The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload for older hardware. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650. The data indicates a configuration that is heavily constrained by its graphics card, with playability largely confined to lower resolutions and settings. The following sections break down the benchmark results to provide a clear picture of what this combo can deliver.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frames per second (FPS) data for this combination points to a clear hierarchy in settings, where the playability threshold is narrowly defined. At 1920x1080, the most common gaming resolution, the Low preset delivers an average of 70.2 FPS, which is the only setting that achieves a comfortably playable frame rate. The Medium preset follows at 54.4 FPS, which is still within a playable range for many action titles, offering a better balance of visual fidelity and performance. The High preset drops to 47.3 FPS, which is playable but begins to show the strain on the GPU. The Ultra preset, with an average of 34.4 FPS, is the least desirable at this resolution, as the data suggests a less fluid experience.

For users prioritizing a smooth experience, the Low preset at 1080p is the safest choice, as it is the only configuration exceeding 60 FPS. However, the Medium preset at 1080p is arguably the best "sweet spot" for this hardware. It provides a significant visual upgrade over Low while maintaining a frame rate that is still above 50 FPS, which is generally sufficient for a game of this genre. The data shows a 15.8 FPS difference between these two presets, a trade-off that many players might find acceptable for improved visuals. At higher resolutions, the choice becomes more limited; the Low preset at 2560x1440 yields 45.4 FPS, which is the only setting at that resolution that breaks the 40 FPS mark, while all presets at 3840x2160 fall below 25.4 FPS, rendering them largely unsuitable for smooth gameplay.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is the primary bottleneck in this configuration. As a GeForce 10-series card from the Turing architecture, it features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. The benchmark results indicate that this memory capacity and bandwidth are insufficient for the demands of The Technomancer at higher settings. This is most evident in the 4K resolution results, where even the Low preset only manages an average of 25.4 FPS. This severe drop suggests the GPU is not only fill-rate limited but is also likely hitting a memory capacity wall, forcing the system to use slower memory fallbacks.

The card's core clocks, with a base of 1485 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz, are not the limiting factor here; rather, it is the overall processing power of the 896 shading units. The data shows a stark contrast between the 1080p and 4K results for the same settings. For example, the High preset drops from 47.3 FPS at 1080p to 18.6 FPS at 4K. This 28.7 FPS drop is disproportionate to the increase in pixel count, highlighting that the GPU's compute and memory resources are being overwhelmed. The GTX 1650's performance is in the 43rd percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro P2200, is only 0.5% slower, confirming its position as a modest performer that is out of its depth in this game at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of all tested hardware combinations for The Technomancer, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 holds a rank of 1578 out of 1656 combos. This places it in the bottom 5% of all configurations, indicating that while it can run the game, it does so at a level that is significantly below the majority of other systems. This low ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU's limitations, as the CPU is a much stronger component.

The data suggests that this combo is not designed for high-end play. Its rank implies that virtually any modern discrete GPU would offer a better experience. The Intel Core i5-11400F, in isolation, performs in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, showing it is a capable processor. However, when paired with the GTX 1650, the system's overall gaming performance is dragged down to the lower echelons of the benchmark chart. This is a classic example of a bottleneck, where the graphics card prevents the rest of the system from reaching its full potential in a graphically intensive title like The Technomancer.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at the system's performance across a matrix of resolutions and settings.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: 70.2 FPS (the only setting to break 60 FPS)
• Medium: 54.4 FPS
• High: 47.3 FPS
• Ultra: 34.4 FPS

The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decrease in performance, with a total drop of 35.8 FPS. This indicates a smooth scaling curve where each preset tier costs a similar amount of performance.

At 2560x1440, the performance takes a significant hit:

• Low: 45.4 FPS
• Medium: 32.5 FPS
• High: 26.5 FPS
• Ultra: 24.3 FPS

Here, the Low preset is the only one that remains playable, and the gap between Low and Medium is a substantial 12.9 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution is nearly identical in performance to the High preset, suggesting that the GPU is becoming so saturated that the difference between these top-tier settings is minimalized.

At 3840x2160, the results confirm the GPU is overwhelmed:

• Low: 25.4 FPS
• High: 18.6 FPS
• Medium: 16.9 FPS
• Ultra: 13.1 FPS

No setting at 4K is playable. The data shows that the Low preset is actually faster than both Medium and High, which is an unusual result. This suggests that at this resolution, the game is likely hitting a hard memory or bandwidth limit where reducing certain effects (as the Low preset does) provides a more significant benefit than the incremental steps between Medium and High.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for a smooth experience?

A: The data shows that the only configuration achieving an average FPS above 60 is 1920x1080 with the Low preset, which averages 70.2 FPS. For a balance of visuals and performance, the Medium preset at 1920x1080, with an average of 54.4 FPS, is a viable alternative.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Technomancer?

A: No. The benchmark results show that all settings at 3840x2160 fail to reach 30 FPS, with the highest being the Low preset at 25.4 FPS. This indicates the GPU is not capable of delivering a playable experience at this resolution.

Q: How does the GTX 1650's performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The GTX 1650 has an average benchmark score of 8713. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro P2200, is 0.5% slower, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile is 0.4% faster. This shows the card is positioned in a very tight performance bracket.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the low frame rates?

A: The data strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The Intel Core i5-11400F sits in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, while the GTX 1650 sits in the 43rd percentile of all GPUs. The dramatic FPS drops at higher resolutions are characteristic of a GPU bottleneck.

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

A: The difference is significant. The Low preset averages 70.2 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 34.4 FPS. This is a performance decrease of 35.8 FPS when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 1578th out of 1656 tested configurations for The Technomancer. This places it in the lower portion of the performance chart, indicating that most other hardware combinations will deliver a better experience.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from Intel's 11th Gen series, built on the Rocket Lake architecture. With a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, it is a capable mid-range CPU. Its benchmark scores are solid, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14372 and a single-core score of 2029, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. This suggests that for a game like The Technomancer, the CPU has ample processing power to handle game logic and AI.

The data shows that the CPU is not the primary constraint on performance. When comparing the 1080p Low preset (70.2 FPS) to the 1440p Low preset (45.4 FPS), the significant drop is a direct result of the GPU working harder. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would be more consistent across resolutions. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, has an identical average score, with a 0% difference. This indicates that the i5-11400F is performing exactly as expected for its class, and its role in this specific game is to feed frames to a GPU that cannot keep up at higher demands.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling of performance from 1080p to 4K reveals the nature of the system's limitation. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 70.2 at 1920x1080 to 45.4 at 2560x1440, a 24.8 FPS decrease. Moving to 3840x2160, it falls further to 25.4 FPS, a 19.9 FPS drop from 1440p. This pattern shows a steep decline as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario.

The scaling is even more punishing at the High preset. The frame rate goes from 47.3 FPS at 1080p to 26.5 FPS at 1440p, a 20.8 FPS drop. At 4K, it falls to 18.6 FPS, a 7.9 FPS drop from 1440p. The diminishing returns from 1440p to 4K at High settings, compared to the larger drop from 1080p to 1440p, suggest that the GPU is running out of memory bandwidth. The GTX 1650's 128.1 GB/s bandwidth is simply not enough to sustain the data throughput required at 4K, causing a severe performance collapse. This analysis confirms that the GeForce GTX 1650 is the definitive bottleneck in this configuration, and the only way to achieve playable frame rates is to drastically reduce the resolution and graphical settings.