The Technomancer

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for The Technomancer with this Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination reveals a steep performance curve as resolution climbs. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 133 FPS, but dropping to 1440p Low reduces that to 83.5 FPS — a 37% decline. Pushing further to 4K Low yields just 49.1 FPS, which is another 41% drop. This pattern strongly suggests that at 1080p, the frame rate is being limited by something other than pure pixel throughput, since the scaling from 1080p to 1440p is disproportionately harsh.

The data implies that at 1080p Low, the CPU is doing heavy lifting, and the GPU has headroom. However, as resolution increases, the RTX 2060 becomes the bottleneck. The 4K Ultra result of 25.1 FPS versus 1080p Ultra at 65.5 FPS shows a 62% reduction — consistent with a GPU-bound scenario where pixel count quadruples but frame rate does not halve, indicating some CPU contribution even at the top preset. The gap between Low and Ultra is also informative: at 1080p, the difference is 67.5 FPS (133 vs 65.5), but at 4K, it narrows to 24 FPS (49.1 vs 25.1). This compression at higher resolutions is classic evidence of the graphics card becoming the limiting component, as the CPU's influence fades when pixel shading dominates.

There is an anomaly worth investigating: the 4K Medium result of 37.5 FPS sits much closer to 4K Low (49.1) than to 4K High (29.5). The jump from Medium to High at 4K costs 8 FPS, while the jump from Low to Medium costs 11.6 FPS. This nonlinear scaling suggests that certain High preset features — possibly shadow quality or post-processing — carry an outsized cost on the Turing architecture. The data does not specify which settings toggle, but the measured rows imply that the RTX 2060's 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus might be interacting poorly with specific High-tier effects at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The best measured result is 133 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 102.1 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 84.1 FPS at 1080p High.

Q: Is this system capable of 4K gaming in The Technomancer?

A: Only at Low settings, where it hits 49.1 FPS. Medium drops to 37.5 FPS, High to 29.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 25.1 FPS. None of the 4K presets reach 60 FPS, so 4K gameplay would require accepting sub-50 FPS or reducing resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 2060's performance compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074, placing it 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996) and 1.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15786). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700, both at 16351, by 1.7%.

Q: What is the CPU's standing among all tested processors?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F ranks in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19221. Its closest rival is the Intel Core i7-8700K at 19210, a 0.1% difference, while the AMD EPYC 7773X trails at 18979, a 1.3% gap.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU at any resolution?

A: At 1080p Low, the 133 FPS result suggests CPU limits may be near, given the GPU's 6.451 TFLOPS compute. At 1440p and 4K, the frame rates drop consistently with resolution scaling, indicating the GPU becomes the primary constraint.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 1322 out of 1656 tested combos, placing it in the lower 21% of all systems measured for The Technomancer.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gaming, the data supports High settings as the sweet spot. The 84.1 FPS average at High is 17.9 FPS below Medium's 102.1, but the visual quality gain is substantial, and 84.1 FPS remains smooth for action RPG gameplay. Ultra at 1080p drops to 65.5 FPS, which is still playable but costs 18.6 FPS over High for marginal improvements. Low at 1080p offers 133 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely too steep for a game like The Technomancer, where atmospheric detail matters.

At 1440p, High settings produce 58.5 FPS, which is borderline for a steady 60 FPS experience. Medium at 65.5 FPS is the safer choice here, offering a 7 FPS advantage over High while presumably retaining most visual fidelity. Ultra at 1440p falls to 45 FPS, which introduces noticeable stutter in fast combat, so it is not recommended unless the player prioritizes image quality over smoothness.

For 4K, the only viable preset is Low at 49.1 FPS. Medium at 37.5 FPS and High at 29.5 FPS are both below the 30 FPS threshold for playability in an action RPG, and Ultra at 25.1 FPS is effectively a slideshow. Players with 4K displays should either drop to 1440p for better frame rates or accept the Low preset. The data suggests that this RTX 2060 is not designed for 4K in this title, and the 6 GB VRAM likely becomes a limiting factor at higher presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of presets was tested. Low delivers 133 FPS, Medium 102.1 FPS, High 84.1 FPS, and Ultra 65.5 FPS. The delta between each step is roughly 18-20 FPS, except between Medium and High where the drop is 18 FPS. This linear scaling indicates a balanced load at 1080p, with neither component dominating.

