The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting test for the modern hardware pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. The data indicates that this combination is heavily skewed toward GPU dominance, with the processor rarely acting as a bottleneck. The measured results show that players can expect exceptionally high frame rates at standard resolutions, while 4K remains the primary challenge for this setup.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, the data shows that even the most demanding "Ultra" preset achieves an average of 144 FPS, which is sufficient for high-refresh-rate monitors. However, the "Medium" preset at 1080p delivers 195 FPS average with a minimum of 166 FPS, providing a substantial performance buffer that ensures frame pacing remains consistent even in chaotic combat scenarios. For competitive play or 144Hz displays, the "Low" preset at 214 FPS is the clear choice, but for visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness, "High" at 184 FPS is the balanced recommendation.

Moving to 2560x1440, the "High" preset yields a 120 FPS average, which is ideal for 120Hz displays. The "Ultra" preset drops to 94 FPS average, which is still playable but begins to show the GPU's workload increasing. The sweet spot at this resolution is clearly "High," as it maintains a triple-digit frame rate while offering better visual quality than "Medium" (141 FPS) or "Low" (183 FPS). The "Medium" preset's minimum FPS of 120 matches the "High" average, indicating that "High" provides a better experience for the same perceived performance floor.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The "High" preset averages 66 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay on a 60Hz display. The "Ultra" preset drops to 52 FPS average, making it unsuitable for anything but slower-paced exploration. The "Medium" preset offers a 77 FPS average with a minimum of 66 FPS, which is actually the most consistent option for 4K gaming. The data suggests that for 4K, "Medium" is the recommended preset, as it provides the best balance between visual quality and playable frame rates, while "High" is a viable alternative for those who prioritize image quality over a guaranteed 60 FPS floor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling across resolutions. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for The Technomancer, a game from 2016 that does not require the latest graphics features. The 70 ray tracing cores and 280 tensor cores are present, but for this title, they are largely unused, meaning the raw rasterization performance is what drives the results.

The GPU's clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2452 MHz. These high clocks, combined with 8960 shading units, allow the card to achieve a texture rate of 686.6 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 235.4 GPixel/s. The benchmark results show that the RTX 5070 Ti sits at the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49957. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, has an average score of 50001, a delta of -0.1%, meaning the RTX 5070 Ti is essentially tied with that older flagship. The data also shows it is 2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (score 50951) and 3.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (score 48477).

The GPU's performance in The Technomancer is clearly the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rates are so high that the CPU's single-thread performance (evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 868) is likely sufficient to feed the GPU. However, as resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows, and the frame rates drop predictably, confirming that the RTX 5070 Ti is the primary driver of performance in this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 557th out of 3696 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places the pairing in the top 15% of all tested systems, indicating that it is a high-performance configuration for this title. The rank reflects the synergy between the CPU and GPU, where the processor's six cores and twelve threads are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at most settings.

The CPU itself, the Intel Core i5-11400F, has a percentile rank of 71 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17177. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7H12, scores 17120, a delta of 0.3%, meaning the i5-11400F is slightly ahead. The Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17239, a delta of -0.4%, putting the i5-11400F slightly behind that mobile chip. This shows the CPU is a solid mid-range performer, but it is not a top-tier part. Despite this, the combo rank of 557 suggests that for this specific game, the CPU is not a weak link, as the GPU does the heavy lifting.

