The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 action RPG, presents an interesting benchmark scenario for the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher quality presets, but which also exposes the CPU's limitations at the most extreme frame rates. This analysis breaks down the performance data for this specific pairing, providing a detailed look at how the components interact in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates a classic scaling curve, where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops from 127 FPS at 1920x1080 to 83 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 34.6%. Moving further to 3840x2160 yields an average of 46 FPS, which is a 63.8% decrease from the 1080p figure. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 5070's rendering workload at 4K Ultra is substantial, and the GPU is the limiting factor.

At lower settings, the scaling is even more pronounced, highlighting the CPU's role at high frame rates. With Low settings, the system achieves 249 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 162 FPS at 1440p (a 34.9% reduction) and then to 89 FPS at 4K (a 64.3% reduction from 1080p). The fact that the 4K Low figure (89 FPS) is so much lower than the 1080p Low figure (249 FPS) confirms that even at Low settings, the GPU is still the dominant constraint at 4K, though the CPU is clearly capable of feeding very high frame rates at lower resolutions.

The Medium preset data provides a more granular view. At 1920x1080, the average is 191 FPS, with a minimum of 162 FPS. At 2560x1440, the average drops to 125 FPS (min 106 FPS), and at 3840x2160, it falls to 69 FPS (min 58 FPS). The difference between the 1080p and 1440p Medium scores (191 vs 125 FPS) is a 34.6% drop, which is very similar to the Ultra preset's scaling between those resolutions. This consistency suggests that the performance scaling is tied more to resolution than to the specific quality preset, reinforcing the GPU-bound nature of the game at these settings.

The data shows that the most significant performance cliff occurs between 1440p and 4K. For instance, at High settings, the average FPS goes from 107 at 1440p to 59 at 4K, a 44.9% reduction. This is a larger relative drop than the 34.3% reduction seen when moving from 1080p (163 FPS) to 1440p (107 FPS). This suggests that the RTX 5070's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 192-bit bus are sufficient for 1440p but become heavily taxed at 4K, where the fill rate and memory bandwidth demands of The Technomancer's environments likely spike.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support (DDR4, DDR5) are key characteristics. In this game, the CPU's role is primarily to prepare frames for the GPU. The benchmark results show that the CPU is not a significant bottleneck until the GPU is under very light load, such as at 1080p with Low settings.

The 249 FPS average at 1080p Low is a strong indicator of the CPU's capability. This high frame rate is likely near the practical limit for this processor in this title, as the CPU must handle all the game logic, physics, and draw calls to feed the GPU. The 3dmark single-thread score of 910 and the 3dmark 2-thread score of 1692 suggest that the CPU's per-core performance is solid, which is critical for a game from this era that may not be perfectly optimized for many threads. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15989 indicates strong multi-threaded throughput, but The Technomancer may not fully utilize all 12 threads, making single-core performance more relevant.

Comparing to its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database, the i5-12400 has an average score of 18683, with a percentile ranking of 72. It is essentially tied with the AMD EPYC 7643 (deltaPct: -0.1) and the Intel Core i7-1355U (deltaPct: -0.3). It scores slightly higher than the Intel Core i3-14100F (deltaPct: 0.9). This positioning indicates that the i5-12400 is a mid-to-high-tier performer, and its results in The Technomancer align with that assessment. It is powerful enough to avoid being the limiting factor in most gaming scenarios, but the data suggests that at 1080p Low, it is reaching its ceiling, as the frame rate is likely capped by CPU processing time rather than GPU rendering speed.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the clear star of this configuration for The Technomancer. Built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and a 5 nm process, it features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines. It is equipped with 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 2325 MHz with a boost clock of 2512 MHz. These specifications translate into a powerful rendering engine, as evidenced by its high benchmark scores, including a Passmark G3D score of 29137 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 178923.

The GPU's performance in The Technomancer is directly tied to the resolution and settings. The data shows that the RTX 5070 can easily handle the game at 1080p and 1440p, delivering playable to very high frame rates at all settings. At 4K, however, the GPU is pushed to its limits. The 4K Ultra average of 46 FPS suggests that the card's fill rate and memory bandwidth are being fully utilized. The 12 GB of VRAM is likely sufficient for the game's textures at 4K, but the 192-bit memory bus may be a limiting factor for such a high pixel count.

