The Technomancer

# The Technomancer with AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

This combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 60th out of 2,825 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the top 2.1% of all configurations. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings are consistently high, with the data showing this pairing delivers playable performance even at 4K Ultra, where it maintains 61 FPS average. The benchmark results indicate a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions, while at 1080p the CPU's strong single-thread performance becomes the more relevant factor in pushing frame rates past 300 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data shows a clear hierarchy across the four settings presets, and the optimal choice depends heavily on the target resolution. At 3840x2160, the High preset delivers 77 FPS average, while Medium produces 91 FPS average with a minimum of 77 FPS and a maximum of 104 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K offers the best balance, as it provides a 14 FPS improvement over High while maintaining a minimum frame rate identical to High's average, indicating smoother overall pacing. Ultra at 4K drops to 61 FPS average, which is technically playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. Low at 4K reaches 118 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial for a 27 FPS gain over Medium.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves 141 FPS average, while Medium reaches 165 FPS with a minimum of 140 FPS and a maximum of 190 FPS. The Medium preset again emerges as the recommended choice, offering a 24 FPS improvement over High while keeping the minimum frame rate at 140 FPS, which is above the 144Hz refresh rate commonly found on 1440p monitors. Ultra at 1440p produces 110 FPS average, which is still smooth but represents a 55 FPS deficit compared to Medium. Low at 1440p hits 215 FPS, but the gap between Low and Medium (50 FPS) is smaller than the gap between Medium and High (24 FPS), suggesting diminishing returns at the lower end.

At 1920x1080, the data shows all presets are exceptionally fast, with High delivering 216 FPS, Medium reaching 253 FPS, and Low hitting 329 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p provides 253 FPS average with a minimum of 215 FPS and a maximum of 291 FPS, making it the strongest recommendation for high-refresh-rate gaming. Ultra at 1080p produces 169 FPS, which is still well above 144Hz but represents the largest relative drop from Medium (84 FPS). The recommendation across all resolutions is the Medium preset, as it consistently offers the best combination of frame rate and frame time consistency, with the minimum FPS figures indicating stable performance without severe drops.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D features 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The processor's 128 MB of L3 cache is substantial, and its single-thread benchmark scores are strong: 1,269 in 3DMark single-thread, 679 in Cinebench R15 single-core, 2,830 in Cinebench R20 single-core, and 6,739 in Cinebench R23 single-core. These results indicate excellent per-core performance, which is critical for The Technomancer's frame generation at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck.

The multi-threaded results are equally impressive, with the CPU scoring 13,795 in 3DMark max threads, 20,049 in Cinebench R20 multicore, and 47,737 in Cinebench R23 multicore. The PassMark multithread score of 56,154 and Geekbench multicore score of 22,884 further confirm the processor's capability across heavily threaded workloads. However, the measured FPS data in The Technomancer shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 329 FPS, which is 111 FPS higher than at 1440p Low (215 FPS), suggesting that the CPU's single-thread performance is the limiting factor at the lowest resolution and settings.

The CPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (0.6% lower), Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (1.3% higher), Intel Xeon 6505P (2% higher), and Intel Core i7-14700F (2.1% higher). This places the Ryzen 9 9900X3D in a tightly contested performance tier, with the 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs indicating it sits near the top of the processor hierarchy. The processor's 4 nm process node and TSMC foundry contribute to its efficiency, but the data shows that in this game, the CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases, with the GPU taking over as the primary performance driver.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip, featuring 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operation pipelines. The GPU's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory operates on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, and its boost clock reaches 2,520 MHz. The memory clock is rated at 1,313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed. These specifications position the RTX 4090 as an exceptionally powerful GPU, with its PassMark G3D score of 38,194 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223 reflecting its raw compute capability.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s indicate massive throughput, and the pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s supports the high frame rates observed in the measured data. The 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores provide additional specialized processing power, though The Technomancer's engine appears to rely primarily on traditional rasterization given the frame rates achieved. The RTX 4090's nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% difference), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% higher), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (2.5% lower), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (2.9% higher), though these comparisons are based on aggregate benchmarks rather than game-specific performance.

