The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting case study in CPU-GPU scaling when paired with an Intel Core i5-9400 and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. The data reveals a classic bottleneck shift as resolution increases, moving from a CPU-limited state at 1080p to a GPU-dominated workload at 4K, with the mid-range resolutions representing a nuanced blend of both.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data paints a clear picture of how the workload transforms across resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo produces 134.7 FPS, which is a substantial number but notably lower than the 151.1 FPS achieved at High settings. This 16.4 FPS drop when moving from High to Ultra at the same resolution suggests that the most demanding settings are beginning to tax the system, but the real story emerges when comparing across resolutions.

Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the average FPS drops from 151.1 to 125.6, a decrease of 25.5 FPS or roughly 16.9%. This is a relatively modest penalty for a 78% increase in pixel count, indicating that the system has headroom to spare at this resolution. The trend continues when pushing to 4K, where the High setting yields 68.8 FPS, representing a 54.5% drop from the 1440p figure. This dramatic falloff between 1440p and 4K signals that the GPU is now operating near its limits.

The pattern intensifies with Ultra settings. At 1080p Ultra, the system hits 134.7 FPS, which is only 12.1% lower than the Medium setting's 155.5 FPS. However, at 4K Ultra, the average plummets to 52.4 FPS, a 61% reduction from the 1440p Ultra result of 98.1 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra shows a total drop from 134.7 to 52.4 FPS, a 61.1% decrease, which is a far more aggressive curve than what High settings exhibit.

The data implies that at 1080p and even 1440p, the Intel Core i5-9400 is the primary limiting factor. The RTX 4080 SUPER, with its 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 736.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth, is being held back by the CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads. This is evidenced by the relatively small FPS differences between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p: 172.7 FPS versus 134.7 FPS, a spread of only 38 FPS. At 4K, however, the spread between Low and Ultra is much larger at 52.2 FPS (104.6 versus 52.4), demonstrating that the GPU is now the dominant constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER earns a combo rank of 378 out of 1656 tested combinations in The Technomancer. This places it in the top 22.8% of all tested systems, which is a respectable position given the disparate nature of the components. The CPU itself sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is much stronger, ranking in the 88th percentile among all GPUs.

This ranking disparity is telling. The GPU's high percentile (88) relative to the CPU's middling percentile (50) indicates that this is an imbalanced pairing. The data suggests that the RTX 4080 SUPER is capable of much more than the i5-9400 can feed it, especially at lower resolutions. The CPU's average benchmark score of 2305 places it in close competition with the Intel Core i3-10305, which scores 2300 with a deltaPct of 0.2%, and the Intel Xeon E-2134, which scores 2295 with a deltaPct of 0.4%. This demonstrates that the i5-9400 is performing exactly as expected for its class, but that class is simply not in the same league as the GPU.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce this imbalance. With an average benchmark score of 53610, the RTX 4080 SUPER sits just 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (53489) and 2.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (52086). In a game like The Technomancer, which is not particularly demanding by modern standards, this high-end GPU is likely overkill for the resolution ranges where the CPU can keep up.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a 9 MB shared L3 cache. These specifications are modest by 2024 standards, and the data shows that the CPU's performance ceiling is a significant factor in this game.

The Cinebench R23 scores provide context: 7969 multi-core and 1125 single-core. These are solid numbers for a 6-thread part, but they reveal a clear limitation. The multi-core score is only slightly above what a modern 4-core, 8-thread CPU would achieve, and the single-core score is similarly unremarkable. In The Technomancer, which likely relies on a few heavily-threaded tasks, the 6 threads are sufficient to avoid complete stalling, but they are not enough to fully utilize the GPU's potential.

The bottleneck is most evident at 1080p. At Low settings, the system produces 172.7 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame output capability. Even when the GPU is given less work (Low settings) or more work (Ultra settings) at 1080p, the FPS range only spans from 134.7 to 172.7, a 28% variation. This narrow range indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor across all settings at this resolution. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, while adequate, also contributes to this limitation, as the GPU's 736.3 GB/s bandwidth remains largely untapped at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the system achieves 151.1 FPS, while at 4K High, it drops to 68.8 FPS. This represents a 54.5% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Q: How does the CPU bottleneck manifest in the measured data?

