The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting challenge for modern hardware. This analysis examines the Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060, using measured data to understand how this combination handles the game across different resolutions and settings. The dataset provides a clear picture of where this combo excels and where its limitations become apparent.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, clearly identifying the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 103 FPS at 1920x1080 to 67 FPS at 2560x1440, a 35% reduction. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 37 FPS, which is a 64% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This pattern is typical for a game that scales rendering load heavily with pixel count, and the RX 9060 begins to struggle when the pixel throughput demands increase.

The scaling becomes even more pronounced at Ultra settings. The 1080p Ultra average is 80 FPS, which drops to 52 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 29 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is effectively unplayable for smooth gameplay, sitting well below the 30 FPS threshold that many consider the absolute minimum. The data suggests that the RX 9060's 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are not sufficient to maintain fluid performance at 4K with higher quality presets.

Interestingly, the Low settings preset shows a different scaling curve. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 157 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1440p Low, the average is 102 FPS, still very playable. Even at 4K Low, the average is 56 FPS, which is a playable result. This indicates that when the graphical load is reduced, the system can maintain reasonable performance even at 4K, but the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically as resolution increases.

The Medium preset offers a middle ground, with 120 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K. The minimum FPS recorded for this preset at 4K is 37, which shows that even the average can dip into less comfortable territory. The scaling behavior here confirms that the RX 9060 is the limiting factor; the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU simply cannot keep up as the pixel count rises.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-14600K and AMD Radeon RX 9060 holds a mid-pack position. The combo rank in The Technomancer is 1632 out of 2825 total combinations, placing it in the 58th percentile of all tested systems. This means roughly 58% of all CPU-GPU pairings tested in this game perform worse than this setup, while 42% perform better.

This ranking is a bit lower than what the individual components might suggest. The CPU itself sits in the 90th percentile when compared to all CPUs, meaning it outperforms 90% of processors in general compute benchmarks. The GPU, however, only reaches the 59th percentile among all GPUs. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU results in a system that is held back by its graphics card in this title, which explains why the overall combo rank is not higher.

Looking at the GPU's nearest rivals provides context for its performance class. The RX 9060's average benchmark score of 16014 is very close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which scores 16129, a delta of just -0.7%. It also sits near the AMD Radeon RX 7700, which scores 15852, a 1% difference. This places the RX 9060 squarely in the upper-mid-range tier of graphics cards, which aligns with its measured performance in The Technomancer. The game’s results at 1440p and 1080p are consistent with this tier, while the 4K results show the expected falloff for a card of this class.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has a transistor count of 29,700 million and a die size of 199 mm². The card features 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units, along with 28 ray tracing cores. Its FP32 performance is rated at 21.43 TFLOPS, which is a modest figure for modern gaming.

Memory configuration is a critical factor in this game's performance. The card has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The memory clock is listed as 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective speed. This 8 GB capacity is likely a limiting factor at 4K Ultra settings, where the game’s texture and geometry demands can exceed this amount. The steep drop from 52 FPS at 1440p Ultra to 29 FPS at 4K Ultra is a strong indicator that the memory subsystem is being overwhelmed, not just the compute units.

Clock speeds show a significant range: a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. The card is rated for a TDP of 132 W, which is relatively low, and requires a single 8-pin power connector with a suggested 300 W power supply. The pixel rate is 191.4 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 334.9 GTexel/s. These specifications suggest a card designed for efficient 1080p and 1440p gaming, which is exactly what the measured FPS data shows.

In benchmark tests, the GPU scores 17631 in Passmark G3D and 9919 in Passmark GPU Compute. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3322, and Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 88183 and 39476, respectively. These numbers align with its percentile ranking of 59, confirming that it is a competent but not top-tier performer. The data from The Technomancer reinforces this, as the card delivers smooth frame rates at 1080p and 1440p but struggles to maintain playable performance at 4K with high-quality settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at performance across all combinations of resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the results are strong across the board. Low settings yield an average of 157 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. Medium settings drop to 120 FPS, with a minimum of 102 and a maximum of 138. High settings produce 103 FPS, and Ultra settings still manage 80 FPS. This resolution is clearly where the RX 9060 is most comfortable, offering smooth gameplay even at the highest quality preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains respectable but shows the expected decline. Low settings average 102 FPS, which is still excellent. Medium settings average 79 FPS, with a minimum of 67 and a maximum of 90. High settings produce 67 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive gaming. Ultra settings drop to 52 FPS, which is on the edge of what many would consider smooth. This resolution represents a compromise, where lower settings are very playable but Ultra requires some adjustment.