At 2560x1440, Low yields 83.5 FPS, Medium 65.5 FPS, High 58.5 FPS, and Ultra 45 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 18 FPS, but Medium to High is only 7 FPS, and High to Ultra is 13.5 FPS. The compression between Medium and High suggests that the GPU is starting to struggle with specific High-tier effects, while Ultra adds further strain.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 49.1 FPS, Medium 37.5 FPS, High 29.5 FPS, and Ultra 25.1 FPS. The scaling here is steep from Low to Medium (11.6 FPS loss), moderate from Medium to High (8 FPS loss), and small from High to Ultra (4.4 FPS loss). The diminishing returns at the top presets indicate that the GPU is saturating its memory bandwidth and compute units, with Ultra offering little headroom over High.

Across all resolutions, the 1080p Ultra result of 65.5 FPS exactly matches the 1440p Medium result of 65.5 FPS. This coincidence suggests that the performance ceiling for this combo at those settings is similar, likely due to the GPU's fill rate and texture throughput limits.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for texture-heavy scenes. The base clock of 1365 MHz and boost clock of 1680 MHz drive the FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are directly relevant to how this GPU handles The Technomancer's rendering demands.

The measured FPS data reveals that the RTX 2060 is the primary bottleneck at 4K, where even Low settings only reach 49.1 FPS. The GPU's 12 nm process and 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die indicate a mid-range part from 2019, and the game's 2016 release date means it was designed for older hardware. Yet the RTX 2060 still struggles at 4K, suggesting that The Technomancer's rendering pipeline is demanding on fill rate and memory bandwidth. The 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are irrelevant for this game, as it predates ray tracing, so the GPU's traditional rasterization performance is what matters.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 16074 places it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals within 1.8% either way. This mid-pack positioning explains why it handles 1080p well but falls apart at 4K. The VRAM allocation of 6 GB is likely sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at most presets, but at 4K with High or Ultra textures, memory pressure could cause the frame rate to tank, consistent with the 29.5 and 25.1 FPS results.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from 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 per-core L2 of 1.25 MB provide ample cache for game logic, and the 10 nm process node allows efficient power delivery within a 65 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus, though the game's performance is more likely tied to core count and clock speed.

Benchmark results show the i5-12400F scoring 16518 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2332 in single-core, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 909. These numbers indicate strong single-thread performance, which is crucial for The Technomancer's AI and physics calculations. The CPU's percentile rank of 77 places it above average, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, is only 0.1% behind in average score.

The 1080p Low result of 133 FPS is likely near the CPU's limit for this game, as the GPU has plenty of headroom at such low settings. The data shows that the CPU maintains high frame rates even as resolution increases — the 1440p Low result of 83.5 FPS is still well above 60 FPS, indicating that the CPU is not holding back the system until the GPU becomes saturated. At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes further, with the GPU dominating the performance curve. The 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for this game's threading model, and the boost clock of 4.40 GHz ensures responsive frame times in combat scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 1322 out of 1656 tested combos for The Technomancer, placing it in the bottom 21% of all systems. This low ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component benchmarks — the CPU sits in the 77th percentile and the GPU in the 58th percentile. The gap between component rankings and the combo's in-game rank suggests that The Technomancer is particularly demanding on the GPU, and the RTX 2060's mid-range performance drags the overall score down.

Compared to other combos, this system is likely held back by the GPU's 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus, which struggle at higher resolutions. The CPU's strong single-core performance (909 in 3DMark single-thread, 2332 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensures that it is not the limiting factor at 1080p, but the GPU's 6.451 TFLOPS is insufficient for 4K. The combo's rank of 1322 out of 1656 indicates that most tested systems with this CPU or GPU alone outperform this pairing, likely due to more balanced component selection.

The data implies that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can achieve 84.1 FPS at High settings. For 1440p, it drops to 58.5 FPS at High, which is playable but not ideal. The 4K results are below 50 FPS even at Low, making this combo unsuitable for 4K displays. The rank of 1322 reflects this limited versatility, and users seeking higher resolutions would need a more powerful GPU to move up the rankings. The CPU has headroom to support a better GPU, as evidenced by its 77th percentile ranking, so this combo's weakness is clearly the RTX 2060.