The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 action RPG from Spiders, has been measured with an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card. The test results cover every combination of screen resolution (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and visual preset (Low, Medium, High, Ultra), with average FPS numbers for each pairing. The combination is ranked 1578th out of 3696 tested combinations at the time of measurement. The CPU sits at the 91st percentile of all tested processors, the GPU at the 61st percentile of all GPUs, and the measured data gives a granular view of what this pairing can deliver in this specific title. No expected performance is inferred beyond these measured numbers.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS values across resolutions show a clear, predictable relationship: every step up in resolution costs a significant chunk of average frame rate. At Low settings, the average FPS moves from 191 at 1920x1080, down to 125 at 2560x1440, and to 69 at 3840x2160. That is a reduction from 1080p to 4K of 122 frames per second at the same quality level. At Medium, the average FPS is 147 at 1080p, 96 at 1440p, and 53 at 4K. The High preset follows the same pattern: 125 on 1080p, 82 on 1440p, and 45 on 4K. Finally, Ultra yields 98 at 1080p, 33 at 1440p, and 35 at 4K. Clearly, the 4K Ultra reading is the lowest of the entire set, falling to just 35 average frames.

The 1080p to 1440p drop is substantial—every preset loses exactly half its average FPS (by subtraction) when moving from Full HD to QHD, roughly speaking. But the 1440p to 4K step is even more punishing. At Medium, going from 1440p to 4K drops the average from 96 to 53, a loss of 43 FPS. At High, the drop is from 82 to 45, a 37 FPS loss. At Ultra, from 33 to 35 actually shows a one FPS improvement, though that is within the margin of error. That anomaly aside, the overall trend is a strong negative slope as pixel count increases, which points to the rendering pipeline being heavily influenced by the GPU rather than the CPU. Because the CPU is configured with 12 cores and 24 threads, and it boasts a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, it is far more capable than the graphical workload demands at high resolutions. The GPU, with its percentile rank of 61, becomes the limiting factor when the shader pressure climbs with 4K rendering.

The Medium preset also includes measured minimum and maximum FPS data, which provides stability insight. At 1080p Medium, the frame rate ranges from 125 minimum to 169 maximum, giving an average of 147. At 1440p Medium, the range is 82 to 110 with an average of 96. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 45, maximum 61, average 53. These numbers confirm that the drop in average FPS when moving up in resolution is accompanied by a corresponding fall in the lower bounds—the 1% low frame rate. The game may feel stutter-free at 1080p Medium (125 minimum) but at 4K Medium, the minimum dips to 45, which could be noticeable on a high-Hz monitor. Thus, the binary scaling between resolutions is clear: the frame rate halves for every approximate doubling of total pixels.

Settings Recommendations

Among the four presets at each resolution, the data suggests a clear sweet spot for playability. At 1920x1080, every preset delivers an average above 98 FPS—Low and High, for example, produce 191 and 125 respectively—allowing players to favor visual quality. Running at 1080p Ultra still yields 98 FPS, a comfortable margin for today’s 144Hz monitors. At 1080p, the lowest measured avg is 98 FPS, so no preset causes a practical failure.

When moving to 2560x1440, the picture tightens. High gives an average of 82 FPS—sufficient for most displays—while Ultra drops to 33 (not a typo: 33, not 53) which is stutter territory. At this resolution, High becomes the recommended preset because it balances image quality and motion; it retains 82 FPS average while still offering the Higher quality assets. Alternatively, Medium at 96 FPS offers a smoother experience than High, but the marginal visual differences between Medium and High are typically small. If a player prioritizes frame rate, Medium is the pick, but for the best viewed quality while keeping a VRR capable, High is the correct choice.

The toughest situation is at 3840x2160. No preset reaches 60 average FPS except Low, which delivers 69 FPS on average. Medium gives 53, High 45, and Ultra 35. Thus, to enjoy 4K reasonably, the Low preset is the only viable option that sustains headroom above 60 FPS. However, the drop from High to Low at 4K is significant: from 45 to 69, a gain of 24 frames per second. Even with Low, the visuals will carry the same geometry but reduced shadows and textures. If a player wants Ultra details at 4K, they must accept a below-60 frame level, which might be fine for turn-based RPGs but feels choppy for a visceral experience. Therefore, with the RTX 3070, the optimal settings vary by resolution: 1080p Ultra, 1440p High, and 4K Low, with the same presets throughout.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It is the GA104 chip at its heart, occupying a 392 mm² die with 17,400 million transistors. It has 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, translating to 165.6 GPixel/s and 317.4 GTexel/s filter rates. The memory is 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, giving 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's power envelope is 220 W TDP. These raw numbers, combined with the measured average benchmark score of 17,208, position the GPU at the 61st percentile of all GPUs tested.

In The Technomancer, that 8 GB frame buffer is not a limiting factor for the settings covered; even at 4K Ultra, the game fits within the available VRAM. The pressing constraint is the pixel fillrate and raw shader throughput. At 1440p and above, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, as shown by the steep FPS drop at 4K. The nearest rival to the RTX 3070 in aggregate benchmark score is the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, which sits a marginal 0.7% behind in score. In real-world gaming, the RTX 3070's G3D (PassMark g3d) score is 22,214, while its OpenCL GeekBench score is 112,821. The GPU’s performance is substantial, but the game itself is not particularly GPU-heavy in its optimization; the title, being four years old, cannot utilize the newer Ampere features beyond what it supports. The RTX 3070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, but The Technomancer was released in an era when Vulkan was just emerging, so the extra headroom is not fully exploited.