At 3840x2160, the limitations of the GPU become evident. Low settings average 56 FPS, which is playable. Medium settings drop to 43 FPS, with a minimum of 37 and a maximum of 50. High settings produce only 37 FPS, which is borderline. Ultra settings fall to 29 FPS, which is not smooth by most standards. The data shows a clear pattern: the RX 9060 is not designed for 4K gaming with high-quality presets, and users should expect to use Low or Medium settings to achieve playable frame rates at this resolution.

The minimum FPS values, where available, provide additional insight. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 67 FPS, which matches the average of the High preset. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 37 FPS, which equals the average of the High preset at that resolution. This indicates that frame pacing can be inconsistent, with occasional dips that might be noticeable during intense gameplay sequences. Overall, the measured data paints a picture of a system that excels at 1080p, handles 1440p adequately, and falls short at 4K.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run The Technomancer at 4K smoothly?

A: At 4K, the system achieves 56 FPS on Low settings and 43 FPS on Medium settings. High settings drop to 37 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 29 FPS. For smooth gameplay, Low or Medium settings are recommended at 4K, as Ultra is not playable.

Q: What is the best resolution for this system to target 60 FPS?

A: At 2560x1440, the system achieves 102 FPS on Low and 79 FPS on Medium, with High at 67 FPS. At 1920x1080, all settings exceed 60 FPS, with Ultra at 80 FPS. To consistently hit 60 FPS, 1440p with High settings or 1080p with Ultra settings are viable options.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest rivals in terms of benchmark scores?

A: The RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129, which is 0.7% higher. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 scores 15852, which is 1% lower. The AMD Radeon R9 370X scores 15862, also 1% lower.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14600K a bottleneck for the RX 9060 in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU has 14 cores and 20 threads with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, and it ranks in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. The GPU ranks in the 59th percentile. The performance scaling with resolution indicates the GPU is the primary constraint.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values recorded at Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum is 102 FPS. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 67 FPS. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum is 37 FPS. These values show the lowest frame rates experienced during testing.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM affect performance in this game?

A: The 8 GB VRAM is likely a factor at 4K Ultra settings, where the average FPS drops to 29. The significant performance decrease from 1440p Ultra (52 FPS) to 4K Ultra (29 FPS) suggests that memory capacity and bandwidth constraints are contributing to the poor high-resolution performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core processor with 20 threads, based on the Raptor Lake architecture on a 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU shows strong performance. It scores 24491 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2064 in single-core. Geekbench scores are 16673 for multi-core and 2491 for single-core. Passmark tests show a multi-thread score of 38682 and a single-thread score of 4270. These results place it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48618.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in benchmark performance include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H with a score of 48698 (0.2% difference), the AMD EPYC 4345P with 48470 (0.3% difference), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX with 48287 (0.7% difference). This indicates that the 14600K is a high-performance processor that competes with server and workstation chips in compute tasks.

In the context of The Technomancer, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with data. Given that the combo rank is 1632 out of 2825, and the performance scaling is heavily tied to resolution, the CPU appears to be more than adequate for this task. The game is not likely CPU-bound at lower resolutions, as the 1080p Low setting achieves 157 FPS, which is well beyond what most displays can show. The 14 cores and 20 threads provide ample processing power for game logic and physics, and the high single-core performance of 2064 in Cinebench R23 ensures that the main game thread is well served.

The CPU’s memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 could be a factor in overall system performance, though the data does not specify which memory type was used in testing. The 24 MB of L3 cache is substantial and can help with game data streaming. Overall, the Intel Core i5-14600K is a powerful processor that will not hold back the RX 9060 in this title, and the system’s performance is limited by the graphics card, especially at higher resolutions. The measured FPS at 1080p, where the CPU has more influence, shows that the processor is capable of driving the GPU to its maximum potential.