The Technomancer

The Technomancer’s performance with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 reveals a system dominated by the GPU. The data indicates that this pairing, while capable at lower resolutions, struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K. The RTX 2060 is the clear limiting component, with the 9950X3D providing ample headroom that goes unused as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, pointing directly at the graphics card as the bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 130 at 1920x1080 to 85 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 45 FPS, and then to 47 at 3840x2160, a further drop of 38 FPS. This represents a 64% decrease in average FPS from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The trend is similar at High settings, where the average drops from 85 FPS at 1080p to 56 FPS at 1440p, and then to 31 FPS at 4K, a total decline of 54 FPS or 64% from the starting point.

The scaling pattern shows that the most significant performance hit occurs between 1440p and 4K. At 1080p, the CPU has enough power to feed the GPU, but as pixel count increases, the RTX 2060’s rendering workload grows exponentially. The data suggests that the 4K results, with averages ranging from 24 to 47 FPS depending on settings, are firmly in the territory where the GPU is saturated. The 9950X3D’s high-performance cores are not the constraint; the frame rate differential between resolutions is far too large to be caused by CPU limitations.

At Medium settings, the average FPS at 1920x1080 is 100, which falls to 65 at 2560x1440 and then to 36 at 3840x2160. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a 45% drop, while the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35%. This non-linear scaling reinforces that the GPU is being overwhelmed at higher resolutions. For a game like The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, the data indicates that 4K is not a viable target for this combo, with even the lowest settings failing to reach a consistent 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, built on the Turing architecture, is the decisive factor in these results. It features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The card’s base clock is 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz, and it has 1920 shading units. The GPU’s performance percentile is 58, meaning it outperforms 58% of all GPUs in the database, but its average benchmark score of 15290 places it in the mid-range tier. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 with a deltaPct of 0, the AMD Radeon 680M with a deltaPct of 0.1, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM with a deltaPct of 0.6.

The 6 GB VRAM is a critical consideration for The Technomancer at higher resolutions. While the game is not exceptionally demanding by modern standards, the data shows that the RTX 2060’s memory capacity and bandwidth are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of only 24 FPS, suggesting that the card is running out of memory bandwidth or capacity, causing severe performance degradation. At 1080p, the card is more comfortable, with the Ultra preset still delivering an average of 66 FPS.

The GPU’s clock speeds and shader count are adequate for 1080p gaming, but the scaling to 1440p shows a clear decline. At High settings, the average FPS at 1440p is 56, which is playable but not ideal for a fast-paced Action RPG. The RTX 2060’s DirectX 12 benchmark score of 53 in Passmark further illustrates its limitations under modern API loads, although The Technomancer’s engine may not fully utilize these features. The data clearly shows that the GPU is the primary driver of performance, with the CPU’s role being secondary.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance between visual quality and performance is found at the Medium preset. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 100 FPS, with a minimum of 85 and a maximum of 115 FPS. This is a smooth and responsive experience for an Action RPG, where consistent frame times are more important than absolute maximums. The High preset at the same resolution is also viable, offering an average of 85 FPS, but the Medium preset provides a significant 15 FPS advantage with likely minor visual differences.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the only setting that consistently maintains playable frame rates. The average of 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS, is acceptable for most players, though it is not ideal for competitive play. The High preset at 1440p drops to 56 FPS, which is still playable but shows more variance. The Low preset at 1440p provides 85 FPS, but the visual quality loss is likely too severe for a game that benefits from atmospheric detail.

For 4K, the data suggests that no preset is truly playable. The Low preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset drops to 36 FPS, and High falls to 31 FPS. The Ultra preset at 24 FPS is not recommended under any circumstances. Therefore, the recommendation is to use Medium at 1080p for the best experience, or Low at 1440p if higher resolution is preferred. The Ultra preset should be avoided entirely, as it offers negligible visual improvements over High at a substantial performance cost.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2911 out of 3696 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places it in the bottom 21% of all tested configurations, which is a poor result for a system featuring a top-tier CPU. The ranking is heavily dragged down by the GPU’s performance, as the CPU alone is in the 95th percentile of all CPUs. The combo’s position indicates that while the CPU is a high-end part, the GPU is a significant bottleneck, preventing the system from achieving higher performance.

The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 with a deltaPct of 0.1 and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285 with a deltaPct of 0.4, all have similar average benchmark scores. This shows that the 9950X3D is not uniquely powerful in a way that would compensate for the GPU’s weakness. The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 and the AMD Radeon 680M, have nearly identical average scores, confirming that the RTX 2060 is a mid-range part that is not suited for high-resolution gaming in this title.

The rank of 2911 out of 3696 is a clear signal that this pairing is unbalanced. The data suggests that the RTX 2060 is better suited for 1080p gaming, where it can deliver playable frame rates, but it is not capable of pushing The Technomancer to higher resolutions. The combo’s ranking would likely improve significantly if paired with a lower-end CPU, as the current CPU’s power is largely wasted. For a user with a 9950X3D, the RTX 2060 is a mismatch that limits the system’s overall potential.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge. It has a base clock of 4.30 GHz and a boost clock of 5.70 GHz, with a total of 128 MB of L3 cache. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 75779, placing it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755, has an average score of 75738, a deltaPct of 0.1, indicating that the 9950X3D is only marginally faster.

In The Technomancer, the CPU’s role is minimal due to the GPU bottleneck. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the average FPS is 130, which is high but not exceptionally so for a CPU with 16 cores. The CPU’s single-thread performance, as indicated by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2259, is strong, and its multi-core score of 42018 is excellent. However, the game’s engine likely does not utilize all 32 threads effectively, and the GPU is the limiting factor even at 1080p.

The CPU’s high boost clock of 5.70 GHz should provide excellent frame pacing in CPU-bound scenarios, but the data does not show any such scenario in this test. The frame rates at 1080p are consistent with a GPU-bound workload, where the RTX 2060 is the primary constraint. The 9950X3D’s 128 MB of L3 cache is beneficial for gaming, but its impact is not visible in the measured FPS because the GPU cannot keep up. The CPU’s performance percentile of 95 indicates that it is a top-tier part, but in this combo, its capabilities are largely unused.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS varies significantly with settings. The Low preset delivers an average of 130 FPS, which is the highest score recorded in the entire dataset. The Medium preset offers an average of 100 FPS, with a minimum of 85 and a maximum of 115 FPS. The High preset provides an average of 85 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 66 FPS. These results show a clear scaling pattern from Low to Ultra, with a 64 FPS difference between the lowest and highest quality settings.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably. The Low preset averages 85 FPS, which is a 45 FPS decrease from 1080p. The Medium preset averages 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 and a maximum of 75 FPS. The High preset averages 56 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 43 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 42 FPS, which is slightly less than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the results are marginal. The Low preset averages 47 FPS, which is the only setting that comes close to playable. The Medium preset averages 36 FPS, with a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 41 FPS. The High preset averages 31 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 24 FPS. The data shows that the RTX 2060 is not capable of handling 4K in this game, as even the lowest settings fail to reach a 60 FPS average. The minimum FPS values at 4K are not recorded for most settings, but the Medium preset shows a minimum of 30 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. Overall, the measured FPS breakdown confirms that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, with diminishing returns at higher resolutions.