The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting challenge for modern hardware. This analysis examines the measured performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 across various resolutions and settings, using only the provided benchmark data. The results reveal a combination that is overwhelmingly powerful for this title, with performance characteristics that shift dramatically based on the graphical load.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across all three resolutions shows a clear hierarchy: Low settings deliver the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the most demanding. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 314.2 FPS, which drops to 246.1 FPS on Medium, 207.6 FPS on High, and 162.9 FPS on Ultra. The pattern holds at 2560x1440, where Low yields 203.6 FPS, Medium 160.7 FPS, High 135.9 FPS, and Ultra 107.7 FPS. At 3840x2160, the spread is more compressed but still consistent: Low averages 114 FPS, Medium 84.7 FPS, High 73.3 FPS, and Ultra 56 FPS.

For players with high-refresh-rate displays, the Low preset at 1080p is the only setting that approaches the 300 FPS mark, hitting 314.2 FPS. However, the data suggests that the Medium preset offers a more balanced experience, as it provides 246.1 FPS at 1080p and 160.7 FPS at 1440p, both of which are well above the 144 Hz threshold for most gaming monitors. At 4K, the High preset at 73.3 FPS appears to be the sweet spot for visual fidelity, as it maintains a frame rate above the 60 FPS baseline while delivering noticeably better image quality than Medium's 84.7 FPS. The Ultra preset, while visually superior, drops to 56 FPS at 4K, which may be too low for smooth gameplay on displays with a 60 Hz refresh rate, though it remains playable.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 1656 tested combinations for The Technomancer, this specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 holds a combo rank of 43. This places it in the top 2.6% of all tested systems, indicating that it is a very high-performing configuration for this game. The data implies that while there are 42 other combinations that achieve higher frame rates, this setup is firmly in the enthusiast tier of performance.

The CPU's own benchmark standing reinforces this position. The Ryzen 9 9900X has a percentile rank of 94 against all CPUs, meaning it outperforms 94% of processors in general benchmarks. Its average benchmark score of 54450 places it in close competition with its nearest rivals. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D scores 54681, which is a deltaPct of -0.4% relative to the 9900X, indicating near-identical performance. The Intel Core i7-14700F scores 54097 (deltaPct 0.7%), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K scores 55304 (deltaPct -1.5%), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF scores 55421 (deltaPct -1.8%). These small deltas show that the 9900X is positioned in a highly competitive performance bracket, with no single rival holding a significant advantage.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and features a GB203 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It comes equipped with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2617 MHz, with memory clocked at 1875 MHz (30 Gbps effective). This substantial memory configuration is more than sufficient for The Technomancer, even at 4K resolution, where the data shows the GPU is the primary performance driver.

The GPU's benchmark results place it in the 89th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 59188. Its nearest rivals in general benchmarks are the Intel Arc A570M (score 58239, deltaPct 1.6%), Intel Arc Pro A60 (score 60326, deltaPct -1.9%), Intel Arc A580 (score 57756, deltaPct 2.5%), and AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (score 57661, deltaPct 2.6%). These deltas are small, indicating the RTX 5080 is in a tightly contested performance tier. In this game, the GPU's role is most pronounced at higher resolutions, where the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens, suggesting that the RTX 5080's raw compute power is being more fully utilized.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 314.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers an average of 56 FPS, which is the lowest measured frame rate across all tested configurations.

Q: Is this combination better than one with the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D?

A: In general CPU benchmarks, the Ryzen 9 9900X has an average score of 54450, while the 9900X3D scores 54681, a deltaPct of -0.4%. This indicates the 9900X3D is slightly faster, but the performance difference is negligible.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 135.9 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 107.7 FPS. This represents a performance drop of 28.2 FPS when switching from High to Ultra.

Q: Does the RTX 5080 have enough VRAM for this game?

A: The RTX 5080 has 16 GB of GDDR7 memory. The data shows no indication of VRAM limitations, as frame rates scale predictably across resolutions and settings, suggesting that the 16 GB capacity is more than adequate for The Technomancer.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for this game?

A: This specific combination ranks 43rd out of 1656 tested combos for The Technomancer, placing it in the top 2.6% of all configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals the shift in bottleneck. At 1080p, the Low preset yields 314.2 FPS, but this drops to 203.6 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and further to 114 FPS at 4K (a 64% reduction from 1080p). This pattern is consistent across all settings. For instance, with High settings, the frame rate goes from 207.6 FPS at 1080p, to 135.9 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 73.3 FPS at 4K.

The data strongly suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is the limiting factor. The extremely high frame rates, exceeding 200 FPS even on High settings, indicate that the Ryzen 9 9900X can feed the GPU faster than it can render frames at this low resolution. As resolution increases to 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. The pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the measured frame rates show a correspondingly large drop, confirming that the RTX 5080's rendering capabilities are being pushed to their limits. The performance difference between Low and Ultra settings also grows with resolution, from a 151.3 FPS gap at 1080p to a 58 FPS gap at 4K, further evidence that the GPU's workload becomes more dominant at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 64 MB of L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 46438 and a single-core score of 6555. The Geekbench multicore score is 19827, with a single-core score of 3341.

In the context of The Technomancer, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the combination achieves frame rates well above 160 FPS on all settings, which indicates that the CPU is capable of handling the game's logic and draw calls without becoming a constraint. The single-threaded performance, measured at 6555 in Cinebench R23, is crucial for this. The high core count and clock speeds ensure that even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has minimal work, the CPU can maintain a frame rate of 314.2 FPS. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor until the resolution drops to a point where the GPU can render frames faster than the CPU can process game state, which does not appear to happen even at 1080p in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a complete picture of performance across all combinations of resolution and settings.

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are:

• Low: 314.2 FPS
• Medium: 246.1 FPS
• High: 207.6 FPS
• Ultra: 162.9 FPS

At 2560x1440, the average frame rates are:

• Low: 203.6 FPS
• Medium: 160.7 FPS
• High: 135.9 FPS
• Ultra: 107.7 FPS

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are:

• Low: 114 FPS
• Medium: 84.7 FPS
• High: 73.3 FPS
• Ultra: 56 FPS

The data shows that the RTX 5080 and Ryzen 9 9900X deliver playable frame rates at every setting, even at 4K Ultra, which averages 56 FPS. The performance scaling is consistent and predictable, with each step up in settings or resolution producing a corresponding decrease in average frame rate. The largest single drop occurs when moving from 1080p Low to 1440p Low, a 110.6 FPS reduction, highlighting the significant impact of resolution on performance. The smallest drop is from 1440p High to 4K High, a 62.6 FPS reduction, which still represents a substantial decrease. These measured values confirm that this hardware combination is exceptionally well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p, and remains a strong candidate for smooth 4K gaming with adjusted settings.