The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload that clearly separates capable hardware from struggling components. The data for the Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 shows a configuration that is heavily constrained by its graphics card at higher resolutions, yet offers a playable experience at more modest settings. The benchmark results, drawn from measured FPS data, reveal a predictable pattern of performance scaling that is dictated almost entirely by the GPU's capabilities. This analysis examines the resolution scaling, the combo's ranking among other tested systems, the specific roles of the GPU and CPU, and offers practical settings recommendations based on the measured metrics.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for this game and combo reveals a classic case of GPU-bound performance, where the frame rate drops are directly proportional to the increase in rendered pixels. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 76 FPS. Moving to Medium settings at the same resolution drops the average to 58 FPS, and High settings yield 50 FPS. The Ultra preset, the most demanding in this test, results in an average of 39 FPS. This progression at 1080p shows that the GPU is the primary limiting factor, as each step up in graphical fidelity costs a significant portion of the frame rate.

When the resolution is increased to 1440p, the impact becomes even steeper. At Low settings, the average FPS falls to 50, a 34% drop from the 1080p Low result. The High preset at 1440p manages 33 FPS, while Medium achieves 38 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p is the first to fall below the threshold of smooth playability, with an average of just 25 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is far from linear, indicating that the graphics card is working near its capacity. The gap between the Low and High presets at 1440p is 17 FPS, which is a small margin when considering the visual differences.

The most pronounced performance collapse occurs at 4K. At 3840x2160, even the Low preset can only manage an average of 27 FPS. The Medium preset yields 21 FPS, High drops to 18 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 14 FPS. These numbers are all below the generally acceptable threshold for a fluid gaming experience. The difference in FPS between 1080p and 4K is stark; at Low settings, the 4K average is 27 FPS compared to 76 FPS at 1080p, indicating a 64% reduction in performance. This data strongly suggests that the rendering pipeline is completely saturated at 4K, and the GPU's architecture, with its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus, is the bottleneck. The CPU, while powerful, has little effect on the frame rate at higher resolutions, as the GPU cannot produce enough frames to let the CPU become a limiting factor.

The measured FPS data also shows that the gap between the presets narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 37 FPS (76 vs 39). At 4K, the spread is only 13 FPS (27 vs 14). This is a classic sign of a system that is completely GPU-bound; the graphics card is incapable of rendering more frames, so even lowering the settings has a diminishing effect. The data indicates that the i5-14600K is not the limiting component here. The resolution scaling is a direct indicator that the RX 580 is the primary constraint, and users will need to make significant compromises in settings or resolution to achieve a playable frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of Intel Core i5-14600K and AMD Radeon RX 580 holds a specific rank that reflects its overall performance in The Technomancer. The comboRankInGame field places this setup at rank 3373 out of 3696 tested combos. This puts it in the bottom 9% of all tested configurations, meaning that most other hardware pairings outperform it in this particular title. The rank is a relative score, not an absolute measure, and it highlights the fact that this is not a high-performance gaming combination for 4K Ultra settings.

The ranking is a direct reflection of the GPU's performance. The RX 580, with its average benchmark score of 12928, is a mid-range card from the Polaris generation. The CPU alone, the Intel Core i5-14600K, is a high-end processor with an average benchmark score of 48618 and a percentile rank of 90, meaning it is more powerful than 90% of all CPUs. However, the combination's rank is dragged down by the GPU. The data shows that the i5-14600K is a very strong processor, but the RX 580 is not a modern high-end graphics card. The GPU's own percentile rank is 53, meaning it is only better than 53% of all GPUs (and worse than 47% of them).

The delta percentages from the nearest rivals further contextualize this GPU's position. The RX 580 has a delta of -0.1% compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, and a -0.4% delta against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER. These are incredibly close margins, with the RX 580 performing essentially on par with these competitors. The AMD Radeon 740M is 0.5% faster and the AMD FirePro W5100 is 0.6% faster, but again, the differences are within the margin of error. The ranking of the combo, therefore, is not a reflection of a weak CPU, but of a GPU that is merely average in its own right and outclassed by many other cards in the database for high-resolution gaming.

The low rank of 3373 out of 3696 combos is a clear signal that this setup is not optimized for demanding titles. The data indicates that for an Action RPG like The Technomancer, the GPU is the primary factor in determining the FPS. The CPU's high benchmark scores do not translate into a high rank for the combo, because the game's performance is limited by the graphics card. This suggests that to improve the gaming experience, the user would need to upgrade the GPU, not the CPU. The rank also shows that the combination is a poor match for the game's most demanding settings, as the measured FPS data confirms.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the primary graphics processor in this combo, and its specifications directly explain the performance observed in The Technomancer. The GPU is based on the Polaris 20 chip and the GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a die size of 232 mm² and contains 5,700 million transistors. The card has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, which are the core building blocks for rendering geometry and pixels. These specs, while adequate for 1080p gaming in 2017, are not suited for 4K, and the data shows this.

The memory subsystem is a critical factor. The RX 580 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. This bandwidth is a hard limit for how fast the GPU can feed textures and geometry to the rendering pipeline. At higher resolutions, the demand for memory bandwidth increases exponentially. The 4K data shows a severe bottleneck, with the average FPS dropping to 14-27 FPS. The 8 GB capacity is generally sufficient for this game, but the bandwidth is not enough to sustain high frame rates at 4K.