The rank also implies that many other combinations, likely featuring more powerful CPUs or GPUs, achieve better performance. However, the fact that this combo outperforms 84.9% of tested systems is a strong indicator that it is a balanced pairing for The Technomancer. The data suggests that upgrading the CPU would yield minimal gains at 1080p, but could provide slight improvements at 1440p and 4K where the processor's limitations might become more apparent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS across all settings is consistently high. The "Low" preset achieves 214 FPS, "Medium" reaches 195 FPS with a minimum of 166 FPS and a maximum of 224 FPS, "High" hits 184 FPS, and "Ultra" settles at 144 FPS. The spread from "Low" to "Ultra" is 70 FPS, showing that the visual settings have a significant impact, but even the lowest preset is far above playable thresholds. The "Medium" preset's minimum of 166 FPS is particularly strong, indicating that there are no major frame drops in demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show the GPU's workload. "Low" yields 183 FPS, "Medium" averages 141 FPS with a minimum of 120 FPS and a maximum of 162 FPS, "High" drops to 120 FPS, and "Ultra" falls to 94 FPS. The difference between "Low" and "Ultra" is 89 FPS, a larger gap than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is becoming more constrained. The "High" preset's average of 120 FPS matches the "Medium" preset's minimum, illustrating that "High" provides a consistent experience but with a lower floor.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop significantly. "Low" averages 101 FPS, "Medium" hits 77 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS and a maximum of 89 FPS, "High" averages 66 FPS, and "Ultra" falls to 52 FPS. The gap between "Low" and "Ultra" is now 49 FPS, but the absolute numbers are much lower. The "Medium" preset's minimum of 66 FPS is crucial, as it indicates that even in the most demanding moments, the game stays above 60 FPS, which is the target for most 4K displays. The "High" preset's 66 FPS average is also notable, but it lacks the minimum FPS data, making "Medium" the safer choice for a consistent experience.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU-bound nature of this title. At "Ultra" settings, the average FPS drops from 144 at 1080p to 94 at 1440p, a 34.7% decrease, and then to 52 at 4K, a further 44.7% decrease from 1440p. This steep decline is expected for a GPU-intensive game, as the number of pixels rendered quadruples from 1080p to 4K. The RTX 5070 Ti's 896.0 GB/s bandwidth and 16 GB of VRAM are adequate for the task, but the sheer pixel count overwhelms the shading units.

At "High" settings, the scaling is similar: 184 FPS at 1080p, 120 FPS at 1440p (a 34.8% drop), and 66 FPS at 4K (a 45% drop from 1440p). This consistent pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component, as the CPU's performance does not change with resolution. The i5-11400F's 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s are sufficient to keep up with the GPU's demands at all resolutions, as evidenced by the fact that the frame rate drops are purely proportional to the resolution increase.

The "Low" preset shows a slightly different pattern: 214 FPS at 1080p, 183 FPS at 1440p (a 14.5% drop), and 101 FPS at 4K (a 44.8% drop from 1440p). The smaller drop from 1080p to 1440p suggests that at "Low" settings, the CPU may start to become a minor factor at 1080p, but the GPU still dominates at 4K. Overall, the data shows that for this combo, the RTX 5070 Ti is the bottleneck at 4K, while the i5-11400F is capable of providing sufficient frame data at lower resolutions. Players targeting 4K should expect to use "Medium" settings to maintain a 60 FPS average, while 1440p and 1080p allow for "High" or "Ultra" presets without issue.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve a consistent 60+ FPS?

A: Based on the data, 2560x1440 with "High" settings delivers a 120 FPS average, which is well above 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, "Medium" settings provide a 77 FPS average with a minimum of 66 FPS, ensuring a consistent experience above 60 FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-11400F a bottleneck for the RTX 5070 Ti in this game?

A: The data suggests no. At 1080p, the "Low" preset achieves 214 FPS, and the frame rate drops linearly with resolution increases, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 557th out of 3696 tested combinations for The Technomancer, placing it in the top 15% of all tested systems. This indicates a high-performance pairing for this title.

Q: What settings should be used for 4K gaming?

A: The "Medium" preset at 4K is recommended, as it yields an average of 77 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS. The "High" preset averages 66 FPS but lacks a recorded minimum, making "Medium" the safer choice for consistent performance.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 49957. It is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (50001), 0.4% behind the Intel Arc A550M (49737), 2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (50951), and 3.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (48477).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between "High" and "Ultra" at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the "High" preset averages 120 FPS, while "Ultra" averages 94 FPS. This is a 26 FPS difference, or approximately a 21.7% reduction in performance when moving from "High" to "Ultra" settings.