The Technomancer

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for The Technomancer with the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti show a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 150.5 FPS, while at 1440p High the average drops to 97.8 FPS, and at 4K High it falls further to 53.8 FPS. This represents a 35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 64% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

The scaling behavior across the Low preset is even more revealing. At 1080p Low, the system produces 230.1 FPS, which drops to 150.1 FPS at 1440p Low (a 35% decrease) and then to 83 FPS at 4K Low (a 64% decrease from 1080p). The proportional drops are nearly identical between Low and High presets, which indicates that the limiting factor scales uniformly with pixel count. This is the signature of a GPU-bound scenario, where the graphics card's fill rate and memory bandwidth dictate performance.

When examining the Ultra preset, the pattern holds: 116.4 FPS at 1080p, 81 FPS at 1440p, and 42.2 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is below the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that this combination struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at maximum settings and native 4K resolution. The data shows that the RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB GDDR6X memory and 912.4 GB/s bandwidth become increasingly stressed as resolution climbs, with the 384-bit bus width providing the throughput needed for 1440p but falling short of ideal 4K performance on the most demanding preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. The GPU contains 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, with 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output pipelines. The memory subsystem consists of 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, delivering 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. Clock speeds are rated at 1365 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost, with memory running at 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective).

Benchmark results place this GPU in the 83rd percentile among all tested graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 41,224. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 with an average score of 41,441 (a -0.5% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 at 41,610 (-0.9%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 at 41,687 (-1.1%). The RTX 3080 Ti trails these cards by less than 2% in aggregate benchmarks, yet the measured FPS in this game shows it performing competently at 1440p while being more restrained at 4K.

The GPU's FP32 compute capability is rated at 34.10 TFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s. These specifications explain why the card can push 150.5 FPS at 1080p High but only 53.8 FPS at 4K High — the pixel throughput requirement quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the card's rops and memory bandwidth become the binding constraints. The 80 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores are present but not directly relevant to this game's rasterization-focused rendering, as the measured results indicate a traditional fill-rate limitation rather than a compute bottleneck.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X provides a robust foundation for this game, featuring 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge). It operates with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 120 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 64 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 9900X scores 46,438 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6,555 in single-core. The 3DMark results show 12,552 for 16 threads, 9,114 for 8 threads, 4,886 for 4 threads, and 2,519 for 2 threads, with a single-thread score of 1,286. These results place the CPU in the 94th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 54,450. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D at 54,681 (-0.4%), the Intel Core i7-14700F at 54,097 (0.7%), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K at 55,304 (-1.5%), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF at 55,421 (-1.8%).

The CPU's role in this game becomes apparent when comparing the Low preset results across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 230.1 FPS, which is high enough that the CPU's single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1,286) could become a factor if the game's engine has serialized sections. However, the proportional scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K at Low settings — 230.1 to 150.1 to 83 FPS — shows a consistent GPU-bound pattern rather than a CPU plateau. The 12-core/24-thread configuration provides ample headroom for background tasks and any multi-threaded game logic, but the measured data indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti is the primary determinant of frame rates across all tested settings.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all 1,656 tested CPU-GPU combinations for The Technomancer, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti achieves a rank of 474. This places it in the top 28.6% of all tested combos, which is a strong showing given the game's 2016 release date and the relatively modern hardware involved.

The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's 94th percentile standing and the GPU's 83rd percentile standing. The combination outperforms what either component would suggest individually, indicating that the Ryzen 9 9900X's high single-thread performance (6,555 in Cinebench R23 single-core) helps extract near-maximum throughput from the RTX 3080 Ti in this title. The 474th rank out of 1,656 combos means that 1,182 other pairings deliver higher average frame rates, but many of those likely use more powerful GPUs such as the RTX 3090 or RTX 5070, which are within 1.6% of the 3080 Ti's aggregate benchmark score.

The data shows that this combo is well-matched for 1440p gaming, where it delivers 97.8 FPS on High settings. At 1080p, the results exceed 150 FPS on High, suggesting the GPU is the limiting factor rather than the CPU. The 4K Ultra result of 42.2 FPS is the weakest point, but this is consistent with the GPU's 83rd percentile ranking among all graphics cards.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combination depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 150.5 FPS, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate commonly found on gaming monitors. The Medium preset at 177.6 FPS and Low at 230.1 FPS offer diminishing returns in smoothness for most users, while Ultra at 116.4 FPS still provides excellent fluidity. For 1080p, High is the recommended preset because it balances visual quality with a frame rate that exceeds virtually all display capabilities.

At 1440p, the High preset produces 97.8 FPS, which is suitable for 100 Hz or 120 Hz displays but falls slightly short of 144 Hz. The Medium preset at 117.7 FPS is a better choice for high-refresh 1440p monitors, as it provides a 20% improvement over High while sacrificing some visual fidelity. Ultra at 81 FPS remains playable but does not offer a meaningful advantage over High in terms of perceived smoothness. Low at 150.1 FPS is excessive for most 1440p displays, so Medium represents the best trade-off.

At 4K, the situation changes significantly. The High preset delivers 53.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 65.3 FPS crosses this threshold, making it the minimum recommended setting for 4K. Low at 83 FPS provides a comfortable margin, while Ultra at 42.2 FPS is not recommended due to sub-40 FPS territory. For 4K gaming, Medium is the sweet spot, offering 65.3 FPS without the visual degradation of Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured frame rates reveals a consistent hierarchy across all resolutions and settings.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 230.1 FPS, the highest recorded value across the entire test matrix. Medium produces 177.6 FPS, High drops to 150.5 FPS, and Ultra yields 116.4 FPS. The step from Medium to High represents a 15% reduction, while moving from High to Ultra costs an additional 23% of performance.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 150.1 FPS, which is 35% lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium achieves 117.7 FPS, High reaches 97.8 FPS, and Ultra produces 81 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p follows a similar pattern to 1080p, with Ultra being 46% slower than Low.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset yields 83 FPS, Medium reaches 65.3 FPS, High achieves 53.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 42.2 FPS. The 4K results show a more compressed range between settings — from 83 FPS at Low to 42.2 FPS at Ultra — representing a 49% reduction from Low to Ultra, compared to 49% at 1440p and 49% at 1080p. This consistent proportional drop across resolutions confirms that the GPU's performance ceiling is the dominant factor, with the CPU never becoming the bottleneck even at the lowest settings and highest frame rates.