The Technomancer

CPU Role - cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform and uses a 4 nm process node fabricated by TSMC, containing 16,630 million transistors across a dual-chiplet design with a die size of 2x 70.6 mm². The base clock is 4.40 GHz with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, and the chip carries a 120 W TDP. This processor was released on 2025-01-05 with a launch MSRP of $599.

For The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, the CPU's workload characteristics matter less than in modern titles, but the recorded results still show the processor's capability. The CPU's 128 MB L3 cache is substantial, and the per-core L1 cache is 80 KB with 1 MB L2 per core. Memory support includes DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 89.6 GB/s bandwidth, plus ECC support. The processor uses PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes from the CPU and includes integrated Radeon Graphics, though the discrete GPU handles rendering in this configuration.

Benchmark results for the CPU show strong synthetic performance. In 3DMark, the 16-thread test scores 12,490, the 2-thread test scores 2,512, the 4-thread test scores 4,885, the 8-thread test scores 9,002, the max-thread test scores 13,795, and the single-thread test scores 1,269. Cinebench R15 multicore scores 4,811 with single-core at 679; R20 multicore reaches 20,049 with single-core at 2,830; R23 multicore achieves 47,737 with single-core at 6,739. Geekbench multicore scores 22,884 with single-core at 3,041. PassMark results include multithread at 56,154, single-thread at 4,646, physics at 5,340, floating point math at 119,622, integer math at 179,727, data compression at 685,074, data encryption at 33,282, extended instructions at 55,426, find prime numbers at 544, and random string sorting at 71,864.

The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 91, meaning it outperforms most processors in the database. Its average benchmark score is 54,762. Nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF with an average score of 55,093 (delta -0.6%), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K at 54,053 (delta 1.3%), the Intel Xeon 6505P at 53,701 (delta 2%), and the Intel Core i7-14700F at 53,620 (delta 2.1%). The delta percentages indicate the 9900X3D trails the 245KF by 0.6%, but leads the other three rivals by 1.3%, 2%, and 2.1% respectively.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The game is not new, and its engine likely does not scale perfectly across 12 cores. The measured FPS at 1080p Low reaches 298 average FPS, which suggests the CPU can push very high frame rates when the GPU is not heavily loaded. At 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 152 FPS, indicating that settings and GPU workload become more relevant. The CPU's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by the 3DMark single-thread score of 1,269 and Cinebench R23 single-core of 6,739, helps maintain high minimum frame rates in scenes with many NPCs or scripted events. The 12-core count provides headroom for background tasks, but the game's age means most threads remain idle. The data shows the processor is not the limiting factor at any tested resolution, since frame rates scale downward as resolution increases, which points to GPU-bound behavior.

GPU Role - VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 uses the AD103 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC with 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. The transistor density is 121.1M per mm². The base clock is 2205 MHz with a boost clock of 2505 MHz. Memory clock is 1400 MHz with 22.4 Gbps effective. The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus with 716.8 GB/s bandwidth. Shading units total 9,728, TMUs are 304, ROPs are 112, RT cores are 76, and tensor cores are 304. Pixel rate is 280.6 GPixel/s, texture rate is 761.5 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 48.74 TFLOPS with FP16 at 48.74 TFLOPS (1:1). The TDP is 320 W, it uses a triple-slot cooler with a 16-pin power connector, and the suggested PSU is 700 W. It connects via PCIe 4.0 x16 and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GPU was released on 2022-09-19 with a launch MSRP of 1,199 USD and is now end-of-life, with the GeForce 50 series as successor.

GPU benchmark scores include 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 6,567, Geekbench OpenCL at 214,739, Geekbench Vulkan at 263,779, PassMark DirectX 10 at 204, DirectX 11 at 314, DirectX 12 at 132, DirectX 9 at 370, G2D at 1,239, G3D at 34,457, and GPU compute at 20,671. The GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 86, and its average benchmark score is 54,247. Nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER with an average score of 54,209 (delta 0.1%), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 54,828 (delta -1.1%), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55,698 (delta -2.6%), and the AMD Radeon 8060S at 55,757 (delta -2.7%). The RTX 4080 trails the 4080 SUPER by a marginal 0.1%, but leads the other three rivals by 1.1%, 2.6%, and 2.7%.

