The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 action RPG, presents a demanding workload that scales significantly with both resolution and graphical presets. The data for the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination reveals a setup that performs admirably at 1080p, struggles to maintain high refresh rates at 1440p with the highest settings, and is not capable of providing a smooth experience at 4K with maximum quality. The benchmark results indicate that the RTX 4060 is the primary driver of performance, with the i5-9400 proving to be a capable partner that does not become the main bottleneck until frame rates climb into very high territory.

Resolution Scaling

The framerate data shows a clear and expected decline as resolution increases, but the rate of decline is heavily influenced by the chosen graphics preset. At the "Low" preset, the system sees a reduction from an average of 169 FPS at 1080p to 110 FPS at 1440p and finally to 61 FPS at 4K. This represents a 35% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 45% drop from 1440p to 4K. In this low-fidelity scenario, the scaling is more uniform, suggesting the GPU is handling the relatively light workload efficiently across all resolutions.

Moving to the "Medium" preset, the same pattern is present but with a slightly different slope. The average frame rate drops from 130 FPS at 1080p to 85 FPS at 1440p, a 35% reduction, and then to 47 FPS at 4K, a 45% reduction. The "High" preset shows a nearly identical relative scaling pattern, with average frame rates of 111 FPS at 1080p, 72 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop), and 40 FPS at 4K (a 44% drop). This consistency suggests that the performance is heavily GPU-bound in all of these scenarios; the workload increase from raising the resolution is directly translating into a proportional frame rate hit.

The "Ultra" preset, however, tells a different story. While the frame rate still drops, the relative decline is slightly less severe. From 86 FPS at 1080p, it drops to 56 FPS at 1440p (a 35% loss) and then to 31 FPS at 4K (a 45% loss). While the percentage drop is similar to other presets, the absolute numbers are so low at 4K that the game becomes unplayable. The scaling pattern shows that at 4K, the Ultra preset is placing a massive load on the GPU, and the 31 FPS average is a clear indicator that this configuration is not viable for that combination of settings and resolution.

The data indicates that the limiting component is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, especially at 4K. The i5-9400, with its six cores, is not the primary constraint in these scenarios. The game is clearly graphics-bound, with the GPU having to process a significantly larger number of pixels. The near-constant performance drop percentages across the "Medium" and "High" presets highlight that the load is scaling consistently with the resolution, which is a typical sign of a GPU-bound workload.

Settings Recommendations

For a balanced experience at 4K, the "Low" preset is the only one that delivers a playable frame rate, with an average of 61 FPS. "Medium" at 4K drops to 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, and "High" and "Ultra" are not viable, with averages of 40 FPS and 31 FPS respectively. At this resolution, the data suggests that a player would need to choose between visual quality and smoothness, and only "Low" provides a consistent 60+ FPS experience.

At 1440p, the situation is much more versatile. The "High" preset achieves an average of 72 FPS, which is a good target for a high-refresh-rate monitor. The "Medium" preset provides an even higher average of 85 FPS, making it an excellent choice for players who want to push their monitor's refresh rate. The "Low" preset yields 110 FPS, which is great for competitive play, but the "Ultra" preset drops to 56 FPS, which is still playable but not ideal for a 60 FPS target. The data suggests that "Medium" is the sweet spot for 1440p, as it offers a significant increase in frame rate over "High" (85 vs 72 FPS) without a severe loss in visual quality, based on the settings ranking.

At 1080p, the performance is more than sufficient for any monitor. The "Ultra" preset delivers an average of 86 FPS, which is a good experience. "High" pushes this to 111 FPS, "Medium" to 130 FPS, and "Low" to 169 FPS. The data shows that even on "Ultra," the game is very playable at 1080p. For players with high-refresh-rate monitors, the "High" preset looks to be the ideal choice, as it offers a substantial 25 FPS increase over "Ultra" (111 vs 86 FPS) while the visual gap between the two settings is usually not very noticeable in fast-paced action. The "Low" preset at 169 FPS would be for those seeking the absolute maximum frame rate, but the visual compromise is likely too great for most.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the central piece of this configuration. The benchmark results show that its performance is the key determinant of how the game runs across all tested settings and resolutions. The data indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, particularly at higher resolutions and detail levels. The card features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, a 128-bit bus, and 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specs are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the data suggests they are pushed to their limits at 4K, especially with the "Ultra" preset.

The clock speeds of the RTX 4060 are a base of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz. The boost clock is the more relevant figure for gaming as it reflects the sustained performance under load. The data shows that the GPU is capable of delivering high frame rates at 1080p, but the performance scales with the resolution and settings in a way that points to a balanced load across the GPU's subsystems. The card's 3072 shading units are also a factor, but the resolution scaling is a classic sign of fill-rate and memory bandwidth limitations.

