The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, shows a clear performance hierarchy with the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases. The measured data reveals that this pairing delivers excellent frame rates across the board, with the RTX 5070 Ti's capabilities being the deciding factor at higher resolutions, while the Ryzen 9 9900X's 12 cores and 24 threads provide ample headroom for the game's CPU demands.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, clearly identifying the RTX 5070 Ti as the limiting component at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 189.9 at 1920x1080 to 123.2 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 66.7 FPS, and then further down to 67.7 at 3840x2160. This represents a 64% decrease in average FPS from 1080p to 4K, a steep curve that indicates the GPU is being pushed to its limits at the highest resolution.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. At Low settings, the drop from 285.1 FPS at 1080p to 98.7 FPS at 4K shows a 65% reduction, while Ultra settings see a drop from 146.7 FPS to 55 FPS, a 63% decrease. This uniformity suggests that the game's rendering load scales predictably with pixel count, and the RTX 5070 Ti's performance is the dominant factor in determining the final frame rate.

Interestingly, the gap between 1080p and 1440p is larger than the gap between 1440p and 4K in percentage terms. At High settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p costs 66.7 FPS (35% reduction), while moving from 1440p to 4K costs 55.5 FPS (45% reduction). This non-linear scaling indicates that the game becomes progressively more GPU-bound at higher resolutions, with the RTX 5070 Ti's 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and 896.0 GB/s bandwidth being sufficient for the data demands but the raw compute throughput becoming the limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 9900X and RTX 5070 Ti ranks 124th out of 1656 tested combinations for The Technomancer, placing it in the top 7.5% of all tested systems. This strong ranking reflects the balanced nature of the pairing, where the CPU's high single-thread performance complements the GPU's substantial rasterization capabilities.

The RTX 5070 Ti itself holds the 87th percentile among all GPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 52086. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, scores 52085, a delta of 0%, meaning the two cards are virtually identical in overall performance. The AMD Radeon RX 7700S is 0.8% behind, while the RTX A1000 is 2.5% behind. This places the RTX 5070 Ti in a competitive position, though its performance in The Technomancer specifically may differ from these aggregate scores.

The Ryzen 9 9900X sits in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54450. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, is only 0.4% ahead, while the Intel Core i7-14700F is 0.7% behind. This close grouping suggests that the CPU is not a significant differentiator in this game, and the combo's rank is largely determined by the GPU's performance at each resolution and settings combination.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Technomancer?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 at High settings delivers 123.2 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 3840x2160, High settings only achieve 67.7 FPS, so 1440p is the sweet spot for high refresh rates.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to the RTX 4080?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti's average benchmark score is 52086, which is exactly equal to the RTX 4080's 52085, representing a 0% delta. In practical terms, the two cards perform identically in aggregate benchmarks.

Q: Can this system handle Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 55, which is below the 60 FPS target for most displays. This is playable but not ideal for smooth motion.

Q: What is the CPU's role in performance at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 285.1 FPS, indicating that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to reach very high frame rates. The Ryzen 9 9900X's 12 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient for this game.

Q: How much does the settings preset affect performance at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, moving from Low to Medium reduces average FPS from 187.2 to 145, a 42.2 FPS drop. Moving from Medium to High reduces it further to 123.2, and Ultra brings it down to 95.9.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth of the RTX 5070 Ti?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti has a memory bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s, provided by its 256-bit bus and GDDR7 memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 285.1 FPS, Medium settings produce 217.7 FPS, High settings produce 189.9 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 146.7 FPS. This range shows that even at the most demanding preset, the system easily exceeds 144 FPS for high refresh rate monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the GPU's workload increasing. Low settings average 187.2 FPS, Medium settings average 145 FPS, High settings average 123.2 FPS, and Ultra settings average 95.9 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at High settings is 66.7 FPS, which is the largest single resolution step in the dataset.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates become more modest. Low settings average 98.7 FPS, Medium settings average 79.5 FPS, High settings average 67.7 FPS, and Ultra settings average 55 FPS. The 4K Ultra figure of 55 FPS is the only measured result below 60 FPS, indicating that this is the only configuration that struggles to maintain smooth gameplay.

The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent pattern. At 1080p, Ultra is 48.5% slower than Low. At 1440p, Ultra is 48.8% slower than Low. At 4K, Ultra is 44.3% slower than Low. This slightly smaller gap at 4K suggests that the GPU is becoming more saturated and the relative cost of higher settings diminishes.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, provides substantial processing power for The Technomancer. Its base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz deliver strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for game logic and frame pacing. The CPU's 64 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, while its DDR5 memory support with dual-channel configuration provides 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth.

The benchmark data shows the CPU's strengths. In 3DMark tests, the single-thread score is 1286, while the 8-thread score is 9114 and the max-thread score is 13929. This scaling from 2 threads (2519) to 4 threads (4886) to 8 threads (9114) demonstrates efficient multi-threading capabilities. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 46438 and single-core score of 6555 further confirm the CPU's ability to handle both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is evident at 1080p where the system achieves 285.1 FPS at Low settings. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions, as it can feed the GPU with enough draw calls and game state updates to sustain very high performance. The Ryzen 9 9900X's 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54450, places it comfortably above the vast majority of processors tested.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, High settings at 2560x1440 provide the most compelling experience. The measured 123.2 FPS average is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and the visual improvement over Medium settings is significant. At this resolution, High settings offer a 28.2 FPS improvement over Ultra while maintaining a smooth frame rate.

For users with 4K displays, High settings at 3840x2160 achieve 67.7 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target. This is the recommended configuration for 4K, as Ultra settings drop to 55 FPS, which may introduce noticeable stuttering. The data shows that the step from High to Ultra at 4K costs 12.7 FPS, a 19% reduction, which may not justify the visual gains.

At 1080p, the choice depends on the display's refresh rate. For 144 Hz monitors, High settings at 189.9 FPS are more than sufficient, while Ultra settings at 146.7 FPS still exceed the refresh rate. For 240 Hz monitors, Medium settings at 217.7 FPS or Low settings at 285.1 FPS would be necessary to fully utilize the display's capabilities.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB203 chip, is the primary performance driver in The Technomancer at higher resolutions. Its 8960 shading units, 280 TMUs, and 96 ROPs provide substantial rasterization throughput, while the 70 RT cores and 280 tensor cores offer additional capabilities for games that utilize them. The GPU's boost clock of 2452 MHz, combined with its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivers a memory bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s.

The GPU's benchmark performance is strong, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6604 and a Passmark G3D score of 32974. Its 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 52086, places it near the top of the performance hierarchy. The nearest rival, the RTX 4080, has an identical average score, while the RX 7700S is 0.8% behind.

In The Technomancer, the GPU's role becomes increasingly important as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU and GPU work in concert to deliver high frame rates, but at 4K, the GPU's compute and memory resources are the limiting factor. The 45.6 billion transistors on a 378 mm² die, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process, provide the raw power needed for 4K gaming, though the game's age and optimization may limit how effectively this power is utilized. The RTX 5070 Ti's FP32 performance of 43.94 TFLOPS and texture rate of 686.6 GTexel/s are more than adequate for the game's demands at any resolution.