The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting stress test for the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER pairing. The data shows a configuration that is decisively GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but which reveals the CPU's strength at lower settings. The benchmark results indicate a system capable of smooth 1080p play, yet one that struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with maximum visual fidelity.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is stark and reveals the RTX 2060 SUPER as the primary limiting factor. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 94.9 FPS at 1920x1080 to 63.7 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of roughly one-third. Pushing further to 3840x2160, the average plummets to 33 FPS, which is a 65% decline from the 1080p baseline. This steep curve is a classic symptom of a GPU that is running out of pixel-pushing capability.

The scaling pattern holds true across other presets. At Low settings, the system achieves 144.8 FPS at 1080p, but this drops to 94.2 FPS at 1440p and then to 52.2 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset tells an even more demanding story, starting at 75.3 FPS at 1080p, falling to 45.3 FPS at 1440p, and collapsing to just 24 FPS at 4K. The consistent halving of performance when moving from 1440p to 4K at every setting level confirms that the rendering resolution, not the CPU, is the bottleneck.

This behavior suggests that the i5-14600K is more than capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions. The fact that the 1080p Low preset can push past the 144 FPS mark indicates significant headroom in the processor's 14 cores and 20 threads. However, as the resolution increases, the GPU's 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth become the constraining factors, creating a scenario where the CPU's potential is left untapped.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for optimizing the experience. For players targeting a standard 60 FPS, the 1440p Medium preset is the sweet spot, delivering 71.1 FPS. This is a 12% improvement over the 63.7 FPS seen at 1440p High, making it a more stable choice for demanding scenes. At 1080p, the High preset offers an excellent experience at 94.9 FPS, providing a significant visual boost over Medium's 109.2 FPS while maintaining a frame rate well above the refresh rate of most monitors.

The Ultra preset is the outlier. At 1080p, it still manages a respectable 75.3 FPS, but the visual fidelity gain over High appears to come at a steep performance cost. The data suggests that High is the optimal balance for 1080p, as it offers the best ratio of visual quality to frame rate. At 4K, the situation is more challenging. The High preset's 33 FPS is not smooth, and while the Low preset at 52.2 FPS is more playable, it sacrifices significant visual detail. The Medium preset at 37.8 FPS is a middle ground that is still below the 60 FPS target.

For the best overall experience, the 1440p Medium preset appears to be the most versatile. It provides a frame rate that is smooth and responsive while maintaining a higher resolution than 1080p. In contrast, the 4K Ultra preset at 24 FPS is not recommended for active gameplay, as the low frame rate would severely hamper responsiveness in combat.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600K and RTX 2060 SUPER combination ranks 1180th out of 1656 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the lower-mid tier of performance, which aligns with the measured frame rates that struggle at higher resolutions. The ranking reflects a system that is not optimized for this particular title's demands, likely due to the GPU's age relative to the game's release and its subsequent updates.

This ranking is more a reflection of the GPU's position in the market than the CPU's. The RTX 2060 SUPER sits in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 19774 is nearly identical to that of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN, which is a much older card. The i5-14600K, by contrast, is a top-tier processor, ranking in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 49166 is within 1% of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and the Intel Core i5-14600KF. This suggests that in CPU-bound scenarios, this combo would rank much higher, but The Technomancer's heavy GPU load drags the overall standing down.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a wide performance envelope. The Low preset achieves an average of 144.8 FPS, which is a high-refresh-rate experience. Medium drops to 109.2 FPS, High settles at 94.9 FPS, and Ultra is the most demanding at 75.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 69.5 FPS, a 92% difference, which highlights the significant impact of visual settings at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates compress. Low yields 94.2 FPS, Medium 71.1 FPS, High 63.7 FPS, and Ultra 45.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is now 48.9 FPS, a 108% gap. The 4K resolution (3840x2160) shows a further decline. Low averages 52.2 FPS, Medium 37.8 FPS, High 33 FPS, and Ultra just 24 FPS. The performance delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is 28.2 FPS, which is a 117% difference, indicating that the GPU is struggling to cope with the pixel count regardless of the preset.

The data shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER can handle 1080p with ease and 1440p with some compromises. However, its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus, while providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, are insufficient for consistent 4K performance in this title. The 12 nm chip, with its 2176 shading units and 64 ROPs, is simply outclassed by the pixel workload at 2160p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the decisive component in this analysis. Its Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process, features a boost clock of 1650 MHz. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. These specifications, while solid for 1080p and 1440p gaming at the time of release, are the bottleneck for 4K in The Technomancer.

The GPU's compute capabilities are also a factor. Its FP32 performance of 7.181 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s are moderate by today's standards. The benchmark results show that the GPU's Passmark G3D score of 16462 places it just 0.3% ahead of the older GeForce GTX TITAN, which illustrates its position in the performance hierarchy. The data indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is a capable 1080p card, a good 1440p card, but a poor 4K card for this specific game.

The i5-14600K's role is to ensure the GPU is never starved of data. With a boost clock of 5.30 GHz and 24 MB of shared L3 cache, the CPU is more than capable of handling the game's logic and draw calls. The high frame rates at 1080p Low (144.8 FPS) are a signal of the CPU's efficiency, as the GPU is still able to output frames at a rate that many monitors cannot even display. In this configuration, the GPU is the limiting factor in nearly all scenarios, and its VRAM capacity and memory bandwidth are the key constraints at higher resolutions.