A: The bottleneck is most apparent at 1080p, where the FPS range across all settings (134.7 to 172.7) is only 38 FPS. This narrow spread indicates that the Intel Core i5-9400's 6 cores and 6 threads are the limiting factor, regardless of GPU workload.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER's performance in this game consistent with its benchmark scores?

A: The GPU ranks in the 88th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 53610, but the measured FPS data suggests it is not fully utilized at lower resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the 52.4 FPS result is more indicative of the GPU's true capabilities in this title.

Q: What is the most demanding settings combination for this system?

A: The most demanding configuration is 4K Ultra, which produces an average of 52.4 FPS. This is the lowest measured result across all tested combinations.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to the individual component rankings?

A: The combo ranks 378 out of 1656, placing it in the top 22.8%. The CPU sits at the 50th percentile, while the GPU is in the 88th percentile, showing a significant performance imbalance.

Q: Does increasing resolution from 1440p to 4K have a larger impact than from 1080p to 1440p?

A: Yes. At High settings, the drop from 1440p (125.6 FPS) to 4K (68.8 FPS) is 45.2%. Meanwhile, the drop from 1080p (151.1 FPS) to 1440p (125.6 FPS) is only 16.9%. This indicates the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a formidable piece of hardware, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process. It features 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, along with 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2550 MHz, with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus providing 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's raw compute capabilities are staggering: 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s. These specs place it well above what The Technomancer requires, even at 4K. The measured data confirms this, showing that at 4K Low, the system reaches 104.6 FPS, which is still highly playable. The transition from 4K Low to 4K Medium (80.8 FPS) and then to 4K High (68.8 FPS) shows a steady decline, but even 4K Ultra's 52.4 FPS is above the 30 FPS threshold that would be considered unplayable for most action RPGs.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced at 4K, where the frame rate differences between settings are much larger. The spread from 4K Low (104.6 FPS) to 4K Ultra (52.4 FPS) is 52.2 FPS, compared to only 38 FPS at 1080p. This demonstrates that the GPU is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions, while the CPU's influence wanes. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for a 2016 title, and the 736.3 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming is never a bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combination depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For players seeking a smooth experience at 4K, the High preset (68.8 FPS) offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS without the significant drop seen at Ultra (52.4 FPS). The Medium preset at 80.8 FPS is a viable alternative for those who prefer a higher frame rate margin.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 125.6 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. The Ultra preset at 98.1 FPS remains highly playable and offers the best visual fidelity without any noticeable performance compromise. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, the Medium preset at 134.3 FPS provides an excellent experience.

At 1080p, the situation is different. Since the CPU is the primary bottleneck, the choice of settings has a minimal impact on performance. The Low preset at 172.7 FPS and the High preset at 151.1 FPS are both excellent, but the Ultra preset at 134.7 FPS still offers a smooth experience. Given the CPU limitation, players are effectively free to choose the Ultra preset at 1080p, as the performance penalty from higher settings is relatively small compared to the visual gains. The data suggests that the best overall experience is achieved at 1440p with High or Ultra settings, where the system balances CPU and GPU utilization effectively.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured average FPS values is as follows:

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 104.6 FPS
• Medium: 80.8 FPS
• High: 68.8 FPS
• Ultra: 52.4 FPS

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 153.9 FPS
• Medium: 134.3 FPS
• High: 125.6 FPS
• Ultra: 98.1 FPS

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 172.7 FPS
• Medium: 155.5 FPS
• High: 151.1 FPS
• Ultra: 134.7 FPS

The data reveals a consistent pattern: at 1080p, the FPS values cluster within a range of 38 FPS, indicating CPU limitation. At 1440p, the range expands to 55.8 FPS, showing a more balanced workload. At 4K, the range stretches to 52.2 FPS, confirming the GPU is the primary constraint. Notably, the jump from High to Ultra at 4K results in a 16.4 FPS drop, while the same settings change at 1080p only costs 16.4 FPS, demonstrating the GPU's increasing sensitivity to settings at higher resolutions. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 38 FPS, but at 4K it is 52.2 FPS, highlighting how the GPU's headroom is exhausted as resolution increases.