The Technomancer

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured frames per second across resolutions reveal a classic GPU-bound curve, but with an interesting twist at the lower end. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 248.2 FPS. Stepping up to 1440p Low drops this to 162.2 FPS, a 34.6% reduction. Moving to 4K Low yields 88.8 FPS, which is another 45.3% cut from the 1440p figure. This steep, compounding decline is the signature of a system where the graphics card is doing the heavy lifting — as pixel count rises, the GPU’s workload scales nearly linearly, and the frame rate responds accordingly.

The pattern holds across all quality presets. For High settings, the transition from 1080p (162.9 FPS) to 1440p (108.4 FPS) represents a 33.5% drop, and then to 4K (59.7 FPS) another 44.9% reduction. The scaling factor between 1440p and 4K is remarkably consistent regardless of preset, hovering around 45% — this uniformity strongly suggests that neither the CPU nor memory bandwidth is creating a bottleneck at higher resolutions. If the processor were limiting, the percentage drop from 1440p to 4K would shrink as the GPU becomes less utilized, but the data shows no such flattening.

What is more revealing is the behavior at 1080p Ultra. Here the combo produces 125.3 FPS, while 1080p High yields 162.9 FPS — a 30% gap purely from settings. At 4K, the same settings change (Ultra to High) moves from 43.6 to 59.7 FPS, a 36.9% improvement. This indicates that even at 4K, the game’s Ultra preset imposes a heavy shading load that the RX 7900 XT cannot fully saturate, and the frame rate is still responding strongly to quality adjustments. The data implies that at 1080p Low (248.2 FPS), the CPU is likely becoming more relevant, but the consistent scaling across all resolutions points to the GPU as the dominant limiter throughout the tested range.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT brings substantial resources to this 2016 Action RPG. Its 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus delivers 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is far beyond what a title from this era would typically require. The game’s release date of 2016-06-27 means it was designed for GPUs with a fraction of this VRAM, so the 20 GB capacity is effectively never a constraint at any resolution tested. The benchmark data confirms this: there are no anomalous frame rate collapses at 4K Ultra that would indicate memory capacity or bandwidth starvation.

Clock behavior is more telling. The GPU’s game clock is rated at 2025 MHz, with a boost clock of 2394 MHz and a base of 1387 MHz. The difference between base and boost is 72.7%, which gives the card headroom to ramp up under sustained load. In a game like The Technomancer, which is not particularly demanding by modern standards, the card is likely spending most of its time near the boost ceiling rather than throttling down. This is consistent with the measured FPS: at 1440p High, the card produces 108.4 FPS, which is a very high frame rate for a game of this vintage, suggesting the GPU is running at or near its maximum clock rather than being limited by power or thermal constraints.

The architecture also plays a role. With 5376 shading units and 192 ROPs, the card has enormous pixel throughput — rated at 459.6 GPixel/s. The Technomancer’s visual effects, which include volumetric lighting and particle systems common to Action RPGs, would exercise these units heavily at 4K Ultra. The fact that 4K Ultra drops to 43.6 FPS while 4K High holds 59.7 FPS shows that the Ultra preset’s additional effects are costly enough to overcome even this card’s substantial fill rate. The FP32 performance of 51.48 TFLOPS is also relevant, as the game’s shader complexity scales with resolution, and the measured FPS curve tracks closely with what this compute throughput would predict.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This particular pairing of Intel Core i5-14400F with AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT holds the rank of 360 out of 1656 tested combinations in The Technomancer. That places it in the top 21.7% of all combos — a strong showing, but not the absolute top tier. Given the GPU’s percentile of 82 (meaning it outperforms 82% of all GPUs in the database) and the CPU’s percentile of 88, one might expect a higher rank than 360. The discrepancy suggests that the game’s engine is not fully utilizing the CPU’s potential, or that there are combos with similar GPU power but faster processors that edge ahead.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in the benchmark database provide context. The RX 7900 XT scores 38358 on average, which is within 0.4% of the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 (38494) and 0.3% of the NVIDIA CMP 70HX (38225). The RTX 5080 Mobile is virtually tied at 38349 (0% delta). This clustering around the 38000-38500 score range means that many GPUs with similar aggregate performance exist, and the combo ranking will be sensitive to how each specific game responds to the CPU-GPU pairing.

