The Technomancer

The Technomancer is a 2016 Action RPG that can still push modern hardware in ways that might surprise you. This analysis focuses on the specific combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly capable at standard resolutions, but exhibits a sharp performance cliff when pushing towards 4K with maximum settings. The benchmark results indicate that this pairing is well-balanced for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming, while 4K requires careful settings management to maintain smooth gameplay.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combo in The Technomancer?

A: The data strongly indicates 2560x1440 is the sweet spot. At High settings, the combo achieves 93 FPS average, and at Medium settings it reaches 109 FPS. This provides a high-refresh-rate experience while still offering the visual fidelity bump over 1080p. While 1920x1080 is faster, the 1440p results are high enough that the visual upgrade is generally worth it.

Q: How does the i5-14600K perform relative to its closest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 48618 places it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. It is effectively neck-and-neck with the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, which scores 48698 (0.2% higher). It is also nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 4345P, which scores 48470 (0.3% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245, which scores 48995 (0.8% higher). The performance parity among these processors is very tight.

Q: Is the RX 6800 XT's 16 GB VRAM a factor in this game?

A: The game was released in 2016 and is not considered a VRAM-heavy title by modern standards. The RX 6800 XT's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is far more than The Technomancer requires. The performance bottleneck at 4K Ultra is not a memory capacity issue, but rather a raw compute and fill-rate limitation of the GPU.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1920x1080?

A: The measured results show this combo is exceptionally fast at 1080p. At Low settings, it hits an average of 216 FPS. At High settings, it still manages 142 FPS, and even at Ultra, it maintains a very playable 111 FPS average. The 1080p results are consistently smooth across all presets.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its direct competitors in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 6800 XT has an average benchmark score of 48477, placing it in the 85th percentile of all GPUs. It is 1.5% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile (47743) but trails the Intel Arc A550M by 2.5% (49737) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti by 3% (49957). The performance deltas are minimal, showing it is a highly competitive part.

Q: What is the worst-case scenario for this combo in this game?

A: The most demanding scenario in the data is at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, where the average FPS drops to 40. This is the only configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K Medium, it recovers to a 60 FPS average, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 69 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data presents a clear hierarchy of performance versus visual quality. The primary goal for most users should be to maintain an average frame rate well above 60 FPS, and the settings should be chosen based on the target resolution.

For 1920x1080, the system has so much headroom that the Ultra preset is the obvious choice. With an average of 111 FPS, there is no reason to compromise on visual quality. The High preset at 142 FPS and Medium at 166 FPS are even faster, but the game will look its best at Ultra, and the frame rate is still high enough for any display. The Low preset at 216 FPS is only relevant for competitive play on a very high refresh rate monitor.

At 2560x1440, the choice becomes more nuanced. The High preset delivers a superb 93 FPS average, which is the best balance of image quality and speed. The Ultra preset drops to 72 FPS, which is still smooth but shows a significant performance cost for the highest settings. The Medium preset at 109 FPS is also excellent. The data suggests that High is the recommended preset for a premium experience, as it provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while avoiding the performance hit of Ultra.

The 3840x2160 resolution is where compromises are mandatory. The Ultra preset is effectively unplayable at a 40 FPS average. The High preset at 51 FPS is borderline, but the Medium preset at 60 FPS is the only configuration that provides a consistently smooth experience. The Medium preset's minimum of 51 FPS and maximum of 69 FPS shows some fluctuation, but it is the best playable option at this resolution. Users with a 4K display should prioritize the Medium preset to achieve acceptable performance.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is the primary driver of frame rates in The Technomancer, especially at higher resolutions. Its performance is characterized by its RDNA 2.0 architecture on a 7 nm process, with a boost clock of 2250 MHz and a game clock of 2015 MHz. The GPU's raw compute power, measured at 20.74 TFLOPS FP32, is substantial and directly contributes to the high frame rates seen at 1080p and 1440p.