The GPU's performance relative to its closest rivals in the database shows it is a top-tier card. With an average benchmark score of 40377 and a percentile ranking of 82, it sits just ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (deltaPct: 0.1) and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 (deltaPct: 0.8), while being slightly behind the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (deltaPct: -1.2). This context is important, as it suggests the RTX 5070's performance is consistently high across various workloads, and its gaming results in The Technomancer are representative of its overall capability. The GPU is the primary driver of the frame rate differences seen across the resolution scale, and its performance is the main reason this combo ranks as well as it does.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination is ranked 744th out of 3696 tested combinations in The Technomancer. This places it in the top 20% of all tested systems, which is a strong result for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's raw power, as the i5-12400, while capable, does not match the top-tier processors that would typically be paired with such a graphics card.

This ranking of 744 suggests that there are 743 other combinations that achieve higher average frame rates in this specific game. Many of these will feature more powerful CPUs, such as high-core-count processors or those with better single-thread performance. However, the data indicates that the i5-12400 is not holding the RTX 5070 back in most scenarios. The combo's performance is likely constrained by the GPU at 4K, and by the CPU at 1080p Low. The ranking reflects a balanced system where the GPU is the primary performance driver, but the CPU is adequate enough to avoid severe bottlenecks in typical gaming scenarios.

The fact that this combo sits at 744 out of 3696 also implies that a significant number of systems with similar or slightly better CPUs are ranked higher, primarily due to having better GPUs. The performance is consistent with what one would expect from this pairing: it is a high-performance combination that excels at high resolutions, but it does not lead the pack in CPU-limited scenarios. The data shows that the combo is most competitive at 1440p and 4K, where the GPU's workload dominates and the CPU's role is less critical.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and the desired frame rate. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, the data shows that 4K High settings, with an average of 59 FPS, are right at the boundary. For a more comfortable margin, dropping to 4K Medium (69 FPS) is the better choice.

At 2560x1440, the system has significant headroom. The Ultra preset delivers an average of 83 FPS, which is very playable. For those seeking higher refresh rates, the High preset (107 FPS) or Medium preset (125 FPS) are excellent options. The 1440p Medium preset also has a minimum FPS of 106, indicating good frame time consistency.

At 1920x1080, the CPU becomes more of a factor. The Ultra preset still manages 127 FPS, but the High preset (163 FPS) and Medium preset (191 FPS) are well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Low preset (249 FPS) is only recommended for competitive play where frame rate is the absolute priority, as it likely sacrifices visual fidelity for minimal gains in smoothness.

The most balanced experience appears to be at 1440p with the High or Medium preset. This provides a high average frame rate with good visual quality, leveraging the GPU's strengths without pushing the CPU to its limits. For 4K, the Medium preset is the sweet spot, offering a significant improvement over Ultra (69 vs 46 FPS) while maintaining a solid visual experience. The data suggests that the Ultra preset at any resolution is demanding, and the gains over High are often not worth the performance cost.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average frame rate is 191 FPS, with a minimum of 162 FPS and a maximum of 220 FPS.

Q: Can this system run The Technomancer at 4K with a 60 FPS average?

A: The data shows the 4K High preset averages 59 FPS. To achieve a more stable 60 FPS, the 4K Medium preset is recommended, which averages 69 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 18683, which is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7643 (-0.1%) and the Intel Core i7-1355U (-0.3%). It is 0.9% faster than the Intel Core i3-14100F.

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum frame rate recorded is 58 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in the benchmark database for this game?

A: This combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is ranked 744th out of 3696 tested combinations.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, with a memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table provides the exact measured frame rate data for the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination in The Technomancer.

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS | Minimum FPS | Maximum FPS |

| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |

| 3840x2160 (4K) | Low | 89 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 (4K) | Medium | 69 | 58 | 79 |

| 3840x2160 (4K) | High | 59 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 (4K) | Ultra | 46 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 (1440p) | Low | 162 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 (1440p) | Medium | 125 | 106 | 143 |

| 2560x1440 (1440p) | High | 107 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 (1440p) | Ultra | 83 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 (1080p) | Low | 249 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 (1080p) | Medium | 191 | 162 | 220 |

| 1920x1080 (1080p) | High | 163 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 (1080p) | Ultra | 127 | - | - |

The data shows a clear hierarchy, with frame rates decreasing as resolution and settings increase. The most demanding configuration (4K Ultra) yields 46 FPS, while the least demanding (1080p Low) yields 249 FPS. The minimum FPS data for Medium settings shows that frame pacing is generally stable, with the minimum being within a reasonable range of the average. This breakdown confirms that the combo is best suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p, and for a solid 60 FPS experience at 4K with adjusted settings.