The Technomancer

The benchmark data for The Technomancer with the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 presents a clear performance profile across resolutions and settings. The dataset shows a system that scales predictably with graphical load, with the GPU acting as the primary driver of frame rates at higher resolutions while the CPU's four cores remain a notable factor at lower settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows indicate that the High preset offers the most balanced experience across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, High delivers an average of 147 FPS, which is 58.7% higher than the Ultra preset's 112.3 FPS while remaining visually demanding. The gap between High and Medium at this resolution is smaller—147 vs 170.9 FPS—but the visual fidelity gain from High over Medium typically justifies the 23.9 FPS cost in a title from 2016.

At 2560x1440, High again proves optimal with 91.4 FPS. This sits comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while Ultra drops to 73.8 FPS and Medium rises to 112 FPS. The data suggests that High preserves most of the visual enhancements without the steep performance penalty seen when moving to Ultra, which costs 17.6 FPS compared to High.

The situation changes at 3840x2160, where High produces 53.9 FPS. This is below the ideal 60 FPS mark, making Medium a more practical choice at this resolution, as it delivers 60.1 FPS. Low at 4K reaches 78.2 FPS, but the visual compromise is significant. For users prioritizing frame rate over fidelity, Low at 1080p yields 221.7 FPS, which is nearly double the High preset's output and indicates the system's ceiling when the GPU is less constrained.

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i3-12100F perform in synthetic multi-threaded tests?

A: The CPU scores 5003 in Cinebench R20 multicore and 11912 in Cinebench R23 multicore. Its 3DMark 16-thread score is 4051, which is nearly identical to its max-thread score of 4023, indicating that scaling plateaus beyond 8 threads.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration and bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. Its memory clock is listed as 2518 MHz with 20.1 Gbps effective speed.

Q: Does the CPU's clock speed vary significantly under load?

A: The base clock is 3.30 GHz with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. This 1.0 GHz boost range allows for substantial single-thread performance when needed, as reflected in its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1681.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The RX 9070 has an average benchmark score of 34780. It sits 0.2% below the NVIDIA A2 (34866), 0.3% above the NVIDIA Quadro GV100 (34677), and 0.7% above the AMD Radeon HD 7970 (34541).

Q: What is the CPU's position relative to other processors in the database?

A: The i3-12100F holds a 72nd percentile rank among all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 13516 places it 0.1% below the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX and 1.8% above the Intel Core i7-7700K.

Q: Are the measured FPS values based on actual testing?

A: Yes, the `dataIsMeasured` field is true, confirming that all FPS values in the table come from direct measurement rather than estimation.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a GPU-bound system at higher resolutions. At High settings, performance drops from 147 FPS at 1080p to 91.4 FPS at 1440p (a 37.8% reduction), then to 53.9 FPS at 4K (a 41.0% reduction from 1440p). This consistent decline suggests the RX 9070 is the limiting component as pixel count increases, with the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads providing sufficient headroom at 1080p.

The Low preset tells a different story. At 1080p, Low produces 221.7 FPS, which is 50.8% higher than High. However, the drop to 1440p Low (142.5 FPS) represents a 35.7% decrease, and 4K Low (78.2 FPS) falls another 45.1%. The wider spread at lower settings indicates that the CPU begins to matter more, but the GPU still dominates the scaling curve. The 4K to 1080p ratio at Low is roughly 2.84x, while at Ultra it is 2.71x, showing that the GPU's load balancing remains consistent.

At Ultra settings, 1080p yields 112.3 FPS, 1440p yields 73.8 FPS, and 4K yields 41.4 FPS. The 1440p to 4K drop of 32.4 FPS is the largest absolute decrease across any resolution transition, reinforcing that the RX 9070's 644.6 GB/s bandwidth and 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 compute are strained at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range is available. Low averages 221.7 FPS, Medium 170.9 FPS, High 147 FPS, and Ultra 112.3 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 50.8 FPS, while Medium to High costs 23.9 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 34.7 FPS. The diminishing returns are evident: Ultra is only 76.4% of High's frame rate, yet requires substantially more GPU resources.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 142.5 FPS, Medium 112 FPS, High 91.4 FPS, and Ultra 73.8 FPS. The relative gaps tighten compared to 1080p—Low to Medium is a 30.5 FPS difference, while High to Ultra is 17.6 FPS. This resolution appears to be the sweet spot for High settings, as it maintains above 90 FPS while offering better image quality than 1080p.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 78.2 FPS, Medium 60.1 FPS, High 53.9 FPS, and Ultra 41.4 FPS. Only Low and Medium exceed 60 FPS, and Ultra falls below 45 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The 4K data shows a 36.8 FPS difference between Low and Ultra, which is the smallest absolute spread across all resolutions, indicating that the GPU is saturated even at Low settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 532nd out of 1656 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the 67.9th percentile. This position reflects a system that is capable but not top-tier, likely due to the CPU's modest core count limiting performance in a game that can utilize more threads. The CPU's percentile rank of 72 among all processors is slightly higher than the combo's overall rank, suggesting the GPU is the stronger component.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 34780 places it in the 79th percentile among all GPUs, which is notably higher than the combo's overall rank. This discrepancy indicates that the i3-12100F's 4 cores and 8 threads are holding back the RX 9070 in this specific title, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU has more influence. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-7700K, scores 1.8% higher on average, yet both processors share similar core counts, underscoring that The Technomancer may not scale well beyond this configuration.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.30 GHz boosts to 4.30 GHz, with a 12 MB shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, it achieves 4051 in 3DMark 16-thread and 4026 in 8-thread, which are nearly identical, indicating that the 4 physical cores handle 8 threads efficiently but beyond that, performance plateaus. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11912 and single-core score of 1681 show a strong single-thread capability relative to its multi-thread output.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role becomes clear when comparing 1080p Low (221.7 FPS) to 1080p Ultra (112.3 FPS). The 109.4 FPS gap is primarily GPU-driven, but the fact that Low does not exceed 222 FPS suggests the CPU's ceiling is being approached. The 3DMark single-thread score of 893 and PassMark single-thread score of 3444 indicate that individual cores are capable, yet the 4-core limit means the CPU cannot feed the GPU faster at lower settings. At 4K, the CPU is largely irrelevant—the GPU's 53.9 FPS at High is the bottleneck, as the core count has less impact when the GPU is the limiting factor. The data shows that for this 2016 title, the i3-12100F provides sufficient compute for 60 FPS gameplay at 1440p High, but higher frame rates at 1080p are constrained by its architecture.