The Technomancer

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile delivers a highly capable experience in The Technomancer, but the data shows that the title is demanding enough to require careful settings management to hit high refresh rates. Across the measured resolutions, the combination consistently shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, with the CPU's 16 cores and 32 threads providing ample headroom. The sweet spot for this pairing is the High preset at 1440p, which balances visual fidelity with a 72 FPS average, while 1080p High offers an excellent 111 FPS for those prioritizing smoothness.

Settings Recommendations

Benchmark results indicate that the optimal experience for this hardware configuration in The Technomancer is the High preset, particularly at 1440p. The data shows a 72 FPS average at 2560x1440 High, which is a substantial improvement over the 56 FPS at Ultra, while offering a much more playable frame rate than the 47 FPS at Medium. The jump from Medium to High yields a significant performance boost, while the visual difference between High and Ultra is typically less impactful than the 16 FPS loss observed. For players with 1080p displays, the High preset again provides the best balance, delivering 111 FPS, which is only 19 FPS short of the Low preset's 169 FPS but with considerably better visual quality.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combination at any resolution. At 4K, Ultra drops to a 31 FPS average, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1440p, Ultra produces 56 FPS, which is playable but sacrifices 22% of the frame rate compared to High for diminishing returns in visual fidelity. The Medium preset, while offering a 85 FPS average at 1440p, is outperformed by High in both quality and only slightly lower frame rate. The data strongly suggests that High is the intended sweet spot for this GPU, as it provides the best compromise between the game's visual demands and the hardware's capabilities. At 1080p, the 111 FPS average on High is nearly double the 56 FPS at 1440p Ultra, indicating that users should prioritize resolution scaling over settings presets when performance is critical.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming with this hardware?

A: The High preset at 1920x1080 provides the best experience, with an average of 111 FPS. This is a significant improvement over the 86 FPS at Ultra, while still offering far better visuals than the 169 FPS Low preset. The Medium preset offers 130 FPS, but the High preset's combination of 111 FPS and superior graphical quality makes it the ideal choice for most users.

Q: How does the 4K performance compare to 1440p?

A: The data shows a substantial performance drop when moving to 4K. At 1440p High, the average is 72 FPS, while at 4K High, it falls to 40 FPS. This represents a 44% decrease in frame rate. The 4K Ultra preset is particularly demanding, yielding only 31 FPS, which is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate that the GPU is the primary limiting factor. The CPU's 16 cores and 32 threads provide substantial processing power, with a multi-threaded Cinebench R23 score of 42713. The frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios. The 4K Low preset still only achieves 61 FPS, suggesting the GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are being fully utilized.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the difference between Low and Ultra is substantial. The Low preset achieves 110 FPS, while Ultra drops to 56 FPS. This 54 FPS gap represents a 49% reduction in frame rate. The High preset at 72 FPS offers a middle ground, but the data suggests that Low settings are only necessary for those seeking the absolute highest frame rates.

Q: Should I use Medium settings for a stable frame rate?

A: The Medium preset provides the most stable frame rate data, with recorded minimum and maximum values at all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium averages 130 FPS with a range of 110 to 149 FPS. At 1440p, it averages 85 FPS with a range of 72 to 97 FPS. While stable, the High preset offers better visuals with only a slight performance penalty, so Medium is not generally recommended unless the user prioritizes frame time consistency.

Q: How does this hardware rank among all tested combinations?

A: This CPU and GPU combination ranks 1984 out of 3696 tested combos for The Technomancer, placing it in the 46th percentile. This indicates that it performs above average but is not near the top tier. The performance is sufficient for smooth gameplay at 1080p and 1440p, but it is not capable of maintaining high frame rates at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear GPU-bound scenario for this hardware in The Technomancer. At the High preset, the frame rate drops from 111 FPS at 1080p to 72 FPS at 1440p, then to 40 FPS at 4K. This represents a 35% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 44% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The 4K High result of 40 FPS is barely above the threshold for playability, indicating that this GPU is not well-suited for 4K gaming in this title.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. For the Low preset, frame rates drop from 169 FPS at 1080p to 110 FPS at 1440p, then to 61 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset shows 130 FPS at 1080p, 85 FPS at 1440p, and 47 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with 86 FPS at 1080p, 56 FPS at 1440p, and only 31 FPS at 4K. This consistent scaling pattern across all presets strongly suggests that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU's capabilities are not being fully exercised at higher resolutions.

