The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting case study for modern hardware. The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 yields a performance profile that is heavily dictated by resolution and graphical presets. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to understand the dynamic between the CPU and GPU in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking observation in the data is how dramatically average frame rates scale across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an exceptional 286 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 202.9 FPS, and at 4K, it falls further to 110.3 FPS. This steep decline indicates that even at low graphical fidelity, the rendering load at higher resolutions begins to saturate the GPU's capabilities.

However, the scaling pattern shifts significantly when high-end settings are enabled. With Ultra settings, the transition from 1080p to 1440p sees the frame rate drop from 159.7 FPS to 107.2 FPS. The jump to 4K Ultra is more punishing, bringing the average down to 61.2 FPS. The relative performance gap between 1080p and 4K is much larger at Ultra settings compared to Low settings, suggesting that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as both resolution and graphical complexity increase.

This data points to a system that is well-balanced at lower resolutions but becomes increasingly GPU-bound at 4K. The fact that the RTX 5080 can push over 200 FPS at 1080p Low indicates that the i7-12700K is more than capable of feeding the GPU in this older title. At 4K Ultra, the 61.2 FPS average shows the immense pressure placed on the graphics card, making it the clear limiting factor for maximum visual fidelity.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. It features a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This high boost clock is crucial for gaming performance, as it allows for rapid single-threaded execution that many game engines still rely on.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is most evident in the high frame rate scenarios at 1080p. With a 286 FPS average at Low settings, the processor is clearly keeping pace with the GPU's output. The processor's substantial 25 MB of shared L3 cache likely helps maintain smooth performance by keeping frequently accessed game data close at hand.

The benchmark data from the CPU shows it performs well in synthetic tests, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241 and a single-core score of 4128. These strong scores correlate with its ability to handle both the game logic and the high draw call counts typical of action RPGs. The processor's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs further supports its competence in this role, ensuring that it does not become a bottleneck in most gaming scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is a powerhouse built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture. It comes equipped with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a massive 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is critical for high-resolution gaming, as it allows the GPU to quickly access the large texture assets required for 4K rendering.

The GPU's 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power and 112 ROPs are directly responsible for the frame rates observed at higher settings. The card's boost clock of 2617 MHz helps drive its pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s. At 4K Ultra, the 61.2 FPS average demonstrates that the GPU is working at its limit, processing the complex lighting and geometry effects that the Ultra preset enables.

The difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K is stark, with a drop from 110.3 FPS to 61.2 FPS. This 49.1 FPS difference highlights how much of the GPU's resources are consumed by the graphical enhancements. The RTX 5080's performance in The Technomancer shows that while it can handle 4K High at 73.1 FPS, achieving a smooth 60+ FPS experience at 4K Ultra requires the full might of this graphics card.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides a comprehensive look at the performance across different settings and resolutions. At 1080p, the combo delivers exceptional performance, with an average of 286 FPS on Low, 245.2 FPS on Medium, 210 FPS on High, and 159.7 FPS on Ultra. This shows a clear scaling where each increase in settings costs a measurable amount of performance.

Moving to 1440p, the averages are 202.9 FPS on Low, 159.4 FPS on Medium, 135.5 FPS on High, and 107.2 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra at this resolution shows a 95.7 FPS drop, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor. The 1440p High setting of 135.5 FPS is still incredibly smooth for a high-refresh-rate monitor.

At 4K, the performance becomes more demanding. The data shows 110.3 FPS on Low, 85.9 FPS on Medium, 73.1 FPS on High, and 61.2 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 49.1 FPS. This indicates that while the GPU is capable of high refresh rates at 4K with lower settings, achieving the highest visual quality will cap the frame rate near the 60 FPS mark.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations, the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combo ranks 60th out of 1656 total combinations for The Technomancer. This places it in the top 3.6% of all tested systems. This high ranking confirms that this pairing is exceptionally well-suited for this game.

The CPU sits in the 89th percentile among all processors, and its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, which is 0.3% slower, and the Intel Core i5-14500HX, which is 0.7% slower. The GPU also sits in the 89th percentile, with its nearest rival being the Intel Arc Pro A60, which is 1.9% slower. This balance of high-performing components ensures that neither part significantly holds back the other.

The rank of 60 out of 1656 combos indicates that while there are systems that can outperform this one, they are few and far between. The data suggests that for a game like The Technomancer, this combination of a high-clocked 12-core CPU and a top-tier Blackwell GPU provides a near-optimal experience. The only way to achieve higher ranking would be to pair the CPU with an even more powerful GPU, or to overclock the existing components to push their performance further.