The clock speeds are also relevant. The base clock is 1257 MHz and the boost clock is 1340 MHz. The memory operates at 2000 MHz, which translates to an effective 8 Gbps. The GPU's pixel rate is 42.88 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 193.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute power is 6.175 TFLOPS. These numbers are all modest by modern standards. The pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s is simply not enough to fill a 4K frame buffer at a high rate. The texture rate is also not high enough to handle the texture load at high resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark scores are also telling. Its average score is 12928, and it ranks in the 53rd percentile. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, it scores 1005. In Geekbench, it scores 45235 in Metal and 37453 in OpenCL. These scores are all below what a modern GPU would achieve. The Passmark G3D score is 8813, and the G2D is 769. The GPU compute score is 3488. The score differences with its nearest rivals, such as the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile and the GTX 1660 SUPER, are under a fraction of a percent, meaning that this GPU is squarely in the mid-range of all GPUs.

In The Technomancer, the GPU is the limiting factor. The measured FPS at 4K are all below 30 FPS, which is the common threshold for playable. The GPU is simply not powerful enough to handle the game's demands at that resolution. The VRAM does not appear to be the primary issue, as the 8 GB is usually sufficient, but the compute and memory bandwidth are insufficient. The GPU's role is to be the bottleneck, and this is evident from the resolution scaling. The game is playable at 1080p on Low and Medium settings, but the GPU cannot deliver a smooth experience at higher resolutions. The data consistently indicates that the RX 580 is the component that limits the entire system.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS the combo can achieve at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS recorded at 1920x1080 is 76 FPS at the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, the average FPS is 14 FPS, which is not playable.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 50 FPS at 1920x1080 to 18 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 32 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The benchmark data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the FPS drops significantly with resolution increases while the CPU remains unchanged. At 4K, the GPU cannot produce a high frame rate.

Q: Does the combo have a better rank than most other tested systems?

A: No, it ranks 3373 out of 3696 combos, meaning it is in the lower portion of all tested systems for this game.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS recorded at 2560x1440 Medium is 32 FPS, with an average of 38 FPS and a maximum of 44 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core processor with 20 threads, and it has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost of 5.30 GHz. It is built on the Raptor Lake architecture and uses a 10 nm process. This is a high-end desktop processor that is capable of handling heavy multi-threaded workloads. Its benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24491 and a single-core score of 2064. Its average benchmark score is 48618, and it ranks in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. However, in this game, its role is minimized because the GPU is the primary constraint.

The CPU's specifications are in the data. It has an L1 cache of 80 KB per core, L2 of 2 MB per core, and a shared L3 of 24 MB. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, and it is unlocked for overclocking. The 14 cores are split into performance cores and efficient cores. The CPU is not the bottleneck in this game. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the system can achieve 76 FPS, which is a frame rate that could be CPU-bound in some games, but the data shows that the GPU is the limit.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and the AMD EPYC 4345P. The i5-14600K has a deltaPct of -0.2% against the Xeon, and +0.3% against the EPYC. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX is 0.7% faster, and the Core Ultra 5 245 is 0.8% slower. These show that the CPU is extremely close in overall performance to these other chips. In The Technomancer, the CPU's high single-core and multi-core performance does not translate to better FPS at 4K, as the GPU is the deciding factor.

The CPU does play a role at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system hits 76 FPS, which is a good frame rate, but at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 39 FPS. This suggests that the CPU is not the primary constraint. The CPU is performing its job; the GPU is the one that cannot keep up. The data indicates that the CPU is a high-performance part, but the GPU is the one that is holding back the gaming experience. The CPU is capable of handling the game's physics and logic, but the GPU's rendering limits the output.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this configuration depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, the user has a viable range of presets. The Low preset is the only one that yields an average FPS above 75, at 76 FPS, which is excellent. The Medium preset averages 58 FPS, which is a good target for a balance of visual quality and. The High preset averages 50 FPS, which is also playable. The Ultra preset, at 39 FPS, is the lowest and may feel less fluid. For 1080p, the Medium preset is recommended for a good balance, as it offers a solid 58 FPS average, while High is also a good choice if the user prefers a visual upgrade, staying above 50 FPS.

At 1440p, the playability window narrows. The Low preset achieves an average of 50 FPS, which is just at the threshold of smoothness. The Medium preset averages 38 FPS, which is still playable with a minimum of 32 FPS, but it will be noticeably less smooth. The High preset at 33 FPS is the first to dip below the 35 FPS target, and the Ultra preset at 25 FPS is not recommended for a good experience. The data suggests that for 1440p, the Medium preset is the highest quality that maintains a playable frame rate, while the Low preset is for a smoother experience. The High preset is arguably too demanding for the GPU.

At 4K, the data shows that the game is not playable at all in the measured settings. Even the Low presets yield an average of 27 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold for a smooth experience. The Medium preset is 21 FPS, High is 18 FPS, and Ultra is 14 FPS. None of these are acceptable for a game. The GPU is the limiting factor, and the only way to get a playable frame rate at 4K is to drastically lower the resolution. The data indicates that the user should play at 1080p to get a fluid experience.

The data does not include any settings for a custom preset, but it shows that the GPU is the primary constraint. The recommended settings are those that maintain a 60 FPS average at 1080p. The Medium preset offers 58 FPS, which is very close to 60, and the High preset is also a viable option. For users who prioritize a high frame rate, the Low preset is the best, but it sacrifices visual quality. For users who want the best visual quality at a playable frame rate, the Medium preset is the highest setting that stays above 50 FPS at 1080p. The 1440p and 4K resolutions are not recommended.