The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload for modern hardware, and the combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the Intel Arc B390 produces a specific performance profile that is heavily skewed by the graphics solution. The measured data reveals a system where the integrated GPU is the primary bottleneck, making settings and resolution choices critical for achieving a playable experience.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data indicates that the Low preset is the only viable option for a consistently smooth experience across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 79 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo. While the Medium preset at 1080p yields a respectable 61 FPS average, the performance drop to 40 FPS at 1440p and 22 FPS at 4K makes it a less versatile choice. The High preset, while offering better visual fidelity, shows a significant cost: it reduces the 1080p average to 52 FPS and falls to 34 FPS at 1440p, with the 4K average dropping to a near-unplayable 19 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, producing only 40 FPS at 1080p and a mere 15 FPS at 4K.

Given this data, the recommendation is to prioritize the Low preset for the best overall experience. This setting provides the headroom needed to maintain higher frame rates and ensures the game remains responsive. For users who prefer higher visual quality and are willing to accept lower performance, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 is the only other setting that achieves an average above 60 FPS. The data suggests that using High or Ultra presets at 1440p or 4K will result in an average frame rate below 35 FPS, which is generally considered a poor experience for an action RPG that requires timely input. The performance cost from Low to Ultra is substantial, with the 1080p average dropping by 39 FPS, indicating that the visual upgrade may not be worth the significant performance penalty on this hardware.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the decisive factor in this combo's performance. The data shows it is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. Its memory is "System Shared," with bandwidth listed as "System Dependent," meaning it relies on the system's DDR4 memory, which is a significant limitation compared to dedicated graphics memory. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 render output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, but its raw compute performance is listed at 7.680 TFLOPS for FP32.

The benchmark results for the GPU place it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of just 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad. Its nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts, such as the GeForce GT 710 (which it beats by 2.7%) and the GeForce GT 520MX (which it beats by 1.3%). This context is crucial; the Arc B390's performance is not in the field of dedicated gaming GPUs. In The Technomancer, this translates directly to the low average frame rates observed. The GPU’s system-shared memory architecture means that performance is heavily dependent on the speed of the system's DDR4 RAM, and the low fill rate and compute power are insufficient for the game's rendering demands at higher settings. The GPU is clearly the limiting component, as evidenced by the massive frame rate drops when resolution and settings are increased.

Resolution Scaling

The impact of resolution on this combo is severe, clearly demonstrating the GPU bottleneck. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the Low preset reduces the average frame rate from 79 FPS to 52 FPS, a substantial 34% drop. Scaling up to 3840x2160 further reduces the average to 28 FPS, which is a 65% drop from the 1080p figure. This pattern is consistent across all settings. For instance, on the High preset, the average FPS falls from 52 at 1080p to 34 at 1440p, and then to 19 at 4K.

This steep decline in performance as resolution increases is a classic sign of a GPU-limited scenario. The Arc B390 simply does not have the pixel throughput to handle the increased workload at higher resolutions. The data shows that the scaling is not linear; the drop from 1440p to 4K is more punishing than from 1080p to 1440p, indicating that the GPU is being overwhelmed by the pixel count. The CPU, an Intel Core i5-11400F, has a relatively high average benchmark score of 17177 and is in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, suggesting it has ample headroom. The fact that frame rates plummet with resolution increases, rather than staying relatively stable, confirms that the system's performance ceiling is defined by the integrated GPU's capabilities, not the processor.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database for The Technomancer, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2500th out of 2825 tested combos. This places it in the bottom 11.5% of all configurations, underscoring its performance limitations in this title. The rank is a direct consequence of the GPU's low benchmark scores, which are in the 9th percentile, dragging down the overall potential of the CPU, which is in the 71st percentile. This pairing highlights an extreme imbalance where the processor's capabilities are largely wasted due to the graphics solution's inability to keep pace.

The combo's rank suggests that it is outperformed by the vast majority of systems in the database. While the CPU itself is a competent mid-range part, as indicated by its nearest rivals like the AMD EPYC 7H12 (which it beats by 0.3%) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (which it beats by 0.6%), its performance is irrelevant when the GPU is the limiting factor. The data shows that this combo is only suitable for the most undemanding gaming scenarios, and in a title like The Technomancer, it is confined to lower resolutions and settings to achieve acceptable frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 12 MB shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are solid for a desktop part; for example, it scores 14340 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2024 in single-core. These scores place it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 17177 is closely matched by its nearest rivals, with deltas of less than 1% compared to the AMD EPYC 7H12 and Intel Core i5-12450H.

However, in the context of The Technomancer with the Arc B390, the CPU's role is diminished. The performance data shows that the frame rates are consistently low and scale poorly with resolution, which is a characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU has more than enough processing power to handle the game's logic and physics at these frame rates. The fact that the average FPS on the Low preset at 1080p is 79 FPS suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU with data, but the GPU cannot render frames fast enough to utilize the CPU's full potential. The CPU's high single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 2024 score in Cinebench R23, is sufficient for the game's primary thread, meaning the overall experience is strictly limited by the Arc B390's rendering capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data represents the exact measured average frame rates for this combo in The Technomancer.

At 1920x1080, the performance is as follows:

• Low: 79 FPS average.
• Medium: 61 FPS average, with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS.
• High: 52 FPS average.
• Ultra: 40 FPS average.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly:

• Low: 52 FPS average.
• Medium: 40 FPS average, with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS.
• High: 34 FPS average.
• Ultra: 26 FPS average.

At 3840x2160, the performance is largely unplayable:

• Low: 28 FPS average.
• Medium: 22 FPS average, with a minimum of 19 FPS and a maximum of 25 FPS.
• High: 19 FPS average.
• Ultra: 15 FPS average.

The data shows a clear and consistent pattern. The only configuration that achieves an average above 60 FPS is the Low preset at 1080p. The Medium preset at 1080p is the only other setting that reaches an average above 60 FPS, but it is close to the threshold. All other combinations of settings and resolutions result in average frame rates below 55 FPS, with the 4K results being consistently below 30 FPS. The frame time variance, as indicated by the min/max values for Medium settings, also shows that the experience is not perfectly smooth, with noticeable dips that could impact gameplay.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this hardware?

A: The best experience is achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset, which yields an average of 79 FPS. This is the only configuration that provides a significant frame rate headroom above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Can this system run The Technomancer at 4K?

A: The data shows that 4K performance is very poor. The highest average frame rate at 3840x2160 is 28 FPS on the Low preset, and it drops to 15 FPS on Ultra. This is not a playable experience.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The Intel Arc B390's performance is in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, and the frame rates drop drastically as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU is in the 71st percentile and has sufficient performance.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B390's average benchmark score is 1482. It is 1.3% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce 800M, and 2.7% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710. These are all very old, low-end parts, indicating the B390's performance level.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 79 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves an average of 40 FPS. This represents a 39 FPS drop in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest quality setting.

Q: How does this combo rank overall in the game's benchmark database?

A: This specific combo ranks 2500th out of 2825 tested combinations. This places it in the bottom 11.5% of all systems tested, indicating that it is a low-performing configuration for this title.