The data indicates that the RTX 4070 Mobile's 8 GB VRAM and 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are the likely constraints at 4K. The 4K Low preset's 61 FPS is notably lower than the 1440p High's 72 FPS, which is unusual for a settings change. This suggests that the resolution increase itself is the dominant factor, rather than the graphical settings. The GPU's FP32 performance of 15.62 TFLOPS is being fully utilized at 4K, but the memory bandwidth appears to be the primary bottleneck, as the frame rate drops disproportionately with the resolution increase.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a wide range of performance across settings. The Low preset achieves the highest average at 169 FPS, followed by Medium at 130 FPS, High at 111 FPS, and Ultra at 86 FPS. The Medium preset has a recorded minimum of 110 FPS and maximum of 149 FPS, indicating good frame time consistency. The High preset offers 111 FPS, which is more than sufficient for most displays, while Ultra drops to 86 FPS, which is still playable but shows a significant performance cost.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably but remains playable for most presets. The Low preset averages 110 FPS, which is excellent for 1440p gaming. Medium averages 85 FPS with a minimum of 72 FPS and maximum of 97 FPS. High averages 72 FPS, which is acceptable for most users. Ultra drops to 56 FPS, which is the first preset to fall below the 60 FPS threshold. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows an average reduction of approximately 35-40% across all presets.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes challenging for this hardware. The Low preset averages 61 FPS, which is just above the playable threshold. Medium averages 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS and maximum of 53 FPS. High drops to 40 FPS, and Ultra falls to 31 FPS. None of the presets except Low achieve a consistently smooth 60 FPS experience at 4K. The data shows that 4K gaming is only viable on the Low preset, and even then, the frame rate is marginal.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for The Technomancer, this specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile ranks 1984 out of 3696 total combos. This places it in the middle of the pack, indicating that while it is a capable configuration, it is not among the top performers for this specific game. The rank reflects the game's demanding nature, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU's 8 GB VRAM becomes a limiting factor.

The CPU's performance percentile of 95 among all CPUs indicates that this processor is in the top 5% of all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 76212. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, which is 0.1% faster, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, which is 0.6% slower. This places the Ryzen 9 8945HX in elite territory for processing power, yet the combo rank of 1984 suggests that the GPU is holding back the overall gaming performance.

The GPU's percentile of 73 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27435, indicates that it is above average but not exceptional. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, has a matching score, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is 0.5% faster. This positioning explains why the combo ranks in the middle of the pack for The Technomancer, as the GPU's performance is the primary constraint on the overall gaming experience.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Dragon Range. It operates with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, which provides substantial single-thread performance for gaming. The processor has a TDP of 55 W, which is modest for a 16-core mobile part, and features a 64 MB L3 cache. Its benchmark results are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42713 and a single-core score of 6030.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with sufficient data. The game's frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload. The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, as evidenced by its 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs, are not the limiting factor in this scenario. The 32 threads provide ample parallelism for the game's engine, and the high boost clock ensures that single-threaded tasks are handled efficiently.

The CPU's memory support includes dual-channel DDR5 with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, which is more than sufficient for feeding the GPU. The processor's PCIe Gen 5 interface with 28 lanes provides high-bandwidth connectivity to the GPU, although the GPU itself operates on a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface. The data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck in this combination, as the frame rates are consistently limited by the GPU's performance at all tested resolutions. The processor's 16 cores and 32 threads are more than adequate for The Technomancer, leaving significant headroom for future games or multitasking scenarios.