The Technomancer

CPU Role - cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread mobile processor built on the Zen 4 architecture (Dragon Range codename) using TSMC's 5 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a 55 W TDP. The CPU's large 64 MB L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (83.2 GB/s bandwidth) position it as a high-end mobile part, but in The Technomancer, the recorded frame rates suggest this processor is not the limiting factor.

The CPU's benchmark profile is exceptionally strong. In Cinebench R23, it scores 42,713 multi-core and 6,030 single-core. PassMark multi-thread score reaches 51,405, with a single-thread score of 3,907. The 95th percentile ranking versus all CPUs in the database confirms this is a top-tier processor. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (0.1% higher score), AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P (0.4% lower), AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX (0.4% lower), and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (0.6% lower). These deltas are all within 1%, indicating the 8945HX sits at the very top of the mobile CPU hierarchy.

For a 2016 action RPG like The Technomancer, the CPU's raw compute capability is far beyond what the game's engine can utilize. The game was released in June 2016, and its threading model is typical of that era, meaning most workloads will land on fewer cores. The 8945HX's single-core performance, evidenced by a 6,030 Cinebench R23 single-core score, is more than sufficient to feed the GPU. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where CPU load is typically highest relative to GPU load, the average FPS reaches 48, which is still a modest figure for such a powerful processor. This indicates the bottleneck resides elsewhere, primarily with the integrated graphics.

GPU Role - VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon 760M is an integrated GPU based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture (Phoenix chip) fabricated on TSMC's 4 nm process. It has 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 raster operation units, along with 8 ray tracing cores. The GPU runs at a base clock of 800 MHz with a boost clock of 2599 MHz. Its memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning it uses the host system's DDR5 memory, with bandwidth that is system dependent rather than dedicated.

The Radeon 760M's benchmark results place it in the 35th percentile versus all GPUs in the database. Its PassMark G3D score is 5,310, with a PassMark GPU compute score of 2,840. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 400. Its nearest rivals by average benchmark score are the AMD Radeon RX 6400 (0.3% higher), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M (0.3% higher), NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server (0.4% higher), and NVIDIA Quadro P2000 (0.5% lower). These close deltas place the 760M in the entry-level discrete GPU performance class, which is notable for an integrated solution but still limits modern game performance.

In The Technomancer, the GPU's role is decisive. The game's frame rates scale almost entirely with the GPU's workload. The Radeon 760M's FP32 throughput of 5.323 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 41.58 GPixel/s are modest figures. The shared memory architecture means that the GPU competes with the CPU for memory bandwidth, which can exacerbate performance drops at higher resolutions and settings. The recorded data shows that the highest average FPS achieved across all tested configurations is 48 at 1080p Low. This is consistent with an integrated GPU operating near its limits, as the game's geometry and shading requirements at higher settings quickly overwhelm the 760M's compute units.

Resolution Scaling - how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a steep and consistent decline as resolution increases, which is a classic signature of GPU-limited performance. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 32 at 1080p to 21 at 1440p, then to 11 at 4K. This represents a 34% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 66% reduction from 1080p to 4K. Similarly, at Low settings, the average FPS falls from 48 at 1080p to 32 at 1440p (33% drop) and then to 17 at 4K (65% drop from 1080p).

The scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect to see smaller absolute FPS differences between resolutions, because the CPU's workload would remain roughly constant while the GPU's load changes. Instead, the data shows that every doubling of pixel count (from 1080p to 4K is a 4x increase in pixels) produces roughly a 3x reduction in frame rate. This is close to linear scaling with pixel count, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario.

The Medium settings row provides additional confirmation. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 37 with a minimum of 32 and maximum of 43. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 24 with a minimum of 21 and maximum of 28. At 4K Medium, the average is 13 with a minimum of 11 and maximum of 15. The minimum FPS values at each resolution are consistently close to the average, indicating that the GPU is consistently saturated rather than experiencing intermittent spikes or drops that would suggest CPU stalls.

The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal. The Ryzen 9 8945HX has more than enough headroom to maintain frame pacing at all tested resolutions. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU's relative load is highest, the GPU still cannot exceed 48 FPS. This suggests that the game's engine does not create a CPU bottleneck for this processor, and the resolution scaling is entirely attributable to the Radeon 760M's rendering capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown - resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The recorded measurements cover three resolutions (3840x2160, 2560x1440, 1920x1080) and four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). All data points are average FPS unless otherwise noted, with minimum and maximum FPS recorded only for the Medium preset at each resolution.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: 48 average FPS
• Medium: 37 average FPS, with minimum 32 and maximum 43
• High: 32 average FPS
• Ultra: 25 average FPS

The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 48% reduction in average FPS, from 48 to 25. The step from Low to Medium is a 23% drop, from Medium to High is a 14% drop, and from High to Ultra is a 22% drop. The largest single-step reduction occurs between Low and Medium, which suggests that the Medium preset introduces significant rendering effects that the integrated GPU struggles with.

