The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting test for modern hardware. The data set for the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination shows a system that is overwhelmingly capable of maxing out this title, though the scaling across settings and resolutions reveals where the bottleneck lies. The measured frame rates indicate that this pairing is in the 95th percentile of 1656 tested combinations for this game, placing it near the top of the performance hierarchy.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear hierarchy across the four available presets, with the most balanced experience found at the High settings. At 1080p, the High preset delivers an average of 196.8 FPS, which is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate monitors. The step down to Medium yields 227.6 FPS, an improvement of 30.8 FPS, but the visual fidelity trade-off is not worth it when the High preset already clears the 144Hz threshold with significant headroom. The jump from High to Ultra at 1080p is a substantial cost, dropping performance by 45 FPS to 151.8 FPS. While this remains highly playable, the performance hit for the marginal graphical gains of Ultra is steep.

At 1440p, the High preset again emerges as the optimal choice, producing an average of 128 FPS. This is a demanding resolution, and the data shows that High is the highest preset that consistently stays above the 120 FPS mark. The Medium preset achieves 146.4 FPS, but the 18.4 FPS gain is less significant than the visual downgrade. Ultra at 1440p drops to 102 FPS, which is still smooth, but the system is clearly being pushed harder. For 4K gaming, the High preset is the definitive recommendation. It is the only preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS, hitting 72 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K drops to 79.1 FPS, but the step down from High is less punishing than the step up to Ultra, which falls to 56.3 FPS, dipping below the 60 FPS standard. The data strongly suggests that High is the "sweet spot" for this pairing, offering the best balance of visual quality and frame rate across all resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary driver of performance in The Technomancer, and its specifications explain the scaling observed in the data. The card features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. This large memory pool and high bandwidth are crucial for preventing texture streaming bottlenecks, especially at higher resolutions where the demand on VRAM increases. The GPU's boost clock of 2550 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz ensure that the 10240 shading units are fed with data at a rapid pace.

The RTX 4080 SUPER's compute capabilities, listed at 52.22 TFLOPS for FP32, are more than adequate for a title from 2016. The game's engine is not particularly demanding by modern standards, but the data shows that the GPU is still the limiting factor at 4K. The performance drop from 107 FPS at Low to 72 FPS at High is a 32.7% reduction, which is a direct consequence of the increased pixel shading and texture work. The card's performance relative to its rivals shows it is a strong contender; it is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT and 2.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti in average benchmark scores. This places it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, confirming that its role is to provide high-end, uncompromising performance, which it does successfully up to the High preset at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data illustrates a classic GPU-bound scaling curve. Moving from 1080p to 1440p on the High preset, the average FPS drops from 196.8 to 128, a 34.9% reduction. The subsequent move from 1440p to 4K (3840x2160) results in a further drop to 72 FPS, a 43.8% reduction from the 1440p figure. This shows that the rendering load increases exponentially with pixel count, and the GPU is the component that bears the brunt of this increased workload.

This scaling pattern confirms that the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is not the limiting component in this scenario. The CPU, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, is far more powerful than what The Technomancer requires. Even at 1080p with the Low preset, where the CPU would typically have more influence, the GPU is still able to output 293.7 FPS. The fact that the frame rate scales so dramatically with resolution indicates that the system is GPU-limited across all tested configurations. The CPU's high single-thread performance, evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6555, ensures it can keep up with the GPU's frame generation. The data implies that a less powerful CPU could potentially bottleneck the RTX 4080 SUPER at 1080p, but this pairing avoids that issue entirely.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

At 1080p, the system is capable of delivering exceptional frame rates. The Low preset achieves an average of 293.7 FPS, which is an extraordinary result. The Medium preset follows at 227.6 FPS, marking a 66.1 FPS decrease. High is the most balanced, with 196.8 FPS, and Ultra sits at 151.8 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 141.9 FPS, showing that the settings have a massive impact on performance at this resolution.

2560x1440 (1440p):

The 1440p results show a similar trend but with lower absolute numbers. Low produces 192.3 FPS, which is still a very high frame rate. Medium drops to 146.4 FPS, and High settles at 128 FPS. Ultra is the only preset that falls below the 120 FPS mark, achieving an average of 102 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 90.3 FPS drop, indicating that the GPU is working harder to fill the additional pixels.

3840x2160 (4K):

At 4K, the performance becomes more demanding. The Low preset is the only one that breaks the 100 FPS barrier, with an average of 107 FPS. Medium follows at 79.1 FPS, and High is close behind at 72 FPS. Ultra is the most punishing, dropping to 56.3 FPS. This is the only instance across all tested configurations where the average frame rate falls below 60 FPS. The data here shows that while the RTX 4080 SUPER is powerful, 4K Ultra is a step too far for this combination, requiring a reduction in settings to maintain smooth gameplay.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming with this hardware?

A: The High preset is the recommended choice for 4K. It delivers an average of 72 FPS, which is the only preset above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset drops to 56.3 FPS, which may result in noticeable stuttering.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 293.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 151.8 FPS. This represents a 141.9 FPS difference, meaning the Low preset is roughly 93% faster than Ultra.

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

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The frame rate drops significantly as resolution increases, from 196.8 FPS at 1080p High to 72 FPS at 4K High, which is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU is more than capable of handling the game's workload.

Q: Does the system maintain 60 FPS at 4K with all settings maxed out?

A: No. At 4K with the Ultra preset, the average frame rate is 56.3 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS target. To maintain a stable 60 FPS, the settings must be lowered to High.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to the RTX 5070 Ti in this context?

A: According to the average benchmark scores, the RTX 4080 SUPER is 2.9% ahead of the RTX 5070 Ti. This performance advantage is reflected in the game's measured FPS, where the 4080 SUPER is able to push higher frame rates at the same settings and resolutions.

Q: What is the performance gap between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the High preset averages 128 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 102 FPS. This is a 26 FPS difference, showing that the Ultra preset costs roughly 20% of the High preset's performance.