The measured FPS results at 1080p provide evidence of the CPU+GPU balance: at 1080p High, the average is 125 FPS, which is high enough to feel CPU-limited at times. But at 1440p High the average is 82, and at 4K High it is 45, indicating the GPU load dominates. The memory bandwidth (448 GB/s) and memory capacity (8 GB) are sufficient for the data at all resolutions—no texture underruns are reported in the dataset, and the min/max FPS variance stays relatively narrow at Medium. The holding the card back is not its memory size but its raw pixel throughput, which is only ~204 GPU? Actually, the pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s, which matches the output demands of 4K at 60 FPS (240 million pixels per second), but the fill rate is heavily used by shaders and effects. In practice, the RTX 3070 is a mid-range card, and the data confirms it is the primary limiter in The Technomancer at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K Low, Medium, High, and Ultra?

A: At 3840x2160, the averages are 69 FPS on Low, 53 on Medium, 45 on High, and 35 on Ultra.

Q: Should I stick to 1080p to get the best performance?

A: Yes, at 1080p the lowest recorded average FPS is 98 (Ultra), and the common details (High) reaches 125 FPS, making it the only resolution where every preset exceeds 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its closest GPU rival in this game?

A: The RTX 3070's aggregate benchmark score (1,7208) is 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT's score, and 1% higher than a GeForce GTX 690, and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon HD 7970M. It is 1.5% lower than the NVIDIA Tesla K40c.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: The CPU has a 91st percentile performance rank, while the GPU is at 61st. The data at 1080p shows a high average FPS (125 High), which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU enough data; the bottleneck shifts to the GPU when the resolution rises to 1440p or 4K.

Q: Which preset provides the most balanced experience at 1440p?

A: High preset at 2560x1440 give an average 82 FPS with no stutter; Medium gives 96 FPS but sacrifices some visual quality. The recommendation is High if you can tolerate 82 FPS, but Medium is smoother at 96 FPS.

Q: What is the maximum FPS the RTX 3070 achieved in this game?

A: The hardware displayed a maximum of 191 FPS at 1080p Low, and a maximum of 110 FPS at 1440p Medium, based on the gathered max data. The 1080p Low figure is the highest measured.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the dataset of 3,696 tested CPU+GPU pairs for The Technomancer, the Ryzen 9 7900X + RTX 3070 configuration ranks 1578th. This places it in the second half of the tested combos, which is plausible given the CPU’s priori strength and the GPU’s 61st percentile standing. The CPU alone is in the 91st percentile (an average score of 53,288 across its meta), while the GPU's average score is only 172085. The combination of a high-tier CPU and a mid-range GPU lands the combo at the 43rd percentile (1578/3696) of all tested pairs. The pairing does not rate well because the GPU drags down the FPS. In comparison, the nearest CPU rivals (such as the AMD EPYC 7313P, 0.2% difference) share similar CPU scores, but the GPU remains the FPS-limiting component.

The rank means that among all tested setups, this one delivers an average FPS that is influenced by the GPU. At 1440p High, the average is 82 FPS, which is acceptable, but many combos with stronger GPUs achieve 100+. The combo’s position also reflects the unique characteristics of The Technomancer, which does not leverage more than a few CPU threads; thus, the 12-core Ryzen has unused potential. The 24-thread CPU is bested by many mid-tier CPUs in real game scenarios, and the GPU is the only variable that determines final results. Practical advice from the rank, traders: if you already own the RTX 3070, the CPU choice matters little—you will continue to leave performance on the table at 1440p and 4K. However, at 1080p, the CPU’s stable high FPS makes even the Ultra preset reach 98, which gives the card arguably more headroom than its GPU rank would suggest when matched with a slower CPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is built on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael) on a 5 nm process, comprising 12 cores and 24 threads. It has a 4.70 GHz base clock and a 5.60 GHz boost clock, with a TDP of 170 W. The CPU’s cache structure includes 64 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 64 MB L3 shared. Its memory bandwidth is 83.2 GB/s. In synthetic workloads, the 7900X hits a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29,300 and a single-core of 2016.5, and a Geekbench multi-core of 19267. Its average benchmark score across all tests is 53,288, ranking it at the 91st percentile. However, The Technomancer is not a CPU-heavy game. At 1080p Low, providing 191 FPS, the CPU likely has headroom—consistent with typical gaming utilizations that rarely exceed 8 threads. The 12-core/24-thread topology only matters if the game is optimized for it, but this 2016 title uses far fewer threads.

In this composition, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU without bottlenecking. At 1080p High, the average of 125 FPS is notably higher than the GPU’s 4K High figure—evidence that the CPU continues delivering frames quickly enough even as the GPU saturates. The CPU's modest share of load is also seen in its benchmark stats: the 3DMark 16-thread score is 10,972; the 3DMark single-thread is 1,093. The nearest rivals to the 7900X in raw CPU benchmark score are the AMD EPYC 7313P (0.2% better) and the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (0.6% slower). None of these are typical gaming CPUs, further emphasizing that the 7900X was designed for workstation tasks, but it still delivers top-tier FPS in games given a capable GPU. The real insight: in The Technomancer, the Ryzen 9 7900X sits far beyond what the game requires, while the RTX 3070 struggles to keep up at high resolutions. If a CPU upgrade is on the horizon, this game is unlikely to yield any gains. The bottleneck is clearly the graphics card, as supported by the 91st percentile CPU standing against the 61st GPU standing.