At 2560x1440, the results are:

• Low: 32 average FPS
• Medium: 24 average FPS, with minimum 21 and maximum 28
• High: 21 average FPS
• Ultra: 16 average FPS

The 1440p Low result of 32 FPS matches the 1080p High result of 32 FPS, indicating that the resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p has a similar performance cost as moving from High to Low settings at the same resolution. The Ultra preset at 1440p delivers 16 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay in an action RPG.

At 3840x2160, the results are:

• Low: 17 average FPS
• Medium: 13 average FPS, with minimum 11 and maximum 15
• High: 11 average FPS
• Ultra: 9 average FPS

At 4K, even the Low preset fails to reach 20 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K delivers a mere 9 FPS, which is effectively unplayable for a game that requires timing and responsiveness. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 11, which is the same as the average FPS at 4K High, showing that the GPU is operating at its absolute limit.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each settings tier at a given resolution costs roughly 4-8 FPS, while each resolution step at a given settings tier costs roughly 10-15 FPS. This indicates that resolution has a slightly larger impact than settings for this GPU, but both factors significantly degrade performance.

How This Combo Ranks - use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and AMD Radeon 760M ranks 3,684 out of 3,696 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places it in the bottom 0.3% of all configurations in the database for this game. The rank is a direct consequence of the GPU's limited capabilities, as the CPU is among the fastest available.

The rank of 3,684 out of 3,696 means that 3,683 other CPU and GPU combinations delivered higher average FPS in this game. Given the CPU's 95th percentile ranking versus all CPUs, this result confirms that the Radeon 760M is the sole performance limiter. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as the 42,713 Cinebench R23 multi-core score and 51,405 PassMark multi-thread score, are irrelevant to this game's performance because the GPU cannot translate that compute capability into frame rate.

The GPU's own percentile ranking of 35 versus all GPUs, combined with its nearest rivals being the RX 6400 and GTX 770M, suggests that the 760M is roughly equivalent to those older discrete cards. However, in The Technomancer, even those cards would likely outperform this integrated solution due to dedicated memory bandwidth, which the 760M lacks because it shares system memory.

The combo rank is not a reflection of the CPU's quality. The Ryzen 9 8945HX's average benchmark score of 76,212 places it within 0.1% of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX and 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX. In contrast, the Radeon 760M's average benchmark score of 6,019 places it within 0.3% of the RX 6400 and 0.5% of the Quadro P2000. The vast difference in relative performance between the CPU and GPU components in this combo explains why the game rank is so low: the CPU is overqualified while the GPU is underqualified for this title.

Settings Recommendations - which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The recorded data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the most playable experience. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 48 FPS average, which is the only setting in the entire dataset that approaches smooth gameplay for an action RPG. The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 37 FPS average with a minimum of 32 FPS, which is borderline playable but may exhibit perceptible stutter during combat sequences.

For 1080p, the High preset at 32 FPS and Ultra at 25 FPS are both below the threshold for comfortable action gameplay. The drop from Low to Medium is 11 FPS, while the drop from Medium to High is only 5 FPS. This suggests that the Medium preset provides a better visual quality per FPS cost than the High preset, but the Low preset is the only one that consistently stays above 45 FPS.

At 1440p, the Low preset delivers 32 FPS average, which matches the 1080p High result. This is the only 1440p configuration that reaches 30 FPS or higher. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 24 FPS with a minimum of 21 FPS, which is below playable for this genre. The High and Ultra presets at 1440p, at 21 and 16 FPS respectively, are not viable.

At 4K, all presets are below 20 FPS. The Low preset at 17 FPS is the highest result, but this is still well below the minimum for responsive gameplay. The Ultra preset at 9 FPS is the lowest recorded value in the entire dataset.

Based on the measured rows, the optimal configuration is 1080p Low, which provides 48 FPS average. This is the only tested combination that exceeds 45 FPS. The 1080p Medium preset at 37 FPS is the second-best option, offering a visual upgrade at a 23% performance cost. For users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, 1080p Medium may be acceptable, but the data indicates that the Low preset is the only setting that delivers a consistently smooth experience.

The 1440p Low preset at 32 FPS is technically playable but sits at the lower edge of acceptability. The minimum FPS data for Medium presets shows that at 1080p Medium, the minimum is 32 FPS, which is identical to the average of 1440p Low. This means that the 1080p Medium preset has a better worst-case frame time than the 1440p Low preset's average, reinforcing that 1080p Medium is a more stable choice than any 1440p option.

No 4K preset is recommended, as the highest average FPS at that resolution is 17, which is insufficient for an action RPG where timing and reaction are critical. The data shows that this combo is best suited for 1080p gameplay with reduced settings, and any attempt to increase resolution or settings beyond Low at 1080p will result in significant frame rate degradation.