The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload for the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combination. The measured data reveals a pairing that is capable at mainstream resolutions but quickly becomes constrained at higher fidelity settings. This analysis breaks down the performance metrics to determine the optimal configuration for this specific hardware duo.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data clearly indicates that the "Ultra" preset is not a viable option for this combination. Across all resolutions, it delivers the lowest frame rates, with a 4K average of just 17.4 FPS and a 1440p average of 36.6 FPS. Even at 1080p, the Ultra preset only achieves a 53.9 FPS average, which is below the threshold for a consistently smooth experience in a game that requires responsive controls.

The "High" preset presents a more balanced picture but only at 1080p, where it hits a 70 FPS average. At 1440p, this setting drops to a 44.8 FPS average, and at 4K, it falls to 24 FPS, making it unsuitable for those resolutions.

The data suggests that the "Medium" preset is the optimal choice for balancing visual quality and performance. At 1080p, it provides a strong 84.9 FPS average, which is a significant improvement over High. Moving to 1440p, the Medium preset still manages a respectable 57.5 FPS average, which is playable for most users. At 4K, it yields a 31.9 FPS average, which is still not ideal but demonstrates the scaling.

For users prioritizing frame rate above all else, the "Low" preset is the only way to achieve high refresh rate experiences. It delivers a 108.7 FPS average at 1080p and a 68.6 FPS average at 1440p. The Low preset at 4K, with a 38.3 FPS average, remains marginal. Therefore, the recommended path is to use the Medium preset at 1080p or 1440p, as it offers the best compromise between the visual fidelity of High and the performance of Low, without the severe penalties of Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of all tested hardware combinations for The Technomancer, this specific pairing ranks 1485 out of 1656 combinations. This places it in the lower percentile, indicating that while it can run the game, it is outperformed by a significant majority of other tested systems. The rank of 1485 out of 1656 suggests this is a lower-mid-range configuration for this specific title.

This ranking is a direct consequence of the component choices. The GTX 1660 SUPER, while a capable card, is positioned in the 55th percentile of all GPUs. This means that the graphics card is a limiting factor for achieving high frame rates at high settings. The Intel Core i5-14400F, on the other hand, is a strong performer, sitting in the 88th percentile of all CPUs. The disparity between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's mid-range percentile, combined with the low overall combo rank, suggests that the system's performance is heavily bottlenecked by the graphics card in this game.

The combo's rank is a holistic measure of its ability to handle the game's demands. While the CPU provides ample processing power, the GPU struggles to keep pace, especially at higher resolutions and settings. This results in the overall combination landing in the lower quartile of tested systems, confirming that it is best suited for 1080p gaming with adjusted settings rather than high-resolution, high-fidelity play.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture and features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz. The data shows that this memory configuration and clock speed are simply not sufficient for the demands of The Technomancer at higher settings.

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep. At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 70 at 1080p to 44.8 at 1440p, a 36% decrease, and then to 24 at 4K, a further 46% decrease from 1440p. This pattern indicates that the GPU is becoming saturated with pixel data, and its 6 GB of VRAM may also be a limiting factor at higher resolutions and texture qualities.

The GPU's compute capabilities, rated at 5.027 TFLOPS for FP32, are clearly stressed by the game's rendering engine. The GTX 1660 SUPER's performance percentile of 55 places it just above average, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 and Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics, with performance deltas of -0.2% and -0.2% respectively. This confirms that the card is a mid-range part, and its role in this combination is to be the primary bottleneck, preventing the powerful CPU from fully stretching its legs in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of the system's capabilities. At 1920x1080, the performance is generally acceptable. The Low preset achieves a high average of 108.7 FPS. The Medium preset follows at 84.9 FPS, and the High preset manages 70 FPS. The Ultra preset, however, drops to a 53.9 FPS average, which is the first sign of the system's struggle.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates take a significant hit. The Low preset averages 68.6 FPS, which is still playable. The Medium preset drops to 57.5 FPS, and the High preset falls to 44.8 FPS. The Ultra preset becomes largely unplayable at a 36.6 FPS average.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly overburdened. Even the Low preset only manages a 38.3 FPS average. The Medium preset averages 31.9 FPS, while the High preset drops to 24 FPS. The Ultra preset is a slideshow at a 17.4 FPS average. These numbers show a consistent and predictable decline in performance as resolution and settings increase. The gap between the Low and Ultra presets is substantial, with Ultra being 50% slower than Low at 1080p (53.9 vs 108.7 FPS), a trend that continues across all resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The impact of resolution on frame rate is the most critical factor for this configuration. Scaling from 1080p to 1440p at the High preset results in a frame rate reduction from 70 FPS to 44.8 FPS, a drop of 36%. Scaling further from 1440p to 4K at the same setting yields a reduction to 24 FPS, another 46% drop. The pattern is similar across all settings.

This scaling behavior strongly indicates that the limiting component is the GPU. The workload per pixel increases exponentially with resolution, and the GTX 1660 SUPER does not have the raw pixel throughput to maintain frame rates. The CPU, with its high performance metrics, is not the bottleneck here, as the frame rate scales almost entirely with the GPU's workload.

The data suggests that the GTX 1660 SUPER is most comfortable at 1080p. The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is massive, highlighting the GPU's limitations with higher pixel counts. For a smoother experience at 1440p, users must rely on the Low or Medium presets, and even then, they won't achieve the same level of performance as at 1080p. The game's engine appears to be highly sensitive to resolution, confirming that the graphics card is the primary constraint in this system.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 and a single-core score of 3093. This places the CPU in the 88th percentile of all CPUs, showing it is a high-performing part.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role appears to be one of providing a stable foundation rather than being the primary performance driver. The frame rates are consistently limited by the GPU, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops at higher resolutions. The CPU's strong single-thread performance, as indicated by its Cinebench R15 single-core score of 311, ensures that it can handle the game's logic and physics without creating a bottleneck at 1080p.

The data suggests the i5-14400F is more than capable of feeding the GTX 1660 SUPER with data. Its high multi-core performance (Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 9203) would be beneficial in more CPU-intensive scenes, but the GPU is likely to max out first. The CPU's performance is effectively "in reserve," meaning that a more powerful GPU could unlock higher frame rates, but with the current graphics card, the CPU's full potential is not being utilized in this game. The processor is not the weak link in this chain.