The measured FPS data reveals the GPU's dominant role in this combination. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 61 FPS average, while at 4K High it reaches 77 FPS, and at 4K Medium it achieves 91 FPS. The scaling from 4K Ultra to 4K Low (118 FPS) represents a 93% improvement, demonstrating that the GPU is the primary constraint at this resolution. At 1440p, the frame rates scale to 110 FPS at Ultra and 215 FPS at Low, while at 1080p, the system reaches 169 FPS at Ultra and 329 FPS at Low. The GPU's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs and its 450 W TDP indicate it is a top-tier component, but the data shows it is fully utilized across all tested configurations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 60 out of 2,825 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the top 2.1% of all configurations tested. This ranking reflects the synergy between the two components, with the CPU's strong single-thread performance complementing the GPU's massive rasterization throughput. The 99th percentile positioning is consistent with the measured frame rates, which never drop below 61 FPS even at the most demanding settings.

The data shows that this combo outperforms the vast majority of alternatives, though the exact delta to other high-end pairings is not specified in the measured results. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking and the GPU's 88th percentile ranking individually are strong, but their combined performance in this specific game exceeds what either component would achieve with a less capable partner. The rank of 60 out of 2,825 suggests that only 59 other combinations deliver higher frame rates in The Technomancer, which reflects the balanced nature of this pairing.

The measured FPS figures across all 12 data points (4 settings × 3 resolutions) show no anomalies or bottlenecks that would indicate a mismatch between the CPU and GPU. At 1080p Low, the system delivers 329 FPS, which is likely near the engine's frame rate ceiling, while at 4K Ultra, the 61 FPS average demonstrates that the GPU is being pushed to its limits. The consistent scaling between resolutions and settings indicates that this combo provides a predictable and high-performance experience regardless of the user's display configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows clear resolution scaling patterns that reveal the limiting component at each tier. From 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the average FPS drops from 216 to 141, a 35% reduction. From 1440p to 4K at High settings, the average FPS drops from 141 to 77, a 45% reduction. The total drop from 1080p High to 4K High is 139 FPS, representing a 64% decrease. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor, as the frame rate drops are proportional to the pixel count increase.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 253 FPS at 1080p, 165 FPS at 1440p (35% drop), and 91 FPS at 4K (45% drop from 1440p). The minimum FPS at Medium settings follows the same trend, with 215 FPS at 1080p, 140 FPS at 1440p, and 77 FPS at 4K. The consistency of these percentage drops across settings presets confirms that the GPU's rasterization throughput is the dominant factor in determining frame rates at all resolutions.

At Low settings, the scaling becomes more pronounced: 329 FPS at 1080p, 215 FPS at 1440p (35% drop), and 118 FPS at 4K (45% drop from 1440p). The fact that 1080p Low reaches 329 FPS while 4K Low only achieves 118 FPS suggests that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is still the bottleneck at higher resolutions. However, the 1080p Low result of 329 FPS is likely approaching the CPU's limit, as the single-thread performance of the Ryzen 9 9900X3D (1,269 in 3DMark single-thread) becomes the constraining factor at such high frame rates. The data indicates that for users targeting 4K, the GPU is fully utilized, while at 1080p, the CPU's capabilities are more relevant to achieving maximum frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show the following average frame rates: Low settings produce 329 FPS, Medium settings produce 253 FPS with a minimum of 215 FPS and a maximum of 291 FPS, High settings produce 216 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 169 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 160 FPS, highlighting the significant impact of settings on performance at this resolution. The Medium preset's minimum of 215 FPS is notably higher than the High preset's average of 216 FPS, indicating that Medium provides more consistent frame pacing than High despite the lower average.

At 2560x1440, the measured results show Low settings producing 215 FPS, Medium producing 165 FPS with a minimum of 140 FPS and a maximum of 190 FPS, High producing 141 FPS, and Ultra producing 110 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 105 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p due to the increased GPU load. The Medium preset's minimum of 140 FPS is exactly equal to the High preset's average, reinforcing the recommendation for Medium as the preferred settings choice at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the measured results show Low settings producing 118 FPS, Medium producing 91 FPS with a minimum of 77 FPS and a maximum of 104 FPS, High producing 77 FPS, and Ultra producing 61 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is 57 FPS, the smallest of the three resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution. The Medium preset's maximum of 104 FPS is higher than the High preset's average of 77 FPS, and the Medium minimum of 77 FPS matches the High average exactly, showing that Medium delivers better performance than High at every measured metric.

The data shows that the 4K Medium result of 91 FPS is the best balance of visual quality and performance for 4K displays, while 1440p Medium at 165 FPS is ideal for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, and 1080p Medium at 253 FPS is suitable for extreme refresh rates. The Ultra preset at any resolution is the only settings level where the system drops below 100 FPS at 1080p (169 FPS) and below 70 FPS at 4K (61 FPS), making it the least recommended option for competitive or fast-paced gameplay.