The Technomancer

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800M delivers a mid-pack experience in The Technomancer, securing a combo rank of 1879 out of 2825 tested combinations. This places the system in the 66th percentile of all tested setups, indicating that while it is not a top-tier performer, it sits comfortably above the median for this title. The ranking suggests a balanced pairing where neither component is a severe bottleneck, but the overall result is constrained by the GPU’s performance ceiling at higher resolutions rather than the CPU’s substantial processing power. Benchmark results indicate that this combo is more than capable of handling the game’s demands, but users seeking maximum fidelity at 4K will need to manage their expectations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1879 out of 2825 tested combinations places it in the upper-middle tier of all hardware pairings evaluated for The Technomancer. This position implies that roughly two-thirds of tested systems outperform it, while a significant minority of setups fall behind. The data suggests that this pairing is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it achieves respectable frame rates, but it struggles to maintain playability at 4K with higher settings. The ranking reflects a system that prioritizes multi-threaded CPU performance—evidenced by the Ryzen 9 8945HX’s 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs—while the GPU, which sits at the 73rd percentile, becomes the limiting factor in demanding scenarios. This is a classic case of a powerful processor paired with a mid-range graphics card, resulting in a combo that excels in CPU-bound tasks but falls short in GPU-intensive workloads at high resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800M is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, featuring 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock runs at 1295 MHz, with a game clock of 2145 MHz and a boost clock of 2335 MHz. These specifications position the card as a capable 1440p performer, but the data from The Technomancer reveals its limitations at 4K. The GPU’s 73rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27883, places it in the same performance bracket as the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 (0.2% faster) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (0.5% slower). In this game, the GPU’s 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for all tested settings, even at 4K, as the measured frame rates do not indicate any memory-related stuttering. However, the raw compute power—35.87 TFLOPS FP32—is not enough to sustain high frame rates at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, where the average FPS drops to 27. The card’s 96 ROPs and 240 TMUs handle texture and pixel throughput adequately, but the pixel rate of 224.2 GPixel/s becomes a bottleneck at 4K Ultra, as evidenced by the steep performance drop from High to Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS across all resolutions, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1080p, Medium delivers an average of 111 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay, while the minimum of 95 FPS ensures no noticeable dips. At 1440p, Medium achieves 73 FPS on average, with a minimum of 62 FPS, keeping the experience fluid. The High preset at 1440p provides 62 FPS, which is playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. For 4K, Medium is the highest playable setting, averaging 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 FPS; this is borderline but acceptable for a slower-paced action RPG. The Low preset at 1080p yields 145 FPS, which is useful for competitive play or if the user prioritizes maximum frame rates, but the visual trade-off is significant. Ultra settings should be avoided at all resolutions, as the 4K Ultra average of 27 FPS is below playability thresholds, and even at 1080p, Ultra drops to 74 FPS, which is a substantial reduction from Medium. The data strongly suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for this hardware combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers strong performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 145 FPS, Medium achieves 111 FPS (with a minimum of 95 and a maximum of 128), High reaches 95 FPS, and Ultra drops to 74 FPS. This resolution is clearly where the system shines, with even Ultra settings remaining comfortably above 60 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down predictably: Low averages 95 FPS, Medium averages 73 FPS (minimum 62, maximum 84), High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra falls to 48 FPS. The 1440p results indicate that the GPU is still capable of maintaining playable frame rates at Medium and High, but Ultra requires a compromise on smoothness. At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low settings average 52 FPS, Medium averages 40 FPS (minimum 34, maximum 46), High averages 34 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 27 FPS. The 4K data reveals a clear pattern: the GPU cannot handle the pixel load at higher settings, and even Low settings barely reach 60 FPS. The minimum FPS values for Medium settings across all resolutions—95 at 1080p, 62 at 1440p, and 34 at 4K—show that the frame time consistency degrades as resolution increases, further indicating GPU-bound behavior.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the limiting component. At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 111 at 1080p to 73 at 1440p (a 34% reduction) and then to 40 at 4K (a 64% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the CPU’s performance headroom is not the constraint. The Ryzen 9 8945HX, with its 16 cores and 32 threads, is vastly overprovisioned for this game, as evidenced by its 95th percentile CPU ranking and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42713. In contrast, the GPU’s 73rd percentile ranking and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 2994 suggest that it is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The data indicates that the CPU could easily drive higher frame rates at 1080p if the GPU were more powerful, but the GPU’s fill rate and compute capabilities limit performance as pixel count increases. At 1080p, the combo achieves 145 FPS on Low settings, which hints at the CPU’s ability to feed frames, but the GPU’s ceiling becomes apparent at 4K, where even Low settings only reach 52 FPS. This resolution scaling analysis confirms that the system is balanced for 1080p and 1440p, but 4K gaming requires significant setting reductions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to play The Technomancer?*

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution, with all settings delivering above 74 FPS on average, and Medium reaching 111 FPS. At 2560x1440, Medium and High are playable at 73 FPS and 62 FPS respectively, but Ultra drops to 48 FPS. 4K is only viable on Low settings at 52 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in terms of raw performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7800M has an average benchmark score of 27883, which is 0.2% slower than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 and 0.5% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti. It also trails the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X by 0.3% and the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.8%.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck in this configuration?

A: No, the data indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck. The Ryzen 9 8945HX ranks in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 76212. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, is only 0.1% faster, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is 0.6% slower. The CPU’s performance is far above what this game requires.

Q: What settings should be avoided for a smooth experience?

A: Ultra settings should be avoided at all resolutions. At 4K, Ultra averages 27 FPS, which is unplayable. Even at 1080p, Ultra drops to 74 FPS, which is a significant reduction from Medium’s 111 FPS. High at 4K also falls below 60 FPS at 34 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU’s memory bandwidth affect performance in this game?

A: The GPU has 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth from its 12 GB GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus. The measured FPS does not show signs of memory bandwidth limitations, as the frame rates scale consistently with resolution changes, suggesting the GPU’s compute and pixel throughput are the limiting factors, not memory.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking and what does it imply?

A: The combo ranks 1879 out of 2825 tested combinations, placing it in the 66th percentile. This implies that while it is not a top-tier performer, it outperforms a majority of systems tested. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing that excels at lower resolutions but struggles at 4K.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture (Dragon Range codename), with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its 64 MB of L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide ample headroom for gaming workloads. The CPU’s benchmark scores are exceptional: it achieves a PassMark multi-thread score of 51405, a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42713, and a single-thread score of 6030. These numbers place it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 76212. In The Technomancer, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations, but the data suggests that even at 1080p Low, where the average FPS is 145, the CPU is not maxed out. The game is clearly GPU-bound, as evidenced by the FPS scaling with resolution. The CPU’s nearest rivals—the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (0.1% faster), AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P (0.4% slower), and AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX (0.4% slower)—all demonstrate similar performance levels, confirming that the 8945HX is not the limiting factor in this combo. The CPU’s 16 cores and 32 threads are overkill for a title like The Technomancer, which likely utilizes only a fraction of the available threads, but this overprovisioning ensures that the CPU never becomes a bottleneck, allowing the GPU to be the sole determinant of frame rates.