The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, is not a particularly demanding title by modern standards, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 absolutely overwhelms it. The benchmark data for this pairing shows extreme performance that is limited almost entirely by the CPU at lower resolutions and by the GPU only at the most extreme settings. This is a classic case of a high-end modern system making an older game look effortless, with frame rates that far exceed what any standard display can even use.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear shift in the bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 298 FPS. This is an exceptionally high number that only the fastest CPUs can feed, indicating that the Ryzen 9 7900X is doing the heavy lifting here. As the resolution increases to 1440p, the Low preset average drops to 195 FPS, and at 4K it falls further to 107 FPS. This dramatic drop of over 64% from 1080p to 4K on Low settings shows that as the pixel count increases, the GPU begins to take on a much larger share of the work.

However, the scaling pattern changes entirely when we look at the Ultra preset. At 1080p Ultra, the system averages 152 FPS. Moving to 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 100 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it plummets to 55 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 4K here is also significant, but the absolute frame rates are far lower. This indicates that the RTX 4080 is the limiting factor at these higher settings. The data suggests that at 1080p and 1440p on lower settings, the CPU is the primary constraint, while at 4K, especially on Ultra, the GPU becomes the bottleneck.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings also tells a story about the GPU's headroom. At 1080p, the difference is 146 FPS (298 vs 152), which shows the GPU has massive untapped potential when the CPU is feeding it frames quickly. At 4K, this gap shrinks to 52 FPS (107 vs 55), confirming that the GPU is working much harder and is the limiting factor. The data indicates that this combo is most balanced at 1440p, where the CPU can still push high frame rates but the GPU is also sufficiently engaged to produce a visually rich image without being the sole bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific game and hardware combination, the choice of settings is less about finding a playable frame rate and more about maximizing visual quality while keeping frame times consistent. The Ultra preset at 1440p produces an average of 100 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS target for most displays. This is the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors. The data shows that the Medium preset at 1440p offers 149 FPS, which is a significant jump, but the visual fidelity loss may not be worth it when the Ultra preset is already so smooth.

At 4K, the decision becomes more nuanced. The Ultra preset averages 55 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold for a standard display. The High preset at 4K averages 70 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while still offering High-quality visuals. Given that the measured data shows the Medium preset at 4K averages 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 FPS, it is a more consistent experience than Ultra. The recommended path is to use the High preset at 4K for a locked 60 FPS experience, or the Ultra preset at 1440p for high-refresh-rate gaming. The Low preset at any resolution is not recommended, as it produces frame rates that are so high they serve no practical purpose on current displays, and the visual downgrade is significant.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to use for this CPU and GPU combo in The Technomancer?

A: The benchmark data indicates that 1440p on the Ultra preset is the best balance, yielding an average of 100 FPS. This provides high visual fidelity and a frame rate that is well-suited for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 4K, the High preset (70 FPS) is preferable to Ultra (55 FPS) for a smoother experience.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data shows the CPU is the primary limiting factor at 1080p. The average FPS on Low settings (298) is exceptionally high, and the fact that it drops by over 100 FPS when moving to 1440p Low (195) suggests the GPU is not being fully utilized at the lower resolution. The Ryzen 9 7900X's strong single-threaded performance is what allows these frame rates to be reached.

Q: How much of a frame rate penalty is there for using Ultra settings over Low settings?

A: The penalty is significant and scales with resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 146 FPS (298 vs 152). At 1440p, the difference is 95 FPS (195 vs 100). At 4K, the difference is 52 FPS (107 vs 55). This shows that the GPU cost of Ultra settings becomes relatively larger as resolution increases.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Technomancer?

A: Yes, it can. The High preset at 4K averages 70 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset averages 55 FPS, which is playable but may not be smooth on a standard 60 Hz display. The data confirms that 4K is a viable option for this title with this hardware.

Q: How does the RTX 4080's performance compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54209, which is a 0.1% difference. This indicates that the two cards are virtually identical in raw compute performance.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 7900X a strong performer in multi-threaded workloads?

A: Yes, the data shows it has 12 cores and 24 threads and scores 29300 in Cinebench R23 multi-core. This is a very high score, indicating it can handle heavily threaded tasks with ease, even though The Technomancer may not utilize all of its cores.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data is from the measured FPS results for this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080.

1920x1080

• Low: The average frame rate is 298 FPS. This is the highest score recorded for this combo and indicates a severe CPU bottleneck.
• Medium: The average is 229 FPS, with a minimum of 194 FPS and a maximum of 263 FPS. This shows excellent frame pacing even with the increased load.
• High: The average is 195 FPS. This is still an extremely high frame rate, well beyond the refresh rate of most monitors.
• Ultra: The average is 152 FPS. This is the most demanding setting at 1080p, but it still provides a very smooth experience.

2560x1440

• Low: The average frame rate is 195 FPS. This is a significant drop from the 1080p result, showing the GPU is starting to take on more work.
• Medium: The average is 149 FPS, with a minimum of 127 FPS and a maximum of 172 FPS. This is a very solid result for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming.
• High: The average is 128 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a great balance of quality and speed.
• Ultra: The average is 100 FPS. This is the recommended setting for 1440p, offering a high visual quality with a triple-digit frame rate.

3840x2160

• Low: The average frame rate is 107 FPS. This is the first setting where the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, but it still produces a high frame rate.
• Medium: The average is 82 FPS, with a minimum of 70 FPS and a maximum of 94 FPS. This is a stable and playable experience for 4K.
• High: The average is 70 FPS. This is the best choice for a locked 60 FPS experience at 4K with high visual fidelity.
• Ultra: The average is 55 FPS. This is the most demanding setting and is just below the standard 60 FPS target, making it less ideal for smooth gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database for The Technomancer, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks number 213 out of 3696 tested combos. This places it in the top 5.8% of all systems tested. This is a very strong showing, but it is not at the very top, which is likely due to the game's age and the fact that even more powerful modern GPUs or CPUs with higher single-threaded performance could push even higher frame rates at lower resolutions.

The ranking confirms the raw power of both components. The RTX 4080's average benchmark score of 54247 puts it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, and it is only 0.1% behind the RTX 4080 SUPER in synthetic tests. The Ryzen 9 7900X also performs well, with an average score of 53288, placing it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs. However, the data suggests that the game is not optimized to take full advantage of the CPU's 12 cores. The high rank is primarily driven by the exceptional single-threaded performance of the Ryzen 9 7900X, which allows it to feed frames to the RTX 4080 quickly enough to achieve these high numbers.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture. It has a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. These high clock speeds are the key to its performance in The Technomancer. The benchmark results for the game show a clear CPU bottleneck at 1080p, where the frame rates are exceptionally high. The Ryzen 9 7900X's single-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2016.5, is top-tier and is what allows it to push frame rates past the 200 FPS mark at lower resolutions.

The game does not appear to be well-optimized for many cores, as the massive multi-threaded performance of the CPU (29300 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) does not translate to a linear increase in FPS. Instead, the game relies on the speed of a few cores. The data indicates that the CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient for this title, and the limiting factor is the speed of the individual cores. The processor's 64 MB of shared L3 cache also helps in keeping data close to the cores, reducing latency and further aiding in high-FPS scenarios. In this context, the Ryzen 9 7900X's role is to be a fast and responsive frame generator, a task it performs exceptionally well, allowing the RTX 4080 to work at its full potential at higher resolutions.