The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 action RPG, places notable demands on modern hardware. Based on measured performance data for the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050, the system delivers a playable experience at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles to maintain smooth framerates at 4K with higher presets. The benchmark results indicate that this combo ranks 2269 out of 3696 tested combinations for this title, placing it in the lower-mid tier for this specific game. The data shows a clear pattern: the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as resolution increases, while the CPU's high multi-threaded performance is more than sufficient to handle the game's logic at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Low settings for this game?

A: The measured average FPS is 150 frames per second at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the highest average FPS recorded across all tested configurations, indicating that the system has significant headroom at this resolution and preset.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance benchmark compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D has an average benchmark score of 75779, which places it just 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D, and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285. This shows that the CPU is competitively matched with other top-tier processors in general benchmarks, though its specific performance in The Technomancer is what dictates the in-game results.

Q: What is the GPU's average benchmark score and percentile ranking?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 has an average benchmark score of 21035 and falls into the 66th percentile when compared to all GPUs. This places it in the upper-mid tier of graphics cards, but its performance in The Technomancer is more specifically defined by the measured FPS data, which shows it can handle 1440p well but is less capable at 4K.

Q: What is the maximum VRAM and memory bandwidth of the RTX 5050?

A: The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is a key factor in its ability to handle higher resolutions and texture-heavy scenes, though the game's demands at 4K still outpace what the card can deliver at high settings.

Q: What is the boost clock speed of the RTX 5050 and how does it relate to game performance?

A: The GPU has a boost clock of 2572 MHz. In the context of The Technomancer, the measured FPS data shows that the GPU's performance scales with resolution and settings, with higher settings requiring more processing power, which the boost clock helps provide, but the card still falls below 60 FPS at 4K High settings.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D?

A: The launch MSRP for the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is $699. This is a high-end desktop processor, and its specifications—16 cores, 32 threads, and a boost clock of 5.70 GHz—place it among the top of the 9000 series, but its performance in this game is dependent on the overall system balance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how the RTX 5050 handles The Technomancer at various resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the system is highly capable: the Low preset achieves an average of 150 FPS, Medium 115 FPS, High 98 FPS, and Ultra 77 FPS. All of these are well above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that 1080p is a comfortable resolution for this GPU, even at the highest settings. For players seeking a smooth, high-performance experience, the Medium preset at 1080p offers an excellent balance, providing 115 FPS average with a minimum FPS of 98 and a maximum of 132, ensuring minimal stutter. The High preset is also viable, with 98 FPS average, but Ultra drops to 77 FPS, which is still acceptable but shows diminishing returns.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance picture changes. The Low preset delivers an average of 98 FPS, which is still highly playable, but the jump to Medium reduces the average to 75 FPS, with a minimum of 64 and maximum of 87. High settings at this resolution yield 64 FPS on average, which hovers near the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra falls to 50 FPS. For the best experience at 1440p, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, as it maintains an average above 70 FPS while offering better visual quality than Low. The High preset is playable but may experience occasional dips below 60 FPS, making it a less stable option for action-oriented gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5050 is clearly out of its comfort zone. The highest average FPS at this resolution is 54 FPS on Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS target. Medium produces 41 FPS average, High 35 FPS, and Ultra only 28 FPS. The data shows that 4K is not a practical resolution for this GPU in The Technomancer, as even the lowest settings cannot maintain a solid 60 FPS. For players prioritizing a smooth framerate, the optimal settings are at 1080p or 1440p, with Medium being the sweet spot for a balance of visual fidelity and performance. At 4K, players should be prepared for a sub-60 FPS experience or consider lowering resolution to achieve playability.

The measured FPS data suggests that the RTX 5050 is a GPU designed for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with the sweet spot being 1080p at Medium or High settings, and 1440p at Medium. The drop from 1080p to 1440p shows a significant performance hit, and 4K is essentially unplayable at acceptable framerates. For players prioritizing smooth gameplay, the Medium preset at 1440p offers a strong balance, with an average FPS of 75 and a minimum of 64. The High preset at 1440p, with 64 FPS average, is also acceptable, but the margin for error is thinner, with frequent frame drops below 60 FPS possible.

Resolution Scaling

The performance of The Technomancer scales predictably with resolution, and the data shows a clear pattern. At 1080p, the RTX 5050 delivers an average of 150 FPS on Low, 115 FPS on Medium, 98 FPS on High, and 77 FPS on Ultra. When moving to 1440p, these numbers drop to 98 FPS, 75 FPS, 64 FPS, and 50 FPS respectively. At 4K, the averages fall to 54 FPS, 41 FPS, 35 FPS, and 28 FPS. This scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor; the performance drops are consistent with the increasing pixel count, and the CPU's capabilities are not the bottleneck at any resolution.

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K is particularly telling. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 150 at 1080p to 54 at 4K, a reduction of 64%. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 77 to 28 FPS, a 64% reduction as well. This proportional scaling suggests that the GPU is fully utilized and the workload is purely pixel-bound. The RTX 5050, with 8 GB of VRAM and a 128-bit memory bus, is not able to keep up with the demands of 4K, as the data shows that even the Low preset cannot achieve 60 FPS at this resolution. The CPU, a Ryzen 9 9950X3D with 16 cores and 32 threads, is far more powerful than required for this game, so the bottleneck is squarely on the GPU.

The measured FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p is also notable: on Medium settings, the average drops from 115 to 75 FPS, a 35% reduction. This is a significant loss, but it still keeps the game playable at 1440p. The jump to 4K is even more severe, with the Medium setting dropping to 41 FPS, a 64% reduction from 1080p. This pattern confirms that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The CPU's capabilities, including its 5.70 GHz boost clock and high multi-thread scores, are not the constraint here; the GPU's render output units (ROPs) and memory bandwidth are insufficient for 4K gaming.

