The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting case study for modern hardware. The combination of an Intel Core i5-12400F and an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT yields a wide spread of performance across resolutions and settings. The measured data reveals a system that is exceptionally capable at 1080p, but which begins to show the strain of 4K Ultra settings, placing it in the 422nd position out of 1656 tested combos for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is the most telling aspect of this data. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 153.9 FPS at 1920x1080 to 99.6 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 52.7 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a significant 65.7% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K. The scaling pattern strongly indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases.

At Low settings, the pattern is even more pronounced. The system achieves 229.7 FPS at 1080p, drops to 152.5 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 81.9 FPS at 4K. This 64.3% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings confirms that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The Intel Core i5-12400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, appears more than sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions where the frame rates are highest.

The relationship between resolution and settings is not linear. At 4K, moving from Low to Ultra reduces performance from 81.9 FPS to 45 FPS, a 45% penalty. At 1080p, the same settings change results in a drop from 229.7 FPS to 122.2 FPS, a 46.8% penalty. This consistency suggests that the settings' impact on the GPU workload is relatively uniform across resolutions, while the resolution itself is the dominant factor in determining overall performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in The Technomancer?

A: The highest recorded average is 229.7 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings, indicating that the system has substantial headroom for high-refresh-rate gaming at this resolution.

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

A: The data shows it can, but with caveats. At 4K High settings, the average FPS is 52.7, which is playable. However, at 4K Ultra, the average drops to 45 FPS, which may not be smooth enough for all players.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 99.6 FPS, while Ultra delivers 79.3 FPS. The 20.4% performance cost for Ultra settings may not be worth it if visual differences are subtle.

Q: What is the most demanding settings preset tested?

A: The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 is the most demanding, producing an average of 45 FPS. This is the only tested configuration that falls below the 52.7 FPS of the 4K High preset.

Q: Is the 1080p Low preset overkill for competitive play?

A: At 229.7 FPS, it is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors, making it excessive for typical displays. The 153.9 FPS at High settings is still a very high frame rate and a more balanced choice.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from Medium to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium produces 113.6 FPS, while Ultra produces 79.3 FPS. This is a 30.2% reduction in average frame rate for the highest visual quality preset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz, boosting up to 4.40 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 16,518 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,332 points in single-core. These results place the CPU in the 77th percentile among all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19,221.

The CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals is remarkably close. It sits just 0.1% above the Intel Core i7-8700K, which has an average score of 19,210, and 0.3% above the Intel Core i5-1335U. It is 0.7% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS and 1.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7773X. This indicates that the i5-12400F is a very well-balanced mid-range processor whose performance is highly competitive with both older high-end parts and newer mobile variants.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role seems to be secondary to the GPU at most settings. The data shows that at 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work, the system still achieves 229.7 FPS, suggesting the CPU is not a major bottleneck even at high frame rates. The 3DMark tests show a strong scaling from 1,699 points in the 2-thread test to 5,912 points in the max-thread test, indicating good multi-threading capability that should handle the game's background tasks without issue.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance is consistently high across all settings. The Low preset delivers 229.7 FPS, Medium 180.1 FPS, High 153.9 FPS, and Ultra 122.2 FPS. This represents a smooth scaling curve where each preset step costs roughly 30-45 FPS. The 1080p results are so high that the limiting factor is likely the game's engine or the CPU's single-thread performance, not the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain very playable. Low settings produce 152.5 FPS, Medium 113.6 FPS, High 99.6 FPS, and Ultra 79.3 FPS. The drop from 1080p is significant, with the Low preset losing 77.2 FPS and the Ultra preset losing 42.9 FPS. This suggests that the GPU is now becoming more of a factor, but the system still has enough performance for smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more demanding. Low settings yield 81.9 FPS, Medium 64.1 FPS, High 52.7 FPS, and Ultra 45 FPS. This is the only resolution where the Ultra preset drops below 60 FPS, making it a less ideal choice for 4K gaming. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 45% performance penalty, which is significant but not unexpected for a 2016 title running on modern hardware.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is a powerful GPU based on the RDNA 4.0 architecture, built on a 4 nm process. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1660 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. With 4,096 shading units and 128 ROPs, it is positioned in the 82nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 39,647.

The GPU's nearest rivals show a very tight grouping. It is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 575 and 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile. It trails the AMD Radeon Pro 575X by 0.5% and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 by 0.6%. This suggests that in synthetic benchmarks, the RX 9070 XT is performing as expected for its class, though the delta percentages are small enough that these differences are negligible in real-world gaming.

In The Technomancer, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. The 4K results show a clear progression from 81.9 FPS at Low to 45 FPS at Ultra, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution. The 16 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, even at 4K, as the memory bus and bandwidth are not likely to be bottlenecks. The boost clock of 2970 MHz suggests the card can sustain high performance, but the game's rendering demands at 4K Ultra are too much for it to maintain 60 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset is the best choice for most users. It offers 153.9 FPS, which is far beyond the 60 FPS standard and provides a smooth experience. The Ultra preset at 122.2 FPS is also viable, but the 20.6% performance drop may not justify the marginal visual improvements over High.

For 2560x1440, the High preset is again the recommended choice, delivering 99.6 FPS. This is comfortably above 60 FPS and leaves headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 79.3 FPS is also playable, but it comes with a 20.4% performance penalty compared to High. The Medium preset at 113.6 FPS is a solid alternative for those who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more nuanced. The High preset at 52.7 FPS is the highest quality option that remains near playable, but it falls below 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 64.1 FPS is the best balance, offering a smooth experience above 60 FPS while still providing good visual quality. The Low preset at 81.9 FPS is the safest choice for consistent performance, but it sacrifices significant visual detail. The Ultra preset at 45 FPS is not recommended for 4K, as it falls too far below the 60 FPS target.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combination ranks 422nd out of 1,656 tested combinations in The Technomancer. This places it in the top 25.5% of all tested systems, which is a respectable position for this pairing. The rank reflects the system's strong performance at lower resolutions but also accounts for its struggles at 4K Ultra settings.

The rank is likely influenced by the fact that many other tested combos may use more powerful CPUs or GPUs that handle 4K better. However, for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU, this result is very positive. The system's ability to achieve 229.7 FPS at 1080p Low and 153.9 FPS at 1080p High demonstrates that it is a capable gaming machine for most use cases. The 4K performance, while not perfect, is still playable at Medium and High settings, making this a versatile combo for a variety of gaming scenarios.