The VRAM capacity of 8 GB is not a limiting factor in these benchmarks, as The Technomancer is a 2016 title and doesn't require massive memory allocations. The data does not show any signs of memory swapping or performance anomalies that would indicate a VRAM deficiency. The RTX 4060 ends up being the bottleneck in the test, as is evident from the significant frame rate drops when moving to 4K. The "Ultra" preset at 4K is a particularly heavy workload, resulting in only 31 FPS, which is poor. The GPU's overall benchmark percentile of 61 places it slightly above the average, but the game's performance is more about the specific engine and its demands on the hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the results show a wide range of performance depending on the settings. The "Low" preset yields an average of 169 FPS, which is the highest recorded for this resolution. The "Medium" preset produces an average of 130 FPS, with a minimum of 110 and a maximum of 149 FPS. The "High" preset yields 111 FPS, and the "Ultra" preset drops to 86 FPS, which is a substantial 25 FPS reduction from "High." At this resolution, the game is clearly not GPU-limited, but the i5-9400 is likely to be the limiting factor at the "Low" and "Medium" presets, where the frame rates are extremely high.

In 1440p, the performance is still strong but with a more pronounced GPU influence. The "Low" preset delivers an average of 110 FPS, which is a 35% drop from 1080p. The "Medium" preset has an average of 85 FPS (72 to 97 FPS range), while the "High" preset achieves 72 FPS. The "Ultra" preset is the most demanding, with an average of 56 FPS. This is a playable experience, but it is not ideal for a 1440p monitor with a high refresh rate. The data shows a clear progression: as the settings get more demanding, the average frame rate drops, and the i5-9400 becomes less of a factor.

At 4K, the performance is considerably lower. The "Low" preset is the only one that maintains an average above 60 FPS, with 61 FPS. The "Medium" preset drops to 47 FPS, with a range of 40 to 53 FPS. The "High" preset has an average of 40 FPS, and the "Ultra" preset falls to 31 FPS. These numbers indicate that the RTX 4060 is not powerful enough to handle the game at the highest settings at this resolution. Players would have to significantly lower the visual quality to achieve a framerate that is consistent and responsive. The data shows that at 4K, the game is heavily GPU-bound, and the i5-9400 is not a constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific setup of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 holds the rank of 1984 out of 3696 possible combinations. This rank places it in the upper-middle of all tested configurations. The rank is a direct result of the game's performance, which is heavily dependent on the GPU. While the RTX 4060 is a competent card for many games, the data shows that The Technomancer is a demanding title, and the combination doesn't reach the upper echelon of results.

The more recent architecture of the RTX 4060 (Ada Lovelace) and its higher core count are not enough to overcome the sheer load at higher resolutions. The i5-9400, with its six cores, is not a top-tier CPU but is sufficient for this game. The combination's rank of 1984 out of 3696 is a reflection of the performance we see in the FPS data. It's important to note that this rank is specific to this game; performance can vary greatly across different games. The data suggests that the RTX 4060 is the main contributor to the overall result, and its percentile of 61 places it above the average GPU.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the AMD Radeon HD 7790, AMD Radeon 780M, AMD Radeon Pro 560, and AMD Radeon Pro 460. These comparisons show that the RTX 4060 is just slightly ahead of some older and less powerful cards, indicating that its performance is not exceptional in a general sense. However, for this game, the card performs in a way that is expected. The combination's rank shows that for a game that is not very well optimized, the hardware needs to be quite powerful to achieve high frame rates at high resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core processor with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It belongs to the Coffee Lake architecture and is built on a 14nm process. In terms of raw performance, it has a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935. The data for this game shows that the CPU is not the primary limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings, but it becomes more relevant as the frame rates get very high.

At 1080p with the "Low" preset, the average frame rate is 169 FPS. At such high frame rates, the CPU can become a bottleneck, as it must process a large number of frames. For this game, the i5-9400's six cores are sufficient to keep up with the GPU's output at these settings. However, at 4K with any preset, the GPU is the clear limiting factor, and the CPU's load is relatively lower. The data indicates that for this game, a six-core CPU with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz is enough to provide a smooth experience at all tested settings without being the main constraint.

The CPU's benchmark scores show that it is a mid-range processor when compared to other CPUs, with an average score of 2254. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, Intel Core i7-10710U, AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, and Intel Core i3-10305, all of which have similar performance. This means that the i5-9400 is a balanced processor for this title. The game is not heavily threaded, so the six cores are more than enough. The data confirms that the GPU is the primary determinant of performance in The Technomancer, and the CPU is a capable partner.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate for the "Ultra" preset at 4K?

A: The average frame rate is 31 FPS, which is not smooth and indicates that the game is not playable at this resolution with these settings.

Q: Is the RTX 4060 a good choice for playing at 1440p with the "High" preset?

A: Yes, the data shows it can achieve an average of 72 FPS at 1440p with the "High" preset, making it a great option for a high-refresh-rate monitor.

Q: Which preset is recommended for a 60 FPS at 1080p?

A: The "High" preset at 1080p yields an average of 111 FPS, which is well above 60 FPS. The "Ultra" preset also achieves 86 FPS, so both are viable for a 60 Hz monitor.

Q: At 4K, which preset is the only one that can maintain an average above 60 FPS?

A: The "Low" preset at 4K is the only one that does, with an average of 61 FPS. All other presets fall below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck for this game?

A: The data suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at most resolutions, but at 1080p with "Low" settings can be a factor. The i5-9400 is not the primary limiting component in this game.

Q: What is the performance of the RTX 4060 in this game compared to its overall position?

A: The RTX 4060 has a percentile rank of 61% of all GPUs. In this game, it performs well, but the combination's rank of 1984 out of 3696 is a specific result for this title.