In The Technomancer, the GPU's 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for the game's textures and effects, even at 4K Ultra. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 55 average, which is the lowest among all tested settings. This indicates the GPU is heavily loaded at 4K with max settings. The 716.8 GB/s memory bandwidth helps maintain texture streaming performance, and the 112 ROPs handle pixel output. The boost clock of 2505 MHz provides the raw compute throughput needed for the game's lighting and shadow calculations. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the GPU delivers 298 average FPS, which is near the CPU's practical limit. At 4K High, the GPU delivers 70 average FPS, a significant drop from 128 at 1440p High. This scaling behavior confirms the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling - how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals how the system balances CPU and GPU workloads. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 298. At 1440p Low, it drops to 195, a reduction of 103 FPS or roughly 34.6%. At 4K Low, the average is 107, which is 191 FPS lower than 1080p Low, a 64.1% drop. This steep decline indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, even with Low settings.

For Medium settings, the progression is 229 FPS at 1080p, 149 at 1440p, and 82 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 80 FPS (34.9%), and from 1440p to 4K is 67 FPS (45.0%). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests the rendering pipeline scales predictably with pixel count.

High settings show 195 FPS at 1080p, 128 at 1440p, and 70 at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 67 FPS (34.4%), and the 1440p to 4K drop is 58 FPS (45.3%). Ultra settings show 152 FPS at 1080p, 100 at 1440p, and 55 at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 52 FPS (34.2%), and the 1440p to 4K drop is 45 FPS (45.0%). The near-identical percentage drops across all four settings indicate that resolution scaling is resolution-driven, not settings-driven. The GPU's pixel throughput limits frame rates proportionally to the number of pixels rendered.

The fact that 1080p Low reaches 298 FPS while 1080p Ultra reaches 152 FPS shows that settings have a significant impact at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low result is likely near the CPU's maximum frame delivery capability, since the GPU has ample headroom at that resolution and settings. The 4K Ultra result of 55 FPS is the most GPU-intensive scenario, and the 55 FPS average is playable but not high refresh. The data implies that at 1080p, the system is co-limited by CPU and GPU depending on settings, while at 1440p and 4K, the GPU is the dominant constraint.

How This Combo Ranks - use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 213 out of 3,696 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places the combo in the top 5.8% of all configurations in the database for this game. The rank of 213 means 212 other combos deliver higher average FPS, while 3,483 combos deliver lower performance. Given that the RTX 4080 is a high-end GPU and the 9900X3D is a top-tier CPU, the rank is lower than the hardware's absolute potential might suggest. This is likely due to the game's age and its engine not fully utilizing the CPU's 12 cores or the GPU's advanced features.

The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 91, and the GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 86. The combo rank of 213 out of 3,696 is roughly consistent with these percentiles, though slightly lower than the CPU's percentile. The game's performance at 4K Ultra (55 FPS) is the weakest result, and combos with more powerful GPUs, such as the RTX 4090 or newer RTX 50-series cards, would rank higher. The nearest rival GPUs in the database include the RTX 4080 SUPER, which is only 0.1% faster on average in synthetic benchmarks. That small delta could translate to a few extra FPS in The Technomancer, potentially pushing the combo up a few ranks. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, is 0.6% faster on average, but the 9900X3D leads the other three rivals by 1.3% to 2.1%. These small deltas suggest the combo's rank is stable relative to similar hardware.

The recorded data shows that the combo's measured FPS at 1080p Low (298) is high enough to rank well, but the 4K Ultra result (55) drags the overall ranking down if the database weights higher resolutions more heavily. The rank of 213 out of 3,696 indicates that many other combos achieve higher FPS at 4K Ultra, likely due to more powerful GPUs. The combo's performance is solid for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K with Ultra settings, it falls short of the top ranks.