The CPU’s nearest rivals are similarly tight: the Intel Core i7-12800H scores 32513 (0% delta), while the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 is at 32446 (0.2% delta). The i7-13705H is at 32586 (-0.2% delta). This means the i5-14400F is in a cluster of processors with nearly identical average benchmark scores, so the game’s specific threading behavior will determine whether this combo lands higher or lower than its peers. The rank of 360 suggests that The Technomancer does not particularly favor this pairing, likely because the game’s engine is not scaling well with the CPU’s 10 cores and 16 threads.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the full settings sweep shows a wide spread. Low settings yield 248.2 FPS, Medium drops to 193.2 (a 22.2% reduction from Low), High comes in at 162.9 (a 15.7% cut from Medium), and Ultra falls to 125.3 (a 23.1% reduction from High). The total spread from Low to Ultra is 122.9 FPS, meaning Ultra delivers only 50.5% of the Low settings frame rate. This is a massive performance range, indicating that The Technomancer’s quality presets have a dramatic impact on the GPU workload at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same pattern persists but with compressed absolute numbers. Low produces 162.2 FPS, Medium 124.5 (a 23.2% drop), High 108.4 (a 12.9% drop from Medium), and Ultra 85 (a 21.6% drop from High). The spread from Low to Ultra is 77.2 FPS, meaning Ultra delivers 52.4% of Low’s frame rate. The percentage relationships are nearly identical to 1080p, confirming that the presets have consistent relative costs regardless of resolution.

At 3840x2160, the numbers become more demanding. Low yields 88.8 FPS, Medium 69.3 (a 22% drop), High 59.7 (a 13.9% drop from Medium), and Ultra 43.6 (a 26.9% drop from High). The Low-to-Ultra spread is 45.2 FPS, with Ultra achieving 49.1% of Low’s performance. Notably, the High-to-Ultra penalty grows from 21.6% at 1440p to 26.9% at 4K, suggesting that the Ultra preset’s extra effects are disproportionately expensive at higher pixel counts.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For a 60 FPS target, the data shows that at 4K, High settings are the viable option — the measured 59.7 FPS is just under the threshold, while Ultra at 43.6 FPS is clearly too demanding for smooth play. Medium at 4K (69.3 FPS) offers a comfortable margin above 60, but the jump from Medium to High is only a 13.9% performance cost, which is worth it for the visual improvement. Low at 4K (88.8 FPS) is overkill for a 60 FPS display and sacrifices too much visual quality.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts upward. High settings at 108.4 FPS are smooth enough for high-refresh monitors, while Ultra at 85 FPS still clears 60 with room to spare. For 144 Hz displays, Medium at 124.5 FPS is the sweet spot, as it comfortably exceeds 120 FPS. Low at 162.2 FPS is only necessary for 165 Hz or higher refresh panels, and the visual cost of dropping from Medium to Low is typically not worth the 30% frame rate gain.

At 1080p, the situation is reversed — the CPU may start to matter. Ultra at 125.3 FPS is perfectly playable on 120 Hz displays, and High at 162.9 FPS covers 144 Hz. Low at 248.2 FPS is only relevant for 240 Hz esports-style play, but The Technomancer is not a competitive title, so this preset is of limited practical value. The recommended path is to use High at 1080p for a solid 60+ FPS experience, or Ultra if the display can handle 120 Hz.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-14400F brings 10 cores and 16 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The 88th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates strong general-purpose performance, and the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 and single-core score of 3093 show a balanced profile. However, The Technomancer’s release in 2016 means it was built for the quad-core era, and its engine likely does not scale efficiently beyond a handful of threads.

The benchmark data supports this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 248.2 FPS, which is very high but not exceptional for this GPU. If the CPU were fully capable of feeding the GPU in this scenario, one might expect even higher frame rates given the GPU’s compute power. The fact that 1080p Low is 53% faster than 4K Low (248.2 vs 88.8) does show GPU scaling, but the absolute 1080p number suggests the CPU is contributing to the frame time at lower resolutions.

The CPU’s nearest rivals are all within 0.2% of its average benchmark score, yet the combo rank of 360 out of 1656 indicates that many other pairings outperform this one in this specific game. This could be because The Technomancer favors higher single-core performance, and the i5-14400F’s single-core Cinebench R23 score of 3093, while strong, may not be sufficient to overcome the game’s older threading model. The 16 threads are likely underutilized, with the game possibly using only 4-8 cores effectively. The L3 cache of 20 MB shared is more than ample for a 2016 title, so cache capacity is not the limiting factor.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest measured frame rate for this combo in The Technomancer?

A: The maximum average FPS recorded is 248.2 at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this combo achieve 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: No. The measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is 43.6 FPS, which falls short of 60. To reach 60 FPS at 4K, the user must drop to High settings, which yields 59.7 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks?

A: The RX 7900 XT has an average benchmark score of 38358, placing it 0% apart from the RTX 5080 Mobile (38349), 0.3% ahead of the CMP 70HX (38225), and 0.4% behind the MX570 (38494).

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low produces 162.2 FPS while Ultra produces 85 FPS — a difference of 77.2 FPS, meaning Ultra delivers 52.4% of the Low setting’s frame rate.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiter at 4K. The consistent percentage drops between 1440p and 4K across all presets (around 45%) suggest that pixel count is the dominant variable, with the CPU not becoming a bottleneck at these resolutions.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested combinations in this game?

A: It holds rank 360 out of 1656 total combos, placing it in the top 21.7% of all tested pairings in The Technomancer.