The GPU's memory subsystem is robust, featuring 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s. While this is a major asset for modern titles, The Technomancer does not stress this capacity. The performance scaling from 1440p to 4K is a direct result of the GPU's pixel and texture processing limits. The pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s are the metrics that determine how well the card handles the increased resolution.

The data shows a clear GPU-bound scenario at 4K. At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops from 93 at 1440p High to just 51 at 4K High, a 45% reduction. This is a classic sign of the GPU hitting its fill-rate ceiling. The card's synthetic benchmark scores align with this; it scores 24980 in Passmark G3D and 13245 in Passmark GPU Compute. The GPU's 85th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms its high-end status, and the measured game data reflects that it is a very capable part, but not one that is immune to the demands of 4K gaming. The 128 ROPs are the determining factor for the 4K performance ceiling observed.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested hardware combinations for The Technomancer, this specific pairing of the Core i5-14600K and the Radeon RX 6800 XT holds a rank of 1158 out of 3696 tested combos. This places it in the top 31% of all configurations tested for this game. This is a strong result, indicating that the pairing is well above average for this title.

The ranking is a holistic measure of the system's capability. The CPU's 90th percentile standing and the GPU's 85th percentile standing combine to create a system that is more powerful than the majority of those tested. The fact that it ranks at 1158 out of 3696 suggests that while it is a high-performing combo, there are many other configurations that can achieve higher frame rates, likely those featuring more powerful GPUs or newer generations of hardware.

This rank of 1158 is a useful data point for understanding the combo's overall position, but it is less relevant than the specific resolution and settings data. The rank confirms that this is a high-end setup, but the measured FPS data provides the actionable information for a user. The combo is clearly capable of delivering a great experience in most scenarios, with the 4K Ultra setting being the only real weakness.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K plays a supporting role in The Technomancer, ensuring that the GPU is not bottlenecked by the processor. With 14 cores and 20 threads, this CPU has an abundance of processing power. Its architecture, Raptor Lake, features a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, which is critical for the single-threaded performance that many games rely on. The CPU's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2064 and multi-core score of 24491 demonstrate its strong performance in both arenas.

The benchmark data shows that the CPU is more than capable of keeping up with the GPU. The high frame rates at 1080p, where CPU load is relatively higher compared to the GPU, indicate that the CPU is not a limiting factor. For instance, at 1920x1080 Low, the system achieves 216 FPS. This is a scenario where a weaker CPU would struggle to feed frames to a powerful GPU, but the i5-14600K handles it with ease.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking and its average benchmark score of 48618 place it among the top processors available. Its performance is closely matched with rivals like the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and the AMD EPYC 4345P, with deltas of only -0.2% and 0.3%, respectively. This means that in a CPU-bound scenario, swapping to a different top-tier processor would yield negligible differences in frame rate. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache also provides a large pool of high-speed memory for game data, further reducing the chance of a CPU bottleneck. The data suggests the CPU is a silent partner, providing a stable platform for the GPU to deliver its performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data is a direct breakdown of the measured frame rates for this specific CPU and GPU combination in The Technomancer.

1920x1080:

• Low: The average FPS is 216.
• Medium: The average FPS is 166, with a minimum of 141 and a maximum of 191.
• High: The average FPS is 142.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 111.

2560x1440:

• Low: The average FPS is 141.
• Medium: The average FPS is 109, with a minimum of 92 and a maximum of 125.
• High: The average FPS is 93.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 72.

3840x2160:

• Low: The average FPS is 78.
• Medium: The average FPS is 60, with a minimum of 51 and a maximum of 69.
• High: The average FPS is 51.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 40.

The data shows a consistent scaling pattern. Moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces performance by roughly 33-35% across all settings. For example, High drops from 142 FPS to 93 FPS. Moving from 1440p to 4K results in a similar percentage drop, with High falling from 93 FPS to 51 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra settings also widens significantly at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference is 105 FPS (216 to 111). At 4K, the difference is just 38 FPS (78 to 40). This illustrates that the game becomes heavily GPU-bound at 4K, and the performance cost of Ultra settings becomes much more severe.