Measured FPS Breakdown - resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows. Low settings produce 298 FPS average. Medium settings produce 229 FPS average, with a minimum of 194 and a maximum of 263. High settings produce 195 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 152 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra is 146 FPS, with Ultra delivering roughly 51% of the Low setting's frame rate. The Medium setting's min-max range of 194 to 263 FPS shows a variance of 69 FPS, indicating frame pacing varies with scene complexity.

At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 195 FPS average. Medium settings produce 149 FPS average, with a minimum of 127 and a maximum of 172. High settings produce 128 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 100 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra is 95 FPS, with Ultra delivering roughly 51.3% of the Low setting's frame rate. The Medium setting's min-max range of 127 to 172 FPS shows a variance of 45 FPS, which is smaller in absolute terms but similar in proportion to the 1080p result.

At 3840x2160, Low settings produce 107 FPS average. Medium settings produce 82 FPS average, with a minimum of 70 and a maximum of 94. High settings produce 70 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 55 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra is 52 FPS, with Ultra delivering roughly 51.4% of the Low setting's frame rate. The Medium setting's min-max range of 70 to 94 FPS shows a variance of 24 FPS. The consistent ratio of Ultra to Low FPS across all three resolutions (roughly 51%) indicates that the settings scaling is resolution-independent. The absolute FPS values drop with resolution, but the relative impact of settings remains constant.

The data reveals that at every resolution, Low settings deliver roughly double the FPS of Ultra settings. The 1080p Low result of 298 FPS is the highest recorded value, while the 4K Ultra result of 55 FPS is the lowest. The Medium setting at 4K has a minimum of 70 FPS, which is equal to the High setting's average at the same resolution. This suggests that Medium settings at 4K provide a playable experience with some headroom, while Ultra at 4K drops below 60 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in The Technomancer?

A: The highest average FPS is 298, recorded at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS is 55, recorded at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54,247, while the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54,209, a delta of 0.1% in favor of the RTX 4080.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, since the average FPS of 55 is the lowest across all tested settings and resolutions.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 213 out of 3,696 tested combos, placing it in the top 5.8% of configurations.

Q: How does the Medium setting compare to Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Medium averages 149 FPS, which is 46 FPS lower than Low (195) and 49 FPS higher than Ultra (100).

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data indicates that the best experience depends on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings deliver 152 FPS average, which is sufficient for high-refresh displays. The jump from High (195 FPS) to Ultra (152 FPS) costs 43 FPS, but the visual quality improvement may justify it for users with 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitors. Medium at 1080p delivers 229 FPS, which exceeds most display refresh rates, but High provides 195 FPS, which is still above 144 Hz. For 1080p users, Ultra is the recommended preset because it maintains triple-digit FPS while maximizing visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, High settings deliver 128 FPS average, which is suitable for 144 Hz monitors. Ultra drops to 100 FPS, which is still playable but may not fully utilize high refresh displays. Medium at 1440p delivers 149 FPS, which is above the 144 Hz threshold, but High offers a better balance of visual quality and frame rate. The data shows that High at 1440p provides 128 FPS, which is 28 FPS higher than Ultra and only 21 FPS lower than Medium. For 1440p users, High is the recommended preset, as it maintains a high frame rate while preserving most visual features.

At 3840x2160, High settings deliver 70 FPS average, which is playable on standard 60 Hz displays but not high refresh. Ultra drops to 55 FPS, which is below 60 FPS and may introduce noticeable stutter on 60 Hz panels. Medium at 4K delivers 82 FPS, which exceeds 60 Hz and provides a smoother experience. Low at 4K reaches 107 FPS, but the visual quality reduction is significant. For 4K users, Medium is the recommended preset, as it delivers 82 FPS average with a minimum of 70 FPS, ensuring a consistent experience above 60 FPS. Ultra at 4K is only recommended for users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate and are willing to accept sub-60 FPS performance.