The Technomancer

FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT in The Technomancer?

A: This pairing ranks 2100 out of 2825 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-mid portion of the database. The rank reflects a system that can handle the game comfortably at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles at 4K with higher settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54762, which is within 2.1% of its nearest rivals. It sits 0.6% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55093), and 1.3%, 2.0%, and 2.1% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54053), Intel Xeon 6505P (53701), and Intel Core i7-14700F (53620), respectively.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16361. Its closest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M at 16351 (0.1% behind), while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16408) and AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (16415) are both 0.3% ahead.

Q: What are the measured average FPS at 1080p with Low settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers an average of 139 FPS. This is the highest measured frame rate across all resolution and settings combinations in the data.

Q: Does the combo achieve 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, at 2560x1440 with High settings, the average FPS is exactly 60. Medium settings at this resolution produce 70 FPS, Low produces 91 FPS, and Ultra drops to 47 FPS.

Q: What is the lowest measured average FPS in the dataset?

A: The lowest average is 26 FPS, recorded at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the only resolution/settings combination that falls below 30 FPS, indicating the system is not viable for 4K Ultra play.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT achieves a combo rank of 2100 out of 2825 tested configurations in The Technomancer. This places the system in the 74th percentile of all tested combos — meaning roughly a quarter of tested systems perform worse, but a significant majority perform better. The rank suggests this is a mid-tier configuration for this particular title, not a top performer nor a marginal one.

The CPU component of this combo is far stronger than the overall rank implies. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D sits in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54762. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, scores 55093, a delta of only -0.6%. The gap to the next three rivals — Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, Intel Xeon 6505P, and Intel Core i7-14700F — is similarly narrow, at 1.3%, 2.0%, and 2.1% respectively. In synthetic workloads, this CPU is essentially tied with its closest competitors, showing that the processor is not the limiting factor in this combo's modest rank.

The GPU tells a different story. The Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16361. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, scores 16351 (0.1% behind), while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell and AMD Radeon PRO W7500 are both 0.3% ahead at 16408 and 16415 respectively. The GPU's percentile is substantially lower than the CPU's, indicating that the graphics card is the bottleneck in this pairing. The data suggests that the combo rank is dragged down by the GPU's mid-tier position, while the CPU's high percentile does not translate into proportionally higher in-game performance.

The gap between the CPU's 91st percentile and the GPU's 59th percentile is telling. In a game like The Technomancer, which relies heavily on GPU throughput for rendering, the CPU's headroom is largely unused. The measured FPS data confirms this: frame rates scale significantly with resolution and settings changes, a pattern typical of GPU-bound scenarios rather than CPU-bound ones.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 91 at 1080p to 60 at 1440p, then to 33 at 4K. This represents a 34% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 45% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound system: as pixel count increases, the GPU's workload grows proportionally, and frame rates fall accordingly.

At Low settings, the same pattern emerges with higher absolute numbers. The average FPS is 139 at 1080p, 91 at 1440p, and 50 at 4K. The percentage drops are similar: 35% from 1080p to 1440p, and 45% from 1440p to 4K. The consistency of these drops across settings presets indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component throughout the resolution range.

The Medium settings data includes minimum and maximum FPS values, providing additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the average is 107 FPS with a range of 91 to 123 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 70 FPS with a range of 59 to 80 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 38 FPS with a range of 33 to 44 FPS. The minimum FPS values at 1440p and 4K — 59 and 33 respectively — show that the system approaches but does not quite sustain 60 FPS at 1440p Medium, and falls well below that threshold at 4K.

The scaling behavior strongly indicates a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect frame rates to remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the CPU workload would not change much with pixel count. Instead, the observed drops are dramatic and consistent with the GPU's rendering workload growing with each resolution step. The CPU's high benchmark scores and 91st percentile ranking suggest it has ample headroom, but that headroom is not utilized in this game because the GPU cannot feed frames fast enough at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers playable frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 139 FPS, which is well above any reasonable refresh rate target. Medium settings average 107 FPS, with minimum and maximum values of 91 and 123 FPS respectively. High settings average 91 FPS, still comfortably above 60 FPS. Ultra settings average 71 FPS, which remains playable on standard 60 Hz displays and even on some 75 Hz panels. The spread from Low to Ultra is 68 FPS, indicating that the GPU has significant performance headroom at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the picture changes. Low settings average 91 FPS, which is still strong. Medium settings average 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS — just shy of the 60 FPS target, meaning there will be occasional dips below the standard refresh rate. High settings average exactly 60 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay; users may notice frame drops during demanding scenes. Ultra settings average 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and will result in noticeable stutter on standard displays. The drop from Low to Ultra at this resolution is 44 FPS, showing that the GPU's headroom is narrowing.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles. Low settings average 50 FPS, which is playable but not smooth on 60 Hz displays. Medium settings average 38 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 44 FPS — this is firmly in the range where frame pacing becomes noticeable. High settings average 33 FPS, which is borderline for playability. Ultra settings average 26 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is only 24 FPS, indicating that even the lowest settings cannot rescue the frame rate to a smooth level.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the system is well-suited for 1080p gaming at any settings, acceptable for 1440p at Low through High settings, and only marginally playable at 4K with Low settings. The Medium settings rows provide the only minimum FPS data, and those values — 91 at 1080p, 59 at 1440p, and 33 at 4K — show that the system maintains reasonable frame times at 1080p but begins to falter as resolution increases.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture with the Navi 10 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The GPU has 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. Its base clock is 1605 MHz, with a game clock of 1755 MHz and a boost clock of 1905 MHz. The memory clock is 1750 MHz, operating at 14 Gbps effective.

