The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting case study for the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 pairing. The benchmark data shows a combination that is more than capable of handling this title, with performance scaling predictably across resolutions and settings. The measured FPS figures indicate a system that can deliver smooth gameplay at high refresh rates in Full HD, while remaining playable at 4K, though the relationship between the CPU and GPU shifts as the resolution increases.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in The Technomancer?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 191, which was achieved at the 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How much of a performance drop occurs when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 125 at 1920x1080 to 45 at 3840x2160. This represents a significant 64% reduction in average frame rate.

Q: Does the RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM appear to be a limiting factor in this game?

A: The data does not show a direct limitation from the 8 GB VRAM. Performance scales consistently with resolution, and the card maintains playable averages even at 4K Ultra, suggesting that memory capacity is not causing a bottleneck at these settings.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among all tested combinations for this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 1578 out of 3696 tested combos, placing it in the upper half of all configurations.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 125 on Low settings and 64 on Ultra settings. This shows a 61 FPS difference, indicating that the Ultra preset nearly halves the frame rate compared to Low.

Q: Are the FPS numbers for the Medium preset consistent with the scaling between Low and High?

A: Yes, the Medium preset fits neatly between Low and High. For example, at 1920x1080, the average FPS is 147 on Medium, which sits between the 191 FPS on Low and the 125 FPS on High.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the primary driver of frame rates in The Technomancer, as evidenced by the significant FPS drop as resolution increases. The GPU's specifications from the fact pack include a GA104 chip on the Ampere architecture, with a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is substantial for a game from this era.

The data suggests that the GPU's raw compute power is the main factor in the performance differences between presets. The RTX 3070's 5888 shading units and 96 ROPs are tasked with rendering the game's visuals. The benchmark results show a clear hierarchy: at 1080p Low, the card is not heavily taxed, producing 191 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 35 FPS, indicating that the GPU is working near its limits. The 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the theoretical peak, and the measured FPS shows how that translates into real-world gaming.

The GPU's memory configuration does not appear to be a bottleneck in this specific title. The 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth and 8 GB capacity are sufficient for the data being processed at all tested settings, as there is no anomalous performance collapse at higher resolutions that would suggest the memory subsystem is overwhelmed. The RTX 3070's position in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17208, contextualizes its performance. It is a capable mid-to-high-range card, and the data confirms it can handle The Technomancer across a wide range of settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable pattern of performance scaling across the three tested resolutions. At the Low preset, the average FPS is 191 at 1080p, dropping to 125 at 1440p, and further down to 69 at 4K. This translates to a 35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 45% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The trend is similar for the High preset, which shows 125 FPS at 1080p, 82 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K.

This scaling pattern is a strong indicator that the system becomes GPU-bound as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU may still be able to feed the GPU enough data to reach high frame rates, but the RTX 3070's workload becomes the limiting factor as the number of pixels increases. The drop from 125 FPS to 45 FPS at High settings when moving from 1080p to 4K is a 64% decrease, which aligns with the theoretical increase in pixel count (approximately 4.5x), though not perfectly linearly due to other bottlenecks.

The data shows that the i5-14400F is not a limiting factor at higher resolutions. If the CPU were the primary constraint, we would expect to see a smaller difference between 1440p and 4K, as the GPU would be the main bottleneck in both cases. Instead, the consistent drop in FPS at each resolution step indicates that the GPU's rendering capabilities are the dominant force. The relationship between resolution and FPS is not perfectly linear, which suggests that memory bandwidth or other GPU-level factors also play a role, but the overall trend points to a GPU-bound scenario at 1440p and 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this hardware combination depend on the user's performance and visual quality preferences. For 1080p, the High preset offers an excellent balance, providing an average of 125 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and leaves headroom for more demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 1080p still delivers a very playable 98 FPS, but the 27 FPS difference from High may not justify the additional visual fidelity for most users.

