The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting case study for the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti combination. The data reveals a system that is exceptionally capable at high refresh rates in 1080p and 1440p, but which begins to show its limitations when pushed to 4K Ultra settings. The measured frame rates indicate a pairing where the CPU's immense processing power is often left waiting on the GPU, a dynamic that shifts depending on the resolution and quality preset chosen.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for this combination in The Technomancer points to a clear optimal experience at 2560x1440 with the High preset. At this resolution, the combo delivers an average of 86 FPS, which is a strong balance between visual fidelity and smooth gameplay. The High preset at 1440p offers a significant improvement over the Ultra preset, which drops to an average of 67 FPS. The 19 FPS difference between High and Ultra at this resolution suggests that the Ultra preset's additional demands are not efficiently translated into a better experience, making High the sweet spot for consistent performance.

For users with 1080p displays, the High preset at an average of 132 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides a high-refresh-rate experience without the performance hit of Ultra, which still manages a very respectable 103 FPS. The data shows that at 1080p, even the most demanding preset is playable, but the High setting offers a better balance, as the jump to Ultra yields a smaller performance penalty than the jump from Medium to High, yet the visual gains are typically less pronounced.

At 4K, the situation becomes more nuanced. The Medium preset, with an average of 55 FPS, is the only playable option for a smooth experience, though it does exhibit a minimum FPS of 47, indicating potential dips. The High preset at 47 FPS average is borderline, and the Ultra preset at 37 FPS is not recommended for consistent play. The Low preset at 72 FPS is an option for those prioritizing frame rate above all else, but the Medium preset offers a better balance of visual quality and performance for 4K gaming on this hardware.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is the central figure in this performance analysis, and its 8 GB of GDDR6X memory appears to be a critical factor, especially at higher resolutions. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s is substantial, but the 8 GB capacity is likely a limiting factor in The Technomancer at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS falls to 37. The data suggests a clear correlation between increasing resolution and the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck, as the CPU's potential remains largely untapped.

The RTX 3070 Ti's boost clock of 1770 MHz and its 6144 shading units are put to the test as the resolution climbs. The measured frame rates show a predictable pattern: from 1080p to 1440p, there is a significant drop in performance across all settings, and from 1440p to 4K, the drop becomes even more pronounced. This is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario, where the render resolution is overwhelming the graphics processor's capabilities.

The GPU's performance is further contextualized by its benchmark scores, with a passmark_g3d score of 23356 and a percentile of 75 against all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6800, which is 0.5% faster, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, which is 0.5% slower. These data points place the RTX 3070 Ti in a competitive tier, but the demands of The Technomancer at 4K Ultra are clearly sufficient to push it beyond its comfort zone, resulting in the sub-40 FPS averages observed.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for the smoothest experience?

A: The data indicates that 2560x1440 with the High preset, yielding an average of 86 FPS, provides the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, the High preset at 132 FPS is also an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate displays.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Technomancer?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 4K, the Medium preset achieves an average of 55 FPS, which is playable, while the High preset dips to 47 FPS and Ultra falls to 37 FPS. The Low preset reaches 72 FPS, but sacrifices visual fidelity.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54762, which is 0.6% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, 1.3% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, and 2% higher than the Intel Xeon 6505P.

Q: Is the 8 GB of VRAM on the RTX 3070 Ti a limiting factor?

A: The performance data suggests it is, particularly at 4K. The significant drop in average FPS from 55 at Medium to 37 at Ultra at 3840x2160 implies that the 8 GB frame buffer may be insufficient for the highest texture and detail settings at that resolution.

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

A: The High preset delivers an average of 86 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers an average of 67 FPS. This represents a 19 FPS difference, indicating that the Ultra preset is considerably more demanding for a relatively small increase in visual quality.

Q: How does the GPU's performance compare to the RTX 2080 Ti?

A: According to the benchmark data, the RTX 3070 Ti is 0.5% faster than the RTX 2080 Ti, with an average benchmark score of 29945 compared to 29783.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at the system's performance across different resolutions and settings.