In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU scores 16277 in Passmark G3D, 2134 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, and 9524 in Geekbench OpenCL. Its best relative performance comes in Geekbench Vulkan with a score of 68310, while its worst is in Passmark DirectX 12 with a score of 64. The GPU's 59th percentile ranking places it in the mid-range of all tested graphics cards.

The GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for The Technomancer at 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at those resolutions. At 4K, the frame rates drop dramatically, which is consistent with both VRAM pressure and raw compute limitations. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 9.754 TFLOPS FP32 performance are adequate for the game's demands at lower resolutions, but they are insufficient to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K with higher settings.

The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, scores 16351 — a 0.1% difference — indicating that the RX 5700 XT is positioned at a very specific performance tier. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell and AMD Radeon PRO W7500 are both 0.3% ahead, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 is 0.9% ahead at 16504. These narrow deltas show that the RX 5700 XT sits in a tightly packed performance cluster, and small differences in synthetic scores translate into the observed FPS variations in-game.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and frame rate preference. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings with an average of 71 FPS provide the best visual quality while maintaining smooth gameplay on 60 Hz displays. For users with higher refresh rate monitors, High settings at 91 FPS or Medium at 107 FPS offer progressively higher frame rates with minimal visual compromise.

At 2560x1440, High settings with an average of 60 FPS is the recommended choice for a 60 Hz display. This provides a good balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. Medium settings at 70 FPS offer a buffer for users who want to avoid frame drops, while Low settings at 91 FPS are suitable for competitive play or high refresh rate monitors. Ultra settings at 47 FPS are not recommended, as the frame rate falls below the 60 FPS threshold and will result in noticeable stutter.

At 3840x2160, Low settings with an average of 50 FPS is the only viable option for playable frame rates. Medium settings at 38 FPS are marginally playable but will exhibit frame pacing issues. High settings at 33 FPS and Ultra settings at 26 FPS are not recommended for gameplay. Users who prioritize 4K resolution over visual quality should use Low settings, while those who prioritize smooth gameplay should consider dropping to 1440p.

The Medium settings data with minimum FPS values provides additional guidance. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 91 FPS ensures smooth gameplay without dips. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 59 FPS means the system will occasionally drop below 60 FPS, which may be noticeable on standard displays. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 33 FPS indicates frequent frame drops and an inconsistent experience. These minimum values reinforce the recommendation to use High settings at 1440p and Low settings at 4K.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a TDP of 120 W. The CPU features 128 MB of L3 cache, with 80 KB of L1 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. It supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance. It scores 47737 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 20049 in Cinebench R20 multi-core, and 4811 in Cinebench R15 multi-core. Single-threaded scores are 6739 in Cinebench R23, 2830 in Cinebench R20, and 679 in Cinebench R15. The Geekbench scores are 22884 multi-core and 3041 single-core. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking reflects its position among all tested processors.

The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, scores 55093 on average — a 0.6% difference that is within measurement noise. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54053), Intel Xeon 6505P (53701), and Intel Core i7-14700F (53620) are 1.3%, 2.0%, and 2.1% behind, respectively. These narrow deltas indicate that the Ryzen 9 9900X3D is performance-equivalent to its closest competitors in synthetic workloads.

Despite the CPU's high benchmark scores, the measured FPS in The Technomancer suggests that the processor is not the limiting factor. The frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings changes, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads provide ample processing power for this game, which was released in 2016 and does not heavily utilize multi-threaded workloads. The high boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensures strong single-threaded performance, which is more relevant for older game engines.

The 128 MB of L3 cache is a defining feature of the 3D V-Cache design, providing a large pool of fast memory for frequently accessed data. In games that benefit from large caches, this can provide a significant performance advantage. However, in The Technomancer, the measured FPS data does not show any unusual gains that would indicate the cache is providing a substantial benefit. The GPU remains the bottleneck, and the CPU's capabilities are largely underutilized in this title.