The Technomancer

FAQ

Q: What average frame rate does this combination deliver at 1920x1080 with High settings in The Technomancer?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER achieves an average of 72.5 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its closest rival in overall GPU benchmark scores?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 14286, placing it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (score 14314) and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Vega 11 (score 14352). It trails the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT by 0.7% (score 14389).

Q: What is the best 4K result achievable with this setup?

A: At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS recorded is 41.6 FPS, achieved with Low settings. The next best is 29.4 FPS on Medium, indicating 4K is only playable at the lowest preset.

Q: Is the CPU more aligned with its rivals in multi-threaded or single-threaded performance?

A: The i5-10400F's average benchmark score of 14168 is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115, 0.4% ahead), but it lags behind the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277, -0.8%) and Intel Core i5-8500 (14332, -1.1%). Its passmark_multithread score is 12115 and passmark_single_thread is 2541.

Q: What frame rate difference exists between Ultra and Low settings at 1920x1080?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 54.1 FPS, while Low produces 110.5 FPS. This represents a 56.4 FPS advantage for Low settings, nearly doubling the frame rate.

Q: How does the GPU's DirectX performance vary across API versions?

A: The passmark DirectX 11 score is 104, which is more than double the DirectX 12 score of 50 and well above the DirectX 10 score of 65. The DirectX 9 score is 189, the highest among the listed API benchmarks.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the TU116 chip using a 12 nm process, featuring 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. Its base clock runs at 1530 MHz with a boost clock of 1785 MHz, while the 6 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 1750 MHz with a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. These specifications produce a pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 157.1 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance at 5.027 TFLOPS.

The measured frame rates in The Technomancer show a clear pattern tied to resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the GPU delivers 110.5 FPS on Low, 85.7 FPS on Medium, 72.5 FPS on High, and 54.1 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra at this resolution costs 56.4 FPS, or roughly half the maximum performance. At 2560x1440, the same progression yields 71.7 FPS, 54.9 FPS, 49.6 FPS, and 36.9 FPS respectively. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at High settings is 22.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU's 192-bit memory bus and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 1440p but with diminishing returns at higher presets.

At 3840x2160, the GTX 1660 SUPER struggles significantly. The best result is 41.6 FPS on Low, falling to 29.4 FPS on Medium, 24.9 FPS on High, and 20.3 FPS on Ultra. These numbers suggest that 4K gaming is not a realistic target for this card in this title. The GPU's 6 GB VRAM capacity and 192-bit memory interface appear to become bottlenecks at 4K, particularly with higher texture loads. The percentile ranking of 55 against all GPUs places this card in the middle of the pack, which aligns with its performance characteristics in this game.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (score 14314, delta -0.2%), Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (score 14315, delta -0.2%), AMD Radeon Vega 11 (score 14352, delta -0.5%), and AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (score 14389, delta -0.7%). This places the GTX 1660 SUPER in a tightly contested performance bracket where small margins separate competitors. The 14 Gbps effective memory speed and 6 GB capacity provide enough headroom for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the measured data indicates that The Technomancer's demands at 4K exceed what this configuration can comfortably deliver.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F features 6 cores and 12 threads, operating at a base clock of 2.90 GHz with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. It belongs to the Comet Lake architecture on a 14 nm process, with 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 256 KB of L2 cache per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel configuration and a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, connecting via PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes. Its TDP is rated at 65 W, and the processor maintains a production status of Active.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-10400F's 3DMark scores show scaling from 688 in single-thread to 4748 in 16-thread tests, with 4-thread and 8-thread scores of 2560 and 3929 respectively. Cinebench R23 results are 10297 in multicore and 1453 in single-core, while Geekbench reports 5783 multicore and 1454 single-core. The passmark_multithread score of 12115 and passmark_single_thread of 2541 provide additional context for the CPU's capability profile.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is likely secondary to the GPU at lower resolutions, but the measured frame rates suggest that the 6-core/12-thread configuration is sufficient to avoid becoming a major bottleneck. At 1920x1080 Low, the 110.5 FPS result indicates the CPU can feed the GPU adequately for high-refresh-rate scenarios. The boost clock of 4.30 GHz provides strong single-thread performance, which is critical for game logic and physics, while the 12 threads handle background tasks and multi-threaded game systems.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 14168 places it at the 73rd percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the AMD EPYC 7552 (score 14115, delta 0.4%), AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (score 14277, delta -0.8%), Intel Core i5-8500 (score 14332, delta -1.1%), and AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 (score 14336, delta -1.2%). This grouping shows the i5-10400F performing within 1.2% of these competitors, with the deltaPct values indicating near-parity in overall benchmark performance.

The memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s and dual-channel DDR4 support are adequate for the game's demands, as evidenced by the 72.5 FPS average at 1080p High. At 1440p High, the result drops to 49.6 FPS, suggesting the GPU becomes more limiting at higher resolutions, which is expected given the GPU's mid-range positioning. The CPU's 12 MB L3 cache helps with data locality in game workloads, and the 14 nm process node, while older, does not appear to hinder performance in this title based on the measured data.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings in The Technomancer. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 110.5 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay. Medium increases visual quality while still achieving 85.7 FPS, and High maintains 72.5 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 54.1 FPS, which while playable, represents a 25.5% reduction from High. For most users at 1080p, the High preset offers the best balance: it provides 72.5 FPS with significantly better visual fidelity than Medium's 85.7 FPS, and the jump to Ultra costs 18.4 FPS for marginal gains.

At 2560x1440, the situation shifts. Low produces 71.7 FPS, Medium 54.9 FPS, High 49.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 36.9 FPS. The data indicates that Medium is the sweet spot at this resolution, delivering 54.9 FPS while retaining reasonable quality. High at 49.6 FPS is still acceptable, but Ultra's 36.9 FPS approaches the threshold where frame pacing and responsiveness become noticeable concerns. Users prioritizing smoother motion should opt for Medium, while those favoring visuals can use High with a modest FPS penalty.

At 3840x2160, only Low is advisable, with 41.6 FPS. Medium drops to 29.4 FPS, High to 24.9 FPS, and Ultra to 20.3 FPS. These numbers suggest that 4K gaming with this combo requires significant compromises, and even Low settings may feel less fluid in demanding scenes. The GPU's 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth appear insufficient for higher presets at this resolution, making 4K a marginal use case.

The best overall experience per the measured rows is 1920x1080 with High settings, delivering 72.5 FPS. This configuration provides a solid balance of visual quality and performance, avoiding the steep drop-off seen at Ultra while offering substantially better visuals than Medium. For users with 1440p displays, Medium at 54.9 FPS is the recommended starting point, with adjustments based on personal preference for quality versus smoothness.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER ranks 1454 out of 1656 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the lower portion of the database. This ranking reflects the hardware's mid-range positioning rather than any specific deficiency in this game. The GPU's percentile of 55 against all GPUs and the CPU's percentile of 73 against all CPUs indicate that both components sit near the middle of their respective performance distributions.

The combo rank of 1454 out of 1656 suggests that approximately 87% of tested configurations outperform this pairing in this title. This is consistent with the GTX 1660 SUPER's end-of-life production status and its performance relative to newer hardware. However, the measured FPS data shows that this combo remains fully capable at 1080p and playable at 1440p with appropriate settings, which means the rank reflects absolute performance rather than playability.

The CPU's near-parity with its rivals — within 1.2% of the AMD EPYC 7552, Ryzen 3 7320C, Core i5-8500, and Ryzen Embedded V2546 — suggests that processor choice is not a significant differentiator at this performance level. Similarly, the GPU's tight clustering with its rivals, all within 0.7% of each other, indicates that the mid-range GPU segment is highly competitive. This combo's rank is therefore driven more by the absolute performance ceiling of its components than by any imbalance between CPU and GPU.

The data shows that this pairing is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it achieves 72.5 FPS at High and 110.5 FPS at Low. At 1440p, it remains viable with Medium or High settings, but the drop to 49.6 FPS at High suggests diminishing returns. The 4K results, with a maximum of 41.6 FPS at Low, position this combo as unsuitable for high-resolution gaming in this title. The rank of 1454 out of 1656 accurately reflects this hardware's position: functional and capable for mainstream gaming, but outpaced by a majority of tested configurations in The Technomancer.