The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting challenge for the Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT combination. This pairing of a modern 12th Gen CPU with a high-end RDNA 3 GPU yields a wide spread of performance across resolutions and presets, revealing a system that is heavily influenced by settings choices. The data shows a component pairing capable of delivering playable frame rates at 4K, but which truly excels at lower resolutions where the GPU is less constrained. The measured results provide a clear picture of how this hardware handles a game from a previous era, with performance scaling that offers distinct choices for different display targets.

Settings Recommendations

Choosing the right preset is a matter of matching the display resolution to the desired performance target. The measured data shows that the Ultra preset is the most demanding, while Low offers the highest frame rates. For a 60 FPS target, the 4K resolution presents a clear boundary. At 3840x2160, the High preset achieves an average of 57.6 FPS, which is just shy of a smooth 60 FPS experience. Dropping to Medium yields 70 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold. Therefore, for a 4K display, the Medium preset is the optimal choice, delivering a significant performance boost over High without the substantial cost of Ultra, which falls to 48 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the equation changes. The High preset delivers a strong 108.9 FPS average, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. This makes High the recommended setting for 1440p, as it provides a superior visual experience compared to Medium (127.8 FPS) or Low (160.4 FPS) while still maintaining frame rates well above 100. The Ultra preset at 82.2 FPS is also viable, but the jump from High to Ultra introduces a performance penalty of over 24% for a likely modest visual gain, making High the more balanced choice.

For 1920x1080, the CPU begins to play a larger role, but the GPU still has ample headroom. The High preset achieves an average of 163.8 FPS, which is ideal for 144Hz displays. While Low (251.5 FPS) and Medium (194.9 FPS) are faster, they sacrifice visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 128.8 FPS still provides a high frame rate, but High is the sweet spot, offering a robust combination of visual quality and performance that comfortably supports high-refresh-rate gaming. The data suggests that High is the most universally effective preset across all tested resolutions, with Medium being the fallback for 4K to ensure a smooth frame rate.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the dominant factor in these benchmark results, particularly at higher resolutions. With 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus providing 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth, the GPU has ample resources for The Technomancer's textures and geometry. The card’s core configuration, featuring 5376 shading units and a boost clock of 2394 MHz, drives the substantial FPS numbers seen in the data. The GPU's performance is underscored by its benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 29009 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5623, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs.

The data indicates that the GPU is rarely the limiting factor until the resolution is pushed to 4K. At 1080p and 1440p, the frame rates are high enough to suggest that the CPU is starting to cap performance. However, at 4K, the GPU's workload increases significantly. The difference between the Low preset (86.7 FPS) and the Ultra preset (48 FPS) at 4K is a direct result of the GPU's processing load. The RX 7900 XT's strength is clear; it can handle the game's demands, but it requires a balance in settings to maintain high frame rates at the highest resolution. Its performance profile, with a Passmark G3D score that is 0% different from the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile, shows it is a top-tier contender for this game.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to use for a 144Hz monitor?

A: The data shows that at 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo achieves an average of 108.9 FPS, which is below 144 FPS. To fully utilize a 144Hz monitor, dropping to 1920x1080 with High settings yields an average of 163.8 FPS, comfortably exceeding the refresh rate target.

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

A: No. The measured average FPS for the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 is 48 FPS. This is below the common 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay, indicating that the Ultra preset is too demanding for a 4K experience.

Q: How does the GPU's memory bandwidth affect performance?

A: The RX 7900 XT has a memory bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s. This high bandwidth is likely a key reason why the GPU can maintain relatively high frame rates at 4K, such as the 57.6 FPS average on the High preset, as it can quickly feed the massive amount of texture data required at that resolution.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for performance in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary driver of performance, especially at higher resolutions. The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K (e.g., from 163.8 FPS to 57.6 FPS on High settings) indicates a shift to a GPU-bound scenario. At lower resolutions, the performance scaling suggests a CPU limit is being approached.

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 108.9 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 82.2 FPS. This represents a performance drop of 26.7 FPS when moving from High to Ultra, a significant cost for the increased visual fidelity.

Q: How does the system's performance at 1080p compare to its 4K performance?

A: On the High preset, the average FPS at 1920x1080 is 163.8, which is nearly three times higher than the 57.6 FPS average at 3840x2160. This demonstrates the massive performance scaling with resolution, highlighting the GPU's workload at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent pattern across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast, with the Low preset hitting an average of 251.5 FPS. This drops to 194.9 FPS on Medium, 163.8 FPS on High, and 128.8 FPS on Ultra. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system has significant performance headroom, and the primary constraint is the CPU's ability to feed the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease as the GPU takes on more work. The Low preset averages 160.4 FPS, which is still exceptionally high. Medium follows at 127.8 FPS, and High at 108.9 FPS. The Ultra preset maintains an average of 82.2 FPS, which is still very playable. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p is a drop of 78.2 FPS, showing the impact of the increased graphical load.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is heavily taxed, and the frame rates reflect this. The Low preset averages 86.7 FPS, providing a smooth experience. The Medium preset averages 70 FPS, while High drops to 57.6 FPS. The Ultra preset is the only one that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, with an average of 48 FPS. This breakdown shows that 4K gaming with this combo requires a compromise on settings to maintain high frame rates, but it is achievable with the Low, Medium, or High presets.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific configuration of the Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is ranked 334 out of 1656 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the top 20% of all tested systems, indicating a very strong performer for this title. The combination of a highly capable CPU and a top-tier GPU ensures that it can outclass the vast majority of systems in the database.

The high ranking is a direct result of the GPU's dominance. The RX 7900 XT's Passmark G3D score of 29009 is a robust indicator of its raw power, and the CPU's performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16518, ensures it can keep up. The fact that this combo ranks in the 334th position out of 1656 suggests that only a few more powerful or better-suited combinations can achieve higher frame rates. This reflects the balanced nature of this pairing for this particular game, even though the game predates the hardware by several years.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, plays a crucial supporting role. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz provide solid single-thread performance, which is essential for game logic and physics. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as a Passmark single-thread score of 3481 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2221, are in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, confirming its capability. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache also helps reduce latency in data-heavy scenarios.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in most tested configurations. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS of 251.5 is exceptionally high, and the scaling to 128.8 FPS on Ultra indicates that the GPU is taking on more work. However, the CPU's performance is still critical. The measured FPS at 1080p is likely approaching the CPU's limit, as the frame rates do not scale linearly with the reduction in GPU load. The CPU's performance is sufficient to drive the RX 7900 XT effectively at all settings, ensuring that the GPU is not starved for data.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the nature of the system's bottleneck. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 163.8 at 1920x1080 to 108.9 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 54.9 FPS. This drop is significant, but the frame rates remain high. The more dramatic drop occurs when moving to 3840x2160, where the average FPS falls to 57.6. This is a 106.2 FPS reduction from the 1440p result, showing that the GPU is becoming the clear limiting factor at 4K.

This pattern indicates that at 1080p and, to a lesser extent, 1440p, the system is not fully GPU-bound. The CPU is able to maintain high frame rates, but as the resolution increases, the GPU's workload expands dramatically. The jump from 1440p to 4K represents a 2.25x increase in pixel count, and the performance drop reflects this. The data confirms that the RX 7900 XT is the dominant component, and any attempts to push to 4K will be governed by its capabilities. The system is well-balanced for 1440p gaming, providing a high-performance experience, while 4K requires careful settings management to stay within the 60 FPS target.