The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload for the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is capable but requires careful tuning to achieve a smooth experience, particularly at higher resolutions. The data indicates a clear performance hierarchy where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the CPU's six cores and twelve threads provide a solid foundation for the game's logic.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 157 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the peak performance of the combination, with the next highest being 120 FPS at Medium settings and 103 FPS at High settings.

Q: How does the frame rate change between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers an average of 67 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 52 FPS. This represents a 15 FPS decrease, or roughly 22% lower performance, for the jump to the highest quality settings.

Q: Is the game playable at 4K resolution with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160, the highest average frame rate is 56 FPS on Low settings. The Medium preset yields 43 FPS, High yields 37 FPS, and Ultra drops to 29 FPS. Only the Low preset consistently stays above the 60 FPS threshold, though the Medium preset's average of 43 FPS may be acceptable for some.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the 1080p Medium preset?

A: The data shows a minimum FPS of 102 and a maximum of 138 for the 1920x1080 Medium settings, with an average of 120 FPS. This indicates a relatively stable performance range with a 36 FPS spread between the recorded minimum and maximum.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14185. It is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Xeon 6756E, 0.5% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7552, 0.3% behind the Intel Core 7 160UL, and 0.6% behind the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all other GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 falls in the 59th percentile of all GPUs based on its average benchmark score of 16014. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, has a slightly higher average score of 16129, putting the RX 9060 0.7% behind.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data strongly suggests that the most balanced experience is achieved with the Medium preset. At 1920x1080, this setting delivers a robust 120 FPS average, with a minimum of 102 FPS ensuring that even demanding scenes stay well within smooth territory. Moving up to High yields 103 FPS, which is still excellent, but the incremental visual gains may not justify the 17 FPS loss. Ultra at 1080p drops to 80 FPS, which is still playable but begins to sacrifice the high refresh rate potential of the system.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again provides the best compromise. Its 79 FPS average is comfortably above the 60 FPS target, and the recorded minimum of 67 FPS means frame pacing should remain consistent. The High preset at 67 FPS is also viable, but it leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 52 FPS falls below the ideal threshold for smooth gameplay.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset is the only option that achieves an average above 60 FPS, at 56 FPS. While this is below the ideal, it is the most playable option at this resolution. The Medium preset at 43 FPS is a significant step down and may result in noticeable stuttering in action-heavy moments. The data suggests that for the best overall experience, players should prioritize the Medium preset at 1080p or 1440p, accepting lower settings at 4K to maintain a reasonable frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. In synthetic tests, its single-thread performance is represented by a 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1451. Multi-threaded performance is stronger, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and a 3DMark max threads score of 4735. This processor sits in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14185.

The game's performance at 1080p, where the CPU has a more significant role, shows the i5-10400F is more than capable of feeding the RX 9060. The jump from 120 FPS at Medium to 157 FPS at Low indicates that the CPU is not the primary limiting factor at this resolution. The 12 threads provide ample parallelism for the game's engine, and the boost clock of 4.30 GHz ensures strong single-threaded performance for core game logic. The data suggests that the CPU's capabilities are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU in most scenarios, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination is ranked 1632 out of 2825 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places the system in the upper-middle tier of all tested configurations, indicating that it performs better than a majority of other pairings. The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU's 68th percentile standing and the GPU's 59th percentile standing, suggesting that the CPU has a slight edge in relative performance. The overall rank of 1632 implies that while this is not a top-tier setup, it is far from a low-end one. The system's ability to reach 157 FPS at 1080p Low and 103 FPS at 1080p High demonstrates its capability to handle the game well, but the 4K results, where it falls below 60 FPS on all but the Low preset, likely prevent it from ranking higher.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. It has a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. The GPU's FP32 performance is rated at 21.43 TFLOPS, and it has 1792 shading units. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 17631 in Passmark G3D and 3322 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The GPU is in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014.

The GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution increases. The data shows a clear scaling pattern: at 1080p, the GPU can deliver 120 FPS at Medium settings, but at 4K, the same settings drop to 43 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for this game, as the data does not show any anomalies that would suggest memory capacity issues. The boost clock of 2990 MHz is high, and the GPU's performance is consistent with its 59th percentile ranking. The measured frame rates show that the RX 9060 is a strong mid-range performer, but it is not designed for maximum settings at 4K resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows a clear hierarchy of performance. With Low settings, the average FPS is 157, a very high number that suggests the game is not heavily demanding at this resolution. Medium settings produce an average of 120 FPS, with a minimum of 102 FPS and a maximum of 138 FPS. High settings drop to an average of 103 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 80 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 77 FPS, a substantial gap that highlights the impact of graphical fidelity on performance.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings average 102 FPS, which is still very smooth. Medium settings average 79 FPS, with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 90 FPS. High settings produce an average of 67 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 52 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 50 FPS, showing that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings average 56 FPS, which is the only preset that comes close to 60 FPS. Medium settings average 43 FPS, with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 50 FPS. High settings drop to an average of 37 FPS, and Ultra settings yield only 29 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 27 FPS, indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed at 4K resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a significant performance drop that is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 157 at 1080p to 102 at 1440p, and then to 56 at 4K. This represents a 35% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 45% drop from 1440p to 4K. For Medium settings, the progression is from 120 FPS at 1080p, to 79 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 43 FPS at 4K. This is a 34% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 46% drop from 1440p to 4K.

The consistent percentage drops across different settings suggest that the scaling is primarily driven by the GPU's pixel processing capabilities. The number of pixels at 4K is four times that of 1080p, and the observed frame rate drops are roughly proportional to this increase in workload. This pattern strongly indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The CPU's performance does not degrade as much with resolution, as its workload is more dependent on game logic and draw calls, which remain relatively constant. The data shows that the i5-10400F provides a stable platform, but the GPU's finite resources are what determine the final frame rate at 1440p and 4K. The result is a system that excels at 1080p, performs well at 1440p with adjusted settings, and requires significant compromises to be playable at 4K.