The data also shows that the RTX 5050 is a card that can deliver 60 FPS at 1080p with ease, but it begins to struggle at 1440p when settings are raised. At 4K, the performance is simply not acceptable for a smooth experience, with the highest average FPS being 54 on Low. This indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor in this configuration, and the CPU is not a bottleneck. For a player seeking high FPS at 4K, a more powerful GPU would be necessary, but the RTX 5050 is a solid choice for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 150 FPS, which is the highest recorded in this set. The Medium preset, with an average of 115 FPS and a minimum of 98 and maximum of 132, offers a strong balance. The High preset provides 98 FPS average, and the Ultra preset drops to 77 FPS. These results indicate that 1080p is the most comfortable resolution for this GPU, with all settings capable of maintaining above 60 FPS, and most well above that.

At 2560x1440, the performance is still acceptable but the margins are thinner. The Low preset averages 98 FPS, which is a 35% drop from 1080p Low. Medium averages 75 FPS, with a minimum of 64 and maximum of 87. High averages 64 FPS, and Ultra averages 50 FPS. The data shows that 1440p is best suited for Medium settings to keep the average above 60 FPS, as the High preset is close to the threshold and Ultra falls below it. The minimum FPS of 64 on Medium suggests that the game will generally stay smooth, but there may be occasional dips.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5050 is clearly not capable of delivering a smooth experience. The Low preset averages 54 FPS, which is the best result at this resolution. The Medium preset averages 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 and maximum of 48. The High preset averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 28 FPS. None of these settings achieve the 60 FPS target, and the framerates are low enough to impact gameplay. The data shows that 4K is not a viable resolution for this GPU, and players should use 1080p or 1440p for a respectable experience.

The overall ranking of this combination, 2269 out of 3696, indicates that the RTX 5050 is not a top-tier performer for this game. However, at 1080p, it can deliver high framerates, and at 1440p it is playable at Medium settings. The transition to 4K is the point where the GPU falls short, and the data confirms that the RTX 5050 is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050, based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, is configured with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 2317 MHz and a boost clock of 2572 MHz, and it relies on a 128-bit bus for memory. With 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, the card is designed for mainstream gaming. Its FP32 performance is 13.17 TFLOPS, and it has a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s. These specifications are reflected in the game performance: the GPU can handle 1080p and 1440p at medium-high settings but falls short at 4K.

The GPU's percentile ranking is 66th among all GPUs, and its average benchmark score is 21035, with the nearest rivals being the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (with a -0.6% delta), the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (-1%), the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (+1.6%), and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (-1.6%). These numbers place the RTX 5050 in the mid-range category, which aligns with its 8 GB of VRAM and memory bandwidth. In The Technomancer, the GPU's role is to render the game's worlds, and its 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the memory and bandwidth are not enough to maintain high framerates.

The GPU's boost clock of 2572 MHz helps maintain performance in less demanding scenes, but the overall performance is limited by the GPU's hardware. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (28 FPS) shows that the card is not designed for 4K gaming. The RTX 5050's FP32 of 13.17 TFLOPS and its texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s are competitive for the 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results are poor. The GPU's VRAM, at 8 GB, is also a factor, as higher resolutions require more memory for textures and geometry. The data indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, whereas at lower resolutions it is sufficient.

The GPU's performance in this game is also tied to its DirectX support, which includes DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), enabling modern graphical features. The benchmark results show that the GPU achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2502 and a Passmark G3D score of 17326, which are indicative of its raw compute power. These benchmarks, combined with the game's FPS data, show that the RTX 5050 is a capable mid-range GPU that excels at 1080p and is playable at 1440p, but it is not a 4K gaming card. The GPU's 66th percentile ranking confirms that it sits above average, but the game's demands at 4K are beyond its 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit bus.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a top-tier processor with 16 cores, 32 threads, and a boost clock of 5.70 GHz. It is built on the Zen 5 architecture and has a 128 MB L3 cache, which is designed to improve gaming performance. The CPU has a TDP of 170 W and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus. Its benchmark scores are extremely high, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42018 and a single-core score of 2259. These results place the CPU in the 95th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 75779. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 (0.1% delta), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D (0.1% delta), the AMD EPYC 8224P (0.3% delta), and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285 (0.4% delta).

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with data and handle game logic, but the data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution. At 1080p, the FPS is high, indicating that the CPU can provide enough frames for the GPU to render. At 1440p and 4K, the FPS drops are due to the GPU, not the CPU. The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, with a Passmark multi-thread score of 70255, are more than enough for the game's single-threaded or multi-threaded workloads. The game is an action RPG, but the data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor; the GPU is.

The CPU's high clock speed of 5.70 GHz and 16 cores ensure that it can handle any CPU-bound scenarios, but the game's performance is bound by the GPU's rendering capabilities. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as a Geekbench multi-core score of 26736 and a single-core score of 3064, show that it is a top-tier processor. The fact that the system's ranking in this game is 2269 out of 3696 indicates that the CPU is not the cause of low performance; rather, the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU is a high-end option, but its capabilities are not fully utilized at higher resolutions because the GPU cannot keep up.

The CPU's 128 MB of L3 cache and Zen 5 architecture are designed for gaming, but in this specific game, the CPU's power does not translate into higher FPS because the GPU is the bottleneck. The data shows that at 1080p, the FPS can reach 150 on Low, which is far above the 60 FPS target, and even at 1440p, the CPU can support 98 FPS on Low. This implies that the CPU is more than capable of handling the game's requirements, and the GPU is the sole cause of the performance drops at higher resolutions. In summary, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a powerful CPU, but its impact on The Technomancer is secondary to the RTX 5050, which is the limiting factor for this game at resolutions above 1080p.