The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting benchmark scenario when paired with the Intel Core i5-10400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. The measured frame rates reveal a system where the GPU is overwhelmingly dominant, yet the game’s engine and age create specific bottlenecks that surface at lower resolutions. This analysis walks through the measured FPS data to understand how this particular combination handles the game across its resolution and settings matrix.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where the performance ceiling lies. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces 183.2 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings yields 156.4 FPS, a drop of approximately 14.6%. At 3840x2160, the Low setting produces 104.8 FPS, a further 33% reduction from the 1440p figure. This scaling pattern suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is beginning to limit the frame rate, as the RTX 4080 SUPER is capable of far higher output than what the i5-10400F can feed.

The High preset shows a similar trajectory but with more pronounced drops. From 157.3 FPS at 1080p, the frame rate falls to 128.3 FPS at 1440p (an 18.4% decrease) and then to 68 FPS at 4K (a 47% drop from 1440p). The 4K High result is particularly telling: the GPU is now the primary bottleneck, as the pixel throughput demands of 3840x2160 overwhelm the card’s ability to maintain the high frame rates seen at lower resolutions.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most significant resolution sensitivity. At 1080p, Ultra runs at 145.7 FPS, which is actually lower than the Medium preset’s 167.4 FPS at the same resolution. This indicates that Ultra settings introduce effects that tax the GPU heavily, even at 1080p. The 4K Ultra result of 53.1 FPS represents a 63.5% drop from the 1080p Ultra figure, confirming that this preset is designed for lower resolutions or requires significant GPU headroom.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides six cores and twelve threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its benchmark scores place it in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14168. The data shows that this processor is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions, but its influence becomes apparent at 1080p where the GPU has excess capacity.

Consider the 1080p Low result of 183.2 FPS versus the 1080p High result of 157.3 FPS. The difference between these two settings is only 25.9 FPS, whereas at 4K the gap between Low (104.8 FPS) and High (68 FPS) is 36.8 FPS. This inversion suggests that the CPU is holding back performance at 1080p Low, as the GPU could theoretically render more frames if the processor could feed it data faster. The CPU’s single-thread score of 688 in 3DMark and 1453 in Cinebench R23 indicate modest single-core performance relative to the GPU’s capabilities.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the database include the AMD EPYC 7552 (deltaPct 0.4), AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (deltaPct -0.8), and Intel Core i5-8500 (deltaPct -1.1). These small deltas indicate that the i5-10400F sits in a tightly contested performance band. For The Technomancer, which appears to be a single-threaded or lightly-threaded title given its 2016 release, the CPU’s 4.30 GHz boost clock becomes more relevant than its six-core count. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1350 and 4-thread score of 2560 reinforce that the processor’s strength is in moderate thread counts rather than extreme multi-threading.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for optimizing the gameplay experience. The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 146.5 FPS, which is only 9.9 FPS lower than the Low preset at the same resolution (156.4 FPS). This suggests that Medium offers a substantial visual improvement over Low with a minimal performance penalty, making it the best balance of quality and speed.

At 1080p, the Medium preset achieves 167.4 FPS, which is 15.8 FPS above High (157.3 FPS) and only 15.8 FPS below Low (183.2 FPS). The Medium preset at 1080p appears to be the sweet spot for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays, as it maintains frame rates well above 144 FPS while presumably offering better visual fidelity than Low.

For 4K gaming, the High preset’s 68 FPS is the only option that remains above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset drops to 53.1 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced gameplay but is suboptimal for action sequences. The Medium preset at 4K (80.1 FPS) provides a 17.8% improvement over High, making it the recommended choice for 4K displays where frame rate stability is prioritized over maximum visual effects. The data suggests avoiding Ultra settings at any resolution above 1080p, as the 145.7 FPS at 1080p Ultra drops to 98.3 FPS at 1440p and 53.1 FPS at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming with this hardware?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 provides the most balanced experience with 80.1 FPS. The High preset runs at 68 FPS, while Ultra drops to 53.1 FPS, making Medium the only preset that offers both visual quality and smooth frame rates above 60 FPS.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from Ultra to Low settings?

A: At 1080p, the gain is 37.5 FPS (from 145.7 to 183.2 FPS). At 1440p, the gain is 58.1 FPS (from 98.3 to 156.4 FPS). At 4K, the gain is 51.7 FPS (from 53.1 to 104.8 FPS). The largest relative improvement occurs at 1440p, where Low is 59.1% faster than Ultra.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests yes. At 1080p Low, the system produces 183.2 FPS, but the difference between Low and High at 1080p is only 25.9 FPS. At 4K, the same settings difference yields a 36.8 FPS gap, indicating that the CPU limits frame rates when the GPU is not heavily loaded at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its nearest rival in this game?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 53610, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (53489) and 2.9% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (52086). These small deltas indicate that the GPU’s raw performance is closely matched with its immediate competitors in the database.

Q: What is the maximum frame rate achievable with this combination?

A: The highest measured frame rate is 183.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest is 53.1 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. The system’s performance range spans 130.1 FPS across the full resolution and settings matrix.

Q: Does the Ultra preset ever provide a playable experience at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the system averages 53.1 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered ideal for smooth gameplay. The 1440p Ultra result of 98.3 FPS is more viable, suggesting that Ultra is best reserved for 1440p or lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is built on the AD103 chip using a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s 10240 shading units and 320 texture mapping units give it substantial raw compute power, with an FP32 throughput of 52.22 TFLOPS. Its benchmark results place it in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 53610.

The GPU’s memory configuration is particularly relevant for The Technomancer. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for a 2016 title, even at 4K Ultra settings. The memory clock runs at 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective), and the 256-bit bus width provides ample bandwidth for the game’s textures. The GPU’s base clock of 2295 MHz and boost clock of 2550 MHz are high for a modern card, contributing to its strong performance in this older title.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (0.2% delta), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (0.4% delta), and AMD Radeon RX 7700S (2.1% delta). These close scores indicate that the RTX 4080 SUPER does not have a commanding lead over its immediate competitors in synthetic benchmarks, yet its measured performance in The Technomancer shows it is more than capable of handling the game’s demands. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6600 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 226163 provide additional context for the GPU’s raw capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern across all resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 183.2 FPS on Low, 167.4 FPS on Medium, 157.3 FPS on High, and 145.7 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 37.5 FPS, representing a 20.5% performance penalty for maximum visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the results are 156.4 FPS on Low, 146.5 FPS on Medium, 128.3 FPS on High, and 98.3 FPS on Ultra. The transition from Low to Medium costs only 9.9 FPS, while High to Ultra costs 30.0 FPS, showing that Ultra is disproportionately expensive at this resolution. The 1440p Low result is 14.8% lower than the 1080p Low result, while 1440p Ultra is 32.5% lower than 1080p Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the measured values are 104.8 FPS on Low, 80.1 FPS on Medium, 68 FPS on High, and 53.1 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is 33.0% lower than 1440p Low, and the 4K Ultra result is 46.0% lower than 1440p Ultra. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is more severe than from 1080p to 1440p, indicating that the GPU’s pixel throughput becomes the dominant constraint at 2160p. The system ranks 308th out of 1656 combinations in the game’s database, placing it in the top 18.6% of tested configurations.