The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, places specific demands on a system, and the combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 provides a distinct performance profile. Benchmark data for this pairing shows a clear hierarchy across resolutions and settings, with the CPU's six cores and the GPU's Turing architecture interacting to produce frame rates that range from highly playable at 1080p to demanding at 4K. The measured results indicate that this combo is positioned in the lower-middle tier of tested configurations, ranking 1331 out of 1656, which suggests it is capable but not top-tier for this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance rank of this CPU and GPU combination in The Technomancer?

A: The combination ranks 1331 out of 1656 tested combos, placing it in the lower percentile of systems tested for this game. This indicates that while it is functional, many other hardware pairings deliver higher frame rates.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-9400 compare to its closest rivals in general CPU benchmarks?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305. It is virtually tied with the Intel Core i3-10305 and Intel Core i3-1125G4, which score 2300 and 2299 respectively. It is 0.4% ahead of the Intel Xeon E-2134 (2295) and 0.6% behind the Intel Core i7-8809G (2319).

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low setting produces an average of 81.6 FPS, while the Ultra setting produces 45 FPS. This represents a significant performance cost for the highest visual fidelity, a drop of 36.6 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 2060's performance closer to the AMD Radeon RX 7600S or the AMD Radeon Pro 5700?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074. It is 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996) and 1.7% behind both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700, which both score 16351. This places it closer in performance to the RX 7600S.

Q: At which resolution and settings does this combo achieve its highest average frame rate?

A: The highest average frame rate is achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset, where the system reaches an average of 130.6 FPS. The lowest is at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, dropping to 26.2 FPS.

Q: What is the performance delta between the i5-9400 and its closest rival, the i7-8809G?

A: The i5-9400 is 0.6% slower than the Intel Core i7-8809G in average benchmark score. The i7-8809G scores 2319 compared to the i5-9400's 2305.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture. It operates with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and can boost up to 4.10 GHz, which is a significant factor in its performance. The processor has a 9 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-9400 achieves a multi-core score of 3346 in Cinebench R20 and a single-core score of 472 in the same test, showing a balanced capability for both threaded and single-threaded workloads.

In the context of The Technomancer, an Action RPG, these specifications matter. The game's engine is likely to utilize multiple cores for physics, AI, and world streaming, but the single-core performance is often critical for the main game logic thread. The i5-9400's boost clock of 4.10 GHz helps ensure that this primary thread is not a bottleneck, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU is less taxed. The data supports this, as the FPS scales significantly with resolution, indicating that the CPU can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them at 1080p. The processor's performance is middling, sitting at the 50th percentile of all CPUs, and it is nearly identical to the Intel Core i3-10305 in average score, differing by only 0.2%.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture and features the TU106 chip. It comes with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz. Its compute capabilities are defined by 1920 shading units, and it includes 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The card's raw performance is reflected in its Passmark G3D score of 14111 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 71278, placing it at the 58th percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU's role in this game is heavily dependent on resolution. At 1920x1080, the RTX 2060 is the primary driver of performance, with the average FPS ranging from 68.4 on Ultra to 130.6 on Low. The 6 GB VRAM is a key consideration here; at 4K, the higher texture and geometry demands can strain this memory pool. The benchmark results show a steep drop-off at 3840x2160, where the average FPS falls to 32.7 on High and 26.2 on Ultra, indicating that the GPU is hitting a performance wall due to both memory bandwidth and capacity. The card's performance is closely matched with the AMD Radeon RX 7600S, being only 0.5% faster on average, but it lags 1.7% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 5700.

How This Combo Ranks

In the specific context of The Technomancer, this hardware pairing ranks 1331 out of 1656 tested combinations. This places it in the bottom 20% of all systems tested, which is a notable finding given the individual components' mid-range status. The rank indicates that while the system is fully capable of running the game, it does not excel relative to other configurations. The i5-9400's position at the 50th CPU percentile and the RTX 2060's position at the 58th GPU percentile do not translate to a high in-game rank, suggesting that The Technomancer may be particularly sensitive to other system attributes, such as memory speed or storage, or that the game's engine has specific bottlenecks.

The data suggests that this combo is a baseline for 1080p gaming but struggles to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions. For example, the 130.6 FPS at 1080p Low is a strong result, but the 45 FPS at 1440p Ultra shows a substantial performance penalty. The 4K Ultra result of 26.2 FPS is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The combination's rank is a holistic measure, and the FPS data shows that users will need to adjust settings aggressively to achieve playable frame rates at 1440p or 4K. This is not a high-end pairing for this specific title, but rather a competent mid-range setup that requires tuning.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination in The Technomancer show a clear pattern of performance scaling.

At 1920x1080, the system performs admirably. With the Low preset, it achieves an average of 130.6 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth. The Medium preset delivers 100.6 FPS, and the High preset reaches 85.8 FPS. The most demanding Ultra preset still yields a very playable 68.4 FPS. This resolution is clearly the sweet spot for this combo, as even the highest settings maintain frame rates well above 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance impact of the higher resolution is evident. The Low preset drops to 81.6 FPS, which is still good. The Medium preset averages 66.9 FPS, and the High preset falls to 55.6 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, producing an average of 45 FPS, which is on the edge of smooth playability for many users. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 36.6 FPS, showing a significant cost for visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 2060 is clearly overtaxed. The Low preset is the only one that approaches playability, with an average of 47.8 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 33.9 FPS, and the High preset is slightly lower at 32.7 FPS. The Ultra preset is the worst performer, with an average of just 26.2 FPS, which is not suitable for smooth gameplay. The data shows that this combo is not intended for 4K gaming with this title, as even Low settings struggle to maintain a consistent 60 FPS.