At 1920x1080, the system is clearly CPU-bound, with the GPU having ample headroom. The Low preset achieves an average of 201 FPS, which is exceptionally high. The Medium preset provides an average of 154 FPS, with a minimum of 131 and a maximum of 178 FPS. The High preset maintains a strong 132 FPS average, and even the Ultra preset delivers a playable 103 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at this resolution shows a 98 FPS drop, but the absolute numbers are all well within the range of smooth gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, the load shifts more towards the GPU. The Low preset still provides a very high 131 FPS average. The Medium preset drops to an average of 101 FPS, with a minimum of 86 and a maximum of 116 FPS. The High preset, which is the recommended setting, averages 86 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to an average of 67 FPS. The performance decline from Low to Ultra here is 64 FPS, which is a steeper curve than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming a more significant factor.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is the dominant bottleneck. The Low preset averages 72 FPS, which is still playable. The Medium preset averages 55 FPS, with a minimum of 47 and a maximum of 64 FPS. The High preset drops to a 47 FPS average, and the Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of just 37 FPS. The performance drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 35 FPS, and the absolute values show that only the Low and Medium presets are viable for a consistently smooth experience.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of all tested combinations for The Technomancer, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti holds a rank of 978 out of 2825 combos. This places it in the 65th percentile of all tested systems, indicating that it is a solidly above-average performer for this specific game.

The ranking suggests that while this is a powerful combination, it is not at the absolute top tier for The Technomancer. The rank is likely influenced by the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions, as the CPU is clearly capable of much more. The data implies that many other combinations, likely with more powerful GPUs, are able to achieve higher frame rates, particularly at 4K. This rank of 978 serves as a benchmark for what users can expect from this specific hardware pairing in this title, confirming its position as a strong mid-to-high-end performer.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, plays a supporting role in The Technomancer's performance. Its base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz, combined with its 128 MB of L3 cache, provide a massive amount of processing power. However, the game's performance data suggests that this power is not the primary limiting factor. At 1080p, the high frame rates across all settings indicate that the CPU is more than capable of feeding the GPU, and the system is likely GPU-bound even at this lower resolution.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 47737 and a Passmark multithread score of 56154, highlight its immense multitasking capability. Yet, in The Technomancer, the difference in FPS between 1080p and 1440p is more pronounced than the difference between 1440p and 4K for many settings, which typically indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's role here is to ensure that frame times are consistent and that there are no hitches, which the data supports, as the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at 1080p is 131 FPS.

The CPU's high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 3041, is also beneficial for a game from 2016, which may not be fully optimized for many-core processors. The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck, allowing the RTX 3070 Ti to be the primary determinant of performance. This suggests that users with this CPU could see future performance gains by upgrading the GPU, as the CPU clearly has headroom to spare.

Resolution Scaling

The impact of resolution scaling on this system is significant and clearly illustrates the shift in bottleneck from the CPU to the GPU. When moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the High preset, the average FPS drops from 132 to 86, a decrease of 46 FPS, or roughly 35%. This substantial drop indicates that the GPU is being pushed much harder at 1440p, as the number of pixels to render increases by 78%.

The scaling from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 at the High preset shows a further drop from 86 FPS to 47 FPS, a decrease of 39 FPS, or approximately 45%. This even steeper decline highlights the immense load that 4K places on the RTX 3070 Ti. The trend is consistent across all settings. For instance, on the Ultra preset, the FPS drops from 103 at 1080p to 67 at 1440p, and then to 37 at 4K.

This data reveals a system where the CPU's performance is more than sufficient for even the lowest resolution, and the GPU becomes the sole limiting factor as resolution increases. The FPS curve from 1080p to 4K is not linear but becomes progressively steeper, which is a typical characteristic of a GPU-bound system. The fact that the 1080p results are so high, often exceeding 100 FPS, suggests that the CPU is never a constraint, and the entire performance envelope is dictated by the graphics card's ability to fill pixels at higher resolutions.