The Technomancer

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination delivers a playable but constrained experience in The Technomancer, with performance heavily dictated by resolution and settings. At 1080p, the combo is capable of high refresh rates, but at 4K, it falls below playable thresholds on higher presets. The data indicates a system where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the CPU provides sufficient headroom at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 78.8 FPS at 1920x1080 to 51.8 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 34.3%. Moving to 3840x2160, the average plummets to 24.6 FPS, which is a 68.8% drop from the 1080p result. This dramatic scaling confirms that the GTX 1070's rendering capabilities, rather than the CPU, are the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. At Low settings, performance goes from 115.3 FPS at 1080p to 75.7 FPS at 1440p and then to 40.2 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the most severe degradation, falling from 61.3 FPS at 1080p to 39.3 FPS at 1440p and finally to 22.1 FPS at 4K. The data suggests that the 4K resolution is too demanding for this GPU in this title, with even Low settings only managing 40.2 FPS. The scaling curve indicates that the sweet spot for this combo is 1080p, where even Ultra settings maintain an average above 60 FPS.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves in The Technomancer?*

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 115.3 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Technomancer?*

A: The data shows 4K results are generally below playable thresholds. The highest 4K average is 40.2 FPS on Low settings, while High, Medium, and Ultra presets yield 24.6, 33.8, and 22.1 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1070's average benchmark score is 12331, which is 0.7% higher than the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (12241) and 1.4% higher than the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (12504, deltaPct of -1.4% from the 1070's perspective).

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: Benchmark results indicate the CPU is not the primary constraint. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 115.3 FPS, and the CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 places it at the 50th percentile, suggesting adequate processing power for this title at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the overall rank of this combo among all tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 1398th out of 1656 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the lower portion of the performance distribution.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a smooth 60 FPS experience at 1440p?

A: According to the measured data, no preset at 2560x1440 reaches 60 FPS. The closest is Low settings, which achieves an average of 75.7 FPS, while High and Medium yield 51.8 and 57.3 FPS respectively.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, with its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, provides a memory bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s. This bandwidth is crucial for The Technomancer's texture-heavy scenes, but the data shows it is insufficient for 4K at higher presets. The GPU's base clock of 1506 MHz and boost clock of 1683 MHz, combined with 1920 shading units, deliver a peak FP32 performance of 6.463 TFLOPS. This raw compute power translates to the measured frame rates, which show a clear ceiling at 4K Ultra (22.1 FPS).

The GPU's performance percentile of 51 indicates it sits just above the median of all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Quadro K4200 (0.7% slower) and the GTX 1650 SUPER (1.4% faster). In The Technomancer, the 1070's 8 GB VRAM capacity is not the limiting factor at 1080p or 1440p, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution. However, at 4K, the combination of memory bandwidth and shading power falls short, evidenced by the sub-30 FPS averages on High and Ultra presets. The GPU's role is dominant: the transition from 1080p to 4K at High settings causes a 68.8% performance loss, confirming that the Pascal architecture is the decisive component in this pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo shows strong performance across all presets. Low settings produce 115.3 FPS, Medium yields 92.7 FPS, High achieves 78.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 61.3 FPS. This spread of 54 FPS between Low and Ultra demonstrates the significant impact of settings at this resolution, with even the highest preset maintaining a playable average.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance takes a noticeable hit. Low settings remain smooth at 75.7 FPS, but Medium falls to 57.3 FPS and High to 51.8 FPS. Ultra settings at 1440p drop to 39.3 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for most players. The data shows that 1440p requires accepting either Low settings for smoothness or High settings for visual fidelity at a reduced frame rate.

At 3840x2160, the results are marginal. Low settings manage 40.2 FPS, Medium achieves 33.8 FPS, High drops to 24.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 22.1 FPS. None of these averages reach the 40 FPS threshold for a consistently smooth experience, indicating that 4K is not viable for this combo in The Technomancer. The progression across resolutions shows a consistent pattern: each step from 1080p to 1440p to 4K incurs a roughly 30-40% performance penalty, with the largest absolute drop occurring between 1440p and 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 1398th out of 1656 tested combos for The Technomancer, placing it in the bottom 15.6% of all tested systems. This low rank is primarily due to the game's demanding nature at higher resolutions, as the measured frame rates at 1440p and 4K are significantly below what top-tier combos would achieve. The CPU's percentile rank of 50 and GPU's percentile rank of 51 indicate that both components are mid-pack in their respective categories, but their combined performance in this specific title is weaker than many alternatives.

The rank suggests that while this combo is adequate for 1080p gaming, it falls behind in the resolution scaling tests that dominate the benchmark rankings. The GTX 1070's nearest rivals in synthetic tests — the GTX 1650 SUPER and Tesla K20Xm — would likely produce similar or slightly better results, given their benchmark scores are within 1.4-1.7% of the 1070. However, the combo's rank is also influenced by the i5-9400, which sits 0.6% below the i7-8809G in average CPU score, indicating that the entire system is positioned near the median of all tested hardware.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 provides 6 cores and 6 threads, running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for feeding the GTX 1070 at 1080p. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 places it at the 50th percentile, and its nearest rival, the Core i7-8809G, is only 0.6% faster in average benchmark score.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU at resolutions above 1080p. The evidence is clear: at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 115.3 FPS, which suggests the CPU can handle high frame rates without bottlenecking. However, at 4K, the frame rates drop to 40.2 FPS on Low settings, indicating that the GPU's rendering limits are the binding constraint. The CPU's single-core performance, reflected in its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1125, is adequate for the game's logic and physics, but the 65W TDP and 14 nm process node suggest it is a mainstream part rather than a high-end enthusiast chip. The data indicates that upgrading the GPU would yield larger gains than upgrading the CPU for this title.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target at 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the optimal choice, delivering 61.3 FPS. If a player prefers higher frame rates, the High preset at 78.8 FPS offers a substantial improvement with only a modest reduction in visual quality. Low and Medium presets at 115.3 and 92.7 FPS are unnecessary at this resolution, as they exceed the refresh rate of most standard monitors.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation changes. Low settings produce 75.7 FPS, which is the only preset to comfortably exceed 60 FPS. Medium settings at 57.3 FPS are borderline, while High at 51.8 FPS and Ultra at 39.3 FPS fall below the target. Players prioritizing smoothness at 1440p should use Low settings; those prioritizing visuals should accept a frame rate in the 50s with High settings.

For 3840x2160, no preset achieves a playable 60 FPS. The highest average is 40.2 FPS on Low settings, which may be acceptable for slower-paced exploration but is insufficient for action-heavy combat. Medium settings at 33.8 FPS and High at 24.6 FPS are not recommended. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo in The Technomancer should be avoided in favor of 1080p or 1440p, where the system provides a more balanced experience.