At 1440p, the High preset is again the recommended choice, with an average of 82 FPS. This is a solid frame rate for a 1440p monitor. The Medium preset offers a higher 96 FPS, but the visual quality reduction may not be worth it for the 14 FPS gain. The Ultra preset drops to 64 FPS, which is still playable, but it is the first setting where performance dips below the ideal 70+ FPS mark for competitive or fast-paced action.

For 4K gaming, the data suggests that High settings are not viable, with only 45 FPS average. The Low preset is the only option that provides a consistently smooth experience, with an average of 69 FPS. The Medium preset sits in between at 53 FPS, but it may exhibit noticeable stutters in demanding scenes. The measured min FPS of 45 for Medium at 4K confirms that frame pacing can be an issue. The best experience per the measured rows is to prioritize the High preset at 1080p and 1440p, and to accept the Low preset for 4K play.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination holds a rank of 1578 out of 3696 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places it in the 57th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it performs better than 57% of the combinations in the database. This is a strong result for a mid-range CPU and upper-mid-range GPU pairing, suggesting that this game is not overly demanding on the CPU or GPU.

The ranking is more a reflection of the GPU's overall capability than the CPU's. The RTX 3070, with its 61st percentile ranking among all GPUs, is the dominant component in this pairing for gaming. The i5-14400F, while ranking in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, has less of an impact on the final FPS in this GPU-bound scenario. The combo rank of 1578 indicates that this system is capable of handling the game well, but it is not at the extreme high end, where more powerful GPUs would push the frame rates much higher.

The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals are all within 0.5% of each other, showing that the i5-14400F is in a tightly contested performance tier. For the GPU, the nearest rivals also show very small deltas, with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT being just 0.7% behind. This suggests that swapping the RTX 3070 for a similar-tier GPU would not result in a significant change in The Technomancer's performance. The combo's rank is therefore more a function of the GPU's absolute performance level than any specific synergy between the two components.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all combinations of resolution and settings. At the 1920x1080 resolution, the Low preset delivers an average of 191 FPS. The Medium preset shows an average of 147 FPS, with a minimum of 125 and a maximum of 169. The High preset averages 125 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 98 FPS. This shows a clear and consistent scaling, with each step up in settings costing about 20-25% of the average FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 125 FPS, which is the same as the High preset at 1080p. The Medium preset averages 96 FPS, with a minimum of 82 and a maximum of 110. The High preset averages 82 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 64 FPS. The pattern is identical to 1080p, but with all values reduced by approximately 35%, confirming that the rendering load scales with pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops more significantly. The Low preset averages 69 FPS, which is the only setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS. The Medium preset averages 53 FPS, with a minimum of 45 and a maximum of 61. The High preset averages 45 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 35 FPS. The data shows that the Medium and High presets at 4K are only playable if the user is willing to tolerate frame rates in the 45-53 FPS range. The minimum FPS of 45 at Medium 4K is the lowest recorded minimum in the entire dataset, indicating potential for stutter in heavy scenes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F plays a supporting role in The Technomancer, as the game is primarily GPU-bound. The CPU has 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory are modern features, but the game's engine does not appear to be heavily multithreaded, given the strong performance at 1080p.

The CPU's benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21645 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2058, show that it is a powerful processor. However, the FPS data shows that the i5-14400F is not creating a bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 191 FPS, which is high but not at the extreme limit where a CPU bottleneck would typically manifest. The fact that the FPS scales down consistently with resolution increases further proves that the CPU is not the limiting factor.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 83rd among all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 32279, place it in a strong position. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U and Intel Core i9-11900, have average scores within 0.2% of the i5-14400F. This indicates that no single CPU in this class is a clear winner for this game. The data implies that any modern mid-to-high-range CPU would provide similar results, as the RTX 3070 is the component that determines the final FPS. The i5-14400F's 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient to keep up with the GPU's demands, ensuring that the system delivers the maximum possible frame rate for the graphics card.