The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting test bed for a modern, high-end pairing like the Intel Core i5-10400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. The benchmark data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by its processor at lower resolutions, while the GPU’s immense power only becomes fully apparent at 4K. This analysis examines the measured FPS rows to understand the specific roles each component plays in this title.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake architecture, featuring a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its benchmark scores indicate a solid mid-range performer; for instance, it achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297 and a single-core score of 1453. In the broader landscape, it sits at the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, placing it in the upper half of processors. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C and Intel Core i5-8500, show a delta of -0.8% and -1.1% respectively, indicating the i5-10400F is statistically on par with these parts in average benchmark score.

In The Technomancer, the impact of this CPU is most clearly seen at 1080p. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 180 FPS. This is the highest FPS recorded in the entire dataset, yet it is only 12.4% higher than the 160.2 FPS achieved at High settings at the same resolution. This relatively small gap between Low and High settings suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary bottleneck; lowering graphical fidelity does not yield a proportional increase in frame rate because the processor is already working near its limit for this game's engine. The data indicates that the i5-10400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides a performance ceiling that prevents the system from pushing far beyond the 180 FPS mark, regardless of the GPU's capabilities.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a flagship GPU built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, featuring 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering a massive 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its raw compute power is staggering, with 21760 shading units and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, resulting in 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. It holds the 94th percentile ranking among all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 84306 is a mere 0.1% away from its closest rival, the RTX 5090 D. This places it at the very apex of graphics processing capability.

The GPU's dominance becomes evident when the resolution increases and the CPU bottleneck is alleviated. At 4K (3840x2160), the RTX 5090 is the defining component. The frame rate scales dramatically with settings, dropping from 120.8 FPS at Low to 59.9 FPS at Ultra. This wide 60.9 FPS spread shows the GPU is being fully exercised, and its performance is directly tied to the graphical workload. The 32 GB of VRAM ensures that even at 4K Ultra, memory capacity is a non-issue, allowing the GPU to focus purely on rendering. The data shows a clear transition: at 1080p, the CPU holds the system back, but at 4K, the RTX 5090's immense processing power dictates the final frame rate.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Analyzing the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, the system is CPU-limited, and all presets deliver excellent playability. The High preset at 160.2 FPS is a compelling choice, offering a significant visual upgrade over Medium (168.9 FPS) for a relatively small performance cost of 8.7 FPS. Ultra at 145.5 FPS still provides a very smooth experience, but the performance gap widens.

At 2560x1440, the High preset hits a sweet spot at 137.9 FPS, offering a great balance of visual fidelity and performance. Medium trails closely at 145.8 FPS, while Ultra drops to 113.1 FPS, still well within high-refresh-rate territory. The most challenging scenario is at 3840x2160, where the GPU is pushed to its limits. The High preset at 83.1 FPS is the best option for a smooth, immersive 4K experience, as it maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS while providing substantial visual detail. The Ultra preset, at 59.9 FPS, is borderline playable but dips below the 60 FPS threshold, making High the recommended preset for 4K. For the absolute highest frame rates, the Low preset at 4K achieves 120.8 FPS, but this sacrifices too much visual quality for the gain.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a rank of 249 out of 1656 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places it in the top 15% of all configurations, which is a strong showing. However, given the RTX 5090's status as the top-tier GPU in this database, this rank feels somewhat modest. The data suggests that the i5-10400F is holding the combo back from reaching its full potential.

The ranking is a reflection of the system's overall performance across all tested resolutions. While it excels at 4K, its performance at 1080p and 1440p is constrained by the CPU, preventing it from achieving a higher rank that would be more befitting of the RTX 5090. The high rank is largely evidence of the GPU's ability to brute-force high resolutions, but the combo's position in the lower top quartile highlights the significant bottleneck introduced by the 6-core Comet Lake processor. A more powerful CPU would likely push this combo much higher in the rankings.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling across resolutions provides a definitive answer as to which component is the limiting factor. At High settings, the system delivers 160.2 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 137.9 FPS at 1440p (a 13.9% decrease), and then falls to 83.1 FPS at 4K (a 39.7% decrease from 1440p). This pattern is classic for a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions.

The relatively small drop from 1080p to 1440p (22.3 FPS) indicates that the CPU is still a significant constraint at 1080p. If the GPU were the sole limiting factor, we would expect a larger drop in FPS as the pixel count increases by 78% from 1080p to 1440p. The fact that the frame rate does not scale down proportionally confirms the CPU bottleneck. However, the massive 54.8 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K shows that the RTX 5090 is now working at full capacity, and its performance is now the primary factor determining frame rate.

Looking at the Low settings, the trend is even more pronounced. At 1080p, the system hits 180 FPS, but at 1440p, it only drops to 159.9 FPS (an 11.1% decrease). This again points to a CPU limit at 1080p. The drop from 1440p to 4K Low, to 120.8 FPS, is a 24.4% decrease, which is a more significant scaling than at High settings. This is because with Low settings, the CPU bottleneck is slightly less severe, allowing the GPU's scaling to become more apparent. Ultimately, the data shows that this combo is severely CPU-limited at 1080p, partially limited at 1440p, and fully GPU-bound at 4K, where the RTX 5090's power is finally unleashed.