's high single-thread and multi-thread performance, while impressive in synthetic benchmarks, has no impact on the final output in this specific configuration.